Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Branson MO, June 2017

                                                    Branson MO, June 2017

With the sun shining we left Toad Suck COE for a trip of 135 miles to Branson MO. We have reservations for 5 days at Branson Ridge TV Resort. We did extend for two more days. Blog on this park in another post. From here we move this the Escapees RV Park called Turkey Creek. We will blog on this park in another post.
   Now on to Branson. We have been here before and really enjoyed the town and area. This time we saw a couple of different shows. We saw the magnificent show Moses and the super show The Haygoods. Of course we didn't know how much to we would enjoyed them. But we had a little insight into Moses. It is in the Sight and Sound theater  which we are familiar with, as there is one in Lancaster PA. We had attended a few shows there and they were super. So we expected the same here in Branson. I wanted to see Moses part the red sea. It was done thru special effects . Looked like water. It was, and I am only guessing, some type of smoke. Unfortunately you could not take any pictures. It is one of those many things you have to see for yourself.

Front of theather


Beautiful statue in the lobby





   The Haygoods was a super variety show with everything from country to gospel to blue's to blue grass to rock and roll with a little dance thrown in the mix. Wow that was a long sentence. The group is made up of six brothers  and one sister. We were thoroughly entertained for about two hours. The show is in its 25 year and voted Brandon's number one show. The group has put on over 7000 shows.  Branson has quite a few theaters with some hosting a few different shows. We really enjoy Branson and the area.

The one brother is sitting down, you'll see him in the next photo, he had a broken knee


 The sixth brother sitting down



The banjo player on his motorized cooler


       Another day  we went to  the College Of The Ozarks for lunch. We were blown away by the looks of the Keeter Center where lunches and dinners are serve. We knew nothing about the college other then it was there. Well we where very impressed with the college and the meal. I could go on and on about all we learned about the school, but I'll just give a few details about the school. Its nick name is Hard Work U. See www.cofo.edu for more information. What really impressed us was no students pay any tuition , and the wonderful meal. Each student works 15 hours a week plus 40 hours a week during the summer. So much to tell. Here is what impressed us most, students Don't pay Tuition. They Work for an Education, Graduate without debt. It is a Christian school. Very interesting about the school, so if you want to learn more go to there web site and you can see over 100 different type jobs available to the students. Every student we met was super polite. What a wonderful feeling for our youth.
      We did tour the military museum at the Keeter center plus the mill, the greenhouse, the wonderful tractor museum, the bakery and the jelly kitchen. the Keeter Center where lunch and dinner are served, much of the food from vegetables to pork is raised on the campus. A true farm to fork restaurant. Again so many pictures it hard to choose just a few.



The dinning room


The copper plated ceiling


The front of the Keeter center. It is a restaurant, hotel, small museum, conference center and log construction


The mill where much of the flour that is use in  the bakery and restaurant is use. There is also some for sale


Weaving is one of the jobs

 inside the bakery


A chef going fresh pasta made for the restaurant. Some of the baking fruit cake tins. They make over 25,000 fruit cakes a year for sale. They are very good, not like the ones you regifted many years ago. This also where they make many flavor jellies in this kitchen. We couldn't leave without a large jar of apple butter.


The chapel is beautiful both inside and out.


The picture doesn't do the stain glass justice


      We also did the nice river walk at the landing, it must be about a mile long. There are over a hundred shops. The Bass Pro Shop is one of the anchor stores. There are also a few hotels and many restaurants. Hannah enjoyed the walk. Historic downtown Branson is a short walk from the landing . There is also a 5 and 10. Remember them. Not sure you can find much for 5 or 10 cents.
     Hannah did keep us from doing as much as we would have liked to see. Being so close to our neighbors in this park cause her to develop some bad habits. On one side there was a group of people who practiced singing and playing instrument for hours most days. That seems to be what set her in her bad habits. We did take her to see a veterinarian. A comming pill and a tranquilizer prescriptd. So far only tried the nerve pill. Seen very little effect so far. Maybe Linda and I need to take them. Really upsetting to our RV lifestyle. A least the money we are saving can go toward the vet bill and the drugs.
       The Shepherd of the Hills hatchery is a fun tour.  I don't recall the exact number of fish they take rise and release, but I was somewhere around half a million. This hatchery raises only trout. A result of the cold water release from Table Rock dam. We did get see trout from the fly stage to adult breeding size. They are released in the area when of mostly legal catchable size. Most of the trout raised are rainbow trout.




   

Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Branson Ridge RV Resort, Branson MO June 2017

                   Branson Ridge RV Resort (formerly Campton Ridge) Branson MO June 2017
We were here with our Coast to Coast membership. Cost $10. a night. A lot of amenities. The top part of the park has paved roads and sites. We waned to be away from the crowd.  We like the open feel and because of Hannah. We didn't want her barking and disturbing others  She is just getting use to rving. The road was paved and the sites gravel/grass/small rock. Our site was a pull thru, but steep in the front. We backed out. A fifth wheel got hung up on a site up from use trying to get in, at night. It wasn't fun for them. Also the sites down here are 30 amp full hookups. Great cable TV with probably 60 channels, Very dark at night. A lot of trees for welcome shade in the heat. Did I mention the heat is following us. Its been in the 90's. Lots of room to walk a dog. They do have a fenced of leash area in the top of the park.We were on the outskirts of Branson.


The entrance










 Don't be fooled by the nice openness of the sites, if they were all full it would be close together. But we did have a nice big area one side of us. There were 3 cabins in front of our rig.




Monday, June 19, 2017

Toad Suck COE Campground, June 2017, Arkansas

                                            Toad Suck COE Campground, Arkansas

 
      WOW drove 350 miles today. We usually only drive around 200-250 a day. And the worst thing about it was much of it was in rain, and sometimes in very heavy downpours. When it started to rain hard  were in an area we didn't want to stop. We just wanted to get passed the Little Rock area on Sunday with a lot less traffic. Just passed Little Rock the rain stopped. So it was find a place. What luck, we saw a sign for a Corp Of Engineer park. Got out our Corp directory and called to see if they had any spots available. YES come on in. The name of the park is Toad Suck.
 
Didn't get a picture of the sign for RV Park, but that's right "Toad Suck".
 
 
 
      By the time we checked in it started to rain. Not just a rain, did you ever hear that saying " it's raining cats and dogs", well this was more like cow's and horses. We just unhooked the car and backed in. When the rain let up a bit we hooked up the electric and water. But what a great site. Looking out our front window was the Arkansas River. We were a little concerned  about the height of the water. So I asked the workers at the entrance booth about the water levels.  He said he had been there since 2015 and never had to evacuate. But they had two warnings that they might have too. Well do we sleep with our clothes on? Not to worry there is high ground not far away. I slept very well, and the rain stopped. We did stay another day as rain was forecast all the next day for the area we were heading. I didn't want to drive in rain all day again when there is no rush to get someplace. It just drizzled a few times. Date of stay June 2017
 
Our site, a little wet, was 50 amp electric with water. We didn't need to dump because were we were on was a full hook up site and I'll dump when we get hook up. The roads and site were paved with a nice gravel area aside of the pad with a covered table. Our site was level side to side but ran downhill back to front. A lot of area to walk a dog. Nice clean bath house and showers. Nice spacing between sites. Cost with our America the Beautiful pass was $9. a night.
 
 
There are sites behind us, but there were empty.  


Hard to see, but all the gates holding the water back to create a lake above the dam are open

A tug pushing barges locking thru, just across the rive from our site

It look like a total of nine barges
 

A tug following

The two tugs


From the bridge above looking down at the entrance to the park



 
The other side of the park looking down from the bridge

The lock from the bridge
 
Look how much I have grown.
 
 

A neat mural, Linda is a mural junkie, she has pictures of 100's of murals from aroud the country







 
 

Monday, June 12, 2017

Dwyane Hayes COE Campground, plus

                                                          Dwayne Hayes COE Campground,

            We drove 268  miles to this park in Columbus MS. We call to see if they had any openings. The very nice person that answered said come on in. They had many openings. We did get a site backed up to the water.











Don't forget I'm here







      The river in this area was narrow. This is part of the Tennessee Tombigbee waterway. The tugboats and barges were very close. It was neat and enjoyable.











      The site and roads are paved. We had 50 amp electric and water in a very long back in site. We also had a  large area with pea gravel, with a picnic table, grille, firering and small table for your own grille. There were 3 bathhouses each with 2 w/d's very clean. All this for  $11.00 a night with our America The Great pass. Less then 10 miles from Columbus MS, which has a lot shopping and restaurants. This is the nicest COE park we ever stayed at. Much area to walk a dog. Good lightning at night. Most sites are very long large.I shouldn't tell you all or the next time I want to go there there may not be any sites. This was May 2017
     There is a lock and dam for this part of the waterway called Stennis Lock and Dam


Going into the lock



The water is rising

And out, many feet higher. We  left here and stopped at Wal-Mart for a few things an as we pulled into our site the tug that locked thru was going by our site.


     We went to visit the Waverley Estate in the area, unfortunately it was closed.




There were many large mushrooms, that's my foot for sizing.