June 26 - July 6 of Drive 2011

On Sunday, June 26, we began Part 3 of Drive 2011, heading from Houston TX to St. Paul MN.

Sunday, June 26 we drove from Houston to Ennis TX, to visit Dianne's niece Juli (12 photos). Juli's daughter Katie and her husband TJ had invited us all to their new mobile home for lunch. Daughters Heaven and JoJo were there, sister Amy and boyfriend Mathew came over, and TJ's sister was there too. At 2pm we left for Sulphur Springs (12 photos), heading for Martha's cousin Carolyn and Tom's. We arrived by 4:30, and visited until 7:30, when Cousin Steve (16 photos) arrived from Tonganoxie KS - on his motorbike! Carolyn prepared a delicious salmon Nicoise dinner, and we shared lots of family reminisces.


11:47am Dianne, Katie and PJ	1:40pm relaxing!	3:58pm -10 miles to go	7:30pm Steve!	7:40pm - ready for dinner

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Monday, June 27 (40 photos) we celebrated cousin Steve's 63rd birthday. For lunch we joined Carolyn's son Scott and his family at Muddy Jake's, his new sports bar.


8:12 am - STEVE!	Tom made breakfast	Steve, Scott, and Hunter Coleman	Muddy Jake's!	Carolyn took us antiquing

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Tuesday, June 28 After lunch, Carolyn drove us downtown Sulphur Springs (12 photos), where we went to the Echo Publishing Company (30 photos). This is where the Sulphur Springs News is produced, owned and operated by her family since the 1950's. Later we drove out to Lake Elberta (20 photos), to deliver her new chair. For dinner, we went to our favorite local Italian restaurant - San Remo's. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures!


11:27am Dianne enjoys the patio	1:57pm Lunch!	3:18pm Carolyn leads the way!	3:42pm Lake Elberta	5:28pm relaxing at the lake

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Wednesday, June 29 (12 photos) After a breakfast of pancakes by Tom, and a leisurely visit with Tom, Steve, and Carolyn, we drove to Fort Worth, TX to meet Martha's friend Ann and her husband Pat. They treated us to a delicious meal at Flip's Patio Grill. However, after lunch we decided not to go to the Museum of Science and History, as planned, because the traffic had been so heavy driving through Dallas and Ft. Worth. Instead, we headed on north to the hotel in Denton. Martha relaxed at the pool, and then we both


8:43am Tom cooks	10:53am Carolyn computes!	2:13pm Flip's Patio Grill	Ann and Pat	4:02pm pool-time!

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Thursday, June 30 we drove to Ponca City OK (30 photos). Our main focus today was to see the farm that George and Alice Leighty Getter homesteaded just northwest of Lamont OK. In March of 1897 George married Alice; in 1901 his father Henry died; from 1902-1940 his mother Kate and her daughter Faerie lived in Hutchinson (& also in Colorado Springs CO); in 1903 Alice died in Lamont, and she is buried in Reno County (see 7/1/11 photo links, below). Dianne decided to forgo the afternoon sun, and chose to remain at the Tonkawa casino; meanwhile, Steve and Martha had a triumphant afternoon, having located the George & Alice Getter farmstead (30 photos), where quite possibly some original buildings still remain. We returned to Tonkawa, picked up Dianne, and drove the rest of the way to Ponca City. Dianne and Marthat met Steve for dinner at Frazier's, adjacent to the Quality Inn.


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Friday, July 1 we drove north some 25 miles to Arkansas City, where we stopped at the Cherokee Strip Land Rush Museum (# photos). Then we continued our Getter Genealogy Odyssey - we drove by and photographed:
- Granddad Getter's Domestic Laundry at 212a 1st Street;
- the Masonic Temple
- the 1st Presbyterian Church, where Nola and George were members;
- 207 2nd Street - George and Nola's first house;
- 920 N. 3rd Street - where George and Nola Getter raised their family (and the house we grandkids remeber).
After stopping for lunch at McDonald's on the Kansas State Turnpike just south of Wichita, we visited the Yoder Meat Market (where the Tom Raup farm had their pork meat prepared), and discussed our afternoon journey. Cousin Julie (Mike's wife) had plotted our path, and we heartily thank her for the detailed instructions. We had these destinations, and these results:
- "Harmony" school, later called "Excelsior", in Darlow, where George Getter taught school in 1895 - unable to locate; however, we did find the Darlow community center, which had once been the city hall;
- two S. S. Leighty properties - did not locate;
- Fairview Cemetery (in Elmer) - found and photographed the gravestones of Alice Leighty Getter, her Leighty & Harper relatives, and Coover baby (child of David Coover, brother of Katherine Getter);
- Laurel Cemetery - found and photographed the gravestones of Henry (Harry) Kendig Getter, his wife Katherine, and their baby Paul;
- Henry Kendig Getter farm - found, at "3599" Arlington Road & Halstead in Haven. Unfortunately, we only got a few photos because Martha, in her effort to be "polite" and get permission (by knocking on the door), inadvertently set off the burglar alarm! We high-tailed it out of there. Henry died in 1901, and Kate sold the farm for $12,000 in 1906. She moved to Hutchinson with her daughter Faerie (age 20); Ralph and his wife also lived in Hutchinson - he was a successful real estate business owner. Their son David was a rural mail carrier for 27 years.
- David A. Coover's farm (Katherine's brother) - drove by, but didn't photograph; ran out of time.
- Rural School #34 on Arlington Road, where George and Ralph (children of Henry and Kate) would have gone to school; not located.
- Castleton - where Getters received their mail; did not have time to investigate.


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Following our Getter odyssey we began what should have been a short trip to the farm of Pam (Steve's cousin) and Clancy. However, a flat tire on Steve's motorcycle soon changed the time frame! We finally arrived around 7, and went to dinner in Newton. Here's a video of Steve on his bike just before the tire gave out - notice the trailer wobble.

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Saturday, July 2 (# photos) we went to a 9am auction in Halstead with Pam. We only stayed a short while, and then got "on the road" again. After breakfast at McDonald's in South Hutchinson, we drove west on Hwy. 50, then north on 281, and west on 19 to Larned. When we arrived at the Rodeway Inn around noon, we were exhausted. After warming up our macaroni & cheese for lunch, we called Tom around 2:30, and all agreed we would delay going to the farm until tomorrow at 10:30. Dianne did laundry while Martha worked on videos, photos, and websites (this!).


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Sunday, July 3 (# photos) we drove to St. Paul


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