Friday, June 6, 2008

Branson, Here We Are!

It's been an interesting couple of days in our lives. We were in Nevada, Missouri for 3 nights, and two of them we were awake most of the night, waiting the storms out. Last night we finally pulled in our slides because the wind was so strong. I kept wondering if my looking into family history in the area was stirring up the ghosts of my ancestors and they were thrashing about!


Here's a typical old falling-down barn, somewhere around Nevada.




We had a wonderful evening last night, visiting with a distant cousin of mine, Jens, and his wife, Sheila. I've corresponded a couple of times with Jens, so it was nice to meet him in person. Our great-great grandparents were siblings. I'm not sure what the correct genealogical term is, I call it shirt-tail cousins. They are very gracious folks who provided a wonderful supper and a great evening of comparing notes on our branches of the family.



We were both pretty groggy this morning after the stormy night, but managed to get underway around 9:15. The trip to Branson was about 150 miles. We drove through wind and rain. At one point we got a high pressure alarm on one of the car tires, but we think it was because the transmitter got wet. These transmitters aren't supposed to react to the moisture, but we seem to have an alarm every time we get into heavy rain. We got it cleared and continued on the way.



We stopped and topped off the fuel tank for $4.459 per gallon. Not a bad price! Gee, I never thought I'd be happy to pay that much for fuel.

This is a spot along the highway. There's an egret in the middle of the picture.



We passed the remains of a pretty bad accident on Highway 65 south between Springfield and Branson.


We arrived at America's Best C ampground around 12:30. Linda and Howard were already here, and they're parked right behind us. Linda came over for a quick hello and then we got our setup routine going.


We took a break from the work when Linda came over and Jim "forced" a beer into her hand. She visited until Howard came looking for her, she had to get back to work! Jim then took the car over to the campground car wash. While he was gone, Bob and Molly rode by on their bikes!


I'd put a pork roast in the crockpot to cook on the way here. We've been running the inverter while on the road, so I had electricity to cook with. I had a package of barbeque sauce mix, so we had pulled pork sandwiches for linner. I took the leftovers over to the Paynes since they hadn't eaten yet.

We're parked in site #88, with Linda and Howard in the row behind us.



We're set up, cleaned up and getting caught up on mail and business. I've been so focused on doing family research that other activities have fallen by the wayside. Now it's time to get with the party!

3 comments:

dreamjosie said...

Glad you survived the bad weather. Saw that you were one of the first to arrive for the rally. We hope you have a fabulous time. Give our regards to everyone there. We'll follow you reports as internet connections permit. (We have NONE at the moment and have to go into Jasper to internet cafes.)

Stay safe and have a great time.

Jo & Fred

Peggy n David said...

I am SO glad you didn't get swept away in a tornado or flood. Don't know what is up with this weather. Your linner sounded great - gave me a good idea for tomorrow :)

Mark and Dortha said...

Glad you are settled in. We are looking forward to finally catching up with you guys. See you Tuesday and save some of the fun for us.