Friday 4-6

E veryone took their time getting up and getting around on this morning. The campground has a couple of buildings that have signs that say, "Storm Shelter." This is where we are supposed to escape from violent weather. Our activities for the day began with me visiting Kevin in his motorhome to let him know I was going to drive our motorhome to a tire dealer to get a pair of new front tires.

A couple of buildings in the campground had signs like this

With the tire dealer near Kay’s parents house, I took her over so she could visit while I was away getting tires. From previous tire purchasing experiences where we live, I was expecting to spend up to two hours in the process of having new tires put on our RV. It took only a few minutes to get to the tire store.

I arrived at Kennedy Tire Co. and told the manager that I was the guy who called from Oklahoma City. He said he had my tires, "Right over there." I figured I would have to wait awhile until the crew was finished with the jobs they were doing. Then I expected that one person would be assigned to put the tires on my motorhome. I was not prepared for what actually happened.

I told the manager that I wanted to replace the spare and the right front tire. The left front tire was to become the spare. What happened next was fun to watch. Three young men were immediately dispatched to my motorhome sitting in the driveway where they went into action. One guy began removing the spare tire from the back of the motorhome. The other two young men each pushed a hydraulic floor jack under the front suspension on each side.

It wasn’t very long until the new tires were being mounted on the wheels each on its own tire mounting machine. It was almost as if the two guys were racing to see who could mount their tire the fastest. Then into separate wheel balancers. While this was happening the third young man had mounted the spare tire. Then, almost at the same time, the newly mounted and balanced tires were rolled out and installed on the front of the motorhome.

It felt as if these guys were part of a racing team the way they worked together to get all the tires changed on my motorhome. They did a very impressive job. Now keep in mind that while all this was going on, nobody here knew who I was and I hadn’t paid for the tires yet. It was only when the wheels were being mounted on the front of my motorhome that I entered the office to pay for the new tires. With the great job I received from the crew, I can recommend Kennedy Tires in the 3200 block of West 13th Street in Wichita.

It felt good driving away with the smooth ride of new tires. I drove back to Kay’s parents house. When I walked into the house, I was back in such a short time that Kay thought that I had arrived at the tire store to find that they didn’t have the tires. She was very surprised when I told her that they not only had the tires, but they were already mounted on our motorhome. It was the best tire buying experience I’ve had.

After a short visit with Kay’s parents, we took the motorhome back to the campground. It took a short time to get connected back to the hookups. Shortly after getting settled again, a motorhome with Canadian license plates drove up to our campsite. The driver said that they had just arrived at the campground and had been assigned to our campsite. Even though we had paid for our campsite for the night, somebody with the campground saw our empty site, while we were away getting tires, and thought it was available. The Canadian RV went back to the office and returned to take the vacant campsite across the street from us.

Not long ago a wheat field was behind the campground

Now our plan was to introduce Tina and Kevin to Kay’s parents. We were off in the car this time to see Kay’s parents. After Lois and George met Kevin and Tina, it was time for them to meet Pete. He seemed to take to both of them quickly and accept them into his family. We had a nice visit with Kay’s parents and everyone took a turn playing with Pete. He has a big selection of toys that he will bring out to try to entice people to play with them with him. So, we all took a turn pulling on a rope toy with Pete and rolling a ball down the hall.

Pete rests between play periods

Jim came over to join us to visit for awhile. Lois began to pull old photographs out of drawers all over the house. We were presented with a brief history of our family in the aging pictures. The pictures just kept coming, Lois seemed to have photos everywhere. It was fun to see pictures of some of our earlier vacations in Wichita. After a nice visit, it was time to get on to other places.

As we headed for the car, Jim had something he wanted to show Kevin. Jim open the trunk of his car and removed a bag of golf clubs. When Kevin and Jim began talking about golf, they both entered a separate zone from the rest of the group. About all we could do was watch as they really got into their discussion of golf clubs and the best way to use them.

Kevin and Jim talking about the finer points of golf

Jim left before us and went home while we visited a while longer with Kay’s parents. From there we went over to the neighborhood where Jim and Donna live. Once there, the four of us found a local sandwich shop to have lunch. After our small midday meal, we went over to Jim and Donna’s house.

I had a surprise in store when we drove up and I saw Jim washing his son’s car. I approached Jim and told him that I thought it was supposed to work the other way, Steven should be washing his dad’s car. As it turned out, Steven had bribed his dad with lunch. Steve was off getting lunch for the two of them while Jim washed the car. This was something that just called out to be photographed.

Jim washes Steven's car

We all went inside to get out of the heat. Donna was home, so we would get to have a nice visit with her and Jim. Jim and Donna’s dog, Sophia greeted us barking nervously. She wasn’t sure whether we were friend or foe. It took her longer to remember who we were. She was even more cautious about getting to know Kevin and Tina. However, once Sophia was comfortable with everybody, she returned to her usual laid-back hound self.

Jim and Donna’s house always feels like home to me. Over the years they have opened there home to us as if it was ours. They have made it very comfortable to visit Wichita. It was fun to visit with Jim, Donna, and Steven. We also had an opportunity to play with Sophia and her collection of toys. I made a call to my mother to let her know we arrived safely.

Now it was time to get on with our Wichita adventure. I wanted to take everybody downtown to show them the unusual sculptures along the main street in town. First we would go to the new boathouse to see an Americas Cup sailboat. Mounted on display in front of the boathouse is the Jayhawk, one of the three racing yachts used by Wichita native Bill Koch to win the 1992 America’s Cup. Kevin and I crawled all over the display reading the information plaques. The keel of the sailboat is a very interesting design. The women were sitting on a bench below the boat talking.

Kevin reads about the "Jayhawk" and America’s Cup Race

Looking up at the "Jayhawk" display walkway

Looking down from the display walkway

The Jayhawk and the boathouse

From the boathouse we went to Douglas Avenue, the main street through downtown Wichita. Along this street have been placed life-sized, bronze sculptures. We parked the car near a lot that is where the old Woolworth store was once located. On the lot is a sculpture of a soda fountain that Woolworth was famous for many years ago. I remember as a small boy climbing up on one of the stools at the counter to order a root beer float.

The soda fountain made famous by Woolworth’s

We all went over to the sculpture where Kevin and I took the place of customers while Kay and Tina got behind the counter with the waitress who was ready to take our orders. Next to the sidewalk is another sculpture of a country-and-western, street musician playing a guitar. He is standing next to a stool with a guitar case on the ground. Kay stood behind the player with her hand on the neck of the Guitar while Tina sat on the stool.

Sidewalk musicians

Down the street a short distance is a set of sculptures, on the sidewalk, of a family of foxes. Up on the newspaper shelter is three partridges with a fox looking up at them. Kay sat on a bench reaching over to pull on the ear of a fox with a game bird in its mouth. All along the street are more sculptures, some whimsical, some funny, and some make a statement.

On one street corner there was a sculpture of a family. Everyone in the family were looking up at the sky. We all migled with the family members with our eyes to the sky to try to figure out just what it was that held the attention of these bronze people.

What could it be up there

We got back in the car and continued on down the main street to an area called "Old Town." This is the area that is very much like Bricktown in Oklahoma City. It is an old warehouse district where some of the buildings have been restored to house shops and restaurants while other buildings have been turned into apartments and condos. Other buildings have simply been removed to provide parking for the occupants of the restored structures.

From Old Town, we took a back roads tour back to Kay’s parents house. Jim, Donna and Steven came over to pick up George and Lois. We were all going to Stroud’s, a fun restaurant that serves panned fried chicken with all the trimmings served family style. The restaurant is built in an old barn that is directly behind a farm house. I always enjoy having an evening meal at this place.

After dinner Jim and Donna took George and Lois home while we returned to our RVs to end a fun day. Insert page content here, minus the first letter.