After 40 days and nights - we're on the road again!

After 40 days (and 40 nights), we're glad to be back in our motor home! That's a long time to live out of a suitcase! But we are so glad to be welcomed into the homes of our mothers, siblings, and friends while we were doing what needed to be done during those 40 days. Denisa's Mother is enjoying her new place in town, that allows her more freedom without that 18-mile drive from the country. It also allows for more visitors to drop by to see her.

Even though we will miss our friends and family in Oklahoma and Kansas, we are glad to be back home in our own bed. We also appreciate that our siblings have harbored our motor home during these 40 days. Denisa's sister and brother-in-law hosted it in their yard when we made the speedy trip to the Oklahoma panhandle after the fire. Then Mark's brother and sister-in-law made room for it in their barn. We had to let the air out of the leveling air bags to fit it under the rafters, but the motor home enjoyed cover over its head during some spring storms during those 40 days.

We spent the 41st night back inside the motor home under that cover with a 50-amp hook-up. But first, Mark cleaned the windshield that was dirty after 40 days.

Then we could enjoy a beautiful view across their pond, watching the clouds go by.

We were up early the next morning, as we were excited to be on the road again! Mark pulled the motor home out of the barn quickly, before the air bags could pump up. Then we headed east for the summer's adventure. But it wasn't a very glamorous travel day. Our first stop was to take care of the chore of the annual oil change. We pulled into the Speedco in Big Cabin, Oklahoma, about an hour down the road. This is the first time we've tried this subsidiary of Love's. They don't take appointments, so this is a first-come-first-served oil change. Even though we arrived at 9:45 a.m., we didn't leave until after 2:00 p.m. We bought a large lemonade at the adjacent Love's, and spent that time researching our route.

That's when we found that much of our planned route was flooded. While we just drove through drought-stricken sections of Texas and Oklahoma, we are finding that the lakes and rivers of Kansas and Missouri are flooding from too much rain. We found that the second campground where we had planned to stay was under water! So we're working on Plan B. Soon after we left Speedco, we crossed our first state line of the summer. We're now in Missouri!

Our original plan was to wind through the lakes of southern Missouri, but maybe we would try the faster and straighter highways further north? When we called a little private campground on that route, they were totally booked up on a Tuesday night in May. What?!? We hope this isn't an indication of our camping luck this summer. So we opted for a Walmart parking lot for this first night on the road. 

After being away from the motor home for 40 days, we needed to make a major shopping trip to replenish our bare pantry. We stopped in Neosho, Missouri, where we shopped at all our favorite places--Braums for ice cream and milk, Aldi for fruits and vegetables, and Walmart for miscellaneous. With our chores done, we're ready to really be on the road again! But wait, we have another problem. On this 80-degree day, we discovered that our motor home's dash air-conditioner isn't working, What?!? Mark spent some time checking voltage and discovered the air conditioner clutch wasn't engaging. This Walmart has a truck parking section, and one of those very helpful drivers offered to help. He had a freon gauge and determined it was low. So Mark bought freon at our Walmart, and we now have cool air for our next drive.

But first we're checking out the Neosho National Fish Hatchery--the oldest in the country. They've been raising fish here since 1888.

Many of those fish have been rainbow trout, that were introduced into Missouri in the 1880s. Free fish food is available on the porch of the visitor center, and these sizable trout roll to the top of the water in a feeding frenzy when Denisa sprinkled the food on the water.

These big fish will be the stars of fishing derbies for children and senior citizens later this summer. The administrator of the hatchery  said that we should stick around for the fishing derby, and then he added "if you were only ten years older to qualify as a senior citizen." We really liked that guy! We also saw thousands of baby fish that were about the size of our fingers. These are called fingerlings, and they are housed in one of the indoor tanks in the hatching building until they are about 3 inches long.

Then they are transferred to the long narrow "race ways" where they will grow on a steady diet of specially formulated fish food, swimming in cool water that has been oxygenated. While we saw trout bigger and smaller, this hatchery's goal is providing 10-inch trout to be relocated to Lake Taneycomo near Branson. We were glad to be there on the day that the fish taxis showed up. The trucks first had to be disinfected, then filled with the 60-degree spring water that these trout have been swimming in all their lives. This hatchery was built just down the hill from a sizable spring that fills the ponds and raceways with the cool water that trout needs.

The trout are herded down to the end of their raceway, and then held there with a fish corral. We watched as the fish were netted out of their water . . .

and then transferred into their fish taxi. It was fun to watch the process! But we couldn't help but notice that the newest and smallest employee was doing the hardest job of lifting that net and dumping the fish into that tall truck tank. She was on her tip toes!

We found out that this hatchery also does some specialized work to help protect endangered species. We saw the red drum fish that are used as hosts for raising some endangered fresh water mollusks.

They also raise primitive-looking fish called sturgeon. In the visitor center, we saw two different kinds of these dinosaur-like fish. The larger and lighter fish is a pallid sturgeon, and they are endangered.

Sometimes called "dinosaur fish," sturgeons cruise the bottom of lakes and feed from their mouths that are situated under them. These fresh water sturgeon can grow to be six-feet in length.

The Neosho National Fish Hatchery also works with lake sturgeon, and they are expecting about 15,000 baby sturgeon when these eggs hatch in a few days.

Besides seeing thousands of fish today, we took a picture of the two resident ducks.

Even though we are on the road now, that doesn't mean that we are finished with all the work of completing the insurance claim for Denisa's Mother's home. Denisa took another phone call for that situation while we were watching the fish trucks being loaded. For some reason, Mark thought that was photo-worthy.

After 40 days and nights, we're glad to be back in the motor home. It hasn't been a very glamorous travel day, but we got some chores done and we're glad to be on the road again.