Branson, Friends, and Saying Goodbye…

We had a great time in Branson! We ended up staying a couple of days longer than we had intended.

We drove around a few times to see all the fall colors here. They are fabulous!!

I had a couple of days of not feeling very good, so it is a good thing we stayed longer.

We didn’t do very much Tourist stuff, but we did take in a Marty Robbins Tribute show with John & Bridget and Mike & Leslie on Thursday. After we all split up after the show…them headed back to Treasure Lake RV Resort and us back to our campground. No photos…I forgot the camera….

We decided that we were going to go and check out a BBQ place that had been suggested to Bridget. We went to Danna’s BBQ & Burger’s. Mac & I both had the Rib Plate.  WOW…they were really good and gave you huge portions. We both took Ribs & fixings home for the next nights dinner. Sorry, no photos…forgot the camera.

Friday, we went over to visit with John & Bridget and Mike & Leslie since we would be leaving on Saturday morning. We have really enjoyed these 2 couples. They are great friends! We have also loved traveling off & on with John & Bridget for the last couple of months and will miss all of them terribly!

Mike & Leslie are going to making their way toward Utah to see family and John & Bridget are headed back to Mississippi to see family and await the arrival of their first granddaughter.

Saturday morning we were up and on the road by about 10am. The trip was pretty un-eventful. No problems with the “DLT”(damn little trailer) for a change…LOL. I sure will be glad when we get to Yuma and can try to sell the Golf Cart & Trailer.

The Fall foliage is just amazing this time of year and I couldn’t resist taking way too many photos….also photos of my obsession…Old Barns.

Table Rock Lake

Drive to Garnett…

and What’s with this???? A Cow on the roof…..

and this mounted on a pole in Nevada, MO….part Manure Spreader & part Plane…LOL

and an abandoned train car…

and then we saw…..

We made it to Garnett about 3pm and started to get set up at the Garnett Inn Suites & RV Park when Mac said that there was a power problem with the pull-thru site that we were in….so we hooked back up and moved across the road to a smaller back-in site….not as nice, but will work for us for the week we will be here.

After we got all settled in, we decided to run downtown and have dinner at the Los Mezcelaros Mexican Restaurant. We saw several people that we hadn’t seen in a while and stopped to catch up.

We have lots of doctor appointments this week and also need to take several things out of the RV and put into our storage shed. Hopefully during this week we will also be able to see several of our friends.

Stay tuned….the craziness is just starting…when we leave here we will be heading to Emporia to see Jenni & family, then on to Kingman to see Teri & family, and then on to Plains to see Dana & family, and then on to Amarillo to see Chris & Dusty before heading west to Yuma for the winter….whew…I’m already tired just thinking about it.But can’t wait to see the kids and all those grandkids that we have been missing!

(((HUGS)))

Friends for Dinner

Monday we were up and out for a grocery run. We went back to Harter House Grocery for a few supplies. We are cooking for John & Bridget and Mike & Leslie tonight.

On the way to the grocery we decided to take a side trip to check out the Escapees Park here in Hollister/Branson. Turkey Creek is a nice campground with mostly pretty level sites. They have about 6 pull-thru sites. 50amp sites are 17.00 per night or $100.00 per week. The pull-thrus are rented on a nightly basis rate only. Very nice lady that was working at the desk.

Didn’t have my camera so I didn’t get photos of the park. May try to go back for some photos….

John & Bridget and Mike & Leslie came over about 3:30. We had a light Happy Hour with cheese that we bought at Guggisburg Cheese Factory in Middlebury, IN and some Summer Sausage.

Mac was manning the grill to cook up some Bacon wrapped Chopped Sirloin and I was making some Baked Potatoes, Green Beans, and French Bread to go along with dinner.

The food must have been pretty good because we didn’t get a photo of anyone’s plate…LOL. Here are a few photos of the afternoon…

After dinner we played a round of 10 Penny and Leslie was the winner!!

We had a Carrot Cake Roll for dessert and visited for a little while and then our friends had to take off. John & Bridget were to get their new axle installed on Tuesday morning.

Today, Mac & I just hung out around the RV. I’ve been doing some laundry and Mac took a load over to the Laundry Mat here in the Park that needed bleached. Mac also ran the vacuum for me.

We have decided to stay on in Branson for one more night and not leave until Friday morning to go on to Garnett for a week. We have doctor appointments that we need to do, have the truck serviced & the Tow Haul checked….and try to fit in some visiting with our friends while we are there.

We also need to take some things out of the RV and put in storage…so it will be a very busy week in Garnett…

Update on our granddaughter, Ashley. Thing seem to be going pretty good. She is still in the hospital on bed rest but the doctors are still hoping to keep that little boy in his mommy’s tummy for 3 more weeks….so we will be praying that will happen.

Have a great day everyone!!

 

(((HUGS)))

Elkhart & Goshen, IN, Defeated COE, and trip to Branson

The last time I wrote we were sitting in Elkhart, IN waiting for repairs to be done on our RV. Chuck& Kathy were also in the area having some work done on theirs also.

a School Buggy delivering school children home after classes.

We met them for a few meals and lots of visiting. Looks like they will be getting their work done before us and be able to start their trip to Defeated COE a day or so ahead of us.

Mac & I made a trip to Guggisburg Cheese Factory.Ohh, the cheese is wonderful. We bought about 5 or 6 different kinds…yummy.

Afterwards we headed on to Shipshewana to the Flea Market again. We walked around and I bought some Dip mixes and Mac bought him a cup of Homemade Ice Cream.

We were getting hungry and decided to make a stop at the Blue Gate Restaurant for an early dinner. We love this place.

We got in for our appointment to Lippert to have our axles replaced….finally!! We had gotten everything all done and were packed up to leave the area as soon as they were finished. Mac also had worked on the DLT(Damn Little Trailer) and had it ready for travel.  We arrived at Lippert at 8:15am and they were finished by 10:30….WooHoo!! We went back to the campground and hooked up the DLT and off we went.

We were already a day behind our schedule. We left Goshen on Wednesday, Oct 5th for our first leg of the trip. The weather was great but the traffic was horrible around Indianapolis, IN and Louisville, KY. After a very long travel day we stopped in Cave City, KY at Singing Trees RV Park. It was a very tight fit but we were just ready to kick back and get some rest.

 

On Thursday we got started pretty early and had a pretty nice travel day. The scenery in TN is beautiful. The trees are changing and they colors are awesome.

Tobacco Hanging in Barn

Fields of Tobacco

We arrived at Defeated Creek COE about 11:30am, parked next to Chuck & Kathy, and got all set up for our 13 day stay! It is such a nice place to stay. Great views and very relaxing. We walked down to let Lisa know that we were there and all set up. Let the Campout begin!!

We had several meals together. No huge Buffets like last year. We were all actually not making large meals….lol.

Our friends that live in TN…

Tez

Lisa

Tony

and Rick

We only see them about once a year…Sure have missed them.

Dave arrived on Friday to join the Campout. We met Dave online in the RV-Dreams Chat Room and had not met him in person until now. Mac helped him get pulled in to his RV site and we had our hello hugs!

Later we all had dinner and Played some Chase the Ace. I think Lisa won one game and Chuck the other.

Sunday, Tony, Lisa, Rick, Chuck, Kathy, Mac & I went to Harpers for some great Catfish. No fish for me….I had some Shrimp, Kathy had a Seafood Platter & Lisa had Pork Chops. The food was really good. Forgot to take the camera…oops.

Monday Jenny & Don arrived and got all set up. We had made dinner so that they didn’t have to cook on their travel day. Mac had smoked Ribs, and we made several side dishes to go with them. Yummy…the food was wonderful!

Tuesday was a girls day out…Lisa, Kathy, & I took off to Nashville for a little shopping and lunch. Jenny didn’t feel like joining us.We stopped first at Bed, Bath, & Beyond…We had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory and it was very good! Their sandwiches are huge. After lunch we went to Trader Joe’s for some Granola Bars and a few other things. Next stop was for me to run in to JoAnn’s Fabric & Crafts and Bath & Body Works. We then started back toward Defeated. More Chase the Ace….can’t remember who won…LOL

Jenny knocked on our door about 1:30am to let us know that they were taking her husband, Don to the hospital by ambulance. We got dressed quickly and took off for the hospital to sit with her until they finally admitted Don. We got back to the RV about 4:15am and headed right back to bed. Wednesday we got up and checked in with Jenny to see how Don was doing. They were going to transfer him to Nashville for a Heart Cath. and possible Stints. We went to the hospital and sat with them until it was time for him to be transferred.

We sat outside after we got home and visited. Had dinner and played more cards…

Friday night Mac, Dave, & I went to Timber loft Restaurant for dinner. The guys had a BBQ Sampler platter and I had a Steak Sandwich. The food was good!!

Saturday, Mac & I ran to Nashville to pick up Don & Jenny at the hospital. He had had 2 stints put in and was feeling really good.

Sunday Rich & Mary arrived and we had planned a brunch of Eggs in a Bag.

oops…I don’t have a photo of Rich & Mary. I must have lost it somewhere…uh oh. We were sure glad that they came to stay for a few days. We don’t get to see them very often.

Don & Jenny

Kathy…

We all visited and then got back together later in the day for Chili. Walking Tacos…and then a couple of games of Chase the Ace. I finally won a game! Tony made another campfire and some of us sat outside until about midnight.

Monday, we started packing things up to prepare for us to leave TN on Wednesday. We got a lot of things done. Later we had dinner and sat outside by the campfire until late again….

Tuesday, we had made plans to go to Cookeville to the Mandarin Palace for Chinese food. Rich, Mary, Chuck, Kathy, Lisa, Toy, Rick, Dave, Mac, and I all enjoyed one of the best Chinese Buffets that we have had in a long time. After we got back to the campground we went over to Tony & Lisa’s RV to visit a little while and to tell them goodbye. Lisa had school on Wednesday morning so we wouldn’t see her.

We got a message Tuesday evening  that our granddaughter, Ashley was taken to the hospital and then flown to Wichita, KS. She started having contractions. She is only 29 weeks along and they were going to try to slow things down. They don’t want to bring that little boy into the world any sooner than they have to. 

Wednesday we were up and out of the park by 9:00. We were traveling with Chuck & Kathy on our way to Branson. We stopped in Walnut Ridge, AR for the night about 5:00 after about 330 miles. We didn’t even un-hook the truck. We had a light dinner and just relaxed.

Thursday we were off about 8:45am on the final leg to Branson. Pretty easy travel day and arrived in Branson at the Ozark Country Campground about 2:00. Chuck & Kathy were staying at the same park as our friends John, Bridget, Mike & Leslie. We got all set-up and headed over to John & Bridget’s RV. They had made dinner for us. We had Chili, Chili dogs, Corn Casserole, and a Pumpkin dessert. Very good. Thanks so much for the meal!! We sat and visited for a while and then Don & Susie and Lynn & Mickey came over to see all of us for awhile.

Today we had our good friends Nolan & Donna Sue come to visit with us. Donna’s daughter Carla and grandson Quentin came along. We were so happy to see them. We visited for a while and then headed over to John & Bridget’s park. John, Bridget, Mike, Leslie, Chuck, Kathy, Nolan, Donna, Carla, Quentin, Mac & I were all going to have an early dinner together.

Donna & Quentin

We had a great time and got a lot of visiting done! When we were all finished we told Nolan, Donna, Carla and little Quentin goodbye as they needed to head back to Springfield.

We headed over to Treasure Lake RV Resort where the rest of the gang were staying. We visited for a while and when it started getting cold we decided to head back to the RV. Chuck & Kathy are leaving in the morning so we told them goodbye and had several hugs. We have been traveling off and on with these 2 friends since July and are really going to miss them terribly! We have made tentative plans to see them this winter in AZ or CA.

Update on Ashley…they have taken her out of the Maternity & Delivery Floor to a regular room. Her contractions have slowed down so they are hoping that she can hold out for a while before having to have a C-Section. We want little Treyson to stay in his mommy’s tummy as long as possible.

That finally brings me up to date again….maybe I won’t wait so long to write again!!

Stay tuned….

(((HUGS)))