August 1, 2018 - Sister Talk; Getting Ready to Roll; Lunch at Silver Dollars Restaurant; Traveling US Highway 54 to Bowling Green, MO; Crossing Lakes & Rivers; Visiting Bowling Green.

August 1, 2018 - Sister Talk; Getting Ready to Roll; Lunch at Silver Dollars Restaurant; Traveling US Highway 54 to Bowling Green, MO; Crossing Lakes & Rivers; Visiting Bowling Green.

I woke up as I heard Dean get up and walk into the bathroom.  When I looked at the clock, I saw it was well past 5:00, and I popped right out of bed.  My sister Cindy sent me a text last night.  I told her I'd call her this morning if she would be up.  She said she would be up at 5, so I hurried around then sent a text so she would be ready to answer the phone.  Her husband works nights.  While the phone probably wouldn't wake him, I don't want to take the chance if it rings several times before she can get to it.

It was a few minutes before I heard from her.  I had plenty of time to get my first cup of coffee and get settled before she sent a text that I could call.  We visited for about 30 minutes, catching up on things back in Southeast Kansas.  I took a some time to check emails and Facebook for a few minutes before I got up and started preparing for our move today.

Bentley in our site at Treasure Lake.  Dean is getting things packed up as we get ready to leave this morning.

We pulled out of our site in Treasure Lake a few minutes after 9.  We have nicknamed our GPS Bobbie (in memory of my mom - her brother and sisters called her Bob, and all of the nieces and nephews called her Aunt Bobbie).  As we were leaving Bobbie tells us to continue on the road we are on until further directions.  The only problem is when we get to where the road ends - there are no directions.  When we turn right, then she tells us we are going the wrong direction.  We just chuckled!  I think Mama would have been chuckling right along with us!  I'm glad we knew where we were going at that point, since that's not always the case!  
When we attended the Escapade in Tucson over a year ago, I purchased a purple cushion to sit on to provide cushioning when sitting, riding, driving, etc. - similar to the purple mattresses they now sell - except it is much smaller, of course.  I lowered the front of my seat in the truck as far as I could, put the cushion in the seat and brought a pillow to put behind my back as we traveled today.  Other than a little soreness in my left shoulder I am doing great today - having no back pain - I'm extremely thankful for that.  Dr. Tim sends emails to his patients and a day or two ago I received some exercises for my neck and back.  I did some of them this morning before we left.  I was a little sore at first but they went away before we left.  

Leaving Treasure Lake we took 248 Hwy to 76 Hwy West, to 465 Hwy, which led us to US 65 that led us to I-44.  We followed I-44 East until we hit State Hwy 5, which we followed for a few miles until we intersected with Hwy 54 that took us all the way to our destination for this evening, Bowling Green, MO.  Wow, we loved this four lane highway.  It was great driving through Osage Beach and other Lake of the Ozark communities.  We really enjoyed the countryside in the eastern part of Missouri where we saw many fields of corn and soybeans.

Lake of the Ozarks

Osage River

I forgot to put my freezer packs in the freezer last night, so I didn't have anything to keep our sandwiches and water cool.  It was noon and we were getting hungry.  We stopped for lunch in Eldon, MO at the Silver Dollars Restaurant.  Dean ordered a patty melt with fries, and I had their taco salad.  I really liked my salad and Dean said his was okay.  Can you see a theme here with Dean?  We laugh about this, but he's always happier with what I order than what he does.  I'm not sure when he'll end up just letting me order for him!

Silver Dollars Restaurant, Eldon, MO

Frank, Dean even got to enjoy Gunsmoke while eating his lunch - until someone stopped to talk to the people behind us and ended up blocking the TV.  He wasn't real happy about that!  Lol!

Gunsmoke on the TV at  Silver Dollars Restaurant during our lunch.  This is what Dean has been watching during lunch for the past several weeks.  He was glad to see it.

We received two phone calls from the Illinois Toll-way today about $40 in charges to our credit card made to our account in Indiana recently.  I received emails about the charges so I called yesterday to inquire about it.  That's when I learned these occurred in Indiana.  I explained we had not been to Indiana for over a year,   Dean also informed the lady who called us the first time that we had not been in Indiana so she submitted the necessary paperwork to have it fixed.  The second phone call was to let us know it may take 6-8 weeks for it show up on our credit card, so we could be watching for it.  I put a note on my calendar as a reminder.

Here's a picture as we went over the Missouri River.

The Missouri State Capitol, Jefferson City, MO, in the background as we drove over the Missouri River.

We arrived at Cozy C RV Campground in Bowling Green, MO a little after 3pm.  We were soon set up.  We set outside trying to catch a little of the breeze coming from the northwest because it was just too hot to set inside.  After about 20-30 minutes we went inside and it had cooled down quite a bit but it was still a little warm.  We decided to drive to Bowling Green, a short distance away, to see if there was anything interesting to see or do.  Hopefully, it will be cooled down by the time we return.

Pike County Courthouse in Bowling Green, MO with a statute of Champ Clark.

 I was curious who Champ Clark was.  From Wikipedia:  James Beauchamp Clark (March 7, 1850 – March 2, 1921) was a prominent American politician in the Democratic Party from the 1890s until his death. He represented Missouri in the United States House of Representatives and served as Speaker of the House from 1911 to 1919.

Born in Kentucky, he established a law practice in Bowling Green, Missouri. He won election to the House in 1892, lost his seat in 1894, and won the seat back in 1896. He became the House Minority Leader in 1908 and was elevated to Speaker after Democrats took control of the House in the 1910 elections. He died in March 1921, shortly before the end of his final term.

Bowling Green, MO Water Tower

This old iron bridge was really neat looking. 

Bentley parked at Cozy C Campground, Bowling Green, MO

When we returned I warmed up some leftovers for our dinner.  Dean turned on the TV and I've been working on the blog and looking at some things to do tomorrow when we visit nearby Hannibal, MO.  We have some fun things planned for tomorrow, so check back to see what we did.