In mid-May 2012, Gil and I travelled in our motorhome to visit Dan, Gil's son, and his family who live in Muscatine, IA. It was a special occasion - not only because Dan was to receive his AA degree from Muscatine Community College, but because he would actually walk upon the stage to get that degree! He had been in a motorcycle accident in July 2010 which left him in a wheelchair for almost 18 months. The doctors told him he may never walk again. Dan is a very determined young man! During that time, he focused on his studies as well as his pysical therapy in order to finish his schooling and be able to go back to work to take care of his family. He accomplished both and we are very proud of him. He recently obtained a job with Shaw Electric as their Job Estimator. He received his diploma on May 16th and we were there to help Dan celebrate this wonderful event with family and friends.

We then drove to Kansas City to visit one of Gil's long-time former school buddies -  Larry Elliott and wife Karen.  The trip continued as we drove to Wichita, KS, where we visited Gil's daughter Pat Galimi and her husband James.  We also drove to Haysville, Ks,  where we met our new great-grandson Connor Jakob Matthews, and his parents Rachael and Nathan along with big sister Emma.  What a great tme we had in their home visiting and sharing meals. CJ, the baby, was so good and we all took turns holding him and spoiling him.

We were camping at McConnel AFB's Family Campground. While in Wichita, we attended church services with Pat and Emma at Immanuel Baptist Church were Gil and I were members back in the early 80s while stationed in Wichita at McConnell AFB. We also shared a meal with a former classmate of mine and child-hood friend, Willene Bennet and husband Jim.  All in all we had  a wonderful time in Wichita. We drove by the house in which we had lived on N. Erie St. as well as the area where we lived in a condo on S. 42nd St. The condo, along with its neighboirng condos, was torn down at some point to make room for a new housing development.

When we left Wichita, we drove east to Ft. Scott to visit with Gil's sisters, his brother and his step-mom. We enjoyed several meals with them and had a good time catching up on what they had been doing since our last visit as well as their kids and grandchildren.  Our trip home was a rather long and tiring one as we had some trouble with our motorhome and eventualy left it in Little Rock for some repairs to the electrical system. We loaded clothes and food into our car and headed home, getting in late in the afternoon. It is so good to be home! Lucky and Sweetiepie agree.