Archive for the ‘Missiouri’ Category

Campground finally flooded!

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009
Head for higher ground

Head for higher ground

The lake has threatened for most of the month and finally this week it came up, flooding several sites and making a big muddy mess everywhere.  It stayed up like this several days before it receeded.  The good news is we get our site in the cheap seats off the lake so we were never threatened.  We met several RV’ers that were on the water and thought it was kind of nice that the lake came up to there doors cause they could fish from inside the rig!!
Getting to the docks was a new challenge as the water is 52 degrees

Getting to the docks was a new challenge as the water is 52 degrees

Yep, they planted the tree in the LAKE

Yep, they planted the tree in the LAKE

Weather, Weather and more Weather

Saturday, May 16th, 2009

Wednesday night we had another Tornado warning siren!  This time it was at 12:30 am and I was already in bed.  I wasn’t asleep and it seemed really windy so I got dressed, made Paul get dressed and we went to the bathrooms!  I am not sure how these people deal with this cause it is really disruptive – I will take Earthquakes anyday ove r the anticipation of a tornado!  We sat in the bathrooms for about 30 minutes – actually Paul didn’t.  He was out wandering around in the rain again. 

Thursday morning we wake up to blue skies and nice warm weather.  Friday was also a very nice day with clear skies and a little breeze then I go to bed about 11:30 and here comes the wind!  It rained so hard last night I thought we might float away!  Lots of wind but no sirens this time.  Plenty of Thunder and lightening.  If it wasn’t raining so hard it would be fun to sit out and watch the lightening.

Today is beautiful and a little cooler than the past 2 days but they are predicting more rain.  I am not sure it is very hard being the weather man here.  All they have to do is say it is going to rain and they will be right.

All this rain has caused the RV Park to have some flooding.  The lake is fed by small streams and a giant lake where the dam is.  They are letting water out at high rates inorder to make room so our little RV park is really low in relation to the lake so we get flooding.  There are sites that have had to be shut down because the water is up to the sewer connections. (No pictures still as I still am waiting for my camera)

I guess it is really spring here as I am finally getting to see a few roses blooming and a few other landscape plants blooming.  I planted some annuals and they are just sitting there, no bigger than when I bought them a month ago!  It just is not warm enough for long enough for them to take off.  I guess I should be thankful for the cool, wet weather because the humitity is nasty on the warm days!  We leave for California on May 31st!  I am getting excited!

RV Junk yard

Wednesday, May 13th, 2009

In Missiouri there is an RV junk yard.  It is located about two hours from Branson so we took the day to drive there and see if we could find some items for the RV.  This place is huge with acres and acres of dead RV’s!  We thought we might find some cabinets and table top to replace our booth but mostly you can only get metal parts that don’t melt in a fire.  Apparently when RV’s are wrecked they also burn and very quickly!  We didn’t find what we were looking for but of course we found something to buy! 

I don’t have any photos because I left my camera at the RV junk yard and am waiting for them to mail it to me!  I will post when I get my camera back.

We had dinner at Lambert’s Thrown Rolls Cafe.  We have been hearing about this place since we got to Branson so we had to go.  If you leave this place hungry you should not have gone there in the first place!!!  As soon as you sit down in your booth they start throwing rolls at you.  Then a guy comes around with a paint can full of molassas to put on your roll if butter & jelly are not enough!  Then here comes the guy with the stainless steel bowl full of deep fried Okra that they just put onto a brown paper towel that you get from the roll on your table.  This is just the appetizers.  Here come the drinks – 64oz of whatever you ordered (non-alcoholic) and they want you to order from the menu!  Lots of home, comfort style foods.  Paul got Chicken fried steak; I got pulled pork sandwich. 

So here comes the meals.  Paul’s was served in a 14inch fry pan and there was not much space open.  His steak was probably 10inches across with a scoop of mashed potatoes  and lots of gravy on top.  You get two sides like corn, green beans, coleslaw, potatoe salad, baked beans.  Then while you are trying to consume your meal here they come with more sides: fried potatoes, blackeyed peas, goulash and of course more rolls!

No lack of carbs in the Midwest and this place was all you could eat so you could order more chicken fried steak if you like!  No sharing of meals though.  It cost us $25 including tip.  What they needed to include in the meal was alka-seltzer or at least recliners.

No more friends

Monday, May 11th, 2009

Tony and Janet left while I was showering this am!!!  They are on their way to meet up with the Tennants in Lincoln where they will all continue there vacation into the Dakota’s and then westward bound until the arrive back in California later this month- Drive safe guys and THANK YOU for coming to Branson, we had so much fun.

Also, many have asked about Amy in Santa Barbara.  She is safe and sound!  The town of Isle Vista and the College are west of Highway 101 and basically in a swamp so I don’t usually worry about the fires other than the air quality.  Amy says she could see the flames and they were huge, as they are across the bay from downtown where the fire was causing so many evacuations. 

zaca_fire_flames

Amy didn’t take any photos so I had to find one to make the story more interesting.  Actually most of the photos I found on Google were quite frightening.  It amazes me how close to the downtown the fire reached and how many people were affected by this latest firestorm.  This is the third one in less than one year within 10 miles of Amy’s home!  I hope the weather stays cool until after we are there in June so we can enjoy our last long trip to Santa Barbara.  We will be there on June 11!

Happy Mother’s Day

Sunday, May 10th, 2009
My Mother's Day gift

My Mother's Day gift

Hope all my mom friends had a wonderful Mother’s Day.  Mine was pretty darn good considering both of my kids and 1500 miles away and my mom too!  I got to have long conversations with all and do some catching up.  Our friends, Janet & Tony are still here visiting so Paul & Tony made us a wonderful steak dinner and then we went to a show.

My other gift - can't wait to try it!

My other gift - can't wait to try it!

The show we saw was in the Oakridge Boy’s Theater featuring Colin Raye.  He put on a pretty good show with lots of his hits.

Colin Raye in Concert

Colin Raye in Concert

Branson gets an Airport

Saturday, May 9th, 2009

Good Bye Eddie and Peg, we are going to miss you!

Branson is getting a brand new airport to encourage more people to come here!  Today is the opening celebrations with an airshow including the US Airforce Thunderbirds so we decided we better go.  Being the good citizens we are we parked in the lots and rode the buses to the show- thought we were smart and saving on fuel, NOT!  Branson is not really prepared for crowds and traffic is not a priority.  The buses were in the same traffic as the cars, on a 2 lane road for 8 miles out to the new airport.  The airport has been built with private funding and is in the beautiful Ozarks about 8 miles from town with only one road in, and it is a country 2 lane road!  We got to ride a school bus for about 2 hours just to get to the airport, then we spent $18 each to get onto the grounds just to spend $10 on a burger and water and another $6 for an ice cream cone! 

Not the highlight of the day!

Not the highlight of the day!

The good news is the day got better and the school bus had great country music!  A school bus with music?  Only in Branson.
Tandem Parachuting

Tandem Parachuting

The airshow was pretty good and the skys cleared up in time for the big events!  The military planes were represented well; B2 Stealth Bomber, the Golden Knights, A-10 Warthog, F-18 fighter jets, propeller planes.  There were also lots of acrobatic planes complete with the girl that rides on top of a Biplane!
B-2 Stealth bomber

B-2 Stealth bomber

Military propeller planes

Military propeller planes

 

5 of 6 F16 Jets

5 of 6 F16 Jets

Weather Midwester Style

Friday, May 8th, 2009

We were woken up this morning by the sirens and buckets of rain along with lots of wind.  Many people in the park took shelter in the bathrooms which is the only building on the property that may withstand a tornado.  As you know RV’s and mobile homes are useless in a tornado.  Being from California none of us are smart enough to be scared so we hung out in the Tennants’ rig and watched the weather reports.  Paul was out in the rain with his umbrella!  There were no tornados reported in the area and all was safe by 9 am!

After we survived the tornado warning we went to the first of the two shows we were attending today.  We saw Shoji Tabuchi in the morning with front row seating.  He is an amazing violin player from Japan who loves country music!  This was an amazing show and our favorite so far here in Branson. 

Later in the evening we all attended the show SIX which Paul and I thought was a pretty good show before Shoji and had already seen it twice.  This time was a bit of a let down as our seats were pretty far back and it was hard to get the full effect. Oh well!

Home early and good bye to the Tennants who are leaving tomorrow am for Lincoln Nebraska for Peggy’s family reunion picnic.  We are going to be lonely when our friends are gone.

Lake Taneycomo

Thursday, May 7th, 2009

Today was an especially busy day; Tony got up and played 18 holes of golf; Janet & I went to see the Platter’s all before noon. 

platters2

The Platter’s put on a really good show.  There were only about 40 people in the theater and we got front row seats!  We got lots of attention and were personally sang to on more than one song.  The performance was complete with dancing in the aisles and of course the Locomotion!

The afternoon was beautiful and we decided to scrap our plans of driving around and instead spent the afternoon on the lake.  This was Paul & I first time out on a boat also as it has either been too cold or rainy.  Today was beautiful and we had a great day.

Soaking up some Sunshine

Soaking up some Sunshine

We brought some lunch and of course a few beverages.  Paul was our captain and Tony & Eddie were incharge of retrieving litter from the lake.

Captain Paul

Captain Paul

 

boating3

Whatcha got Tony?

Whatcha got Tony?

Another great day!

Kings & Tennants visit Branson

Wednesday, May 6th, 2009

This is so exciting, we have visitors again.  The Tennants & Kings arrived on Monday, May 4 around 6 pm after traveling over a week across the country just to see me!   We spent the evening catching up and enjoying some warm weather for once.

Tuesday we spent the day planning our week and a trip to Walmart to restock the liquor cabinets of all 3 of us!!! It also poured rain all day and so it made it hard to get out and enjoy Branson.

Wednesday we finally got out to a show, Yakov the Russian Comedian.  He was pretty funny and we got to share the Branson style of entertainment with our friends.  I think everyone was surprised by the large amount of time spent telling us how great America is!!!!

Wednesday dinner was with the other workampers for a Hawaiian Potluck.

My friends

My friends

Duke got to come to the party but was not impressed with his seat nor the decorations.

poutyduke

This is so much fun having friends here.  We spend most evening either just talking and laughing.  One night we played a game the we will call Quarters cause no one knows the name!  Eddie won and took home 4 extra dollars.

Another week at a glance

Sunday, May 3rd, 2009

Not much new happening this week; Duke was sick, it rained everyday, and we were tired from our Talladega adventure.  Today we made a trip to Walmart and replaced the printer we broke on our way to Talladega.  We took a pretty windy road and it fell off the shelf!  The road was beautiful but we were not prepared for it – we had stuff flying around in the RV, stuff that sat there all the way from California to Arizona and then to Branson. 

The weather here has been rainy all week and it seems like it is never going to stop!  I figure when we leave on June 1 to return to CA it will get beautiful and stay that way the rest of the summer.  It is definitely green here and if it would quit raining I bet everything would be blooming and beautiful.  For everyone that is not sure California (San Jose especially) has the best weather, believe me you can’t beat it.  There are a lot of great reasons to be here and the other places we have been but the weather is not it!