Saturday, September 5, 2015

TRIAL RUN: 2 BRANSON, MO

August 21, 2015

Those of you who follow my blogs on a regular basis know we go to Branson, MO often.  Generally we drive over for a long weekend, go to Silver Dollar City for a couple of days using our annual pass and then go home.

I love SDC, but the shows don’t change that often and those hills can really put a strain on fat old ladies like myself. In fact the last few times we have gone we have either taken our electric scooter, or rented one and then dh and I have tagged teamed using it.  Neither of us is as spry as we use to be. 

This trip we have not been to the city yet.  We may go Sunday, but then again we might not.  Instead we took our time getting to the Indian Point Corps of Engineers campground arriving in the late afternoon on Thursday, yesterday. 

We had reserved a spot that we have stayed in many times before because we knew it to be fairly level, easy in and out and close to the bathroom.  It is the perfect site to practice parking this longer trailer in. Six foot can make a world of difference when maneuvering a fifth wheel. So we want to practice in an easy to access spot a few times and then work on a more difficult spot in preparation for whatever situation we may find ourselves in the future.

The only drawback to this campground is the fact there is no sewer hook-up, which means we either have to be very mindful of how much gray and black water we put in the tanks, tear down camp and go to the dump station (not an option where we are concerned), or learn how to dump at the campsite into our portable honey wagon the dealership gave us as an apology for some of the hassle we had in our purchase due to their employees. 

We are combining the first and possibly the last options.  The second one would just be too much work, as you can see by the photo below. So having the bath room nearby is great. Unfortunately it is a drive to the shower house.  So we will probably HW the grey water, because I like my own shower.
.
Thursday evening the weather was so wonderful, crisp and fall like.  We opened the windows in lieu of turning on the air conditioners, which we already knew worked and enjoyed the ambiance of the campground.

This also allowed us to see how good the cross ventilation was in the camper, and learn which exhaust fans would best draw in cool air when wanted.

Maybe it is all the years of rendezvous we did, or basic camping as we were growing up, but we love the smell of a campfire.  The still crisp air was filled with the smells of wood smoke, grilling burgers and the laughter of the other campers.  It was a perfect evening. 

Indian Point Campground is a fairly basic campground with large sites, most have water and electric.  They honor the America the Beautiful National Parks Pass, which means we are staying Thursday through Sunday night for $42 total.  People without the half price pass would pay roughly $84. 

If you need cable and internet, this is not the campground for you.  Neither are available, but for us simply relaxing and “piddling”, as my dh says for all the little chores he entertains himself with, around the campsite it is wonderful.

As I type this, to post after we return home on Monday or a week later depending on my schedule, He is adjusting the length of our awning lights so they can be better seen by other campers.

Earlier today I worked on re-arranging and better organizing the camper as he put up the flag and the solar lights for it, fixed our new “where have we been so far” USA map and hung it in the kitchen window along with other chores.

About 11:00 am we went to the College of the Ozarks in Hollister, MO, just a short drive away.

Our plan had been to have lunch at their restaurant and then go to the Ralph Foster Museum as well as tour the campus.  We ended up doing part of that today and may do the rest tomorrow. I’ll end this post here and start writing about our DIVINE lunch for post #3.



No comments:

Post a Comment