September 28 Discovering Independence

What a great day! Well except for the terse words Bill and I had about directions and the map first thing, but he saw the light!




Santa Fe Trail Monument

 I prepared a good breakfast of eggs, ham and cheese to make sure we’d last til lunch as we didn’t know when and where we’d exactly be. We are pretty much just a few blocks from the historic district of Independence here, so we decided to do all the sites in the area today. First we went to the National Park Service visitor center of the Harry Truman National Historic Site to get our tickets for a tour of Truman’s home here in Independence. There are only 8 people to a tour and after Labor Day the number of tours decreases so we managed to get tickets for 2:30. We also watched the tail end of a movie on Truman.  We walked to the main square to view the monuments to the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails that are by the courthouse.

Harry and Bill

Graved of Harry and Bess Truman

Then we visited the Truman Library and Museum. That was really interesting and once again, I learned a lot. I never really knew much about Truman and his Presidency. I gather public opinion changed drastically about him from the time he left office to later and now. His rise to the Presidency was not the norm either. He was the last President to not attend college but he was an avid reader of history, political books and biographies so by the time he finished high school he had read every one of those books in the Independence Public Library.

We lunched in the historic town at a German place and it was very good. I had a brat with sauerkraut and spatzle, while Bill opted for a burger of sorts that had the onions and spices ground in to it fresh in the kitchen. I also had a HUGE radler to drink and it was so refreshing.

Frank James' Grave after cremation

We had some time before our 2:30 tour so we took in a couple of the shops there near the square and then drove to the Hill Cemetery to see the grave of Frank James of Frank and Jesse James notoriety. Bill thought we were in the wrong place as the cemetery is on the back side of a huge park and was very small. It has a short stone wall and there were only 8 – 9 headstones. There was a joint stone for Frank and his wife so of course we had to take a picture.  Frank's instructions were to be cremated and saved until his wife's death and buried together so he would not fall victim to grave robbers.



On the front steps of the
Truman House

 When we arrived back at the Truman House the ranger was there and ready for our tour. There were only 8 of us in our group as you can’t step off the gray carpet and in some places that doesn’t give you much wiggle room. He was very informative about the house, its history and the history of Harry Truman. Harry didn’t marry Bess until he was 35 and they miscarried twice and then had Margaret when he was 40 and Margaret didn’t marry until she was 32 so he was over 70 before he had grandchildren, 4 grandsons. When they left DC, they came back to the same house they lived in before and went on as residents of Independence, MO. The only thing in the house that signifies that he was President is a place setting of the Presidential china in a built in the wall cabinet, lined with shelf paper held down with thumb tacks. That’s pretty humble. The house has not been changed since Bess’s death in 1982, when she had left it to the National Archive who then turned it over to the National Park Service. Their clothing and every bar of soap, dish, and piece of furniture is just as it was the day she died.

Just down the road from our RV park is the Frontier Trails Museum, so of course we had to make a stop there. There were artifacts and displays devoted to the history of the Santa Fe, Oregon and California Trails. Many quotes from the journals kept by the travelers were used as part of the displays. I told Bill I think I could have been a pioneer woman better than a Civil War woman tending to amputees and medical procedures. He agreed! The lady at the ticket desk told us that just across the street and behind the house there we could see the remnants of many swales (what we always called ruts) of where many of the wagons gathers and started their journeys. So we made that our last stop of the day. We parked it the lot by the house and walked back. It’s all covered in grass but you could see the indentations in the ground

After resting a bit I grilled steaks on the mini George Foreman (thank you Melissa), made baked potatoes and we each ate a leftover vegetable. Then I sat down and started downloading photos and writing my journal, in addition to catching up on emails. We watched the season openers of our TV shows and headed to bed.

September 27 Arrival in Independence, MO

Note the sweatshirt

Packing up to leave is not fun and it’s depressing on top of that. We’ve pretty much got it down to a science so it doesn’t take all that long unless there’s a low tire or something. We left the campground just after 9 so that wasn’t bad. First stop was the George Washington Carver National Monument in Diamond, MO. It’s in a bit from the main road but not difficult to get to. They have a nice movie on his life and a small display. You can take a ¾ mile trail to where they think his birthplace was. I had no idea he had discovered 300 by-products of peanuts and 100 from sweet potatoes. He never married and taught for 47 years at Tuskegee Institute. He actually wanted to be an artist but was persuaded to get into Botany since we was so interested in plants and art, he could combine them. He never sought a patent or wealth from any of his discoveries and lived in the same single room at Tuskegee and earned the same pay for all his years. He was a humble and giving man.

It warmed up

Next stop on our way north was Fort Scott in Kansas. The fort is a National Historic Site as part of the National Park Service and was built as a frontier fort due to the westward expansion. The life of the fort was 1842 to 1873. When the government no longer needed it, the building we auctioned off individually and it became a part of the town of Fort Scott. The officer residences became hotels and other buildings were bought for storage. Over time many of the buildings were burned down or fell from lack of care. In the 1950’s a reformation group was formed and the buildings were repaired or reconstructed. Not all of the buildings are there but most are. We watched the movie of the fort and then walked around to the various buildings and took our share of pictures. We couldn’t linger much at sites today since Molly and Xena were in the truck. It was not hot out so with the windows cracked they managed fine.

Last stop, Independence, MO at the Campus RV Park. Bill was kinda nervous about the campground due to the neighborhood we drove through and that it is literally right in town. It’s a very nice small park with only 30 spaces. Full hook ups, cable, WiFi and Bill said the bathhouse is very nice. It’s in a really good location for sightseeing, that’s why I picked it. The bad part is that they only have back in spaces, so that was going to be a challenge. The campground manager took us to the site and he directed me, and I was just about in and asked if he could just do it. He backed it right in after I had it close. I was just tired and my right eye was hurting. I didn’t much care for the interstate road we had to circle Kansas City on and the butthead drivers that won’t let you in after you signal forever. Of course we hit town at 5 so that was not good, but I managed to change lanes and get off at the right spot without incident. Although I did run over the curb twice at Fort Scott as the lane into the parking area was very narrow and curved, but it did no damage.

We set up the cactus and our signs tonight since we’re here for 4 nights. I grilled pork chops, made spaghetti squash with butter and Parmesan cheese and made instant mashed potatoes in honor of my good friend Karen. Bill walked Xena then did up the dishes so we’ll be good to go in the morning.

September 26 - Our last day in Branson

My first day wearing a jacket

At the Buffalo River

We woke to a pretty chilly morning, which pretty much stuck around all day. It looked like a day in Ohio that was going to drop snow at any moment. It was just so gray and gloomy all day. I made our regular Sunday breakfast then got ready to head south to AK. This was all good roads so I managed to sit up the whole way. Went to the Tyler Bend Visitors center of the Buffalo National River. The National Park Service owns the land along about 140 miles of the river and you can visit at a number of points. There are numerous hiking trails, canoeing and rafting, campgrounds, waterfalls, rock formations and wildlife habitats. You could easily spend a week here enjoying it all if the weather conditions were conducive. We’d seen a special on TV that peaked our interest in visiting. The water is low in much of the river this time of year so we knew we couldn’t do any river travel. We checked out one of the campgrounds for a possible trip back and we visited the cabin that was homesteaded in the 1930’s and still stand back in. This area of the country was the last government homestead land and some families from Kentucky took a week to get here. The Collier Homestead didn’t have electric or running water until the 1960’s. It’s a rough looking cabin but the family lived there until the park service bought the land back.

Our site in Branson, see Chief Wahoo
our sign and baby cactus

We had planned to clean the bugs off the front of the RV today but it was just too cold for me to climb up on the RV and do the top, but Bill did the front that he could reach. I did laundry, made phone calls and got some things readied up to leave tomorrow.

Ducks along Lake Taneycomo at
our campground

Got to Skype with Karen just before dinner. It will be nice to be in touch and see each other. Also saves on my phone minutes too.

We had steamed shrimp and brown rice for dinner. I was planning to make a salad but forgot and had to heat up a can of green beans instead. We watched the season opener of Desperate Housewives and then had our peach crisp dessert. I attempted to balance my check book, but it’s out of whack so will try again another time.

We really enjoyed our week in Branson, can’t believe it’s time to move on down the road. Never know, we might be back. There’s still plenty to see. Time for bed now.

September 25 Curses, Foiled Again!

Things did not start off well. Bill got up to walk Xena and saw that one of the truck tires was totally flat. Not good! He called AAA and they said it would be at least an hour to get some out. He went ahead and pumped it with our pump and it looked like it held but still could have a slow leak. While waiting I made oatmeal pancakes with diced fresh peaches on top for breakfast. Once he changed the tire to our spare we made some calls to find some place to check the tire and repair it or to put the spare on the real rim. 2 places said it was at least a 4 hours wait. Most of the tire places here are not open on Saturday which seems odd to us. I called a Walmart that said there was no line so we hurried up and all the way to the other side of Branson and then some to West Branson. When we arrived she said the wait was 2 hours and when we questioned her regarding our conversation we learned that there are 2 Walmarts on the same road and the other one is half as far and was the one I had called. Since we were there we went ahead. I took my time perusing the aisles and picking up the few items we needed anyway, called and chatted with Karen for a long time and still had another hour to wait. The good news is they found nothing wrong with the tire so it was put back on and didn’t charge us anything for it. The bad news is we don’t know why the tire went flat as they sensor was on it and takes a special tool to remove it so it doesn’t seem possible to have been tampered with. Bill is concerned that something is wrong with the sensor and he just mailed one in to be replaced yesterday.

By now it was well after noon as we drove back through Branson and our plans for the day were pretty much spoiled so Bill asked what I wanted to do. I said I’d like to go to the Mount Pleasant Winery but I needed to eat first. We stopped at The Uptown Café that was near the winery and both had a burger and fries. The burgers are like the ones at Steak and Shake. The fries were the skinny ones that are almost crispy. Yummy! I never get fries but the choice was fries or chips. Anyway I tasted 5 wines and left with 4 bottles in case we don’t cross another winery for a while. I finished a bottle of German white tonight so can try a new one tomorrow.

Back at the ranch I did wash and printed some photos for postcards while Bill washed the truck rims and of course we walked Xena. Then Bill did the dishes and I tried skyping with Karen. She could hear and see me and I could see her but couldn’t hear her so once David gets that remedied we will try again.

I didn’t take anything out for dinner and Bill had mentioned he’d like to go out for our regular Saturday night dinner. I chose Chilis. I checked some reviews on the local places and didn’t read anything that impressed me that I wanted to pay for. I was hungry for a big salad type meal and knew I could get one there. I tried the Asian Salad with grilled chicken, I think Karen told me it was good, but it was kinda swimming in an oily dressing and the lettuce was getting soggy so think next time I’ll go back to my Caribbean salad.

After a bit of TV back in the RV, I heated up bowls of the peach crisp I made yesterday. Had planned to have fresh whipped cream on it, but it appears the cream froze in the canister. It was still really good though!

Well we’re hoping for a better tomorrow so we can go back to AK to the Buffalo River.

September 24 Road Trip

With my hiking stick

Today was a real sightseeing day. We were headed to Arkansas to the Pea Ridge National Military Park. We weren’t 10 minutes on these up and down and curvy Ozark Mountain roads til I was feeling rather nauseous. I put the seat back, loosened the waist of my pants and tried to just close my eyes. Well, it wasn’t working. The road got curvier and I got sicker. I finally had to ask Bill to stop so I could lie in the back seat. By about the time we arrived at the park, I was feeling rather green but managed to get into the park and went and washed my face and felt better. They have a nice movie there about the battle and battle strategy at Pea Ridge, another Civil War battle. I got another 2 stamps in my book, one of the battle and one of the Trail of Tears.  The displays were also very good. One that I read all the way through was a listing of excerpts from diaries and journals of various soldiers on both sides. They described the cold weather (the battle was in March), the exhaustion, the feeling of watching friends die and even how the area smelled from the bodies and pile of amputated hands, arms and legs. I just can’t imagine. Once again the dead and wounded for both sides totaled over 2,000 after the 2 days of fighting at intervals. At one point the Confederates had taken control but then due to “human” error and poor judgment of the commanding officer, the Union gained control on the second day and kept it. So not good for the Confederates as this victory gave the Union control of Missouri, even though the battle was in Arkansas. We did get to see two does on our drive.

We did the driving tour and they have an excellent overlook of the entire battlefield. The park service has also restored the grounds to just like they were at the time of the battle, including fields and tree areas. When we got to the Elkhorn Tavern, which was where the overtaking took place, we stopped and had our picnic lunch in the truck, then completed the tour.

The first Wal-Mart

The Walton 5 and Dime

We were not far from Roger, AK, where the first “Wal-Mart” store was built, 4 miles from Bentonville, AK, home of Wal-Mart. The store is no longer a store as they built a Super Wal-Mart just down the road from it. It is now a claims center for Wal-Mart. I wanted to see how old Sam got it all started so we drove into downtown Bentonville to the old town square where the Walton’s 5 – 10 was. It was turned into a Wal-Mart Visitor Center but is currently being refurbished so the temporary one was just around the corner. Of course, I had to go and check it out. It has memorabilia such as items the store carried in the 40’s, lots of photos from then and the history of the town, information on the Walton family and a timeline of the growth and development of Wal-Mart. We left after purchasing some postcards, magnets and 2 mini Moon Pies, but they don’t have marshmallow in them, thank goodness.

We asked directions back to the road we wanted to go home on and the lady didn’t give very good ones, as we thought we were lost, well, not lost, but not exactly where she said we’d be. We stopped and asked and ended up only ½ mile from the road we wanted, which was good but not how we had planned to get there. Once again the road was really curvy and up and down so I immediately laid my seat back, loosened my pants waist, got my pillow and closed my eyes. Bill said I missed seeing Eureka Springs, AK and that it was a really neat town, but I have no problem passing on it. Once we got to the main road (a different way than we came) it was 4 lane and nice so I sat up and talked to Bill on the way. Still wasn’t feeling my best but way better than the drive down.

We didn’t get home til 5 so Xena was really ready for a walk. We had a notice on the door that we had mail so we stopped by and picked up the mail packet from Kam. She sent the missing kitchen knife that I wanted and several sets of debit/credit cards, and of course bills. Ugh! Can’t get away from them.

We had leftover venison, leftover potatoes and fresh glazed carrots for dinner. After dinner I baked a small peach crisp for tomorrow night as we are heading back to AR in the morning. Will be sure to take the better road this time. I paid the bills, and wrote a couple of cards to mail. Did a load of wash and I’m pooped!

September 23 More Branson Shows

Another early start at we had tickets to see the Roy Roger’s Junior show at 10:00 at the Mickey Gilley Theatre. I made scrambled eggs with cheese and ham with toast. Didn’t know what time we’d get out of the show for lunch so that would tide us over well.

Bill and Roy Jr

Bill and Dustin

We had to be at the theatre by 9 to pick up our tickets and pay for them as they would not take a credit card over the phone. We got there at 8:45 so we once again checked out the gift shop, looked at the memorabilia and sat in the lobby and read til the doors opened. It was very sad that there were not more than 50 people there. The show was excellent although Roy Jr. (Dusty) has a much deeper voice, he sings really well. We also got to hear Dustin Rogers, who is Roy’s grandson. He actually was a fire fighter in CA and then moved to Branson when his folks moved there to open the Roy Rogers Museum and do the show and is a fireman. Sadly, the museum didn’t do well and the family closed it and auctioned off Trigger, Bullet and the rest of the great items. We were lucky to visit it when it was in CA and got to meet Roy in his old age when he was riding Trigger 3, his electric scooter. Dustin looks more like Roy in size and facial structure and even sounds more like him, but needs more work on his singing. Dusty has the same squinty eyes. They talked a lot about Roy and Dale and their lives. They had 9 children between them. Roy’s first wife died after 10 years of marriage from an embolism after the birth of Roy Jr. They did a nice tribute to Roy and all the old singing cowboys, in addition to some patriotic songs and a bit of gospel. They came down and signed items and met the audience and let you take photos, etc. Bill was happy to have his photo taken with the next to generations of Rogers as I did get his photo with Roy when he met him.

When the show was over we went kinda next door to the other outlet mall, but a lot of it was empty. Only bought a utility knife and a bottle of bbq sauce. Still looking for a new purse!

We lunched at the Mickey Gilley Café. It was OK. Most of the menu was southern fried so I had the lunch special of chicken fried steak with white gravy and Bill had a fried chicken sandwich. I videoed some of the Main Drag on the way back to the RV where Xena was anxious to see us and go for a long walk. I did some wash and tidying up and Bill did some outside stuff, I don’t really know what he was doing out there. Since the internet is spotty and today the cable was snowy, I called the office to see if they could do anything so they send a guy out. He did get the cable running better but basically someone’s rig is blocking the signal to me. They have 4 signals and said where we are normally get a good strong signal. So it still comes and goes and it’s very frustrating when I try to download photo to the blog.

No dinner with the show tonight so we had leftover enchiladas, beans and a salad. Helped make some space in the fridge. Earlier I had made some guacamole with the last 3 of the avocados I brought from dad’s tree. They will be the last we get this year but the guacamole was really good with dinner.

Bill and the Boys

Backdrop at the show

We needed to be at the theater by 7:30 when the doors opened but left at 7 and it’s only 5 minutes from here. Tonight was The Oak Ridge Boys at the Oak Ridge Boys Theatre. Good thing we were early as the place was close to full and we’d have had to park a mile away. The theatre holds over 2500 and was pretty close to full. The show was awesome! It was great to sing along to all the old hits. The Oak Ridge Boys started in the late 30’s as the Clodhoppers and were asked to perform on Saturday nights in Oak Ridge, TN and became known at The Oak Ridge Boys. Over the years as members dropped out a new one would come in and the current Oak Ridge Boys have all been there since 1965, 66, 72 and 73. So they’ve been together the longest of any and that’s 37 years, longer than most marriages. These guys have to be late 50’s into 70’s. The crowd was very responsive to the new material as well as the old songs. I left humming Elvira over and over!

September 22 Show Time

Not sure what time we got up but we left at 8 so we could be sure to on time at the Dodge dealer for our 8:30 appointment to get our key made. Well, we were early, which was OK. Then we waited 45 minutes for them to tell us the got in the wrong key. We were told to come back around 1:30 as their parts delivery from Springfield would be here by then. No problem as we were heading north to Wilson Creek National Battlefield and didn’t know how long we would be.

Today's photos are taken with my phone

Wilson’s Creek was a Civil War battle a bit southwest of Springfield, MO. There were over 2,500 casualties and most were on Bloody Hill (the after war name) on a farm owned by the Ray family. They took shelter in their root cellar while the 6 hour battle took place. Then their home became a field hospital. Although the north had more soldiers, the south won. Yee Ha! There were a number of mistakes made, one being that both sides were not totally distinguishable by the color of their uniforms. Both sides had many in gray and navy uniforms, so that caused one big problem. Can you imagine a small farmhouse whose 80 acres cornfield was now strewn with dead and dying soldiers and no real medical supplies or help to begin taking care of them. At that time each side pretty much took care of their dead but many were decaying rapidly with maggots and flies on those hot August days. Eventually after the war a National Military Cemetery was established in Springfield, but it was done by the Union so they moved their dead first. Then the Confederates established another cemetery to the SOUTH of them and moved their dead. Later they were unified as one military cemetery. Don’t forget that in addition to the people dead that day there were many horses and animals too, so the stench had to horrible for quite some time. This battlefield was not secured by the park service for over 100 years after the battle so it had been scoured numerous times by “collectors”. Surprisingly though the park service continues to find relics of the war with archeology groups from the University of Missouri. We started our tour at the visitor center to view the movie there and the various displays. Then we drove the 5 miles loop tour of the battleground and saw the house of the Rays along the way. We did a ¾ mile hike loop to see the monument marking the general area of where Union General Nathanial Lyon died. He was the first general to die on either side during the Civil War. Along the way I spotted a long snake skin too. Down the road from the visitor center is a Civil War Museum that is also part of the park service and it was really nice. We could have stayed longer there as the displays were of other battles also. Due to short staffing they have to close up at lunch time and so we had to leave. This is a really nice park for Civil War buffs, but it’s way back in and you have to really want to go to get there. It’s not off the main road at all. It’s actually in Republic, MO.

We thought by the time we got back to Branson it would be about time for the key delivery so we went straight there. No luck, the key wasn’t back yet so we sat in the truck in the parking lot and ate our picnic lunch. Tried again, but still no key. I had wanted to go to the Petco I had found at the next exit up the road so we decided to go and get Xena’s unscented salmon oil. They had it so we accomplished one goal. It was also in the same plaza as Wal-Mart so I thought we might as well get our milk and few other items on the short list. You can’t store much in the little fridge so we stop for fresh items every few days. When we were in the line at Wal-Mart they called to say our key was in and if we wanted to come in it would only take about 30 minutes. So we headed back and true to his word, it was only about 30 minutes….and $213 later we have a replacement key to the truck.

I find I’m having more time to sit back and enjoy a glass (or 2) of wine each evening and am on my 3rd bottle since leaving home. I brought 4 with me and bought 3 more so far, so I’m good for a few more days. I want to go to the other winery in Branson before we leave. Tonight I would have to pass as we were having a buffet dinner at the theatre before seeing Ray Stevens. We didn’t have much time once we got back so walk the dog, put things away, shower and get to the theatre. We had to pick our tickets up there so we leave the RV about 6. There’s no really direct way to get there but the camp managers told up to go north, then west, then cut back south. You really have to be here to understand the layout. We had no traffic that way so we were earlier than expected, picked up the tickets and were able to get into the buffet sooner than scheduled. The buffet was OK. Not much of a salad bar and the meats were baked chicken, pot roast or lasagna, over cooked veggies except for the green beans. Mashed potatoes and 2 gravies, corn, plain white rolls. The pies were thawed frozen ones and the cobblers were frozen baked ones, so no, I was not impressed.

My new best friend



Bill and Larry



After dinner we checked out the bronze statue of Lawrence Welk and his personal golf cart and some of his memorabilia and the gift shop. Then the show…. The Ray Stevens show more than made up for the dinner. The place was almost full and he did 2 segments. The first half was patriotic and very political. He’s very anti-Obama and the audience seemed to be 100% behind him. He did some new songs and brought back some old ones that related to the current situation. The second segment was almost all the old favorites, The Streak, Mississippi Squirrel, Ahab the Arab, Gitarzan and the list goes on. Bill doesn’t like for me to sing along, but that’s half the pleasure of the concert for me. He is also pretty impressive on the piano. He hawked his CDs, etc but they all do that. I made my own of my favorites and keep them all on my computer.



We got home around 10:20 and wound down watching TV a bit, then reading and then it was really bedtime.

September 21 Our First Day in Branson

Happy Birthday Carole! Not sure if you are home or still in Laughlin, but wish you a great day and hope you won lots of money!

Bill coughed and coughed all night. Needless to say, neither of us slept very well. When I woke up at 8 he was on the little couch so I kinda just laid there and waited for him to wake up.

Once we were up, had some breakfast, showered and walked Xena, we headed to the Locksmith to see if we could get new keys for the RV and SUCCESS! At least now I have those keys back in my possession. Bill wanted to check out “The Strip”, which is the main drag kinda like Vegas that is solid traffic and has most of the hotels and performance venues along it. Branson is not easy to navigate. It’s build on the side of a mountain so the area to be built is leveled along side the mountain for one road and buildings on each side, then there’s another level done the same way. Not many connecting roads to change back and forth to the main ones. We spotted a Walmart, not the same one as yesterday, but stopped to get some cough medicine for Bill and honey for my tea. Then we went a little further up and stopped at the Tangier Outlet malls for a while. Didn’t go in many stores, but Bill got some stuff at Bath and Body Works, I got a top at Liz Claiborne and looked for a purse there and a few other places but no luck. I knew Bill was tired and shopped out already so we got back on the road and the traffic is just so bad he asked where he could turn. We headed in the direction of the Welk Theatre where we’re going to see Ray Stevens and there was a winery along the way. Being the nice husband that he is, Bills said we could stop. We were going to go on the tour but there was a 15 minute wait and the tour was going to be an hour and he didn’t feel like hanging out there that long, so I got in on a wine tasting instead and left with 3 bottles of wine and he got 2 of juices. Kerry and Karen, guess what you’ll be getting. We also got a pretty good price on cheese curds so we each picked our own flavors. Mine is dill and garlic!

Once we found the Welk Theatre we took a different route back thinking it might be less traffic when we drive there to the show. Well it was a very scenic ride across the Rock Table Lake Dam and then of the lake and several parks, but it was hilly and curvy and not really a very direct route. We agreed the tourist maps are not the best and not even close to scale.

After lunch Bill wanted to go to the Old City of Branson to the Dick’s Old Time 5 and 10. It’s pretty close to the park and luckily we found a space right away. The town is downhill so we walked up a block to the store and we loved it. Nostalgic and a little bit of everything. They even had garter replacements for girdles and I think they even made them any more. It really reminded me of the stores when I was a kid. From there we went up another block or 2 and looked in the shops, stopped in the fudge shop and got a dark chocolate turtle to share for our dessert, stopped in the ice cream shop for a scoop each and did the shops on the way back down.

We didn’t event think to take our cameras today so there are no photos. We have a week so we will take them on our future outings.

When we got back lucky little Xena got a bath. I had planned to buy some kind of plastic tub even if we only used it once, but then I remembered we have a shower sprayer on the outside and it has hot and cold water, so I put down a piece of plastic and Bill helped (for the first time in 12 years) to give Xena a bath. He always helps towel her but not the bath part. I was afraid she might make a run for it and we had taken off her harness. She did really well and tonight she is all fluffy and smelling good!

I’ve been trying to get the TV in the bed room working so tried all the cables I had then swapped them with the big TV, then tried the little TV in the living room and it works fine, so know it has to do with the cable. I noticed when we bathed Xena that the Class A beside us was not using their cable hook up and we have 2 long cables so we hooked it up and ran it into the bedroom window and TA DA, the TV came on. If the RV place can’t fix it for free then I’ll just buy a splitter and see about installing an outlet to hook to or run a cable in myself. I am so over trying to get that TV to work.

I washed up all the rags we’ve dirtied in a week and tomorrow will do some regular wash. It’s so nice not having to go to the laundry. Just like home, pop the clothes in the washer and fix dinner or read email or read. Well, that’s not always just like home. For dinner I made venison cube steaks, boiled new potatoes with butter and dill and a tossed salad. Later we shared our turtle and the dark chocolate was pretty darn good.

Bill did up his dishes and we watched the season openers of NCIS. Too bad we didn’t bring a VCR to tape what we’ll miss tomorrow night. Up til now it didn’t matter as most were reruns but we hate to get behind on our favorite shows.

Need to hem the sleeves on my new top!

September 20 On the way to Branson

Not a really spectacular day, mostly driving to Branson. We left Monroe City around 8:40 and arrived, checked in and were set up in Branson, MO by 3. We didn’t take any interstate highways today and it was all really good road. Mostly 4 lanes, just like an interstate but not much traffic. Of course there were no rest areas either so we’d just look for a building that looked empty with a circle drive to put into. For lunch we stopped at a Sonic and I parked next door while Bill went for our lunch. We just ate in the truck and that made our stop pretty quick.

Bill’s coming down with a cold so he starting to be pretty miserable. I didn’t bring any cold meds except for a sample bottle of Nyquil that he took last night. He’s just pretty congested.

Bill called our campground, Branson Lakeside RV Park. It has it’s good points and it’s bad points. It’s on the water with a marina, so if you have a boat, etc, it’s good. The spots are kinda crowded and there’s only one bathhouse for 179 spaces. It is very convenient to all the shows and really is in town. If you pay for 6 nights you get the 7th for free, so the price is pretty reasonable.

Once we checked in and set up, we made some calls about getting keys made for the truck and the RV and should be getting a new truck key on Wednesday. We found a locksmith who has RV keys but needs to see ours to know if she had the right one so will go there in the morning. We also made reservations for the Ray Stevens Dinner and Show. The RV office gave us discounts coupons for the Oak Ridge Boys for $15 each and they are only in town for 3 nights so we called they said to come ASAP to get good tickets. We went there and got our tickets for Thursday. Stopped as the Chamber Tourism Office for some maps and more “info”, then stopped at Walmart for a few groceries and finally at a gas station to fuel up.

Xena was ready for a walk when we got home and I put the groceries away and started dinner. Made fried potatoes with onions, hot links and salad for me and sliced tomato for Bill.

I tried and tried to get the darn TV in the bedroom to work to no avail. I haven’t given up yet. Watching some of the season openers.

September 19 Nothing Special

Today is barely worth writing about. The highlight was the storm that started about 2:45 AM and woke us. No wind, but the rain but it just poured. Lucky us, no leaks in the RV that we know of. Had our regular Sunday breakfast, bacon, toast, fruit and soft boiled eggs for Bill. The rain didn’t let up until after lunch so we took the opportunity to put away our “décor” and chairs and Bill took Xena for a short walk.

Mostly watched TV and read but Bill did vacuum the RV and I cleaned all the wood in the bedroom and bath and then Bill did the living room. Like a house, you still have to clean. We changed the sheets and all that the other day and I am now caught up on the laundry.

We had planned to go to the Mark Twain Birthplace which is about 15 miles from here but don’t really want to venture out into the ugly day. Still trying to get more organized in here and somewhat ready to pull out tomorrow. Made chicken enchiladas, refried beans and salad for dinner. Bill was happy once again to have one of his favorite meals. Even have enough for another night, that makes me happy.

A day of driving tomorrow, with no driver license, best be careful!

September 18 Mark Twain at his best

It was a good day and I think we are both feeling more back to normal. I’ve made arrangements to have a 90 day temporary driver license sent to me in Branson, and one set of new credit cards sent there also. Then when the rest of the cards get sent home, Kam can send them to where ever we will be. What a mess! Every day I think of something else that was in my purse. This could go on for a while.

Did he write on the fence?

We left around 9:30 on the 20 minutes drive into Hannibal. It’s a pretty small town and easily navigated. We stopped at the visitor center to pick up some info on what to see and where it all was and also to see if there was a Dodge dealer or RV place to have new keys made since my set was in my purse. The lady gave us some leads so we first went to check on the truck key but it wasn’t open on a Saturday, imagine that! So we drove back to the “historic district”, which is basically a few blocks dedicated to Mark Twain and his characters. There was plenty of parking so we got a good spot centrally located.


The Boyhood Home

 We started in the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum. With your ticket there you gain entry into the Becky Thatcher House, the Huck Finn House and the Museum Gallery. First we did the small museum that told the chronology of Samuel Clemens life and some history of his parents. There were many quotes and excerpts from his biography. He was one of 5 children and his sister and one brother basically lived into adulthood. It told of all of the many professions he held before he ever wrote a book, of his bankruptcy and how he then started touring to pay his creditors and earn a living. We were surprised at how many books he actually wrote as most only know of his Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn ones. From there the path lead us to the Huck Finn house, which was really his childhood friend, Tom Blankenship. Again there were quotes about Tom and his family.

Next on the path was Mark Twain’s boyhood home. His father was rather unsuccessful for many years and they moved a bit, but this house was where they lived when his father regained some financial security as a lawyer and judge. Becky lived across the street and Tom kinda behind him. The house was pretty nice, 3 rooms downstairs and 3 bedrooms upstairs. The family had slaves, several at one time but ended up having to sell them. Mark’s father died when he was 11 and his brother was shipped off to work in St Louis as a printer’s apprentice and sent money back to the family. His sister gave piano lessons and his mother took in borders. At age 12 Mark was apprenticed to a newspaper printer, learning to set type and all about the newspaper business. Quite an interesting story that just went on and on through his various occupations.

Tom and Becky out for a stroll

We exited out the front door of the house across the street from his father’s law office and Becky Thatcher’s House. It was closed for renovations but we did get to see inside the law office and an old druggist shop. Next door was a shop that had 16 dioramas depicting 16 scenes from Tom Sawyer. They were very impressive and so detailed. From there we walked a couple of blocks to the Gallery Museum. That was REALLY impressive. Back in the 1930’s Norman Rockwell was asked to do a series of sketches, that he made into paintings, to illustrate a printing of Tom Sawyer. The sketches and paintings were all given to the Museum and are so expressive. He visited Hannibal and went to all the places mentioned in the book to get a real feel for it and his drawings were much different that previous ones. The museum also had displays representing many of Mark Twain’s books AND we got to steer a riverboat and sound the whistle. That’s because Mark Twain was a riverboat captain for several years.

Bill at the lighthouse

We stopped at a recommended restaurant, The Abbey Rose, for lunch and it was excellent. I had a Quiche Florentine with a small salad and side of yummy orzo. Bill had a southwestern burger (that was huge) with a side of pasta salad. We passed on the pumpkin bread pudding! Refueled, it was time to make the 244 steps to the Mark Twain Lighthouse Monument at the end of the street. The view of the town and the Mississippi was awesome as it was nice and clear out. We drove out to the cave but realized it was an hour tour inside a 52º cave and we had not remembered to bring jackets so passed on it.

On the way back to the campground we stopped at a hardware store to see if we could get keys made of the RV keys, but no luck there.

We got home in time to take Xena for a nice walk and relax a bit before going to the campground’s Pig Roast. Well it really wasn’t a pig roast, but pulled pork and all the trimmings. It was a guest appreciation dinner and talent show. It was primarily for the seasonal residents who leave their RVs here all year long and spend most of the summer here, but we did enjoy the free dinner. Since we didn’t know the people, we didn’t stay for the talent show. It had rained a big one just as it was time to attend the dinner, so once we finished and it had stopped we thought it best to get back to the RV. We just watched some TV the rest of the evening.

September 17 Headed to Mark Twain Country

Only a short drive today to Monroe City, MO which is about 30 minutes from Hannibal, MO where all of the points of interest relating to Mark Twain are. We will spent the next 2 says exploring the caves, homes and other sundry places of interest.


Bill took this great picture as I was driving over the bridge to
leave IL

We left Cahokia around 9:30 and had no problems with traffic going through St Louis. It was nice to see the Arch one last time before heading north. We arrived in Monroe City at about 12:30 at the Mark Twain Landing RV Resort. This is a super nice campground. Lots of the spaces are taken by year around residents and others who rent the space all year and come on weekends or most of the summer. There are lakes on both sides of the campground. This place is much better manicured that the last. All spaces have level concrete slabs, power, water, cable, picnic table and sewer. Most have a grill and a fire ring. Many trees and we got a rather shady spot with no neighbors right beside us.

Bill and Xena take a break after setting up camp

Once we got set up, and oh, we had to back in for the first time this trip. A great guy that works here directed me and I got it in, it’s just going to take lots of practice and better communication between Bill and I. Anyway, we had lunch and set things up inside and I made some more calls regarding our break in and after a while we drove into “town” to pick up a bit of produce and to see if the hardware store could make any of the keys we need to replace due to the break in. Bill had no luck on the keys but I got what I needed at the small, but well stocked grocery. We drove through Monroe City, all 10 blocks of it and headed back. I stopped at the office to inquire about WIFI and they gave me a code to use.

We took Xena for a nice walk around the park and then we sat outside and checked out the neighboring RVs and sites for a while. I got some laundry going and made dinner. I George Foreman’d Hot Links for Bill and a salmon burger for me, made salad and baked potatoes. Simple dinner but Bill was excited that I found hot links in Missouri since I hadn’t found them at home for months and months. I did another load of laundry, Bill did the dishes and we both wrote some postcards. Then I got on the computer to catch up on some of my blog posting and photo downloading. It sure takes a lot of time, especially on a not so fast connection. Have the blog posted through the 15th so maybe tomorrow night I can totally catch up. I’m also labeling my pictures as I download so I don’t forget what they are.

I’m also trying to input phone numbers into my new Iphone as well as learn how to work it. Kam thinks I’m in over my head with that phone, and I very well might be. I was planning to get another plain little Nokia, very much like the last 5 phones I’ve had but Bill thought we might want more bells and whistles for traveling and I guess that’s a good idea. BUT he’s not the one trying to learn the phone.

My back is starting to ache and I better head to bed so I have the energy to do all the tourist walking tomorrow.

September 16 Jefferson National Expansion Memorial

This was a much better day. The guy was here about 8:15 to replace the truck window. He was done in 30 minutes and we left not long after 9. Neither of us slept real well and Bill was on the couch when I got up. He couldn’t sleep and got up to read and then fell asleep for a while. We had a quick breakfast today so we could get in as much sightseeing as possible since we leave tomorrow.




From the top of the Arch



Busch Stadium from
Gateway Arch

We had no problem getting right over the river to the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, better know as the Gateway Arch. We parked in a much better place today and there were many other tourists around. The Arch is set in the middle of a large park with benches and walkways from both ends. Also on the property is the old cathedral, but we didn’t have time to visit there. When we left his morning I realized that Bill’s National Park Golden Age Passport was also stolen, we we’d need to replace it for the discounts for this trip and unless we lose it, for all future trips. There’s a huge underground to the Arch with theatres, displays, shops and the loading and unloading of the trams that take you to the top of the arch. They also had airport type security but these guys actually looked like they knew what they were doing and cared! We passed through and stopped at the gift shop to get Bill’s new card. We were pleasantly surprised it was only$10 as we paid $50 for the old one. So then we used it to get our discount tickets for the tram up the arch and the Lewis and Clark Expedition movie. We had not charged the video camera with all that went on yesterday so we had a small wait so we plugged in the camera and took turns guarding it.



Bill and his favorite wild animal

 The movie was first and it was awesome, as all National Geographic movies are. Excellent use of scenery, quotes and historical record. We then went right across the under ground to get in line for our appointed time to take the tram. It wasn’t exactly on time but nothing like waiting in a Disney line. The small tram cars, and I do mean small, hold 5 regular sized people. I mean anyone over 6 ft would be stooped all the way up and down and the seats are very close and small so anyone too overweight would impinge on their neighbor for sure. The door to get in is only 4 ft tall. The ride up is 5 minutes and down a fast 3. Once at the top there are I think 8 viewing windows on each side, east and west. The width of the arch at the top inside is no more than 6 feet wide so with trams coming up from both sides it gets tight in there. Luckily for us it was a very clear day and the city side was beautiful. We could see right into Busch Stadium and Bill commented that was as close as he’d get, and I felt so bad. He’s not much on heights so didn’t want to spend any major time up there. You could see the city buildings and the Old Capital Building is directly west of the arch and perfectly centered. Both rides we were with the same 3 Russians who didn’t use deodorant. Once at the bottom we visited the displays on the expedition and other info on the westward expansion. We could have spent more time but it was after 1 and I needed to make a few more calls regarding the theft. We had no reception underground so sat up by the north leg and made the calls.

Next stop was the U. S. Grant National Monument. It was a ways west of the downtown. It was his wife’s family’s home, White Haven. Funny thing is, it’s painted 2 tone green. Dark green trim and a rather limey color, called Paris green in the 1860’s. We watched another movie there telling Grant’s story of failure as a merchant and a farmer and glory as a soldier but not much about any accomplishments as President. He died at 63 of throat cancer, living just long enough to write his memoirs as a means of support for his family after his death. He had five children. I now know a lot more about Grant than I did, so it was a learning experience. We went on a ranger led tour of the house and it’s history and changes. It was once part of an 800 acre farm, and now sits on 10 acres with the house mostly original as are the out buildings. We did enjoy seeing it and hearing about the family.

By now we were both hungry and it was 3 so on the way to the Interstate we spotted a White Castle and stopped for a few. They’re like Krystal burgers. We each had 3 and Bill had fries and we shared a large coke. Enough to last til dinner.

We had planned to visit Daniel Boone’s home but needed to get back to the pets and do some “work” on the RV. Bill de-bugged the front, drained all the tanks and I put a patch on a place on the roof and de-bugged the top from there. Then Bill took the truck to fuel up and I did a load of wash. We forgot to get lettuce last night so had a mozzarella salad with celery and roma tomatoes with some of my dried basil to season. I made some mezzaluna pesto pasta with a spinach marinara sauce and we were happy. No Hubig again tonight as Bill had bought some oatmeal cookies at the Arch and we each had one and a couple of Scotch Treat I had forgotten were in the fridge.

Bill watched some TV and I tried again to use the internet with my aircard and was not getting much of a signal so gave up. I downloaded all my photos and labeled them and printed some to send as postcards, did my journal and it’s time to end another day.

September 15 Disaster Strikes

And I thought yesterday was bad, not even close.

Lewis & Clark State Memorial

Oldest guard still on duty

The day started off OK. I made bacon, fruit and pancakes for breakfast and then we went to an RV place and got the patch kit for the roof. Then we decided to take in the tourist places from furtherest out to in. We really enjoyed the Lewis & Clark State Memorial just north of St Louis in Hartford, IL. They have a nice movie and an awesome exhibit inside of a keel boat loaded for the trip. Then outside is a replica of the camp they built in the area called Camp Dubois River. It’s where Clark stayed for the winter with the men selected to make the “Discovery” until final preparations were done and the Corps had permission from the Spanish Governor who still had jurisdiction over the Louisiana Territory until the French completed the deal with the US. I was able to get a National stamp as it was part of the National Trail.

Confluence Tower
We went to the top platform

From there we drove down a small road to the memorial stone and could see a little of confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. We got a much better view a mile up the road at the newly completed Confluence Tower at 150 feet up. It just opened in May and the elevators stop 3 times, 50 ft, 100 ft and 150. You get a great view of the rivers meeting and also of the levee and the huge flood plain. They guide gives you lots of into about flooding in the area and how the rivers are maintained. We could also see a huge oil refinery and learned that soon they would be refinery low grade crude coming from Canada via a just complete pipeline.

Bridge has a 22 degree curve and is a
mile across

There’s a bridge called the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge that was the only way to cross the Mississippi. It was in use from 1935 to 1965. The bridge was the Route 66 route through St Louis. You can see down river to St Louis and see the Arch. Well, we really enjoyed walking out a way, (it’s a mile across) and taking some photos. Then we headed back to the truck. As we got to the edge of the bridge we could see a white car pull in behind our truck and thought it was another tourist going to the bridge. Well a black kid went to the truck and was looking in and Bill started hollering at him to get away. We both then realized what was happening and started running and we were at least 50 yards from the car. It was along a pretty busy street and went we parked there was a semi in front of us and we had only been gone 15 – 20 minutes. Well, the little SOB broke out the back passenger window and crawled in and took my purse. Luckily Bill’s bag was left on the back seat with his phone and wallet, but he got everything of mine but a bundle of restaurant gift cards that fell out. OK, I was a basket case. So much was going through my mind of what I needed to do and what all had been taken. It was only about $50 in cash but all of my personal credit cards and my company credit cards and a card of Kerry’s and mine, my license (with the best photo I’ve ever had taken), insurance cards, my day planner with all of my phone numbers, dates, medical history, our other set of truck and RV keys, and the list goes on. I first called 911 and told them where we were and what happened and they were super. Two cars came, one unmarked and one marked. We gave the best description we could. Then I got on the phone to Kerry to call my main bank and cancel all those cards and then I called the others. Kerry called Discover for me and found it had been used for gas but so far that’s the only one. I hope the little SOB got cut up getting in and out so fast as Bill cut his hand trying to clear away the glass and he was being careful.

I’m really angry at myself because I has considered not taking my purse today, just my fanny pack since we’d be walking and taking photos. I just didn’t want to take the time as we were leaving to make the switch, then I would only have lost my wallet. Oh well, it’s a lesson learned. We called the insurance and have arrangements for a glass company to come out in the morning to replace the glass in our “ghetto” truck. We currently have plastic taped over it! We had tickets to see the Cardinals tonight but couldn’t go park in the city with a plastic window or we’d likely come back to no truck. Bill was rather disappointed at that. He wanted to see the stadium. Once we got most things in some kind of order we went to AT&T and I got a new phone. It was after 7 and Bill and not eaten since lunch and I had a small peanut butter sandwich, so we stopped at a Quoda, it’s like Chipolte, and had dinner. I didn’t think I was hungry or could eat but once we sat down I realized I needed some reviving. The couple of glasses of Bailey’s at the RV did not do the trick! We came home and took Xena for a long walk and Bill watched some TV while I checked our accounts on line and did my daily expense log and of course, wrote my journal. Bill said at least it can’t get much worse than today, so that means we should have a great trip from here on out! It’s raining out now and I’m really winding down so maybe I can get a good night’s sleep.

September 14 Arrival in Missouri, well Illinois

The day started off great and at the end went downhill fast. We didn’t leave as early as we would have liked, it was about 8:40. Bill had to air up 2 of the truck tires. The drive was longer than yesterday. We seemed to stop more than we planned, twice for fuel, once for lunch, once to check a tire and one to just use the bathroom.

They travel better than the kids ever did!

At first the landscape was totally flat with acres and acres of mostly cotton, but a lot of wheat also. The it changed to rolling hills with small towns dotted along. Still a lot of farmland and we saw harvesting of the cotton and wheat. I wanted to stop and get a picture of me picking cotton but it’s not so easy to do in the RV.

We still made it to Caholia, IL, which is just across the Mississippi from St Louis at 4:00. Traffic picked up as we approached St. Louis and drivers were ignoring my signal to change lanes, then Bill blocked the side mirror as I was trying to change lanes and I had to swerve back and we had “words”, then the Garmin said to make a right into the RV park, then changed it’s mind to a left and I couldn’t get over and once I did I almost overshot the entrance and then had my rear stuck out in traffic and ticked off everyone behind me til I got across. THEN, once we got checked into the park Bill spotted a tear on the edge of our roof, which we have no idea how it happened, AND there’s no cable here so we decided to try the Direct TV for 3 nights and of course, we could not get a signal. Asked a neighbor and he came over and tried and after over an hour we gave up, AND the park has on it’s website that it has WIFI but they no longer do. And yes, now I’m in a mood! And it’s not a good one.

At 7 I finally heated up the meatloaf, steamed the broccoli and micro’d an acorn squash for dinner. There wasn’t a lot of conversation going on. We took Xena for a walk around the park and it is really nice out. It’s a pretty large park and quite a few of basically full time tenants. They have lots of “stuff” accumulated around their campers and have a junky look going. The campground is the Cahokia RV Parque and I think it’s overpriced for just having water, electric and sewer, but it is super convenient to get into St Louis and that is kinda important.

After our walk we tried to sit out but the mosquitoes were trying to carry us off. Next time we’ll have to put out several of the bug candles for a while before we attempt sitting out. We went over our list of places to visit while we’re here and after we make a stop at an RV place tomorrow to get a patch for the roof, we’ll try to systematically make some of our stops. Tomorrow night we have tickets to see the Cardinals play so will come home and feed the pets before going to the game. We just had our Hubig pies, which has improved my mood drastically.

September 13 - Along the road in Mississippi

Bill was up about 6:30 and I followed at 7. Just a quick breakfast today since we were getting on the road. We were packed up and on the road at 8:17, so that was not bad at all. Traffic was heavy as expected getting out of NO since we were going west through some of the downtown before taking the I-55 north. That is a horrible interstate. No better then I-40, as we bounced all over the place. At lunch time things were all over the place again and we got one of our walking sticks stuck in the slide when I opened it. Just waited to close it and pull it back out. I also don’t understand if we can put a man on the moon, why can’t they make a fridge for RV’s that keeps things cold! I think something is wrong with ours as you have to manually change it from auto to LP and it’s supposed to do it on its own. So again nothing was cold in it. I’m going to have to pitch some things that just don’t tolerate a 50 degree fridge.

We did not see a single open rest area on our side of the road the entire day. We combined our potty break with our fuel stop although we were not close to empty. I was really tired this AM so Bill drove for most of the second morning leg. We pulled into a truck stop to have lunch since there were no rest areas. Doesn’t seem too bright to be renovating them all at the same time.

View from our dining window in Enid, MS

After lunch the drive was only about 2 hours so we arrived in Enid, MS at Wallace Recreation Area at about 3:30. This facility was built by the Army Corp of Engineers and it’s really nice. There’s a huge dam that created Lake Enid and we saw fishermen and boaters out. Not many campers since it’s after Labor Day, but there are a few neighbors. Bill was highly impressed with this campground since it was only $8.00. That will help our average for other nights! We would highly recommend this campground. Once we got parked and somewhat level we took Xena for a walk to check out the campground.

I made a venison meatloaf for Bill for dinner since I had plenty of leftover crawfish. We had the leftover potatoes and the bread and I made us each a small salad. Now we will have meatloaf tomorrow night when we arrive in the St Louis area. No TV tonight as the antenna only gets 3 stations and they are all PBS. Guess we are too far from a major city to get any network stations. Oh well, we both have plenty of reading material and I’m going to try to hook up the safety wire to the back of the TV so it will stop flying around on the bumpy roads.

Will have a Hubig pie later…yummy!!

September 12 If it's Seafood, It Must Be New Orleans

Apparently I really needed some rest as I slept 12 hours last night, from 10 to 10. I could not believe it was 10 when I got up. I thought Bill was playing with me and changed the wall clock. I knew I had been tired for the last month and then with the driving but would not have thought I needed that much rest. Needless to say, I felt pretty good all day!  To thank Bill for letting me sleep (and because it is Sunday) I made Canadian bacon, toast, fruit and eggs for breakfast. By the time we ate, showered and left it was almost noon.

First stop for today was Chalmette Battlefield and National Cemetery, which is actually part of the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park. The city of Chalmette is just east of New Orleans so it didn’t take long to get there. It was SO hot today that just getting from the car to the visitor’s center I was soaked. The original visitor center was destroyed 5 years ago by the hurricane so a new one is almost complete. In the meantime the visitor center is in an old plantation home on the property called the Beauregard House. It was built in the 1830’s and has survived several hurricanes and the Battle of New Orleans, which was actually in Chalmette and was the battle that won the War of 1812 for the US. It’s really a very good story. The battlefield isn’t terribly impressive, just a canal and embankments but great strategy on the part of Andrew Jackson.

From observation deck at National WWII Museum

From there we headed into New Orleans to the National WWII Museum. By now we were pretty thirsty so we stopped in the coffee shop adjoining the museum so I had a frozen Granita and Bill had a coke and we both had a scone. I guess it was a mini lunch as we ate so late. We were at the museum til it closed and they told us it was time to leave. Bill really enjoyed it and learned some new info about WWII that he didn’t know. That surprised me since he reads about it and watches so many movies on it, I thought he knew it all. We found out that the Allied Forces used inflatable jeeps and boats, etc as decoys to make Hitler think we were going to invade elsewhere. Also we didn’t know how important various animals were in the war. I must say a lot of the photos were a bit gory for me. Then I get all emotional about it and thinking of what those families went through when their sons were never found. Then there’s the family who had 5 sons all enlist and serve on the same ship and none survived.

Ready for dinner

Bill really wanted beignets so we drove back down Peter St. and he dropped me off in front of Café du Monde and while he circled the block I got beignets to go. Only waited a couple of minutes on the curb for him to come back for me, then we headed to a suburb called Metairie to eat dinner at a seafood place called Deanie’s. There’s one in the French Quarter but we decided parking was easier and it would be less crowded there. Our landlord recommended it. No problem getting there but from the signs on the building it was a seafood and bait store. I waited in the truck while Bill went in to make sure there was a restaurant and the one half of the building was a nice restaurant and bar. Bill was happy the TV was on and there was a game to watch! They brought way too much food. Instead of putting bread on the table, they brought a bowl of red skin new potatoes and butter. The “thing” is the potatoes are cooked in something spicy and boy, are they good. We each ate 2 and brought home the other 2 in addition to half of Bill’s baked potato and most of my dinner. He had crab au gratin and really liked it. Not being much of a seafood person he is pretty picky on seafood, but he thoroughly enjoyed it. I had the Crawfish Quartet. I ate my dab of slaw, passed on the huge pile of fries and got right into my crawfish etoufee, yummy! Then I nibbled on some of my fried crawfish and brought the rest home with all of my crawfish au gratin and 2 of my crawfish dressing balls. They kinda looked like hush puppies but were crispy on the outside and kinda mushy in the middle. Guess I have my dinner ready for tomorrow.  The beignets were our evening snack.  They'd have been better fresh.

On the way back we stopped at the RV to get Xena to ride with us to Wal-Mart. I truly did need to get AAA batteries for my mouse, spray paint for my cactus, a scoop for the cat food, but what I really needed to get was a supply of Hubig pies. I was beginning to think the decadent coconut Hubig pie was going to elude me, but Wal-Mart had 4 racks of pies, mostly apple and lemon. I hunted through them all and was victorious with 6 pies. I will have to carefully ration them to one a day. Might find room in the freezer to squeeze one in for a really stressful day ahead.

Back at the RV, Bill hooked up his nasty hose and drained everything for our trip tomorrow. I should be putting things away but since I’ve gotten it down to a science, will wait til morning. Too bad it won’t be another 10 AM wake up, it will be 7 at least. Ah, sweet coconut dreams….

September 11 New Orleans and Hubig Pies

Bill was up early but I got up at 7. We didn’t rush since our trip today should only be 4 ½ hours without breaks. Bill had cereal and I had a bagel. He checked the air in all the tires and had to put some in 2 tires. We left just before 9. Since it was to be a short day we decided to wait and have lunch when we got to New Orleans so we just did 2 potty stops and had a snack in the truck. No real adventures along the way.

The only adventure was once we were approaching New Orleans on I-10 the road got so bumpy without warning and we were jouncing and bouncing all over. Being the good driver that I am, I was able to maintain control and not crash. I was concerned with what the inside of the RV would look like. We arrived at Parc D’Orleans Campground at about 1:30 and it isn’t the nicest place we’ve ever stayed, but the owner is really nice and our spot is right by the bathhouse. Once we got set up we had lunch, looked over our maps and left for the French Quarter.

Hurry up Bill and take the darn picture

Jazz Fountain in New Orleans

Didn’t take long to get there but we were concerned about parking but immediately spotted a policeman who directed us. We hurried to the visitor center of the New Orleans Jazz National Historic Park as they are not open on Sunday. Had we been a little earlier we could have heard some local jazz musicians who play there daily. Got my book stamped though and that’s the important part. Then we headed back towards the car to the Jean Lafitte National Historic Preserve visitor center. On the way I stopped at the same Walgreens my friends and I were in last October and bought Hubig pies. I was very upset they did not have any coconut so got us each a peach one. Bummer! Bill got to talking to one of the park rangers at Jean Lafitte and she was at the Grand Canyon last summer when we were there the day a guy drove his car over the canyon wall and committed suicide. She filled us in on the particulars that we didn’t know. It was hard to believe we were there at the same time. When we left the visitor center we strolled back up Decatur and found a place, Primo’s, for dinner. I had yummy crawfish cakes with remoulade sauce and a salad and Bill had a calzone. Well he ordered a calzone and they brought him a pizza, then he sent it back so I was long done by the time he got his order. It was OK, I enjoyed people watching as he ate.

We thought it best to walk off some of the calories so we strolled around Jackson Square and into a couple of shops, then left on Decatur to go in Central Grocery and scope out my muffelatta for tomorrow. Well, as my luck would have it they are closed on Sunday! Guess we’re gonna eat at the place next door. I think it’s where Kerry, Karen, Jean, Cindy, Donna and I ate when we were here last October. Then we went up to the shore and walked along the Mighty Mississippi and sat for a bit watching the water and listening to the jazz band playing on the riverboat that was heading out for a dinner cruise.

On the way home we stopped for fuel and I checked there for Hubig pies, she only had two, no coconut. Then we stopped at Winn Dixie and I got ONE coconut pie and they had Zapp’s chips on sale so I got us each a bag since we don’t agree on the flavor.

Xena was happy to see us and more than ready for a stroll to empty! Molly didn't come out and didn't come out and I finally went in the bedroom looking for her and heard a faint kitty squeak coming from the closet.  Poor baby was locked in the closet for over 4 hours.  That will teach her! 

Bill invited the landlord in to look at the map of where we’re headed tomorrow and I thought he would never leave. I gave Bill the “cut it” sign twice and even then it took forever. I wanted to eat my pie!!! Boy, was it ever good, but it didn’t last nearly long enough. I’ll be dreaming of coconut Hubig pies…….