Kansas City, Kids, and Kin

Overnight stay at the Flying J in Effingham, Illinois      

     
We left our friends at Escapade on Saturday, May 17 and headed south stopping overnight at the Flying J in Effingham, Illinois.  It was a good overnight stay, where we enjoyed Denny's dinner and breakfast before hitting the road on Sunday, the 18th for the final stretch to Kansas City.  Valerie was able to capture a few good barn photos during the two-day trip.










      Lake Jacomo Campground is most centrally located for our interests in the Kansas City Metro area.  It's gated, scenic and has a few level sites that accommodate big rigs.  Our first business priority was a meeting with instructor Matt Genasci and his wife, Dee.  We scheduled our dinner meeting with Matt, Dee and their boys at the Legend of Asia Restaurant in Blue Springs.  Matt has been doing a great job teaching RV driving in the Kansas City area, and Dee has been busy writing books, which Valerie hopes to get time to read very soon.

Lake Jacomo Boat Launch in Lee's Summit, Missouri

     
      The next order of business was hiring a local carpenter to help with some needed work on the Mandalay.

A fun gathering of lots of Valerie's family members, despite the rain

Serious baseball discussions

      Valerie celebrated a birthday, took care of some medical maintenance, and one of our dogs, the Captain, had a dental cleaning, during which we had a cyst removed from his head.  Valerie's family planned a reunion during our visit, and rain spoiled our plans to hold it at Dyer Park in nearby Odessa, so we relocated to a local church equipped with a kitchen and basketball courts, which worked out great!

Thomas the Train 

     




      But, by far, grandparenting was the best part of our stay.  The Kansas City grandkids are young and we find ourselves crawling around on the floor playing like children again, singing "Little Rabbit Foo-Foo" and generally being entertained by everything they do and say.  We look forward to catching up with the older grandkids when we travel to the Twin Cities on business in July.

Street fair is always a good time!

      Jackson County Park and Recreation only permits us to stay 14 days at Lake Jacomo, so we moved out to Worlds of Fun Village to complete our stay.  The park has easy access off of I-435 with paved level sites.  It's a little noisy, and a little expensive, but a good park nevertheless


       The weather was hot and humid, and the dogs had little interest in going outdoors.  Meanwhile, George received some news, causing him to make an unexpected flight to Phoenix on business and sending our life into a tailspin.

Worlds of Fun Village in Kansas City, Missouri