Good morning, my friends. It was a beautiful day weather-wise. There was no wind, and so it was very still and peaceful. We listened to the birdsong and sat outside. Even Smitty got outside to enjoy it.
5/13/24
Another Slow Day
So, as much as I hated to head for an urgent care clinic for the second time this trip...off we went. Happily, there was no waiting there. The doctor took a look at it and reassured me that the risk of disease was low, but she was going to start me on a round of antibiotics just the same. I was glad we went. It was good to have someone with some expertise take a look. From there, we got some lunch, and then went to the nearby Walgreen's to pick up the medicine. Even though an hour had passed, they said it would still be 20 minutes before it would be ready.
Just down the hill was a Petco, and so we spent our 20 minutes shopping for cat toys. We found this little lamb for Sadie. She likes small soft toys that she can get in her mouth and then kick the daylights out of them. This lamb would do perfectly.
(Image credit: "Red-bellied Woodpecker" by AcrylicArtist is licensed under CC BY 2.0.)
It's our last morning here. We'll be moving on to Hamilton, Missouri, today. We have a spot in a nearby RV park that will mean I can walk to the quilt shops. We're expecting rain today, and I'm hopeful the weather will improve by tomorrow. If not...well, I have a rain parka and an umbrella. I am an Oregonian. Rain doesn't scare me. Tornadoes and ticks...that's another story.
So it's time to get myself around. It'll be a relatively short drive today. I'm way behind on laundry, having been without a water or sewer connection for the past four days. When your laundry is done in a small RV combo washer/dryer, four days is a long gap between washings. That'll be at the top of my list when we arrive at the new spot. So buckle up, my friends. Day after tomorrow, we'll be in Kansas...our 49th state. Try to contain your excitement until we get there.
Just now, I noticed this guy sitting just outside on our picnic table. It's one of those faster-than-lightning fox squirrels.
He'll be happy when we take our cat and get out of here. Okay, Mr. Squirrel. We're going.
5/12/24
A Day for Slow
Good morning, my friends. Happy Mother's Day to all who celebrate. Well, it was a lazy morning yesterday. We were moving slow. The kitties put us in the mood right from the get-go.
(Image credit: "Zebra Swallowtail, Megan McCarty69"
by Megan McCarty is licensed under CC BY 3.0.)
The other was a Viceroy.
(Image credit: "Viceroy" by hmclin is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.)
When we couldn't stand our lazy selves any more, we decided to take this hike listed in the brochure we were given when we checked in.
As for the ticks...did I mention I found a tick on my abdomen a couple of days ago? It didn’t register with me that it was a tick until I’d already pulled it off (it was attached), looked carefully at it, and then flushed it. After flushing it, it dawned on me that it might have been a tick. The tick appeared black, but I couldn’t see any legs or antennae, and it was not enlarged at all from feeding. It was about the size of a tomato seed. I don’t see any tick parts left, but there is a pin-prick hole with redness around it. It's not itchy. In any case, we're being super careful now. We paused here to tuck our pantlegs inside our socks.
At our campsite, we've noticed these holes in the ground. Our neighbor in Oregon, who has lived in her house for less than a year, sent us pictures like this as well. They're holes where cicadas emerge from the ground.
When I spotted a few holes along our trail, I started looking for them on the trees. After emerging from the ground, they'll sit for a while before flying off to do cicada things. This year's emergence is special. For the first time since 2015 a 13-year brood is emerging in the same year as a 17-year brood. For the first time since 1998 adjacent 13-and 17-year broods will emerge in the same year. For the first time since 1803 Brood XIX and XIII will co-emerge. It didn't take long before I spotted one of them.
We've heard them across the lake from our campsite, and we heard them in certain sections of our hike yesterday. I made a very short video so that you could hear the sound they make. Turn up your volume. If you can't see the video, click right here.
Eventually, we started seeing the limestone walls like we saw in Kentucky and Arkansas. The path took us between that tree with the blue blaze and the wall. It was a narrow space.
I imagine some of you have enjoyed the Northern Lights this past couple of days. We assumed we would be too far south to see it on Friday, and so we didn't even bother looking. So sad. I know people farther south than we are who were able to see it. Our son texted us an image from his home in Portland, and he was able to see it. Then yesterday, we received a text from one of our neighbors with these two shots near our home in Oregon. That's our wind turbine in the lower right of these images.
Today we probably really will sit around and do almost nothing. It's our last day at this park. We'll be on our way to Hamilton, Missouri, tomorrow to see Missouri Star Quilt Co. Our next stop after that will take us into Kansas...our 49th state. We'll be filling in the last open spot on our map. You might want to start popping some popcorn now because it's going to be the thrill of the century.
Okay...time for some pancakes. It's Mother's Day. Treat yourself. If you're lucky enough to still have your mother, then treat her too.
5/11/24
Lake of the Ozarks State Park
Good morning my friends. We're back in Missouri this morning, making our way westward. It was another long day of driving, but we're staying put for the next three days (two now). As we were packing up to leave our spot at Rend Lake yesterday, we were sorry we hadn't planned a longer stay. Sadie was entertained by the birds outside.
You might remember that we passed under this bridge on our riverboat cruise the day we visited the national park.
But here we go up and over.
Just after passing through St. Louis, we entered the suburb of St. Charles, Missouri. St. Charles was the home of Daniel Boone around 1809. He wanted to be near his grandson who was in boarding school there. It's also the birthplace of Jeanne Shaheen, senator from New Hampshire, and legendary rocker, songwriter, and guitarist, Chuck Berry.
For now, I want to spend some time on my slow-stitching. I've neglected it for the past several days. We'll probably get Smitty out for another walk or two. We haven't yet tested the lake water to see how cold it is. If it's not too cold, we might go swimming. We'll also check into boat rentals in the area. It might be fun to tootle around the lake a little. The sky's the limit...for two days.
We're in a nice shady spot, but we worried it would interfere with our Starlink connection. Mike was ready to give up, but we kept trying, and we finally found the sweet spot at the post with our site number. There's a large window through the tree canopy to the sky there, and the Starlink found home fairly quickly. (It's very smart at phoning home.) My hip feels good after two long days of driving, and so I believe my $12 cushion is doing the job.
So that's all I have for you today. I guess we'll just walk around until we bump into something to do. For sure and certain, slow-stitching is next.
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