This trip really morphed over time. It was originally supposed to be a week for Cindy and I in Dallas to see Elton John. This was Cindy’s birthday present from 2021. Then we decided to go to St. Joseph and stay at house number 2 and then go to Dallas for the concert. Then Corrianne was moving, so she and I drove to her place and moved her to another city in Texas. I saw Dan while in Texas and he and I drove back to St. Joseph. He flew home a few days later and a few days after that Cindy and Sylvia flew in. After just over a week, we all drove to Dallas for the concert. After that, we drove to see Corrianne for a few days then took a leisurely drive home. So our original 1 week trip turned into a 5 week adventure.

Days 1-2

These were our travel days to Rowlette, Texas. The first day we drove all day and made it to El Paso, Texas. First, we passed through Arizona and stopped at Gem World in Quartzite where we bought some rocks. We must have rocks in our head to pay for something you can find on the ground.

When we passed through New Mexico, this was on a gas pump there.

If they think their gas prices are high, they should visit California.

We had dinner at an out of the way brewery named, “High Desert Brewing Company.” The food was really good and it was worth the stop.

We made it all the way to El Paso, Texas by the end of day one. And we were now in the land of Corrianne’s favorite store, Buc-ee’s, and fried pies.

Our second day was spent driving all the way across Texas to Rowlett, which is just northeast of Dallas. It was amazing how the day before we started in one state, passed through two more states, and ended in a fourth state, yet a day later were drove for most of the day and remained in the same state.

I dropped Corrianne off at her place and went to my hotel (she has a roommate and her place is too small for another person to spent the night). I got settled in and looked out the window to see my view of a nearby lake. Here is what I saw.

This demon from hell was on the outside of the window and was annoyed that I was looking at it, so it told me close the blinds and mind my own business. I screamed at a pitch that was so high, no human could hear it. However, I could hear dogs howling for miles around. Needless to say, I did not have a restful night’s sleep.

Days 3-4

We spent the next day moving Corrianne from Rowlett to Bryan, Texas, about 3 hours southeast. The move went smoothly and we finished well before dinner time. We ate dinner and went to the local Walmart for some supplies. I forgot to mention that Bryan is next to College Station, a college town, the home of Texas A&M University. It turns out Texas A&M is the largest university in Texas with just over 70,000 students. Now back to the Walmart. They had a huge section just for not only A&M gear, but it also included their football schedule.

The next day we went to “Wings and More” for some hot wings. This was their sign out front.

Now that’s a new year’s resolution I can get behind. And the wings were outstanding.

Corrianne and I spent the rest of our time assembling furniture, cleaning up and so on. We had a really good time together.

Days 5-7

On day five, which happened to be New Year’s Eve, I drove up to my friend and script writing partner’s house in north Texas, McKinney to be exact. Dan B is quite the creative character. Upon my arrival, he made sure I checked the closet in the guest room I was staying in. Here is what I found.

The level of detail was amazing. The whiteboard with the lines to different newspaper headline cut outs; the burnt candle; the map with cities circled I had actually been in. It was an impressive joke. Or was it? Since I’m still alive and writing this, it was clearly a joke and Dan is not as crazy as this makes him appear to be. Or is he?

Either way, we (Dan, his wife, and I) stayed up until midnight, drank some sparkling cider, and went to bed.

The next day was cold, but beautiful, so Dan and I headed off to a local lake to throw a line in. Here are a few pictures.

Once again, the fish were all safe and stayed in the lake. As we were fishing, a strong wind came up and pushed some clouds toward us.

And just like that, it started to rain. Fishing trip over. We returned to Dan’s house to plan for our trip to St. Joseph.

The original plan was for me to stay with Dan on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, and then Dan and I would drive the eight or so hours to St. Joseph on the afternoon and evening of the 2nd. Since so much about this trip had already changed, why wouldn’t this? And it did change. The weather report for the 2nd changed and was going to be really cold. It was projected to be in the mid teens in McKinney and single digits in the St. Joseph area, with the possibility of snow. I’m not averse to cold weather, but do not enjoy driving on frozen snowy roads. So we decided to stay at Dan’s house one more night and drive up to St. Joseph on the morning and afternoon of the 3rd. We made the right choice. Here is the actual weather from McKinney on the 2nd and a picture of the front yard of our St. Joseph house from the 2nd.

Yes, we made the right choice waiting a day to travel.

Day 8

This was Dan and my travel day from McKinney to St. Joseph.

I used my Google map program which for the most part is pretty good. That being said, when it is not good, it is very bad. This would be one of the bad trips. In the past, the program has taken me through Kansas to Kansas City, then north on Highway 29 to our place. I liked this route because it was all on major roadways, which should be clear in less than perfect weather. This time the program took us through Kansas, by passed Kansas City via a bunch of back country roads that still had snow on them, and had us enter St. Joseph from the west via more back country roads that still had snow on them. See for yourself.

Clearly, Google maps hates me. Here is my front yard upon our arrival.

Luckily, our home owners association includes snow plow service.

Dan and I unloaded our suitcases and headed off to dinner at McCindy’s. Of course I had to tease Cindy by sending her this picture.

Days 9 – 10

We got up and got ready for a full day. With the temperature jumping up to the 40’s and the wind blowing at about 10-15 mph, it was quite pleasant out. We headed over to the Culver household and helped Scott shuttle Heather, Lauren and 4 other relatives to the airport. After the airport, the three of us were supposed to go to a Top Golf that was reasonably close to the airport. It turned out Scott was not able to go because he had some work to finish so it was just Dan and I. This was Dan’s first time and he was a little concerned about the temperatures, since this is a partly an outdoor activity. They had outdoor heaters so that was not an issue and we had a blast.

After Top Golf, we went to Nebraska Furniture and picked up a few more of our items that had come in. The second recliner finally came in. Here it is in its temporary position. It would end up in a different place once Cindy and Sylvia showed up.

The next day, Dan and I got up to temperatures in the mid 30’s which wasn’t so bad, but the wind was blowing around 25 mph, which made it feel like Antarctica. It is very true what they say about Missouri weather. If you don’t like it, wait an hour because it will change.

We bundled up and visited the Glore Psychiatric Museum. According to their website, it is an award winning museum that chronicles the 145-year history of the state hospital and centuries of mental health treatment. It is located on the adjoining grounds of the original state hospital. Surgical tools, treatment equipment, furnishings, nurse uniforms, personal notes, and other items from the hospital are on display. Fascinating artwork from hospital patients gives you a glimpse into the minds of those who suffered with mental illness. The embroidered words of a mute schizophrenic speak volumes. Pottery, paintings, drawings, and other artwork on display gave patients both therapy and an outlet to express their pain, joy, and hopes. The original ‘State Lunatic Asylum No. 2’ opened on November 1874 with 250 patients on land located east of the City of St. Joseph. Dr. George C. Catlett, the hospital’s first Superintendent, explained that the hospital was dedicated “to the noble work of reviving hope in the human heart and dispelling the portentous clouds that penetrate the intellects of minds diseased.” In 1968, George Glore, an employee of the St. Joseph State Hospital, helped construct a series of full-size replicas of primitive 17th, 18th, and 19th century treatment devices for a Mental Health Awareness Week open house. Those exhibits impressed the hospital officials and sparked the idea to create the Glore Psychiatric Museum. Today, George’s treatment device replicas remain an integral part of the museum’s exhibits.

Here is some of what we saw.

This was a display showing the items taken out of a patient’s stomach after they died from eating all of these foreign objects. Ouch.

This is a car built by a youth group associated with the children’s hospital. As you can see, it won a lot of awards.

This was the actual morgue. It felt a little creepy.

This museum is a must see when in St. Joe.

After the museum, we met Scott at the Crumbly Burger. None of us had ever eaten there and were not even sure what the name meant. We asked the girl at the counter and she explained a crumbly burger is like a sloppy joe without the sauce. Yes it was.

It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t that good. I’m glad I tried it, but have no desire to return. That being said, if someone has not tried it and asked me to go with them, I would.

Our next stop for all three of us (Scott had joined us) was the Pony Express Museum. This is also a must stop and see museum when in St. Joe. Here are a few pictures.

There was an interesting display about the covered wagons and the trip across the country to California from Missouri.

And who knew Dan was a cowboy.

We thoroughly enjoyed the museum, then headed home to rest. After a short rest, I took Dan to the airport. He made it home safely.

Days 11-20

The next 10 days I was by myself at the house and did all of the repair, prep work, and so on, we did not get done on our last trip here. Most of it was boring stuff, but there were a few interesting projects. One was the garage. I turned a garage full of junk, boxes, etc, into this organized masterpiece.

A second project was lowering the TV in the living room. We originally mounted the TV a little too high. Unfortunately, the process involved bolting a heavy brace to 2×4’s I put in place that were bolted to studs in the wall. Here is what it looked like.

And the final project I was quite proud of, was replacing kitty hole door. Here is what was replaced.

I was able to buy the door, some tools, and some other items needed for this project at our local Menards. That is important to note because the world famous Aunt Barbara from Montana had given us a Menards gift card for Christmas. That card covered the cost of everything I needed so basically, she bought the door and some tools. Thanks Aunt Barbara! Here is what your gift bought.

Not bad for a door installing rookie. And I did it all by myself.

In addition to all of the work, there was some fun weather. The day after Dan left, it got down right cold.

Luckily, the next day it warmed up to 12 degrees, with a wind chill of negative 5.

Then on the day before Cindy and Sylvia flew in, it snowed.

The wind blew the snow up against our back door, leaving a three inch berm across the bottom.

I was happy it snowed so Cindy and Sylvia could experience it. Sylvia had never been in the snow or really cold weather before, but that changed on this trip.

Days 21-29

For the next 9 days, Cindy, Sylvia and I worked on the house, did some sightseeing, and generally had a good time.

On Thursday, we went to Pryston’s Wine Bar with the Culver’s. As you recall, Pryston’s is a local wine bar just down the street from our house.

On Thursdays, they have trivia night and we have tried it once. The Culvers do it every Thursday. The way it works is you have a team of two or three, name your team, and which ever team answers the most questions correctly from the 15 questions in the quiz, wins a prize. This week the subject was 80’s TV shows. Now Cindy knows 80’s music better than anybody, but she wasn’t sure about TV shows. So on Thursday night, Cindy, Sylvia and I were one team, Scott and Heather were another team, and there were two other teams, for a total of four teams. The questions were tough, and in the end, Scott and Heather got 5 right, one of the other teams got 12 right, the third team got 13 right. And drum roll please…………We got 14 right and were the winners!!! Cindy answered 12 of the questions and Sylvia and I each got one right. So Cindy is as good with 80’s TV as she is with the music. Our prize was a bottle of wine and I’m sure we will enjoy it.

On Monday, we visited Jamesport, the local Amish/Mennonite town. We have been there before and really enjoyed this visit as well. We had lunch at Gingerich’s Dutch Pantry, famous for their Fried Chicken Buffet.

I had the homemade fried chicken strips, and they were delicious. Afterward, we went across the street to the Farmhouse Collection store. The girls really love the homemade candles in the store and purchased their fair share.

As you can see, they have quite the collection of homemade candles.

We returned home, went out to dinner with Heather (Scott did not go with us because he had a prior engagement), and returned to our house for some wine with Scott and Heather. An enjoyable final night in Missouri.

Days 30-31

Day 30 was our travel day to Dallas. It took most of the day, but there were no issues, so that is always a good travel day. At least there were no issues with the travel. Once we got to our hotel, we learned Elton John had been exposed to COVID and our concert was postponed to an unknown future date. This was our 5th concert in a year to be postponed. I guess the bright side is we have a lot of future concerts to attend.

The next day we got up and decided to go to Deep Ellum, an entertainment district just outside of Dallas known for its vibrant street murals, quirky art galleries, restaurants, and concert venues for indie and blues music.

On our way there, we saw this sign.

I was relieved to learn that my “moody” condition could be treated at an outpatient center. So with that great news, we continued on. Here are some pictures from Deep Ellum.

We had lunch at Postino. We had several types of bruschetta and of course some delicious wine. A very delicious lunch.

Our next stop was at Pioneer Plaza, where there are numerous sculptures of cattle and a few cowboys as well. It was an interesting display.

The statues we very large with the cattle statues being over six feet high. Here is Cindy standing next to one to give you perspective.

Next we went to the downtown Dallas area to see the giant eye. It was an interesting, but creepy piece of art.

From there, we walked over to the AT&T Plaza. There was some art there and a giant display screen on the side of one of the buildings.

We finished the day with a delicious dinner at Texas de Brazil and called it a night.

Days 32-33

Day 32 saw us travel to Bryan, Texas to spent a few days with Corrianne. Our first stop was in Waxahachie. I wanted to visit the famous “Meat Church,” home to the BBQ supply store run by Matt Pittman, known for his skills with smoking and BBQing meat. Isn’t Pittman the perfect name for some in the BBQ field?

Our second stop was in Ennis at the giant gas station/market Buc-ee’s.

Our final stop was in Bryan, Texas to see Corrianne. During our stay, we visited the Big Shots Golf, a sort of Top Golf imitation. Here is Corrianne.

And here is Cindy.

And finally, Sylvia.

As you can see, a good time was had by all.

Days 34-36

We spent the last three days of the trip driving home. It was a safe and uneventful drive, a great way to end the trip.

Our next trip is actually an event. Cindy, Sylvia and I will be going to “The Clash,” a NASCAR exhibition race at the Los Angeles Coliseum.