What a wonderful week we had with Marvin and Shirley Oetjen,
in Carterville, IL. We arrived to Kamper’s Supply (their RV business) on Monday
afternoon around 3:30 after a 304 mile drive from Shirley, AR. Thankfully we
had wonderful weather to travel, and the roads—for the most part—were good,
although hilly and windy through Arkansas and the small section of Missouri we
had to go through.
We were welcomed with open arms; Marvin and Shirley are ever
the gracious hosts, even though we take up a parking “site” in front of their
service bays while we’re there. They just tell us where to park, provide us
with power and a hose to load up our unit with water, and tell us to enjoy the
stay! That evening we had a yummy meal at a local Italian restaurant, Mimmo’s,
just up the road from Kamper’s Supply. Friends Randy and Jeri joined us. We
noshed on a calzones, Philly cheese steak sandwiches, grilled chicken
sandwiches and Italian subs. Yummy!
Tuesday was Dick’s birthday—he turned a very young 71! Happy
birthday to him! That was the day for John and Curtis (Marvin and Shirley’s
sons) to take over our unit to complete repairs from our blow-out last summer,
anchor the front edge of our awning, fix a leak on the rear door side of the
camper, check the roof for hail damage (see Nacogdoches blog), and anchor some
electrical wires under the dining room slide. They really know how to “get ‘er
done!” Thanks, guys!
That evening we had dinner at Red Lobster with Marvin and
Shirley, and Randy and Jeri to celebrate the birthday boy. We certainly weren't
disappointed! Shrimp, scallops, rib eye steak, flounder—cannot go wrong there!
Then, we headed back to Marvin and Shirley's for a few games of Pegs and
Jokers, ice cream and cake. Sadly, the gals lost 2 of the 3 games we played. Of
course, we gals said it was because we needed to make the guys feel
good—especially Dick on his birthday. Ha!
Wednesday Dick took a 50 mile motorcycle ride through the
countryside; I stayed back at the ranch to knit, and had a long-overdue
pedicure. Later that day we all had dinner at Bob Evans before we began the
real serious preparation for Kamper's Supply open house to be held Friday
through Sunday. We hit Sam’s Club to pick up food for the weekend’s event:
Kamper’s Supply’s 40th anniversary! Wow! Kamper's Supply was established as a family
owned "Mom & Pop" dealership in May 1975.
It was time to celebrate!
Here’s an article written in a local newspaper, the Southern Business Journal,about the Oetjens and Kamper's Supply. Thought you’d enjoy reading it. We’re
thankful and proud to be friends of the Oetjens.
At Sam’s Club we picked up 6 pork butts, at least 8 full
racks of ribs, hot dogs, buns, potato salad, brownies, animal crackers, chicken,
coffee, and condiments. Friend Randy smokes the butts and ribs on his
super-duper smoker for 3 days of food! Barbeque sandwiches and hot dogs are
prepared for customers, while we "workers" got to nosh on barbeque sandwiches,
grilled chicken sandwiches and ribs. YUM-YUM!
Here’s a photo of Randy’s smoker, on which we prepared the
weekend’s meats: pork butts, ribs, hot dogs and chicken. He’s quite serious
about this, and we definitely benefit from his culinary skills!
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| Here's the cooker. |
Friends Bob and Sharon live near St. Louis, MO so we drove
to Fairview Heights, IL to have lunch with them on Thursday, just a couple of
hours away. We decided to have lunch at Smokey Bones BBQ even though we’d be
having barbeque all through the weekend. Sure was good to see them again. Sharon
and Dick had a grilled chicken salad, Bob noshed on the pulled pork special,
while I had a barbequed brisket stuffed baked potato. Again, I say, YUM-YUM! We spent about almost
2 hours together talking, laughing and eating. What a great way to spend a day!
(While we were with Bob and Sharon, the crew back at Kamper’s Supply noshed on
Randy’s grilled chicken sandwiches which, we were told, were wonderful!!! Sorry we missed them!)
That evening (I cannot believe we ate again!) we had dinner with Marvin and Shirley, their son Curtis,
and other friends Leroy and Lori at a local restaurant, the Country Cupboard. Spread
across the table were hamburgers, chef salads, chicken casserole, Swiss steak,
and a patty melt. Good grief! But, boy was it good! Then Marvin and Shirley,
and Dick and I returned to Kamper's Supply to get to work doing final
preparations for Friday’s opening. Dick and I put batteries in give-away
flashlights (pretty cool little LED units). And we all carried stuff to the
door prize table. There was some pretty cool stuff being given away, like
blankets, camping chairs, hitches, a portable ice maker, grilling utensils, and
other things that make camping and the RV life enjoyable.
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| Kamper's Supply and the RV lot. Lots of campers to choose from! |
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| Clockwise, top to bottom: sign up for door prizes, the table of door prizes, food table, Randy preparing the ribs and Jackie blowing up the balloons. |
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| Kamper's Supply store and floral bouquets they received in celebration of their 40th! |
Friday morning came early, as we did the final preparations
for the open house. Randy was smoking the pork butts for the barbeque
sandwiches; Dick and I stuffed paper bags with other give-away stuff like pens,
tank treatments, sewer dump gloves, pens, etc.; granddaughter Jackie was
filling balloons with helium for outside decorations; Jeri and Lori were busy
preparing the food table; Leroy was busy preparing to demonstrate Direct-TV and
Dish networks with RV satellite equipment, and Jack RV antennas. What a busy
place! When the doors opened folks came pouring in! Later in the morning Jeri,
Lori and I manned the food table, preparing hot dogs on buns, barbeque
sandwiches on buns, cutting brownies and cake, making coffee, filling little
cups with animal crackers, and making sure the punch thermos was filled.
(Randy—the retired pharmacist—has quite a reputation for barbeque, so folks
really enjoyed that treat!)
That evening—we weren't done eating yet! Twenty-seven of us were
treated to dinner at an Italian restaurant in Carbondale, just a few miles away,
by the RV sales reps that had come in for the Open House. The Italian Village Restaurant
is a real gathering place where you don’t go away hungry! And, thousands of
customers over the years have provided their autographs and notable memories on
the walls of their main dining rooms. Cool! What a fun evening! Marvin and
Shirley, their 2 sons and wives, 3 grandkids and their families (including 4
great grandchildren), Randy and Jeri, Leroy and Lori, the sales reps, and Dick
and I ate our way through salads and at least 9 huge pizzas. YUM-YUM! And…Uff-da!!!
Saturday was day 2 of the Open House. Lots more folks came
to visit, to walk through the campers, eat, chat, and make purchases from the
store. (By the way, Kamper’s Supply is talking about expanding their store,
moving the exterior wall out another 15 feet, giving them at least a third
again more space.) They were b-u-s-y!
And, the Cummings made some purchases, as well: a hood light for my stove (the
original one burned out long ago and we can’t figure out how to replace the
bulb), a sewer hose adapter, RV wash brush, a range hood damper, bottles of RV
wash and wax, and an awning cleaner. Yup, we helped the local economy!
Randy prepared more butts for the barbeque sandwiches, and
prepared his special barbeque ribs for us workers. Can’t get enough of those
ribs!
Kamper’s Supply treated all us workers, and their families,
to dinner at Giant City Lodge in Mikanda, IL that evening. (Gosh—one might
think we went to Marvin and Shirley’s just to eat!) Served family style in the
Bald Knob Dining Room, we ate our fill of their specialty: golden brown fried
chicken, mashed potatoes with country milk gravy, scratch dumplin’s, home-style
green beans, buttered corn, creamy coleslaw, and homemade biscuits and apple
butter. Oh, and then there was strawberry shortcake, peach or
strawberry-berry-or cherry cobbler for dessert. YUMMY!!!
The Giant City Lodge was built by the Civilian Conservation
Corps (CCC) in the 1930s. Built to reflect the local atmosphere and décor, the
lodge was built on the highest point in Giant City Park. The foundation was
laid out in concrete; the walls of the lodge were constructed of locally
quarried sandstone. Illinois hardwoods provided much of the woodworking in the
lodge: oak logs, hewn on-site by the CCC, were used for the beams and pillars
in the interior of the lodge; wood doors at the entrances, as well as the main
and balcony floors and all lintels, were constructed of solid white oak; shingles
of the original roof were made of hand-split shingle oak. Circular stairs that
lead to the balcony on the upper level were constructed of pecan wood. A local
blacksmith did the ironwork found throughout the lodge. The lodge, dedicated on
August 30, 1936, was built at a cost of just $106,000 in federal funds.
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| The buffalo was 2,800 pounds. It had gone rogue so it needed to be put down. HUGE animal! |
All good things must come to an end, which happened on
Sunday morning. We did final packing and got on the road at about 9:15, saying
farewell to Marvin and Shirley in their front parking lot. We certainly look
forward to spending time with them again next year—either at Kamper’s Supply,
or in Rockport, Texas at Bay View RV Resort. We are so thankful for them and
our friendship. You’re never a stranger with them—just family.
The day was a good travel day: light traffic (it being
Sunday), pleasant temperatures and sunshine all the way to Hillsdale, IL where
we’ll spend just 2 nights before heading on north to Sorona, WI for 3 nights.
For most of the trip the roads were good, although there were some rough
places. We took Highway 51 north out of Carbondale, all the way to Interstate
74, which took us close to Sunset Lakes RV Resort, off Highway 88. We travelled
through quite a few small towns, which slowed us down. More on Sunset Lakes next
week, as we’ll include photos of the park.
That’s it for this week, folks. Hope you’ve enjoyed our
travels so far; and our culinary experiences as we ate our way through
Carterville, IL with Marvin and Shirley!
Love ‘n’ hugs,
RJ and Gail
P.S.: Here are photos of the Clivia I had given Shirley a couple of years ago, while in Texas; it was too large to fit in our 5th wheel. My, how it's grown, and it has bloomed! This is a photo of the Clivia taken a few weeks ago. Beautiful! Below it are photos of the Clivia as it is now (lost one bloom), and the Wisteria growing in abandon at Kamper's Supply. The fragrance wafted through the air the entire time we were there. Loved it!
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