Family Reunion in Amarillo

Starting off with more Amarillo Signs:

A whirlwind couple of days, and the 2008 Jones Family Reunion is almost history.

We got moved to Overnight RV Park on the east side of Amarillo yesterday morning, after the final few items got checked off our list of things that needed fixing or adjusting on the Castle. Overnight is a familiar little park that we've stayed at 2 or 3 times before. The people are friendly and the park is clean, has big pull through sites, and has private dog yards in several sites. The downside is that it's right under the flight path for the airport. The planes come in almost on top of us, and it can be pretty noisy at times.

My part of the reunion preparations was to bake my mother-in-law's recipe for carrot cake. Once we got set up, that was my focus. Betty, who passed away last October, was known at family reunions and other get togethers for that carrot cake. I said I would carry on her tradition, so I felt like I had big shoes to fill. There was also going to be a dessert contest at the reunion, so I knew there would be several other tasty desserts.

I don't know what happened, maybe I'm still trying to get used to this convection microwave oven, but whatever, when the cake came out of the oven, the center almost immediately sank into a crater. I was going to scrap the whole thing and not even take it. I even made another dessert to replace it. But, I decided, partly on the urging of Jim and Robin, to go ahead and take it. And guess what -- it won the contest! I guess once it got the icing on it, the "crater" wasn't as noticeable. Or maybe, Betty's tradition just lives on.

There were about 40 or so folks who attended this year's reunion, held today at a local apartment complex club house. It seems each year we lose a family member or two, or sometimes more. We miss the folks who are no longer with us, but sure do enjoy getting together to get caught up with everyone's news. The generations are shifting to the younger ones. I was happy to see several young people, including a one-month old baby, at this one. Hmmm, it's hard for me to grasp the fact that I'm in that "older" generation now!

We're very glad we were able to attend this reunion, in spite of the fact that here we are in "Tornado Alley" in June. Tomorrow morning we will all meet for breakfast, and that is the official end of this year's reunion.

It's time to look ahead to moving on down the road Monday morning. We're very excited to be heading towards South Dakota. On the way, at North Platte, Nebraska, we'll meet up with our dear friends, Karon & Dan. We've spent quite a bit of time with them in the past, staying in the same places. We're really happy to be able to spend some time with them again, relaxing, visiting, fishing, exploring. We'll be traveling to South Dakota together. At this point, we don't know how long we'll stay on the same paths, but we will enjoy our time with them. Can't wait!