June 16 Day 8 Monday

Didn't have a chance to  post anything yesterday because I wanted to put on pictures and didn't have access to wifi. Apparently I can't post pictures from the ipad or iphone. Anyway we had a very nice Father's Day ending with a wonderful dinner at Fogo de Chao in Addison, TX. If you are like me, you haven't been there before. Although they have restaurants all over the US. It is a Brazilian Steakhouse. They have servers and gauchos. The gauchos bring lots of different kinds of meats around on skewers. They cut off a piece and give it to you. The lamb chops were great, plus several different cuts of beef, pork, and chicken. That was the second round of the dinner. The first round was a beautiful help-yourself salad bar. It could have been the whole meal by itself!!

 

 

In the above picture (Lon, Natalie, and Rob a friend) you can see my plate of salad!

The coasters are to signal to the gauchos that you want more meat. If you leave it green, they just keep coming back with more meat. Red means STOP! I was going to take a picture of my plate when I started eating but forgot until most of it was gone. :-) It is a very popular restaurant.  They had over 1200 reservations for yesterday. So they served over 2000 guests. Pretty amazing. 
We had a very nice visit with Natalie. Was great for her to spend Father's Day with her dad. She made a big batch of chocolate chip cookies for us to take. A good part of them are gone tonight!!
Tonight we are in Wichita, Kansas. It's very windy and hot but clear. Been 93 most of the day. We left Dallas about 1030 this am. Drove about an hour north to Winstar Casino in Thackerville, OK. It is billed as the world's biggest casino. It goes on forever!!  We had lunch at Toby Keith's Bar and Grill. Was very good. Lon did well on the slots so we left ahead of the game.
Lon is tired tonight but again didn't sleep in the car so he missed his nap. He's in bed already watching the College World Series game with Vanderbilt and UC Irvine. Vandy is winning at this point.
Will try to post tomorrow night since should have wifi. I think we will make it to Denver tomorrow. Will be a long day but want to get out west before it's time to turn around and head home. 
Take care. Have a good night all. Thanks for reading and commenting  when you can. <3

June 14 Day 6. Flag Day

Today was a day for relaxing. Lon took a nice long nap and I had a nice visit to Quilt Country! We visited with a friend of Natalie's and then had an excellent dinner made by Natalie. We had Seared Petite Lamb Chops with Rosemary Balsamic reduction. Had good weather today - off and on cloudy with some wind, hot and humid. It's bedtime here in Texas !! Nite all. Take care.

June 13 day 5 (Friday the 13th)

It's been a Good Friday the 13th. Last night we stayed in Marshall Texas at a Hampton Inn. Had a nice breakfast at the hotel before leaving for Dallas. Needed to get fortified in preparation for Dallas traffic. Fortunately the weather was good. When we got close to Dallas and Plano I just had to find Fabric Fanatics quilt Shop. I'm friends with them on Facebook and had won some fabric from them last year. It was well worth the detour to find it. They stock only batiks!!! My favorite. A good part of their inventory was gone to a quilt show in Cincinnati and then Chicago. Even so, there were more bolts of gorgeous fabrics than I had seen in one shop. I had to shop fast. Lon was waiting in the car - getting antsy and ready to see his daughter!  Sorry - no time for photos there.  Good thing because it's looking like I can't add photos here from my phone. Don't have wifi available for computer
Anyway, we arrived at Natalie's home around 3pm. Was good to see her. After Lon got in a quick nap, she made a delicious dinner. Then we just relaxed and visited.
Lon is still doing well and happy to see his daughter.
I'm writing this post very early Saturday am. Will try to post again tonight after another trip to a quilt shop near by - Quilt Country. Not sure what else is on the agenda for the day. Take care <3

June 12 Day 4

On our way into Ruston, LA last night we saw a big billboard on the highway that said "The Fabric Shop" so this am we went looking for it. Got caught in some road construction and our Siri guide got us almost there and then said she didn't have specific details about the turns so couldn't help us!! Great! So we went around in a circle but finally found it.  Was a real nice store. Very friendly staff. Bought some fabric - of course!  Lon sat at a sewing machine and patiently waited for me :-) He's gotten used to doing that. Rushton is a college town - home to Louisiana Tech.

  A little way down Interstate 20 we stopped in Grambling for gas. That's the home of Grambling University. From there we headed to Lake Bistineau to visit friends. They live in a very rural area southeast of Shreveport, LA. Once again our Siri friend got us out in the middle of nowhere and then said she didn't have specific turns to tell us. We found them finally after travelling some "not much traveled roads"!! We had a nice visit with them. Lon got to go for a ride in Johnny's hotrod!

 

Here is a view from their front deck. Beautiful setting.

 It was getting late in the afternoon so we headed to Shreveport and then on to Marshall where we are tonight. At a Hamptons Inn. Nice handicap accessible room. These rooms are nice because they have grab bars in convenient locations especially in the bathroom. Plus the toilet is raised. (Probably too much information but maybe some useful information for any who have limited mobility).  Lon was tired tonight. He didn't get a nap today again so was ready for bed very early. Weather is good. Thought we were going to get some storm today but it missed us fortunately. Seems every day there is weather on the radar that looks threatening. This area has gotten a lot of water recently - water that I am sure California would love to have!! Tomorrow we will drive to Dallas by around noon. Then a couple of days rest for Lon.  Take care.  More news (or ramblings) tomorrow.  <3



June 11 - Day 3

It's been a good day today. We checked out of The Goldstrike Hotel this am about 11 and headed to Louisiana.  Stopped to fill up the gas tank and headed out per directions from Siri's counterpart in the car navigation system. She took the shortest route which wasn't Interstate 55. A funny side note: just after we left Tunica, I had to put on the brakes kind of quickly. That shifted the suitcase forward. All of a sudden we heard a fan or motor in the back seat and couldn't figure out what was going on. So when I could  finally pull off the road to stop, I found that the suitcase had hit the heater/cooler fan button on the back seat end of the console and turned the fan on high!! Didn't even know there was one there!! :-)    The road was good and we saw a lot of beautiful country. I don't think I have ever seen so many hundreds of acres of row crops.(some we recognized, others we did not!) Also saw a lot of standing water.  Had lunch in Cleveland, Mississippi. For Brandon: I think this is John Deere country.....saw several huge dealerships. I even took a picture for you :-)
Soon we were in Arkansas and crossing the Mississippi River. Yes, it was muddy. We heard in Monroe that they have had 15" of rain in the last 2 weeks. The gardener at one of the hotels was pulling out plants and replacing them. Said they had drowned!!

 



This bridge was very interesting in design.  It wasn't long before we were in Louisiana. Arriving directly in Monroe rather than on Interstate 20 farther east like I thought we would. All the motels/hotels in Monroe were full. I wanted to stay in Monroe so I could take pictures of signs, etc.  because my kids' grandpa was born there. We went across another river that separates Monroe from West Monroe thinking we could get a room there. No luck. All rooms were full. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday are their busy days. Are filled with business people and corporations. There was a quilt shop I wanted to visit and wanted to look up The Duck Commanders' Warehouse, etc. But we drove farther west to Ruston, LA. We had dinner at The Log Cabin Grill and Market. An interesting place and the food was sooo good. Very large portions. Had to get a "to go" box. Good thing Cricket - our dog- didn't know we had left overs!! That's her favorite part of us going out to dinner.

 



Lon is doing well. Got some exercise today when he pushed his wheelchair from the room out to the parking lot. Doing leg exercises in the car periodically. He didn't get a nap today in the car. I don't think it's my driving.........or if he is afraid he might miss something!! So he is in bed early tonight. Not sure what our plans are for tomorrow yet except that we will head toward Shreveport, LA. I think there is more threat of bad weather tomorrow evening here so will probably have to drive through some weather tomorrow. Wish it could be like today was. We even saw the sun!!
I have heard from 2 people that they have tried to comment on these posts but are not able to get them to post. I don't see any comments posted other than one I posted as a test. I think I have the settings correct for people to comment so if any of you are bloggers and have any suggestions I am open. Would like to be able to see what is written in comments. Take care. Have a good day. Stay tuned! <3

June 10 Day 2

Yesterday we left home after Lon's dr. appt. He got his "bone strengthening shot" and we headed for Tunica. Most of the drive was uneventful. Then we hit Memphis area at rush hour in the middle of a severe thunderstorm. I asked a man at a gas station if there were any warnings. He said yes. A tornado warning. I asked what area. He said all of the area, waving his arms widely!!  Fortunately most of the traffic was headed the opposite direction of us, but there was still quite a few cars in the middle of the downpours. I think they said there was about 3" of rain. So we didn't get into Tunica until late evening. Tired, hungry and ready to sleep. Our original plan was to stay one night but we extended our stay one more night with the threat of more severe weather today if headed south. We will leave here tomorrow am and head for Shreveport, LA. Lon had a nice long nap today so he is rested.
We will be in Dallas for Father's day so Lon can spend that day with his daughter, Natalie. I don't have any pictures to post except a couple of the nice handicapped bathroom so will refrain from posting them :-) The view out of our window is the top of the parking garage. We are at the Goldstrike Hotel and Casino. Nice room.  I hope you are able to post comments if you choose to. Or you can call or text if can't post a comment. <3

Test post from iPad using cellular connection

Sunday…This is the final day to pack and get ready for a month-long vacation. Most of the "mental" preparations are done. Housekeeping issues like bill paying, prescriptions filled, sewing projects ready etc. are done. I have 4 lists going......one for groceries, one "To Take on Trip", one "To Do Before We Leave", and one with instructions for house-sitter. It's all coming together.
The duration of our vacation and exactly where we visit will depend a lot on how Lon tolerates traveling. So I will try to update frequently here to let you all know how it's going.

May 30, 2014

Preparing for vacation. Trying to set up blog so can communicate with family and friends. The plan is to leave on Monday, June 9, 2014 after Lon's appointment with Dr. Peyton and head for Tunica. We will stay the night there and then travel towards the Gulf. Our aim is to be in Dallas Friday, the 13th and spend the weekend with Natalie. We will be there for Father's Day. From Dallas, we will head north to Kansas and then west on 70/80 to California.
These plans are fluid and may change at any time depending on how Lon tolerates travel. If all goes well, we will return the week after the 4th of July.
I will try to update our travels on here daily but that is also flexible.

 

One of the rhodys in our front yard.





 

videos

videos    of Lon's leather showing at Govan's in Gallatin

August 20, 2011

August 20, 2011  Click to see single pictures of Lon's leather work on display at Govan's in Gallatin until 1st week of October