Our neighbor loves to talk about his hometown, Petoskey. And the way he talks about it, it’s as if it’s the most perfect place in the world. He says the summers are beautiful. Everything’s green. Lake Michigan always has boats out on it filled with people having fun. The sun sparkles on the water, and it really never gets too hot.

We’d have to agree with him. We pulled into his parents’ place Friday afternoon. His parents live on a pretty piece of property out in the country. Diana’s father helped them build the home, and many family hands went into its formation. That makes for quite a special place.

Friday evening, we went down to Boyne City to Stroll on the Street. Fun and fancy cars park down the middle of the downtown street, along with boats, and musicians play on the corners. It was drizzling, but that didn’t keep the crowds away.

This was a beautiful wooden boat. It was absolutely a show-stopper. And this is the monster truck that pulls it – a Ford F-650!

And Dayne found a challenge…

Boyne City bay as the sun begins to set.

We all took turns driving/riding around the golf cart through the woods.

And we picked wild raspberries. They were divine!

Diana suggested we visit the bay in Petoskey. It was such a fun memory. I’ll get out of the way and let the pictures speak for themselves…

We’ve come to know Ralph and Diana from when they come to AZ to visit. And what’s really special and in no way a coincidence, and I sincerely mean that, is that they’re Seventh-day Adventists, too. My sister and her family moved next door to Charlie and his wife about twelve years ago, not having any idea. Because of that, we’ve gotten to share a friendship and share a faith, and that makes for very meaningful fellowship. It’s like being with family.

A few years ago, Ralph was in a terrible motorcycle accident, by no fault of his own. He was hit by a trash truck out near their home. As a result, he ended up losing his left leg. He has had to struggle through many things because of that, as you can imagine. And Diana has struggled with him every step of the way. It was devastating and has brought so many challenges. But God has carried them through it all. This world is full of sin and hurt. Believing in God doesn’t mean bad things won’t happen. Bad things are a result of sin. And because we live in this world,  sin will affect us. But having God to guide us through it all is the only way to truly make it. We can’t do it ourselves. Ralph has learned to rely even more on God than he did before, and he’s not shy about sharing what Jesus has done for him. He and Diana are both amazing people.

While at church on Sabbath, we read in the bulletin that there’d be a church work bee the next day. Diana mentioned that the work bee coordinator has been discouraged by the last few work bees due to low attendance. It’s hard to keep a facility up with volunteer help, and even harder when there aren’t enough volunteers! We decided to go help out Sunday morning. With five Malos, that’d be ten extra hands. Hopefully that would count for something!

 After working all morning, we took the kids from the work bee to putt-putt. (The boys have played more mini golf on this trip than they have their whole lives up til now!) Ralph kept score for the boys group. And he walked all eighteen holes, up and down tricky stairs and ramps on his prosthetic leg – amazing!! The boys loved his company.

And now, here’s where you get to meet a third amazing person. His name is Ben, and he’s in the picture up above with Albert. Ben in on the left side. They worked the rock screen together at the work bee. They got to talking, and Ben invited us up to see his rock collection. You see, as we were all working with rock that morning, we found several Petoskey Stones.

They’re stones that end up with a pattern on them that’s unique to the Petoskey region only. People love to go to the beach and look for them. Well, some Petoskey Stones had ended up in the church’s landscaping, so we found a few while working. Ben told us he had a really large rock collection and would be happy to show it to us.

 

 

 

Ben also gardens. He has seventy tomato plants simply because he likes to share with friends, various peppers, squash, fruit trees…etc. Oh, and he sewed his own duffel bag from alligator skin. And two matching pairs of suspenders. He cans, as well. What doesn’t he do, you ask? I asked. He doesn’t quilt. I thought, surely, his line of work lends itself to knowing how to build like he does. Nope. Ben is in the medical field.

But this isn’t all that makes Ben an amazing person. A few years ago, he lost the love of his life, his wife, to illness. Ben misses her terribly still. But he keeps going. As much as Ben likes the rocks in his home, there’s another Rock he relies on daily. God gives him the strength and fortitude Ben needs. He’s inspiring, and we so appreciated being able to spend time with him and become friends. And come to find out, we go to church with his niece back in AZ. Small world.

After Ben got done showing us around his home, we headed to his beach. It was a perfect day for some cool Lake Michigan water…

Before heading up north for the weekend, we visited Battle Creek. As Seventh-day Adventists, this city has significance to our church history, and we wanted the boys to see it. There is a historic village just outside of downtown that has many homes and buildings that our church founders resided in. They’re such adorable antiques themselves.

One of the tour guides, showed us around the museum that honors Dr. John Harvey Kellogg. He opened the Battle Creek Sanitarium over a century ago. This was a place for health and wellness. He used health divinely inspired advice given him by Ellen White,, and focused on the areas of digestion, exercise, and temperance. He invented many things to help people who visited the sanitarium, and several of his inventions are still used in more modern forms today.

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If you’ve ever seen a rowing machine, that was an original invention of Dr. Kellogg’s. The Battle Creek Sanitarium had many famous visitors, even though the things they were teaching and promoting were went against what “modern” medicine taught. Dr. Kellogg promoted fresh air for sick patients; on the contrary, many doctors believed fresh air was unhealty, and prescribed sick patients to be in rooms with no ventilation or sunshine. He promoted a lifestyle free from alcohol and tobacco. Those two things were regularly prescribed to help heal people. He promoted a vegetarian diet, and the Sanitarium was known for it’s very tasty meals. Presidents (Taft), First Ladies (Eleanor Roosevelt), sports stars (Babe Ruth), and celebrities (Amelia Earhart) stayed at the BCS.

And lastly, if you’re thinking there has to be a connection between Dr. Kellogg and Kellogg’s cereal, there is! He invented Corn Flakes. One of his patients was having a hard time chewing her food because of her bad teeth. He and his brother worked together to come up with the Corn Flakes recipe. His brother ended up being the one to manufacture and sell the cereal.

Albert took Melbee out for a bathroom break during our tour, and didn’t make it back before the boys and I were done. We were wondering where they’d gone when we looked down the road and saw this!

There is a Sojourner Truth memorial in Battle Creek. The picture on the left shows a copy of the only known signature she ever gave. She lived her final years in Battle Creek, and spent some time at the Sanitarium as well.

We ate at a restaurant known for its healthy, vegetarian food. Our tastebuds agree with all the 5 star Google reviews!!

After leaving Battle Creek, we headed to Hillsdale, MI. Hillsdale College is a college with an excellent reputation. They stand for Constitutionalism and the principles our beautiful country were founded on. They offer many free online courses to anyone who wants to sharpen their knowledge of the Constitution and the philosophers who influced our founders. Their motto is “Educating for Liberty since 1844”.

The day ended with more putt-putt and winding down near Cadillac, MI.

 

We were headed to Berrien Springs by way of Benton Harbor. Our hungry tummies were leading us to The Mason Jar, a restaurant our friend Loree had told us about. And wowie, what a breakfast we had!!

 

Next up was Andrews University. This is an SDA university we’ve always wanted to visit. We have several friends who’ve attended it, and just wanted to finally put a real picture with what our imaginations had conjured up.

We shopped at the Adventist Book Center. The boys each found some new books to enjoy on the road, and we got some story CDs. They were thrilled!
Our next stop was a rather exciting one. For over six decades, Your Story Hour has been recording character building stories. All of them are true stories that have happened throughout history. My family has been listening since I was little, and our boys LOVE them as well. So when planning our trip to Berrien Springs, we wanted to stop by. But “stop by” to us was going to mean just take a picture in front of the building, or so we thought. When we got there, though, there was an “OPEN” sign on the door. OK, well let’s go in and see.
We were met so warmly by a kind lady who asked us where we were from, and would we have time for a tour? Would we have time? Would we like a tour of a place who produces stories we love listening to over and over and consider part of the family? Yes, please!
The next hour was an unforgettable one. She took us through and talked about each of the projects they do there. It’s a very humble organization. And by that, I mean you won’t find a fancy, expensive state-of-the-art operation. They don’t use YSH as a money-making business. You can tell the staffs’ hearts are there to serve and create stories that will live up to their motto “Making boys and girls of today better men and women of tomorrow.”

They send out Bible studies to anyone who would like to receive them. This includes a prison inmate program they’re involved with. The prisoners take the Bible studies and earn story CD’s. But since they’re not allowed to have them in prison, the inmates have the CD’s sent to their families. So now God’s word is not only reaching the inmates, but the inmates themselves are sharing it with family. So many of them come from very broken homes, and now with this program, God can begin healing in them. It’s just beautiful.
We also got to meet the producer of the stories. He was working on a batch of freshly recorded stories from their April recording session. This is how the stories are done:
1. The voice actors come to the studio and record their parts.
2. John, the producer, edits their voices and takes out any rough spots, and then puts the voices together in the story line.
3. Next, he creates and adds sound effects.
4. He then adds music where needed for transition or dramatic effect.
Thankfully, John has a computer program that helps him keep the layers seperate while working on them. Then he puts them all together to create the story.

 

The boys each got to take a turn at making some of the sound effects. Coconut shells and rocks sound great for hoofbeats or walking.

Melbee was even invited to join us on the tour, and John loved meeting her. Very impromptu, he prayed a special blessing over her, and said such beautiful loving words to our little girl. It was a very touching moment. We’ve always appreciated and treasured YSH, but after our time spent with the loving staff there, that love and appreciation is much deeper now. Please visit their site, yourstoryhour.org, to find all the stories they’ve recored over the years. They even offer a free one you can listen to on their site each week. The boys like to listen to the weekly story while going to sleep.
We left and drove down the main road that goes through the small town of Berrien Springs. Throughout the course of the morning, we’d driven this several times, and each time, a loud, boisterous sound would occur right around the town car wash. A local group of Jr. High girls was having a car wash to earn money for a trip. Their energy level and volume never dropped as they waved, shouted, and held their signs. They even had a mega phone. The boys had been watching this group of loud, giggly girls in our travels by, and were dying to show some boy representation. So on this final pass, the boys ran to Big Boy’s windows and yelled in funny voices, made goofy faces, and really, just made prepubescent fools of themselves and loved every second of it. As we neared the girls, their volume had increased. As soon as the boys began their antics, it was like a mute button had been pressed. The girls stood there in silence, mouths gaping, staring at the lunatics in the motorhome. It was hilarious! We drove on, the boys claiming victory!
Another thing on our minds, and particularly the boys’, was the fact this was July 11, or 7/11. And every year, the 7/11 offers free Slurpees from 11am-7 pm. This is a tradition we don’t miss. It’s the only Slurpee the boys get all year. They even begin discussing what flavor they’ll get around mid-June. It just so happens there are no 7/11 stores in that part of Michigan. Once again. Heartbreak City.

But after driving past the now mute girls, we came upon a sign in a grocery store parking lot. It said “31st Annual Ice Cream Social – July 11 – 6-8pm”. It turns out, after doing some shopping and receiving a flier, it was a free ice cream social as a customer appreciation. Here was another one of those moments where God seemed to say, “Don’t feel badly about Slurpees today, boys. I’m upgrading you to ice cream sundaes!”

 

Chicago – we made it! This was our half-way mark for the trip, and to have made it was an accomplishment. Thank you, God.

Albert guided Big Boy along Lake Michigan on Highway 41. It was a beautiful drive, with the blue sky, green trees and grass, irresistable water from the lake and so many people out on a Sunday afternoon excercising or relaxing.

We stopped at Hollywood Park, one of Chicago’s many neighborhood parks, and enjoyed some down time.

On Monday morning, we headed to Mrs. Prindables. The namesake, Mrs. Prindables, is actually a ficticious character, but the delicious caramel apples made in her honor aren’t!

My love for Mrs. P’s goes back almost twenty years. I was a new teacher, and one of my students gave me this chocolate and caramel apple for Christmas. I politely said thank you, not really being sincerely excited. Caramel apples had never really been my thing. I saved the apple for the weekend. My sister and her family would be coming over, and they could help me eat it. Then I wouldn’t have so much to throw away and wouldn’t feel so badly for being wasteful.
During the weekend, we cut the apple. and I tasted caramel apple heaven. The fresh tart of the apple. The sweet creamy of the chocolate and caramel. The crunchy walnuts and almonds. Who in the world was this Mrs. Prindable? She was a culinary genius!!
Needless to say, none of the apple was thrown away. Every crumb was vaccumed up. Savored. Never forgotten.
Come to find out, Mrs. Prindables doesn’t sell her wares very cheaply. Hence, it had been years since I’d had one. That first one was the last one until two years ago. I happened to be flipping channels and found QVC selling them during Thanksgiving. They had a holiday sale going on, so we got some. It was like my tastebuds had come home. We also got some this last Christmas, and the family loves them as much as I do. We only get them once a year.
So we stopped by Mrs. Prindables hoping they gave a tour of the facility. Heartbreak City. Devastation. No, they don’t. We got to go inside their discount outlet store. That’s as close as we got to where the magic happens. Even though they don’t give factory tours, we hope this won’t taint your opinion of Mrs. Pridables and company. I still plan on buying our apples this fall when QVC runs their special again.
We left Mrs. P’s with heavy hearts, but were headed to the Lakeshore Trail. That would help ease the pain somewhat. The Lakeshore Trail is miles of paved pedestrian trail that goes by parks, public beaches, recreational sports venues, museums, etc, all along Lake Michigan. We parked just north of Belmont Dog Beach and rode our bikes to Melbee’s appointment with adventure.

 

Once Mel had had her fill of canine companionship, we loaded up once again for Navy Pier. The ride there was so enjoyable.

 

The beautiful Lake Michigan blue to our left, shade trees for stretches of respite, and fun, Chicago arcitecture to our right.

 

 

 

 

We made it to Navy Pier and enjoyed walking around. Literally around the pier. Our first full day in Chicago ended with some tennis at a lakeside park. What a day!

The next morning, we picked up our rental car and headed to Melbee’s doggy day care. We had a busy day planned and having her along wouldn’t be possible.
Our first stop was Millenium Park. It hosts all kinds of fun things, concerts, winter ice skating rink, and this big silver kidney bean shaped art piece.

 

 

 

 

We headed next to the Chicago Stock Exchange. Since 9/11, the public isn’t allowed in, but it was still neat to stop by.
Then, it was lunchtime. And this was going to be a special lunch. At Fronterra Grill. Owned and run by Rick Bayless (and his wife, but she doesn’t cook). One or our favorite cooking show chefs. Probably our top guy. We love him. And we were going to eat at his restaurant! The boys and I were having a hard time containing ourselves.
We were stopped at the intersection of Illinois and LaSalle, waiting to turn left. Albert says, “Hey, there’s Rick Bayless.”

As soon as he said that, it took me instantly back to when I was twenty and home from college. My mom and sister came to SFO to pick me up. We were on our way through the airport when my mom said, “Hey, there’s Joe Montana!”. Let me interject here and say my mom doesn’t like sports. She’s completely uninterested. It’s because of my grandpa. He would work so hard during the week, that all he wanted to do on Sunday was lay on the couch and sleep. To the sound of sports in the background. This meant they didn’t go anywhere fun, do anything fun, or even think about fun. And if while Grandpa was asleep and Mama tried to turn the channel to something fun, he’d wake up instantly and say, “Vickie!” Needless to say, my mom couldn’t stand baseball, football, or anything else related to sports.
So when our mom, who can’t stand sports and doesn’t know anything about sports said, “Hey, there’s Joe Montana!”, my sister and I didn’t even turn around. We just said, “Ah, Mom”, and kept walking. She insisted, “No, seriously, there’s Joe Montana.” Leslee and I decided we should turn around appease Mama. So we did. And THERE HE WAS. JOE MONTANA!!
Back to Albert and “Hey, there’s Rick Bayless!”. I instantly decided I should look. Albert doesn’t have as much Rick Bayless experience as the boys and I, so I couldn’t be certain he would recognize our guy. BUT HE WAS RIGHT! Rick Bayless was walking across the crosswalk. Albert got out the phone to take a picture, but I got too excited and turned the U-turn too quickly. He missed the shot. But we knew where Rick was going…Fronterra Grill or his fancy restaruant next door, Topolobampo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chicago’s Magnificient Mile was next on the list. We didn’t plan to do any shopping. Just seeing.

After that, it was on to Sears Tower. It’s now know to the world as Willis Tower, but in my heart, and probably most everyone else’s, it’ll always be Sears Tower.

Our last stop of the day was the United Center, home of the Chicago Bulls.

 

 

 

 

We visited the home of the Cincinnati Open. In a few weeks, some of our                                                   favorite tennis players will be here. 

Big Boy rolled us into Indiana and we arrived at the Indian Lakes RV Campground. We were able to do our Friday thing of tidying up Big Boy’s innards and take care of some stinky laundry. Then, we swam, the boys played some basketball, and we got to bed for some much needed rest.

On Sabbath, we attended the Shelbyville SDA Church. The members were so warm and friendly, it felt like we knew ten people in the first two minutes! We passed this cute Indiana farm on the way there.

That afternoon, we found a park further up the road and enjoyed the shade trees while eating lunch. The breeze was just perfect, too.

As evening neared, we arrived in Alexandria at the home of Mike Carmichael and his family. They have a unique attraction there – the world’s largest ball of paint. Albert and I, along with my sister and her family, stopped there fourteen years ago to see this ball. Mike kindly allows you to add a layer of paint to . We painted layer number 26, 117! If you’re ever in the area, be sure to make an appointment to stop in and be a part of history. Here’s a link to their website.  http://ballofpaint.freehosting.net/

These are some old cars we saw while in Indiana. The boys love cars like this!

We left Louiville bound for the Ark Encounter. This is a boat of Biblical dimensions, built to be the same size as the one God instructed Noah to build. Answers in Genesis, the Creation ministry that took on this monumental task, did an outstanding job. We spent four hours walking through this ark, and there’s so much we missed. Not on purpose, but to see and read it all would take a couple of days. It’s just astounding what they’ve done to recreate Noah’s Ark.

                     Above is an outside and inside picture of the same part of the Ark.

          In the Bible, we can read the specific instructions God gave Noah in the building of the Ark. But not all details are there, especially when it comes to the inside and the logistics of how to keep the animals. So the AIG team did a lot of research to learn how things might’ve been, and used that research to create their best impression of how Noah and his family did things. Like keep the small creatures. Dayne is showing you small cages. 

There was storage built above that could hold so much (picture on left.) And have you ever wondered how insects and creepy crawlies were kept. AIG thinks these pots with covers on top would’ve made a very reasonable solution. 

The pots on the left were for animal food storage, and the round clay thing on the right would’ve made a great watering device. 

The photo on the top left shows the aviary. Bottom left is a garden, using the natural light the would come in from roof windows that could open to let in sunlight. The photo on the left shows a solution for lights. Clay pots that would hold oil for burning.

On the left, one of Noah’s daughters-in-law is feeding the animals.

If you head north on the interstate for about forty minutes, you come to the Creation Museum, the flagship for Answers in Genesis. We spent some more time there walking through the exhibits and soaking in all the amazing things to see. It was so refreshing to be in two places that see the world through the truth that we are all created by God. He was there from the beginning, and His love is enduring through all time. And even though sin has changed this world into a sad, hurtful place, His love and plan to be with us in Heaven one day has never changed. And how refreshing to be in a place that shares that rather than attack it.

 

 

 

 

The morning of 4th of July, we were excited. There were some big things ahead. We’d planned on some special happenings, and were excited about them. God had some other special things coming that we had no idea about.
Our first stop was the Kentucky Derby Museum. We’re not horse racing fans or proponents, but Dayne loves horses, as mentioned in an earlier post. And he’s also read a good portion of the Black Stallion series. He’s got dreams of one day owning a horse, and even has several names chosen. In the book series, there are many horse races, and visiting the KDM and Churchill Downs was thrilling to him in that he could see a setting like this for himself.

 

 

 

 

We also did some horsin’ around…

We left Churchill Downs for the Waterfront Park. In looking up Louisville’s 4th of July activities, we saw they’d be planting 15,000 America flags in the ground to honor service men and women, law enforcement, and first responders. This seemed like a very worthwhile thing to help with, and they were soliciting volunteers.
We showed up to the spot that seemed like the spot, only to find it empty. We walked around a little more and came upon another family looking for the flag people. We spent some time chatting and problem solving.

Thankfully, there was an official looking golf cart going by, so I asked if they knew anything. While waiting for a reply over the walkie talkie, a local news reporter and her camerman drove up. They were also looking for the flag people. We got to chatting, and she asked us what brought us down to the park. After telling our story, she said, “Well, I’ve got to interview you!”
So, we did an interview about our trip and adventures right there at the park. The news station kindly featured our story among their others for the day. That was an amazing, uexpected blessing we never saw coming. If you’d like to watch the interview, click on this link:

https://www.whas11.com/video/news/family-takes-cross-country-road-trip-to-appreciate-america/417-8179595

If the link doesn’t work, you can Google this phrase: family takes cross country trip to appreciate America

We eventually heard back the noon start time for flags was a misprint, and it would begin at 3. With some time to kill, Sara, the news reporter, gave us some great ideas of where to go next while waiting for 3pm.

Sara also suggested going to Crescent Hill. We did and found some good old-fashioned 4th of July fun!

Then we headed back to Waterfront Park to help with flags.

We headed back to Big Boy for some festive 4th of July family traditions — sub sandwiches and American Flag cookie.

The day ended with beautiful flare!

God bless America, our home sweet home.

 

Kentucky is one place we were excited to make it to. This is Daniel Boone country! Daniel Boone was a man, yes a real man. With an eye like an eagle and as strong as a mountain was he…the real Daniel Boone was so tough and rugged. To tromp through wild country like that…impressive. And Fess Parker’s character is a family favorite.
We arrived in Kentucky and headed for Fort Boonesborough State Park. We ate lunch with the original fort site in sight.

Then we visited the living history fort, which is a working Fort Boonesborough. There wasn’t much going on since it’s only operational Wed-Sun, but it was still fun to see.

Whispering Hills RV Park in Georgetown was our last stop for the day. This was a wonderful, affordable RV park, with so many kid-friendly amenities. The boys wished we could live there for a month.

The next morning, we had a 10am appointment at Old Friends Farm to be part of a tour group. OFF is a “retirement home” for race horses and other horses used in that trade. The horses are well-cared for and get to live out the remainder of their years the way a horse should — enjoying green grass and shade, getting regular care, and a good dose of carrots each day, thanks to all us visitors.

It was also a learning experience during the 90 minute walking tour. We now know the difference between a stallion and a gelding, a mare and a philly, a colt and a stallion. Very interesting. We’re all so glad to have been able to visit this special place.

 

Our last fun thing for the day was Kart Kountry!!

Here’s Dayne’s take on that…”You have the orange car,” the Kart Kountry employee told me. I ran to the car and jumped in, quickly buckling up. Looking up, I waited for the OK to take off. The employee waved Ean off first, then a second later, she waved me off. I floored it immediately, remembering the deal us three boys had made — “Lets race, OK?,” Brodee had said. I had readily agreed. Anyway, I was gaining fast on Ean by the third turn and by the fourth turn I was right behind him. Now during all this, Brodee was not to be forgotten. He was very close by. I thought I saw an opening big enough for my Kart. As it turns out, it was not. Ean closed the opening and we scraped. Quickly steering away, I darted forward and passed Ean on the outside. I began to make a bigger and bigger gap between me and Ean. Brodee passed Ean and started gaining on me. I tried to keep ahead of him but was not able. He passed me as soon as I passed Ean. BUT I didn’t give in. I kept racing. But then dad passed me. After dad passed, he slowed down and let me and Brodee go by him. I sped up, taking advantage of he opportunity. I was right behind Brodee now. THANKS DAD!!!!! When we were about 1,000 feet from the finish, I realized I was not going to win by playin’ it safe. I saw an opening big enough for my vehicle to go through. I passed Brodee with about 250 ft. to spare.

Here’s Brodee’s narrative…Kart Kountry was absolutley awesome!!!! I had been looking foward to driving my own go-cart since I knew we were going there. When we first got there, my first thought had been to race with Dayne and Ean. So we agreed to race. But after the first few turns in our competition, I unoffficially dropped out of the race, and started to experiment with my “vehicle”. Right before every turn I would slow down to almost a complete stop. Then I would slam my foot down on the gas as far as I could. While I would speed around the corner, I wouldn’t turn the steering wheel until the last second. Then I would crank the wheel hard. After a couple experiments, I found that I could drift like those guys in the gangster movies. Having the second fastest type of car also helped. (They give you your kart according to your age. So mine was faster than Dayne and Ean’s, and Mom and Dad’s was faster than mine.) So even though Dayne ended up winning the race (Ean dropped out as well) with a “daring move” as Dayne called it, I think I found something cooler then winning a race. Drifting. I can’t wait until I have my own car. I hope I can get a 2018 Camaro zl1 1le. That’s my dream at least. And if you get a chance, please look up that type of car. Trust me, it’s worth it. 🙂 
We did a few more errands before heading off to Louisville. Being July 3, we had some Indpenendence Day prep to do!

We did a few more errands before heading off to Louisville. Being July 3, we had some Indepenendence Day prep to do!

Our day ended with a walk across the Big Four Bridge. It spans the Ohio River from Kentucky to Indiana.

Our time spent in Virginia and West Virginia wasn’t planned to be a stop on the Walkabout. They were more of a means to an end since we needed to get to Kentucky. But the boys hadn’t been to VA, and none of us had been to WV, and adding two more states to our list was a bonus, too. We could call it a win-win.

We stopped at the Visitors’ Center just across the border into Virgina. It was such a nice, big, park-like setting.
Apparently, Virginia is for lovers. Who knew? But they don’t just mean the kissin’ kind. It also inlcudes nature lovers, antique lovers, music lovers, history lovers, you get the point.
Our short drive through VA was beautiful. We loved (wink-wink) it!
As for West Virginia, we spent a little more time there.  Of course, we had to enter the state properly, to the sounds of John Denver singing Take Me Home, Country Roads at the top of Big Boy’s lungs.

We enjoyed driving through serveral tunnels that go through the mountains. Such feats of engineering!

 

West Virginia was new for all of us. This was an exciting moment. It really didn’t look that much different than VA until we got up into the hills a little and the fog started rolling in. There was a quaint little town snuggled down in a long, narrow valley between the interstate and a mountainside. The mountain mist wafted over the top and it looked so charming.

Our goal was to make it at least to Charleston before shutting it down for the night. We did, and then some.

There was construction going on on I-64, and of course, it was the westbound side. They shut down the interstate for quite a few miles, so we had to detour through the hills. Albert and I were so tired. It was about midnight by now, but thankfully we made it to a Home Depot parking lot and were able to get some sleep.

Kentucky was awaiting us the next day.

After leaving BRP, we headed for South Carolina. We made a lunch stop in Lenoir, NC.We found the community center, and the boys were able to play indoor basketball for free. When they were done, the kind employees even gave them a lunch. It turned out there’s usually around twenty kids there each day. But for some reason, none of them had shown up, so there were lunches left over. The boys got to be the recipients of a few of them.

Since we were dry camping again, we found a WalMart in Tega Cay. It happened to be right next to Mr. Putty’s. We hopped on Groupon and found a deal for five and proceeded to putt-putt. It was a really fun memory.

 

 

Brodee is a Panthers fan, and he was excited to see their stadium.

We next set our wheels for Freedom Park. This is a fun place in Charlotte with many places to play. As we parked Big Boy, a police officer pulled up in front of us. Oh, no. Did we do something?
Albert got out to talk to him. They stood in front of the windshield talking. And talking. And talking. The boys and I sat there, trying not to be obvious, but also trying to lip read. And not very successfully. What was wrong?
The officer got back in his car and drove away. Albert got back in without a ticket. Whew! What was that about?
It turns out the officer and his wife have been wanting to buy an RV. He saw us pull in and came over to chat about that. You’ll never guess where they’d like to take their trip to….The Blue Ridge Parkway!! Well, hey, we’d just been there. He and Albert had a lot of fun discussing this topic. We hope he and his wife are able to enjoy that beautiful place soon!

The boys enjoyed Freedom Park and the Carolina Panthers sponsored skills course. There was even a 40yd dash run with a timing clock.

 

 

While driving to Trader Joe’s, (running low on Chocolate Cats again), we pulled up at a stop light. I looked to the right and saw a store we’d driven by earlier. It’s called The Map Shop.

I LOVE maps. Always have. Looking at maps is a cheap way to travel. The boys’ shower curtain is a map (my sister inspired us with her kids’), we have books and books on maps. Wall maps. And this store is all about maps. It thrilled my soul! Albert, being the easy-going type, made a detour for the boys and I and dropped us off. It was so fun being in that place.
We made it to the RV park and got settled in. Look what was across the street…

On Sabbath, we visited the University City SDA Church.

We enjoyed our time there, and afterwards were invited to share lunch at the home of one of the families. They and another family hosted us, including Melbee. The food was delicious – haystacks again – you just can’t go wrong with that! It was so relaxing and nice to get to know them. They even shuttled us in two cars from the church to their home so we wouldn’t have to drive Big Boy.
Later in the afternoon, we took off for Durham. About a year ago, on a travel show, we saw there’s a bike/hiking trail that spans fifteen states from Maine to Georgia. Part of it goes through Durham. We thought it’d be fun to ride a short portion of it.

 

As evening came on, we went to a park to enjoy some more outside time. Albert took Mel for a walk while the boys and I took to the tennis courts. They were excited to hit. But God had other plans.
While warming up, several kids came running up. They’d been having a cookout and saw us. They wanted to know if they could play, too. (“What rack will I use?”, was a question we heard. So cute. They meant racket.) Now, our boys had been really excited to play, and saying yes to these kids would mean that dream of really playing would have to wait for another day. But that’s what we did. Getting to share tennis with kids who’ve only ever played once before, and not really, according to them, was a privilege.
When the boys were little, we would take them to the courts. They’ve been swinging rackets for years. While on the courts back in Windsor, when the boys were 2, 4, and 6, a really kind lady stopped as we were playing. She’d been down at the other end with some friends. She gave us a ball that was perfect for beginners. We couldn’t believe it. She just gave it to us. And then she said she was a tennis coach, and taught kids. Would we be interested? She wasn’t in it for money. She wanted kids to have a chance to see how fun tennis is. That was the beginning of a friendship that continues today.
I looked quickly through our bag as this new group of kids was coming onto the courts. No beginner balls left. We’ve given all ours away, in keeping with the Anna tradition. But we had an hour of fun with Gabby, Chase, Hunter, Audra, and even three year old Caleb. And hopefully they’ll want to try tennis again.