On the seventeenth day of our adventure, Papa and Mimi adventured into the showers at the campground first thing in the morning. Mimi was pleasantly surprised to find they were nice, big, and sparkly clean. Papa said, “That hot shower felt great!” Mimi agreed.
We pulled out of the park early knowing we had a long day of travel ahead of us. We’d decided to take a detour from Amarillo and drive down to the Fort Worth, Texas area to visit our niece, Kourtney and Forrest, her soon-to-better-be-fiancé. 😜 (What’s a five-hour detour among family? 🥰)
Driving down 287S was much different than many of the roads we’d been traveling on previously – so little traffic and no mountains to twist and turn through. Just flat land everywhere. Around 1pm, Papa asked Mimi if she could find a place to stop for lunch and he preferred we stop at a Mom & Pops Diner rather than fast food. Mimi found the town of Clarendon a few miles ahead and a local diner called the Clarendon Outpost Diner. Upon arrival we found it also had gas, so while Papa filled up, Mimi went into the diner to get a table and order a hungry Papa a burger and fries.
There was a man sitting at a table who said, “I’m sorry, we are closed.” Oh, that’s not good, Mimi thought. “You are? Really?” She asked. “Yes, I can’t get anyone to work so I am taking this opportunity to give the place a face-lift.” “That will be nice.” Mimi said, but she was thinking, ugh. We are hungry. “You don’t happen to want a job as a waitress, do you?” He asked. “Well, I am afraid the drive would be too long for me” Mimi replied. But, now Mimi knows there’s a job as a waitress if she ever decides to move to Clarendon, Texas. What do you think? Should we all move?
We settled on cheese and crackers for lunch as we continued to drive. We’re out of bread or Papa would’ve had his regular – PB&J.
We did have one of the scariest moments of our travel when a gust of wind hit the passenger side of the RV and pushed it over into the passing lane of the highway. We fish-tailed and rocked as Papa held tight to the steering wheel frantically working to keep control. Never experiencing anything like that before, we were both pretty shaken after that moment. Mimi said, “Oh my gosh! It’s a good thing there was nothing in that lane passing us.” And Papa replied, “There was. A truck was in that lane passing me. I don’t know how we didn’t hit him. I don’t know how he avoided us.” We both knew without any doubt that we’d just had a holy moment of the Lord’s protection. Wow. Thank You, God. This makes us even more grateful for the prayers of our family and friends. Before we’d left our grandson, Nolan had prayed for us at dinner one night. Keep praying, Nolan!!
After nine hours of travel, we were thankful to arrive at the Settler’s Haven RV Park in White Settlement, Texas. Papa called our friend, Bill who tried to help him with the water heater and within the hour, Kourtney and Forrest drove in, picked us up and wished away for dinner. We ate HG SPLY CO in Forth Worth and there was a little boy at the next table who loved chatting with Papa. In fact, his name was Patrick and when Papa told him that his name was Patrick, too, little Patrick said, “No, my name is Patrick.” It was cute. He even snuggled up and asked what games Papa had on his phone - just like all the grandkids do at home! His mother stepped in at that moment to pull him away and his dad took him outside. 🤣
After dinner we enjoyed a stop for some ice cream; It’s been weeks since Papa’s had any! We enjoyed a great visit with Kourtney and Forrest. It was great to see them and hear about their life here in Texas. Then it was back to the “box on wheels” as our friend, Chris put it and bed! Tomorrow is another day of travel as we begin the journey northeast.
We can’t wait to see y’all again soon.
Love and Miss you,
Papa and Mimi ❤️
We pulled out of the park early knowing we had a long day of travel ahead of us. We’d decided to take a detour from Amarillo and drive down to the Fort Worth, Texas area to visit our niece, Kourtney and Forrest, her soon-to-better-be-fiancé. 😜 (What’s a five-hour detour among family? 🥰)
Driving down 287S was much different than many of the roads we’d been traveling on previously – so little traffic and no mountains to twist and turn through. Just flat land everywhere. Around 1pm, Papa asked Mimi if she could find a place to stop for lunch and he preferred we stop at a Mom & Pops Diner rather than fast food. Mimi found the town of Clarendon a few miles ahead and a local diner called the Clarendon Outpost Diner. Upon arrival we found it also had gas, so while Papa filled up, Mimi went into the diner to get a table and order a hungry Papa a burger and fries.
There was a man sitting at a table who said, “I’m sorry, we are closed.” Oh, that’s not good, Mimi thought. “You are? Really?” She asked. “Yes, I can’t get anyone to work so I am taking this opportunity to give the place a face-lift.” “That will be nice.” Mimi said, but she was thinking, ugh. We are hungry. “You don’t happen to want a job as a waitress, do you?” He asked. “Well, I am afraid the drive would be too long for me” Mimi replied. But, now Mimi knows there’s a job as a waitress if she ever decides to move to Clarendon, Texas. What do you think? Should we all move?
We settled on cheese and crackers for lunch as we continued to drive. We’re out of bread or Papa would’ve had his regular – PB&J.
We did have one of the scariest moments of our travel when a gust of wind hit the passenger side of the RV and pushed it over into the passing lane of the highway. We fish-tailed and rocked as Papa held tight to the steering wheel frantically working to keep control. Never experiencing anything like that before, we were both pretty shaken after that moment. Mimi said, “Oh my gosh! It’s a good thing there was nothing in that lane passing us.” And Papa replied, “There was. A truck was in that lane passing me. I don’t know how we didn’t hit him. I don’t know how he avoided us.” We both knew without any doubt that we’d just had a holy moment of the Lord’s protection. Wow. Thank You, God. This makes us even more grateful for the prayers of our family and friends. Before we’d left our grandson, Nolan had prayed for us at dinner one night. Keep praying, Nolan!!
After nine hours of travel, we were thankful to arrive at the Settler’s Haven RV Park in White Settlement, Texas. Papa called our friend, Bill who tried to help him with the water heater and within the hour, Kourtney and Forrest drove in, picked us up and wished away for dinner. We ate HG SPLY CO in Forth Worth and there was a little boy at the next table who loved chatting with Papa. In fact, his name was Patrick and when Papa told him that his name was Patrick, too, little Patrick said, “No, my name is Patrick.” It was cute. He even snuggled up and asked what games Papa had on his phone - just like all the grandkids do at home! His mother stepped in at that moment to pull him away and his dad took him outside. 🤣
After dinner we enjoyed a stop for some ice cream; It’s been weeks since Papa’s had any! We enjoyed a great visit with Kourtney and Forrest. It was great to see them and hear about their life here in Texas. Then it was back to the “box on wheels” as our friend, Chris put it and bed! Tomorrow is another day of travel as we begin the journey northeast.
We can’t wait to see y’all again soon.
Love and Miss you,
Papa and Mimi ❤️
  Back into Texas! One state closer to home  |  Goodbye New Mexico (most of my pictures through NM have bug splatter in them!)  Flat lands again! |
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