We found a spot online on the outskirts of Kansas City that looked good in the photos. Well, we’ve all had that experience of going somewhere based on photos from several decades back. Not only was it dreary and crowded, but the check-out time was noon. Campgrounds are generally 3:00 or 4:00 p.m. This owner claimed that much of their business is people, like us, going to the Truman Library in Independence. It is about twenty minutes away and opens at 9:00 in the morning. So if one is there when the library opens, one has about two hours for one’s looksee and then one must head back, hook up, and head out of the park before one’s camper turns to a pumpkin at 12:00 sharp. The owner made it clear there would be no fudging. Like she didn’t have twenty other empty spots and had a line of campers waiting to get in at noon. Right.
I’m sure you know something about camping. Surrounded by the sights and sounds of nature, you watch the sparks from a campfire drift up toward the stars, right? How about no campfire, no stars and the sounds of a freeway, airport, and train track all next door, drifting through your dreams at night? Right, city camping. We found a spot online on the outskirts of Kansas City that looked good in the photos. Well, we’ve all had that experience of going somewhere based on photos from several decades back. Not only was it dreary and crowded, but the check-out time was noon. Campgrounds are generally 3:00 or 4:00 p.m. This owner claimed that much of their business is people, like us, going to the Truman Library in Independence. It is about twenty minutes away and opens at 9:00 in the morning. So if one is there when the library opens, one has about two hours for one’s looksee and then one must head back, hook up, and head out of the park before one’s camper turns to a pumpkin at 12:00 sharp. The owner made it clear there would be no fudging. Like she didn’t have twenty other empty spots and had a line of campers waiting to get in at noon. Right. So, enough of that. That place goes on our “Do Not Return” list. (It also was the most expensive place we stayed in eight days.) But the Truman Museum and Library is well worth a visit and we will go back. One of the things I really like about Presidential libraries is the wonderful job they do of depicting the times during which the President served. Truman was the first president I was aware of, Roosevelt having died when I was two. Growing up I knew about the Berlin airlift, a-bomb tests, McCarthy, and the beginnings of the Civil Rights movement, even if I didn’t understand the significance of those events. The picture shows almost 600 small planes hanging from the ceiling to symbolize the average number of daily flights into Berlin daily during the 15 months of the airlift. We could also identify with the displays of consumer goods and the background strains of swing music from the early Fifties. The photos of war-torn Europe brought back memories of refugee families (DPs) who moved to our small town and the ones of Korea reminded me of my Uncle Donald being transported somewhere far away and scary. At 12:01, we headed east along I70 and then up to Mark Twain Lake, not far from Hannibal, Missouri. It rained. And it rained. We drove out of it for awhile and managed to set up here under cloudy skies and have a little fire before heading inside for an encore buffet: everything left in the fridg before we head home. This is an awesome place and the fall color is at its peak. During supper, it started to rain and continued all night. Sounds like we will be packing up in the rain and driving home in it. If you are trick-or-treating tonight dressed as the Tin Woodman, better take your oilcan. But it’s been a great trip.
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On Monday, we returned to Eureka Springs, sans trailer, and under the expert guidance of Jim and Pat Kirby. First we drove to the top of the bluff to the Crescent Hotel--a place we never would have found on our own. I mean, you can look up and see it easily from anywhere on the main street but getting there is another story. Jim knew all the secret roads and we visited the porches and lobby areas of this Victorian spa. We found a delicious lunch at the Main Street Cafe and then set out to explore. The entire town is on the National Historic Register and the streets appear to have been laid out during someone's nightmare. Quaint old buildings constructed of local stone add to the whimsy and house everything from beautiful handmade crafts to the typical souvenir glitz one would expect in a tourist town. Stone retaining walls stairstep up the bluffs in places, creating lovely pocket gardens. A sparkling statue of Aza presides over Basin Spring Park, created to celebrate the power of feminine energy in the universe. Guitar music drifts up from the park while visitors listen, visit, and enjoy the late fall sunshine. Basin Spring is one of 140 springs in the town that made it a popular health destination at the turn of the last century. On the way back to the campground, we stopped at Thorncrown Chapel, another amazing structure designed by E. Fay Jones and built in 1980. Apparently Monday afternoon is not a popular wedding time and we only had to share this beautiful building with a tour group from Little Rock. All in all, a fun day finished off with steaks cooked over the campfire with perfect evening weather. Since former classmate Jim forced Butch into a golf game at one of the seven or eight courses around Bella Vista, AR, Pat and I did a little exploring of the Bentonville area. In case you are thinking, "Now where have I heard of Bentonville?", think Wal-Mart. This is the real Walton's Mountain, so to speak. We visited the Walton museum in what was Sam Walton's first store, a well-done depiction of the growth of Wal-Mart and its influence on American culture. The downtown has been refurbished and many interesting-looking shops ring the town square, although few were open on Sunday. After the golfers finished we took a little drive around the area and visited an amazing building, the Mildred Cooper Memorial Chapel. We were not able to go inside, as a wedding was about to begin and we weren't invited, but from the outside, it really is spectacular. The chapel was designed by Euine Fay Jones, a student of Frank Lloyd Wright's, and appears to be made up of open arches and a freestanding door, but in reality is closed in with glass. This place was one that we would have missed if not for the Kirbys. It always pays to hire local guides. So. We leave the Branson area shortly before noon and head south toward Eureka Springs. We had heard it was a fun town to visit and as we approach, Butch said, "How about we stop in Eureka Springs for a little lunch?" Excellent idea. I'm picturing an exotic sandwich in a quaint little sidewalk cafe or some yummy homemade soup in a atmospheric old pub. Now, don't get me wrong. They may have those things there. But you won't find out if you go through town pulling a thirty-foot trailer. This picture doesn't really do it justice but you can see the line of approaching traffic, and also how much parking there is. There was a line like that behind us too. It soon became obvious that there was no RV parking in town and we needed to get out of Dodge as quickly as possible. Finally a few miles out of town, we found a twenty-first century convenience store. It appeared to have room to pull in, park, and get back out again. Actually it would have if there hadn't been a community appliance recycling drive going on behind it, with freezers and washers being crushed, scattering their innards all over the cement drive. So we double parked, blocking half the drive and our quaint little lunch consisted of peanut butter and cheese crackers and a packaged Rice Krispie bar. It turned out just as well that we didn't fill our stomachs. I watched for incoming cars while Butch got the behemoth sufficiently backed and turned to get back out of there and head west to Rogers. And for the next several miles, we climbed and dropped, twisted and turned along some of the nastiest hairpin curves east of the Rockies. My heart took an extra flip each time Butch said, "Wow! Look at that view!"--Number 1 because he's supposed to be driving, not ogling the scenery, and number 2 because I have a paralyzing fear of heights. Signs reading "Dangerous Intersection" and "Curve--15 mph" didn't help. But after 150 miles of that--or maybe more like 10--we reached a relative straightaway and got back up to dizzying speeds of 50-60 miles per hour. Obviously, it was with relief that we reached Prairie Creek Campground on the shores of Beaver Lake. It is another Corps of Engineers facility and very nice, although I can't say as much for the Mother of All Speed Bumps at the entrance. That piece of engineering removed all of the dishes from the cupboard over the sink, flung them about the camper, and then shut the cupboard tight again. Fortunately we have only the finest plastic. After setting up and showering, we headed further west, this time only with the truck, to visit Butch's classmates, Jim and Pat Kirby, who live along another section of the Arkansas Screamer. With roads like that, who needs theme parks? I'm not asking because of the beautiful scenery, of which there is plenty. But rather, when we drove through the middle of Branson yesterday, I became alarmed at the marquees touting performances by Whitney Houston, John Denver, Patsy Cline, Conway Twitty, and Dick Clark, just to hit the tip of the iceberg. And speaking of icebergs, the Titanic is also here. Those people are all dead, right? Doesn't anyone else hear the Twilight Zone theme when they are in that town? And close to Halloween, too. We then crossed over 'Lake Taneycomo,' which should make the Mississippi an ocean, by the way, and took the scenic drive back west toward the dam that makes Table Rock Lake. After a short hike in Table Rock State Park, we visited the Dewey Scott Visitor Center. They have wonderful displays about the watershed of the White River, the building of the dam and the effects on flooding. This is all run by the Corps of Engineers, and a bonus was the 50% off sale in the gift shop where we managed to snag a copy of the Corps' campground guide for half price. We are generally impressed with Corps campgrounds and that's not entirely because, as old fogies, we get in for half-price. But there are a couple of oddities in this one that have kept us entertained. One is a campsite shown in the picture, which is right below us. The door of your RV would sit at the edge of that retaining wall. There are nine steps down to the picnic table and fire ring. What you can't see is that to get into this site, you need to back down a little hill and then make a right-angle turn. So yesterday afternoon and evening, we watched several RVers stop at the top of the hill, walk down to the site, scratch their heads, and get back in their trucks and leave. It almost made one wonder if there wasn't a candid camera somewhere. See, entertainment. We also are parked smack under a hedge apple tree which isn't doing anything for TV reception. I know, I know--if we're 'camping,' we should be roughing it. Tough. One man told us that he was in this site earlier this week, and the falling hedge apples nearly cracked his skylight so he moved. We haven't heard many fall on the camper but one just missed Butch when he was standing outside. I'm glad I didn't have to explain THAT to the insurance company. And a last little oddity: the tree pictured is by another campsite that has remained unoccupied while we've been here. I wonder why? Thinking we could escape the cold snap in Iowa (another fantasy, as it turns out), we headed south on Wednesday into Missouri and stopped at Bennett Springs State Park just south of the Lake of the Ozarks. This is a huge trout fishing area, so much so that the waitresses in the restaurant (love state parks with restaurants!) wear really cool shirts with a repeating pattern of the park name and a border of trout printed on them. There are five campgrounds here. The first, at the river level, suited our purposes perfectly for this particular stay. Each site has a nice level concrete pad and full hookups so set-up was quick and easy. We only planned to stay one night and so did not need to get out the extra lawn chairs, step covers, awning, lights, clothesline, tables, or grill. You can see why it was quicker and easier. But the trees range from very young to pretty small and the sites are close together. Campgrounds 2 and 3 are partway up the hill, are more wooded and spaced farther apart, and have some electric sites and some without. Campground 4 was my favorite, farther up the hill, all electric and more wooded. Campground 5, at the top of the hill is heavily wooded with very secluded sites and could probably be used for an RV Parking Rodeo. There were some intrepid souls up there with motorhomes but most were tents and popups. As I said, the draw to this park is the trout stream and we drove up to the spring that gives the park its name. The water there is incredible shades of blue and green. The stream was full of fisherpersons, perhaps practicing for this weekend's "Troutapalooza." Their skill is obvious and while I love eating trout, I am glad that my hobbies of knitting and writing do not require standing waist-deep in ice cold water. So after viewing the offerings of the park, we packed up again (also very quickly) and headed west and south to Indian Point Campground, a Corps of Engineers facility on Table Rock Lake near Branson. It's a pretty site but I am still in shock at discovering that Silver Dollar City is a theme park with a $56 entrance fee! I thought it was like the Amanas or something. Perhaps we will go take a hike in at Table Rock State Park. More later. The insanity began Friday evening with dinner at our house for the arriving out-of-towners. The group in the dining room was much quieter than the group on the front porch. In spite of the temps, we enjoyed a fire on the patio later. Saturday, our sisters and husbands were responsible for one heck of a feast and gathering. Smoked brisket, courtesy of Leon, and Ken's pork headed a menu that also included a couple of kinds of coleslaw, Libby's great potato salad, potato logs, and three kinds of cake. Grandson Elliot claims to have had seven pieces. I'm sure his parents are enjoying him this afternoon. We posed for the fifty years-post-wedding photos and then the party began. All of our children and siblings were present from locations as widespread as Atlanta, Dallas, Lincoln, NE and St. Louis, MO. A treat for me was the attendance of four college roommates, including a bridesmaid from the wedding. Entertainment included Sophie and Libby's 'unicorn hairstyles', of which I unfortunately have no photos. Several, including Jessi, modeled the chicken hat (or is it a turkey?) Brother Jim made us a pair of CDs with 50 songs from 1963, including the top two of the year, "Sugar Shack" and that classic, "Sukiyaki." But the hit was a performance to "Twist and Shout" by Jessi, Jill and Harriet, ending with a slide across the floor from Mary. All in all, a wonderful celebration--many thanks to our families, described by Jim as "a wacky, slap-dash gene-pool." Not sure if that's a word but no time to check. Tomorrow we will celebrate 50 years of marriage with family and friends. Right now my sister from Georgia and our younger son from Texas appear to be stuck in construction, thanks to both the Illinois and Iowa DOTs. A ham is about to head into the oven and I'm about to head into the shower. Beds are clean, house is so-so, and we found enough chairs for the supper crowd. My sisters-in-law and husbands have been hard at work preparing food for the clan tomorrow. Unfortunately, the weatherman isn't being quite as cooperative. You'd think we were camping.
Anyway, all writing projects have been pretty much on hold. Of course, I have brilliant inspirations when I can't write them down, such as just as I am frosting brownies or cleaning a toilet. Makes you wonder about the source of inspiration, doesn't it? To paraphrase Bullwinkle the Moose, "Next week for sure" I will be writing again. A last minute change to Myre Big Island State Park on the edge of Albert Lea because Pihl County Park is already closed for the season. What a beautiful place! Looks like some great hiking and biking trails. Many of the campsites are surrounded by birch and sumac in full color right now. It rained again last night but we trucked over to Wells, my original hometown, and had supper with my most amazing Aunt Lil, her daughter Jo, granddaughter Maggie and a couple of great-grandchildren. Lil had forgotten that I was her favorite niece but I soon reminded her of that. Some other shots below from this beautiful park. You may think this looks like a group of people sitting around a campfire with umbrellas. You would be right. Supper was done and we had a beautiful fire. It started to sprinkle and that was about it for awhile so we thought "Why waste a great fire?" and got out the bumbershoots. After some apple bread pudding (Happy Camper Tip #5 in The Blue Coyote) and about an hour of nonsense, the rain got more serious and we retired to our quarters. Rain has been a factor this whole trip. Thursday we rode from Fountain to Lanesboro, pretty much downhill. But my bike is not as fast (seriously!) and after stopping a couple of times to take pictures and put on my jacket, I was way behind and had to peddle like crazy to keep up with the group. So there are no photos of the second half of the ride, but there was nice fall color starting to show on the first part. The rain hit with a vengeance shortly after we arrived in Lanesboro but passed through during lunch and some of the group were able to ride the rest of the way to the campground. Yesterday, Mother Nature contented herself with just threatening all day so we got more riding in. But we have watched with great interest the preparations for a wedding reception here in the campground. Thursday, they erected a tent that another camper here says looks like the Denver airport. Yesterday afternoon, we rode by as people were setting up chairs and tables and tendered lots of free advice and suggestions which I'm sure were much appreciated. Harriet, particularly, was persistent in offering to take care of the gift table, which they were right to view suspiciously. The reception is this afternoon but late last night we were battered with a pretty severe storm and we haven't been down to check the condition of the tent this morning. I hope for the bride's sake, it's pretty much intact and the tables are not floating down the MIssissippi. |
AuthorSome random thoughts about writing, camping, and eating. Archives
September 2023
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