Old friends...Then & Now

Carl finally got to meet up with his cousin and longtime friend, Paul Barnes. He hadn't seen him since around 1969. They had recently been in touch by phone for the last 4-5 years, but that was all. Finally....when we went to a rush trip to Illinois last week,  Carl remembered that Paul lived in Illinois. We looked on the map to see how far it was from where we were and it was all the way across the state, but we thought...maybe???? We were not able to get in touch with them, so we headed home......and wouldn't ya know it, Paul was in Texas!!!! So, we went home (2 days driving with the short side trips, etc), changed clothes and headed back to East Texas. What fun! Paul was so excited to finally be around family again and the feelings were mutual to be around him and his lovely wife. We all enjoyed a full day of relaxation, eating, reminiscing and laughter.

                                                          Paul and his lovely wife, Jean

Then headed home again to stay for just a few days before we head out again for General Conference.

See the miles we put on the truck?

Nauvoo

Went to a very spiritual place in Nauvoo, IL. It is amazing to me to see how families lived back in the 1840's. This village has been restored and in only a few instances, replicated. I absolutely loved the very special feeling that one gets when you are there. It is definitely a place tht I will HAVE to go back to when we have more time to spend there. The MAIN reason we went at this time, was to see a very special young lady tht was serving a mission there. She was due to go home in a few days and we knew that if we didn't take this opportunity, to see her AND Nauvoo - then it would  probably be one of those things that we just didn't get "around to". I am so GLAD  that we did.
We had a whirlwind of a trip, but very enjoyable. In four days, we covered Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois and Iowa, then all the way back. WHEW!!!!

 One of the places in Nauvoo that Carl really enjoyed was the Browning store. He was the maker of the original Browning rifle. His son John Moses was the one that made the rifles famous. Very interesting.

They were one of the only families that actually had indoor water. They dug a well in their basement and had a door in the floor where they could pull a bucket up from the well.
Anyway, I loved the scenery, the trees, the GREEN, the water. It was on the Mississippi river, so very beautiful views. The temple sits facing the river and the view is magnificent.

From there we headed home and enjoyed more beautiful sights. Got home and gonna rest for a few days then take off again.

Amazing what you can find on the internet.

Even had a statistic that even I did not know. My brother was one of only six baseball players to serve in the Vietnam war. I knew he served, of course, I just didn't know that "so few" others did. A fun place to find some interesting facts, 'course I knew most of them, since I grew up with him, but still fun to find them on the internet, Cool

Phil Hennigan Phil Hennigan Autograph on a 1971 Topps (#211)

Did you know that Phil Hennigan was one of only six (Al Bumbry, Bill Campbell, Roy Gleason, Jim Holt and Bobby Jones were the other five) Major League Baseball players to have served in the Vietnam War?

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=henniph01

Generations

                                           


                                      Three generations that bear resemblance.
Even though there is another generation or two that also bear resemblance, I can't put my hands on those particular pictures right now. My grandmother also fits into this category. I can see some in Savannah and a little in Sarah, but not as much as the above minus Minnie Ola Lindsey Phillips' picture