Wednesday 5-7-25 Trip Summary, Dance Day & More

 

Spring Trip

Our spring trip was for 43 days. During the trip we visited four states: Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas. We drove 2270 miles. We camped at (2) County/City Parks, (6) State Parks, (1) Casino, (4) Corps of Engineers Campgrounds and (1) Bass Pro Shop. We hiked 14 hikes for the total of 49 miles. We would have done more but rain prevented it. In between the rain we did walk around the campgrounds. We played pinball at Bishop Cidercade in Arlington TX, Magoo's in Tulsa OK and Mega Games twice in Springfield MO. We visited Choctaw Casino in Durant OK, Hard Rock Casino & Resort in Tulsa OK and Downstream Casino & Resort twice in Kansas. We did some site seeing. In Springfield MO we saw the World's Second Largest Fork and Springfield-Greene County Botanical Garden. We saw the World's Largest Goose (Maxie) in Sumner Mo and Simpson Park. We visited three different museums, which were Walt Disney Hometown Museum in Marceline MO, St. Louis Art Museum and The National Museum of Transportation in St. Louis MO. While in St. Louis I rode the Saint Louis Carousel (98 years old) and Butterfly House in Faust Park. We had a super time.

Today was an overcast day with the high of 78 degrees. 

Larry started the day out by doing a couple of Minnie Projects. First he cleaned the sinks with boiling hot water and baking soda. Then he put Dawn and Calgon in the tanks. Second he cleaned the kitchen blind. He was going to put bleach in the septic system but it didn't go through any last month. This was a surprise because usually it goes through some.

While Larry was doing one of his projects he had a surprise visitor, a hummingbird. It almost landed on his head. So I made some nectar for the hummingbirds. Once it cooled off I filled the feeder. It didn't take long for the hummingbirds to come and drink some of the nectar. They were happy I put the feeder out full with nectar.  

I attended three virtual square dances. First was Di Green and Terry McCann's Weekly Plus at 10:00 for an hour. Di and Terry took turns calling five tips to 9 participants. Di worked on a couple of moves, which were Spin Chain the Gears and Spin Chain and Exchange the Gears. I had a great time dancing with friends.

Second was Ett McAtee's Weekly C1 at 1:00 for an hour. She called four tips to 16 participants. I had a fun hour dancing to Ett and with friends.

 

Participants in Ett's C1 dance

 

Third was Dave Eno's Weekly C1/A2 at 6:00 for an hour and a half. This week Greg Moore helped call the dance. Karin Rabe was in Germany working so Greg didn't share the tips with her. The format was three tips of C1 to 8 participants, three tips of A2 wot 0 participants and two Trivia question in between the A2 tips.  I had great evening of dancing with friends.

 

Participants in the A2 position of the dance

Before the dances I continued reading March. 

While I danced Larry kept business with pinball.

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Experts Only Mini of 5 games. It took me 37 minutes and 50 seconds, which put me in 13th place in my group. Then I played Angry Birds.

I played three games of pinball, which were Dark Chaos, Transformers and Deadpool. Dark Chaos was one of the new games Larry had installed on the mini pinball cabinet. He decided to install it on the bigger cabinet. He likes it better on the bigger cabinet. I played the game and became Grand Champion. The other two games I didn't do as well.

 

Dark Chaos

 

Deadpool

 

Transformers

I worked out on the Wii Fit for a half hour. I played Bounce Arcade for an hour. I played two games of Monster Manor and one game of Asteroids Outpost. The first came of Monster Manor I earned a bronze trophy. When I played Asteroids Outpost I earned a silver trophy. I was successful in mining the asteroids twice, which earned me the opportunity for a multiball. I was successful in playing the two multiballs. I had a great time.

 

Asteroids Outpost

 

Monster Manor

We got all caught up with our YouTube videos we follow. I finished watching the first season of The Chelsea Detective. By the end of the day I had done 13,500 steps.

   

  

 

 

         

 

 

 

Tuesday 5-6-25 Dancing, Workout & Pinball

 

Rainy Day

 

We had a rainy morning. It rained all morning and into the afternoon. The rain went away around 2:00. The morning temperature was 61 degrees and the high was 85 degrees.

We usually go to Liberty Hill to dance A2 on Tuesday but we decided not to go this week. We wanted to get caught up on a few things around the house. When the rain came we were glad we made the decision not to go. We attended Di Green and Terry McCann's Weekly A2. It started at 10:00 and was for an hour. Di and Terry took turns calling five tips to 13 participants. Di workshopped on the move Turn and Deal to the right and left. Larry danced with me for four of the tips. We had a super time dancing to Di and Terry and with friends. It's good to be back dancing after six weeks.

 

Participants of the dance having fun in between tips

 

Before the dance I read a couple of chapters of March on my Kindle. 

Larry downloaded three pinball games and installed them on the mini cabinet. They were Dark Chaos, Three Angels and Transformers. He worked on the three new games most of the afternoon. 

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Klondike Adventure of 20 games. It took me 1 hour, 9 minutes and 55 seconds, which put me in 14th place in my group. Then I played Angry Birds.

 I worked out with the Wii Fit for a half hour, Gold's Gym for a half hour and Bounce Arcade for fifteen minutes. I played one game of Gunpowder Gulch and earned a silver trophy. While playing I cracked the safe which earned a multiball and I spelled saloon which earned a multiball.

 

Gunpowder Gulch

 

I played four games of pinball, which were Transformers, White Water, Goldeneye and Guardians of the Galaxy. While playing Transformers I got a new high score of 17,488,950, which put me in 33rd place out of 39 participants. I had a fun time playing pinball.

 

Goldeneye

 

Guardians of the Galaxy

 

Transformers

 

White Water

 

We continued catching up with YouTube videos. When Larry went to bed I started watching a new detective series on Acorn called The Chelsea Detective. I ended up doing 13,000 steps. 

While watching YouTube videos we got a package delivery from Amazon. While we were on our trip Larry bought me a new fitness band. It was only sold in black. So yesterday, Larry ordered me a new band and it came in today. The new band is made out of cloth and velcro holds the band on my wrist. The cloth makes it a lot lighter and it's a pink color.

 

The velcro band

 

The new color face

 

 

   

 

 

Sunday & Monday 5-4 & 5-5-25 Pinball, Illness, AC & Working Out

 

Smile and have fun

Sunday

It was nice to be back at home. Larry woke up feeling terrible, he spent most of the morning in bed. He was up most of the afternoon but still didn't feel well..

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. I also got caught up with the Daily Challenges I was behind in, which was the first two days of the month. The event was Event: Two Game Tango of 20 games (10 Klondike and 10 Spider). It took me 2 hours, 24 minutes and 32 seconds, which put me in 14th place in my group. I played Angry Birds.

I finished doing the laundry.

 

Doing laundry

 

I worked out with Synth Riders for a half hour and Bounce Arcade for 45 minutes. I played two games of Gunpowder Gulch and one game of Asteroid Outpost. I got a bronze trophy while playing the second game of Gunpowder Gulch. While I played Asteroid Outpost I earned a gold trophy and was successful in mining the asteroids three times. I also played multi-ball three times and earned the best score ever. I had a great time playing Bounce Arcade.

 

Asteroid Outpost

 

Gunpowder Gulch

 

Today was the end of last week's challenge of Twilight Zone in pinball. I ended up doing a new high score of 101,289,250, which put me in 64th place out of 74 participants. Then I played this week challenge of Transformers. We didn't have this game so Larry downloaded it and installed it on the cabinet in both 2D and VR. Then he played the game. It has a great VR room, it shows two transformers fighting each other. My first high score in the challenge was 15,798,700, which put me in 10th place out of 14 participants so far.

 

One of the building in VR

 

Bumblebee

 

Megatron

 

Two transformers fighting

 

Transformers

 

 

Twilight Zone

 

I also played three other games of pinball, which were The Flintstones, Mustang and Creature From the Black Lagoon. I was high score #4 in Mustang and Grand Champion in Creature From the Black Lagoon.

 

Creature From the Black Lagoon

 

Mustang

 

The Flintstones

 

We continued watching our YouTube videos.

In the evening we watched a pinball documentary called The Man Who Saved The Game. It was about how pinball was saved. From the 30's until the 70's many cities banned pinball machines, they said they were for gambling.  It was very good. After Larry went to bed I watched two episodes of The Brokenwood Mysteries of the 11th Season. I ended up doing 12,000 steps.

 

Monday

Rainy Day

 

We had a very humid day. It was overcast all day. At 2:00 the rain came in and stayed around. It came down pretty hard at times. 

Larry was feeling better but still not up to full speed.

Yesterday Larry turned on the air conditioner but it didn't work correctly. It would come on and then turn off. He had read on Next Door, that Pomykal Heating and Cooling do a great job on fixing air conditioners. So first thing this morning he called them. The lady he talked to said they couldn't get in touch with the customer they had scheduled this morning so they could send someone right out. The technician Billy, texted to say he was on his way. He arrived about 9:00 and Larry showed him the unit and kept him company. He found out the motor on the outside unit had gone out, unfortunately it is a special motor and has to be purchased from the manufacture, making it more expensive. The local supply store had one in stock. He went and got the motor and installed it. Billy was very friendly and explained what he was doing. He also was very well trained. Now the air conditioner works. We were very thankful because it's starting to get hot.

While Larry was working on the air conditioner I attended Di Green and Terry McCann's Weekly C1 Dance at 9:00 for an hour. Di asked about our travels and welcomed us back. Di called five tips to 18 participants. Larry danced one tip with me. Today was May Day in the U.K. so the banks were closed. Carol and Brian had attended a May Day celebration during the weekend and showed us some pictures. The theme was circus so people dressed up like circus performers. They said there weren't any May poles but they had a super time. I had a great time dancing to Di and Terry and friends.

 

Dance participants

 

 After lunch we went to town to start our mail service at the post office and get our mail.

 I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: World Tour Mini of 10 games. It took me 38 minutes and 50 seconds, which put me in 20th place in my group. Then I played Angry Birds.

I worked out on my Wii Fit for a half hour. It had been 45 days. The Wii Fit board was giving me troubles. So Larry rebooted the system and it worked perfect. Then I played Bounce Arcade for 45 minutes. I played two games of Pirate's Plunger and got a bronze trophy and a silver trophy and one game of Haunted Manor and earned a bronze trophy. Afterwards I moved onto the Synth Riders and worked out with it for a half hour. 

 

Monster Manor

 

Pirate's Plunger

 

I used my new band while working out and it did a great job of keeping track of calories I burned. I also used it when I was square dancing. I really like my new band. It gives me more information than I use. 

Larry has been following a forum about my band and the other devices made by the same company. He was impressed so he bought himself a watch. He likes the watch, it displays all the normal fitness band stuff, allows you to easily change faces, displays text messages from his phone and it has all kinds of settings to play with. He also found out he can use his voice to get weather forecasts and most other information. He still has a lot to learn. 

I played four games of pinball. I played the weekly challenge of Transformers and got a new high score. But I didn't submit it because it didn't moved me up and it was only a little more than the one I had submitted. The other three were World Joker Poker, Nightmare Before Christmas and Mission Impossible.

 

Mission Impossible

 

Nightmare Before Christmas

 

Transformers

 

World Joker Poker

We continued playing catch up with our YouTube videos. After Larry went to bed I finished watching The Brokenwood Mysteries 11th season. I ended up doing 13,000 steps for the day.

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

Saturday 5-3-25 We're Home

 

Sunset on Lake Texhoma

 

We're home after six weeks on the road. We had a great time. 

Last night we stayed at Johnson Creek Campground. We had paid for two nights but decided to come home. I got up at 7:00 and we had a quick breakfast of oatmeal. We wanted to be on the road by 8:00. Larry had 235 miles to drive and had to go through Dallas. We were on the road by 7:30. 

The drive was on divided highways and interstates. We started in Oklahoma and ended back in Texas. The traffic was ok until we got close to Dallas, where the traffic was heavy. It was a good day for driving, the sun was shining and the roads were dry. 

We got home at 12:00. When we got home Larry turned on the water to the house. Then we unloaded the Minnie and took the motorcycle off the back. Once the bike was off it's carrier we put the carrier in the garage. I unloaded the refrigerator and freezer and Larry took the electronics in the house. Then we had lunch. After lunch I continued unloading the Minnie it took me about two hours. Larry backed up the files from the computer. When I finished we went to town to get our mail at the UPS Store. Monday, we'll go to the post office and start the mail again.

I received an e-mail saying I have until tomorrow to do my weekly pinball challenge. So Larry downloaded the game, which was Twilight Zone. I had played this game about 10 months ago and I thought we had it on the cabinet. Larry checked and found out he had taken it off. He installed it again in both 2D and VR. Then I played the game and submitted my high score. I didn't do too good I'm 57th out of 57 participants. That's ok I'll play it again tomorrow. I also played three other games, which were Goldeneye, Black Rose and Mustang. While playing Goldeneye I entered my initials as high score #2.

 

Black Rose

 

Goldeneye

 

Mustang

 

Twilight Zone

I played the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Tri Peaks Mini of 5 games. It took me 13 minutes and 31 seconds, which put me in 29th place in my group. Then I played Angry Birds.  

In the evening we started watching the YouTube videos, that we follow. It's going to take a few days to catch up. When Larry went to bed I finished watching the 10th season of Father Brown and the 3rd season of Reacher. I ended up doing 13,000 steps.  

Friday 5-2-25 Rain, New Campground & State

 

Camping at Johnson Creek Campground

 

We spent the night at Downstream Casino & Resort. At 4:00 this morning the rain came back. It rained pretty steady until 8:30. We decided we would wait a little bit for the roads to dry up. As we waited we also looked at the weather and it was raining the the direction we were going. We were going to Durant Oklahoma to a Corps of Engineers campground Johnson Creek on Lake Texhoma. 

About 9:45 we decided to leave. We put everything down and secure. Our adventure was down divided highways for 280 miles. Oklahoma highways can be hit or miss. In places we had to contend with very rough roads, sometimes we had to drive in the left lane because it was smoother and sometimes we had to slow down. Larry didn't want to beat up the Minnie. There was rain all around us throughout the day. When we thought we would hit rain we would park and wait a half hour or so in a parking lot for the storms to move on.

We stopped once to fill up the Minnie with gas in Muskogee, OK. We stopped for lunch at a Braum's in Wagoner, OK. We shared a chicken club sandwich, fries and a chocolate shake. When you get a meal deal at Braum's you can choose a drink or a shake. While we were eating a baseball team from Kansas came in for lunch. The service was fast, the cashier, who took our order was efficient but she wouldn't smile. The sandwich was good. We stopped a few more times. Once was in a strip mall where we walked through an Ollie's. This was the first time we have been through one, I wasn't impressed. It reminded me of Big Lots and the prices weren't any cheaper than Walmart. Then we walked through a Five Below. Another time we stopped at a Tractor Supply for about 45 minutes. 

We finally got to Johnson Creek Campground about 5:00. Larry stopped at the gate house and checked in. He did an outstanding job in choosing a site, we look out over Lake Texhoma. They have had a lot of rain, the campgrounds we have stayed at before are closed due to flooding, this campground is a bit higher up. They had a lot of rain today, some of it must have been very hard, there were small branches laying on the roads and some camp sites. The boat ramp is closed and there are a lot of trees and logs were floating in the lake. It's a small campground and the sites are close to each other.

After setting up the Minnie we had dinner. It's Friday night so we had a pizza. The other day when we went shopping we picked up a couple of Red Baron Deep Pan Single Three Meat Pizzas. They came out very nice.

 

Pizza dinner

 

After dinner we walked around the campground so I could get some steps. I walked for a total of an hour for 2.5 miles. Larry walked 30 minutes of the hour. When I got back I stepped in place for another half hour. By the ended of the day I had gotten 13,000 steps.

 

Lake Texhoma

 

When we were waiting for the rain to clear I continued reading March. I did the event, which was Event: Pyramid Adventure of 20 games. It took me 1 hour, 13 minutes and 1 seconds, which put me in 19th place in my group. I played Angry Birds.     

  

Thursday 5-1-25 Happy May Day, Playing Pinball & Moving On

 

May Day

 

May Day is an European festival of ancient origins, it celebrate the beginning of the summer, about halfway between the Northern Hemisphere's spring equinox and midsummer solstice.

Last night around 10:00 a storm came through our campground. There was a lot of rain and strong winds. The winds rocked the Minnie back and forth. At 10:45 the power went out and everything switched over to battery power or propane. When Larry got up at 6:00 this morning a park worker had just restored the power. I got up about 6:30 and made oatmeal for breakfast. The rain had stopped in early morning. It wasn't bad sleeping without power because the temperature had dropped and Larry cracked the vent. 

After breakfast we got ready to go, the rain had gone away and the clouds were breaking up. I went over to the bathroom and noticed, there were a few branches from the trees down throughout the campground. I walked by the river and it was very high. Yesterday, when I was walking around a couple of park workers told me they were keeping an eye on the river because it was suppose to rise 13 feet. If it did we would have to leave. We were glad it didn't happen. When I got back we finished putting things down and secured.

 

The river at the campground

 

 

 

 

Branches down in the campground

As we were leaving the park we had to wait a few minutes because the storm had blown a tree over and it was laying across the main road. A couple of workers were using a chainsaw to cut it in pieces so they could move it. Once they had a lane open we were able to leave. As we were going down the road we saw more small limbs in the road. It was a strong storm. 

Larry drove 240 miles today on four lane highways. As we were driving towards Springfield we saw lots of destroyed billboards, but the roads were in good shape. We had been watching the weather for a few days and Springfield had gotten hit hard with tornadoes and heavy rain. We saw a lot of dead armadillos, which was a big surprise.

When we got to Springfield, which was 154 miles from the campground we stopped at Meta Games Unlimited to play pinball. Before playing pinball we had lunch next door at Firehouse Subs. We shared a New York Steamer sub and chips. The sandwich was very good.

After lunch we went next door. Larry talked to one of the owners at Meta Games about the store and the games. Matt was very happy to help. He explained how the store started over 20 years. The owner was a 20 year old guy at the time. Matt and his friend knew him and joined him in the business later on because they were too young to work. It was very interesting learning about the background of the store. We had no idea how popular board gaming was and we knew nothing about the games they play. They have tournaments on Saturdays and people from all over come and play the games. They get between 20 and 40 participants. 

We were there for almost two hours playing pinball. We played Godzilla, Foo Fighters, Dungeons & Dragons, Rush, Iron Man, Metallic, Jurassic Park, Indianapolis 500 and Monster Bash. The price to play pinball on most of the games were .75 for one game and $2.00 for three games. We ended up playing Iron Man seven times because we kept getting an extra game. We had a super time.

 

Dungeons & Dragons

 

Foo Fighters

 

Godzilla

 

Indianapolis 500

 

 

 

Iron Man

 

 

Jurassic Park

 

Metallica

 

 

Monster Bash

 

 

Having fun playing pinball

 

 

Larry playing Rush

 

After playing pinball we were back on the road. Larry drove another 86 miles to Downstream Casino & Resort. We arrived around 3:00. We found a site for the night, which was #12. Then we walked over to the gift shop to register. I'm a card member for the casino so it was easy to register. It was free to stay but you had to let them know what site you were in. Larry went back to the Minnie and I stayed for a couple of hours and gambled. Then I went back to the Minnie for dinner. After dinner I went back for a couple more hours. By the end of the evening I came back with $36.00 in my pocket. I had won $16.00. It was great entertainment for four hours.

 

Sunset at Downstream Casino & Resort

While I gambled Larry did research on where we are going to stay tomorrow. He found a Corp of Engineers park, he had to pay for two nights because it was the weekend. Not sure if we will be there one or two nights. That's ok because we get the camping for half price. 

When I got back I read for a bit. Then I did the event in Solitaire, was Event: World Tour Mini of 10 games. It took me 32 minutes and 01 second to complete, which put me in 10th place in my group. Then I played Angry Birds. I ended up only doing 6,000 steps today.