Belleville, Kansas

Our motel in Bartlesville:



The Bartlesville water department has a sense of humor!



Nuvi took us on some less-traveled roads north out of Bartlesville and into Kansas. Our day was spent driving through Kansas.



I was expecting flat land and waving fields of wheat, but it's not like that at all. We saw tons of pasture land filled with contented herds of cattle, and even some feed lots jammed with much less contented cattle. It makes no sense to me to pen them up in feed lots when there is pasture land all around. Instead of wheat, we saw field after field of grain sorghum (also called milo), corn and sunflowers. Kansas appears to be a highly agricultural State!

Traffic was light and we made good time. The sky was blue, the clouds were wispy, and it was a perfect day for a drive. We had lunch in Concordia at Heavy's, Home of the Baby Huey Barbecue.



Dick spotted the smoker first, which is like a beacon to him that calls out "eat here, eat here"! Our waitress was a local gal who identified the milo for us, because we didn't have a clue.

Our destination was Belleville, Kansas, which was chosen for obvious reasons...



It seems to be slightly larger than our Belleville, but it also appears to be much less sophisticated. (I never thought I'd be referring to Belleville, Michigan as sophisticated...oh well, everything is relative.)
Dick discovered that their high school mascot is Buffalos, not Tigers.

Since we arrived at the Super 8 relatively early, we decided to hop up to the border of Nebraska and find a couple of caches there so that we wouldn't have to stop and do it in the morning.



We found the Buckley Creek Recreation Area - the most memorable feature was the mud.

We had dinner back in Belleville at the Pizza Hut - yummy.

10/16/2009 You found North Buckley (Traditional Cache) After hiking half way across the dam, I spotted the camping facilities and gave myself a mental dope slap. There has to be a way to drive in!! After some exploring, we found the correct route and drove in. Signed the log and left our card then exchanged high fives for adding Nebraska to our list. Now on to Iowa. 10/16/2009 You found South Buckley (Traditional Cache) We are over 2000 miles into our current Geoquest. A quick dash over the border brought us here for these caches. Signed the log, left our card and launched our Nebraska coin. Five states down, one to go. 10/16/2009 You found RCHS Museum (Traditional Cache) Today was our first day in Kansas, we found some other caches earlier but wanted to leave our coin here. We lived, taught and raised our three kids in Belleville Mi. and made a special effort to start the journeys of our Kansas coin here. Thanks for providing us the perfect place. Signed the log, left our card and our coin. 10/16/2009 You found Kansas POW Camp (Virtual Cache) Found today, our first day of caching in Kansas. There was a POW camp in Michigan's UP also. Bad as they might be, I'll bet the winters here were better. 10/16/2009 You found Hood Park (Traditional Cache) Very neat little park. we notice they are redoing the ball diamond. We could have dropped our coin here but we want to wait 'till Belleville. Signed the log and left our card. Thanks for the fun. 10/16/2009 You found Cloud County Museum (Traditional Cache) We have logged over 2000 miles on our trip so far and after a great lunch break across the street at Heavy's we came over and snagged our first Kansas cache. Thanks for the fun.

Bartlesville, OK

We delayed leaving Texarkana for about an hour because of a storm warning. We drove in rain for a little bit, but the rain was going south and we were going north, so eventually we got away from it.

This part of Texas is very down-at-heel. The homes and yards are not kept up, and the small towns are depressing. Driving through small villages such as Hooks, New Boston, DeKalb, Detroit and Blossom I felt so sorry for them and so very lucky to live where we do. As we were passing through one of those places the radio was playing "I come from a long line of losers." It's easy to understand why country songs are so sad and tragic when you see the circumstances that some people live under.

Yes, there is a Detroit, Texas! We couldn't resist taking some pictures...







Paris, Texas looked like a nice big city with all of the amenities - it looked like a place where you could be comfortable living.

After we entered Oklahoma, things began to look a little brighter. There are no lowland swamps or standing water, and that makes a big difference. Oklahoma has a varied terrain - pastureland, rolling hills, and larger hills in the distance. It's quite pretty. What a change from northeastern Texas and Louisiana.



It was a surprise to find ourselves on the Choctaw Turnpike through the Choctaw Nation. Oklahoma is divided into several different Native American Nations - it's like experiencing the Old West in the 21st century.



Our route took us through the Choctaw, Creek, and Cherokee Nations. The Creek Nation signs all said "Muscogee (Creek) Nation". We saw several casinos in these areas but they're very small and humble looking compared to Turtle Creek or Leelanau Sands.

The lunch stop was at Braum's in Henryetta. We thought it was a unique Henryetta kind of a place, but we saw several more along the highway this afternoon.

Nuvi had us by-pass Tulsa, so we didn't see much of it, but they have a great NPR station. Our destination for today is Bartlesville, and it seems like a lovely city. We have enjoyed being here.

We picked up our Oklahoma caches in Bartlesville before we checked in to the Fairfield Inn.

Found it 10/15/2009 You found My Island Travel Bug Resort (Traditional Cache)
To celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary, we designed a coin. Our first goal was to find a cache in each of Michigan's 83 counties and to launch a coin in each new county we added to our list. After we completed that quest in the fall of '07, we have set as our next goal to cache all 50 states and launch a coin named after each one we add. We are on our fall expedition to find a cache and launch a coin in Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa. We drove over 1400 miles to get here and appreciate being able to find a cache where we can begin the travels of our Oklahoma coin. Signed the log, left our card and coin and picked up a bug.

Went to the Rib Crib for dinner - yummy!

Texarkana, Texas

Left the motel during rush hour in Memphis. Back over the Mississippi into Arkansas. Luckily, the only weather issue we had this morning was a dense fog - thankfully no rain. We drove south through Arkansas, heading for Louisiana to add that state to our total. Stopped for lunch at a truck stop, "Country Fare" in Prescott, Arkansas.

It seemed so fitting to me that, as we drove south through this southern state, Diane Rehm was interviewing Ralph Stanley on NPR. He has been singing Old Time Mountain music since the 40s. It was so enjoyable, given our surroundings, to hear his soft accent and his sweet mountain music as we passed the cotton fields. He was just delightful. Stanley's music was featured in the movie "O Brother Where Art Thou?".

We arrived in Louisiana with hope and excitement about adding a new state. The first cache was right at the state line.



Dick had chosen 4 or 5 others that we wanted to find before heading to Texas. We did find 4 caches, but our hope and excitement was dimmed by the dismal, hopeless nature of the things we saw around us. Northwest Louisiana is not exactly tourist country. It was made even sadder by the recent heavy rainfall - there was standing water and mud everywhere. A big storm must have gone through there lately, too. Trees were uprooted, and there were fallen trees along the roadside. What a sad place.



Entering Texas, things began to look up a bit - things looked more prosperous and livable.



We went past a huge factory, the International Paper Company. There were huge piles of Texas-type pulp wood stretching for about a quarter of a mile along the road. The strangest thing was that there were sprinklers sitting on top of the piles, keeping them wet. It seemed a bit unnecessary considering all of the rain we've seen this week. I tried to google a reason for keeping it wet. I discovered that it's called "wet storage" but I'm not sure why it is done. I think it has something to do with bark removal - at least it's somehow necessary for the pulping process.



Hooray! We arrived at our motel, and we have earned a free night - doesn't get any better. Dinner at Carino's. Today, although we had fog, traffic, mist, orange barrels, red mud, huge construction sites and detours, it was far better than yesterday. Overall, it was a good day, except for finding that Louisiana looks like a third world country.

Memphis

Memories of today: road construction of all sorts -

closed ramps to the interstate right where you need to go,

cold rain,

torn up bridges,

two lane traffic on a six lane highway because the other side was all torn up,

huge piles of dirt,

heavy splashing and mist,

piles of broken concrete,

deluge of rain so loud we couldn't hear the CD,

a truck stopped dead in the right lane with no flares, cones, or orange triangles,

more kinds of construction equipment than you can shake a stick at,

more rain, hard rain,

and miles and miles of orange barrels.

Now, picture all of this in a driving, pelting, heavy rain.

Picture 18 wheelers splashing and kicking up mist, while still going 70 mph.

Picture drivers speeding through this veritable fog of rain and mist with no lights on, and not signaling lane changes.

Thank goodness for Nuvi and for Dick, the demon driver!



Did you know:

1. To get from Indianapolis to Memphis you go through Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas before you get to Tennessee? (The Nuvi route)

2. On that route, you cross the Mississippi River twice?

3. That there are fields and fields of cotton in southern Missouri? It looked to me that the cotton was ready to be picked - although it was hard to see anything clearly through the downpour.

4. That there is a town in Missouri named Braggadocio?

5. That Tops BBQ, ("The Best BBQ in Memphis Since 1952") is NOT the best BBQ in Memphis?

We could barely see the welcoming Comfort Inn sign...

Indianapolis

Uneventful drive through Michigan. Stopped in Niles for lunch at a very interesting place called the Riverfront Cafe.
Then on into Indiana. One of the places we drove through is Kokomo...so I spent the rest of the afternoon with this song in my head:

Aruba, Jamaica ooo I wanna take you to
Bermuda, Bahama come on pretty mama
Key Largo, Montego baby why dont we go

Off the Florida keys
Theres a place called Kokomo
Thats where you wanna go to get away from it all

Of course our Kokomo was not THAT Kokomo!

Arrived in Indianapolis before 5 p.m., so Dick was able to find one cache before dinner and two after dinner.

We ate at Grindstone Charlie's, just around the corner from the motel.

Returned to the Comfort Inn tired but happy.


We had a great talk with Jana on the cell. Her car is back in the shop, but other than that things are good.

After our conversation, she sent me this video spoof - "Kosovo"!

Good night.

Road Trip

Dick and I are taking a short road trip next week to add six more States to our geocaching total. We hope to add Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa

We're leaving tomorrow, Monday, Oct. 12, and plan to be home on or before Oct. 21. We sold our Delaware State tickets to our friend Justin (Wolverine Warriors). I'm hoping we can hear the game on the radio or maybe even watch it on TV.

We're almost all packed up, and we're looking forward to it. You just have to love a road trip!

Night Game

Minor's Two Scores Not Enough in U-M Loss at No. 12 Iowa

Oct. 10, 2009

Site: Iowa City, Iowa (Kinnick Stadium)
Score: #12 Iowa 30, Michigan 28
Record: Michigan (4-2, 1-2 Big Ten), Iowa (6-0, 2-0 Big Ten)
Attendance: 70,585 (sellout)
Next U-M Game: Saturday, Oct. 17 -- vs. Delaware State (Michigan Stadium), 12:01 p.m.


IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Iowa (No. 12 AP/No. 14 USA Today) remained unbeaten and eked out a 30-28 victory over the University of Michigan football team on Saturday night (Oct. 10) at Kinnick Stadium. The Hawkeyes extended the nation's second-longest winning streak to 10 games before a sold-out homecoming crowd against the Wolverines.

The game went too late for me, so I went to bed and missed the winning interception at the end. At least I feel well rested :)

Blue Saturday

Oct. 3, 2009

Site: East Lansing, Mich. (Spartan Stadium)
Score: Michigan State 26, #22 Michigan 20 (OT)
Records: U-M (4-1, 1-1 Big Ten), Michigan State (2-3, 1-1 Big Ten)
Next U-M Game: Saturday, Oct. 10 -- at Iowa (Iowa City, Iowa), 7 p.m. CDT

Football Drops Overtime Thriller at Michigan State
10/3/2009

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- The University of Michigan football team (No.22 AP/No. 20 USA Today) completed a 14-point comeback to force overtime on Saturday afternoon (Oct. 3), but a U-M interception and subsequent Spartan touchdown in extra time led to a 26-20 Michigan State victory in Spartan Stadium. MSU maintains possession of the Paul Bunyan Trophy for consecutive seasons for the first time since 1967.

Home Again

Packed up this morning , turned in the keys, and headed for T.C. by way of Rochester Hills to visit with Doug and Odette.

They took us to Rochester Mills Beer Company for lunch. It was in the old Western Knitting Mills building, which has a fascinating history. Our lunch was terrific, and we had a nice visit - it's always fun to catch up on all of the latest family stories.

Our drive home was uneventful, thank goodness. We made stops for beverages, and at Kingsley for groceries, and got home before seven. The furnace was slow to heat things up, but other than that, everything here was in fine shape. Dick had the car all unloaded by 7 p.m.

We had a great month in Ann Arbor.

Last Day

After the geezer workout, we went to McDonald's for beverages as we always do, and guess what? McDonald's was gone - totally leveled! We've been going there every M-W-F, so it was quite a shock! We got beverages over on Carpenter Road, and then went to say goodbye to Belleville.

The first stop was on David Street - our poor house is a little down-at-heel.




Dick had it landscaped so beautifully! I guess when things got overgrown, they just tore them out and didn't replace any plantings. Tom and Jana were born while we lived in this house. We lived there from 1962 until 1971.

Then, for old times sake, we ate breakfast at The Red Apple. It has not changed. Our bill was $11 for two - just like old times.

Here's our house on Haggerty Road. I think it looks really nice. I love the color - although I liked our yellow also.




We lived here from Christmas 1970 until June of 1991. Most of us, when we have dreams of a house, this is the house we dream of. We were here through all the trauma of teen-agers - Laurie graduated from BHS in 1979, Tom in 1982, and Jana in 1984. Laurie graduated from the University of Michigan in 1983, Tom graduated from MIT in 1986, and Jana graduated from Michigan in
1989. Whew! That was some decade, the eighties!

We had a barn and a barnyard, which we never really used for anything - and here's the house thst now sits in our old barnyard!



Since it was our last night in AA, we invited Bill and Jan to come over for Japanese at Godaiko - it was a great meal with wonderful company. We'll see them later in the month.

Natural Beauty

Today we went for a drive through the Waterloo and Pinckney Recreation Areas. It was a great day for a drive, and we also found seven caches, so it was a lot of fun. Much of the time we were on narrow gravel roads, some of which were designated as Natural Beauty Roads.
They were beautiful - like driving through canopy of trees.

There were sandhill cranes walking along the edge of the road - it looked like they were finding bugs to eat, maybe. Do cranes eat bugs? It could be that they were eating what was left of that field crop.

Cheonan, Korea

Today Tom flies to Cheonan, Korea on United Airlines for Cymer. He's going as a kind of consultant for some Korean laser clients. He'll be there for two weeks.

죄송합니다. 요청하신 페이지는 찾을 수 없습니다.

Cheonan (Cheonan-si) is a city located in the northeast corner of South Chungcheong, a province of South Korea, and is 83.6 km south of the capital, Seoul[1].

City Tree : Weeping willow
City Flower : Golden bell flower
City Bird : Dove
City Animal : Dragon

The city has been designated the high tech headquarters for Korea. A number of colleges and universities are located there.

Believe it or not, there are American geocachers living in Cheonan! In their photo, they certainly look like typical geocachers. What a hoot!

http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM76G7

Geocaching Korea - Cheonan, Korea
in Geocaching Tour Guides
Posted by: silverquill
N 36° 47.816 E 127° 07.217
52S E 332297 N 4073993
Quick Description: Come geocache in the "Land of the Morning Calm!" It can be a confusing place at first, but we can show you how to get around and visit caches on your route. We live in Cheonan, only an hour from Seoul or the Incheon Airport.

Bon Voyage, Tom. I hope it's a pleasant visit including success with your clients!

Homecoming and 50th Class Reunion

Dick's 50th Class Reunion was well planned and very enjoyable.



The Alumni Association provided super easy access, which I really appreciated. I took a complimentary shuttle bus from the Marriott to the Oosterbaan Fieldhouse - door ro door service! Dick parked the car in our regular space and walked over - he got there before I did. The food was good, and we were entertained by the cheerleaders, the men's glee club, and Jim Brandstatter.



The only negative was that the sound system was way too loud. Afterwards, we took a shuttle to the stadium, and by a lucky fluke we were able to get off right by our gate!

Our team made many, many crucial mistakes, and showed a disturbing lack of pass defense. We were extremely lucky to pull out a victory in the final minutes again. This team is very hard on the fans! We have to sweat it out to the very end.

Michigan Rallies for Homecoming Victory Over Hoosiers

Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Michigan Stadium)
Score: #23 Michigan 36, Indiana 33
Records: U-M (4-0, 1-0 Big Ten), Indiana (3-1, 0-1 Big Ten)
Attendance: 108,118
Next U-M Game: Saturday, Oct. 3 -- at Michigan State (East Lansing, Mich.), Noon

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- After freshman quarterback Tate Forcier found sophomore slot receiver Martavious Odoms for a 26-yard touchdown with 2:29 remaining, junior cornerback Donovan Warren picked off an Indiana pass at the Hoosiers' 30-yard line with 2:14 left to seal a 36-33 homecoming victory for the University of Michigan football team on Saturday (Sept. 26) at Michigan Stadium. Forcier pushed the Wolverines 52 yards down the field during the winning drive, rushing five yards for a first down and later completing a 26-yard pass to Odoms for the go-ahead score.

Interesting sidelight - for the last two games there have been men on top of the structure with binoculars and spotting scopes watching the area around the stadium. They were all dressed in black, and stood there for hours with their eyes glued to their lenses. We assume it was an anti-terrorism measure. We wonder what would happen if they should spot any terrorist activity - an orderly evacuation of the stadium? Yeah, right! We think this action is related to the recent indictment of the man from Denver who supposedly had a plan for a bombing somewhere. It's kind of a weird feeling to see them up there all through the game.

Snider Steaks

Hooray! Steak dinner and a movie! (Or a BHS football game.)

Bill manned the grill, Jan made the potato salad, and it was delicious.



After dinner, Jan and I went to Emagine and saw Love Happens, with Jennifer Anniston. It was only OK - she's cute, the male lead wasn't. (Aaron Eckhardt) I just couldn't warm up to him - his character was a phony and a hypocrit, and I couldn't get past that. The storyline was a little weak, too. Plus I hate that whole walking on hot coals concept.

Dick and Bill went to the Belleville vs. Romulus game, and saw Belleville enjoy a rare victory! Here's a blurry picture of Randy, Bill, and Tom F.

Dundee Has Been Done!

Rain is predicted for Saturday's Homecoming game against Indiana. My rain jacket is hanging on the back of a chair in the dining room in T.C. We have emergency ponchos, but they don't breathe, and so they stick to your skin over time - really only good for emergencies, as the name implies. One of our missions today was to find some good rain protection for me. Dick had the good sense to bring his rain jacket!

Our first stop was on campus to pick up our packet for Dick's 50th Anniversary Homecoming Tailgate on Saturday. (Class of '59) We each have a lanyard with our nametags, a Univ. of Mich. tote bag and a packet of information about the reunion.

Target was next - we bought a good quality poncho so I would be covered (literally) in the rain even if we couldn't find a jacket.

We geocached our way south in the general direction of Cabela's in Dundee. If anybody would have a jacket, they certainly would!

We passed through Milan, and stopped to take a picture of Grandma Kanitz's house. It looks well-maintained and nicely landscaped.


Dick found a series of caches called "Where's Bob?" which took us down great country roads past lovely farms. It was a fun series - it used a variety of container types.

It was after noon by the time we got to Dundee, so we had lunch first at Applebee's. Then off to the wonder of Cabela's. As I pushed my cart around a corner, I saw a sign saying "30% off all rainwear in stock". Oh yeah, we came to the right place! I found the perfect jacket.

Well, OK, it is lime green, but it fits, it has huge pockets and a great hood - I'm very happy!

Cabela's has impressive displays of animals in their natural habitats. It's interesting and fun to see them. Dick photographed everything! The fish photos didn't turn out so well.