Friends, Fun and Food...LOTS of Food!!! That is how I would describe our latest adventure. We continued on in our trek to meet up with friends and family. We left KC on our way to Lake of the Ozarks to spend 12 days with Rick's buddies from the Army. We were originally slated to meet up at the 11th ACR Blackhorse reunion in Las Vegas but an unexpected medical issue sidelined one of his friends, so we brought the reunion to him in MO. That's just what troopers do. We try to meet up every year at the Blackhorse reunions to reconnect. Next year is in CO Springs, which we are looking forward to visiting again! We booked our stay at Lake of the Ozarks State Park, which is a really nice park with a marina and boat rentals. The campground is well kept and the sites are really nice, except some are a bit unlevel. A bit is being kind for our site! Our poor Solitude had to kneel down and even with the front being on the ground, we were still a bit unlevel front to back but we made it work. We had 50 amp hookup and a water spigot behind us, across the road. Mid-week we combined hoses with our friends next door and were able to refill the fresh water tanks. Thankfully we had our portable waste tote, affectionately called "Lucy Loo", to empty tanks. As a full timer, we focus on things like this and fortunately, with having Lucy Loo, we have more flexibility in booking sites without full hookups for longer periods of time. Should Lucy Loo ever take a crap, haha, see what I did there, we have our eye on a fancy "Lula Loo" from Camco Rhino that has beefier wheels and has gotten great reviews. We enjoyed alot of time relaxing and chatting at the campground...and lots of eating!!! Everyone brought their A game for food! Even the deer wanted to see what we were doing. We took a day to rent a pontoon from one of the state park locations and get out on the lake. It was a beautiful weekday, in which the lake was a bit quieter from the weekend warriors. Little did we know that we were in for a show near the Ft Leonardwood Lake of the Ozarks Rec Area portion of the lake. They were conducting Engineer Sapper Training , which is water insertion training to clear beach obstacles. They jumped out of a Chinook into the water with a full pack and equipment and swim to shore undetected. It was thrilling to see the Chinook fly low over the lake and hover soo low to the water. We also took a day trip to Ha Ha Tonka State Park which is on the south side of the Lake. This park has several hiking trails with many geologic features such as sinkholes, caves, natural bridge and historic castle remains! This 60 room, european castle was built back in 1905 by a wealthy KC businessman, Robert M. Snyder. The building was halted a year later when Snyder dies in one of the first auto accidents in MO. His son finished the castle in 1922 and was eventually leased as a hotel. In 1942, the castle caught fire by a spark from a chimney and the carriage house also caught fire that day. In 1976 the water tower was set on fire by vandals. The stone work on the buildings was amazing as he brought masons from Europe to assist in construction. Views from the castle on the rocky bluff, overlooking the lake were stunning. It was really a neat place to visit! We also took time for a nice dinner out at JB Hooks overlooking the lake. We started early for happy hour out on the patio overlooking the lake but before too long we were back inside as the storms came over the lake. Dinner was amazing and we all left stuffed and happy! If you are ever in the Lake of the Ozarks area, this is a must stop! They have a great bar atmosphere with live music. On one of our final days, we took a drive to check out the Osceola Cheese Store to get some cheese. Little did we know they had samples of every cheese, which was at least 40 different kinds! They originally started out by making their cheeses on location but after they sold the cows, they gave their recipes to a dairy in WI to make their cheese for them. No wonder the cheese was soo good, it was made in WI!!! Even though we tasted just about every cheese they had, and some wine, we did save room for lunch at the Dam Restaurant and Bar, in Warsaw, MO which was overlooking the Harry Truman Reservoir and next door to a swinging bridge. After again eating some great food (see a trend here for alot of food focus), we decided to check out the bridge to walk off our lunch. It was originally built in the early 1900's and rebuilt in 1924 by the same man after a tornado destroyed it. One of our final nights, we had a wonderful italian dinner at Kirk and Betsy's house in nearby Jefferson City. Prior to dinner we stopped by the MO capitol building to take in the MO museum inside. Unfortunately the capitol was undergoing some extensive exterior renovations and was completely tarped. The museum is free and was nicely done. One side was MO natural resources and the other was MO history as well as the role MO played in the military engagements and wars throughout the years. They even had a beautiful brass model of the USS MO and the actual bell from the ship. Dinner was fantastic and again we all enjoyed each other's company and ate too much! We also got pictures of the troopers with their sassy Cavalry stetsons. Thank you Kirk & Betsy for a wonderful evening!! Our 12 days with friends passed by all too quickly and we are already planning our get together next year in CO Springs and a meet up with Bill and Denise while we are in TX later this year. Up next, making our way across the midwest to family and an upgrade on our rv. SHOP AMAZON HERE
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We left the Mill Creek campground around 9am on Thursday to beat the full heat of the day. The humidity was certainly in full force at over 70% for the last couple days so we packed up most of the outside items the night before. The drive up to the St Louis area was uneventful and we escaped most of the construction traffic on I-44. Our main objective for this leg of our trip was to visit with family in the STL area. Rick's sister and brother-in-law as well as 4 nieces and nephews and kids live there. We arrived at Dr Edmund A Babler Memorial State Park mid-afternoon and quickly set up as temps and humidity were also sweltering at 98 and 115 respectively! While the RV was cooling down, we went to take cold showers at the bath house. When we returned the RV was down into the mid 80"s and providing a little bit of relief. We decided to run out and get groceries for our family dinner we were having on Saturday and let the RV continue to cool down. We also drove through some of the park but that was cut short by a thunderstorm and tornado warning in the area. Lucky for us, it went a bit more east and we escaped any severe weather. Our stay here at Babler state park was surprisingly wonderful, despite the heat. First off, MO is one of the few states that do not charge an entrance fee as a good portion of their funding comes from the state sales tax. Secondly, the campground was very well kept and although we did not venture out on any trails, they had plenty, including a paved 2 mile path from the campground. They also have several day use areas throughout the park and operate a fantastic camp for disabled individuals as well as summer camps for the kids. Their visitor center is very nice, with several live and stuffed animals representative of the area. On Friday we decided to spend the day as tourists and also try to avoid the heat of a 100 degree day. Our decision was easy, we went to the Meramec Caverns where the temp is always in the low 60's. It felt strange to be donning sweatshirts to fight off the chill while on the surface, you tried to stay cool! We have visited a few caves in the past but this one was huge! The rooms were very large and there were underground streams throughout the cave. The tour ended in an amazing "theater"room where they had installed stadium seating to view the beautiful cave sculptures and a very well done light show tribute to America. You can see a video of the show here. Along the way the tour guide told you not only about the caves formations but the history of the cave which included being used as a hideout for Jesse James and his brother as well as a saltpeter factory that the Union soldiers used to make ammunition during the Civil War. It really is a must see if you are in the area. In addition to the cave tours, they have zip lines, panning for gold, river float trips and a campground. We will leave you with some pictures from our tour, although they really cannot do it justice. After our cave tour, we made our way back to the campground and got dressed up to go celebrate the closing of our house. After our cave tour, we received a text from our realtor that all had gone well at closing and all transfers were completed. That was probably the easiest closing we have ever had and we owe alot of that to our fantastic realtor, Peggy Wester! She was great to work with, explained all options and details thoroughly and kept me sane when strange things popped up from the buyers financing company out of state. I picked a nice restaurant on The Hill in STL. For those not familiar with STL, The Hill is the Little Italy of STL and has some amazing Italian restaurants and shops. I chose Charlie Gitto's, as I had dined here once before on a business trip with co-workers and really enjoyed the food and atmosphere. It looks like it would come straight out of The Sopranos and the food and service does not disappoint! I was however a bit nervous driving and finding parking in the area. It is difficult with a car, not to mention we were driving the big F350 dually with an 8ft bed! We actually ended up valet parking as it was complimentary and the middle age valet seemed confident he had space for it and could maneuver it. I would have thought twice if it was a younger kid with less driving experience, but we were in good hands and the truck came out unscathed. We started out with an amazingly fresh tomato and mozzarella salad and a bottle of wine the very savvy server recommended that would pair well with our dinners. Rick had the special of the night, which was scallops over an asparagus risotto. I had the veal saltimboca and both dinners were amazing! Since the server new we were celebrating a milestone in our new lifestyle, he brought us an amazing slice of a berry spongecake that topped off the night. I highly recommend this restaurant for anyone looking for a special place in STL to go. Sorry no pics of the food. It was soo good and I couldn't put the fork down long enough to snap a picture. When we got back to the campground, it had cooled off enough to go for a walk. It was a beautiful night and we walked some of the campground. There are some sites in one loop that are big rig friendly, but beware of low hanging trees. Except for one site that looked to have family over from another site, the campground was amazingly quiet. As we were walking, the park staff stopped to tell us about an open house they were having the following day at the visitor center which would include refreshments and a wild bird show. On Saturday, we decided to go up to the visitor center to check out the open house and bird show. We talked to staff about the park and other MO parks as well as workamping opportunities in the campgrounds. Their hosts receive a full hook up site and a generous laundry allowance for machines that are available to them at the park. We did take an application since we really liked how the state parks are kept up and the support the hosts receive. We then went in to find a seat for the wild bird show that was put on by the World Bird Sanctuary from STL. They brought several owls, hawks and the grand finale, a bald eagle. They walked around the room with each of them and you got to see them up close. It was such an interesting session and learned lots about these amazing creatures. They did fly an owl and a hawk in the room, which unnerved a couple women in the audience and that turned out to be quite funny for the rest of us. Saturday even the family came over and we had a great time catching up, showing them the RV and talking about what our life would now look like and all the things we had to consider, such as how would we get our mail and things. We had a great night catching up and eating some good food. Sunday was again going to be another hot day so we packed up early and then spent some time talking to a fellow Grand Design owner parked across from us about our rigs and camping experiences. They even commented on a great camping spot they just saw on one of the Grand Design FB pages that someone had posted and low and behold it was our picture from Mill Creek campground! What a small world! It is amazing that wherever you go, you find like minded campers who are friendly and willing to help out and offer tips on everything regarding camping. We look forward to crossing paths with them again! SHOP AMAZON HERE
We participate in the Amazon affiliate program and we appreciate you using our Amazon link above to make your Amazon purchases. It does not cost you anything additional and helps us to support our blog. You can even save our link as a favorite and use that whenever you need to make an Amazon purchase. Thank you!!! We arrived at Mill Creek Campground Monday around 2pm to find our mini-reunion group had just pulled in as well. Mill Creek is a wonderful Corp of Engineers park on Table Rock Lake near Branson, MO. We had planned this trip with friends way back last year and booked our sites just as the window opened to make sure we had sites together. Little did we know, we booked the most coveted sites in the park out at the end of the peninsula. We were surrounded by water on 3 sides and had great views of the lake activity. The sunsets were also pretty amazing and each evening offered a different palate to photograph. This park is was quiet and well kept. Bathrooms and showers were always clean and the sites were well cared for. We even spent some time talking to the hosts and restroom attendants about bidding for COE positions. They were a wealth of knowledge and we feel more confident on accurately bidding on those in the future. One thing we did not like however is that they said the park here requires a three year commitment. At this time, that is not something we are looking to commit to as we want to get out and travel. We know many other COE parks do not require this long of a committment so a COE workcamping position is not out of the question. We spent alot of time relaxing with friends enjoying the view. We did not have set agendas and had a very relaxed timeline. Our boys took their first road trip and came down Thursday evening to Tuesday morning. It was great to have them join us and the group was happy to see them again. The main focus of this visit was a mini-reunion of sorts for Rick and his Army buddies, Kirk and Bill. They were stationed together in West Germany (Fulda, Germany) in the mid 80's as part of the 11th Armored Calvary, "The Guardians of the Frontiers of Freedom". This was the time just prior to the wall coming down between East and West Germany. Every year their entire unit has a reunion in June and we have attended many in the past years. This year the reunion was in Boston, and unfortunately our travels and timeline would not lend to us being out east so we decided to plan a mini-reunion in a central location for the small group. Bill and Denise hailing from Texas, Kirk & Betsy from Northern Missouri and us from Wisconsin, Kirk and Betsy scouted locations and found this gem of a park in southern MO near Branson. We hoped to have a couple other troopers join us but plans did not line up. Hopefully we will see them next year at the reunion in Las Vegas. As you can see by the pictures, good times were had by all and some of the ol' libations from the years in Germany flowed freely. Outside of relaxing and reminiscing, we did plan a couple excursions. Some successful, some not. On Wednesday we ventured to Top of the Rock Ozark Heritage Preserve. This is an amazing location perched above Table Rock Lake. It was developed by Bass Pro Shops Johnny Moris and has an Arnold Palmer golf course and driving range, a golf cart tour of the area and caves, a Ozarks Natural History museum, as well as Big Cedar Lodge and amazing restaurants and shops. We took the Cave and Nature Trail golf cart tour and were able to get a military discount. They do charge $10 for parking but you can then use the $10 coupon they give you to apply it to any purchase, including the golf cart tour. They offer 2 and 4 seat golf carts , so our group of 6 took one of each. The views were amazing and the property was a very natural, but beautifully manicured setting. The bridges were Amish built and it looked as if they were going to be building another one over a ravine. This was a self guided tour and you could take as long as you wanted and had plenty of pull off parking spots to take in the scenery. Several of the waterfalls pooled and flowed over the golf cart path, making it more adventurous but never compromising safety. The paths were paved and roped to ensure there was no off-roading, much to the chagrin of the guys. The tour also had a cave that you drove through and had a drive up "Bat Bar" that served beverages. Of course, we couldn't pass that up! After the tour, we took the shuttle to the other end of the preserve to see the golf course, restaurants, shops and sink hole. Yep, you read that right, they discovered a sink hole in 2015 after some heavy rains, right next to the driving range. The Cathedral of Nature sink hole started out as 70 feet wide and 40 feet deep and is now 350 wide and 200 feet deep. There is some great footage here and more information on the journey of this amazing discovery. There is also a beautiful chapel, perched on a cliff, overlooking the lake that no doubt hosts amazing weddings. The entire property is amazing, thoughtfully done and a beautiful tribute to the area and its ancestors. We loved it soo much that we went back on Friday with the boys and took the nature trail tour again and also went thru the natural history museum. We were all amazed at the extensive collection amassed in this one location and how well the history of the Ozarks was told throughout. Thursday, before the boys arrived, we went out to check out one of the oldest icons in Branson, Dick's 5 and 10 in downtown Branson. It reminded us of the old Woolworth's, minus a malt & ice cream counter. They had everything in there and more. After everyone purchased their mementos, we headed over to The Farmhouse restaurant for some good ole home cooking. On Sunday, the group decided to head up to Springfield to check out the worlds largest Bass Pro Shop, Museum and Aquarium. Since I was a bit under the weather, I stayed back to keep an eye on the homestead. Everyone had a great time and there was soo much to see. It was a day of lots of walking and seeing some amazing things. Here is just a few of the pictures from the museum and aquarium. Since the boys and Denise and Bill were heading out Tuesday morning, we decided to do a jet boat ride in Branson on Monday. Since none of us were really fond of doing the Branson strip and battling the crowds and traffic, we were excited to see that the jet boat took off from Branson Landing, which is on the "quieter" side of Branson or what they also call Old Branson. I had called ahead to make sure they had room for us and was assured there was plenty of seats on the 4:45pm ride and to come on down. Well due to the curvy roads and traffic, that is a 30 to 40 minute journey. Once there, I called again to confirm their kiosk location as Branson Landing is an open air shopping and dining district. They gave us directions and again, said to come on down. Once we got to the kiosk, we were told that they cancelled the 4:45pm ride as they did not have enough people to go out and the next ride would be the following day. It seems they need at least 20 people and we only had 8. Interestingly enough though, several other groups came and inquired as well and were told the same thing. Doing the simple math, with those other inquiries we probably would have had enough people. We figured they really just did not want to go out again and turned everyone away. WOW, that was a disappointment! Not wanting it to be a wasted trip, we decided to drown our sorrows in some chocolate and ice cream! We then went back to the campground and enjoyed a wonderful steak and corn dinner and then smore's later around the fire. To cap off a wonderful evening, we were treated to fireworks across the the lake at a local resort. Tuesday was an early morning with a 6am departure for the boys and a 9:30 departure for Denise and Bill. They each have a long way to travel and the boys are doing another one day roadtrip back home to WI, which takes about 10-11 hours. They took a different route back to see some new scenery and avoid St Louis. Can't wait to hear about their adventures when they get home. As for the rest of our time here, we will be doing some more serious R&R! Tuesday afternoon we are going to a local farmers market and then a quiet dinner back at the campground. Wednesday we will be doing some laundry and other household chores to ready for our trip to St. Louis to visit with family. SHOP AMAZON HERE
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