Getting Ready to Be On The Move

Just a little review. We have had a great time here in St. Cloud, Mn. I neglected to mention the great Booya feast. Booya is indigenous to Minnesota. It's this wonderful soup with any kind of meats (yes plural) and lots of vegetables and seasonings. Churches and organizations all over the area have Booya dinners. Everyone brings something to put in the pot. It is cooked in a huge pot outside on the open fire. It gets a great smoky flavor from the fire. In ours was turkey, pork, chicken, and beef. I'm not sure how they seasoned it, but it was definitely delicious. Two brothers-in-law, Tom and Bill, go shopping and cook the soup. Their wives, the sisters, Kathy and Cindy, made the bread. We had garlic-basil, and another kind of bread that I can't recall. Fresh rolls were also in abundance. Let me just tell you, it was just about the best soup we have ever eaten.
We went today to get some groceries, and a few things we will need for our trip south. Tomorrow we will fill up Emily's propane tank, and get her ready to go. We work on Friday evening, and on Saturday morning, then we'll close up Emily's slide-outs and be ready for an early departure on Sunday morning. We want to leave no later than 8. Earlier if possible. We have to go a long way to get to a casino outside of Des Moina, Iowa. There is not much between here and there. Most everyone will be leaving that morning. Most going to the same casino. Where we stop after that is just a guess. We don't have to be in Livingston, Texas till the 1st of Nov. We are hoping to go to Corpus Cristi for a few days. Then we'll back-track to Livingston. We'll be there for 2 months. It's just about an hour from Houston.
It has been so cold here the past few days. On Sunday it was so warm, we had shorts on. That evening it rained. The wind started, and it got cold. Yesterday was so cold we pulled out the heavier coats. Today isn't much better. Up north they got some snow. None here yet. The furnace is going more now than usual. Texas is in the 90's.
Sunday evening we went up to the Rally Center for little Jonahs 1st birthday party. He is Cris and Deb's youngest. Such a sweet boy. He always has a smile--except when he is hungry. Man, can that boy eat!! There was lots of family and many friends there to help share the fun. We gave him one of those rugs that looks like a town. Something he will have for a long time. He and his brother will have a good time with it for years. We picked up a bike horn for Nolan. He rides his bike all over the grounds. The family goes for a walk most every night, and he rides his bike. Everyone who comes back next year will remember us when he honks his horn as he pedals around. It was all great fun.
Monday night we went out for dinner with 3 other couples. Our neighbors David and Ruth, regulars Roberta and Gary, fellow workers Jeanne and Gary. We went to the Green Mill. It's an Italian restaurant chain. The food was pretty good. Tom had lasagna, and I had shrimp Alfredo over linguini. The brochette we had as an appetizer was really tasty. You never know when you order it what you'll get. Everyone makes it differently. We all enjoyed the evening, and agreed we should have done it sooner and more often. We all exchanged addresses and phone numbers, etc., and hope to meet up in Arizona and Texas.
We were going to go to Culvers for the ice cream tonight, but it is just to cold, and besides we had changed into jammie pants to get comfy, and just didn't want to go back out in the cold. You'd think it was 20 below outside. Does it mean we're getting old? We don't feel old, just cold.
We'll keep you all posted on how we are doing getting ready to go. We'll keep in touch better now, we have an air card for internet service. We don't use it much here unless we can't connect. We can't wait to get into warmer weather. It will be sad to leave everyone here, but we'll meet more wonderful folks where ever we go.