Florence with her Dad - one week old 

Florence - 7 Days Old

Hi ya'll, just a short post to add another picture to celebrate Florence's one week birthday. We brought some lunch over for John and Christine and visited with Florence for a while as well. John and Christine are trying to catch up on their sleep and both seemed a little brighter today. We will stop by again tomorrow to give them a little respite and someone from their church will also come by in the afternoon. Be Safe.

Florence - 5 days old 

St.Louis Art Museum in Forest park 

Stu and Bart at course 

Relaxing in St. Louis

Hi ya'll, we got by to meet Florence yesterday and spent a few hours with her, John and Christine. Fortunately Tippy had made Lasagne to take over so that was heated and eaten by both of them. John and Christine laid down for a while and I held Florence so they could rest a bit. Another of their friends called to shorten their rest and then another friend stopped by to help out a bit. I took John down to the hospital so he could return some equipment and then we decided to head for the RV park before the traffic got too bad.

We did stop at best Buy on the way back to pick up the new computer but it wasn't ready yet. I had to return at 8:00 to get it but at least it was ready then. I worked until almost 2:00 am loading stuff into the new computer. I did buy a new USB Flash Drive which has made the transfer of data pretty easy. The computer has a reader for multiple data cards but I never looked to see which ones. Well, when I did, I found that the Compact Flash card that my camera uses was not one of them. So I will need to get a new card reader for this computer since I forgot to bring my other one from home.

Florence is really cute and we enjoyed meeting her and having an opportunity to hold her. She has had a little trouble with bilie-reuben, not sure of the spelling, but she is doing fine now and will continue to improve. We hope to get back there tomorrow to give John and Christine a break and some possible rest. Their contractor did complete the installation of the AC on Monday so they should be comfortable when the summer heat begins.

Today, Friday, May 19th, I played golf with my friend Bart and two of his friends larry and George. We had a good game and enjoyed each others company. I managed a 78, thanks to the shortness of the course and some pretty good putting. I think I forgot all of my mistakes from the layoff so maybe I should take another few months off. I stopped at Walmart on the way home and picked up a card reader so I can post some pictures tonight.

This will be the first post with the new computer and so far it seems to be working well. I still have some things to set up and several other things to learn how to use but I am sure it will come together soon. I will also do a few pictures; Bart and I at the golf course, Florence, and a shot of the St. Louis Art Museum in Forest Park from the golf course. Enjoy and be safe.

Safe Arrival

Hi ya'll, we arrived in the St. Louis area safely yesterday after a smooth 265 mile trip. We made stops for fuel at a Flying J that we never found but did find a station about 3 miles off the I-44 with diesel for $2.69/gallon. This is the lowest fuel price I have seen for several months. We will stop there again on the way home as it was easy in and out, lots of room to park, convenience store, and the great price. We also made two rest area stops, the first to have a break and to walk Alex and the second for lunch and to walk Alex again. The rest areas here in Missouri are very nice with lots of picnic tables, trees, and greenbelt.

We arrived at the Yogi Bear Jellystone RV Park by 3:00 and got settled. The park is an older one with lots of spots but most of them have been converted to cabins. I think there are only abot 20 RV spots in the park that Woodall's says has 110 spaces. Anyhow we have a nice long pull through that has a cabin about 4 feet from our living room slide-out. The good part is we get satellite reception and the other side of the coach has views of trees and no other RV's or cabins. Our site is on a curve and the spot is on the inside of the curve with a four foot wall all along the left side of the coach.

We spoke with John yesterday afternoon and were scheduled to visit them today but we received a call from John this AM and Florence was ill last evening and they took her to the hospital and spent the night there. They are home this morning but totally exhausted so we will leave them alone until they catch up a little bit. We are anxious to meet Florence and get a few pictures to share with ya'll.

I have been having some trouble with my laptop so we made a trip to Best Buy yesterday afternoon and found a replacement. I will pick it up this afternoon and will be spending some time getting programs loaded and setting it up for all of our stuff. It is an HP computer with a 17" screen, 200 GB hard drive, 1 GB of ram, a CD/DVD player/burner, built in wireless, and Windows XP Media Center Edition for the operating system. Hopefully my next post will be from this new computer.

Tomorrow I will play golf with my friend Bart at Forest Park G.C. in St. Louis. This course was built in 1913 on the site of the 1904 World's Fair. It has recently undergone a re-do and Bart says it is just beautiful. My game should be at its best since I last played in August of 2005 in Montana. More tomorrow, hopefully with a picture of Florence and maybe with a picture of Bart and I. Be safe

On The Road Again

Hi ya'll, sorry for the long lapse but we have been at home getting settled and getting our deck built. We left home yesterday, Monday, heading to St. Louis to see our new grand daughter, Florence Marie. She was expected to arrive on the 22nd and we planned on being there a few days early, on the 17th. But, kids being what they are, Florence arrived on Saturday afternoon, the 13th, the day before Mothers Day. She weighed 8 lbs. and 6 oz. and was a little over 20" long. Both she and mother are doing well and will probably be home when we get into town tomorrow.

We traveled from home to Sulphur, OK yesterday, an easy 225 mile trip. We stayed at the Arbuckle RV Resort which is in Sulphur, about 10 miles east of I - 35. The park was very simple but very comfortable with 45 spaces, two fishing ponds, and wonderful views all around. We will also stay here for two nights on the way home. The flatness of Texas slowly gave way to the gentle rolling hills of southern Oklahoma. The countryside was very green and we all enjoyed the ride, although Alex slept through most of it.

Today we traveled north through Oklahoma City on I-35 and then northwest through Tulsa on I-44 which was a toll road most of the way through Oklahoma. It cost us $17 for the trip but the road was good and the scenery was pleasant. We traveled through the rolling hills most of the trip, 301 miles, until we approached the eastern edge of Oklahoma where the terrain began to flatten. We arrived in Joplin, MO just before 3:00 and we are staying at the KOA Joplin which is also a great RV park.

We made two stops today. The first just for a break and to walk Alex and the second for lunch and to walk Alex again. The rest areas along the tollroad were nothing to write home about but they served our purposes. Tomorrow we have a 265 mile trip into the St. Louis area. We will stay at the Yogi Bear Jellystone RV Park that is very close to the Six Flags park. Hopefully most kids will still be in school but who can tell. We will also see our friends Bart and Dee Collida while in the area and, weather permitting, we will play golf at least once.

No pictures yet but I will be sure to post pictures of Florence for ya'll to see tomorrow or Thursday. Until then be safe.