Frerx Adventures: Long Weekend at Bennett Springs, Aug 2-6-PART 1

We sent Trevor back to Charleston where the hottest days of summer showed up just in time for the start of football practice. But between sweating it out Trev apparently did get some time to meet n' greet some of the EIU fans. Click here to see what I mean!

Kyle seemed to be doing ok back in DeKalb less his four wisdom teeth. He was having numbness in his chin area which worries us a bit because of the nerve that they cut so close to in his lower jaw. The doctor said it would take some time to get feeling normal again, so its wait and see.

So with both guys back to school, Ken and I hit the road again.

Thursday August 2, I had early morning phone calls at work and then Ken picked me up in the GD parking lot at 11:00. This setup works really well since it lets me go back to the bedroom and get out of the work clothes while he is headed down the road. I can then make us a lunchtime sandwich.

It was a long 230 mile drive through the Ozark mountains to get to Bennett Springs. From Osage Beach down Highway 5 the roads were congested and Ken was really happy to get to our site.

We had electric-only site, 201. They are in process of renovating the Campground 1 full hookup sites and were totally full so there was no opportunity for us to try to get a site closer to Sheila and Kent, Darlene and Tony (my nieces and their husbands). The site was fine though, wooded with lots of room to spread out.

Once we settled in, and ate supper, we made out way over to the Smith and Butler sites where we found great-nieces, Kelsey and McKinley, already kicked back for the long weekend in their gravity chairs.

The girls were most happy to see Ditka and Sox.

We enjoyed some time around the campfire and made our plans for Friday's activities. We then packed dogs into jeep and headed back from Campground 4 to campground 2, not a distance anyone would want to walk in this heat and humidity!

Kent started our day Friday morning with sausage and pancakes. One of the many nice things about camping with this group is that we take turns making breakfasts and suppers. This meant for the weekend Ken and I only had to cook twice!

Here's Darlene, Kent, Tony, Sheila, Ken, Kelsey and McKinley -- all enjoying breakfast. We always made sure we had a fan plugged in close by since the temperatures quickly rose to the 90's each day.

I'm going to end this blog entry now and leave you with a hint of how they guys spent the rest of the day....