Man's Greatest Inventions

The Texas Aggie asked an engineer, "What was mankind's greatest invention?" and he replied that it had to be the screw, the wheel or the inclined plane, for they enabled the building of the world's greatest landmarks. The Aggie replied that he had thought about it, too, and decided that it must be the Thermos Bottle: "It keeps hot liquids hot AND cold liquids cold!! How does it know?!!!"

The T-Sipper (a graduate of the illustrious University of Texas), however, came up with the correct answer and is here demonstrating to said Aggie the preparation of what will ultimately be known as man's greatest invention: the S'More!!! The Aggie is listening closely (she explains it all slowly) and will (probably) be able to do this on his own in the future. We drove down from Edmond to Dallas and stayed with our good friends Jon and Geri Simms in their fifth wheel trailer, fixed S'Mores over a campfire, and danced with the Bluebonnet Scottish Country Dancers at the Texas State Fair. We performed four shows on Saturday and Sunday and had a great time being together again. Thanks, Jon and Geri and all the Bluebonnets!
Back in Edmond we had parties with the family, including Ryan's 6th. Happy Birthday, Sweet Girl!

One of Reagan's school lessons called for the development of this improv acting troupe. After their scintillating production before an admiring audience (Daddy) they received a prolonged ovation and, best of all, a delayed bedtime! Hooray!

All our kids pooled their money and surprised us with a dinner cruise on the Oklahoma River, which they gave to us at a surprise "41st Anniversary Party" at the home of Rodney and Linda Ross, Rod's parents. And what a surprise! They said we were going there for a "game night" and we fell for it.

Reagan and Ryan spent several overnights with us at the campground, treated each morning to Granddad's (soon-to-be) famous French Toast Breakfast. Mmmm! Makes me hungry again just thinking about it.

One of my favorite words comes from the French: "rapprochement", the reestablishment of cordial relations. Our word "reconciliation" is similar. One of the joys of our last decade has been the development of cordial relations and love with Roger's father's side of his family, many of whom live in the Oklahoma City area. His parents' divorce when he was six effectively severed contact until we were stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma in 1995.

We had dinner together while on this visit. Here's Roger with Aunt Betty ("Boop"), flanked on the outside by his Uncle Bill and Aunt Debbie and their newest grandchild. A great evening!

After a wonderful time with family in Edmond, and having our motor home maintenanced by the great folks at Lee's RV City, (we highly recommend them if you're in need of repairs or an RV) we drove north toward Lincoln.

But we spent our night on the road in Hutchinson, KS at the home of Darlene Detwiler, a friend and nurse with whom we worked in Kenya over thirty years ago. We have written but not met since that time. She greeted us with a marvelous nostalgic dinner of Indian curry and we reminisced and looked at old pictures until the wee hours. (From L-R: Meg, Roger, Aineah (Kenyan), Darlene, Bill and Bea Anderson; ca.1970)

In turn we had Darlene over in the AM for breakfast together in our home (parked out front!) A blessed time together (more "rapprochement") and what we hope will be the first of many more.

Coming to Lincoln each year and staying with our good friends Fred and Janet has given us opportunity to keep growing friendships which have been in process for many years.
Lunch at a local restaurant with Sandy and Bill Thurmond, Baylor game day with Christ's Place friends at the home of Mike and Melody Kenney, a revisit at Wind Chimes Chinese with Carol Newsom, as well as lots of visits with Roger's brother Randy and nieces and nephews that have now moved to Lincoln.

Football!! Another in the list of man's greatest inventions!!!
There's absolutely nothing like a game day/or night in Lincoln, Nebraska! If you love college football, it should be on your "bucket list" to attend at least once before you die. The Sea of Red is phenomenal! AND there's NOTHING BETTER on game day than enjoying a Runza (also a recipe) at the stadium and watching the Huskers beat Oklahoma 10-3! Wish you had been there!!!

Our First Granddaughter Trip!

Whether you read the title above as "our first trip with a Granddaughter" or "our trip with our First Granddaughter", you'd be correct! One of our long range plans/goals in fulltime RVing was to travel with grandchildren and spend some extended quality time together. This year we were able to realize that dream! Ashley's beginning homeschooling this year provided the perfect opportunity. After a great visit with Stacey and Darren and family in Hernando, FL, Ashley said 'goodbye' to her folks, we loaded her up along with her school books and began our extended "field trip."

First major stop: Pensacola, Florida. We stayed almost a week at the Pensacola Naval Air Station Family Camp right near the beach.
The Pensacola Scottish Country Dancing group meets on Tuesday nights under the direction of Richard and Connie Walker. They're a very cordial and welcoming group; stop in if you're in the area.

We had a blast and Ashley danced great! The Navy's Blue Angels have practice sessions on many mornings. These are free and open to the public. They practice directly behind the Museum of Naval Aviation, which, along with its simulators and IMAX theater, is a must visit.

Nearby is the Gulf Islands National Seashore, part of the national park system, and it includes Fort Barrancas, Fort Pickens and the nearby beaches.

Ashley wanted to explore every nook and cranny of the old forts.

On the road again! We spent a night at Yogi Bear's in Louisiana, then moved on to Texas. A Texas waffle was waiting for Ashley at our first stop in the Lone Star State. We spent a couple of nights in Beaumont before moving on.

Once in San Antonio area we began sight-seeing in earnest. Ashley and Roger spent an afternoon exploring one of the old missions, San Jose. Along with Concepcion, San Juan, and Espada, these compose another of the nation's national parks. San Jose is one of the most intact and beautiful.

Ashley completed the Junior Ranger program at San Jose and was duly sworn in, with appropriate ceremony.

We reconnected with our friends Jon and Geri Simms in San Antone and enjoyed some wonderful meals and dancing together.

We spent the next month between the Summit, San Antonio, New Braunfels and Kyle, Texas. Abey and family have a new home in Kyle and it's lovely! Phineas is loving all the attention from cousin Ashley and grandparents.

We enjoyed another visit to the Ethiopian restaurant in Pflugerville with Abey's family, Ashley and Meg's parents.

No trip to New Braunfels is ever complete without a walk in Landa Park and feeding the ducks.

Located between San Antonio and New Braunfels are the Natural Bridge Caverns and nearby Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch. We spent a lovely day exploring both.

Finally the time came to move on. We spent a couple of nights at Dinosaur Valley State Park near Glen Rose, Texas. This is the home of remarkably well-preserved prints from several species of very early Texas residents.

It's really hard to overstate the value of this kind of field trip. We all had a wonderful time. It was, however, a very hot dry August and I'd recommend the fall or the spring for your visit.

We arrived in Oklahoma the next day. We experienced a blowout on a rear tire of the motor home; no associated problems. We spent one night at the Fort Sill RV camp, exploring the nearby Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge.

After her daughter had been gone "long enough," Stacey flew up from Florida and spent a week with Andrea and us at Edmond, Oklahoma. We had a great time together exploring the area. We enjoyed a fun day at Frontier City, a local theme park. A short excursion to Arcadia, OK brought us to "Pops", an eatery dedicated to the soft drink. They have every conceivable type of pop/soda water/soft drink, from "All Natural Apple-Beer" to Avery's "Bug Barf" (kiwi-pineapple): "It's SODAsguting...Totally Gross Soda."

"Pops" is located along Historic Route 66 just a half mile from Arcadia's Round Barn. Both are within 5 miles of I-35 and worth including in your travels.
And yes, that is a GPS in Meg's hand; we had to pick up the local geocaches while we were there.

We enjoyed a fun meal together at the local Japanese steakhouse, entertained by the clever knife handling of the chef.

OK, be honest now: how many of you knew Oklahoma City had a river? Really? Well, we didn't until Stacey arranged tickets for our early morning cruise on the Oklahoma River. It's a 1 1/2 hour trip which includes a trolley ride back to your car at the dock. It was quite beautiful!

Of course, Ryan couldn't be satisfied until she "helped" the captain pilot our boat.

We stopped for a photo-op under this sign in Bricktown next to the ballpark, for obvious reasons. Oklahoma City has done a magnificent job of reclaiming and beautifying their downtown area and any visit should include lots of "wandering time." Take in a baseball game if you can. Bricktown Ballpark annually hosts the BigXII baseball championship tournament in May.
We visited the Oklahoma City National Memorial, a beautiful but grim reminder of the tragic bombing there in 1995.

Worth a visit! After a week Stacey and Ashley left us to return to their family in Florida. It was a wonderful "field trip" with our granddaughter, and the final verdict: we'd love to do it again! We're looking forward to the next time.

Thanks for reading.