Two Utah Gypsies - RVing National Sites in the US: Last Day in Missouri

I didn't sleep much last night and I'm really tired, so this will be a short and sweet post since it's 11:30 p.m. and we're getting up early to head straight home.

We left Washington, Missouri with a tearful text goodbye from Cousin Judy.

I was determined today to find my great-grandfather's headstone in Kingville, Missouri but after studying the Google Maps was concerned on how to (1) get there and (2) where to park when I did since it's old farming narrow back roads and some just dirt and gravel roads with an RV in tow. I worried about it all night, but decided to set off the hope for the best. Having an RV is like having a semi-truck when it comes to roads so we are always double checking our route against trucker i-phone apps in our cell phones so we don't get any low bridges or narrow residential areas since we're almost 14' tall, but I swallowed hard and off we went. Before we left, I had even put a Google marker on the house across the street from the cemetery for an address and got the people's phone number in case we had to turn around in their drive.

We got to our turn off about 30 miles east of Kansas City and took the turn off, however, the GPS didn't tell us that the entire road was removed for construction so we had to turn right or left and we didn't know which way to go, both on dirt and gravel roads, so we turned left then came to another street and kept zig zagging until we got back onto the main road again. Needless to say, we finally found our way to the cemetery and I was praying hard that the side of the road wouldn't be a ditch since 95% of these narrow roads had ditches. Well, we were in luck and had just enough room to turn off the edge of the road before a ditch! Whew!

The Gilbert Cemetery

Ironically, as I walked up to open the cemetery gates, there was a man moving the "lawn" or should I say "crabgrass" of the cemetery that had gotten to long. I asked if he was Mr. Timmons, who lived across the street and he said his sister lived there, but he was Mr. Timmmons. The kind gentleman that he was got off the mower and help me find great-grandpa James Wesley Stevens grave. Many of the stone had "unknown" on them as over time the stones became unreadable so the were replaced with unknown. I went over by the far fence to start my search and a few minutes later for grandpa's stone nearly attached to a tree! But, it the writing was crystal clear and under this lovely shaded tree. There was one "unmarked" stone right next to his and nothing else around him.

I FOUND HIM!

The stone is so close to the tree that a bird probably dropped a seed
a hundred years ago and it grew!

Scott picked up some red, white and blue plastic flowers for me at Wal-Mart yesterday and got some thick wire and his wire cutters so I could attach them to the ground. I doubt Grandpa had anyone pay their respect for over 120 years since his name was incorrectly spelled. My mom and grandpa never knew what had happened to him, so to find records of him the last two days was so joyful! I wanted these flowers to last for a few years if possible. So, I pushed the bundles deep into the soft, brown dirt and they looked quite pretty adding some much needed color to a long-forgotten place.

Bright and Colorfully Decorated Stone

Me and Great-Grandpa Wesley

It was hard to say goodbye after searching for him for so long, but necessity to get on the road called so I took a couple last photographs and we headed toward Lee's Summit 30 minutes away so I could visit one of my all-time favorite quilt shops, Quilters Station. I had to check Google Maps on this also and the parking lot was very easy to maneuver. I did some browsing, and only left with some templates I needed for a project I bought there a couple years ago, some appliqué pins and a yard of black grunge. I had neglected to remember to get the binding yardage when I was in Paducah, Kentucky so I bought it here. Nothing more. Quilters Station is the cutest quilt shop in American in my opinon. Take a look for yourself and this is just 1/10th of the shop!

We then got on the road and headed to St. Joseph, Missouri were Scott's brother Mark lives. We are staying overnight at the AOK RV Park just a couple miles from his house.

After we got set up we went to Mark and Kim's new house there in Country Club, Missouri - right on the St. Joseph border and had a yummy flank steak dinner with rolls, rice and green bean casserole. It was so nice. Tomorrow is Scott's birthday and that is generally the Baddley traditional birthday dinner.

I had Scott and Mark post for some photos and they were pretty "stiff" and I told them to get closer. Scott puts his arm around Mark and Mark had a goofy look on his face and everyone had a good laugh!

Mark and Kim left Washington and moved back to the midwest in April of this year so we saw their cute little house and darling back yard. After dinner, Scott drove them back to our RV to get Coco and Chanel to let them run around in the backyard after being cooped up for a month in the RV. They ran around and darted here and there. It was fun to watch them play. Coco is a runner! Chanel is the curious one. I got 5 mosquito bites and came inside - that was it for me. Soon after Scott and Mark followed and it was funny to see the girls interact with Jinx, the cat, for the first time. They had never seen a cat before. Hilarious! Shadow, their dog really wanted to get in on the action, too. It was pretty entertaining.