MVH

Family Picnic at Missouri Veterans Home

We left for Missouri mid-morning. It was a beautiful day. The mountain looked so majestic when we lifted off. There was still snow on the peaks in the high country and the prairie was its usual brown. After all the traveling I have done for the number of years I have traveled, I still feel apprehensive leaving home but this particular trip had me feeling happy and excited. I was so anxious to see Dad again but knew this weekend would be filled with many emotions – not all of them good. It was a very pleasant flight until we were beyond Kansas City. The turbulence began. I have never had a smooth flight into Lambert Airport in St. Louis. It must be the river or perhaps the Arch – who knows – it is always bumpy. Nevertheless, we made it in safely and proceeded to get our car. We were going to take I70 to 270 to 44. It had been a long time since I have driven in or around the St. Louis area. I was shocked at the amount of traffic there was. There were major traffic jams at l:30 in the afternoon. I had never been in such traffic – not even in my travels to the East Coast. Where were all these people going? Missouri must have received their federal money for road improvement because there was road construction on every highway (which did not help with the congestion). We continued our journey south, stopping for a late lunch at a Steak N Shake. While being a very quaint establishment, the food was not as good as either Steve or I remembered from our past. I did have to get some pictures of the unique signage.

We arrived at Dad’s a little while later. The grounds were alive with activity. Tents were being set up, a stage prepared and many tables and chairs set up. When we walked into his core, we were pleasantly surprised. All the residents were in the day room and everyone was being cleanly shaved and getting haircuts in anticipation of the big day. There was so much excitement among the residents. Dad was very clean-shaven and looked really nice. I noticed he was not wearing any shoes. I went to his room and was able to locate two right-footed shoes. Steve and I decided we would head down to the Rolla WalMart to buy him some shoes. On Dad’s door, there was a note posted that he would have visitors for the Family Day event. There was also a note stating that an “outfit” had been picked out and put aside for him to wear. I must say, the home was going all out for this picnic.

We stayed at the Best Western in Rolla. After shopping for shoes and socks for Dad, we checked into the hotel and settled in. We found a really nice lake not far from our hotel. We decided it would be great to walk around the lake and take some pictures. We came across a man fishing with his daughter. It made me think of the time when Dad had a camper and I met him at his campsite for an overnighter. We went fishing together and almost froze it was so cold. I still have that picture. Anyway, I digress, we started around the lake. The man had caught a big turtle and we were all off in the grass trying to locate this booger because he so wanted to show us. Meanwhile, his daughter was “manning” his fishing pole that was getting many hits. He finally went back to his pole only to discover he had caught not one but two fish on the one line. One was caught with chicken liver and the other with a worm. Being as how proud he was of this feat, we had to obligate him with a photo. We were equally impressed but continued around the lake.

The next day, before heading back up to St. James, we explored Rolla - located in the foothills of the Ozarks. Rolla has been ranked as one of the top 100 best small towns in the U.S. and is also home to the University of Missouri, which boasts of one of the best engineering schools in the nation. There are only 4300 students who attend the university. We visited the Stonehenge exhibit, which is a half scale replica and was built by engineering students. It was remarkably accurate to the Stonehenge located on Salisbury Plain in England constructed more than 4000 years ago and stands as one of the world’s outstanding engineering projects. It makes me proud to be an engineer!! While it was incredibly significant for small town America, I must admit I much more enjoyed visiting the real Stonehenge while living in England.

We headed up to St. James and took Dad outside. He did so well in his walker. At times, he would just sit down but after a bit, was eager to continue on his trek. I thought the crowd was significant. There were many Navy, Marine and Army personnel who came up from Ft. Leonard Wood to help with the festivities. Ft. Leonard Wood is located approximately 30 miles southwest of Rolla on I-44. These very dedicated women and men helped with the residents of the Veterans Home in getting them outside, helping with their lunches, dancing with them and just visiting with the residents. Dad ate a lot and then we walked all over the grounds. Again, he would become tired and sit for a while but was always ready to go further. Steve was worried about him being in the sun without protection, so took his very favorite straw hat (purchased years ago at Hilo Hattie in Maui) and put it on Dad. That was the end of the hat for Steve. There were several occasions, when I was taking pictures, when Steve tried to raise the hat so Dad’s eyes could be seen, but Dad would have nothing to do with that. He firmly placed his hand on the top of his newly acquired hat and no one was going to remove it or take it away from him. We spent a lot of time outside with Dad and he really enjoyed moving about. After taking him in, I was startled when Dad suddenly let go of his walker, took my hand, and walked with me. He held on only with his left hand on the walker and we walked up and down the hall. At one point, he very clearly stated “let’s go” and walked toward the door. I was shocked that he said the words so distinctly. The staff wanted to freshen up the residents as most had returned to the air-conditioning of the core, so Steve and I walked about the grounds. We took many pictures and when we returned, Dad approached me and had the most mischievous look and grin on his face. He proudly handed me a putty knife he had found. I turned it over to the staff and they were amused he had found it on a construction cart sitting in the hallway. Suddenly it was time to go. Both Steve and I hugged and kissed Dad and told him how much we loved him and turned to leave. I looked back and he was sitting in his walker, against a table with no one around just staring into space. I felt so sad I cried but was glad we had made the journey.

We headed back to St. Louis. We had a very early morning flight so had decided to spend the night in St. Louis to eliminate the drive. On our drive back, we stopped at Union Station and visited the Hard Rock Café.

Union Station is a lot different than I remembered when I once lived there. They have done a remarkable job at saving old town St. Louis. We were able to see the Gateway Arch.


The weather that day was so perfect. After putzing around down town, we headed to our hotel. It was a pretty early night as we were both tired from the traveling but most especially from all the emotions we had experienced that day.

Our trip back to Colorado was uneventful and we were both glad to arrive home.