July 16, 2015 on to Illinois

Today is our 32nd anniversary and we spent the day traveling from North Platte to Rockford, IL.  Wide, flat land into rolling hills of Iowa and Illinois.  We met our friends the Coons at the Machine Shed restaurant.

One of the many trucks on the road.

We had dinner at the Illinois Machine Shed.  You have to experience it at least once!  Forget your diet and come next time you're in Illinois or Iowa. 

The rolls, cottage cheese and coleslaw were complimentary.  Below is a very filling chicken pot pie.

I had the salad of which I took half of it home.  Yummy! 

Ham and potatoes also delicious 

Catfish and sweet potato fries

Steak and potatoes

The Coons on the left and Wards on the right 

These are exterior photos of the restaurant--all American and such delicious food and family owned!.  Yeah! 

July 15, 2015

Tuesday the 14th, the ladies of the church got together to sew chair covers for Jewel's upcoming wedding.  Sara manned one of the irons and I handled a sewing machine.  There were about 90 finished, PTL! 

 

On the 15th, we Wards had lunch at KFC--this one had a buffet--yummy! 

Peter took us to Buffalo Bill Cody park and saw one of many peacocks.  He did not show off his feathers, though. 

Then we went to Cody's Scout's Rest Ranch which was Cody's home in North Platte.

Sara sitting in one of the fancy carriages at the Ranch. 

Peter preached Wednesday night from II Corinthians 13 where Paul admonishes the church to "examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith; repent of their sin and prove your own selves."

July 13, 2015, North Platte

Today Peter took us to Camp Patmos, a ministry of the North Platte Baptist Church.  It is about 70 acres of land on the shore of a huge lake.  A beautiful place.  Peter took us out on the boat around the lake.  The shores are surrounded by many types of homes.  We even found a dead catfish floating by--it did not have a pleasant smell, though.   First we stopped by the two day care centers operated by the Church.  The workers are in the process of painting the walls.   After a dinner of hot dogs we played Dutch Blitz for at time, then headed home right about sunset at 9:00 pm.

 
The entrance to the camp

Houses line the shore. 

Out on the boat.  Peter was driving and enjoying it all .

The dead catfish

Returning to port 

A very small black eyed Susan on the path. 

There's a couple of blue thin dragonflies in the graces. 

July 11-12, 2015 North Platte Baptist Church

Our display with a new book about the Bread of Life Baptist Church in Kobe, Japan

 

We rode Peter's bus route Sunday Morning. Here Henry is singing "Deep and Wide" with him. 

Pastor Bill Reeves at the pulpit with Henry and Peter to the right. 

The Great Plains Baptist College, a ministry of the NPBC gave Henry an honorary Doctorate degree==a complete surprise to everyone.  Now we have a doctor in the family. 

July 10,2015 Travel across Wyoming to South Dakota

We entered Cheyenne, Wyoming, about 10:00 a.m. 

Several hills had metal silhouettes that looked like a real person or animal. 

Miles and endless miles of wide open spaces and plenty of cows.

We stopped in Lusk, Wyoming, and found the Lickety Split Quilt Shop just beyond the lamp post.  I purchased a Row by Row pattern and license plate here.  Hopefully I'll be able to collect at least one from participating quilt shops in each state.   Check it out here:  http://www.rowbyrowexperience.com

This big palomino posed for his photo. :-) 

There's a flag-colored buffalo at the corner of this building. 

Flags were everywhere--such a beautiful sight to see. 

    Some campers had painted pictures on the back of them.

This ice cream shop is in Custer, Wyoming, but we didn't stop.

Mr. Rushmore seen from below at the entrance to the park.  An avenue of flags lined the walk approaching the looking point.  This is an amazing sculpture that took 13 years to do and thousands of man hours.

Henry and I at the entrance. 

A bust of the man who designed Mt. Rushmore, Gutzon Borglum

Tourist traps--:-)