Motoring

Hey, Y'all,
Well, I must admit I had a lot of thinking to do about the "M" posting. I know a lot of you all will be writing about Mama's, and I could have done so, too. As most people do, I have a lot to say about mamas, but I decided to go in a different direction.

My husband and I have done a lot of traveling over the past 35 years, and I wanted to write some about a particular trip we made in the summer of 1994, just after I retired from teaching. We took a three week motor trip up into the area where I lived when I first was married to the father of my children. We visited a lot of places on that tour. We made no motel reservations ahead of time, except to reserve for the day that we would be stopping.

We spent some time in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and some time in Kendallville, Indiana, and also visited Warsaw, and walked around that city, and I pointed out to him some of the places that I was familiar with. We walked in Bixler Park, where Charlie, Margaret (my sister) and I took Carol to play the day before Teresa was born.

We went on west then and into Illinois. We traveled over a good deal of the midwest and stopped at a lot of tourist places, like St. Joseph Missouri where the Pony Express began. We went to the Henry P. Dooley Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska. We went onto a steamboat there in Omaha (somewhere) and looked at it. We toured several historic churches, among them was a St. Ann's Church. I think it may have been in Minnesota.

In Minnesota we also visited Walnut Grove which was a town where Laura Ingalls lived as a girl. They have the whole section of town preserved where she lived. We really enjoyed doing the tour of that and did a lot of walking and looking. It was wonderful.

We also stopped at a house and saw where Jesse James was shot. I don't know what town that was. (You must realize it has been sixteen years since we took that trip). We also went to a woolen mill (Fariboult) in Minnesota, and were able to tour it. I bought a woolen hat there, and wore it for many years but somehow I no longer have it, darn it!

While in one of the towns in Minnesota, we saw a high school production of "Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat" as produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber originally. It was really great.

One of the highlights of the trip for my husband, Gramps, was when we stopped at Hibbing, Minnesota and saw the Hull-Rust-Mahoning Iron Mine. It is the largest open pit iron mine in the world and in 1966 was added to the National Historical Landmarks of America.

While in Minnesota, we went on into Minneapolis-St. Paul and went to the Mall of America. OH, my! What a sight that was. Right now, thinking of the trip we made just about blows my mind. We eventually made our way into Canada for the first (and now I know, the last) time ever. It was something I won't forget (unless I wind up being like Gramps now).

We saw a lot more things on our motor trip, but I won't say much more right now. At the time we took this trip I was 61 and Gramps was 68 and still had all of his left foot. He had to have the front half of his left foot removed 4 years later due to an infection in his foot. He is a diabetic, and the foot would not heal. Fortunately the doctor was able to save the back part of his foot and the ankle.

Almost every year we have traveled out to Texas to visit our daughter and her family out there. We have also traveled to visit our daughter, Teresa, and her family who lived in Florida, every year. We traveled to visit my brother, John, and his family in Arizona. He passed on about a year and a half ago. We have also visited with nephew, David and his family, who live in Arizona. Well, you get the idea...we love to travel and most usually, I have driven. My sister-in-law, Imazo, told her sister, Barbara, that she knows how happy I am behind the steering wheel. She said, "Ruby is happier than a raccoon eatin' on an ear of corn, when she is behind that wheel". Yep, that about says it.

My daddy loved to go. Anytime anyone used the words, "Let's go", he had his hat on his head and was ready to take off. I guess I must have gotten the wanderlust in my feet from him.

That is about it for today. I look forward to reading all the postings for today, but it will have to wait until this evening. I got things to do, places to go, people to see. This is Blabbin' Grammy signing off for today. I'm thanking all of you other people who visit my blog. I appreciate "seeing" each of you. Bye for now. Much love to each of you. More later.