It started snowing Sunday evening, March 12, leaving 10 inches of fluffy new snow. I asked Genie if maybe we should delay our annual spring trip to visit relatives Sandy and Frank Meng in Harrison, Arkansas. Her answer was, “Did you ever see a rabbit catch a hunter?”
We took our time in loading the red HHR Chevrolet and left at 11 a.m. Monday. Most of the roads had been plowed and the freeway south out of Albert Lea was in better shape than we thought it would be.
We stayed at the “Quality Inn” at Bethany, Missouri Monday night (the ground was white). We ate the evening meal at the “Toot, Toot Restaurant” in Bethany. I asked the waitress if the biscuit and gravy meal of two biscuits would be too much and maybe I should only order one biscuit. Her reply, “I can easily eat two biscuits.”
Yes, readers, I ordered two biscuits and gravy. Ciara, you are one sharp waitress.
The next morning we followed Missouri Highway 13 to U.S. Highway 65 and then to our Quality Inn, Harrison, Arkansas destination. We walked in and were welcomed back by employees Janie and Carrie. I did think their hospitality was a little bit too much when they pointed out they had ordered our “used-to” weather at home in Minnesota. (It was cold and snowed enough for the ground to be white with temperatures in the low twenties the first two nights we were there. Goodbye to their flowers in bloom plus blossoms on the fruit trees.)
The Quality Inn has a physical fitness program with the employees paid to participate. They throw full garbage bags into a garbage truck made by McNeilus in Dodge Center, Minnesota.
We enjoyed lunch with Joe and Susan at their 118-acre Hobby Farm. They even walked us to the base of their waterfall with about a 40-foot drop into an eight-foot deep pool. Wow.
Tonya, the town character, stopped in to visit while we were at Frank and Sandy’s; she helped herself to the last piece of Sandy’s great coconut cake in the cake pan. She smacked her lips and licked the fork while congratulating me on not complaining that she got the last piece. Just after she left, I really enjoyed the last piece I had hid before she got there!
What do Tyler, Thomas, Janie, Carrie, Tom, Stacy, Katrina, Denise, Jessica, Tammy, Shianne, Brent, Nikki and Pam have in common? They pleased all the Quality Inn of Harrison Irish or wished they were Irish guests by wearing green on March 17. Pam even served green tea!
Janice checked us out with her great slow Southern drawl as we left to stay at the Comfort Inn of Marshall, Missouri.
Darryl Lemear at Marshall checked us in just as the Wisconsin Villanova NCAA basketball game started. He knows this octogenarian knows that Wisconsin was the better team before they played!
At the guest breakfast the next morning a feller tells us he got his Christmas wish early in 2017 (his CEO lost her voice this morning). Texan “Andre,” your words will come back to haunt you!
We left Marshall Sunday, March 19 to get home for the first day of spring. Yes, there was snow on the ground in Minnesota the first day of spring, with temperatures in the teens.
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Bob is a retired AAL (Aid Association for Lutherans) agent, currently working on his master’s degree in Volunteering. His wife, Genie, is a retired RN, currently working on her doctor’s degree in Volunteering. They have two children, Deb in North Carolina, and Dan in Vermont. Bob says if you enjoy his column, let him know. If you don’t enjoy it, keep on reading, it can get worse. Words of wisdom: There is always room for God.