MY LITTLE TOWN

Visiting the town I grew up in, Vermillion SD. I left in 1961 and discovered the place hasn't changed a whole lot in all those years! It was fun to find the house I was raised in; it also hasn't changed!

We'll be catching up with a few of my high school classmates and I'll order a marker for my mom & dad to be placed in the family plot at the Meckling Cemetery -- probably a good thing when future generations want to discover their roots.  That cemetery houses many of my ancestors back to the mid-1800s; I wouldn't be surprised if 90% of the people buried there are 'family'.

 Here's the house on West Cedar St. in Vermillion; my folks bought it in 1944 and added on to it around 1950. Cozy and quaint!

On the Road Again

We left Missouri Saturday June 29th and headed northwest into Iowa; spent the night at a KOA west of Des Moines.  Then we drove on to Vermillion SD where we'll spend this week. 
We had a lovely time visiting Jamie's family and ate out WAY too much -- I managed to pack on 2 pounds in 2 weeks - YIKES! 
We saw some beautiful country on our 'shake out' trip with the 5th wheel -- rolling wooded hills and everything was so very, very green; totally different from Colorado.  Now we're really feeling the urge to get on into less populated areas & start 'boondocking' (camping on public lands instead of in RV parks). 

The Adventure Begins!

We closed on our house in Loveland Colorado Friday June 14th and hit the road in our 5th-wheel the next day.  First destination: Missouri??? Doesn't seem logical when our plan is to travel north this summer; however, we wanted to visit Jamie's family here. Then we'll wander as far north as our inclination takes us -- maybe into Alaska before we turn around & head back south with the sun.  I promised pictures as we journey; this is our camp in the 'Missouri Jungle' west of St. Louis on cousins Cam's & Cher's land.

Another one bites the dust

My son Scott, who is one of the best house painters in the state, has been giving the interior of our house a fresh coat one room at a time.  He did our bedroom yesterday, and as usual it looks great!  Can't wait to move back in.  We slept on the hide-a-bed last night & I discovered it's amazingly comfy -- guests have told us that. 

Now to put our bedroom back together & do something more toward the breaking up housekeeping tasks ;-)

On Becoming Gypsies

Everyone asks "Where all will you go?"  The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind ;-).  This photo is of North America at night, from the space shuttle.  See all those black areas?  That's where you'll find us most of the time.

Final ART SALE coming soon!

We're moving forward with the 'breaking-up-housekeeping' efforts.  Hope to move into the 5th wheel in about a month.  Check here & on my web site, www.batchelderart.com, for the final sale of my watercolors that don't get to travel with us -- prices will be Rock Bottom.

A Good HEAR day!

I broke down and went to the audiologist yesterday, got new hearing aids -- technology has changed so much since my first one.  I'm very optimistic these will do the trick for me.  We discovered my hearing loss is 'severe' in the high-frequency ranges, making it impossible for me to distinguish 'soft-consonant' sounds.  Cross your fingers for me, and be happy you don't have to repeat yourself all the time when talking to me!