It's been a great weekend on the Plains

It has been a good weekend in more ways than one. Spring is coming soon as the last days of winter seem to be losing their grip. Warmer temps and longer days are becoming the norm now at least part of the time...
Things got started on Friday morning as Mrs. PF asked me to go with her to see her sick cousin whose birthday it was that day. We made the trip because she calls everyday asking us to come see her but sadly she was not having a good day when we got there.  She suffers from dementia and other health problems and after we arrived from our 4 hour trip to see her she promptly told us to go home. Ha ha---oh well...we kind of expected something like that and didn't let it bother us too much and began the long drive home. By then it was afternoon and good picture taking weather....
I soon saw an old gas station that is mostly yard art at a home in Parsons, KS in the SE part of our large state.

and after driving an hour or so I saw one of those little green signs with an arrow pointing down a gravel road that suggested a town was only 4 miles to my left on a gravel road so I turned to see what lay ahead....
It was a tiny ghost town near a creek surrounded by flat and fertile farm ground with a few modest homes and only one old building left standing plus a small abandoned school building. Right away I saw 3 old trucks that I liked and all were 46 Chevys or thereabouts...

and not far from town was an old abandoned railroad bridge that still spanned the distance over the water and seemed to be a "bridge to nowhere" so I left the car for a short hike in the woods. The water was flowing slowly thru the gravel bottom washing itself clean and pooling in some deeper areas along some sandbars. I climbed up and stood on the bridge.....

 It was fun to stand on the sturdy bridge of 4 huge steel beams that were forged long ago and left here to spend what must seem like an eternity...

I took some photos showing the nice stone work from perhaps a century ago and also enjoyed the clear water and had there been any fish nearby I would have been able to see every one of them. 

 Then it was time to get back on the road but not too far along the journey I saw yet another green sign telling me to turn left again....so I did.
This was a bigger town and had a few stores downtown that were open and a post office too. I saw 2 old gas stations which are always interesting to me since I am an old car guy...

and an old garage that may have sold Model T Fords nearly a century ago....

and this town was on a small river with an old bridge and was just a pleasant place to explore and I am glad we took the time...
Not far away I saw a couple of old gas pumps standing proudly to mark their place in transportation history....

then it was time to get down the road as we were a long ways from home but did take time to explore a bigger town nearer to Wichita named Augusta where I saw this nice old family owned drive in diner. It wasn't quite time to eat yet but maybe next time thru I will try a hamburger and shake....

We did eat supper later and had a Friday night fish fry and that was good. 
Saturday was not as busy for me but was a nice day to run errands and have lunch in town with my pal Ron as well as get some things done before the big basketball game of the year between our #4 ranked Kansas Jayhawks and the #3 Missouri Tigers. It went to overtime and happily our team won. 
In case you didn't know, basketball is king in Kansas and is  great winter entertainment. 
Then on Sunday...we hosted a few friends for coffee after they left the Catholic church across the street from our home in our small town...
They delivered the "gospel" to me as they knew it and we all had a good time. 

 then Mrs. PF donned her apron and commenced to preparing a simple and traditional Sunday dinner that has become normal around here on most weekends. She set the table for 5 as we had some guests...

It was a real feast of roasted pork loin, mashed potatoes and gravy, real Iowa sweet corn from our trip last summer, apple salad, and homemade biscuits with honey. We told our guests to arrive at noon and they did....my wife's son Jerry and our grandaughter Abbey and my pal Chad from Oklahoma who had driven 5 hours that morning to come here...

We enjoyed the meal and conversation and soon it was time for dessert of made from scratch apple pie and ice cream which sadly was not homemade but that will come soon as the season changes....and it too was good...

It was good to see my buddy Chad who had brought me 3 antique car engines and like a true friend he offered me a handwritten lifetime warranty with no questions asked....

and then we went outside to inspect the old engines that will be restored and placed into old cars and trucks and return to the open road where they will once again cruise the happy highways of life's never ending journeys....

After we unloaded the engines and said goodbye I spent the warm afternoon power washing the grime and buildup of many years of motoring from them and then retired for the evening to write this blog. I sure have enjoyed the weekend and hope you have too. As for the rest of the evening?.....let's just say that there is more pie in the kitchen and I am getting hungry. See you later and let's do it again soon!