HOME AGAIN

While we realize that "Home Is Where We Are Parked", it's always nice to be parked at our Grandview home. We got here about 3:00 Friday afternoon. Our trip from Gladewater was uneventful. We came "through the country" down Highway 31 through Athens and Corsicana and across to Hillsborough. Rebecca and girls were here when we got in and helped us get the trailer set up. Rebecca and family have gone to Denton today to have Christmas with Drew's Mother and Dad. Rachel is feeling bad so we haven't seen them yet. They called a little while ago and said they would be up after a while.

It is nice to have my reliable internet back. It seems really fast compared to some that I have had recently. I will try to get a little something on the Blog ocasionally while we are here. We will be here until after Christmas and will probably go somewhere after that.

Gladewater Texas

Got a picture of the Mississippi River Bridge in the rain. Emily said that the first time Rachel crossed the old bridge, she said that she wanted her daddy.


As predicted, it did rain all day yesterday. We left Vicksburg at about 10:00 this morning and got to Gladewater at about 4:30. We found a nice RV park here and it has Wi-Fi. It was a nice day for travelling, but we get tired pretty easily. We are only about 150 miles from home so it won't be too hard a trip when we head out.

Two pictures of our camp at Shallow Creek RV Park.

Vicksburg Mississippi

These pictures are at the Williamson Cemetary and our camp at Lake Lurleen

We finally left Tuscaloosa Tuesday morning. They had to put Emily's Aunt Viva in the hospital with heart and breathing problems. We stayed for an extra three or four days and decided to go on since she was in stable condition. We made it to Vicksburg, Mississippi by about 5:30 Tuesday afternoon. When we woke up this morning it was raining and looks like it will continue all day. We will probably just stay in and rest; Emily is tired from sitting in the hospital for three days. Also, she is coming down with the cold that I am finally getting over.

Happy Anniversary & Birthday!

Happy Birthday Dad!

Happy Anniversary to you both. For those of you who don't know, Mother Always said she got married on Dad's birthday so he would never be able to forget it. Well, it's been 42 years, Mom...............Has it worked out for you!

Sorry I wasn't able to call, we went directly from school to Jump Rope to Basketball to Choir concert. The kids had to be at the school for choir at 6:30, the concert started at 7:30 and we finally got out of there about 9:15. We then had 2 hours of homework. I think Junior High is going to do me in! Pray for us, it's semester exam week this week. Miranda is really worried about having to take test over "every thing I've has learned all year. That's alot of stuff." I know she'll do fine. But she worries about it none the less.

I hope your Birthday/Anniversary was greatand know that we were thinking about you even if we didn't call! We'll have a party when you get back home!

I love you both!
Rachel

Violin Concert

Here are a couple of pictures from the Dominick's and Carly's violin concert. After the concert we went to Charlie and Lilly's to help Charlie put up his Big Christmas tree. You can't really tell from the picture, but it is 34 feet tall.

Love you lots!
Rach

Lake Lurleen State Park - Alabama

We made it to Lake Lurleen State Park at Tuscaloosa, Alabama at about 3:00 Wednesday afternoon. We had a good trip from Memphis down to Alabama. Diesel fuel keeps getting cheaper and that is nice. We got it as low(?) as $2.27. We came straight to the park and got set up and then went to visit with Ruby for awhile. The State Park is full of FEMA trailers and we got the only site with full hookups that was available. The trailers all look like they are set up for the long term complete with pvc sewer connections and 250 gallon propane tanks. They put all the trailers on concrete blocks and strapped them down. Leave it to the government to waste money every chance they get. There are probably 50 or more of the trailers here.

Thursday we went back over to Ruby's house and then we all rode over to see Jack and Viva. They had already eaten lunch so we took Ruby out to eat. It started raining so we took Ruby home and went back to the trailer. At least the weather is not too bad. The sun came out this morning and the temperature is about 40. It didn't get below freezing last night.

Memphis Tennessee

We got away from Branson at about 10:00 this morning. The temperature last night was about 16° and it was about 20° while we were hooking up. It was very cold so we were glad to be on our way south. We came down US 65 to Conway, Arkansas and then west on Interstate 40 to Memphis. It took a long time from Branson to Conway because the road was up and down and winding constantly. We stopped at a McDonalds just north of Conway and ate lunch.

We have stopped at an RV park in West Memphis that we found in the Trailer Life book. It seems to be pretty nice although we got in after dark and haven't seen much. It does have Wi-Fi so that's good. We just hooked up electricity and didn't unhitch from the truck so it will be fairly easy to leave early in the morning. We only put out the bed slide. We have come 300 miles and only have about 250 left to get to Tuscaloosa. Hopefully it will be a little easier day tomorrow.

You can check out our direction of travel Here

Branson Day 49

It got to down to 18° last night and was cold all day today. They are also forecasting snow in the next few days. Therefore we will probably hitch up in the morning and go south. We are planning on going to Alabama to visit Emily's relatives. It is about 550 miles from here to Tuscaloosa so it will be two moderately long driving days. We will try to make it to Memphis by way of Little Rock tomorrow. That is about 300 miles which is farther than we normally drive in a day, but we don't want to get caught in bad weather. It will all depend on how early we can get hitched and leave. It won't be too easy at 16° in the morning, but I did get the holding tanks drained this afternoon.

Emily went shopping around Branson this afternoon. I stayed in since I am coming down with another cold. Tonight we went to eat at Clockers Cafe in Old Downtown Branson. Emily went Here so we had dessert tonight and will have some for breakfast in the morning.

Branson Day 48

We went out to eat at The College of the Ozarks dining room at noon today with Jim and Kris Todd. Jim and Kris are camp hosts here at Turkey Creek and are leaving in the morning to go serve as hosts in another Escapees park in New Mexico. After we ate we went for a drive to a resort south of Branson on Table Rock Lake. Tonight the park has it's regular Sunday night ice cream social. We don't always go, but will probably go tonight since it will be Jim and Kris' last night. It was pretty today but stayed fairly cool and windy.

Note that I have learned how to put links to websites of interest in the blog posts. Maybe that will add a little insight into places and things. Just click on the underlined text to go to the link.

Branson Day 46

We went to the Bart Rockett show tonight and had a really good time. This guy is just getting started in Branson and is very talented and down-to-earth. He does magic and comedy and has singers and dancers. There were not many people in the theater; probably only 150 or so. He made jokes about the small crowd and said that if he knew this was all that was coming, he would have just had us over to his house. See more about Bart Rockett Here.

Branson Day 45

We just got back from the Dixie Stampede Show. We enjoyed the show and the food. This is probably a Christmas version of the regular show. All of the horseback riding and wagons and buggies was done to a Christmas theme and costumes. There were races (both horseback and buggies), ice skating, singing, ostrich racing, pig races, a Manger scene complete with camels and an angel coming down from the ceiling, and a comedian. The meal consisted of a whole roasted chicken, smoked pork, corn-on-the-cob, potato, soup, and an apple turnover. All of this was eaten with no silverware just fingers. I suppose that this is similar to Medieval Times in Dallas.

There was a preliminary show in a smaller theater that was a comedian/juggler. He was good and the show lasted about 45 minutes.

Branson Day 44

It was cold today, but otherwise pretty. We went shopping (looking) at the dollar and antique stores and then ate lunch at the Steak and Shake. We went to the 1/2 price ticket place and got tickets to the Dixie Stampede Dinner Show and the Bart Rockett Show. Tonight we went to the Christmas Lights Drive at Shepherd of the Hills. The drive ticket included a trip to the top of the observation tower. It was pretty and we enjoyed it.


We didn't get too many pictures since the camera ran out of battery, but a few are shown here.

Branson Day 43

The sun came out today and it was pretty but stayed cold all day. We didn't go anywhere; Emily rode her bike and we went to the Sonic tonight for hot-fudge sundaes. Emily took this picture from accross the creek. The park is really clearing out with more people leaving every day. You can see how empty the park is.

In case you haven't discovered, you can click on the pictures here and see them enlarged.

Branson Day 42

It was cold and dreary all day today. At least we have been spared (so far) the bad weather around us; snow to the north and tornados to the south. We just stayed in all day.

Branson Day 41

We met Jimmie and Nita at 11:30 at McFarlands resturant in Branson. We ate lunch, Emily and Nita shopped and we visited a while. We told them about Lamberts and they said that they would like to go. Since they are leaving in the morning, we decided to go tonight. We enjoyed it as usual. If you look closely at the first picture you will see the "Throwed Roll" in flight.

Branson Day 40

The weather both today and yesterday was nice. Emily went shopping on "black friday" yesterday along with the millions of others. I stayed home. About noon I started having kidney stone type pains and by the time Emily got back I was really hurting. I went to bed with a hot pad on my kidney and after a while got enough relief to go to sleep. This morning I was fine. Go figure?? Emily helped with and ate at the supper yesterday afternoon. She helped cook breakfast at the park this morning.We stayed around here today and grilled some steaks at noon. Emily rode her bike to the post office and picked up the mail. Tonight we went to Sonic.

I found out today that you can download newly released books at Amazon. It's really neat and cheaper than buying them and paying postage. I got Dick Morris' CONDI vs. HILLARY and Peter Schweizer's DO AS I SAY NOT AS I DO. Now I won't get behind on my conservative reading.

Emily got a call from Jimmie and Nita Duncan this morning and we are going to meet them for lunch tomorrow. They came to town with a complete schedule so they haven't had time to see us up to now. We will probably go to Cowboy Church in the morning and then meet them somewhere.

No particular reason for the picture. It was taken in Bismarck, ND just after we had put ten new tires on the trailer and truck and had the truck and trailer washed at a truck wash. We will probably be hitching it all up soon and heading out. After being here for a month and a half we are about ready to move on and are thinking about going to Alabama to see Emily's relatives.

By the way, you can now click on "Marshall and Floye" under "links" to go to their blog.

Branson Day 38

Well, it was a pretty Thanksgiving Day here in Branson (really Hollister). The park had a meal at 2:00 this afternoon and everyone brought a covered dish. The park furnished the turkey and drinks. We had about 42 folks there and lots of food. There is going to be a repeat tomorrow evening with the leftovers.
KRIS IS GIVING JIM INSTRUCTIONS ON HAULING TRASH


PART OF THE KITCHEN CREW


DO THEY LOOK FULL?

Just got through talking to Floye and Meredith about their new blog. It is Paradise In The Pines at
http://paradise-in-the-pines.blogspot.com.

Branson Day 36

Fairly cold today so we stayed in. Emily did ride her bike and went to the post office to pick up our medicine. We will stay here for Thanksgiving and then will probably move on. The park is having a Thanksgiving Day meal.




Don't know where we will go from here but will at least decide on a direction in the next couple of days. Whatever the chosen direction I'm sure it will have an S in it ( SE S SW ).

Branson Day 35

Another Cute Display From Precious Moments

Nothing going on today. The sun finally came out and it got up to about 51. We just stayed in.

Branson Day 34

We made a new friend at the Precious Moments Mansion


Cold, rainy and cloudy today. We got up this morning and went to "Cowboy" Church at the theater at the mall by WalMart. We really enjoyed the service. Lots of ole time Gospel singing and picking. The service was led by Norma Jean; you have to be our age to know who she is. She started on the Porter Wagoner show on TV and was at the Grand Ole Opry for many years. If you watch the Porter Wagoner Show on RFD TV you will probably see her sometime. The preacher was good. He was a 73 year old man who preached the Bible. The building was almost full; probably holds 1000-1500 people. There was a tour bus full of folks from around Waxahachie. We didn't see anyone that we recognized. There was a lady from the Mesquite Opry that sang a couple of songs. Went to the ice cream social at the park tonight.

More Branson Photos

Well, Here are a couple of our Branson pictures. The first one is Miranda driving the duck, and the second is Miranda playing violin at the Jim Stafford Show. I'm glad you guys are having fun. Love, Rach

Branson Day 33

Precious Moments Angel sitting outside the empty tomb

I've had trouble with my wi-fi connection here at the park for the last couple of days so have gotten a little behind on the daily reports. The weather continues to get a little warmer every day. We got up yesterday and went to Precious Moments at Carthage, Missouri. It's about 100 miles from here and was a nice drive. The PM place was very interesting. On the site they have a Chapel that is completely painted inside with scenes of the PM people depicting various stories and principles from the Bible. There is a Gallery that contains lots of exhibits of the many PM items from over the years. While I don't know anything about the PM figures, it was still interesting to see. Next we went to the water fountain show and it was spectacular. They have a Victorian mansion and a chapel on an island that is called the Wedding Island. Lots of weddings are held there and they have a honeymoon suite in the mansion. Maybe Emily will add a little more later; she understood it all a lot more than me.

Branson Day 30

The temperature got below freezing last night and didn't get very warm today. We just stayed in all day. Emily did ride her bike to the post office in Hollister to mail some bills. Looks like it will be even colder tonight; it is already about 28. Emily wants to go to the Precious Moments place west of Springfield. We may do that tomorrow.

Branson Day 29

Cold, cloudy, windy and rainy today. Stayed in all day. Emily helped with the park lunch. Hopefully the weather will be nicer tomorrow even though it's supposed to much colder.

Branson Day 28

Cloudy and cool all day today. It is raining this evening and looks like it might rain all night. Didn't do much today. We went to Lowes and bought a stainless steel portable propane grill. We have been using a little one-time-use charcoal grill for about three years and it was getting to be a little too much trouble (you get lazier as you get older). The one we got is a pretty good one so maybe it will last a long time. We ate lunch at Sonic which is close to Lowes. This isn't much but is about it for today.

Branson Day 27

Another pretty day. We went to a church service at Jim Stafford's Theater. The service lasted two hours but we enjoyed it. Lots of singing and a good sermon by the pastor Dr. Timothy Hill. His ministry is starting a youth ranch outside of Branson to provide foster homes for kids. After the service we rode around Branson for a while and ate lunch at Shorty Smalls. It is basically a BBQ place and Emily had Brisquet and I had pulled pork. It was pretty good; not the best BBQ that we have ever had but good none the less.

Ater we ate, we rode some more, went out to Table Rock State Park and drove through the campgrounds. There were not nearly as many people camping there as when we drove out several weeks ago. They have some nice full-hookup sites and the off-season rate is $13.00. We may have to go out there for a couple of nights when we leave here. We went to the visitors center at the dam but found out that it closed on October 31. That's a problem this time of year; crowds are not as bad, but things start to close.

When we left the State Park, we went south on Hwy 65 to Harrison, Arkansas. Looked around there for a while and then went to the Super Walmart. We got back around 5:00 and had a good ride. As usual, we are tired out tonight but will be rested by morning and ready to go again. Hopefully the crowds will be reduced this week.

Emily wanted me to include the picture of me driving the DUCK.

Miranda can drive the DUCK too (maybe I need to check her driver's license)

Branson Day 26

It was cloudy most of the day today but only sprinkled a little with no real rain. Emily got up and helped with the park breakfast this morning but I just stayed in bed (specially since they had french toast). We didn't go anywhere but just stayed in and read our books. Spent most of the afternoon (4 hours) watching the movie JFK. I don't think that we had ever watched it completely through before. I have been reading the book CROSSFIRE on which the movie was based, so the movie was very interesting.

It is getting dark early these days; it is only 6:00 PM but it has been dark for a while. We are going to bed earlier and earlier every day it seems like. The park has been full for most of last week but is starting to thin out. I think that a lot of the folks were here for the Veterans Day activities. Mickey and Patti next to us were here when we came, but they are planning to leave on Thursday. We hate to see them go. He has been instrumental in persuading me to start the blog. Don't know what we will do tomorrow. We are only about 35 miles from Harrison, Arkansas so we might go for a drive down there. Maybe next week we will be doing a little more and will have more to write about.

Rachel's Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RACHEL
(NOVEMBER 11, 1968)
WE LOVE YOU,
Mom and Dad

Branson Day 24

We got up this morning and went and rode the "Duck". It was fun and lasted about an hour and a half. We rode all around Branson and up on the high hill overlooking Table Rock Lake and Branson. Then we went down and went into the lake for a short ride. I got to drive part of the time that we were on the lake. The first picture is of the quarry on top of the hill where the rock for the dam was taken from. The next picture is of Table Rock Lake from on top of the hill. The third picture is of the Branson Showboat on Table Rock Lake. The batteries ran out on the camera so we didn't get many pictures. There are a lot of people here for Veterans Day and there will be a big parade tomorrow. We have decided to wait until next week to go to Silver Dollar City.

Branson Day 23

It was a very pretty day today. We went for a ride, ate at McDonalds and toured the winery (it was free). Went to ride the "duck" but got there too late. We plan to go back for the 10:00 ride in the morning. We need to get that done before the weather starts to get bad. The P-51 airplane is at the Veterans Museum in Branson. The "decorated" camper rig was in the McDonald's parking lot and was worth sharing a few pictures. We will probably decide what other shows we want to see and get tickets tomorrow. We also want to go back to Silver Dollar City. This is Veterans Week in Branson and there are more people here than there would be otherwise, so we may wait until next week to do much.

Branson Day 22

Slow day today. We just stayed in and rested from yesterday. Emily helped cook and serve the noon meal.


This was a long time ago it seems like