North Carolina cont.

One week went by too quickly but we enjoyed every minute of it.

Kayla with Buddy, the three legged dog

Debbie consulted on a school project that Emily was working on, a period costume. Emily put together the costume herself.

We were fortunate to be able to attend a singing event that Kayla sang at. She sang alone and with a group with a solo.  What a beautiful voice she has. I see American Idol in her future.

Kayla sings her solo part

Guymon, OK

Saturday May 02

We left Ponca City this morning continuing our trip back home. We could have spent a lot more time here. Marilyn made us feel so welcome that we wished we had more time.

The Oklahoma panhandle was also known as "no man's land". When the Texas Republic sought to join the US, it was forced to give up it's land North of the 36°30' parallel as the Missouri Compromise prohibited slavery north of that parallel. The area was declared public land but because it had not been survey, it could not be legally settled. It remains sparsely populated today with less than 8,000 families as of the last census.

After a day's drive of about 275 miles and 8 hours, we arrived in Guymon near the west end of no-man's-land. A city park there offered free overnight parking for RV's. We found the park offered a visitor's center and a dump station. It was after 5pm and the visitor's center was closed.

We parked in a side parking lot as there was a big rig parked in front. An Oklahoma State Patrol office was located directly across the street from our location. We explored the town and stopped to shop at a Walmart, where else? We had a good, quite nights sleep.

Mean While Back in North Carolina

I got kinda behind in NC partly because we were so busy and partly because I took so many pictures but mostly because I might have gotten a little lazy. Anyway I am going to try to post some picture of our visit there at the bottom of each post.

Easter eggs:



Beautiful weather:

A Day at the Renaissance Fair

The Queen arrived just as we were entering the fair grounds, and she waved at us!


Lisa, Jim, Kayla and Emily talk with one of the shop keepers.



Kayla gets "Knighted" by the Queen.


Emily wants no part of the lady with the sword. Debbie told me they were being dubbed Ladies of the Queens Court. Lisa was dubbed for Emily.


"Norman's" on the prowl.


There was sword fighting.


We had to rest after all the fighting.


Kayla gets tattooed. Emily got one on her arm. And Dad also got one on his...

Blake and Stacy Arrive

Blake and Stacy arrived in Wake Forrest.


Stacy, Emily and Kayla at the kitchen table.


Debbie toiling over the hot stove.


Blake and Emily concentrating.

North Carolina III

St Patrick's Day and everyone is in green.



Friday was "Dads and Donuts" in Emily's class and "Grandpa" got to go too. Jimmy gives Emily a doughnut hole.


After doughnuts it was time for some games.



Meanwhile at home 'Buddy' is trying to get into trouble. He can almost reach one of the girls' toys.

Ah got it.

Ops. I wasn't really going to chew it. See, here it is.

North Carolina II

Well I've been busy with grand kids and have neglected updating the blog, but I have been taking pictures and will be catching up over the next few days. This is where we are staying. It looks like this some days but,


...it looks like this too often. This is a view of the storm approaching us that was producing tornado warnings for us and a few of them a little south of us.



We arrive at Jim's house in Wake Forrest just after Kayla got home from school. Emily only goes half a day and had been home a while. We drove over in the Jeep and the trip takes about an hour. Homework and table activities


Kayla studies.


Ty meets a friend at the campground.

North Carolina

March 13 (Friday)

We arrived in Wilson, NC today. Wilson is about 5o miles from Jimmy and Lisa's home in Wake Forrest but is the closest RV park we could find. It's about a 45 minute drive to their house. Part of the way is on a 70mph freeway. The rest is on two lane country roads. We weren't met by the Blue Bird of happiness but rather a red Cardinal in the trees in front of the RV. It turned out to be the red bird of "storms warnings" as we have now sat through two tornado watches in nearby counties and lots of rain and wind, but no hail or lighting (knock-on-wood).


We have standing water all around the Horizon but there are enough high spots to make it back and forth to the car and the ground is mostly grass or gravel so not much mud to deal with (unless you're not watching where your walking).

A few year ago now Debbie admired the Coke case that Rich was using under his steps. He had picked it up in Mexico. The inter ribbing is better than the ones used in the US and are able to support the middle when stepped on. His next trip he picked one up for Debbie and apparently smuggled it across the border. As you can see it has been a life saver here. Thanks Rich!