Where are J&K now?

Funny you should ask! Well after our adventure in Oshkosh we began our long journey back to Texas. We decided to leave Waupun on Saturday after commitments at the AirVenture event. This meant driving later in the day than we normally like to do but we wanted to get to Elgin, IL early enough to make church the next day. We were able to move our campsite over to site 54 for the entire time of our stay in the Paul Wolffe campground.

This Paul Wolffe campground is a wonderful base for visiting Chicago.

After church on Sunday we went to Rick and Anita Fugiel's home for barbecued ribs. We met them on our first visit to Calvary Chapel Cardunal on our way up to Oshkosh and they were kind enough to invite us to their home when we returned. We spent the afternoon by their pool getting to know one another and had a lovely time. It is such a blessing to meet brothers and sisters in the family of God wherever we go!

We had entertained the idea of getting to Rate Field in Chicago to see the White Soxes play the Yankees but the weather on Monday was stormy with thunder, lightning and windy conditions. In fact, we found out later that tornadoes had touched down to the south of our location. So Monday and Tuesday we stuck around the campground and relaxed in our air conditioned RV.

Illinois State Fairgrounds Route 66 Experience: An outdoor walk-through exhibit highlighting roadside signs and memorabilia located along Sangamon Avenue.

Wednesday, July 29th we traveled to the Illinois State Fair Campgrounds in Springfield, IL about four hours south from Paul Wolffe campground. The camp host there was very friendly and drove us around the fairgrounds to show off the Illinois Route 66 exhibit on the property. He suggested we check it out after twilight to see it all lit up. We found out about the Abraham Lincoln home and museum too late to visit, so another trip to Springfield is going to have to happen at a later date.

Thursday, July 30th was a long driving day from one Springfield to another. This time 322 miles and five plus hours to the Bass Pro parking lot in Springfield, Missouri. We decided to boondock despite the warm weather. It got into the high 80's in the rig but we opened all the windows and tried sleeping with just our small 12 volt fan in the bedroom to keep us cool. Would we do it again? No, but now we know our limits.

Friday morning we departed Bass Pro's parking lot to drive to Flat Rock Creek Campground in Chouteau, Oklahoma. Three glorious day with 50A and water. Close enough to visit four different friends in the area. This campground is an Army Corps of Engineers facility (COE) and our site for three days was only $36 total!

You get so much more for your money at any Army Corp of Engineers campground with the America the Beautiful Pass. We had a lovely site close to the lake with extra parking for visitors.

On Saturday we drove over to Francisco and Kim Henningsen's new home in Coweta, Oklahoma to have a barbecue and fellowship with them and some of our other friends: Lori Gracey, her husband Dave Oldham and Dayna Murphy. We had wonderful fellowship by their pool with Kim's mother Francis joining all of us and followed by a gastronomical meal together with New York steaks, homemade potato salad, pasta salad and Caesar salad. We ended the evening with homemade ice cream on peach & berry cobbler. Now I know we stayed too late because when we got back to the campground the main gate was closed and locked! We forgot we had a curfew!! We had to resort to parking our truck outside the entrance of the campground and walking to our RV...but it was soooo worth it!

Sunday, August 2nd we had Paul and Rhonda Harlin, friends from our old California days and RVICS drive up from their home in Arkansas to join us for lunch. They recently purchased a 100+ year old home on some acreage and they're fixing it up while Paul works his handyman business. They just returned from a mission trip to Uganda and shared some of the needs and experiences from the journey. They've had many changes in their lives since leaving the RVICS ministry and it was great to get caught up.

We're back in Texas now. Monday, August 3rd we drove down to have lunch with my cousin Dina Hansen just outside of Dallas before checking into Bear Creek COE campground in Benbrook, TX. Bear Creek gives RVers spacious, level sites with a relaxing lakeside setting and scenic sunsets. RVers like the quiet atmosphere, decent privacy, and convenient access to both the lake and nearby towns. Shade and views add to the outdoor enjoyment, and it's easy to get out for shopping or dining in Benbrook or Fort Worth. We will stay here for the next three days.

We have a great Bear Creek campsite and I wish we could enjoy it more, but the temperature outside is too hot as it approached 100ºF.

We might venture into Arlington, TX to see the Texas Rangers play the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday. It's a day game so it might be toasty but fortunately Globe Field has a retractable roof and they'll close it on really hot days. Wednesday is dollar hot dog day so you know I will take advantage of that opportunity.