Archive for May, 2009

Good-Bye Branson, Hello Kansas

Sunday, May 31st, 2009

We were up early this am so that we could get on the road by noon.  We have been here in Branson for 3 months and there was some cleaning on the RV that needed taken care of before hitting the road.  There has been so much rain and wind that our awnings were a mess so Paul got on the ladder and washed them down.  We were ready to hit the road just after noon and it was time to say good-bye to our new friends.  We will miss everyone but we will be back soon and I am so looking forward to seeing everyone at home.  We will take 2 weeks to get to Santa Barbara and I am going to have to hold myself back from trying to rush the driving!

Our first stop on our trip home was to Burlington, Kansas to visit my friend, Annie’s mom!  She has a beautiful home on the river with plenty of space for our home.

burlingtonkansas

We arrived around 7 pm and had time to look around the property before dark.  It is really peaceful here and we could stay awhile and just settle into the little town.  Stephanie wasn’t so sure about the smallness of the town even though the neighbor had several beautiful horses as well as a baby!

Hiking

Friday, May 29th, 2009

hikestephanie2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is my view on most of our hikes!  And then they will stop, wait and make me go first until I stop again to take more photos! 

We took Stephanie on one of the hiking trails we have found here in Branson; it is only about 1.5 miles but the first 1/2 is downhill to a beautiful little creek and then you have to hike back up!

The weather here has finally gotten really nice (for 2 whole days!) which has been so nice.  The humidity is not bad yet either and so neither are the bugs! 

Duke likes having company too!

Duke likes having company too!

It is so nice to have someone smiling when I take pictures! 
Duke gets thirsty

Duke gets thirsty

Stephanie has made a few comments that MAYBE we are spoiling Duke beyond correction!  Well if that is the case we are 3 for 3 in child rearing – oh well, if you can’t spoil them then what is the use in having them!

Tonight we went to another show!  Duh, that is what you do in Branson.  We went to the Country Tonight show at the Oakridge Boys Theater and saw TG Sheppard.  Stephanie had no idea who he was; I recognized several songs from my parents.  He is old but was very entertaining.  He has a magic song!  The Folger’s jingle!  We all recognized it! 

                                          “The best part of waking up is Folger’s in your cup!”

Showing Stephanie Around Town

Thursday, May 28th, 2009

It is so nice having Stephanie here with us in our little home on wheels.  She sleeps on the couch and Paul has someone to stay up late with and I get someone to play games with me!  Today we took a driving tour around town showing her all the theaters and other sites of Branson.  We decided to splurge and go to the Dixieland Theater for their dinner show and stampede!  We had been hearing about it but knew that our horse girl would want to see it.  Dinner with your hands, horses kicking up lots of dirt and Dolly Parton, how could it not be fun!

Tribute to America

Tribute to America

The entertainment was spectacular and the food was just like all the meals here – really good and way too much.  We each were served a small chicken along with all the fixin’s so we took home a doggie bag with a whole chicken that we will make another dinner out of!
Where is dinner?

Where is dinner?

dixiemom
Stephanie and I posed for the camera outside the theater after dinner – the show was over before dark!  That is one of the things that I may miss about Branson, everything is over early so you can get home and have plenty of time for TV, reading, or even a campfire which we had tonight.  Tomorrow is more siteseeing….

On the way to the Airport

Thursday, May 28th, 2009

Stephanie left San Jose yesterday at 11 am and arrived in Springfield, MO at 9 pm central time.  Her flights went perfectly with no delays.  The first connection was in San Diego and she had 50 minutes to get from the American Eagle terminal to the American terminal which involved a bus ride- got to her gate just as they were loading! Perfect timing.  The next connection was actually easier in Dallas.  She had to change terminals again however Dallas has the people moving down and she had plenty of time.  

I can’t say things went as well on our end!  The little town of Springfield has a new airport but no one knows it yet!  I get directions from the Springfield airport website, American and leave them at home.  No problem, Paul has GPS!  Wrong.  We get to the airport at 9 pm, in the middle of nowhere, we can see the runway lights so everything is good!  Wrong.  Enter the airport, no cars, few lights, and then a construction sign that says “Airport, take Alliance to Division”  What the hell is Alliance and how will that get me to Division?  We circle the airport, no other information.  Paul decides maybe it is road names, enters Alliance into the GPS, and it finds something!  We drive 2 miles down the road to enter this airport and there is a big permanent sign for the New Airport right before a street called Alliance!  The odd thing is there was not a sign coming into the airport telling you that there was a new airport nor any signs that indicated that you needed to turn!  Love the midwest.

The good news is Stephanie had to wait for them to unload her carry on bag from the holding bay and we arrived just as she was coming thru the terminal.

Nice, fancy new terminal – maybe now that the old airport is closed they will move the construction sign to “Alliance” with an arrow pointing in the direction of the airport?

Stephanie is here and I am so happy.  She is sleeping on the couch right now!  She better get up soon or she will miss all the excitement here in Branson!

We will be in CA in 15 days!  Look out.

A Holiday?

Friday, May 22nd, 2009

We will be spending this Memorial Day weekend doing what we have most others only this time we were the first to arrive at the park.  We were early!

We spent today hanging out on our patio playing games and this evening was a walk around the park getting to know our new neighbors.  Tomorrow we will BBQ and probably again on Sunday.  Just another weekend of camping.

Happy Memorial Day,

See you all next month!

Eureka!

Thursday, May 21st, 2009

Eureka Springs is a quaint little village about an hour south of Branson in Arkansas.  We had not ventured into Arkansas other than when we came to Branson and when we went to Talladega so it was time.  It is still in the Ozark Mountains so there are lots of hills and trees.  The highway wasn’t really a highway but more of a country road thru several small towns, some kinda scary! 

Waiting for Lunch

Waiting for Lunch

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This little diner was at the crossroads of two highways in Blue Eye, MO, and I think part of the town was in Arkansas!

Lunch is ready!!

Lunch is ready!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paul always thinks it is fun to get photos of the locals!  We sat on the bench and ate our burger with tator tots!  Yep, tator tots are usually on the menu and yes they are just like the ones you buy and bake in the oven for the kiddies.

Eureka Springs is a very cute little town with lots of shops to spend your money in.  I was good as I have nowhere to put any goodies.  I did get Paul a new baseball cap but I am not sure he will wear it – he says it looks like a girl cap.  He has never be a fashion expert so I am not sure how he is getting his ideas – maybe cause it is pale green and soft!  It has a tractor on it – that should make it a guy hat?

Tiny streets

Tiny streets

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The town is on the side of another mountain and so the streets wind there way up and you have to walk up the streets if you want to see everything.

FOR SALE!

FOR SALE!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The streets are tiny and so are a lot of the little houses.  This one will probably become another little shop with more artsy stuff!

The Spring

The Spring

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The town is named after a natural spring and this is where the original spring came out of the mountain and flowed to the stream below.  Now they have it tunneled under the town in most places.  The rocks were really cool and you could see all the layers that had been washed away at one time.  We had to climb about 4-6 stories to see this so I hope you appreciate the photo.

eureka

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whenever we are out touristing I like to find that special photo that will be fun to share as well as remind me of where we were!  This has nothing to do with Springs but it was so much fun to just walk around this car and see all the fun stuff they had mounted.  It was a promo for one of the little shops and it certainly got our attention.  There were even giant PEZ dispensers on the drivers side!

And finally the best photo of the day!  Only in Arkansas!

NO Bozzos!

Always read the "FINE" print before entering!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Of course we went in!
 
 

Ouch!

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

wreck1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is one of the RV’s at the RV Junkyard.  We were looking for cabinets but as you can see, there really isn’t anything worth salvaging!

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.