Due to kitty excitement (see Kitten Rescue), we didn’t get out of Springfield until mid-afternoon. We drove north, towards Iowa, and stopped at a Passport America spot just a few hours away. Shoemaker’s RV Park was just off the highway…
Kitten Rescue
Kate was packing up Bessie to move her out when she heard a frantic mewling coming from the RV next to us. It was a large Monaco coach that workers had just parked there that morning. The sound was definitely…
Dad Visit in Springfield
Both sides of my family are from Springfield, Missouri, and when I was growing up, we went back for visits a couple times a year. We always stayed at my maternal grandmother’s house, the six of us sleeping in one…
Father’s Day Expedition
It’s been 40 years since I was with my dad on Father’s Day. When I realized our visit with him in Springfield, Missouri would be over the holiday, I wanted to do something special. Kate and I suggested taking him…
Freedom in All Fifty
For the larst couple of months, Kate and I have been traveling through states that don’t recognize our Washington marriage as valid. Somewhere in Texas it occurred to me that if we were in an accident or if one of…
Eureka Springs, Arkansas
It’s a little known fact that I was born in Arkansas. I was always grateful to my parents for moving north before I learned how to talk. As a kid, I imagined my birthplace as forested mountains with unpainted lean-to’s…
Oklahoma!
When I was a kid and felt especially unhappy with my life, my grandmother would put her arms around my shoulders and say, “Let’s just go out to Oklahoma and start a pony farm.” She and her sister had inherited…
Waco, Texas
Waco made news last month when two rival biker gangs had a lunchtime shootout at a local restaurant, killing nine. But what put Waco on the map before that, at least for us, was one of Kate’s favorite HGTV home…
Tiny Texas Houses
I love tiny houses and have been intrigued by them for years. I’m not sure I could actually stuff all the belongings I love into less than 300 square feet, but something about them charms me. I also learned early…
Sugar Land, Texas
After camping with my sister and brother-in-law at Goose Island, we followed them to Sugar Land (outside of Houston), to spend several days at their house. We were looking forward to kicking back in their pool, but we also had…
Goose Island State Park
With so much of Texas under water, it was hard to find a state park or campground that was still open. The one state park unaffected by recent storms (see Texas-Sized Weather) was Goose Island, down on the Gulf Coast…
Gruene and San Antonio
In 2002, my family had a reunion at the Guadalupe River Ranch near New Braunfels, Texas, and I loved going to the nearby ittle town of Gruene (pronounced Green). It has an old-time dance hall (filmed in the movie “Michael”…