July 19: The End

The time has finally come to end my blog. Our life has calmed down a whole bunch and probably not worth the extra time it takes to write this up and then take up your time reading virtually nothing. I can't begin to tell all of you who have followed our adventures how much fun it's been to share all of them with you. It's kinda like the first time Larry and I went on a vacation without the kids. All I could think of was how much they would have enjoyed seeing this or doing that. Life events are much more fun if shared with others.



Many times on our adventures I thought that my kids or my grand kids would have loved being here to enjoy this fun; and how much my cruiser friends would have loved to eat at this place. By getting to tell all of you about it helped me feel like I was with many of you and not quite so isolated.



Larry and I are glad that we got to do our year and a half and will do it again in a heart beat if the financial circumstances get better. We may travel again in the future but it will be by train, plane or automobile - maybe bus.



Thanks to all of you who gave me such great feedback and encouraged me to write. I've printed out all of my blogs as we went along and we now have a great notebook full of wonderful memories.


As my favorite cowboy said "Happy Trails To You, Until We Meet Again".


Look for me on Facebook.

July 6: Mr. P.T. and Happy Birthday USA

Larry Dean Brown
1947 - 2009

Mr. P.T. Our Mr. P.T. The best Mr. P.T. ever. What can you say when you've lost a great representative of our hobby and a truly good friend. Larry Brown was all of that and not just a good friend to me but to all he met. He was always upbeat, happy, positive and enthusiastic about the little P.T. Cruiser. He won the title, Mr. P.T., in Eureka Springs, Arkansas and was absolutely thrilled with the title. We all had a great time getting him ready for the fashion show, where he modeled the latest in rain wear, which we have always needed at this particular car show. Riding in the parade (where he sat atop the back seat of his convertible); and of course the big question and answer part of the contest where we told him to say, no matter what the question was, his answer was to be "All I want is world peace!" Larry was a hoot and loved every minute of it - no matter how funny we made him look (note the Wal-Mart bags on his feet) - he really, really enjoyed it.

Larry was described as a gentle giant. He led our club as president for several years and did it with quiet dignity. Every suggestion was taken to heart and he made sure everyone was heard.

His funeral was Friday, July 3rd. There were 16 P.T.Cruisers that traveled 20 miles east of Wichita to Augusta and 5 other cars joined us there. We were a pretty impressive sight especially with Larry's car being driven right behind the family car to the cemetary. We all hope we did him proud - we even sounded the ahooga horns in his honor.

Larry was a friend to all of us in the club and his loss will be an emptiness in our hearts. BUT, I'm pretty sure he's cruizin' with his wife, June, in a P.T. Cruiser - and heaven should be big enough for them to cruise for a long time--and they won't be a needin' the top.













Part of Saturday and part of Sunday was spent trying to help Rebecca put up our old swimming pool. Some parts are missing so we didn't get it completed - maybe next weekend. Please note my extremely great supervisory skills. No one, and I mean no one, can sit in a lawn chair, suck down a Pepsi and point at what needs to be done as well as I can.


Saturday evening we drove to Winfield where we celebrated the birth of our nation with a big fireworks show and BBQ with an old high school girlfriend, her family and friends.



Sunday we went to another fireworks show in Goddard. One of our members had several fireworks stands in Goddard and he gathered up all the leftovers and had professionals come in (see the picture of them putting in more black powder in already made cylinders) and blow them all up, pretty much it seemed all at once. However, one of the big ones went off early or wrong (again, refer to the picture of the home made fireworks) and injured one of the workers. He was taken to the hospital in an ambulance but will be OK. He was injured around the eyes (wore protective goggles thank goodness) and was shot with sand from the explosion. This happened right at the end so I don't think we missed much. It was as if someone dropped a torch on top of a semi full of fireworks and they all went off for about 15 minutes non-stop.

























We celebrated the life of a good friend and the birthday of a great nation. As they say, "Life goes on" but it sure gets lonely when you loose the people you love.

June 28: Picnic at Brenda's

One of our cruiser members, Brenda, has allowed the cruiser group to meet at her house for 5 years for an annual picnic. She has a great back yard full of paths, flowers and lots of shade trees. The club provides the hamburgers and bratwurst and we all bring side dishes. The temperature was hovering around 100 deg but several people brought fans so we were at least comfortable. As the day wore on, a front moved thru and the temperature dropped to the 80's. A great time was had by all and the variety of food was great - not to mention it was all just plain good cookin'.






















We also held a brief monthly club meeting after dinner and tried not to doze off.



Today, Rebecca, Nathen, Larry and I all went to Cheney Lake just for a picnic and swim. Willie and Austin were in Missouri helping his parents move to Lebannon, MO. Willie came home tonight and Austin is staying there for another couple of weeks.

The only news I have on job hunting is the City of Park City has accepted my resume and now wants me to go thru their battery of tests. I'll do that Tuesday afternoon but won't hear anything on that until after the 17th. The job is for Data Entry/Police Clerk.

June 22: Job & Car Show

Sorry to be running so late with my blog but I was hoping to have some good news on my search for a job. None so far. However, Larry now had his "dream" job. This is the one he talked about all winter--delivering parts for Automotive Supply. He can now wear shorts which as the Canadians will all remember, was his favorite thing to do. Unlike Guy, Larry almost always wore a shirt.

He talked about how he's come full circle. He used to delivery newspapers and telegrams. Now 48 years later, he's still delivering stuff.

I'm still searching. Sent out 5 resume just this week alone. Still working at the mircrofilm place and they're cross training me now for paper scanning. Talk about a soul crushing job - WOW - I can barely stay awake. I'm glad now when I get back to the microfilm department.


Saturday we went to the Mopar show at the Sedgwick Co. Park. It rained when we got there, cleared up and poured down with another rain storm at closing time. A great time was had by all.



The Coke PT owned by Larry & Delma Nulf. One of these days I'm gonna sneak in a Pepsi into his display.




















First black convertible is The Darthcruzer owned by Henry & Anna Monton; the second one is the Coke PT; the third one has cool ghost flames and is owned by Steve and Sharon Mundy. The last one is the K-State PT owned by Dave B. out of Topeka. At the very end you can just see the trailer that belongs to another PT from Oklahoma.











The ghost flames:







Darthcruzer:










Larry's new hairdo and the gang under the canopies that we always seem to need.












And just for those of you who can't tell yet that we were at a Mopar show, here's some photos for you.




This is a 67 or 69 Fury (can't remember - go figure). It in now way is anywhere near stock condition. This is a complete re-do. How about that cool engine.






The oldest Dodge on display that day and it was sitting on a trailer.














The big fins and spoilers of the Chrysler/Plymouth era.










I tool a look at my blog one day - the way you all see it - and discovered that my wording doesn't always match up to my pictures. I hope all of you have been able to adjust my thinking and figure out which picture I'm talking about.

Also, I'm on the verge of giving up the blog. Our lives aren't that exciting anymore and I don't want to bore anyone. I will probably do Facebook as soon as I figure out how it works. I set up an account and I've already had several people ask me to join theirs. I've accepted but I don't know where to go from there. Someday one of the kids will be here and can help me. In the meantime, I'll publish a blog or two just to keep the relatives, at least, current on what we're doing.

June 7: Garden of Eden and Mac

As promised, here is the second installment of the Mystery Cruise from last Saturday.







The Garden of Eden, located in Lucas, KS, was built by Samuel Perry Dinsmoore, a retired schoolteacher, Civil War Veteran, Farmer and Populist politician. You can see some of his political view points in his sculptures.

He began building the garden and his home in 1907 at the age of 64. Over 22 years he fashioned 113 tons of cement and many tons of limestone into this unique cabin (it's made of limestone but shaped to look like logs) with its surrounding sculptures. In 1924, at the age of 81, he married a 20 years old and they had two children - both now living outside of Kansas. His son, John, is the youngest surviving child of a Civil War veteran.


Dinsmore built this 40 foot tall limestone "log" mausoleum for himself and his first wife. He is laid rest in his hand-made, concrete coffin that has a side window for viewing his mouldering body.






From Lucas, we headed east out into the country roads. We stopped at the Vonada Stone Co. Farm. Here they make limestone signs and markers of all types. Also, benches and sun dials. We got a demonstration on engraving limestone and one on actually making the limestone fence posts. Our tour guide, Brenda, drilled a hole for the stake and wedge that help split the rock. We then went on a very scenic trailer ride out into the pasture to look at a small quarry and some Oak trees planted on a hill that were part of an original homestead act that required planting of trees on your land.






The day ended up in Lincoln, KS where we enjoyed dinner at the Hungry Hunter. A great time was had by all.










On the way home, I took this picture from Ron's car as it traveled down the highway. The thunderheads were over Newton and were gone by the time we got there.


And special thanks to Ron for taking all these great shots for me.






On a sadder note, my mother's companion and dancing partner for the last 9 years passed away on Sunday the 5th. Gene and I drove down to be with her for several days. The memorial won't be until around the 20th and we won't be able to be with her then. She seems to be doing well but misses Mac very much.