Road Tripping Day 2

 Day two of the trip went a lot smoother. After he stopped at a Walmart and bought yet another drill and some screws and secured my seat, things were calm. 

We left Paducah at a reasonable time and headed northwest and drove through Missouri and on to Iowa. We stopped and drove through our old park. One of our campers had said that the barn burned and ruined a lot of equipment and we were curious. The grounds were sad looking. Most of my flower gardens were full of weeds or mowed down. The grass was in the process of being cut and it appeared it had not been cut for some time. I was a little sad about all the garden beds, but I can honestly say that I do not miss being there.

We arrived in Osceola, Iowa while still light outside and parked at the RV park at the Lakeside Casino. They have nice level concrete pads to park on, and the casino has a restaurant. We like it as a stopping point due to its close proximity to the Interstate, and it used to be really nice. Now I noted over 8 sites roped off and not in use. The concrete pads on some of the sites were broken up and tall grass grew in the cracks. At one time there were nice lights on every site, but a lot of them looked like they had been run over. Most sites had no picnic tables making me wonder if they had broken or been simply stolen. Sad that people can't seem to leave the spots the way they find them. Mostly, though, the goose poop annoyed me. My dogs were a bit too curious, and I had to walk to the other end of the park to let them do their business. On the way home we will park at the far end away from the pond and geese.

This night, I noticed the security guy on a golfcart going door to door. I didn't have to wonder too long as I was outside with the dogs enjoying the breeze. He came up and said he was security, and I told him we brought our own as Mr. BoJangles growled at him while hiding behind my legs. He was warning everyone about a storm cell heading our way and assured us that if any tornadic activity was reported they would have the shuttle busses out to collect everyone, along with their pets to a safe room in the Casino.

Well, that bit of information did not make for a restful night. The storm did come and was quite loud with thunder and lightning and lasted a few hours. We were able to stay put and that would have been nice, except for Toni Louise and her fear of thunder. She leapt into the bed with us and headed straight to me. She loves her master faithfully, but she knows how impatient he can be when she is afraid. She much prefers me when this happens. I just murmur nonsense in a low voice while holding her close and that tends to calm her. The storm that night was so loud and constant that she was not to be calmed and would walk in circles on the bed and stepped on various body parts of mine with her long skinny legs and I felt like I was bruising all over.

I was happy to get out of the bed the next morning and finish the trip. I always get excited to see everyone as we get closer. My son's new family is just so loving and fun to be with. We are staying at my step granddaughter's house. She has the most level driveway. And she has Alondra, her daughter. She is a sweet 10-year-old that stole my heart long ago. My daughter-in-law has three grown children and the other two share the basement apartment at my son's house. We all end up together at one house or the other and there is always a lot of food and laughter.

Last night we celebrated my son's 50th birthday at his house. It made for a remarkable time that I will share tomorrow.