Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Back Home Again

We arrived back home on Monday April 13 in the early afternoon. Most everything went fine in our absence. Nothing froze and with the exception of a section of fence blown down, the flagpole bent and a few large branches fallen down, everything was as we left it.

On Wednesday we headed down to Twin Mills to make sure our site was ready for the summer. It only took a few hours to get everything there back in shape and we moved the Motorhome in for the season. With both of us free to come and go as we want I think we will be spending a lot more time at the campground this year. We have so many friends there and the atmosphere is so very relaxing.

Our time spent at home will be used to get over 30 years of "stuff" sorted and cleaned out. I see a very big garage sale and a huge donation to Goodwill in our near future. We are in no hurry since we have six months to get it all done. A very wise friend told us recently to always remember that "you are retired so take it easy". And that is just what we plan to do.

I do need to leave some time to plan next winters trip though. This coming winter we plan to go to the Rio Grande Valley, and of course we will keep everyone up to date as we continue to spend the kids inheritance.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Branson

Just when you thought it could get no worse, we drove from Tulsa to Branson. Again we had very high winds and the straight up and straight down mountain roads between Springfield and Branson compounded the stress and strain. Bottom line is we arrived safe in Branson and very happy to be off the road.

We stayed at America's Best Campground (ABC) in Branson and except for the lack of level sites it was a wise choice. Everything in Branson is either on the side of a hill or on fill between the hills and ABC is no exception. The automatic level system made it a snap to get level but our front wheels were almost off the ground.

Our days in Branson were filled with shopping, sightseeing, and shows. Tuesday was shopping in the morning, picking shows and tickets at the 2 for 1 center and an interesting show called Hank and Patsy Together Again. Wednesday was again some shopping with dinner at Applebees and the Branson Brothers show in the evening. Thursday it was two shows in one day with "Take it to the Limit", an Eagles tribute group in the afternoon, and The Circle B Chuckwagon Dinner and Show in the evening. Friday was to be a whole day at Silver Dollar City but they changed their schedule and did not open till Saturday. Fortunately we were able to flip our schedule and moved our Saturday to Friday and saw "50's At The Hop" in the afternoon and "# 1 Hits of the 60's" in the evening. Saturday we went to Silver Dollar City and the weather cooperated and gave us sunny and warm for the whole day.

Sunday of the next week brought another last minute change since the show we wanted to see changed their schedule and would not open till after we had gone. In place of that show we saw a variety program called Grand Jubilee. Monday evening was the Clay Cooper show. Tuesday evening was the "Top Ten Rock & Roll Revue", and Tuesday was the Bart Rockett and Taylor Reed show. A day trip to Eureka Springs in Arkansas rounded out our time in Branson.

The wonderful time we had in Branson was mostly due to the great hospitality of our good friends Roger & Barbara. Barb made some wonderful meals for us all and Roger managed all the driving all over. You guys are fantastic and we thank you very much for everything during our stay in your new hometown.