Joplin, MO

We left home Saturday and made the trip to Ginger and Curt’s home in McAlester for the night.  It’s less than 200 miles to McAlester, so we made good time traveling through territory that we know very well.  It was HOT when we left home, and the high temperature of the day occurred close to Hugo, OK and here it is:

couple that with 90% humidity and it’s not just hot…..it’s DAMN HOT!!  This is the kind of weather we hope to escape as we travel further north and stay there til Fall. 

We passed the old familiar (and stinky) paper mill on our way and DeWayne couldn’t believe I would take a picture of the thing, but as I explained, it’s a picture of what we’re leaving behind.  He seemed to be okay with that.  lol

So Ginger, do you miss working there?  I’m guessing you don’t!

I realized that I should try to take some pictures of our part of the country since it is beautiful and not so familiar to all our readers.  These are taken on the Indian Nation turnpike between Hugo and McAlester:





Notice I had to include some of the clouds, as usual.


Before we knew it, we were turning the corner to park behind Ginger’s house;

Notice the grass piles in the front yard?  I can’t believe they were out there raking grass in that heat!  Not me…..I say just mow over it a coupla times til it disappears.  I don’t do heat!

So we parked behind the house:

Went in and made ourselves at home.  Jana cooked Spaghetti for us and then gave up her bed to us for the night.  She’s such a sweetie!  It was good to visit with them before heading out for an extended stay on the road and we’ll miss them!

We hit the floor running yesterday morning as to get on the road to Joplin and went through all the goodbyes, I love you’s,  and hugs (and more hugs) and it was all too soon time to leave again.  Casey had to give Memaw one last wave as we were loading up.

He’s my handsome little man, for sure!  Thank you, Ginger, Curt, Jana and Casey for putting up with us one more time.  We love you and miss you all already!

We took Hwy 69 and the roads were horrible for miles.  I was surprised I was able to get these pictures of Lake Eufaula since we were bouncing so much.

I gave up the camera in disgust for a while and just held on for the bumpy ride.  The roads smoothed out eventually to our relief and the rest of the trip was pretty uneventful.  We stopped in Joplin at Sam’s for supplies and wound our way to the RV park that is actually outside Joplin in a town called Carthage. 

I missed getting the sign, but it’s the “Big Red Barn RV Park” and is very nice. Here is the office where we checked in and a couple of pictures of the park itself. 



I took the last picture because there was another fifth wheel just like ours parked next to the office. 

We got parked and opened the door to the RV and was blasted with unbelievable heat inside.  First order of business was to get the electricity hooked up and the A/C cranked up.  It was 97 degrees in here and it took hours to get the temperature down far enough to even be fairly comfortable. 

So we are ready to leave this hot place tomorrow and head even farther north where the temperatures will gradually decline.  We looked up the temp in Racine Wisconsin today and it was 77 degrees, so look out Sheila and Basil….we’re heading to your place as fast as we can get there!  Put a pot of beans on for us, will ya? 

We look forward to catching up and Sheila and Basil and just having a good time with them.  Love em to pieces! 
There isn’t any other news to speak of, so I’ll stop again til the next time I have the time and energy to post again.  Until then, everybody try to stay cool and……..HAPPY TRAILS!!!