Cape Girardeau, Trail of Tears State Park, Sept 30, 2007

Hello, this is Ditka. Since my sister, Sox, wrote the blog a few weeks back, it was only fair that I get the same honors of impressing you with my skills in blog authorship!

As we’ve learned, it is the FrerxAdventures practice, September thru November to travel each weekend to the site of Trevor’s football game.

Since the game was at Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO) this weekend, Dad found us a full hookup site at Trail of Tears State Park.


Here’s Baby and Jeep snuggled in to site #10, along the banks of the Mississippi River.

This is a small campground and there weren’t many kids around to entertain us, but Sox and I were able to lay back and relax in a big grassy area behind the RV and watch all the river traffic.


These barges passed quite regularly. It was particularly cool to watch two of them pass each other late at night, with lots of lights flashing out to check each other’s positions. We took our nighttime walk under a clear, starry night with the harvest moon sparkling off the water.

On Saturday we got a special viewing treat as the Mississippi Queen paddled by our campsite. Notice, too, the train tracks. Mom thought having trains running so near would keep us all awake but it didn’t seem to be a problem. Sox and I liked having the 7:30am train come by since it acted as an alarm clock to us and a good excuse to pounce on Mom and Dad and let them know we were ready to start the day.

We took a ride with Mom and Dad in the jeep to explore the state park.

The Trail of Tears Visitor’s Center takes you back into the past to understand what it must have been like for the Indians crossing the Mississippi here on the Trail of Tears. Mom and Dad would like to come down and spend much more time at this state park exploring these exhibits, the trails, and the lake.

Since this was a football trip with limited sightseeing time available, we focused on the scenic overlooks.


Dad took this picture looking over into Illinois/Kentucky

Here we were looking down river.


Dad kept us close since it was a long drop down from the scenic overlook.

We could see mists coming off the Mississippi as we looked upriver.

Sox said this was such a great place it even smelled special.


Around noon, Ken’s brother David and his wife Cindy came to our campsite for a visit. We all had a really nice afternoon, enjoying a warm breeze and lots of good conversation. We all took a walk around the neighborhood and then grilled some of David’s deer brats and hot dogs as a late-afternoon lunch before getting ready for the 6pm football game.

The football game was closer in the first half than I think was expected but by the fourth quarter we had a comfortable lead. Trevor had several tackles, including 2 tackles for loss.


David, Cindy, Mom and Dad all got to spend a little time with Trevor after the game before they headed back to St. Louis and Mom and Dad came back to the campsite to us. It’s really not fair that we aren’t allowed in the games, since that means on away games we have to go the whole weekend without seeing our boy, Trevor. Sox and I just took a long nap in the RV waiting for Mom and Dad to come back home and turn on the TV so that we could watch the sports news highlights.

On Sunday morning, we pounced on Mom and Dad at the sound of the 7:30 am train and were rewarded with an extra long walk. In fact, after Mom went in, Dad walked around the neighborhood one more time and we spent better part of an hour just visiting with neighbors.

It was good because since Mom was taking a shower when we came back, Dad spyed some water coming down where it shouldn’t be under the RV. SuperKenny was soon to the rescue with the panel off under the shower. He located the fitting that seems to be the cause of the problem….just when Dad thought he was winding down on handyman work, here’s a new project for the week.

Sox and I lounged in our comfy grassy area, watching the trains, boats and barges, while Mom and Dad took there time packing up for the ride home.


I thought you might want to see the Puppy tents where Sox and I travel. That’s mine on the left. Dad feels everybody is much safer if we made the trips in here, instead of possibly flying around inside the RV if he has to hit the breaks or make a sharp turn. It’s actually quite luxurious travel with our sheepskin rugs and special treats to entice us inside each time we start a leg of the trip.

Well, my seasonal allergies are acting up again, and the Benadryl Mom gave me is starting to make me feel drowsy. Dad will have to take me to see Dr. Jim again for yet another allergy shot. This is the first year I’ve needed 3 shots to get through allergy season..I envy my little sister not having to have allergy shots!

Ok, I’m yawning, and that cozy sheepskin rug is calling my name.

More fun coming this week…Kyle will turn 25 tomorrow and hopefully will come to next week’s home game so we can give him really big and sloppy birthday licks.

We’ll stay in the extra big driveway at Trev’s house next weekend so Sox and I can play with all the football players. And even better, we’ll get to go to the stadium in the RV for pre-game tailgating…

Stay tuned…more fun times to come!!!

Luvin’ licks,

Ditka