Sunday I surprised everyone by fixing breakfast - eggs and some pastries. During the night it had rained a bit and we found out our bedroom ceiling still leaked around the air condoner vent, so Randy and Tom worked on that. Then we took Theresa and Tom to the Tile Shop, where Randy and Aaron get most of the tile they use in their jobs - the tile there is so beautiful. Afterwards we went to Cabelos, a huge hunting-and-camping store, with about 50 mounted antelope, deer, moose, etc. all over the store.
11/24- 11/30 Thanksgiving, the City Museum and St. Louis Zoo
It’s really getting cold now. In this RV park we have to walk the dogs from our RV to outside the gates every time they need to go outside. We used to be able to just let them out into the back yard on their own – I miss that! Randy and I are both getting colds.
Last week Randy took the RV back to Lovell’s RV so they could do some work on it. They needed to replace the ice-maker in the refrigerator and had to order one, check the bay-heater, washer and a leak in the bedroom. The RV service department works on a first-come, first-serve basis and Randy wanted to have our RV there when the doors opened at 7:30 am. So he drove it to Columbia on Wednesday evening and I stayed with Aaron and Dezina. Dezina fixed lasagna and cannelloni for dinner and we had a really nice visit.
The only thing that doesn’t seem to work right in the RV now is the washer/dryer. They tested it and said it worked, but it only works with hot water.
We have been storing our shoes in a plastic shoe rack that hangs over the bathroom door, but the bathroom in this RV is so small that the rack has to hang on the outside of the door, which puts it in the path between the kitchen and the bedroom. So Randy built a frame on both sides of the bed to hold our shoes.
Thanksgiving weekend: Wednesday night we drove to Theresa and Tom’s. Randy got up at 5:30 the next morning and pretty much stayed in the kitchen all day! We had turkey and dressing, potatoes and gravy, green beans almandine, pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting. Tom’s family brought some additional side dishes, and it was a great meal. I drove over to visit Mom and brought her back to Theresa's for dinner.
Theresa and Tom wanted to spend the weekend with us, so Friday we all drove back to St. Louis. We had lunch at Rigazzio’s on “The Hill” then drove around to a few places that seem unique to St. Louis, such as local Italian grocery stores, and finally ended up at the zoo, where they put up Christmas lights every year. The animals weren’t out because it was cold and dark, but it wasn’t too cold to walk around and enjoy the lights. We went into the penguin exhibit, and of course the penguins love the cold weather just fine, so they were playing and swimming around. We also went on a 3-D movie-ride, where you go into a small theater, strap into a chair and put on 3-D glasses. When the movie started, it was about a ride down a glacier, and the chair moved around, simulating the bumps and turns on the screen. Between the chair moving and the 3-d glasses, it was so much fun that we went on it twice!
Saturday Randy fixed omelets for breakfast, then we started driving around to some of our favorite St. Louis places. We went to the bakery for cookies, to a meat market, a sausage market, a Mexican bakery, and to Soulard’s produce market. Theresa and Randy bought something at every place!
In the afternoon we went to the City Museum - not sure how to describe that place. It’s not really a museum, it’s a big 7 story building that was bought by a guy who owns a demolition company. Whenever he finds something interesting in the building he’s demolishing, he buys it, brings it to his building and figures out a way to integrate it into what is already there. It’s simply amazing. There are tunnels and mazes that go everywhere – behind walls, under the floor and between the different stories. The walls and ceilings are covered with interesting stuff, and the most of the floors are detailed mosaics. There is a tiny working shoelace factory, a huge pipe organ, and a big fish tank with fish and turtles. We crawled through a mesh tunnel outside the building into the shell of an old aircraft, then slide down a slide to get to the ground. Inside the building there is a slide that is 7-stories tall – we went down that, too. We spent hours and hours there and I’m sure we didn’t get to see and do everything.
Earlier we had bought stuff to fix for dinner, but after the City Museum we were too tired to bother so we went to Fitz’s for dinner.
Sunday I surprised everyone by fixing breakfast - eggs and some pastries. During the night it had rained a bit and we found out our bedroom ceiling still leaked around the air condoner vent, so Randy and Tom worked on that. Then we took Theresa and Tom to the Tile Shop, where Randy and Aaron get most of the tile they use in their jobs - the tile there is so beautiful. Afterwards we went to Cabelos, a huge hunting-and-camping store, with about 50 mounted antelope, deer, moose, etc. all over the store.
Sunday I surprised everyone by fixing breakfast - eggs and some pastries. During the night it had rained a bit and we found out our bedroom ceiling still leaked around the air condoner vent, so Randy and Tom worked on that. Then we took Theresa and Tom to the Tile Shop, where Randy and Aaron get most of the tile they use in their jobs - the tile there is so beautiful. Afterwards we went to Cabelos, a huge hunting-and-camping store, with about 50 mounted antelope, deer, moose, etc. all over the store.
9/19/08 Balloon Glow!
We went to the Balloon Glow today - it was wonderful! We got there early and discovered they didn’t have a place to park and lock up the bikes, so we walked around with our bikes, but that was OK. There was a really big crowd there; some families brought blankets and picnics, the rest of us bought snacks from the vendors. We talked to some of the folks working with the balloons about how they controlled them and watched them fill the balloons. As dusk fell, all of the hot-air balloons were filled. Of course, as soon as the balloons were filled, the air inside them started to cool down. So the balloon owners kept re-heating the air. There are two heater vents that push hot air up into the balloon – one generates a lot of very hot air and the other one heats air but it doesn’t push it as hard. That second vent actually causes a bigger flame, and it’s what causes the balloon to “glow” at night. There might have been 20 hot-air balloons up in the park that evening, and as the owners warmed the air to keep them up, balloons all over the park glowed. Sometimes just 3-4 were glowing, and sometimes 10 or more at a time. It looked simply amazing!
09/18/08 Free Concert at Forrest Park
We rode over to Forrest Park today for a free concert. On the way over there, as we entered the park, we saw a large, beautiful deer standing by the bike path. She stood there watching us until we were about 10 feet from her. Then she flipped her tail up, causally took 4-5 big leaps towards the brush and stopped under some trees, where she relaxed and started grooming herself. She wasn’t at all bothered by us. She was probably 20 feet from us when we rode by – so beautiful! When we got to where the concert was, we sat on the grass to listen to the orchestra. It was just wonderful. And after the show they set off a lot of big, amazing fireworks just across the pond from us. That was a really enjoyable evening.
We are looking for ways to re-furbish the RV. We both don’t think the desk is working as well as it should – there isn’t much space for legs when we sit down. And we don’t have enough pantry space. And I want to paint the bathroom and bedroom, and find a way to hang pictures. So we are in a re-design phase again. Nothing new about that!
We are looking for ways to re-furbish the RV. We both don’t think the desk is working as well as it should – there isn’t much space for legs when we sit down. And we don’t have enough pantry space. And I want to paint the bathroom and bedroom, and find a way to hang pictures. So we are in a re-design phase again. Nothing new about that!
09/1/2008 Tour of Missouri Bike Race
Randy is checking the seals around the RV door and windows. I’m considering if I can use Metro again, instead of driving to work. Adding Metro travel time onto a 10-hour day seems like a lot, but I’d prefer not to drive this winter so I may try it.
We haven’t done any bike riding for a couple of weeks, but Sunday we went downtown to watch some other bicyclists in the “Tour of Missouri” bike race. The race is scheduled for 8 days, and each day the riders cover a certain number of miles. Each day everyone starts at the same time and place, and bikes the same route. The officials keep track of who wins each day and the time it took them to complete the route that day. The race winner will have the overall best time for all 8 days, so even if someone doesn’t come in first every day, he can still win the race. Sunday they raced from 2:00 pm to about 4:00 pm. The route they took was all on the streets, so the police set up roadblocks along the way to keep traffic off the route. In order to get the right number of miles in, they raced around the same route 5 times. We found a spot to watch them and cheered them along every time they passed by. I think the leader at that point was someone who had raced as part of Lance Armstrong’s team in the last Tour de France. This race is not for amateurs!
We haven’t done any bike riding for a couple of weeks, but Sunday we went downtown to watch some other bicyclists in the “Tour of Missouri” bike race. The race is scheduled for 8 days, and each day the riders cover a certain number of miles. Each day everyone starts at the same time and place, and bikes the same route. The officials keep track of who wins each day and the time it took them to complete the route that day. The race winner will have the overall best time for all 8 days, so even if someone doesn’t come in first every day, he can still win the race. Sunday they raced from 2:00 pm to about 4:00 pm. The route they took was all on the streets, so the police set up roadblocks along the way to keep traffic off the route. In order to get the right number of miles in, they raced around the same route 5 times. We found a spot to watch them and cheered them along every time they passed by. I think the leader at that point was someone who had raced as part of Lance Armstrong’s team in the last Tour de France. This race is not for amateurs!
Trout fishing and the Midnight Ramble - 08/09/08
Friday we spent the weekend in Montaug State Park in Missouri, about 120 miles south-west from St. Louis. Drove down on Friday and came back Sunday. The purpose of the trip, besides spending some time together, was trout fishing. The state park has a trout stream that is stocked with fish from a fish hatchery that is also inside the park. The stream where the trout live is about 2-3 feet deep and flows pretty smoothly. It’s possible to fish from the banks but most people wade into the stream to try to find the best spot. Randy and I did, too; that was where waders would have come in very handy - that water was cold! We both used regular fishing poles and fishing flies. Trout, apparently, don’t eat worms. However, they weren’t interested in our fishing flies either because neither one of us got a bite. Later Randy used his new trout fishing pole. The fishing line is four lines of different thickness, with the strongest line at the reel and the thinnest line at the hook. So you have a strong line at the reel, which ties onto a thinner line, which ties onto a thinner line, which ties onto a very thin line. And at the end of the very thin line you put a very tiny fishing fly, which is supposed to look like a very tiny bug. And you flick that long line over the water, where the light weight of the very thin line lets you get it pretty far out into the stream. But the trout still weren’t impressed and we did not have trout for dinner. We had a great dinner though – hot dogs cooked over a campfire, corn on the cob, and s’mores. Can hardly beat that!
For some reason that is not clear to me now, Randy and I signed up for the “Moonlight Ramble” bike ride in St. Louis. The ride is literally done in the moonlight – it starts at one minute after midnight, in the wee hours of Sunday morning. It’s a 17 mile ride but we bicycled a mile from our RV the starting point and back at the end of the ride, so it was more like 19 miles for us. Aaron and Dezina rode it also, so Saturday evening they came over to our place and we all went out to dinner together before the ride. We found a nice place called the Stables and had some really good pizza. Then around 10 pm we went downtown where the ride starts. The ride has occurred every year for about 45 years, so it’s pretty famous in St. Louis. There were lots of vendors so we walked around, looking at bike stuff, and I started getting very, very tired. I’m used to going to bed around 9! Around 11:45 pm we got back on our bikes and wheeled over to the starting point. This year there were about 10,000 bikers in the ride, so although the ride officially started at midnight, the organizers started groups of people off separately to avoid a pile-up. We were in about the 5th group to get to go, so we didn’t actually start the bike ride until 00:30 am on Sunday morning. The route was mostly a big loop - we rode through North St. Louis, went west to Forrest Park, and then back downtown. The ride is supposed to be pretty flat, and I guess it was, mostly. But there were a few hills, and one hill I just couldn’t get up. I had to stop and walk the bike up. Randy could bike up, of course, but he waited for me at all the hills to be sure I was OK. We were biking in the main streets the whole time. The roads were all well lit, and there wasn’t any danger because there is safety in numbers - and 10,000 is a pretty big number. Plus there were police cars at most intersections to be sure there were no accidents. We finished the race by 2:00 am, so we were riding 1 ½ hours. Randy could have done it faster but he waited for me and Dezina. Then we biked back to the RV park where Aaron and Dezina had left their car. Randy needed to be at church in the morning because he writes the church’s checks (payroll, bills, etc). So we got a few hours of sleep, then got up and went to church. But later that day I took a long nap!
For some reason that is not clear to me now, Randy and I signed up for the “Moonlight Ramble” bike ride in St. Louis. The ride is literally done in the moonlight – it starts at one minute after midnight, in the wee hours of Sunday morning. It’s a 17 mile ride but we bicycled a mile from our RV the starting point and back at the end of the ride, so it was more like 19 miles for us. Aaron and Dezina rode it also, so Saturday evening they came over to our place and we all went out to dinner together before the ride. We found a nice place called the Stables and had some really good pizza. Then around 10 pm we went downtown where the ride starts. The ride has occurred every year for about 45 years, so it’s pretty famous in St. Louis. There were lots of vendors so we walked around, looking at bike stuff, and I started getting very, very tired. I’m used to going to bed around 9! Around 11:45 pm we got back on our bikes and wheeled over to the starting point. This year there were about 10,000 bikers in the ride, so although the ride officially started at midnight, the organizers started groups of people off separately to avoid a pile-up. We were in about the 5th group to get to go, so we didn’t actually start the bike ride until 00:30 am on Sunday morning. The route was mostly a big loop - we rode through North St. Louis, went west to Forrest Park, and then back downtown. The ride is supposed to be pretty flat, and I guess it was, mostly. But there were a few hills, and one hill I just couldn’t get up. I had to stop and walk the bike up. Randy could bike up, of course, but he waited for me at all the hills to be sure I was OK. We were biking in the main streets the whole time. The roads were all well lit, and there wasn’t any danger because there is safety in numbers - and 10,000 is a pretty big number. Plus there were police cars at most intersections to be sure there were no accidents. We finished the race by 2:00 am, so we were riding 1 ½ hours. Randy could have done it faster but he waited for me and Dezina. Then we biked back to the RV park where Aaron and Dezina had left their car. Randy needed to be at church in the morning because he writes the church’s checks (payroll, bills, etc). So we got a few hours of sleep, then got up and went to church. But later that day I took a long nap!
Church Baptism
We attended the Ivy Heights annual picnic. Their picnic isn't just lunch, they take the whole afternoon. It was at a lake-side park with lots of activities like canoes, water trampoline, volleyball, a waterside and for the bid kids, paddle-boats. Those white legs of mine practically glow!
Someone cooked hot dogs and hamburgers and everyone else brought a dish (Randy brought a chili-and-cheese dish). And two people who attend our church were baptized in the lake. What a lovely day!
07/28/08
Last night Manna seemed to be “leaking” – leaving a little wet spot behind her wherever she sat. It didn’t smell like pee but whatever it was, we didn’t want a mess in the house. So we put her in the bathroom shower for the night. The shower is big enough to hold a litter box, a folded towel for a bed, and the food-and-water dish but Manna meow-ed all night long. She was unhappy with the situation and wanted to make sure we knew it! I am soooo tired today. But at least I don’t have to listen to “meow…meow…meow…meow…meow…” all day. Randy gets to deal with that. He’ll have to figure out if she’s better or if she needs to go to the vet.
My work schedule is officially four 10-hour days now. Turns out it’s not that hard to work a little more during the day, and getting Friday off is certainly worth it.
We still don’t have definite plans of when we will hit the road. Randy has contacted a realtor to sell the restaurant building. Plus he would like to wait until the economy is a bit stronger before we start using our savings to live on. So we have started talking about what to do if we stay in this area during the winter. Sunday we drove over to look at another RV park where we might move to, on the Illinois side of the river. The park is a bit nicer than the one we’re at now – the concrete pads are much more level than the blacktop we are parked on now. And some sites have a small section of grass beside them, which would be nice during the winter. If we stay were we are now, we would still have to walk the dogs outside the park gate to do their business, even in the snow. If we have a site with some grass next to it, they could just use that spot. There is also a MetroLink train station at the other RV park, which I would like. Now that I’m working 10-hour days, I am not using MetroLink anymore. At our current RV park I have to catch a bus to get to the train station, then take the train to work; with all the bus stops and extra time to make connections, I spent about 50 minutes to get to work and the same amount of time to get back home. That amount of time on top of working 10 hours is more than I want to do. If I can catch the MetroLink train at the new RV park and ride it straight through to work, it won’t take as long. And I won’t have to scrape snow off the car or drive in snow!
We still don’t have definite plans of when we will hit the road. Randy has contacted a realtor to sell the restaurant building. Plus he would like to wait until the economy is a bit stronger before we start using our savings to live on. So we have started talking about what to do if we stay in this area during the winter. Sunday we drove over to look at another RV park where we might move to, on the Illinois side of the river. The park is a bit nicer than the one we’re at now – the concrete pads are much more level than the blacktop we are parked on now. And some sites have a small section of grass beside them, which would be nice during the winter. If we stay were we are now, we would still have to walk the dogs outside the park gate to do their business, even in the snow. If we have a site with some grass next to it, they could just use that spot. There is also a MetroLink train station at the other RV park, which I would like. Now that I’m working 10-hour days, I am not using MetroLink anymore. At our current RV park I have to catch a bus to get to the train station, then take the train to work; with all the bus stops and extra time to make connections, I spent about 50 minutes to get to work and the same amount of time to get back home. That amount of time on top of working 10 hours is more than I want to do. If I can catch the MetroLink train at the new RV park and ride it straight through to work, it won’t take as long. And I won’t have to scrape snow off the car or drive in snow!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)