Back home in Mississippi.

TUESDAY:

Up early and on the road by 9:00 a.m.  The trip was uneventful and we made it to Timberlake Campground before 2:00 p.m.  We were lucky and got a site up front on the corner.

Crossing over into Mississippi.

We visited with my Mom and Dad and my sister Annie later in the afternoon and went to visit Robert, Kesley and Ava later that night.  I can't believe I forgot to bring my camera.  

WEDNESDAY:

Tonight we went to Logan's Roadhouse for dinner with Mom and Dad then out to Annie's house for a round of cards. 

Mom and Dad.

John visiting with Annie and Terry's dogs, Ashe and Remi.

We played a round of golf and Mom beat us with a score of 19.  

Dad handing over a King or Joker to John.

John making a play. 

We went home early because John will be working at Renaissance Mall tomorrow.  

Laugh everyday.  Happy trails.  Stay safe. 

Almost home.

Up and out of Branson, MO by 9:00 a.m.  The fog was heavy but soon burned off as we entered Arkansas.  We stopped to stay the night at Rising Star COE park, 30 miles Southeast of Pine Bluff, AK. Nice park.  We have 50 AMP.  Yeah!

Our site.

The view from the rear of our site. 

Another view from the rear of our site. 

and another view from our site. 

Tomorrow we will travel the rest of the way home to Mississippi.  We have about 215 miles to go.  

Laugh everyday.  Happy trails.  Stay safe. 

Saying See Ya Later to friends and Branson

Up early this morning to meet Betty, Joe, Barbara, Jimmy and Theresa for breakfast at Starvin Marvin's.  Betty, Joe and Theresa will be heading back to Kentucky and Barbara and Jimmy back to Mississippi today.  We have enjoyed our visit with them and look forward to seeing them again real soon.

Theresa saying goodbye to Jimmy and Barbara.

As we were returning to our campsite we noticed a group of turkeys across the street.  Of course I had to get a picture.

Tonight John and I were invited to Steve and Jannel's for dinner.  Jannel prepared a delicious shrimp stew with salad and bread.  Thank's Steve and Jannel we enjoyed it very much.  We hope to see them down the road again real soon. 

Steve and Jannel.

Tomorrow we will begin making our way back to Mississippi. 

Laugh everyday.  Happy trails.  Stay safe. 

Spending time with friends.

TUESDAY:

We have been very busy since arriving in Branson but finally got all the RV "stuff" fixed.  Yeah!  The weather here has continued to get cooler and cooler.  I am not liking that.

Tonight Betty and Joe invited us over for buger night at their place.  Thanks Betty and Joe for a tasty dinner. Of course we played golf and 10 Penny.

WEDNESDAY:

Joe's brother Jimmy and his wife Barbara arrived today.  It has been years since we have seen them.  They also love to play cards so after Betty's magnificent lasagna dinner it was game time.  Our first game was golf.  In honor of the game Barbara presented John with a funny hat. 

John sporting his "Low Card" hat.  

After a playing a couple games of golf we moved on to 10 Penny.  I can't remember who won what but all had a great time. 

THURSDAY:

Tonight Barbara prepared BBQ pulled pork sandwiches and John made a chocolate pie for dessert.  As usual after dinner it was time for cards.   We played several rounds of 10 Penny.   You know the old sayings, "laugh until you hurt"..... and  "laugh until you cry", well.... there was lots of that going on.   I think it was after midnight when we got home.  Thanks Barbara for the delicious BBQ dinner.  We enjoyed getting beat in cards and all the laughs.  Good times. 

FRIDAY: 

Later this afternoon John and I drove over to Branson View RV Park to meet Ron and Ali Workentin.  They are friends of our fellow RV'ers Donna and Sam.  When we arrived in Branson Donna let John know they working at Branson View and thought we would like to meet them.  Enjoyed meeting them and sharing travel stories.  

Tonight Barbara cooked a large pot of beef stew for dinner and I baked a pineapple banana pound cake for dessert.  Of course right after dinner it was time for cards.   More laughing ensued. 

Several people have requested the pineapple banana pound cake recipe.  It is as follows:

Recipe: Pineapple Banana Pound Cake

Ingredients:

3 cups Plain flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups diced bananas
1 8 1/2 oz can crushed pineapple with juice
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
1 ½ cups cooking oil
3 eggs
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla

Sift dry ingredients together and set aside.  Mix remaining ingredients together and add to flour mixture.  Mix well but do not beat.

Cook in tube or bundt pan at 325 degrees for 1 hour and 20 minutes.

SATURDAY: We attended the Treasure Lake Annual Owner's Meeting with Steve and Jannel this morning.  The board members went over the usual budget items and inducted the new members.  The entertainment consisted of New South, a quartet, from the Grand Jubilee, The Incredible Acrobats of China from New Shanghai Theatre and an acapella singer standing in for the Legends Johnny Cash impersonator.  At the end of the meeting they always have drawings for door prizes.  This year we actually won something......a set of chopsticks with matching place mats from the New Shanghai Theatre.

Tonight Betty and Joe invited us to dinner at Red Lobster.  Thanks Betty and Joe we enjoyed it very much. 

Betty and Joe

Jimmy and Barbara

Theresa

Joe and John

After dinner we returned to Betty and Joe's for one last game of cards as they will be returning to Kentucky tomorrow and Jimmy and Barbara will be heading back to Mississippi.

This week has flown by and we have thoroughly enjoyed our visit with Betty, Joe, Barbara and Jimmy.  We wish them safe travels until we meet again.

Laugh everyday.  Happy trails.  Stay safe. 

Betty, Joe, Theresa have arrived.

SUNDAY:

Our friends Betty, Joe and Theresa have arrived.  We spent the afternoon at Branson Landing and stopped to have a late lunch at Famous Dave's BBQ.  John and I split  a "feast for one", which was actually more than enough food for two people.  The food was good but not the best BBQ we have had.

 John and Joe entertaining us at the table. LOL 

Later we went over to their place for some card games.  We played a round of golf and a round of 10 Penny.  I don't remember who won the golf game but I won the round of 10 Penny with a score of 55.  Wow, that is a very low score for me.

Joe contemplating a move during a round of golf.

This was the best hand I had during the golf game.

MONDAY:

Up very early this morning to take our RV to Crump's in Springfield to get the hanger fixed.   Fred stayed with Steve and Jannel while we were away.  A big thank you to them for dog sitting him for us.

Tonight we all gathered at our place for dinner,  We had loaded baked potatoes.  Betty brought the salad and salsa and Jannel brought a cherry crisp and ice cream for dessert.  Thank you Betty and Jannel.  Everything was delicious.

Cherry crisp. 

John eating his dessert and Fred wishing he could just lick the bowl. LOL 

Fred enjoying some attention from Betty. 

It will be nice to sleep in tomorrow. This getting up early really sucks. LOL 

Laugh everyday.   Happy trails.  Stay safe. 

Lunch at Iggy's in Carthage, MO with friends.

We drove to Carthage, MO today and met up with Barb, Bob, Ginger and Jesse at Iggy's for lunch.  It was so good to see them again and share laughs and travel stories.

Ginger and Barb.

Jesse (Sorry Jesse, I caught you with your eyes half shut)

Bob and John in conversation.  

After enjoying lunch we sat and talked for a while then realized there was a line of people waiting to get in so we decided we had better leave so someone else could have our table.  We weren't ready to call it day yet so we all agreed to check out the car show and Maple Leaf Festival.  

The car show had a good mix of vehicles.  I love seeing all the muscle cars.  

Our next stop was the Maple Leaf Festival.  There were food vendors, games, a bandstand, craft vendors and a dog show.  

Bob won Barb a prize at the dart game. 

By the time we finished walking the festival grounds and checking out the hardware store it was getting close to 4:00 and time to head back to Branson.  We enjoyed spending the day with our friends. As usual there were lots of laughs.  

Tomorrow our Kentucky friends Betty and Joe are coming to Branson for a visit. Can't wait to see them. 

Laugh everyday.  Happy trails.  Stay safe. 

How many men does it take to park a 5th wheel?

It doesn't take much to entertain us.   This afternoon while John and I were visiting with Steve and Jannel at their site several RVers were driving through picking out a place to park.  That doesn't seem like entertainment but it sure ended up that way. The first RV to park was a motorhome.  Since we were all standing outside and right across the street, we had a front row seat.  The man in the motorhome kept backing and backed completely off the site and backed over the water faucet then pulled it forward as he pulled back up onto the pad.  After that he kept moving back and forth and eventually parked.  While he and his wife were checking out the damage and finishing setting up a man in a fifth wheel drove by and stopped to check out the site next to the motorhome.  This site is directly across from Steve and Jannel's.  The man rolled down his window and Jannel asked if she needed to move their truck to give him extra room to park.  The man said it was his second time to park his fifth wheel but felt like he had enough room.  Jannel moved the truck anyway.  It was a good thing too because this guy was real nervous and scary to watch.   After pulling up and back a few times he drove off and we all thought we was looking for another site but a couple minutes later he returned facing the opposite direction.  John and Steve noticed he was having difficulty backing into the site and went over to help him out.  I lost count of how many times of backing in and out of the site it took before it was parked. After about 30 minutes and a small crowd of RVers looking on he was finally on the site and John and Steve came back across the street.  But wait......it was not over.   Our fellow RV friend Roy who was standing there talking to us noticed the man had the truck parked at a odd angle and probably wasn't going to be able to unhook the truck.  He walked over to see if he needed some help and was handed their little white dog.  Roy, holding the little dog, looks over at us, raised the little dog up and motioned as if to say, "what?"  It was too funny.  Eventually Roy helped the man get the truck situated so he could unhook.   The crowd dispersed and the entertainment was over.  See....it doesn't take much to entertain us.  I had my camera and should have taken pictures but that might have offended someone so I behaved myself.  So I guess it took four men to park a fifth wheel today.

Tomorrow we are driving to Carthage, MO to meet our friends, Barb, Bob, Ginger and Jesse for lunch. It will be great to see them all again. 

Laugh everyday.  Happy trails.  Stay safe. 

Fred's Spa Day

Today was Fred's spa day.  John dropped him off for his appointment at Dog Naturals in West Branson around 9:30 then picked him up after lunch.  He got the works.

Fred after his spa day appointment sporting his bandana. 

Fred hanging out with John.

Tonight we went to the clubhouse to play bingo.  We didn't win but came close a couple of times.

Laugh everyday.  Happy trails.  Stay safe. 

Cooler weather and chicken stew.

Woke up to cooler tempertures this morning......47 degrees.  I guess fall is really here.  The leaves on the trees in the park have begun to change.  This afternoon we took a drive around Branson to look at the trees so I could get some pictures.

By the time we got home it was approaching dinner time. Since the weather was cooler I decided a pot of chicken stew would be nice. 

Chicken stew with a side of steamed kale.  

Tomorrow Fred has his spa day appointment. Yes, he is spoiled. 

Laugh everyday.  Happy trails.  Stay safe.