Another quick stop landed us here at Gator Den park (privately run) in El Dorado, Arkansas.  Uneventful stop and very quiet.

We finally made it to our fiberglass trailer rally!  The weather was beautiful and there were many trailers in attendance.  We stopped here 3 years ago and were happy to return.  Lots of new friendships and a little jamming with our instruments!  All went too fast!

This guy made our trailer a little nervous, lol!  Parked right behind us...it turns out the couple owning the trailer brought their flying machine along :) 

New friends are so much appreciated!  We hope to see them again next year.

Mark and Mary were our next door neighbors.  Mark has a Ford truck and likes to give me a hard time about my Chevy.  Since Mark is a retired US Marine AND a retired State Trooper, I behaved myself :)  Mary keeps him straight though!  I wish I had taken a picture of Rob, our neighbor on our other side.  He was the leader each morning for our devotionals and I had a chance to help him erect the antenna for his Ham radio. 

After the Cracker Barrel we pressed on to Tunica, Mississippi.  Of course we stayed in "our spot" :)  No "breaking the bank" at the Casino...even steven on the penny machines lol.  This was another quick stop.

Since I have only 1 picture of this and the next stop I'll include it on this post.

Not much of a stopover!  Quiet and dark here at Lake Columbia in Magnolia, Arkansas.  The host told us of some 16 foot alligators and asked if I wanted to borrow his gun for our walk around the lake.  I said "no thanks", and decided against the walk.  1 foot longer would have made it as long as our trailer.  I think we would feel much better inside the trailer vs the alternative!  Yikes!

One quick picture of Mom's backyard before we move on to our trailer rally in Texas.

Our first stop takes us to unchartered territory.  It's the first time we've stayed in a Cracker Barrel parking lot!  Many CB's across the country welcome RVs and trailers.  It's just a 1 night stopover in Elizabethtown, Ky, on the way to our rally.

The next morning we were greeted by Corvette rally :) 

Breakfast was great and fast!  CB's are not known for their speedy service but this one was the exception :) 

Georgia June Shoemaker

This has been a really tough year.  My father passed earlier this year and Wendy's mom just 2 weeks ago.   Our families are holding up pretty well, considering.  Many, many tears have been shed but God's love is evident through the many friends and family that surround us.  I'm at a loss for the right words to say but will say June was a bright, shining light for us all.  She led a 2nd life in South Carolina as we took her to our home with us for the past 10 years or so, each winter since her beloved husband Wes, passed.  We were blessed to have traveled together across our wonderful country and Canada many times.  I know we racked up 50,000+ miles over the first 8 years of retirement :) So much fun!

June wanted desperately to pass away in her home of 60 years, as her husband did 11 years ago.  We had a very difficult time getting her home from the hospital but was finally successful.  After settling in at home it soon became evident she needed more help than we could provide.  The 2 Hospice nurses that came to the house strongly suggested we allow her to go the Fairhope Hospice House for a day or 2 to better manage her pain and medication.  It was a very difficult decision for everyone but felt it was necessary for her benefit.  We could bring her back home in a couple of days.  Well the next morning were were told to come to Fairhope as soon as possible as things had taken a turn for the worse.
As Wendy and I came to her room we noticed this sign on the door next to her room.

Wendell was June's husband's name....quite a coincidence!

We then came to her room and saw this sign...

Connie is her youngest daughter and Phillip is her son!

Mom then passed and were all numbly sitting around the room and I noticed this on her bed frame.

I stared at it for a minute or 2 and asked Wendy, sitting next to me, didn't your dad pass away in March?  She replied "Yes.  March 22nd".  After telling the rest of the family about the date, Becky calmly remarked "she was supposed to be here".  We felt much better about the move to Fairhope!
Still not convinced?

There are 4 benches surrounding the entrance to Fairhope.  Only one had a memorial plaque.

June's sister she spent the most time with and traveled several times to New York City, was JoAne (slightly different spelling).  Born the same year!!! (1930)
I don't know how God does these things but I am confident these are not coincidences.

We joined Harvest Hosts since the membership is pretty cheap and it opens quite a few more boondocking opportunities for a quick, overnight stop. 

These places encourage you to buy a few things from their shop.  They didn't have to twist our arm very hard :)

Lured by another tourist sign, we made a pit stop to see Iowa's largest frying pan.  As you can see it is pretty big.  The hosts at the park were very friendly and informed us of the "American Pickers" site in LeClaire, Iowa and we were off again playing tourist.

Of course the place looks a lot different from what you see on television.  Naturally, neither Mike nor Danielle were there, but we had a fun time anyway!