Magellan eat your heart out!

Ol' Ferdinand may have circumnavigated the world, but we circumnavigated the lake at 370 Lakeside Park! There is a paved walking path around the lake, which, according to the dope we found is 5.5 miles long! We expect the dogs to give us very little difficulty for the rest of the day.  Lulu's legs are approximately 6" long, so imagine how many steps she took.  Pogo, who loves to hike but is less able to get around, what with arthritis and a kneecap that pops out of joint occasionally and cataracts that render her almost blind, had a great time and made it all the way around with nary a whimper.

So, the dogs are good for the day. We plan to make a Costco run later and also to fill one of our propane tanks that has lasted us the whole trip so far.  In theory, we shouldn't need to fill up again, since we are about halfway through our trip, but I prefer to run on the top half of the fuel tank, both in the truck and in the trailer.

We are so grateful we made this stop. After three days in Branson, we needed some exercise, and so did the dogs.  This is the perfect spot, because the paths are paved, which makes for easy walking for us geezers.

 The hardwood forest surrounding the lake. We have 

been unable to determine the name of the lake.

Looking back at the campground from across the lake.

Dardenne Creek runs along the north side of the park. The 

whole area is a protected wetland, so it will remain pristine. 

2:15 PM
After a short rest. We made our Costco run and picked up a few things that we needed to restock the trailer. Yum! Costco roasted chicken for dinner!! Can't wait. 

After the Costco run, Jill got busy doing some laundry, and I went to work with some equipment maintenance.  Yesterday, just as we arrived, the rear view camera on the trailer stopped working. That made backing in to our space a little challenging. So, assuming the worst, I went to work cutting apart the joints in the cable at the back end or the trailer. I checked voltages and resistances and everything looked pretty normal, but I still couldn't get a picture on the screen.  Just when I was about to give up, I remembered that wires have two ends.  I checked the cable connections under the dash, and sure enough, the video cable connectors had separated. I plugged them back together, and voila! we have a picture again.  With some electrical tape and zip ties, I was able to secure the video cable so that problem should not recur.

After the video camera repair, I got out my trusty compressor and went to work making sure all the tires have enough air.  All the truck tires and one of the trailer tires needed a little inflating, which only took a few minutes.  I have been struggling with my tire pressure monitor system.   A couple of the sending units seem to cut out on a rather too regular basis. I may need to replace them when we get home.

The last load of laundry will be done soon, thanks to my blushing bride.  Then we will head for the gas station for a propane refill. That will complete our day's tasks, and we can relax under the awning, where I am writing this.  All in all, it has been a good day and a productive day.  Even we vagabonds need some of those days from time to time.

Tomorrow we head for Evansville, IN, where we plan to see the recent remodeling that has been done at the seminary I attended. We will have dinner with the president of the University and his wife tomorrow evening. The amazing thing about that stop is that I called the municipal campground to see if they have space, and the manager of the park said that they have space, and since we are only staying one night, there will be no charge! She called it a road courtesy. Now that is what I call Hoosier hospitality.

Noah and St. Peter(s)

Today was a bit of a trial.  It was the first day we have traveled in a rain storm. The rain made the driving a bit more challenging than we are accustomed to, but we had no problems, and we arrived at 370 Lakeside RV Park in  St. Peters, MO about 3PM.

Our initial impression of the park was positive. It is a relatively new municipal park and the RV area is very flat.  That positive feature almost made up for the fact that our site was almost completely swamped by a large puddle which reached nearly across the parking pad.  The utilities (electric pedestal, water standpipe and sewer connection) were all located in the center of the biggest part of the puddle, and in order to locate the door of the trailer adjacent to some dry ground, I had to place the trailer very close to the utilities. The result was that I had to put some leveling blocks under the tires that were in the deepest part of the puddle.

By the time I got that done, while standing out in the pouring rain, I was not thinking as clearly as I should, and I forgot to place wheel chocks against the tires to prevent the trailer from rolling. This error was quickly pointed out to me, when I lifted the hitch off the trailer ball on the truck.  The trailer rolled backward a couple of inches, off of the leveling blocks, putting excessive strain on the tongue jack.  Of course, at that point, the truck and trailer were no longer aligned so that the hitch would engage the ball, so I had to move the truck back into position, reattach the hitch, pull the trailer back up onto the leveling blocks, THEN place wheel chocks on both sides...all while standing in the pouring rain.

Once I had the trailer stabilized, I went to work hooking up the water hose and electrical cord. By the time I was done, I was in a bit of a foul mood, I am sorry to admit. I went in the trailer, stripped off my rain jacket and my waterlogged socks (did I mention I had been wearing Crocs clogs during the above fiasco?) and sat down to rest. Shortly, the rain abated, and I realized that, had I waited in the trailer PATIENTLY (Tom!) I could have done all of the above in dry (albeit a bit chilly) weather.  Oh, well. Lesson learned.

So we are in St. Peters, MO for a couple of nights. I copied the history of the city from Wikipedia  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Peters,_Missouri) for your edification. To wit:

Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the area that would become St. Peters was inhabited by Mississippian mound builders. The remains of a village were uncovered during the construction of I-70 in 1954 and a street near the site was later named Mound Drive after the mounds built by the villagers.^[7]
One of the first documented sources about European settlers in the area is a Spanish census from 1791, which documented a land grant.^[8]
St. Peters was named for a Jesuit mission established there.^[9]
In 1895, music was a binding factor for the area, with a well-known cornet band.^[10]
Throughout most of the twentieth century, St. Peters was a small farming town. As recently as 1970, St. Peters had a population of only 486.^[7] The population rapidly increased to 15,700 by 1980 and within the span of a decade the community changed from a small rural town to a more suburban community.^[7] The city continued its rapid growth through the 1980s and by 1990 had a population of 40,660.^[7] St. Peters population increased to an estimated 52,575 as of 2010. St.Peters celebrated its 50th year as a city in 2009, and marked its 100th year as a town in 2010, having become a town in 1910 and a city in 1959.^[11]
The city has a lot of veterans as residents, therefore many memorial locations have been set up. In front of City Hall there is a WWII fountain and flag display; along Willott Rd./Jungermann Rd. there is a Vietnam memorial containing over 1,000 bricks listing Missouri residents who died in the war and a Korean War monument as well. The City Hall memorial is the centerpiece for several veteran's ceremonies held throughout the year: Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day and Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.^[12]

So, tomorrow, we have no plans. We are NOT going to St. Louis (15 miles). We MAY go into St. Peters for grocery shopping. After staying up two nights in a row past our bed time in Branson, we will probably mainly veg out tomorrow.  The weather forecast is for NO rain tomorrow, so we may have some pictures to share. There is a paved walking path around the lake, tailor made for dog walking. In the meantime, you can revel in your new-found knowledge of St. Peters, MO. (And how not to park your trailer.)  You're welcome. 

Best laid plans

So, here it is Monday, and I haven't updated the blog.  Yesterday was eventful.  The weather was beautiful: warm and sunny.  Our park is adjacent to the famous Branson Landing, which is a shopping area of the upscale persuasion.  We walked about a quarter mile along the lake shore to get there. There is a nice concrete "board walk."

The Landing, as it is affectionately known, is like many other shopping areas we have visited.  Of course, it has a slightly Branson, MO bent about it. The one shop we stopped in was an olive oil and balsamic vinegar boutique.  They had numerous varieties of both.  We purchased a gravenstein apple white balsamic vinegar, which is delicious and will allow Jill to perform more magic in the kitchen.

After our shopping, we stopped at the White River Fish House, a floating restaurant along the board walk.  The ambience is wonderful.  The theme is "old fish processing plant meets antique furniture gallery." We ordered a blackened shrimp and scallop linguine to share. Yum!  The meal includes a small cast iron skillet with freshly baked jalapeno corn bread.  It was like dessert!

After lunch we went back to the trailer and walked the dogs, and then we headed out to see "New Jersey Nights," a tribute to Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. The show was a great nostalgic trip through my high school years and beyond! At least three of the four singers were able to mimic Frankie Valli's signature falsetto, and the production of the numbers was impeccable.

After the show, we returned home and walked the dogs again.  Dinner was a simple but delicious affair, which Jill whipped up from some sauteed veggies and German sausage. I did the dishes in gratitude, and then we got ready and headed back to the theater to see a show called "Puttin' on the Ritz," a tribute to the music of the '20s, especially the works of Irving Berlin, Cole Porter and George Gershwin.

I was a bit surprised to see many of the same players from the previous show in completely new roles.  Nevertheless, this was a song and dance extravaganza, and the cast poured their souls into it. The singing, the dancing, the staging, everything was over the top impressive.  We came away thrilled and overwhelmed by the talent we had just seen.

After we arrived home, the forecast rain began to fall. We went off to bed, still humming, "If you're blue and you don't know where to go to, why don't you go where fashion sits: Puttin' on the Ritz?"

We drifted off, and the next thing we knew it was morning. The rain has continued all day, so we have done some cleaning; we made reservations for a park in Webster, WI for Memorial Day weekend. While we are there, we will be visiting our friends Ben and Shirley, who used to be part of our church home group in Clackamas.

Later we made a trip to Walmart for some necessary grocery shopping.  When we came home, we took the dogs out again, but they weren't interested in doing their business in the rain. I got a call back from the Wisconsin RV park, which requires a check for a retainer on the campsite, so I wrote a check and we headed for the post office to get it in the mail.  Afterwards, we spent some time in "Historic Old Town Branson," prowling the shops and soaking up the ambience of Branson.

Currently, we are hunkered down and debating whether to attend the show we planned to see this evening. The rain keeps falling, and we keep thinking it would be pleasant to just put on a movie, instead of driving in the rain and spending money on another show, as good as they are.

If we don't make it to a show, we will be fine, and tomorrow we are off to St. Peter's, MO, near St. Louis. We will be staying at Lakeside RV Park..."hmmmm," I hear you saying, "Isn't that the name of the park you are staying in now?" Why, yes. Yes, it is. Is there a problem? We like lakes, OK??

Branson, MO

Today was another travel day.  We left Oklahoma City, having dodged a thunderstorm; more precisely, having dodged a barrage of hail.  We did hear thunder last night, and we saw a couple of flashes, and we did have rain, but we did NOT have hail. Hallelujah!

I had dumped the holding tanks and put away the waste hose and aligned the truck and trailer the night before, so getting ready to leave today was simplified.  We had over 300 miles to drive today, so I wanted to get an early start.

We were on our way, having stopped for gas, by 8:18AM.  The drive was beautiful and rather easy.  The main stressor was that I44 from OKC to the Missouri border is a toll road.  We had no idea until we were on the highway that we would have to stop and pay tolls. Paying tolls is not our first choice, but it is not offensive. We just have no experience with such things, and we were worried that we would be caught at a toll booth without the necessary cash to bail ourselves out. As it turned out, we had enough cash and no problems.

More of Jill's "high speed" photography! I think this is the Oklahoma River, but don't quote me.

Lot's of pastureland and hardwood forests in northeastern Oklahoma.

Next state, please.

When we arrived in Missouri (pronounced Miz-UR-uh, or Miz-UR-ee. If you don't believe me, ask Jerry at the tourist information center.) and stopped at the tourist information center to pick up a map and some information on what to see in MO, if you only have about five days in the state, Jerry was most helpful and sent us away with another pile of printed matter to rival the pile we got at the Oklahoma Tourist Info center a few days ago.

The background of this mural in the Missouri Tourist Info 

center is made of hundreds of license plates.

Exit 69 was a little confusing with all the overpasses and no sign for Branson.

Missouri is just as beautiful as Oklahoma, but the Ozarks are spectacular, with mile after mile of hardwood forests, broken by sandstone outcroppings.

We thoroughly enjoyed our drive and discovered that the scenery was topped by the friendly people at the Branson Lakeside RV Park.  The park is run by the city of Branson and sits on the shores of Lake Taneycomo. The park itself is about average, but the location, 1/2 a mile from the Branson Landing commercial area and right on the shore of the lake, is spectacular, and the staff are warm and friendly and very helpful.

A pair of car bridges cross lake Taneycomo at the east end of the park.

And a railroad bridge crosses the lake at the west end of the park.

The part of the park nearest the water is not too interesting, except for the views of the water. 

 There is a moorage attached to the park.

We, of course, have the prettiest campsite in the park, not to mention the prettiest trailer.  

Tomorrow we turn into prototypical Branson tourists. After we attend a worship service, we plan to see two shows tomorrow, and two more on Monday.  The town, of course, is famous for first class entertainment.  You, of course, will hear all about it right here at "Topper Takes a Trip."

OKC is OK, see!

We left home this morning to see the sights in Oklahoma City.  The weather is beautiful, in the low 80s with a light breeze to keep things cool. 

This is our little space in the Twin Fountains RV Park.

Isn't it pretty?

We headed downtown, where, we were told, there is a free bus tour of the main attractions in the area. The fact is, there is a free bus that makes a loop through the city, and if there aren't many people on the bus, the driver will point out some of the attractions as you go by.  We found this satisfactory, and we were very impressed with the beauty of the architecture, which ranges from neo-classical to ultramodern.

The Sooners love their Thunder!

Some of the architecture of OKC

Jill captured the contrast in architectural styles here, pretty well, I think.

Jill got these pictures through the bus window on this short (about 1/2 an hour) tour.  We asked the driver to let us off at the Bricktown river walk, which he happily did.  The river walk is actually a canal walk along the Bricktown canal, which I surmise is fed by the Oklahoma River. At any rate, it is reminiscent of the river walk in San Antonio, TX, albeit a bit shorter and with fewer shops, but every bit as charming.

We stopped at Earl's BBQ Palace for lunch, and had our first fried okra.  I think this is a food for which acquiring a taste is in order. It wasn't bad, but it was hard for us to see what all the fuss was about. The grilled chicken sandwich, on the other hand, was quite delicious. We sat on the patio by the canal and had a lovely chat with a young woman at the next table who is contemplating giving up her lifelong love affair with snow skiing, while she recovers from ACL surgery, resulting from a fall on the slopes.

After lunch, we continued wandering the banks of the canal until we found ourselves across the street from the Bass Pro Shops parking lot, where we had left our truck.  Thanks to Tammy Titan (the GPS in our Nissan Titan pickup) we had an easy time finding our way home.

We decided it was time to do some laundry, which is pending as I write this. In the meantime, enjoy the river walk:

I took this shot for the miniature golf course, which is right along the canal. The building in the background is for lease: 7,000 sq ft per floor or 21,000 sq ft for the whole thing.

The area along the canal is much like a park, and it is surrounded by 

buildings primarily made of brick, hence the name Bricktown for this area of OKC.

Just around the corner from this little cascade...

...we came upon this fellow. I have no idea what this sculpture represents.

One of many murals along the water.

I liked the contrast between the nostalgia of the foot bridge 

spanning the canal and the starkness of the ultra modern tower in the background. 

Looking east from atop the foot bridge.

Brickopolis seems like a good name for a building in Bricktown.

These lovely murals recount the history of OKC. 

 

This man made waterfall was soothing to hear. 

We didn't explore this monument, but there is a figure of a Native American in the center of it. 

On the way home, we were surprised to see a truck coming at us in our lane. 

Yikes! Oh, wait. He was being towed backward.

Tomorrow, we are off to Branson, MO. Should be a lot to see in the "Show Me" state.

Well, shut my mouth!

I know that is an old aphorism that comes from further south and  is probably not used anywhere anymore, but it aptly describes my reaction to Oklahoma.  It is amazing how stereotypes hang on.  Oklahoma is not miles of sage brush with nothing but oil wells and cattle ranches. It is absolutely beautiful; at least the I40 corridor from Texas to OKC is.  And OKC itself is wonderful.

We are staying in a beautiful park, called Twin Fountains RV Park, just north of the city. The park sits on a hillside, and it is heavily treed with wide swaths of grass between the level, concrete pad sites.  We have adequate wi-fi and good cable TV, so we can't complain about primitive amenities.

As I was finishing setting up the trailer, a fellow stopped by to say how much he likes it.  I stopped and chatted with him for a good long time. As it happens, he lives in Branson, MO, our next scheduled stop.  Jack gave me a bunch of pointers about Branson, and we discovered that we are both Christ followers.  He told me that he is in need of a new pickup to pull his newly acquired trailer.  That was my opening to recommend my friend and auto broker, Syd Dorn.

A little while later, Jack told me that he had been praying a few minutes ago about how he was going to find a truck. "Then," he said, "I just happened to stop and compliment you on your trailer, and you connect me with Syd."  We agreed it was a God thing.

Jack eventually left after a long, enjoyable conversation.  I finished my work and went inside to sit and relax.  A few minutes later, there was a knock on our door. It was Jack, who had brought his wife to meet us and show her our trailer.  Well, Jill and Jeannie hit it off as quickly as Jack and I had.  We stood outside and chatted with them for about an hour!  Well, shut my mouth! Literally!

So, we are finding that Jill was right when she predicted we would meet more people with our little Retro trailer, because people just can't not like it! It's kind of in the same category as a chick magnet, only it's a magnet for aging RVers...a fogie magnet!?

So far, Oklahoma City has been nothing but fun.

Of haircuts and hailstones

Well, it finally caught up with us; the weather, I mean.  Yesterday we had a fun and relaxing day.  Jill found a place to cut her hair, which has been troubling her slightly as it grows out.  That pleased her.  The hair dresser directed us to a place to look for hiking boots for me.

It seems when we descended into Carlsbad Caverns, my old hiking boots which are a little short, jammed my big toenails and caused them to become bruised.  So, I needed some  new boots and have been looking ever since. Yesterday I found a new pair at Academy Sports that I think will be the answer.

We came home and had some lunch, and then set out to see the restored stretch of Route 66 that is advertised in the “things to see in Amarillo” literature. We had a Dickens of a time finding it, but once we did, we found it quite interesting.  To call it restored is a bit of a stretch, but many of the buildings are in good condition and give a little taste of what Route 66 in Amarillo may have looked like back in the day. It was fun.

At dinner time, we decided that we would be remiss if we left Texas without going out for a steak dinner. Again, the hairdresser’s recommendation proved to be a good one. We went to the Texas Roadhouse Restaurant, which is quintessential Texas. It’s big, it’s loud, the steaks were great and the people were friendly and sweet, just as we have come to expect in Texas.  Even a couple of the patrons at the next table struck up a conversation and added to the fun. Our waitress was very sweet and attentive without being overbearing.  Jill told her she wanted to be her mother.

After dinner, we came home and enjoyed watching the American Pickers on TV.  When we retired, we were feeling good about the day.

About 10:15, we heard a loud “rap” on the trailer; then another and another; then it sounded as if we were inside a snare drum. The wind howled and the lightening flashed.  We were definitely in the middle of a Texas plains thunderstorm. Eventually, I mustered enough courage to open the door a crack and see what truly was happening.

There was hail the size of grapes covering the ground.  I checked the plastic hatch covers for the vent fans on the roof and found no evidence of damage.  The dogs were not buying it. They both trembled  and Pogo panted until the saliva dripped from her mouth.

We turned on the weather channel for an update, but by then, we had already experienced what they were warning about.  The whole thing lasted about 10 minutes, but in the midst of it, it felt like hours. We strongly considered turning around and heading for home.  This was not fun.

This morning, I got up and spent a good deal of time in prayer, during which the Lord reminded me to trust Him and to take things a day at a time; “Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

On top of all that, I received an encouraging letter from the president of my seminary, so it’s all good. Today we head for Oklahoma City. Stay tuned.