Missouri Adventures

We had stopped here in Springfield, MO at the KOA for the night yesterday so that we could try to find out why we are still having car battery problems when towing.  We were, once again, saddled with a dead car when we arrived at the campground.  Bless Mary's heart: she picked up some jumper cables for us when we discovered that we had left ours in the Cobalt when we traded for the Lincoln back in November!  The local Lincoln dealer here couldn’t find any problems this morning (Thursday, April 25), so we headed out around 11:50 a.m. and arrived at our original destination, Turkey Creek Escapee Park in Branson MO, at 1:00 p.m.  Nice short day!  We got settled in and then headed back up to Springfield for dinner at Steve & Mary’s.  Always good food at their house!!

On Friday, April 26, Steve took the day off and he & Mary came down to Branson.  We had a great time browsing around Dick’s 5&10, touring the fish hatchery and in the evening we headed over to the New Shanghai Theatre for the “Acrobats of China” show.  Pretty impressive acrobats!

Saturday, April 27: We took care of laundry & got the car washed in the morning and then drove up to Steve & Mary’s in the afternoon.  Went for a ride with them along some of Old Route 66 (this portion is now Missouri Hwy. 96), including an old-time Sinclair gas station named “Gary’s Gay Parita”. 

Had a pretty difficult time prying ourselves loose from this elderly gentleman (and his wife), but enjoyed visiting with them and seeing the antique cars etc. in a shed near the gas station.  Then it was back to the house for fajitas & cards.

On Sunday, April 28 we drove to Eureka Springs AR with Steve & Mary.  Beautiful little town!  We just wandered around, in and out of little shops and enjoyed a nice lunch outdoors. 

Don't know what I was doing with the camera, but the guys seem a little concerned about being in the picture...

Wonder if J. Emmett Harding (see photo above) had difficulty getting people to pose for photos without laughing!

Really neat old buildings here!

Time for something new and exciting!  On Monday, April 29, we drove a little way north and stopped at Branson Zipline Canopy Tours.  What fun! 

I somehow ended up being the first one to go and it was more than a little nerve-wracking to step off that edge, but what a blast!!  Didn't get pictures - I was way too busy hanging on!! 

Later we headed back to town and stopped at the Cedar Creek Dulcimer Store (and I got another native American flute…) and then had dinner at Panera Bread.  Fun day!

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday, April 30: time to take care of some odd jobs
around the "house", but enjoyed the “Legends in Concert” at Dick Clark’s American Bandstand Theater with Steve & Mary in the evening.  All of the impersonators (Jerry Lee Lewis, Diana Ross, Brooks & Dunn & Elvis) were pretty good, but I think we all enjoyed the Blues Brothers the most!

Mary came down for the day today, Wednesday May 1, and we had a wonderful 2 mile walk along the Table Rock Lakeshore Trail in the state park.  Sorry to bore you with more flowers, but I just can't resist: some of these were just gorgeous!

 

Steve came after work so we could all go to the Jim Stafford show.  Good show; funny performer!

We were planning to head for Iowa tomorrow so that we would have time to settle in before we head to Alaska to see my parents, but the weather does NOT look good there (Iowa, that is)!  And, guess what?  The forecast for here isn't that great either!  So we extended at Turkey Creek while waiting for snow to go away up north...

Thursday, May 2: Oh, boy - it's spitting snow out there!  In southern Missouri...  In May...

Soooo, we hung out indoors and got our airline tickets for our SE Alaska trip in August – woohoo!  We've waited a long time for this one!

End of the week (only we don't care anymore 'cause we're retired!!): Friday, May 3 and we finished up some reservation details for the FMCA rally and Escapade next month and got ready to travel again…