Something sucks!

There's an old joke in state A about how the wind always blows toward state B because state B sucks. Well, today we were traveling in Missouri, and the wind was bloing from the south. I'll leave it up to the imagination of any readers north of here as to which state is state B in the old joke.

60's Hits in Branson

We spent a couple nights in Branson, MO, parking in the Escapees' Turkey Creek RV Salon. They don't call it a salon, but I can't think of the whatg they do call it. It's a convenient location, just a mile or so from the Landing, and a few miles to the strip. We took in a show, #1 Hits of the Sixties. My expectations were pretty low, given that we chose one of the cheapest tickets on the list. But I was pleasantly surprised. The talent was excellent, both vocally and choreograhically. They said it's a new version of the show, which has been running for 7 years, so I thought some of the dance routines were simplistic. But they were very energetic, got the audience (mostly all our age) involved, even me. I got up on stage and competed in a trivia test, trying to remember the name of TV shows based on them playing theme songs. I won the contest, and a $20 gift certificate to a Branson restaurant, which we turned into a free breakfast.

Wow, $1.99 Diesel!!!

Leaving there, we mosied up toward Kansas City. On the way, at the junction of I44, we found diesel fuel for $1.99 per gallon, the first time back under $2 since... probably 2005. That will help in our journey to Alaska this summer, keep it up... er, down guys. It was just a tad ironic that the gas station was on a chunk of the old Route 66. Old road, old time prices.

In Preston, we turned the trip west. The south wind then became a serious cross wind, blowing us all over the road. My guess is that it was in the 25-40 mph range. A bit uncomfortable. We heard a couple of undetermined clunks on the roof. I think it was the TV antenna trying to get airborne, but it could have been a window awning getting itself out for a stretch. No harm, no foul.


Lunch in Nevada, MO

On the way, we stopped for lunch in Nevada. Nevada, Missouri, that is. We had been discussing earlier in the day what mountain ranges had towns in them by the same name, as we passed through Ozark, MO. We found Rocky, Colorado, and Adirondack, NY. But no Green in VT, or White in NH. Ah, well. While in Nevada, we pondered whether there are other cities named after states in other states. None came to mind, and we didn't think we had the right technology to research the question.

Vernon County Courthouse

Turns out that Nevada is the county seat for Vernon County, MO, and they had one of the prettiest court houses that we've seen in our travels.

We took a walk through downtown, a downtown that is in the throes of dying, like so many around the US. Sad. Are we unable to reinvent our cities to become at least a glimmer of their former vitality?

Along the way, we got a call from Ronnie Douglas, manager of the Jekyll Island Campground. He had a conversation with a guest about the wifi there, and my name came up. I calle the guest later, to see if there was another opportunity to consult, but it sounded like his problem was too far toward being solved elsewhere for me to make much of a difference.

Parked in Louisburg

We finally crossed into Kansas, and turned north in Fort Scott. The cross wind turned into a lovely tail wind, and we rolled north into Louisburg, KS, the closest we could get to Kansas City. The campground is attached to a theatre that does a show every Saturday night, and most of the campers come here for the show, I think. We have other plans.

Moving on up

On the beach in Carrabelle

Leaving Bushnell and hot, hot Florida days behind, we tripped to Carrabelle, FL, a little town west of the Big Bend in the Florida Panhandle. We found an Escapees discount park which just happened to have a site available right on the water's edge. We really enjoyed sitting in our captain's chairs, drinking coffee in the morning, watching the few fisherpersons go out in their inflatable boats, or watching the sandpipers on the beach just below our front bumper.

We also walked along the beach. It's quite a drastic change to watch tides only go up and down by a couple feet, after the 9 foot tides at Jekyll and the 11 foot tides in Maine.


Tricolored heron

One morning visitor we had on the beach was this tricolored heron that was dong some fishing of his own. He had an unusual way of stretching his neck out and turning his head on its side, presumably to see better in the light chop on the water. He didn't appear to be very successful catching fish, but then, he probably eats like a bird.



Saint George Island Light

On Saturday, we hopped into the car and tripped along the shore into Carrabelle, then on to Eastport and the new bridge to Saint George Island. There's a state park on Saint George that we wanted to stay in, but it was full, full, full. We had reservations to go there a couple years ago, and it's still on our list. Where the bridge lands on the island is touristy, but the state park is a wonderful beach park at the eastern end. Small campground, though, only 60 sites.

On Monday, we left Carrabelle with a plan to get the the Escapees park in Summerdale, AL. But we ran into severe thunderstorm, tornado and flood watches and warnings after about 40 miles. We hunkered down in Quincy, FL, in a ratty just-off-the-highway campground for the night. On Tuesday, we rolled into Summerdale, and ended up staying 3 nights there. We got some of our RV repairs and updates done, and Consuelo spent some time with other pine needle basketmakers.

On Friday, with potentially severe weather again on the horizon, we left Summerdale and got as far as Jackson, MS, where we snuggled into the corner of a Flying J parking lot for the night. Our plan had been to get to Vicksburg, but we had a late start.

On Saturday, we travelled to Hot Springs, Arkansas. Since much of this trip was to be on US roads, I was concerned that it would take too long. But the US roads were mostly 4 lane, and traffic was relatively light, so travel was nearly as fast as on the interstates.

Hot Springs Bath House

On Sunday, we toured the Hot Springs National Park. Hot Springs was the first natural resource to be protected by the US fereral government in the 1830s. In the 1920s, it became a National Park.

The park encompasses the hot springs themselves, producing thousands of gallons of clear, clean water at 143 degrees F every day. Said to cure ailments, hot bathing facilities were built to serve the tourists, and the town grew up around this industry. Famous people and gangsters made their way here to relax.

Consuelo in the shower

The luxurious Fordyce Baths were the most luxurious of the bath parlors built, and the building is now the home of the NP Visitor's Center. Catering to larger and larger crowds, the bath parlors added massages, medical devices, exercise machines, and fresh air to their regimen of treatment. The wonder drugs developed by the medical industry caused the decline of hot springs as a primary cure, but the National Park mission still includes managing the output of the springs.

April

Naples Wedding

It's April, and we've left Jekyll Island. The first thing we needed to do was go to a wedding in Naples, FL. Consuelo's nephew Gabe was getting married. Consuelo made origami boxes as favors, and little hand fans with the program info on them. That was a very smart thing to do, since it was an outdoor wedding in 85 degree heat.

My job was to take pictures for a digital guest book. I set up in front of a hedge at one side of the pavilion, and captured folks before they sat down. At least, that was the plan. Because of the heat, everybody stayed indoors until the time for the wedding, so I missed a few in the rush. But it turned out pretty well.

Sand Hill Crane

To avoid the cost of driving the RV to Naples, I parked it at the Escapees park in Bushnell, FL, about 40 miles south of Ocala. The park has a pair of sand hill cranes that wander around looking for food. They are beautiful creatures.

After the wedding, we returned to Bushnell and stayed for a few days since our friends the Lohrmanns were staying there. Otherwise, this park is pretty deserted at this time of year. Most of the winter guests have moved north already.

I managed to get our Internet satellite up and running, though it took me a while. I'm so out of practice after 5 static months in Maine, and never setting it up on Jekyll.

And I finally got our solar panels mounted on the roof, with Wayne Lohrmann's help. I have yet to find the wire that Alfa supposedly ran to connect them into the system, but they're out of the storage compartment, anyway.

We also filed our taxes while we were here.

Florida Butterfly

For diversion, we went to a wildlife area about 10 miles from the campground to hike and for Consuelo and Mary Jo to pick up long leaf pine needles to make baskets from. I expected to see some wildlife, but the small lake in the middle of the park was virtually dry, even though we had received an inch of rain a couple days before. The Southeast remains very dry, at least south of Georgia.

Today we pack up and begin our long journey toward Alaska. It's going to take a while.