Oklahoma City update

We've been here in the Oklahoma City area for 10 days now. Space rent for September, $285 which includes electricity, is due tomorrow. Barb has had 2 medical appointments so far and is scheduled for gastric bypass surgery in 2 weeks. The VA has also scheduled her for surgery on her shoulder which she has been waiting 5 years for. A veteran friend of ours, who had his leg partially amputated earlier this year, has been told that he will have to undergo additional amputation of his leg in the coming days because he is not healing. Another veteran friend of ours will be undergoing breast surgery for cancer in the coming days. They have both been there when we needed morale understanding from friends and we have both assured them that we will be here for them with our morale support. With Barb's medical treatments and follow ups and our morale support for our other disabled veteran friends, we will probably be in Oklahoma most of the winter.

Midwest City, OK

We are at the Parkway Mobile Home Park in Midwest City, OK.

Grove, OK

We are at the Bear's Den Camping Resort in Grove, Oklahoma. It's been sixteen months since we were last here. Grove used to be a fun place to go during the summer months but it's drying up like the rest of the rural towns around the area. No activity around Bear's Den Resort either. We have a full hookup site until Friday then I think we'll just head down the road. Barb has some medical appointments next week in Norman and then surgery scheduled next month and we have a daughter and two granddaughters in Oklahoma City. We'll be staying in the Oklahoma City area for 2 months then heading down to the Texas Gulf Coast for the winter.

Hannibal, MO Day 2

We done a little sightseeing in Hannibal today. First we went up to Lover's Leap for a bird's eye view of the town. A couple of days ago a couple of women drove off the cliff, by accident, and lived to tell about it.

View of Hannibal from Lover's Leap

Lover's Leap from the river.

Next we went and toured Samuel Clemens' (Mark Twain's) boyhood home.

Mark Twain's boyhood home.

The fence that Tom Sawyer had his friends whitewash for him.

Huckleberry Finn's House.

Then we went for an hour excursion aboard the M/V Mark Twain Riverboat. Barb wants to do some more cruising on the Mississippi River now.

The M/V Mark Twain.

Afterwards we went to lunch at the Mark Twain Restaurant, a visit to the Mark Twain Museum and Gallery featuring 11 original Norman Rockwell paintings, then to see a live showing featuring Jim Waddell as Mark Twain back at the campground.

Jim Waddell as Mark Twain

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
- Mark Twain

Hannibal, MO

"I have found out there ain't no surer way to find out whether you like people than to travel with them."

---Mark Twain

Barb and I have been traveling together for 6 years now and we still like each other.

We left Kieler, WI around 9:00 this morning on our way to the Mark Twain Cave & CampGrounds in Hannibal, MO. We travelled in 4 states today, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois & Missouri, and crossed the Mississippi River 3 times. We went through towns named Dubuque, Key West, Davenport, Roseville, Tennessee & West Point. We'll be here for 2 days leaving out Sunday for Grove, Oklahoma.

Mark Twain wrote...
Tom Sawyer: "By and by somebody shouted, "Who's ready for the cave?' Everybody was. Bundles of candles were procured and straightaway there was a general scamper up the hill. The mouth of the cave was up the hillside - an opening shaped like a letter A. Within was a small chamber chilly as an ice-house and walled by nature with solid limestone that was dewy with cold sweat." -excerpt from "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"

Kieler, WI

We are staying at the Rustic Barn RV Park in Kieler, WI, just outside of Dubuque, IA, for the night. Next stop will be in Hannibal, MO, home town of Mark Twain.

7th Anniversary

Today is our 7th anniversary married to each other, our 4th anniversary of buying in as 50% owners of our boat the Shangri-La with Frank and Jill Wilti and our 2nd as full owners of the Shangri-La. We celebrated the occasion with friends by having a prime rib dinner, cooked by Barb, and drinks at the Oconto Yacht Club and then a camp fire at our camp site at the Holtwood Campground here in Oconto.