The 1998 Nostalgia Tour
This is a brief story about a tour in late June and early July of 1998 that was taken by Don, Alan, and Beverly to visit relatives and old haunts in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, etc.  Well, new haunts for Beverly.  There are plenty of pictures, so be patient while they all get loaded.
It started by Alan and Beverly traveling to Sean and Jackie's in Cincinnati on Tuesday, June 23.  We took the 5th wheel but it just sat in the driveway for much of the time as we availed ourselves of the hospitality.  Meanwhile, Don had flown in and was visiting some of Thelma's relatives in Louisville, Kentucky.  We picked up Don at the airport on Thursday.  Try as we might to avoid becoming nuisance guests, I'm sure we put a cramp in Sean's and Jackie's time on the internet.  There was some time reserved for this activity.  Just thought everyone might like to see their electronic hideaway.  It worked out really well to use their place as a home base while we went wandering.
Friday afternoon, we towed the 5th wheel down to Winchester, Kentucky and parked it at the church campground where the Wood Reunion was to be held.  It was a very pleasant place to park.  We had water and electric and lots of quiet since we were the only campers.  The building in the rear was one used for revivals and to the left was the restrooms.
The reunion was Saturday.  Got to visit with people we knew (?) when we were little and some we didn't.  One of the memorable aspects was the food.  It was potluck and, of course, everyone brought a specialty.  Actually, I'm cheating here a bit.  The above two pictures are from the first year we went to the reunion when Uncle Leonard and Uncle Orville were there.  We didn't wind up with any pictures from this trip showing the facilities and ambience, just lots of pictures of individuals.
 A few of the older generations we got to see were, l-r, Ocie Wood, Elsie Wood, Bill Wood, Bessie (Wood) McCreary, and Mossie (Wood) Ballard.
Sat. evening we visited at Elsie and Nellie's.  Got to visit with Nellie who was laid up with back problems.  Note the beautiful quilt, one of Nellie's many.  Before we left Sun., we had to get a picture of the huge Chinkapin Oak at the campground.
Sun., after parking the 5th wheel back at Sean & Jackie's, we drove to Hamilton to have dinner with David & Nancy Burcham.  Lots of catching up and remembering done about the good old days when David was stationed in Calif.
On Mon., we went to Middletown to visit Aunt Mabel and to Oxford to visit Aunt Weazie.  While talking about trying to find our old church, Aunt Weezie directed us to where Edith Shockley lived and she was able to give us good directions.  The church looked smaller than it was, we couldn't find the outhouse, and there now appears to be electricity and inside plumbing.  Also, most of the big old trees were gone and new ones had been planted.  The sign says:  Sugar Grove Primitive Baptist Church, Founded 1869.
Tue., we were back in Middletown having dinner with Ivan and Wilma Wood (l) and Maxine (Wood) Stout (r) who live next door to each other.  Talk about convenient.
Wed., we roamed around Fairhaven looking at some of our old homes and looking through the old school.  The school is now an antique mall and (again) no outhouses.  We were able to remember which rooms we were in.  Pretty easy since there were only four of them.  Don explained how they would use two of the rooms to play basketball by removing the separating partition.  We then wandered over to Dayton and looked up Vondina (Wood) Wiley and her husband Otis.
Thur., we hung out at Sean & Jackie's and got acquainted with their new dog, Kia.  In the evening, we went out to celebrate Sean's birthday.
Fri., we went to Brookville, OH and had a picnic at Tom & Shirley (Burcham) Sipe's home.   The cousins above are (l-r) Marvin (Buddy) Burcham, Don, David Burcham,  Shirley Sipe, and Alan.  Other members of the clan were there as well.  The only Burcham cousin we missed was Peggy.  On the right are (l-r) Aunts Betty, Mabel, and Weezie Burcham.
Sat., we headed to Buz and Betty (Music) Updike's farm near Brookville, IN to celebrate July 4th and visit with lots of the Music clan.  In this picture are Beverly, Juanita Music (behind the post), Gail (Music) Withrow, Connie & Betty Music, and Alan.  In the foreground is Moose (a family friend).  The food was fantastic and it was great to visit with people we hadn't seen for years (and, in some cases, never).
Had some spirited games of Croquette.  In the left picture are Kyle & Pat (Music) Ostrander, Gail, a neighbor boy, Alan, and Connie.  In the right picture are Connie and Pat and lots of corn.  Not much traffic (thank goodness) since we had lots of fireworks at dusk with Don performing admirably as the maestro of the matches.  Bill and Sarah Music were also there though not in the pictures. 
After staying the night at Updike's and pigging out at breakfast, we headed west.

Next stop was in Gibson City, IL where we visited Harold & Bonnie (Wood) Stimmel.  Here again, it had been a long, long time since we had seen Bonnie (probably 45 years or so).  It was great getting re-acquainted as we enjoyed the hospitality.  After spending the night, we took off on the last leg to Mt. Pleasant.
Home again!  We had a family get-together so Don could visit with most of the Murphy clan.  We also, took the opportunity to celebrate Maryann and Alan's birthdays.
Among those present were (l-r) Mariah, Sally, Alea, Steven, and Alesia.  During Don's stay in Iowa, Beverly took him to the Amana Colonies (sorry, no pictures) and Alan took him to Nauvoo.
Nauvoo was the home of the Mormons before they moved to Utah.  Before they left, Nauvoo was one of the largest cities in Illinois (bigger than Chicago was).  The LDS church has restored/recreated some of the old homes and businesses and are now planning to rebuild the temple which was burned.  Upper left is Don outside the tinsmith's home and shop.  Upper right is the back side of the Browning home and gunsmith shop.  Note that the rear of the building (log portion) housed the family when there were 9 children.  Left is Alan looking for relief in the brick s---house which was in the rear of a bakery with bustle ovens.  If you want to know more, come for a visit.
And there you have it.  Sadly, we had to put Don on a plane bound for home and that was the end of that nostalgia tour.