A Great Visit With Great Friends

Hotdogs, cotton candy, sno cones, candied apples, funnel cakes, country music and goat milking contests.  Can you guess where we have been?  We went to the Montgomery County Fair with our good friends, Russ and Sue Winters of Bellflower, MO.   We had an extraordinary time.  We have not been to a county fair in years.

Sue, Russ, Darlie and Lady

Russ and Sue are our winter neighbors in Florida.  We made it a point to swing by here to see their farm. We have heard so much about it and farming.  We were looking forward to stopping by to see them.  They have a beautiful farm in a quiet, serene area an hour or so west of St. Louis.

We took a ride around the farm in the "mule".  An ATV type vehicle used to bop around the fields checking on things like crops and irrigators.  They have a 10 acre lake that provides irrigation water to the fields.  The irrigators are those big long things with pipes and wheels you may have seen in agricultural areas.  They are put together in sections like tinker toys to create what length is needed for the size of the area to be watered.  They creep around in a circle putting down the amount of water needed.

The crops and fields look green and healthy.  The sweet smell of corn in tassel fills the air.  Large ears are forming on each stalk.  If the weather holds, it should be a good year.  I have enjoyed talking with Russ about his business.  Farmers are probably the best managers of an economy there are.  To be successful requires diligence, financial judiciousness, knowledge of soil, seed, weather, machinery, mechanics, hard work and a ton of other aptitudes.  Russ clearly knows his business.  I wish we had people like him running the country instead of the long line of goof balls that get elected.

Sue has a beautiful backyard garden with vegetables and fruit trees.  She blessed us with some of the bounty including green peppers, huge tomatoes, onions, peaches and a couple of slices of homemade blackberry pie made from her own blackberries.

Sue got some wacky cucumber seeds this year.

Sue also drove a school bus for thirty five years for the area school system.  She has some good stories to tell about all the kids she drove to school over the years.  About everyone around knows her.  Probably because they all rode her bus at sometime.   She has also worked the farm with Russ, worked at all kinds of church benefits and community functions.  They also raised three daughters, all of whom she says were perfect little angels.  :-)

Sue and her daughter who lives at the site of the old homestead.

It was difficult to have to leave today.  We had so much fun listening to and telling stories about a whole array of topics.  We sat outside last evening in the warm evening air counting airplanes, stars and satellites.  Sometimes it is the little things you do in life that make lasting memories.  Our stop in Missouri will be one of those things.

We got on the road at about 9:00 AM.  We gassed up before getting on the interstate.  We paid the least for gas of anywhere on the trip, $2.49.9.   We paid a dollar a gallon more in much of the west.

Our son, John, is flying into Indianapolis in the morning.  We will go by and pick him up on our way to our son Jason's house in Elkhart, IN.  We will stay there visiting and making some repairs to the bread truck.  We will have a cracked windshield replaced and do some other minor fixes of things that wear or break along the way.  We also look forward to seeing our two grandchildren, Sarah and Deacon.

We made reservations for a campground in Indianapolis.  It is a good thing we did as there is a NASCAR race here this weekend.  We may not have found a spot with all the race fans in town.
Darlie is in for a nap.  I will go rustle around in the refrigerator and find something to make for dinner.