It's old news

We're home! And have been for weeks now. We pulled into the driveway, I got out of the truck and hit the ground running. I've not had a chance to slow down since! It's always nice to be home, but it is always a busy time as we try to catch up on things around the house that need to be done and visit friends and family in the area.

The other day hubby asked me something about my blog...like when was I going to post something. Well today is finally the day! It's old news and old pictures by now, but someday when I'm dead and famous virtually unheard of, and loved by all liked by at least a half of a dozen people, and all my blog posts are published into a book, and it is selling on Ebay for thousands of dollars, 75 10 cents a copy, I don't want there to be any important details left out. So suffer with me here, okay?

After the work was finished in Chicago, we stopped for a week in Edwardsville, IL where hubby worked a dozen claims and I hung out at the RV park (Red Barn Rendezvous). There was no WiFi service. I did have an air card, but sometimes uploading pictures with one of those is more frustration that I can handle. So I pretty much spent my time reading books and goofing off.

The campground was small and in the middle of a---you guessed it---ANOTHER CORN FIELD! The last three places we've stayed have been surrounded by corn.

This time I was prepared with some wonderful steroid nose spray and an inhaler I got from the doctor the last time we were home. I survived quite well.

The campground was nothing special. Small and quiet, no frills, and lots of little critters.

 That's not even a fourth of them, but I'll take into considerations that some of you might not get your kicks from looking at pictures of cement yard ornaments, and I'll stop myself from posting all of them. After all, this blog is supposed to be all about Dashing and Bold stuff, right?

Now that I think about it, a bright yellow elephant is a bit bold, don't you think?

While we were in Edwardsville, we celebrated our 29th wedding anniversary. Now that's dashing and bold!
Since we were just a short distance from St. Louis, MO, we spent our special day there.

We are not beer drinkers, but we did go to the Busch brewery just to see the Budweiser Clydesdales aka The Hitch. That was a  mistake. There were a gillion people there and only three horses. The high dollar horses that make up the teams are kept on various ranches, so the only real reason to go to the brewery is to see the beer making process and get the free samples. We did neither.

Here is my beloved of 29 years. Does he look like a tourist or what?

After we drove around the "inner-city" looking for some good St. Louis lunch, we went on down to the river and the arch. Heavy rain the night before had the Mississippi River running high.

Here is "The Captain's Return." It is a monument to explorers Lewis and Clark.

I don't know which is Lewis and which is Clark, but if the river had been this high the day they returned to the area in 1806, history books might read differently. (click on the link above to see what the monument looks like when it's not drowning in the river.)

Have you visited the arch? The Gateway to the West? It was soooo cool!

From the river you have to climb all these stairs to get to the arch. I counted them just so I could tell you how many there are--then I forgot. I think there were 64, but if you want to be sure, you will have to go and count them yourself.

I could have spent hours and hours taking pictures from different angles as the sun and clouds changed the look of the giant monument.

We took a ride in the tiny "pod" elevator to the top. Can you see the little windows way up at the top?

That's where, from 630 feet above the ground, we looked out over St. Louis. What a view!

I zoomed in on Busch Stadium. The Cardinals were playing the Chicago Cubs. I thought that was a little dashing since we had been caught in game day traffic in Chicago just a few days earlier.

Here is the view out of the opposing windows.

The mighty muddy Mississippi River.

And here is the Tom Sawyer. We had dinner on this boat as we cruised up and down the Mississippi in the moonlight.

Here's looking forward to tomorrow, our next adventure, and the next 29 years with the love of my life!

Book Review--Outlive Your Life by Max Lucado

Have you ever labored in prayer over God’s plan for your life? What great thing would He have you do? Do you want to impact your world for God’s kingdom? It might be simpler that you ever imagined.

In Outlive Your Life You Were Made To Make A Difference, Max Lucado shows us how the first-century church, a group of ordinary, unsophisticated, uneducated people, lived out the teachings of Jesus Christ and changed the world forever. In 2010 God still uses the ordinary, common man who is willing to extend a helping hand and loving heart to a dying world.

This book not only inspires the reader to step up and reach out, but it also offers practical ideas and advice on how to take the first steps into simple ministry. It is well organized with each chapter clearly covering a wide range of topics such as breaking out of our shell, simple hospitality, preparing for persecution, humility, loving and helping the needy, and more. All sixteen chapters are stuck together with one strong common bond: “You want your life to matter. You want to live in such a way that the world will be glad you did.” We all want to outlive our lives.

The back of the book contains discussion questions and ideas for action that makes making a difference super simple right where you are.

Like most of Lucado’s works, this one is full of great quotable one-sentence thoughts that wake you up like a splash of cold water and comforts your soul at the same time.

I will recommend this book many times.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”