July 9, 2012
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| Cardinals Stadium |
Left the stadium and headed to Union Station. The portion we saw is next to a Marriott and is more like a small shopping mall. Bobby ate lunch at Panda Express, I just had a coke. We then headed to tour the Anheuser-Bush facility, which is about 5 miles from here. At the end of the 90 minute tour, you get to sample some of their beers....I had diet pepsi! 
We then headed to the Cathedral Baiclica of St Louis....oh my god, what an amazing church. It make you feel like you are in Rome. The main dome is 143 feet above the main floor. The church has one of the largest Mosaics in the world, created by 20 different artists and covering 83,000 Sq Ft. The installation contained 41.5 million pieces of glass tessare employing over 7,000 colors (if I recall correctly, there are over 20 shades of gold). Construction began in 1912 and was finished 1988, in 1997 Pope John Paul II designated it. This is a must see for anyone visiting this area! It the most beautiful church that we have EVER seen!Left here a drove into Forest Park....just a hop, skip and jump away. Saw the Boat House, Great Basin and a few ponds. We then headed to Walmart for a few groceries for dinner. Making stir fry.
July 8, 2012
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| Ulysses S Grant's Home White Haven |
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| Grant's Farm |
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| Jewel Box in Forest Park |
While at the Park we could hear the thunder, so decided we’d
head home….it was around 5:00 PM and we knew thunderstorms were coming this
evening. About 3 miles from home, the
skies opened and you would not believe the rain storm we drove thru. Many cars pulled over but we slowed way
down, turned the wipers on high and continued on, made it home safe and
sound. We’ll stay in for the rest of
the evening.
July 7, 2012
We left here at 7:00 AM and headed for Meramec Golf Course
in St Clair, MO. Nice 18 hole
course. Weather was hot and humid but we
made it thru before it got in triple digits.
We then went a local diner called Lewis to have lunch. I had fish and Bobby had a hot roast beef
sandwich. It was excellent.
We then came home and spent the afternoon staying inside
since it’s in the triple digits. Later
in the evening, we had a thunder and lightning storm. St Louis needs it, as they are 30” low. Tomorrow we’ll head back into St Louis to
see more sites.
July 6, 2012
Took a ride into downtown St Louis….today we explored the
Gateway Arch and it’s museum. The
museum is very interesting, filled with information about Lewis & Clarks
time in St. Louis. We then took the tram
to the observation area at the top of the arch. Each car (there are 8 of them) holds 5
people….they are like a cage more than a car.
You see nothing except the individuals riding the tram with you, you are
inside the arch and there are no windows until you get out at the observation
deck. Believe me, this ride is not
meant for those that are closterfobic or
afraid of heights. The ride up takes 4
minutes, while the ride down takes 3 minutes.
The view was amazing, we could see for miles.
Once we spent our 1 ½ at the arch, we went to the river boat
area to await our time to board the boat.
It was very hot…100+, so waiting was miserable….thank goodness, the boat
had air conditioning. The captain gave
us interested facts, details, etc. about the surrounding area. A couple of them are:
1.
The Arch is 634’ tall and wide at the base. It’s a allusion that it looks taller than
wide. It’s the tallest man made
monument in the USA.
2.
The designer (Eero Saarinen) of the arch was a
33 year old gentleman who did not finish high school.
3.
In 1993 when the Mississippi flooded, it reached
up to the 32 step in front of the arch.
That’s a lot of water!
We then went to get our car to move it closer to the
Cardinals Stadium. We want to watch a
baseball game but found out the game is sold out. Apparently tonight they are giving everyone
in attendance a replica ring of when the Cardinals won the World Series last
year. We also asked about touring the
stadium, it was also sold out, got tickets to tour stadium on Monday. No game on Monday, getting ready for the All
Star Game in Kansas City.
Left the stadium and head to the Courthouse. The capital building in DC copied this
dome. It’s a museum today but has all
the original floor, etc. We were allowed
to go through most of the rooms on 3 floors.
It was not air conditioned, so we did not linger!
Afterwards we drove home, must have walked 6-7 miles today
and with the temp around 105, we must have lots at least 2-3 pounds in
sweat! Got home and went for a dip in
the pool. Won’t be doing much tomorrow,
will rest our worn out feet!
July 5, 2012
Today we decided to go see Purina Farms. Not sure what we were going to see, but knew
it would involve dogs. Actually it’s
their training farm for their show animals and competitions…..at least that’s
the part we got to see. This is their
world headquarters, so they also have their corporate offices here.
We did see a few animals that kids (and me) we allowed to
pet, etc. You can watch a movie, watch
them milk cows and watch the dog show.
We stayed for the 11 AM show…they have certain dogs catch Frisbees, run
through an obstacle course and dive into a pool. They had several National champions, so we
got to see the best of the best.
We then head to Washington, MO…wanted to see the corn cob
mfg plant. It was closed for lunch, so
we went and had lunch at a local establishment.
Around 1:00 PM we went to the plant but found out that they no longer
have tours…insurance purpose. We did
look at their small museum.
We then went to the visitor’s center…apparently Thursday is
not a good day to view museums…all were closed. We went down to the Missouri river and
watched a barge come down, then did a little geocashing and then went to buy a
pair of sunglasses for me at Walmart.
We then head to the coach as it’s 104 outside and I wanted to get out of
the heat.
Tomorrow will head into St Louis.
July 4, 2012
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| Bird from the Zoo |
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| St Louis Zoo |
July 3, 2012
Left Warsaw, MO and are heading to St Louis. While unhooking the electrical this morning,
we lost the 12 volt system. Bobby went
and wiggled the battery connections and it came back on. On the road we go…..about 2 hrs into our
trip, we decided to turn on the generator to turn on the big air
conditioners. Once again we lost the 12
volt system. After many phone calls
(called Coach-net and they sent me to Monaco Road Service who found 3R RV
Service in Union, MO for us), we arrived in Union, MO and found out it was the main
battery switch that was causing the problem….$30 item. We also had them check the generator as it
would not stay running…..found out that we need to exercise it more and not to
let the diesel tank get below a ½ tank.
We drove to our
destination….Pin Oak Creek RV Park in Villa Ridge, MO. After setting up, went for a swim….it was so
refreshing. We are exhausted….too much
worrying for me! Bobby says I’m
horrible….lol. I hate little things
going wrong, it makes me so nervous.
Now we’ll fix dinner and stay in for the remainder of the
evening. Not sure what we’ll do
tomorrow, with 4th activities going on, believe St Louis will be a
zoo. I’ll read my magazine, research the
web, etc. I’ll find us something
exciting to see.
July 2, 2012
Played 9 holes of golf and then drove to Mary Beth and Kenny
Jobe’s home.
They have a lovely
home on Lake of the Ozarks. They fixed
us lunch (hamburgers and all the trimmings) and we visited for several
hours. Afterwards we said our goodbyes
and then drove to the coach. Later that
evening we drove into town for Mexican food again….it was so good yesterday.
We then drove home via hwy 7, along the way we saw many deer, wild
turkeys, herons & egrets. We saw a
baby deer, it was so cute. Also the one
male we saw was in his velvet….very handsome.
I took a walk down to Lake Truman, is so beautiful
at dusk. I could stay here longer but
we have place to see. Tomorrow we head
for St Louis.
July 1, 2012
Left Branson and heading for Warsaw.
Will spend two nights at Osage Bluff Campground where our friends Mary
Beth & Kenny Jobe work. We arrived
around 12 PM.
After our hellos, got
settled in and then went to see them.
Decided to go into Warsaw and grab lunch. They took us to a great Mexican
restaurant. Afterwards they took us on
a quick tour of the dam and surrounding area.
They had to be back to work by 2, so we did not have much time. They dropped us off and went back to
work. Bobby and I went back to see the
visitors center….very nice. We then
drove across the dam, visited the local golf course (decided we play tomorrow)
and then went back to the coach.
We had agreed that after Mary Beth & Kenny got off work, we’d go
for a boat ride on Lake Truman. We left
around 6:30 PM. Kenny took us for to
the dam and visitors center area. The
ride was so nice….Kenny has a bass fishing boat….perfect for this lake. Once we got to the dam, Bobby, Kathy & I
went for a dip. The water was
wonderful….85 degrees. Played around for
a while and then we had to head back as the sun was setting. Bobby said it was the best day he’s had since
leaving Havasu! We love being on
water. Thank you Mary Beth and Kenny for
a superb evening!
June 30, 2012
Went and ran a few errands, did laundry in anticipation of
our leaving tomorrow. Took a drive
around Lake Taneycomo, you can’t really see much on this lake. It’s very narrow and the owner’s property
borders most of the lake. Later in the
afternoon I decided to replace the caulking around the kitchen sink….it need it
badly. Bobby watched the PGA tournament
in Washington, DC on TV. There weather,
in particular the heat is so bad that spectators did not come! I feel sorry for the players having to play.
Tonight we’ll watch the Olympics and then attend the
fireworks display the park is putting on.
Will be interesting to see how this goes, as they have a burn ban on and
the grass is so dry.
June 29, 212
Went to the Post Office, we are expecting a pkg, did not
arrive. We had a few errands to run (grocery
shopping, etc) but nothing exciting.
June 28, 2012
Today we had nothing on the schedule so went out to breakfast and
then drove out south of town to see a castle that we were told about. Due to the economy, it has not been
completed……so we drove back, along the way we found a fruit stand and bought a
few items.
Afterwards we went home and watched the movie “this means war”…..very
good. We then took it back to Walmart,
looked around….found nothing we wanted, went to the Ice Cream Shop and had
treats and then drove out towards Silver City.
Stopped at a pottery shop….found lots of cute pots but decided not to
buy.
Then we went to Indian Point….very nice resorts, marinas,
etc. out on this point. Found out that
Table Rock Lake has 950 miles of shoreline.
It’s encompasses to states (MO & AR). I did go wading, it was so nice….wish I had
my swim suit on, would have gone swimming.
Stopped at a Yacht Club, they had this bull you could pose on for
pics….see Bobby!
Drove home and tonight we’ll watch the Olympic trials
again.
June 27, 2012
Went to Springfield, MO today….thought we’d see the Lincoln
Library. Only one problem with my
thought, Lincoln’s library is in Illinois, not Missouri! After determining this, we went to the
visitor’s center and determined what was around to see…..not much. We drove through the historic district….lots
of old homes. Then we toured downtown,
saw where Wild Bill Hickok shot and killed the man that he later was convicted
of manslaughter and hung for.
We also saw where the battle of Springfield was fought. Afterwards, we drove out to Wilson Creek
Battlefield in Republic, MO (about 10 miles away). On the way to the battlefield, we stopped by
the National Headquarters for Bass Pro Shop.
What an amazing place…it’s 2-3 blocks in size and has more animal displays
than any Bass store we’ve seen. They
even had a golf section….surprised us!
I called my brother Roger and made him jealous….he loves hunting and
fishing!
From Bass shop we drove to the battlefield, where we toured the
battlefield….it’s a drive thru park.
You can get out at various stops and see some of the old buildings. Due to the heat, only the Ray House (this is
where General Lyons was pronounced dead) was open. We then went to the visitor’s center and
toured it.
We then drove to Ozark, MO and had lunch at the infamous
Lambert’s restaurant. I can’t say
enough about this establishment. If you
ever get the opportunity to have a meal here, do so. Make sure you are hungry, as the meals are
enormous.
Once you make your entrée choice, you get to pick 2-3 sides (mashed
potatoes, corn, green beans, fried apples, peaches, etc). While you are waiting for your meal, a person
comes around yelling do you want a roll…..if you do, he throws one to you. Believe me, it’s like he thought you were
playing fast pitch baseball. They come
flying at you. You can have as many as
you want and they are homemade and very hot!
Excellent I must say. They also
walk around ask if you want fried okra, fried potatoes & onions, black
eyed-peas or macaroni & tomatoes.
You can have as much as you want with these items….they are included in
your price of the meal. Believe me, we
took home most of our entrée.
We then drove home, rolled into the coach and rested the
remainder of the day. Later in the
evening we watched the swimming Olympic trials. We are very anxious to have them start in
July….love the Olympics.
June 25, 2012
Tonight we'll stay in....since it's 103 outside, I don't go far from the air conditioner. Tomorrow we are playing golf.
June 24, 2012
Went to Historic district and had breakfast at the
Farmhouse. Both of us had the ham and
eggs…..excellent ham! Afterwards toured
the many shops….did not buy anything.
Bobby & I are great window shoppers. Dick’s 5 & 10 store was my
favorite….they have everything from a to z and reasonable priced.
Then we headed to Walmart for a few items. When we drove out, we saw a fresh produce
sign…. went to find it, but it was closed.
Will return mid-week as produce in the stores around here is awful. Also the groceries are expensive here….much
more than in Havasu. Milk is $3.86,
lettuce $1.28 a head and eggs are $1.58 a dozen.
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| Hellcats from West Point preform |
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| Honor America Event |
The Honor America festival was wonderful! Music entertaining, especially the Hellicats from West Point. Around 9:15 the fireworks started and lasted around 30 minutes. It took us 30 minutes to get out of the parking lot....only one way in and out to the college campus.
June 23, 2012
Today we went shopping!
Found the outlet stores…..very nice mall. Yes, we did spend money here. We bought a new purse for me (LOL), some
clothes, plus a backpack for Bobby. I
must say the prices were on the high side for most items, but it’s a tourist
town! But, it did not stop me from
purchasing did it! LOL.
We then came home, had lunch and then went to the club house
for ice cream. You can have vanilla,
chocolate or a twist. Yes, I had
chocolate but Bobby had vanilla.
We then went to the local movie theater and saw the
Avengers. It was excellent except the
could turn down the volume about 10 notches!
June 22, 2012
Played golf at Thousand Hills today! Short course but up and down hills. You have to walk more than drive, as carts are only allowed in the fairways and on the path. The tee boxes are a distant from the paths, so we certainly got our exercise in this heat...92 today.
Came home and decided to stay in, as I was exhausted from golf. Heat and humidity wear me out! Watched two movies…..Sherlock Homes, a game of shadows & Red
Tails. I would highly recommend Red
Tails if you have not seen it. Sherlock
Holmes was very slow; at least that’s our opinion.
June 21, 2012
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| Stones in front of Edwards Mill at College of Ozarks |
This afternoon we went for a drive on the yellow route. Saw more of Table Rock Lake, then went to
Branson Creek and Murder Rock golf courses.
Made reservations to play Murder Rock golf course on Tuesday, it’s a John Daly design, so should be very
challenging.
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| Furniture in Keeter Center at College of Ozarks |
On the way home, toured the College of the Ozarks college. This is a college where the students must work in order to attend the college. They might work in the restaurant, kitchen (where they make jams and fruitcake, dairy, etc.). They have 2 museums, grist mill, chapel, etc. that you can also tour.
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| Riding a zipline in Branson |
We then drove out to Table Rock dam. A small dam for such a big lake. Nothing like Bonneville. We toured the visitors center....just opened 7 weeks ago, so was not completed. Still impressive.
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| Table Rock Dam, Branson, MO |
June 19, 2012
Took a road trip today....first stop was Berryville, AR where we saw Cosmic Caverns. Not as impressive as Kartchner but only one as impressive to me is Carlsbad. This is a living cavern, so you got kisses (drops of water hit you). It's a privately owner cavern so is not as well maintained as the State owned ones we been in before. However, it had two lakes that had some interesting history to them. http://www.cosmiccavern.com/index.htm. If you go, look for coupons in the local papers, otherwise it's $15 per person.
We then headed onto Eureka Springs......lots to do in this small town. We stopped at the visitors center, go information on the local sites and decided how to attack the town, since we have limited time to see it. First stop, Christ of the Ozarks. This is a very large statue (7 stories high, 65' wide) located about 1 mile east of town on hwy 62. They have a play also, but we were not going to be in town when it started at 7:30 PM.
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| Thorncrown Chapel |
Next we headed to Thorncrown Chapel http://www.thorncrown.com/. What an amazing place. It's a small chapel....only about 10 rows of seats....but oh so beautiful. All the glass lets the suns rays shine in and makes it a show case. We were told to stay for a thunderstorm, but no storms were in the area. I certainly would think it would give you a grand light show.
We then drove to Pivot Rock Park.....small park about 5 miles from the chapel. Here we say a natural bridge and Pivot Rock. It cost $4.50 a person.
We drove over 100 miles today but say parts of the Ozarks we would not have seen with the motorhome. The roads to and back are narrow two lane highways, not meant for motorhomes. No, we did not see one motorhome on our entire trip today.
June 18, 2012
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| Turkey in park |
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| Bobby at Payne Stewart's golf course |
June 17, 2012
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| Branson Landing |
Returned to the coach and washed the truck. Boy was it dirty from traveling. Also washed the windshield of the motorhome but decided not to wash it. It's too hot!!!!!! LOL.
I then decided to work on this blog, not getting reception at the coach, so I'm in the lodge....Bobby is home watching the US Open. Rooting for Tiger!
Later we'll head back to Branson Landing.
June 16, 2012
We left North Little Rock, AR around 9:30, heading to Branson, MO, we’ll be staying at the Treasure
Lake RV Resort, part of our RPI membership.
Along the way, saw the beautiful Ozark Mountains….we’ll explore them
more during our stay. We arrived around
2:00 PM, just in time to watch the US Open golf tournament. Had to change sites around 5 PM, apparently
we chose a members only site, I did not read the material correctly! After finding another 50 AMP spot, we are
settled in for the evening. Bobby is
still watching the tournament (9 PM) while I’m reading brochures, etc., trying
to determine which show we’ll see while we are here.
Since we’ve never been here, had no idea what to expect but
I must tell you, Branson is much bigger than either of us thought. There are three routes: red, blue and
yellow. They allow you to travel around
the city…believe me, we’ll be on the red or yellow, blue was sooooooo
slow. Thought we’d never get from one
end of town to the other. Just after
entering town, we could see some of the damage that the tornado did. Some of the facilities were heavily
damaged. The manager who checked us in,
said she and her family were at their home when it struck. She said it did sound like a train. It took the roof off their home and placed
it 3 miles away. Thank goodness, they
were not hurt. This is the first
tornado that she can recall…..she’s been here over 50 years.
The park is large….over 500 sites, 2 pools, etc. We spend one week here, maybe 2.
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