Oskaloosa, KS

It's nice to be where you're welcomed!

Oskaloosa, KS is a great place to visit. We love staying here with Jenni & Dottie in this quaint little town -- population 1173. We can walk a few blocks to Harvey's Hardware, Parker Pharmacy, the US Post Office, the United Methodist Church or the County Seat Variety Store. We can get our heart rates going as we walk to exercise at the Body Shoppe and Thriftway Grocery and Car Quest Auto Parts stores are just a few more blocks away!


It's too bad we don't have the same reception at our "home place" in Indiana. Some neighbors seem to have a problem with us visiting our son & his family on their 2-1/2 acre rural property. We even "tuck" our RV back between the pole building and the woods but some people don't like it because we are living in our RV and therefore violating some perceived county ordinance! We read recently in an RV magazine not to expect to be welcomed everywhere with our RV as we are considered vagabonds. Well, they are just going to have to get used to our annual summer visits in Lafayette!

We will be here in Oskaloosa a few more days and have plotted our route to Sarasota, Florida where we'll spend the first couple of weeks in November before heading west to San Antonio, TX, arriving just before Thanksgiving.

Happy Anniversary!

Doug & Elaine Latia
October 18, 1970

Today we are celebrating our marriage of 35 years. It’s been a wonderful journey and we plan on many more adventures down the road. So here’s to 35 years of wedded bliss!

Mr. & Mrs. Bryan Best

Mr. & Mrs. Bryan Best

We arrived in Oskaloosa, KS on Friday, Oct. 14. Doug had his follow-up visit with Dr. Cooper and he gave us the “OK” for Doug to travel as long as he didn’t drive. So, I packed up everything Thursday afternoon and we “hit the road”! Doug was comfortable traveling with his pillow and blanket in the back seat of the truck while I drove the rig 550 miles to our destination. He is improving and gaining strength each day and just taking it easy. The pathological report showed all of the cancer was removed with surgery. We thank the Lord, Dr. Cooper, and each of you for your prayers.

Bryan & Cari Best’s wedding reception was Saturday, Oct. 15 in Lawrence, KS. Since they were married on the Bahama Islands on Oct. 7th, the theme for the reception was Caribbean. A fun time was had by all. CONGRATULATIONS, Bryan & Cari Best!

We will stay here in Oskaloosa a couple weeks and then head south to Sarasota, Florida and Sun 'N Fun RV Resort, where we will attend another nephew’s wedding on the island of Anna Maria.

Surgery & Still Smiling!

Surgery and Still Smiling!

I’m home from the hospital and doing fine. All those prayer petitions so many of you offered got me through to this point. I can’t thank everyone enough! We’re hoping for a little more good news as I go back to the clinic Thursday to see if the last of the four tubes and staples can be removed. They should have the pathological report back by then as well and hopefully I will be cancer-free.

Guys, get that annual PSA checked. It’s only a stick in the arm. Even if it leads to a prostatectomy, advanced cancer could be a lot worse. I could get into some of the gory details but you might be reading this too close to lunch time!

Hearing the furnace kick on makes us aware of cold weather being eminent and we are getting a little anxious to start south. Jenee and Aaron are now in San Antonio and we heard the pod we helped them load in PA last month had arrived in Austin. “Were their belongings lost?” you might ask. They saved several hundred dollars by taking everything to the pod terminal in NJ and picking it up at the Austin terminal themselves. We haven’t heard how everything fared yet. We will be spending a month or so in SA starting late Nov doing whatever needs done. Jenee called yesterday afternoon with more campground information. We’re checking into which campground offers the most for the money and is fairly close to the Blancos.

Sun Valley Campground, PA

September was a great time of the year to spend in Bowmansville, PA. We spent four weeks in the beautiful Pennsylvania Dutch country at Sun Valley Campground. This was a nice campground with rolling hills and spacious wooded lots. Our dear friends Fred & Faye Merkel joined us for a week and we had some good times traveling through the Amish countryside, visiting Chocolate World in Hershey and a day trip to NYC! We spent the rest of the time helping our son-in-law Aaron, daughter Jenee, and grandchildren Caelum & Aden get ready to move from Exton, PA to TX. They left PA for their trek to San Antonio on Sept. 22.

It’s also a beautiful time of year in Indiana, which is why we picked October to be married 35 years ago (coming up soon)! Speaking of weddings, our nephew Bryan & Carilyn are having a wedding reception in Lawrence, KS on Oct. 15 following their wedding in the Bahamas on Oct. 7. Our niece Erienne & David are getting married Oct. 8th in rural Delphi and another nephew, Darrin and Shannon, will be married on Anna Maria Island, FL on Nov. 14.

So, we’re back here briefly while Doug has surgery and we’re sure hoping he “bounces back” fairly quickly because we want to get “on the road again” soon. We’d love to head to KS for the Oct. 15 reception, stay a couple weeks with Jenni & Dottie in Oskaloosa, and then head down to Florida the first of November. After that, we will head WEST for the winter. Our first stop -- San Antonio.

In the meantime, we’re here in rural Lafayette where our son Dallas lives. We’re right next to the shop, which is handy for Doug. This is a good opportunity to get all the things done on the RV and truck before heading out for the winter.

Stay tuned for more updates in the near future!