Heading home stop in Coffeyville, KS

I had this done yesterday and some how it vanished into cyberspace. So let’s see if I can recreate the perfect blog of our trip to Coffeyville, Kansas. The trip was an early start and uneventful. Once we found the RIGHT county road and let the dust settle, we did get to Carol and Ric’s ranch. Man, it was hot and very humid here just inside the Kansas border.

The Shafer’s let us drop the rig on their RV pad. Level spot, power and water. Perfect!!! We start setting up and what the heck. One of the landing legs was limp. We found that somewhere we sheered a pin and one of the legs was not functioning. Ethan, the Shafer’s son, gave me a hand and we got a replacement bolt in place and gave it a shot. It sheered immediately. We needed a high strength bolt and Ethan ran into town to save the day.

Enough of our problems. Let me tell you about this sweet couple, Carol and Ric. They have this lovely horse ranch and a couple of dogs, Reba and Bandit. Lucy felt right at home with the pooches. These doggies are perfect hostesses. Carol is so dang sweet, kinda like that perfect cowgirl, spirited and gracious (you will see it in the pictures). Ric is a real cowboy and rides in the “Cutting” arena besides holding a “real” job. I had a chance to see what Cutting was on a TV show. The rider cuts a cow from a herd and needs to keep it separated for a specific time. Easy, right? No way. Those cows wanna get back to their herd and run and turn and try to fake out the rider and his horse to get around them. It doesn’t look easy, either. Wow, what a relationship the rider needs to have with his horse.

That afternoon they hosted a potluck for her local bariatric surgeon, Dr. JoeBob Kirk and plastic surgeon, Dr. James Koehler with her support group. Of course, there was more than enough wonderful food. Ric whipped up melt-in-your-mouth pulled pork and a brisket. Dr. JoeBob discussed his new bariatric clinic and his definition of a successful weight loss patient. It isn’t just weight lost, but health and quality of life. Right on Doc!

We met Dr. Kirk at the ASMBS conference and really appreciated the chance to get to know him better in a less formal setting.

He had his marketing gal, Teesa Shouse, there as well. Michelle was showing her our book of testimony. These two gals are soooo cute.

Dr. Koehler shared what the services his accredited facility offered and some of his before and afters in a power point presentation. He understands and specializes in weight loss patients. Nice guy and worth the time to call him for a consultation when the time is right.

Michelle and Lucy took over after a break and spoke about the new information from the conference. We talked about vitamin deficiencies and how we approach turning them around. We could tell some were skeptical but all seemed to be intent on learning. Hopefully, there was some worthwhile information for you all.

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While Michelle started more one on one, I opened the Protein Bar. We had available 15 or so products available to try. We got the usual reaction, with some liking one and others liking others. Universal opinion was, “Hey, I can do this stuff!” I really enjoy seeing folks find something they can enjoy. This is so important to our long term success.

As the evening wound down, Michelle and Carol wanted more time to chat and she talked us into staying another day. It wasn’t very hard either. Seriously, these folks are so warm and friendly. If you ever have the chance to meet them, it is well worth the effort to do so. While they talked (plotted) I got the new bolt in place, said a prayer and she held. So I am thinking, just like Michelle always says, “My guy can fix anything!” Hey Ethan, I really appreciate your help. Who says teen age boys are a pain? Most likely it came from the parents of teen age girls. Ric, you and Carol are teaching him right.

We slept in a bit and were greeted by the birth of Bandit’s eight puppies. Carol was back counting months on her fingers and said, “Oops.” Shoot, Ric and Carol didn’t know they were gonna be grandparents. Bandit gave birth early in the morning. She was happy to have Lucy and Reba lend a hand, as she sure didn’t know what to do with these squirmy little creatures. They are so cute, too. Reba is bossy and allotted us each so much viewing time. No one made any effort to touch, Reba decided when enough eyeball time was spent and gently lead us away from the little doghouse!

We got caught up a bit on some work and had a chance to see Ric working one of his horses. That man looks right in a saddle. By the way, they both had weight loss surgery and look wonderful and healthy. Keep it up guys, your grand-puppies are gonna need you around.

We said our good byes that night, because we have to mosey on to Nebraska tomorrow. I guess we will see ya there.

O yeah, I said earlier that I would show you the sassy side of our hostess. HEHEHE Didn't Think I do it did you Carol. A big Western hug to you and Ric. We really had a great time and thank you again for your hospitality.