A day of rest and a drive home

We decided not to leave Sunday, but instead took it as a day of rest. We had worked for eight days in a row, cleaning house, and we were mentally and physically exhausted. We went to church, went out for lunch, and decided what we were going to take with us.

We got on the road fairly early on Monday, heading down I-64 for St. Louis and I-70.

Cahokia Mounds State park is a UN World Heritage Site, outside of St. Louis. It is perhaps the largest representative of the Mississipian culture, a mound building culture that flourished in the central US. It's greatest period was around 1100 AD.


The park has a very good museum, showing many of the artifacts that they found in the mounds. The mounds themselves, except for the largest mound, Monk's mound, are not terribly impressive, so it was good that we visited the museum first.

After a couple of hours at Cahokia Mounds, we pressed on through St. Louis, ultimately stopping at at commercial campground near Danville Missouri. It was hot, and we were happy to plug in the camper and turn on the air conditioning.

Tuesday was a driving day. After lunch, we decided that the camper was too hot for the cats, so we put them in a cat carrier and put them in the truck. We stopped at Wilson Lake, Kansas, in a Bureau of Reclamation campground that we have used before. Air conditioning was again necessary.

Wednesday we drove the rest of the way home. Again we took the cats into the truck at lunchtime. We were pretty tired when we got home. The house and the yard looked pretty good, as people had come in while we were gone.

A funeral and a reunion

We had work to do, clearing out my mom's house, so we just stuck with it. In some ways, it was therapeutic to have work to do, to be going through my mom's things. Diane planned to arrive very late on Tuesday with her boys, Ryan and Patrick. The burial was set for Friday.

Tuesday, Diane called to say that her flight was late, so she would miss her connection, and would not arrive in Louisville until Wednesday afternoon. I met with the funeral home without Diane, since decisions needed to be made in order to have it all come together. I set up a public viewing on Thursday night, with a private burial, no formal funeral, just a graveside service. The funeral home tried very hard to find a female Presbyterian minister, which was my mom's request, but they were all either out of town or at a convention. The minister was Bill Williamson, who met with us Thursday night and then met us at the grave site.

We all continued to work on clearing out the house. Pat worked particularly hard and got a lot done.

Thursday night was quiet, we had maybe 15 visitors at the funeral home. Three of the long time neighbors came by, as well as some of the people who had helped take care of my mom. The surprise visitor was the guy who owned the health food store that my mom patronized. The night was stormy, with horizontal rain.

Friday we met at the funeral home, and took the limo to Cave Hill Cemetery, a very beautiful place. Again we had rain. The minister read some scripture. Richard, Pat, and Ryan spoke. And then it was over. The five of us had a nice lunch at Richard's favorite tapas restaurant, and then back to work clearing out stuff.

Coincidentally, Friday was also the 40th anniversary of Richard's High School graduation. He had not expected to be in town, so had not planned to attend, but decided to go. He enjoyed it, just chatting with old friends from high school, many of whom he had not seen in 40 years. It was surprising how many mentioned Richard's old Corvair.

Saturday, Diane, Patrick, and Ryan flew home, while Richard and Marianne continued to fill the dumpster. Richard brought a load to the Goodwill, but they turned him away, basically said that what we brought was not good enough for the Goodwill. Richard had said pretty much the same thing to his mother, that her clothes were not good enough for the Goodwill, and it turned out he was right. We had a couple come over and help us sweep and clean, so the place looks better, inside and out. Unfortunately, there is still more to do; Richard and Diane will return in the fall.

Richard and Marianne went to Captains Quarters for dinner; this was a salute to Lavone, as she and Ed often ate there.

A sad day

On Saturday, July 3rd, the phone rang very early in the morning. It was my sister, Diane, letting me know that my mother had passed away in the night. My mother had recently moved to assisted living in Texas, near my sister. I had spoken to my sister a couple of days before, and she had indicated that our mother seemed to be suffering some, and going downhill. I purchased plane tickets to fly out to Texas in a few days, but of course too
late......

The funeral is expected to be held on Friday. I do know that any services and the burial will take place in Louisville Kentucky. My mother had made prearrangements with Hadley Funeral Home on Westport Road.

Coincidentally, Marianne and I were already in Louisville as part of our grand tour of the midwest, to continue clearing out my mom's house from 50 years of accumulation of stuff. I was cutting limbs on one of my mom's trees the day before, and neighbors were reminding me that my mom would have "whipped my britches" if I had trimmed her trees........ We will of course stay in Louisville until after the funeral.


I would request your thoughts and prayers for myself and Marianne, for Diane and her sons Ryan and Patrick, and of course for my mother, Lavone.

A visit to the Farm

On Monday, we drove from Wisconsin to central Illinois, to visit Teresa and her family.

Tuesday, we hung out at the farm and played with the new puppy. Richard spent about three hours mowing their lawn with a riding tractor. Teresa cooked us a good dinner.

Wednesday, Teresa, Grace, Richard and Marianne went to the farmer's market. Teresa cooked us another a good dinner. Nick was in the fields spraying, and Lucas was working as well.

The last time Marianne had ridden the ATV was with Teresa driving when she was pregnant with Lucas; now her daughter is driving!

Thursday, Richard and Marianne went to the excellent new Lincoln museum in Springfield. Teresa picked us up for lunch at the downtown Irish pub. Thursday night, we had dinner at a local Italian restaurant, with Nick, Teresa, Lucas, Grace, Jo, Pam, John, John Ryan, and Austin.

Friday, we left about 9 AM to go to Louisville, to resume clearing out Richard's mom's house.