St Louis

We rocked and rolled into St. Louis, with strong winds pushing us around. We had a few days before our Adventure Caravan tour was going to begin. We had a few days to rest & relax, do loads of laundry, purchase a few forgotten items and explore a bit.

Blowing into St Louis

Finally some free time to do yoga....but, seriously?!

(“Are you doing the Baby Cobra move correctly, Mom?”)

Kaitlyn climbed up a "huge" (to her) rock to get a better view of the campground

We spent some time at the Missouri Botanical Garden

A Chihuly glass exhibit was opening the next day 

I saw aqua petals on the ground and looked up to see these. What an unusual color. 

We weren't the only travelers at the campground. A large flock of Goldfinches stopped in for a few days. You can see a few of them in the video if you look closely, and you can hear their happy songs!

I was told that one cannot miss St Louis style pizza

Later we also had St Louis style ribs and fried ravioli

Travelers from a previous caravan live nearby. They invited us to their home for dessert and gave us traditional St Louis sweets to take back to the RV with us. 

Vickie finally became brave enough to go down the steps! Up to this point she would put her front feet down one step, and then would leap into my arms! I was able to coax her by putting a treat on each step. Now, I think she loves racing down the steps! (Some day maybe I can get the video to load!)

Pa-Doo-Kah

I knew  that Paducah, KY is considered the Quilt City, and some say it is the quilt capital of the world. We've traveled through Paducah many times in the past, and never stopped. By chance, it happened that we were on our way from SW Florida to St. Louis...and our path took us through Paducah during Quilt Week! Wow! I managed to find reservations at a nearby campground  during quilt week. I reserved tickets for the show and I was ready to be dazzled....

Then, the Mister developed debilitating pain in his side/back. He had what he thought was a muscle spasm on his right side (which he had commented about a week or more before). He also had a fever and could barely move. After arriving in Calvert City, near Paducah, we headed south to an immediate med in nearby Benton. They couldn't determine why he was in so much pain, and had a fever, and suggested we go to an ER at a hospital. So, we went to Paducah to a recommended hospital. I dropped the Mister there, returned to the RV to take care of the pups, and returned to the hospital to pick up the Mister. Sadly, he didn't get any answers. A strained muscle - muscle relaxants, and a virus. Seriously?! 

We took a day off and stayed at the RV park all day. The next day he felt a bit better and we went into Paducah. Our first stop was at the National Quilt Museum and we were dazzled by many of the quilts on display. 

 Our favorite quilt was "Floating" - a quilt made by Fraser Smith of Tampa. It was carved from basswood!

We had a few other favorites as well.... actually, I loved just about all of the quilts at the museum!

Marilyn Badger created the quilts above. She puts a lot of embellishments on her quilts, including buttons, pearl beads, hand embroidery and sparkly gems. Her quilting created lots of texture. I loved the shaped borders of the green and red quilt. 

Another collection included "larger than life" quilts by Velda Newman. Her quilts were 15-20' across and 7 or 8' tall. For most of the quilts she painted flowers, and then used thread painting to enhance them. 

There were also several quilts by Kaffe Fassett, featuring his bright, bold prints. 

Another favorite was a thread-painting art quilt of a boy pouring a bucket of water over his head. It is called "Summer Fun" and was created by Marina Lani and Fabia Diniz from Brazil. The description includes: Hand dyed and painted fabrics; fused applique, stationary machine quilting

“I think that the joy of this boy in this moment of play is always contagious.” - We agree, don't you?

As much as we loved the quilts on display, we were both a tad bit disappointed that the "museum" element, an historical perspective, was missing. 

We went on to "The" quilt show. Wow! Just wow! How can there be that many women in one place that essentially are just like me?! 

I was asked whether I could see trends based on the quilts on display. Great question - what did I notice? Honestly, I was overwhelmed and in awe of the skill I saw in the quilts. It seemed to me that the quilting was showcased more than piecing. There seemed to be more appliquéd quilts than pieced quilts. A lot of the quilts had extensive quilting in various colors of thread, and many of the quilts had embroidery and other embellishments.

Tbe Grand Prize quilt featured 8 tatted lace pieces from Istanbul. "Sweet Madame Blue" was created by Margaret Gunn. She spent 2 years working on the quilt. It was gorgeous! 

The quilting was very dense, as seen from the back side. 

Another grand prize winner was this quilt that received the Bernini Award for machine quilting using a stionary machine. "Joyful Japan" was quilted by Pat Holly from Ann Arbor. She also told me that she spent about 2 years working on this particular quilt. 

Here are just a few other quilts in the show...

This is a close up. Each square is only 1" X 1"!! Yowser!

This is what the quilt looked like from 6' away!

Instead of going back to the AQS show the next day, we went to a local quilt show in Grand Rivers. This was an eclectic collection of quilts from a local group. A few of the quilts were created in the 40's by grandmothers. I found my historical quilts here! It was interesting to see how patterns and colors have changed over time. I was in awe of how many quilts were hand pieced or hand quilted, one made of 1" diamonds.

From there we made our way out into the country. We drove through beautiful Kentucky countryside to visit "Backyard Fabric" near Mayfield, KY. Quilters at the campground told me about the shop, and declared it was a "must visit". The owner has had the shop for 16 years. She charged $9/yard for Moda fabric and $7/yard for all others. (many by Andover) I didn't think to ask her how many bolts she had, but a video on her site showed stacks of bolts arriving in anticipation of large sales volume through the show week!

We returned to the show pavilions on Saturday and checked out a few more vendors. We came away with a few prize purchases: scissors (including "in the hoop" snippers & left handed scissors), some ink and stencils to customize fabrics, Electric Quilt 8 software and plantar fasciitis! Ugh! 

Space Camp

Kaitlyn: I heard Mom and Dad talking as we went down the road. They said we were going to the US Space & Rocket Camp. 

Vickie: How did you manage that? You couldn't hear nuthin'. You were sacked out.

Kaitlyn: Was not. I was only just resting my eyes!

Vickie: Yeah, right. But, when we arrived at the campground (us space and rocket center rv park) I saw that it did have more space between campers than some of the other places we have been to, but I don't know why the people made such a big deal about it.

Kaitlyn: Oh, but it is very special. It is the first camp I've been to that has delectable, yummy pellets all over the place! Free for the picking!

Vickie: You are right about that! Isn't it great?! Better than that sh** we get for meals! I don't know why Mom doesn't want us to eat it. She says it is "rapid pooh". 

Kaitlyn: We are already very fast. Will rapid pooh make us even faster!! Let's find some more!!

Vickie: We took Mom on a walk and we found the gates to Space Camp, not just the campground. The campers were coming in for their Space Camp experience. We came up to the gate and the counselor said, "No, no, no! You can't come in. Dogs aren't allowed." That made me very sad. The kids looked like they were having a good time.

Kaitlyn: That's discrimination, isn't it??!!

Vickie: No, they aren't discriminating against us. We just don't have "reversations", or whatever it is that one needs to go to space camp. 

Kaitlyn: Yeah, and when we took Mom to a building next to the space camp that said "Marriott" they turned us away there, too. We couldn't go in on account of we had no "reversations"! Don't we look sad?!

Vickie: I'm beginning to think this space thing isn't for me. Did you see that big, tall white thing? I didn't want to go near it!

Kaitlyn: That was just a model of a rocket. It's what they use to send things to space. The real deal is behind us. That's cool!

Vickie: I don't even want to look.

Kaitlyn: I think I'd like to be a space dog!

Florida Caverns

We spent a few days at Florida Caverns RV Resort in Marianna, FL for a Suncoast Allegro rally. The campground was great. It was really clean and had spacious lots. They have a nice dog park, and the puppies practiced going up and down stairs at some new park models on a slope overlooking the park. Most of the attendees had sites overlooking Merritt’s Mill Pond. In the evenings we were serenaded by a chorus of frogs. 

Our coach is on the far right

The puppies were not impressed with the view

There were 17 of us in all. We had plenty of opportunities to socialize, starting with a “Meet & Greet” on Thursday evening. We took a tour of the caverns at the Florida Caverns State Park. The portion of the caverns on the tour are rather small, in comparison with other caverns we have visited. The park and the caverns were improved by the CCC in the 30’s. The group that cleared cavern passages was called the “Gopher Gang”. Some of the passages we walked through were under 5’ in height, but originally the openings were only about 12” high. 

Cave Salamander - we also saw one tiny bat

The park and the surrounding area was severely impacted by Hurricane Michael, a Cat 5 storm in 2018 - the 3rd or 4th strongest storm to hit the US. So many trees and buildings were damaged. 

The Saint Luke Baptist Church building, vacated in 1984, partially collapsed in the storm. The historical building stands on the highest hill in Marianna, and is visible throughout the town. 

Old buildings often tug at my heart and seem to speak to me. Whether I am visiting historical homes or public buildings, or abandoned cottages or barns. I won't go so far as to say I feel the presence of past souls, but I feel the emptiness of the building and my imagination certainly goes into high gear. I enjoy trying my hand at watercolor sketches of many of the buildings that call to me. 

The Suncoast group often has a craft activity for the ladies. I helped cohost the rally, and led the ladies in making alcohol ink coasters and trivets. They seemed to enjoy the activity, and that evening the guys were intrigued by the designs we had created. 

Each night we sat outside around a fire pit at one site or another. One night Sally brought over Rum Chata pudding cups. They were fantastic! She uses Jello pudding mix, either vanilla or chocolate, adds 1 C of milk and 1 C of Rum Chata. After mixing the pudding she folds in a container of Cool Whip and puts the pudding in tiny take-out cups with lids. She keeps them in the freezer and they last for a long time, she said. I told her that they wouldn’t last long in my freezer!

We enjoyed the rally. It helped that the weather was perfect! The pups seem to enjoy camp life, and adored all of the attention that they received from our friends. I have a lot of training to do - they are still very much puppies, and want to greet and jump people very enthusiastically. It will come...with lots of experience and practice!

On the Road Again

 We are officially “on the road” for our summer sojourn! We did a shake-down cruise to the FMCA International Convention in March. It was cold. It rained. We were all miserable. It was difficult to deal with the puppies….but we made it. We returned home and over the ensuing weeks reevaluated what we needed to have with us, what needed to go, and what we needed to acquire. 

Scott found some amazing bins/cabinets that perfectly fit in a recessed area in the back of our closet for clothing storage. We also found some shoe bags that can be hung in the closet to keep our shoes off the floor. In the storage area below we installed some carpeting so our things don’t scoot all over the place. Scott put in some small shelves for chemicals and cleaning agents below as well. One of the problems we experienced with this particular motorhome, which has a low profile, is that the gravity feed “dump” was often lower than the drain we needed to use. He installed a pump that will “pump our dump”… even uphill!

The puppies live in a kennel when we are on the road and overnight. While traveling, it fits perfectly on the dinette table that has been lowered, as if to make a sleeping area. Once we have landed for the night, the kennel occupies valuable space on the floor…but, so be it! As they mature we may find that we can dispense with the kennel. 

We packed the RV leisurely, bringing it over to the house every few days for upgrades, cleaning and packing. We chose to leave for our first destination a day in advance, so we could be a bit more relaxed. We were ready to leave by noon. We locked the doors to the house and turned the wheels north.  We decided to swing toward the Gulf once we were north of Tampa. I randomly picked a campground near Homosassa Springs, FL for our first night out. Amazingly, I discovered that we had stayed at this same campground over 30 years ago!! 

We will be on the road from now until the end of June. After a month or so in California we will begin our return to the southeast. It will be a learning experience for all, for sure!

Zoomies

 The pups provide so much entertainment, and make us laugh. Here's why:

Life With Corgi Pups

 Our girls are growing bigger by the day. They are learning new things: some good, some not so good! 🤣. They are working hard at listening to us, and walking nicely on leashes. It certainly is a challenge - there are so many things they want to explore - and we humans are just too slow!  

I sometimes wonder if they will ever be housebroken 🤪 Some days they seem to get it, and other days they wander off to a secluded area to poop, instead of wandering outdoors (and a door is always open!) They are just like toddlers; they get so involved in whatever they are doing it is much easier to squat there than to interrupt their play to go outside. 

Even though they weren’t “broken”, we did take them to the Vet to get “fixed”.  We pretty much sailed through that without having to resort to those nasty cones. I found that baby Onsies fit them perfectly and unbelievably they ignored the “clothes” and never tried to tug on them, even when roughhousing with each other. 

Roughhousing?? They are experts! We have evening entertainment, without having a media on. They play chase games. They practice “kangaroo boxing”. They chase empty water bottles, and they are practicing the fine art of destuffing some toys. Vickie’s favorite game is chasing a baggie tied on a string. I think coursing may be in her future!

Their personalities seem to mirror those of Tucker and Gypsy. Vickie is very independent and is less likely to listen to me (after all, she knows best!) Kaitlin is the lover and is a bit more timid. But, she has an endearing practice of plopping on her tummy when we are walking and she wants to stop to smell something!  It’s hard not to laugh!