Friday, April 15, 2016 to Sunday, April 17, 2016 - Branson, MO

I apologize for the lateness of this post.  I thought I would get it done while we were at Natural Falls State Park, but it just didn't happen.  I will have two posts today to bring us up to date once we left Natural Falls.  We are currently in Branson until May 1st.  We are back at Treasure Lake Resort until Wednesday then we will move to the Branson KOA for a Heartland Rally.  I'll try to keep up better during these last couple of weeks.

Friday, April 15, 2016
After we got around this morning we drove down to the Branson Landing.  We are looking for some new camp chairs.  No luck finding anything there, so we walked down through all of the shops and thought we would back track along the waterfront walking trail next to Taneycomo Lake.  That worked great until we got closer to the fountains at the center of the Landing shops.  The wind was blowing the water right toward us and we got a bit of a shower.  Not too bad but it was a bit chilly out so we ended up running a bit to get out of the way.  We walked up the stairs to the shop area and back to the car.

We noticed there were a few shops that have closed on the Landing.  They have added some smaller shops on the north side of the parking lot and only 3 or 4 of them have been opened at this time. There is also the addition of a "balloon ride" at the north end of the Landing where you can take a basket to the top for $12.95 per person to see the sights of the area.  We thought it was a bit steep but several people were lined up to take their turn.  (April 24 - we saw a $3 discount for this ride in some of the travel info around town).

After a quick stop at Countrymart for a few groceries, we headed back to Bentley for some lunch and to hang out until after dinner.  About 6:15 or so we headed up to the Club House here at Treasure Lake to listen to music with Brian Pendergrass.  He sang for approximtely 2 hours and a number of couples in attendance danced the two-step and the waltz, and both men and women were line dancing.  It was fun watching them.

We have company coming in tonight and they should be here soon.  When we left the music event, we drove over to the Welcome Center to wait for Donnie and Janie Allison who will be staying at one of the cabins here at Treasure Lake.  We were able to get their cabin right across from where we parked Bentley.  They arrived just a short time after we pulled in.  We headed back to Bentley and after they unloaded they came over for some cherry crisp.  We visited for about an hour.  They were tired from their drive and headed back to their cabin.


Saturday, April 16, 2016

Donnie, Janie, Dean and I headed for breakfast about 7:15 or so.  We really like a little place just off of West 76 near Silver Dollar City called Billy Gail's.  Fortunately, we arrived early to find a spot to park. When we left, the waiting area was packed with people waiting for a table. The parking here is VERY limited, so we were glad we found a decent parking spot for our big old truck.

After breakfast we hit the Tanger Outlet Mall.  Janie had more success than me at finding something. Then we headed to the Branson Landing.  We walked the full length of the shopping, including through Bass Pro, then walked back to the car.  It gave me quite a few steps which has been a goal recently.  It was such a nice day, not too cold, not too warm.  For lunch we headed to Steak and Shake.  Dean and I really like this place, but even more when we got the lunch ticket and it was only $11 with ice tea to drink instead of just water.  We should eat here more often.

After lunch we came back to Donnie and Janie's cabin and visited for a few hours.  We decided we would try a new place for dinner tonight.  Branson's Center Stage Grille & Bar.  They have live country music here and it sounded like it might be fun.  It was a little overwhelming walking in and finding we had to walk through the music and bar area to get to the available seating in the back of the restaurant.  Our server came right away and took our drink and food order and that is where things begin to go south.  The tables next to us grew from 7 or 8 people to closer to 30+ and we were soon lost in the craziness of our waiter trying to keep up with them, while we fell to the bottom of the totem pole.

We were still happy in this picture!  HAHA  We did have a good time, despite the long wait!

This is the front of the restaurant where the music was.  It was very loud!

I think we all thought our meals were pretty good, once they finally arrived - almost 1.5 hours later.  Dean wasn't that happy with his, especially due to the amount of food he received.  We arrived around 6:15-6:30 and left after 8:00 p.m.  It was a bit ridiculous but it was what it was.  By then everyone was getting tired so back to Treasure Lake we headed.  Donnie soon discovered he had lost the key to their cabin somewhere and could not get into their room.  We called back to the Center Stage and sure enough they found them in the booth.  Probably all the squirming he was doing while waiting for well over an hour for our food to arrive.  We all drove back with him to pick up the keys.  By the time we returned we were all ready to turn in for the night.


Sunday, August 17, 2016

We had breakfast together at Cracker Barrel before Donnie & Janie left for home.  We enjoyed visiting for quite awhile through and after breakfast before heading back to Treasure Lake.  They soon had things packed and were ready to make the 5 hour drive back home where they were looking forward to spending the afternoon with their grandkids.

We hung around the RV the rest of the morning doing chores and I worked on getting the blog caught up from our trip to Florida.

April 14, 2016 - Branson, MO

April 14, 2016 - Branson, MO

What a slow morning it was.  Had our coffee, walked 2 miles then came back to eat breakfast before we got around.  By the time we were ready we had about 20 minutes to kill before we went to lunch. My Aunt Lil and Uncle Gary live about 45 minutes away in the Cedar Creek area near Bull Shoals Lake.  They were coming into town today to run some errands so we met them for lunch at Golden Corral.

It is across the street from the entrance to Treasure Lake Resort RV Park where we are staying so it wasn't too much of a drive - more of a drive from our RV site to the park entrance than anything!

I cannot believe I forgot to take a picture of them, or better yet to ask the waiter to take a picture of all of us together.  But Dean and I had a great time visiting with two very special people and we had a great meal as well.

Here's a picture I took of Dean as we were leaving to go have lunch.  I told him to turn around and smile.  Wasn't it nice he did that?  I don't think he expected me to get the picture in time!

Gary told Dean about Tool Town at the Branson Meadows Shopping Center so Dean wanted to check it out after lunch. While he didn't make a purchase he enjoyed looking around.  I stopped in to the Vanity Fair next door but I couldn't find anything either.  As we were leaving the Meadows, Dean noticed a leather store.  He is looking for a new case for his cell phone and he wanted to see what they might have.  While he looked there I walked next door to a craft store, hoping they might have a restroom before I started checking out the crafts.  I know more than made it to the first booth and Dean showed up.  I really didn't need anything so we left there and walked down to the Coleman Outlet Store.  While they had lots of stuff there wasn't anything that appealed to us enough to buy it. We were hoping they might have some outdoor chairs.  Our chairs are getting pretty worn and we've been on the lookout for some new ones but we are pretty picky about how they must sit, the height, how they are made, etc.  We may still be using these old chairs for a few more years searching for the "Perfect" chair.

We will be returning to Branson next weekend to spend a few days before a Heartland rally begins on Wednesday. We will return to Treasure Lake Resort for a few days and then we'll move to the Branson KOA RV Park.  We decided to go check out the location of the KOA so we would know what to expect.  It will be a big move for us ---- 4 or 5 miles from Treasure Lake.

We returned to Bentley and watched a little TV.  Since we had a large lunch, we decided to forego dinner and just have an ice cream.  About 7:30 we headed to Andy's and each of us got a yummy custard dessert.  I had a JAK-Hammer.  It had Heath bar and Oreo mixed into the custard, with a cylinder of hot fudge in the middle.  I ordered a small but when they brought it, it was in a large cup and looked more like a medium.  Dean thinks I actually got more ice cream than he did.  I let him finish it.  Even when I try to eat less they give me more.  Darn the luck!

I'm not sure what is in store for tomorrow.  Check back!

Wednesday, March 23-25, 2016 - Sikeston and Mountain View, MO and Oswego, KS

Wednesday, March 23-25, 2016 - Sikeston and Mountain View, MO, and Home.


We pulled out of Two Rivers Campground in Nashville, TN at 10:14 this morning.  We traveled through several states today, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois and Missouri and we only drove 238 miles.

Tennessee

Illinois

Missouri

I missed the Kentucky sign but have some pictures I took at Paducah, KY.

Paducah, KY Water Tower

 We've stopped in Paducah twice on our travels and we like this town.  It has some great restaurants, a great water front with wonderful murals and a nationally known quilt museum.  We haven't made it to the museum yet but we will someday.

Harley Davidson Store - looks like a steamship

The two pictures above are of the Paducah, KY Rest Area.  I'm not sure what this property was originally but it is a beautiful property.

Another great flag picture at a car dealership here in Paducah, KY.

We crossed the Tennessee, Ohio and Mississippi Rivers - large bodies of water.

Tennessee River

Ohio River

Mississippi River

Bridge over Mississippi

We drove through this town in Illinois, before we made a big turn back south into Missouri.

Vienna, IL Mural

As we were driving along, I noticed this truck.  It was interesting looking with a cap like cover on the back.

Not too far from our next stop I noticed this great looking old barn.

It was a pretty easy drive.  We arrived and set up at Hinton RV Park in Sikeston, MO about 3:00 p.m. The skies were getting pretty dark and they were calling for some pretty heavy rain, but no serious weather threats were forecast.

We did ask when checking in where we should go in case of bad weather and as in most places they told us the bathhouse.  Fortunately we did not have to visit it.  It did rain in the night and was still raining this morning.  It was also very windy when we arrived.

As far as an RV park goes, it's okay as an overnight stop, and it had full hook-ups.  While they had wi-fi, we could never connect, however, the Cable hookup was good.  We had a great Verizon signal here.  Our site was fairly level.  The sites were quite close but clean.

It was just down the road from Lambert's (Home of the Thrown Rolls) - yep, just like the one in Ozark that we all love so much!

And right next door were the Original Fried Pies and yes, we had to try them out.  They were pretty good and they were still pretty warm when we had them after dinner.  I couldn't eat but a few bites and saved mine for later.  When I ate it a couple of days later it had been in the refrigerator and it was much better!

The food at Lambert's was delicious and we left more than stuffed.  I talked to Misti a short time before we ate and she made a remark about their chicken fried steak.  Well, I could not get that off my mind and of course, I had to have it.  It was delicious, along with the fried okra, fried potatoes and those wonderful rolls and sweet tea.  Yummmy!

Once we waddled back to Bentley we settled in for the night and slept good with the rain beating a rhythm on the roof!


Thursday, March 24, 2016 - Mountain View, MO

We didn't leave until 10:54 this morning due to the rain.  We prefer not to put the slides in when it is raining so much.  We only traveled 145 miles today but boy did the weather change.  It's still been somewhat warm but it was COLD when we arrived in Mountain View about 2:00 p.m.  It was cloudy and windy.  We were glad to get everything set up and inside as soon as possible.

We might have been the only traveling RV in the park.  It was mostly empty except for a few workcampers.  The Ozark Mountain Springs RV Park hosts a Bluegrass Jamboree that seems to have grown and draws a number of bluegrass fans.  They invited us to return for the Jamboree.  Their first weekend was coming up the first weekend in April.

The park itself was fine, but it would have been very close quarters had the park been full.  There was no wi-fi at the site, however we could have gone to the office/laundromat area, but it was too cold and windy to walk over.  We had a pull-through, full hookup site that was pretty level.  We would return here and might even enjoy the bluegrass music.

We watched TV after I warmed up some soup for dinner.  We are tired after driving the past two days. While we do not mind the travel we prefer to have at least 2 days in between drives.


Friday, March 25, 2016 - HOME - Oswego, KS

We left Ozark Mountain Springs RV Park shortly before 9:00 this morning and headed home to Oswego.  We had a nice easy drive.  We saw this beautiful tree in a pasture soon after we left the RV Park.

It was a beautiful drive in the Ozarks this morning.

Not too far down the road near Willow Springs we noticed people standing by the road with a cross. I commented to Dean that someone must have had an accident there as it looked like they were trying to put it in the ground along the road.  About a mile later we saw another cross, only these people were holding it and waving as we drove by.  For the next several miles we saw more crosses being held up by 2-3 individuals and they were all waving to us and smiling.  I soon realized this was in celebration of Easter and our Savior Jesus Christ who died on the cross for our salvation.  It was very touching and really made me smile.  I was so happy to see all of these people giving of their time to show their love for Jesus.

We arrived home around 1:00.  Stay tuned for our next trip!

Wednesday, April 13, 2016 - Branson, MO

Wednesday, April 13, 2016 - Branson, MO

I woke up about 3:00 a.m.  After making a trip to the bathroom I laid in bed until about 4:15 and finally got up and made coffee.  I read my Bible while drinking my coffee and waiting for Dean to get up.  We want to be on the road as early as possible this morning.  We are headed to Branson, MO for a few days.  I had a hair appointment at 8:00 this morning, so I showered, and gathered up last minute things we needed to store in Bentley.  I was able to get everything put away before I left for Marla's - about 3 blocks away!

Dean was waiting to hookup when I pulled in the driveway so we got to it.  We were pulling out of the driveway at 9:21.

We always enjoy the drive into Branson coming down Hwy 65 from Springfield with the hills and valleys.

On our way into Treasure Lake Resort where we are staying there was this beautiful dogwood tree. They are everywhere down here right now.

We made good time to Branson and pulled into our site at 1:03 p.m.  It wasn't long until we were having a quick lunch.  After we had sometime to unwind a bit, we decided to take a drive around the resort just to refamiliarize ourselves with the layout.

Once we returned Dean watched a little TV and I took a short nap.  We decided to take a drive to the Table Rock Dam.  One of the SKP members we have met lives in that area and we decided to see if we could find her home.  We were not successful but we enjoyed the drive.  The lake seemed quite low to us.  We will be back in Branson next weekend, so we'll give her a call before hand and see if we can meet her for dinner on that trip.

We have plans each day while we are here, so check back in to see what we did.

Sunday, March 20, 2016 - Montgomery, AL

Sunday, March 20, 2016 - Montgomery, AL

Dean wanted to get around early this morning so we could empty our gray water and waste tanks before it got busy so we didn’t have to wait in line so we packed up early and didn’t walk.  He had packed up several things yesterday while I was playing games so it went pretty quick.  We didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to many people before we left as not many were out of their rigs when we pulled over to the sewer outlets.

We had a long drive ahead of us today – almost 5 hours of driving.  We left the rally area at 9:40 and arrived at Gunter Hill Corps of Engineers Campground near Montgomery, AL at 2:29 P.M.  We were both pretty tired by the time we pulled into the campground.  We stopped at the office to get our campsite location and found our site would be #126.  They gave us directions and we headed to our site for the night, but when we arrived there was a truck and two boats in the site they had assigned us.  We called the office to let them know.  They told us someone would be right there.  When they arrived they were very apologetic and said they would find them and have them move it.  We asked if we could just take another site as there were two empty ones right near the original one we were assigned.  After making a call to the park ranger, he checked with the office and found one of the empty sites was open, so we moved to site #124.  It was a bit muddy towards the back, but we are only here for one night and there is no rain in the forecast.  At this point, all we wanted to do was get parked, set up and to rest for a bit.

And soon, that is what we were doing.  Dean turned on the TV and soon we were watching local channels for the area.

We had to drive into town and get fuel, make a stop at Wal-mart for a few groceries and while we were there we stopped at Applebee’s and had some dinner.  Once we returned to Bentley and I put up the groceries we set down to watch TV.  However, both of us struggled to stay awake and finally gave it up and headed to bed sometime after 9.

Gunter Hill has two campgrounds.  We were in the older section.  It was fine for an overnight stay.  The park attendant encouraged us to return and stay in the new section.  Each of the sites have concrete pads, full hookups and they are on the water.  Our site was level, however it could be muddy if there was any significant rain.  We had water and electric.  There was little TV or Verizon signal at this location.  

Monday/Tuesday, March 21-22, 2106 Nashville, TN

Monday/Tuesday, March 21-22, 2016 Nashville, TN

We left Montgomery, AL at 5 minutes after 9:00 this morning.  We had a long drive ahead of us to Nashville, and we arrived at 3:03 p.m.

Here's our entrance to Tennessee.

We pulled into this rest stop and I had to get a picture of the redbud trees.  There were many of them along the roads just beginning to bloom.  I hope ours is still in bloom when we return home.

Here is a beautiful farm as we entered Franklin, TN just south of Nashville.

We passed the Grand Old Opry on our way to our campground which was just a mile or two down the road.  We stayed at Two Rivers Campground.  It was located right next door to Camping World.  I love the large flags Camping World has at each of their stores.

Here is a picture of Bentley as Dean is getting it set up for the evening.

We were pretty tired after a hard traveling day.

Two Rivers Campground is approximately 2 miles from the Grand Old Opry and the Opry Mills Mall, so this was a perfect location for us.  They had great wi-fi and cable.  We were able to get a good Verizon signal.  Spots were nice, even though they were close quarters.  Each site had a small picnic table on a small concrete pad.  We walked each morning in the campground.  They had a small pool onsite, a nice store inside and it was located next door to Camping World.  We had full hookups at this site and the site was level.


Tuesday, March 22, 2016 - GRAND OLD OPRY

We walked this morning, ate breakfast and then headed for a short drive to get our bearings of the area.  The Tennessee River runs behind the mall, Grand Old Opry, Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Two River Campground.  We took the road to the left as we exited the campground that took us along the River.

Here is a picture of the river along the road we drove.  You can see the high bluff on the opposite side.  The next picture reminds me of our park, looking up toward the bluff from the river side.

Does anyone else see the similarity of the bluff at Oswego Riverside Park and this one here along the Tennessee River in Nashville?

We passed the Gaylord Opryland Hotel.  Gizzy (from the RV-Dreams rally) told me to be sure and take the time to walk in and look around.  She said it is really something you must see.  We hope to do that later today before we go to the Opry.

Closeup of Grand Old Opry

Here is another shot of the flag at Camping World.  I love seeing our flag wave in the breeze.

We spent a couple of hours at Bass Pro and the Mall, mostly just walking around.  Dean found a shirt he wanted at Bass Pro.  We lunched at Panda Express in the mall.  It was very good.  We arrived back at Bentley around 2 or so.  We plan to have dinner at Dave & Buster's, also located in the Opry Mills mall.  It is located across the road from the Opry so it will be within walking distance to both from the adjacent mall parking.

After dinner at Dave & Buster's, we walked down to the Gaylord Opryland Hotel.  Gizzy was right, this place was gorgeous.  I could have spent more time walking around, but Dean was ready to go.

While standing in line the couple in front of us asked us if we knew what type of seating there was for the Opry.  We told them we really didn't know too much about it as we were from Kansas, and it was our first visit.  They told us they were from Denmark.  We enjoyed visiting with them while we waited for the doors to open.  They were here for about 3-4 weeks.  They had several places they were traveling to while here.

It was not long before the doors opened and we were soon inside and in our seats.

I was really excited when I first bought our tickets because Rascal Flatts was one of the main entertainers for the evening, but one of their members became sick and they had to cancel, however Darius Rucker stepped in.

Our entertainers for the night were Larry Gatlin  (my pictures of him did not turn out)

Pam Tillis

Craig Campbell - he sang his new song, "Outskirts of Heaven".  All of you hunters and fishermen will enjoy this song.

Del McCoury Band (Bluegrass)

At intermission I took this selfie.

Here is a shot of the auditorium.  It was pretty packed this evening.

Next up, was William Michael Morgan - he sang his new song "I Met A Girl".  It too was quite good. Unfortunately I did not get a decent picture of him.

Darrius Rucker stepped in for Rascal Flatts and did an outstanding job.

He introduced a young lady, Trista Macintosh (recently voted off American Idol - she was one of my favorites) during his song Wagon Wheel. He's a great entertainer and Trista held her own with Darius quite well, doing a fantastic job.  I was really glad to be here for this!

Charlie Daniels.  WOW!  Everyone was really good but Charlie can play the fiddle!.  Between him, and the banjo and piano players I have never seen fingers fly so quickly.  It was AMAZING!  Devil Went Down to Georgia was wonderful.

He also did another song that I had never heard called (What this world needs is) A Few More Rednecks.  Pretty good!  If you have not heard it, you should check it out on UTube!

All in all, we were so glad we chose to fit this in on our trip home.  It was worth every penny, and we were not done yet!

Afterwards we took the Backstage Tour.  Chandler led our group throughout the tour and he did a great job.

This first picture shows a metal strip, that marks the level the water reached within the Grand Old Opry during the flood of the Tennessee River several years ago.  There were numerous pictures on the walls throughout the waiting area for the members and guests.

This is the door that the stars use to enter the Grand Old Opry.

Outside door that Opry members and special guests use to enter the Grand Ole Opry.

Entry into the waiting rooms from where singers/musicians enter the GOO.

A selfie on the Grand Old Opry stage.

Look at the lights over the stage.  Wouldn't you hate to try and decide what needs to be where and when?

This is the post office for members of the Grand Old Opry.  If you want to send fan mail to the Grand Old Opry for any of their members it actually will be placed in these boxes for the members to pick up.

Names of all members of the Grand Old Opry are listed on this wall.  If you enlarge the picture you can read many of the names.

There are several waiting rooms that Opry members and guests use while waiting to perform.  I tried to get a picture of each one.

This was one of the room's used this evening for some of the singers.  You can see the used cups sitting on the counter in front of the mirror if you enlarge the picture.

A few more pictures, including one where Carrie Underwood has just been asked by Randy Travis if she would like to become a member of the Grand Old Opry.  She had just sang his song "I Told You So" and then he walked on the stage to ask her.  She had no idea he would be there or this would be happening.

Here is a large sign with metal plates.  I can't remember what they have to do to have their name added to this, but Pam Tillis received hers at the end of her while we were there.

Here our tour group is standing on stage.

The stage from the back of the first floor.

And here is the picture we had taken by the Opry staff.  We are standing in the circle, which is a piece of floor from the Ryman Theater where the Opry used to be held.  During the flood in Nashville, it was under water.  They came in an removed it right away to prevent it from being seriously damaged and then replaced it when the renovations were completed.  A piece of history for sure!

Leaving for the evening.

Had to get one last picture of the flag at the Opry.

What a great evening we had here in Nashville.  We will definitely come back here again.  I'm still hoping to see Vince Gill!  This was really great to see so many great musicians in a small venue at a very reasonable price.  Even Dean enjoyed it.  He's not to excited about concerts.  This is more like visiting one of the music shows in Branson, but with a lot more stars!