Down to the party

The trip to Texas is a long one – and we made it longer by doing some sight seeing. Saturday we made it to 6 PM mass in Litchfield. I looked around the congregation and only found 3 people smiling – is the economy really that bad? Since I had broken a tooth, there was a time out for a repair job at WalMart. The permanent repair can wait until we get back to OK. After supper in the Casita I did a couple of quick caches and watched some PBS. We had tried to find some decent radio on the road, but it was all loud and obnoxious music. I guess Illinois doesn’t support NPR (my favorite).

Years ago we went as a family to visit Meramec Caverns in Stanton MO. Well, Cathy and I decided to go on the tour again. The caverns are basically the same but the path through the cave is much more people friendly. We even saw the spot where Michelle lost her contact lens, some 35 years ago, only to have one of the guides find it.

After the caverns we proceeded to Turkey Creek SKP Resort where we ran into Sharon Bradshaw, a long time SKP friend. Tom did some geocaching (and discussion about same) and Cathy lay up to rest her weary bones after “caving”.

Cathy’s thermostat dictates that she have more air conditioning than is possible with the battery source in the van – so we drove all the next day to keep her cool and went as far as Texarkana where we stayed at Camp WalMart.

We stopped at the Dallas Area Red Cross Chapter where Tom serviced the Sysco Kitchen and made arrangements for a promotion interview. After lunch we visited Jeff and he showed us around the Bachman Lake Library, where he is a librarian.

After stopping to see Jim at Omni Direct we ran into a little problem – or should I say a little problem ran into us. A car tried to pass the van and trailer as Tom made a wide U turn. The van stopped the car dead – totaling it. The van only had slight rear panel damage and a blown tire. In about an hour the tire was replaced and we were on our way to Holiday COE Park in Benbrook, where we stayed while taking care of all of the things planned for the week.

The 75th Birthday Party was a fantastic success. Daughter Mary did a great job of planning it and Jim and Gail were excellent hosts. We ate – we swam – we played – and we shared. We were presented with picture albums that had our whole life on display. Lots of memories and stories came back! Here’s just a few of the pictures of Tom, Cathy, and family.