Bridges, Rock Formations, Fog & Finally Family!

Gary was a little surprised that we actually left camp before 8 am this morning. I did not get pictures of Cottonwoods RV Camp because of the storm yesterday and forgot to take some before we left this morning. The blue sky was a welcome sight!

Bridges, of course. Giant sized erector sets come to mind when I see theses type of bridges!

Rocks along the interstate always fascinate me, as you well know by reading our blogs. I think if I were to go back to school I would take geology classes again. I only remember enough to appreciate the landscapes.

Fog in the valley seemed unusual. We had warning signs to watch out for it for the next 5 miles. It looked worse looking at it from afar than it was when we drove through the area.

The Kansas City Royals stadium was just off the interstate. When we talked to Wes and Nancie they told us that both sports stadiums/arenas in Kansas City had just been renovated. Their neighbor had tickets for Sunday's game that he offered but we wanted to spend more time being able to visit with the Fargo Clan so I am glad that Wes declined the offer.

We found highway 50 again! We were just about to Wes and Nancie's house and had to get off on old highway 56. Apparently it was in Gardner that the three major westward trails split apart - the Santa Fe, California and Oregon trails were no longer together after their beginnings at Independence. Wes said that you can still see some of the wagon ruts not far from their house.

We made it to cousin Wes & Nancie's house! It sits back from the road about 200 feet and has lots of trees and grass - like having your own park in your front yard. I will have to take some pictures from the street looking back so you can see the great piece of land they have.

After visiting at the house and having a nice lunch we took a short ride around Gardner. This is the one room schoolhouse where Nancie's Dad went to school. It is an historic spot now and has a small museum on the property to tell some of its history.

We drove into town and stopped in front of Uncle Harry & Aunt Jessie's Gardner house! It did look familiar to me even though I had not been there for 34 years! Wow, time flies. We drove by the place where Wes works, which is located on the old Naval Air Station where Uncle Harry had worked. Like many US bases it had been converted to an industrial area and only a few buildings were still operating under the government. (I think that's what Wes told me - correct me if I'm wrong, please!) There were a few original buildings from the Air Base still there.

Wes was helping Nancie prepare dinner - I promised them I would take better pictures on Sunday that showed their faces! The dinner was great and we ate too much! We had a chance to share some up to date pictures of our family and they especially loved seeing pictures of Mom and Dad. Wes and Nancie took a Mediterranean cruise last year and Nancie had put together a great album showing and telling about their adventures. I envy people who can do scrap-booking, but think I will just continue with my 'blog' album because I have boxes of pictures at home that have never been put in regular albums.

Son Jonathan (Jon) is home after finishing his college degree in Construction Management! He was the only one I took a decent picture of today! Jon hopes to find a job in the nearby area but right now jobs are really scarce - our economy will need to pick up a little so that the college graduates have more opportunities.

The dogs got to run and run and run when we arrived today and loved every minute of it. The property next door has a pond and Apollo and Lady found it right away! Duh!!! After being tied up or enclosed for so long it was fun to see them run and jump.

Tomorrow we are going to the WWI Museum in Kansas City and out for Mexican Food. Nancie had looked up some sights in the area that they thought would be interesting but had not seen themselves. It sounds like what we do when we have company - we finally let ourselves go see the things we never take time for otherwise! When I asked Wes which one of the places he would like to see the most he picked the WWI Museum. I had looked at my AAA travel guide before we arrived and it was one of them on my list, too! Wes and Nancie (& Jon) all love Mexican food (yes!) and since we have been missing our visits to our local Compadres Mexican Restaurant in Dayton I was thrilled to hear that they would love to eat Mexican when we offered to take them out to dinner tomorrow.

Gary wants to install our new electrical "protection device" tomorrow morning then we will head out for KC. Can't wait until tomorrow.