JUNE 14-16: Jemison, AL to Shawnee, OK

The first day's trip was from Jemison to West Memphis, AR and Tom Sawyer's Mississippi River Park located along the shore of Old Man River.  A few weeks ago, the park was under several feet of water due to the flooding river, but this is a common occurrence and the campground crew does a great job of getting things back in order quickly. The campground is not fancy - mostly gravel sites with full hookups, in a remote location on the river side of the levee, but the big draw here is the chance to watch the river traffic passing by. Park benches are placed along the shore line enticing you to come and sit a spell, watching the ever changing water patterns, the birds and the barges, as life slows down around you.

Barge heading downstream

Barge chugging upstream

 We spent about an hour, enjoying the nice breeze, and the river, as the sun gave way to twilight.


Yesterday, we got up early and were surprised to find friends nearby (Candi & Brian) who were heading to Shawnee also. Day 2 found us traveling from West Memphis to Overland RV Park in Van Buren, AR just 5 miles from Oklahoma. Our travel was slowed by several downpours, some with high winds, a road construction delay, and a long backup near Little Rock due to an accident on I-440 which backed up traffic on I-40 near Little Rock. Overland RV Park is a simple RV park with easy access from I-40,  but does offer long pull-thru sites with free cable TV, and great WiFi speed.  Overnight, a severe thunderstorm came through with wind gusts over 45 MPH, and we were a little nervous  that our new slide toppers might sustain some damage.

This morning dawned sunny and no damage was found. We finished our journey to the Heart of Oklahoma Exposition Center in Shawnee, OK about 12:30 P.M. We will be here for the next week for the American Coach Association National Rally starting on Monday with a chapter pre-rally being held this weekend. This large facility has over 700 RV sites and hosts many large RV rallies every year along with many other events.  The weather will be hot during our stay, but all of our gatherings will be held in air-conditioned comfort inside one of the buildings.

JUNE 7-13: Taking It Easy at Minooka

The route from Brooksville, FL to our next event on the calendar in Oklahoma took us right back through central Alabama.  We needed some time for R&R, so we came back to Minook Park, in Jemison, AL for another week.  This also gave us another opportunity to see some of our Alabama family including our new great-grandson, and some old friends.  As much as we love to travel, every so often we need to have down time, and that's what we've been doing for the last week....nothing very exciting, just quiet daily living in Little House.  The weather has been very warm and humid....typical Alabama in June conditions.

Tomorrow, we start a 3 days of travel to Shawnee, OK.

JUNE 2 - JUNE 6: Trip for Toppers

When we were at the Maintenance Session in Goshen, IN in early May, we made arrangements to have new slide toppers installed on Little House.  The original toppers were almost 10 years old and were showing their age.  We purchased the new toppers from Stone Vos but it was too late to have them made and then installed in Goshen.  Since we were already going to be in the south in central Alabama at the end of May, and didn't have anything better to do, we made plans to travel to Brooksville, FL (Stone Vos's home location) and have the toppers installed there.

We left Jemison, AL on June 2, and spent the night in Quincy, FL at Beaver Lake Campground (basically hookups in a field ). While we can use the air conditioners while running the generator, as a precaution,we don't go to sleep with the generator in use. This time of year, nights in the south are warm and humid, and definitely justify using A/C.



June 3, we drove to the Campers Holiday near Brooksville, FL. This is an 'over 55' community and RV Park nestled under tall pin oak trees , a well-kept park in quiet, country setting with few occupants this time of year. We had a long back-in site with full hookups at half-price using Passport America.  The slide topper installation was done on Monday, June 5 on our campsite and took about 3 hours.

Tuesday, June 6, we hit the road back north, with rain most of the way,  for an overnight stop in Dothan, AL at the Cherry Blossom RV Park and Mobile Home Park.  We had a level, pull-thru graveled site in a nice park with friendly workers for half-price through Passport America.

MAY 24 - JUNE 2: Family, Festivities, and Free Time

On Wednesday, May 24, we left Shepherdsville, Ky early enough to get to Minooka Park in Jemison, AL by 4 P.M., thus avoiding rush hour while going through Birmingham.  We accomplished this even though we had an hour's delay near the KY/TN state line due to a bad accident, and more slowdowns going through Nashville due to heavy downpours.  When we pulled into Minooka Park, the sun was shining.

Our trip to Alabama was for a family get-together to celebrate family graduations,and to have a baby shower for our first great grandchild, expected on June 22. The group that gathered for the holiday weekend included 4 of our 5 children with their families, relatives from Louisville, Ky and Powhatan, VA,  and extended family members and friends. There were plenty of hugs to go around and many conversations as we caught up on news and happenings, as well as card games and of course a lot of food.

The baby shower that was scheduled for Saturday turned into a family luncheon because Matthew Cruze Martin had decided he wanted to arrive 5 weeks early and was born on May 24.  All presents were delivered a few days later to the proud parents who were staying in  the hospital lodge so they could be with their son as much as possible. After spending a week in NICU, Cruze is now home and doing great!



There was another reason to celebrate this weekend as well.  Our oldest son, David, and his girlfriend, Heather, announced their engagement!  Our family continues to grow!






Sunday, many of us went to a local restaurant for lunch and were entertained by our grandson, Steven, a fine guitarist and singer, Hank's brother, Rick, an experienced musician and vocalist, and occasional backup singing from our daughter, Kathy and her daughter, Kimberly.  The music gene is well represented in our family tree!




After all of the excitement over the weekend, we needed to regroup before moving on, so we stayed in Jemison until June 2.  This gave us the chance to meet our new great grandson in person and welcome Cruze into the family.

MAY 22-24: Shepherdsville, Ky

On Monday, May 22, we left the Green County Fairgrounds in Xenia, OH for the 3 hour drive to Shepherdsville, KY and Grandma's RV Park.  We've stayed at Grandma's many times.....nothing fancy, level gravel sites, full hookups.....but convenient access  to our family members.  Monday and Tuesday nights we visited with Selene's brother and sister-in-law (Joel & Jan), Selene's sister and niece (Mary Kay and Colleen), another niece and her daughter ( Carolyn and Sophie), Hank's cousin (Sister Marilyn)  and Joel's neighbors (Ehret family).  For Tuesday's lunch, we met up with a childhood friend and schoolmate of Selene's (Rosie). We always enjoy catching up on family and friend news in person when we're coming through the Louisville area.

MAY 17-21: Dayton Hamvention

  


Hamvention setup was in full swing when we arrived midday on Wednesday, and we were quickly led to our site to get settled in for the next 5 nights.  The campsites are close together on grass, but the advantage of  being just a short walk from the hamfest activities is huge. There were several of our friends who parked nearby.

Thursday night, we went to El Meson Mexican Restaurant and Cantina in nearby West Carrollton, Oh, with a group of ham/RV friends.  The restaurant is owned by a couple from Columbia who are also hams and RVers.

Hamvention officially started on Friday and lasted until Sunday afternoon.  This event was moved from  Hara Arena in Dayton (which closed) to the Green County Fairgrounds in Xenia, OH.  Moving an event that draws over 25,000 people from all over the world is not an easy task, but the 600+ volunteers did a great job overall.  Unfortunately, it rained at least once everyday, so the flea market in the racetrack infield was muddy with so many people walking through.  But Hamvention proved its value once again with the opportunities to learn about, look at, and purchase anything to do with the amateur radio hobby as well as other items. For us, its mostly a social event as we meet old friends, and make a few new ones.

Saturday evening, we had dinner at Rob's Restaurant in Brookville, OH with another group who have been going there for many years.




Our camping area (one of two) was in the upper left corner.  Public parking was out of the picture at the bottom along with 4 remote parking lots that had bus transportation to the gate.

Click and drag to look around

Hamvention 2018 gave away over $40,000 in prizes, mostly donated by vendors. When the hamfest closedon Sunday, a drawing was held for 22 main prizes (these are shipped if necessary), and also for the hourly prizes that are not claimed during the fest and given to those that attend the prize drawing.  Tickets are drawn and numbers called until each hourly prize is given away....always an interesting part of the hamfest.

MAY15-16: Mercer County Fairgrounds, Celina, OH

Monday, May 15 was a short travel day from Decatur, IN to Celina, OH.  The Mercer County Fairgrounds offers discount camping rates through Passport America.   Over this past winter, they added sewer connections to all of their sites. However, the water was off to most of the camping area as they were finishing up the project in preparation for a large event during the next weekend.  They let us stay next to one of the buildings, and after getting the power connection turned on, bringing extra hose to us to get to the nearest water connection, and removing a stuck sewer cap, we were ready for our two-day stay.

Celina is also the location for Cruising America RV Service.  Last fall, we purchased some LED tubes from Kevin, and two of them had failed, so we exchanged those for new ones.