Visiting Angie & Dan

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July 6
We slept in this morning. I think all four of us were more tired than usual. We had breakfast after walking the dogs. I did a few loads of laundry. We had checked in with Angie and Dan, they thought they would come out to the trailer for a visit. So while my laundry slowly got done we had more time to visit mixed with short walks with the dogs.

Around 4 pm we left the dogs at the trailer and the four of us headed into Amana for a little more shopping and we’d have dinner at the Yoke Inn another German family style restaurant. We looked about at three or four shops before heading to the restaurant. I did buy some homemade fudge, just two pieces to try it. For dinner David and I had fried chicken and Dan and Angie had there favorite dishes as they’d been here many times before. We all ordered family style which meant we got the sides in big refillable dishes: mashed potatoes, corn, gravy, coleslaw. It was all good but the best part was the creme pie for desert: chocolate, coconut, or banana.

Our waitress was a delightful 16 year old girl that was amazingly good, she even bantered with David quite a bit. As we left David took the time to tell her manager she was a terrific waitress. We commented to her, that with her personality and get-up-and-go she would go far. I told her to stay in school to which she promptly responded, “oh I am, I’m going to get in to Harvard and be a cardio thoracic surgeon!” Shocked at her quick response and her extensive plans I replied, “I bet you will!”

Dan and Angie told us we had to go upstairs in the restaurant to visit Yokey the bear. We did and we took several pictures of Angie and Dan by Yokey. They had a few antiques there too, sort of like a tiny one room museum. The antiques were things that had been used since the restaurant started. Not sure why the bear but even though he was old he was cute posing with Dan and Angie.

After dinner we returned to the trailer and we enticed Angie and Dan to watch the second Jessie Stone movie. They seemed to enjoy it. They headed home and we got a round of hugs. It has just been the best seeing them.

We took the guys out for a short walk and headed to bed.

July 7

I got up with the dogs this morning as David needed some extra sleep. The guys and I walk all around the RV park. The park is like a big open field, farming fields all around it. It’s a huge place, I’m guessing it would take me at least 45 minutes to walk all the way around the outside. We were out about 30 minutes and when we returned David was just getting up. We had breakfast and I finished the last load of dirty cloths.

We headed over to Dan and Angie’s. Red was looking forward to romping in the backyard. Gizmo was out on the patio and Red poked him with his nose to say hello. Red and Dottie had a grand time chasing the ball. It was definitely a very warm day. At one point, Dan took his patio chairs out under the tree where we could sit and the dogs could play. Dan notice a small tear in the seat of one chair. It was nylon webbing and all one piece for the whole seat and back. We all sat and watched the dogs and Red decided he’d jump in Dan’s lap to get the ball before Dan threw it. The extra jar made the chair seat tear more and Dan’s butt lowered a few inches into it. Dottie decided she would check underneath the chair and would poke the bulge with her nose, which made Dan squirm more. The more Dan moved the more he sank the more Dottie was intrigued. Finally, Dan jumped up, so not to fall completely threw the chair. Well he exclaimed “Next summers project of fixing these chairs, is now this summers project!” He showed us how the chair had ripped from the front clear to the back of the seat. We all laughed. Eventually, David’s laughter caused him to create pressure in his patio chair seat and before long his chair had an extensive rip too. I sat very still at this point quite concerned. Dan suggested we go inside and I thought I shouldn’t push my luck with the chair and promptly got up to go in.

We spent the afternoon playing cards, Hand & Foot, a family favorite. The girls against the guys and of course the girls whipped the boys big time!!!

We had leftover barbecue for dinner and pie! We had such a great time. It was sad to say but it was time to leave. We had work to do at the trailer to get ready to pack up tomorrow heading for Storm Lake Iowa. We got the dogs loaded up and we both gave Angie and Dan a big hug. It was so hard to say goodbye. We enjoyed our visit very, very much.

Back at the trailer, I did what I could to get ready to leave tomorrow and then we made the last dog walk of the night. We’ve had a great time here but we are both ready to get headed west again out of this heat and humidity. Oh yeah I won’t miss Iowa roads either!!

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Photos

This little Piggy goes to market!
Really sad to see.