Homecoming 2023 and Grandkids

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Trip start
September 8, 2023
Traveler Homecoming 2023 and Grandkids
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- Day 1
- Friday, September 8, 2023 at 11:37 AM
- ☀️ 95 °F
- Altitude: 420 ft
- United States Taylor Creek 32.278545, -95.41018732°16’43” N 95°24’37” W
Leaving Tyler
September 8, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 95 °F
We’re in our new (to us) RAV4.

We finished our 1.5 hour zoom call. Glenn had the car packed. We hope to get to McAllister Ok tonight.

We’re heading to Kansas City for the yearly meetings for the Avant retirees.

Earlier this week, Glenn and I were in Longview and we stopped by the Toyota dealership. I had seen a RAV4 listed. Took a test drive. Next thing we knew, we were signing papers.

2021 RAV4 with 13,000 miles! AND it has a rear view camera! Silver. We’ve already put the Dallas Cowboys license plate cover on.Read more
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Traveler Homecoming 2023 and Grandkids
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- Day 2
- Saturday, September 9, 2023 at 1:55 PM
- ☀️ 88 °F
- Altitude: 745 ft
- United States Crow Creek 36.133205, -95.95774836°7’60” N 95°57’28” W
Lunch with the Conners
September 9, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 88 °F
We met up for lunch at Olive Garden to visit John and Gail. Great great to be with them again. Wow, we loved reminiscing old times. John and Gail lived and worked with us in Guatemala for many many years. Good people.

Last week, Glenn and I had lunch Cathy and her daughter Cathleen Gunther, there in the metroplex. We served together in Bolivia back in the 80’s and 90’s. John Gunther did radio phone patches for us. And they both kinda adopted our girls as their grandchildren.Read more
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- Day 6
- Wednesday, September 13, 2023 at 7:31 AM
- ☀️ 55 °F
- Altitude: 1,033 ft
- United States Nashua 39.276098, -94.57702739°16’34” N 94°34’37” W
Kansas City and start of Homecoming
September 13, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 55 °F
Each year, the Avant office host a 3 day event to invite all the retiree Avant missionaries living in the states to attend. There’s lots of fun and community. This year, we have been asked to help with facilitating some of the events. No problem, since our job is Member Care to the retiree folks.

We did arrive 2 days early to relax and get situated. Glenn and I went walking through the neighborhood several times.

Last night was the kick off. Today, I’ll be hosting a Ladies Tea and introducing Lori O’Day who will share.

It’s been fun to get to meet the new folks from Avant and then reunite with old time friends like Cheryl, Ron and Libby plus Carol and Harold.Read more
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- Day 6
- Wednesday, September 13, 2023 at 10:18 AM
- ☀️ 70 °F
- Altitude: 1,033 ft
- United States Nashua 39.276318, -94.57670639°16’35” N 94°34’36” W
Day 2 of Homecoming
September 13, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 70 °F
We had great fellowship. Lots of laughs.

The ladies enjoyed a morning tea where Lori O’Day shared about her up-bringing.

The guys heard from Phil and then played some lawn games.

I took pictures of folks going through the dinner line. Individual.Read more
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- Day 8
- Friday, September 15, 2023 at 10:51 AM
- ⛅ 73 °F
- Altitude: 1,033 ft
- United States Nashua 39.276233, -94.57665339°16’34” N 94°34’36” W
Final Day of Homecoming
September 15, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 73 °F
The morning started off with my weekly zoom call with Virginia, Dorothy, Beverly and Linda. Then I helped Lisa with reminding the retirees to return their “information” sheet. And then there was a full hour of sing-a-long. We sang the old hymns and choruses that we all grew up with.

After lunch there was a time to “honor” those that have achieved milestones of service, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 and even 40 years of service. There was recognition of those retiring and also those that had recently passed away in the past year.

In the afternoon, we played “Chronology” with Judy, Roger, Dean and Linda. We had loads of laughs.

At 4:15, we caught the shuttle bus to the banquet hall way out in Blue Springs, MO. Nice dinner and program. The chaplain for the Kansas City Chief was our keynote speaker.Read more
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- Day 9
- Saturday, September 16, 2023 at 6:01 PM
- ☁️ 70 °F
- Altitude: 715 ft
- United States Fisher 40.316914, -88.35910840°19’1” N 88°21’33” W
Drove to Fisher, illinois
September 16, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 70 °F
We left KC around 9 am and drove towards Fisher.

We stopped in Hannibal for lunch. We got to Illinois in time to watch the last 15 minutes of Emily’s soccer game.

Then we swung by McDonald’s to get her choice of dinner. We had a picnic. In the back yard.

We played sequence and tic tak toe plus worked the puzzle.

We went to bed by 9.:30 so we could get up early Sunday morning to drive Lucy and Annie home with us.Read more
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- Day 10
- Sunday, September 17, 2023
- ☀️ 88 °F
- Altitude: 591 ft
- United States West Mud Creek Lake 32.286076, -95.28315732°17’10” N 95°16’59” W
Long Day of Traveling
September 17, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 88 °F
We pulled out of Fisher, Illinois at 6am. Annie slept a couple of hours before we stopped at McDonald’s for breakfast. She then slept from 11am til 1:30pm. We were hungry and needed to fill up the Rav4. But “never wake up a sleeping baby”.

We did stop outside of Sulphur Springs to have our picnic supper which was left over breakfast and left over lunch from Wendy’s. The girls enjoyed playing on the playground too. We put their pjs on to finish the trip.

We were able to listen to the Dallas Cowboys game.
It was decided that it was best to drive directly to Dallas on I30 and pick up Aunt Sherrie and bring her to Tyler to borrow our old Rav4.Read more
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- Day 12
- Tuesday, September 19, 2023 at 9:54 AM
- ☀️ 79 °F
- Altitude: 535 ft
- United States Tyler 32.344563, -95.29193132°20’40” N 95°17’31” W
In Tyler
September 19, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 79 °F
We picked up Aunt Sherrie on Sunday night and drive her back to Tyler so she could pick up our old Rav4.

We stayed home all day on Monday. The kids drew out on the driveway with chalk. I washed their hair and rolled it.

Oh, we did get out and had the new car washed. The girls lived going through the car wash.

And on Tuesday I had a doctors appointment for bone density. We then drove to aunt Sarah’s to drop the kids off.

Glenn and I had lunch with dad and spent a few hours with mom. I read to her and we talked about the USA puzzle. We got back home just have dark. Another full day.Read more
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- Day 13
- Wednesday, September 20, 2023
- ☀️ 90 °F
- Altitude: 591 ft
- United States West Mud Creek Lake 32.286065, -95.28317932°17’10” N 95°16’59” W
Day Off
September 20, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 90 °F
We had a day off, as Aunt Sarah came to the rescue and kept the girls while we had dentist appointments and a time to see grandmommy at Baylor.

I also had a chance to go to Marshalls. Look at these cute outfits.Read more
TravelerYour map looks so good on the wall!!!
9/21/23Reply
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Traveler Homecoming 2023 and Grandkids
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- Day 14
- Thursday, September 21, 2023 at 7:01 PM
- ☁️ 86 °F
- Altitude: 443 ft
- United States Teneryville 32.539505, -94.80884632°32’22” N 94°48’32” W
Fun Day
September 21, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 86 °F
I had a doctors appointment and I met Glenn at the park. I went to Marshalls to return some items while Glenn swung my Walgreens to get some medication.

We also went to 2 garage sales. We purchased 2 cute outfits for Annie.

While I fixed lunch, Glenn had the girls playing in our yard with the water hose. They enjoyed the blue popsicle.

After a quick bath and rolling their hair, we all took a nap.

For the evening, we drove to Longview to hear “The East Texas Singing Men of Texas”. Keith Wilkerson from First Baptist of Liberty City is in the group.Read more
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- Day 15
- Friday, September 22, 2023 at 7:42 PM
- 🌙 77 °F
- Altitude: 348 ft
- United States Panther Branch 34.726622, -92.39973334°43’36” N 92°23’59” W
Travel Day
September 22, 2023 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 77 °F
After my zoom call with Virginia, Dorothy, and Linda we headed out. During my zoom call, Lucy and I were making some chocolate chip cookies.

We wanted to run by Walgreens and get some medication. Snd then go to drug emporium for some special vitamins. They took longer than expected.

We finally pulled out of Tyler closer to 11:00am. I told Lucy to look for “Garage sale” signs and we would stop. We found 1 sign, pulled off the 2 lane road down to another road to a large farm and barn. It looked like they have a sale several times a year.

We stopped along a road park for lunch picnic. It was apple sauce, carrots, celery and cookies.

Annie slept thru all of Arkansas. We arrived at our hotel around 4:30 then drove nearby to a chic-fil-A restaurant for dinner.

We had a good dsy. Not too long of a drive. Girls were great!Read more
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- Day 16
- Saturday, September 23, 2023 at 1:58 PM
- ☀️ 86 °F
- Altitude: 289 ft
- United States Sikeston Memorial Municipal Airport 36.888111, -89.54652436°53’17” N 89°32’47” W
Saying Goodbye to the grandkids
September 23, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 86 °F
We met Ellen at Lambert’s Cafe. Famous for their Throwed rolls. Fun.

We had a quick 5 days with Lucy, nearly 9 and Annie 3 1/2 in Texas. We went shopping, to the park, baked cookies, played in the water hose, got their hair rolled and enjoyed being with each other. Wonderful memories were made.

Thank you for coming to Grammie and GrandDads’ house on Eagles Nest.Read more
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- Day 19
- Tuesday, September 26, 2023
- ☀️ 93 °F
- Altitude: 581 ft
- United States University Park 32.867126, -96.81043832°52’2” N 96°48’38” W
Visit with Mom and Dad
September 26, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 93 °F
We drove to Dallas to go to 3Score at Northwest Bible Church and then to JF to see mom, dad and Sherrie.

Dallas Zoo brought out 5 or 6 animals to show the 3Score folks.
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Trip end
September 26, 2023