Northern Detour

It is November and we have now begun the final month of our camping odyssey, having left home four months ago.  Our general plan was to drift toward home across the southern half of the country, but our relatives are not arrayed in anything like a straight line.  Our main challenge was how to include visits to cousins in Tennessee, Kentucky, Nebraska, Texas, and Arizona.

Part of the solution was to drive from Atlanta to Chicago, where Dave's presence was required for a semiannual board meeting of Wheat Ridge Ministries.  Along the way, we visited Jane's cousin Donna in Nashville, Tennessee, and Dave's cousin Paul near Paducah, Kentucky. 

Dave with Paul in Kentucky

Bill & Donna in Nashville

After the Wheat Ridge meeting, we continued westward to Omaha, Nebraska, to see Jane's cousin Sheri, but missed seeing her other cousin, Stacie.  We then continued to Gothenburg, Nebraska, to visit Sheri's and Stacie's mom and Jane's aunt, Mary Gene.

 

 

Aunt Mary Gene and Jane

Mary-Alice, Jane, and cousin Sheri

Other friends along our path, with whom we shared at least a meal, included Dave's navy shipmate Mike near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, Mary-Alice and Mary in Omaha.   

Mary and Jane in Omaha

Though most of our nights were spent parked at the home of friends or relatives, we also enjoyed three nights in nearly deserted campgrounds in southern Illinois, eastern Iowa, and northern Oklahoma.  Other highlights during this segment included educational visits to the Herbert Hoover Museum in West Branch, Iowa, and the Cherokee National Museum in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

Our last two nights were spent at the home of Jane's college roommate, Kay, in Cookson, Oklahoma.  This was one long overdue reunion, after about 45 years since being together.

Doug and Kay in Oklahoma

Peace in the woods at Kay's house

We have now turned back south and are following the migrating geese toward Texas.  The weather has been pretty good for camping, other than one day of rain in Illinois and frost in Nebraska.  Fall colors are somewhat past their prime and the wind is beginning to strip the trees bare.  Winter is on its way, but we are hoping to outrun it.