Leaving Blueway for what we thought was an 8-hour ride – tad bit long for us but Dana and Angie, these young kids, assured us it was easy. As the time wore on, they kept texting “just a little farther” well our GPS was not agreeing with them. We soldiered on for 11 hours; Ty and I collapsed when we got to the Hidden Hollow RV Park in the middle of Cottonwood Al nowhere and it took us another day to recover before we could join them in Nashville.
Dana and Angie’s Place – Nashville, TN
Once there (BTW stayed at the most expensive RV park ever – $100 bucks a night and that is with a discount!), we boated twice, thanks to Todd and his beautiful vessel, on Percy Priest Lake. Dana and Angie live on a houseboat, interesting abode living; reminds me of living in the Blueway RV park – a party just waiting to happen. No eclipse for us – skies were cloudy and we saw a little of the beginning, then the end. However, we were on Todd’s vessel with Dana, Angie, Kim (Todd’s friend) and the dogs, Chet and Sanibel. So, all not a bust!
Table Rock Lake
Is our next stop, thanks for the suggestion Phil Devine, which is Branson territory. We are not much interested in Branson, as it is definitely the ultimate tourist trap; reminds us of Gatlinburg and The Dells – has the same attractions.
However, Table Rock has some fabulous hikes, which we tried to hike every day we were here; Ty and I being so out of shape, that the slightest incline had us huffing and puffing. And poor Chet, sleeps the whole afternoon when we get back to Wanda.
Tried canoeing on the White River – beautiful day, however, it was windy and river is BIG with lots of boats going by that create rocky swells we had to navigate. Chet wasn’t too thrilled.
REPAIRS! And when we first set up camp here at the Old Hwy 56 Campground Wanda’s right leg broke.
What’s a new season without repairs! You may recall that while we were in Nova Scotia the left leg broke – well, Wanda is old, over 70,000 miles and that is a lot of ups and downs and we all know how our legs feel after doing squats. We could not have found a better spot to have to wait for the parts to come in then have her leg replaced.. Only a week!
Indian Point COE (Corps of Engineers) Campground was were we landed after the repairs. Still just outside of Branson, that we have by this time seen most of it, so we opted to drive 40 minutes around the lake to a place called Dogwood Canyon. At first we balked at having to pay $18 a head just to hike, but decided we drove all this way might as well. Turned out to be well worth the money spent. The “trail” was a paved 6 mile winding path that followed a river and had many waterfalls and other interesting sites like a chapel (great place for a wedding ceremony), fire pit caves with remains of inhabitation 8,000 years ago and a museum that had a lot of artifact’s but interestingly enough not many of the exhibits had stuff that was from that area. And waterfalls you can walk under…good stop.
Things Happen Along the Way
HEAD BUMPS! What is a new season without Ty hitting his head on Wanda and putting a big gash in his forehead. Done with emergency rooms and stitches – just buck it up Ty.
EWWW…Get into bed the other night, just about to go to sleep and ewwweee. Now, I don’t want to point any fingers ‘cause the saying goes “the smeller is the fellar” but NOT in this case and I didn’t want to point to my spouse although I did lean over in the pretense of snatching a kiss, when I was really smelling. Even Chet lifted his head, looked around and sneezed. We think it must have been a very smelly wild animal passing underneath our rig; the smell went away quickly (like a fart so I am not convinced that it wasn’t “a fellar” Chet). It was very pungent – something to look forward to when we get to CO.
AND A FIRST. Pulled into Lake of the Ozark campground, find our site which is way, way, way in the back and get set up pretty easily. Pull the hitch latch and Ty exclaims – there is no water hook-up. WHHAATTT? Oh crap, that means we have to hook back up and drive around looking for water. Instead, putting our thinking caps on, we walk around and find a water spout at least 3 hose lengths away, Yippee – we get out our hoses and hook up (with inches to spare) and pump the tank up with lots of water. Whew! Naptime.
Lake of the Ozarks – ticks! Lots of decent hiking trails, but everyday we picked ticks off of the 3 of us. I need to get a tick collar for myself as the spray was not a deterrent. While we were at the Lake of Ozarks, Phil came down and took Ty, Chet and I out for tour of the lake – beautiful ride.
Phil and Connie Devine – it was divine! Time to start making the trip home to Colorado, but first an overnight stop in Columbia MO to visit Phil and Connie. They have a really nice log cabin style home, plenty big on a lot of acreage and a pond of his own. Phil can stand on his deck and cast to his heart’s delight.
Last Push – little over 800 miles to go to get to Boulder, CO. Thought it would take us 3 days, but we managed in 2. Smooth sailing, easy peazy ride except for the snowy, slushy roads in Eastern Colorado. Showed up, but no place to stay for the weekend, so Amy’s neighbor let us park Wanda in their driveway while they are in Arizona. Thanks Carters!!! We ended up at St. Vrains State Park – we have to get 3 different spots for the 14 days we are here – then off to our camp host job on May 15
Where will you be hosting on May 15th?