Friends come to visit

Mike and Les Kennedy were due to arrive late Monday afternoon but we couldn't be here to greet them, we had a wedding to attend about 2 hours away and didn't get back to the KOA until after 9pm. We left a note for them at the desk letting them know if they still wanted company at that hour to leave their porch light on. Sure enough when we got back we spied their Montana 5th wheel and the porch light was on so we hurried to our 5er and changed into "comfy" clothes and walked over. I knocked on the door and there was no answer. Their truck was there but there were no other lights on except the porch light. We were just starting to walk away when Rudee spotted Mike walking across the campground loaded down with laundry :-). Les was just leaving the laundry room when we caught up with Mike to help him with his "load". :-)
We sat in their 5th wheel until late in the night catching up on each others travels and finally called it a night long after the rest of the campers were sound asleep.

Tuesday morning we all met for breakfast at the cafe and got a chance to show them some of "our" campground. Once breakfast was over we all piled into the Dakota and headed south. We took a nice drive through the Indiana countryside and passed through several small farming communities. We arrived in the town of French Lick and spent a little time (and some $$) in the casino here. Back in the "roaring 20's" this area was a well known tourist destination with it's claim to fame being the mineral springs located here. Two large Hotels catered to the tourists who arrived mostly by train. Both of those Hotels have been refurbished to their grandeur from that time period and we enjoyed doing our own walking tour of the properties.
Here is the inside of the huge domed atrium of the West Baden Hotel.

the top of the dome

Rudee and Les "taking a break"

None of us needed any extra help carrying any bucket loads of money out of the casino, in fact were all losers to one degree or another :-).
We made the trip back to Terre Haute where Rudee prepared a Mexican Casserole for the four of us. We carried it over to Mike and Les' where after dinner we introduced them to the game of Spinners.

Wednesday morning we were off and running again. This time the four of us headed to a couple of museums here in Terre Haute but found they were both closed due to the holiday. Hmmm what to do now?
We decided to head to Rockville and visit some of the sights around the "Covered Bridge Capitol". Mike and Les had been here before and visited a lot of the bridges so we headed for an Amish flea market where we each purchased some fresh vegetables. We also stopped at an Amish bakery but nothing tempted us there (hard to believe, I know!!). Benjamin's was our stop for lunch where we introduced Mike and Les to a genuine Hoosier favorite, breaded tenderloin sandwiches. They seemed to enjoy this first time experience but we warned them not to get hooked on them since you have trouble finding them outside of Indiana.
Rudee and I had to be at work at 4pm so we had to cut our day short and get to our J.O.B. :-(
Our shift was a busy one too, we checked in one camper after another and our 5 hours flew by. The worst part for me was the temperatures were still in triple digits and there were few times I could duck into the a/c to cool down .... it was pretty brutal for this old dog!
Les came into the office to visit with Rudee and while she was there an older class A motorhome pulled up and a man came into the office. Rudee greeted the man and asked if he needed a site for tonight. The man started to answer her and then passed out falling to floor! :-o Rudee called me right away on the radio but by the time I made it to the office (I was on the other side of the campground) they had him into a chair and were giving him some water. He said his a/c was out and he had left Oklahoma this morning and had been driving all day in the heat. I guess it was just more than he could handle. Luckily he was safely here before the heat caught up to him! He didn't want to go to the hospital and kept saying he was fine so she got him checked in and I helped him get his rig set up and checked on him several times while doing my rounds. Wow, a little too much excitement for us :-).
Mike and Les took pity on us and invited us to a late supper at their place. Mike grilled brats while Les made red beans & rice and a Cesar salad! What great people these two are! We sure appreciated a great meal after our long hot day, thanks guys!

This morning we met with Les and Mike again and were able to visit some before they pulled out. They are traveling to Elkhart Indiana for a few days and then on to Michigan to meet some more friends. Have safe travels guys, and thanks for stopping by and brightening our days!

I have a little project for the 5er in the works and have gathered some of the necessary "stuff" to get it accomplished. I should start working on it soon and ..... I'll keep you posted!