ALL MOST LIKE GOING HOME-Camp 2

Because of various appointments back in Oklahoma in just two weeks we left Bull Shoals and went over to our home away from home, Branson, Missouri.  I have wrote a lot about Silver Dollar City (SDC) and the Indian Point COE campground in the past.  So I won’t describe the camp ground or park in detail on this post.  If you are interested in previous posts on either location simply click on the hyper links above.

The 2016 observations of changes at Silver Dollar City can be viewed here. 

Generally we camp in either site one or two, but both were previously booked due to both the blue grass festival going on in the park and the Indian Motorcycle Rally that was going on across the road from the COE.  Lucky for us most bikers don’t need a longer campsite so we were able to get site 5.

 I love this 50 amp site and it will be the one we will hope for in the future.  It is 60 ft. long, wide and so easy to back into I didn’t even have to spot Gary as he did so, he parked it perfect the first try.  Even better, for those of you with big rigs and/or a towed.  It has a separate parking spot for that as well.  It is also not far from the marina with its small café.  You can take a short walk to go to a package store across the way for the necessities of life.  The bathroom is nearby and so is the dumpster.  If you want a shower though you will probably want to drive to it.

There are four shower rooms in the shower house on the next area over.  They are large handicapped accessible rooms with all the facilities in that room.  They are unisex rooms.  Because there are only four I highly recommend you take your showers in off peak hours, although there is one other shower house in another section up the hill with four additional shower stalls.

Again these COE sites are water and electric only ($10 per night with the parks pass/$20 without) and what I consider the worst dump station set-up we have come across in all our years of travel as far as easy access.  It is a dual dump station on a narrow paved loop of dead end road that has some pretty good drop offs at various points that could easily do damage to your rig if you are not very cautious.

We have taken our 37 ft. Montana fifth wheel through it twice, it can be done, but it was VERY nerve wrecking to do so.  We’ve decided this trip that we wouldn't dump the trailer there, but take our chances that the next campground we go to will have a better set-up.  It is simply too nail biting with the longer rig to do it.  It wasn’t that easy when we had a 30 ft. one either.  Our first fifth wheel was 28 ft. and it wasn’t too bad. 

Obviously they have not changed the setup for dumping in the 40 years we have been coming here.  

So you can get an idea of some of the drop offs on the curves of the loop I have stepped down from the pavement to the ground with one foot to give you a depth concept.  You can see grooves in the pavement where some were not successful at negotiating the curves.  The hardest place is, of course the entrance/exit.  If another rig is waiting on that road you cannot get out until they move forward. 

The facility itself is pretty average, just bad for trailer under carriages if you make a turn too tight.

If you arrive before the designated check in site and your site is still occupied they well tell you to go up to this loop and park in the center of it until the site is available. Then you have to back out of the center of the loop and then negotiate those curves.  Something to consider if you are like us and tend to generally arrive early.

The day after we arrived we had to go back to Oklahoma for my brother in law’s memorial service.  He had died the Sunday before.  He will be sorely missed. Being at Branson the day before his service was bittersweet.  It brought back memories of him and his wife coming over here with us a few years ago.  We had a wonderful time on that trip. We were celebrating my sister in law being in remission. We were all so happy!

       

                                                Jim Patterson 1950 to 2016

The rain apparently followed us from Arkansas as it rained a good deal more while we were at Branson.  That didn’t deter us though from catching some good shows at SDCand going back to the College of the Ozarks campus for another good meal and to actually tour some of the grounds this time.  Both of these “events” will be highlighted in a separate post of course. 

Our tour of the campus included a great meal again at Dobyn's Restaurant  and Honor Park, the Ralph Foster Museum, Star School, and Lookout Point, The 911 Memorial and the Missouri Viet Nam Veterans Memorial with the adjoining Veterans Grove.

As well our trip to Dogpatch USA.  Not only will I write about it, but we were able to do a fly over with the quadcopter, with permission from the owner on two different days.  If you would like to see what remains of this old amusement park then and now please see my Dogpatch USA post.  

Unfortunately the Thursday before the holiday we watched in horror as shore patrol and emergency team divers looked for the occupant of an apparent boating accident.  I don’t know if they ever found the people either, they had not as of the time we left.  All I know is the boat was found with the motor running going in circles with a tube behind it. The ski rope for the tube was around the prop.  A very sad way to start the holiday weekend.

It rained every day for a part of the day or night, but didn’t discourage the holiday campers.  As you will find in most campgrounds, it was a family atmosphere as tents popped up like mushrooms all over the campground.

When you have mushrooms you sometimes have  unique critters show up.

Of course there were your usual robins, deer, vultures, squirrels (they sure grow them scrawny in Missouri, ours at home are fat little fellows, but then they are always into the bird feed and pet food), and one woodchuck that we saw.  Unfortunately because of the rain we didn’t get any good photos of any of them.

We were able to do a fly over with the quad copter at this campground with the permission of the park attendant. 

The peaceful time at this clean campground went quickly and soon we were headed back to Oklahoma for what we thought would be a short 10 day visit.  Surprise, surprise sproing!  Taylor Ferry South on Ft. Gibson lake had a surprise for us as far as the camper was concerned, post to come in the near future.

Jan who is currently in Oklahoma posting as fast as she can while she has wi-fi.

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.

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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.