Hello from Branson, MO

Hello from Branson, MO

Drafted Tuesday evening,  October 7, 2014   (First post of this travelogue)

Posted Thursday morning 10/9/14

We are at an Eagle Bus rally at the Branson Lakeside RV Park (map)

We left Evergreen on Sunday 9/28 about 9:30 so that we could get to Goodland, Kansas in time to watch the races.  We stayed at the Walmart that we have stopped at several times in the past.  On Monday we drove to El Dorado, KS and again stayed at the Walmart.  

From El Dorado, it was a short 150 mile drive to Nevada, MO where we stayed at…… Walmart.  We arrived early enough to do quite a bit of genealogy/grave decorating.  This is the area where Pat’s grandfather was raised and there are quite a few of his relatives buried in various cemeteries.  We made a large loop up through Butler and down to a cemetery in Virgil City.  That “loop” is about 200 miles.

On Wednesday we drove about 150 miles to Branson.  On the way, we had an issue with the tow dolly and had to unload the car and drive it the last 35 miles or so.

The Eagle rally was well attended.  I think the count was 21 Eagle buses and an assortment of other types of buses and motor homes (maybe 30 units total).

This post is getting old, so I will end it here and update the events in Branson in a couple of days.

Hello from Branson, MO (part two)

Hello from Branson, MO (part two)

Tuesday evening   October 9, 2012   (Third travelogue of this trip).

As noted last time, our Eagle Rally is in Branson.  To be specific, we are in the Branson Lakeside RV Park (map).  We have an Eagle rally at this location every two years.  This rally was extended to seven days this time and that has been great.  It gives us time to relax, and time to do tourist things.

As you could probably tell, the last post was a bit rushed.  I wanted to get some details documented, but we were rushing out the door to see the Gatlin Brothers.  We got half price tickets and the show was good. 

One of the details that I left out of the last post was a mention of the great catered barbeque dinner we had Wednesday evening.  It was a great way to start the rally.

Friday the men went to Springfield to tour a diesel engine rebuilding facility, have lunch in a very unique diner (Caspers), shopped around at the Grizzly tool store (fabulous) and then went to Byron Pigg's wonderful shop that has all kinds of bus memorabilia and projects.  The women went to a tea room in Ozark.  Some of the ladies then went to do some shopping at an antique mall.  That evening we had a hamburger cookout.  Just a quick note on Caspers.  It is a small quonset hut building that serves great greasy hamburgers and bowls of chili.

Saturday evening we went to a wonderful dinner at the College of the Ozarks.  The school is very unique.  The student pay their way through school by working.  They have a huge dining room that serves wonderful gourmet food.  The meal is prepared and served by the students.

Sunday we had our potluck dinner – always a great feast!

During the days, we relaxed, talked buses and went to restaurants.  I led a couple of roundtables and Pat had a stamping class.

There are 31 coaches at the rally – 26 were Eagles.  The coaches came from 18 states.  As usual, there were some really fabulous Eagles that just make your mouth water.  Given the cost of fuel (over $4 per gallon), that is a great turnout

The weather has not been too bad.  We had a couple of days of rain, but it did not dampen the fun.  It has been quite cool at night.  At least one night got down to 32 degrees!  Fortunately, we are cozy in our bus.

Now, for the highlight of the trip so far:  last night we went to see Mickey Gilley.  It was a wonderful show!!!  He had a terrible fall in 2009 and was paralyzed.   He has recovered quite a bit of his mobility.  His voice remains strong, but his hands are quite deformed and he is no longer able to play the piano.   He puts on a very unique show.  He is talks about his career with lots of humor intermixed with wonderful singing.  He has to do part of the show in a chair, but you really don't notice it.  We had seats in the fourth row (center) and could see his wonderful expressions.  He seems to really enjoy entertaining the audience.  He made sure that he sang all of his 17 number one hits. 

The Mickey Gilley Show

Tomorrow we will say goodby to the group and head to Nevada, MO for some genealogy activity and I will get to see what is supposed to be a wonderful IHC truck collection.

That is all for now.

Hello from Branson, MO

Hello from Branson, MO

Thursday afternoon   October 4, 2012   (Second travelogue of this trip).

Monday we drove a  bit under 400 miles and stayed at a Wal Mart in Iola, KS  Our route took us to Salina, KS and then south on I 135 to just north of Wichita where we turned east and took US 54.  US 54 is a nice road and took us through some rolling hills and great farm land.  In spite of the drought this year, the grass and hay was green.  We could see that the crops had suffered.

On the drive, we hit several small rain storms.  Not a lot of rain – just enough to mess up the bus and car.

Our drive from Iola took us through the towns of Nevada and El Dorado Springs, MO.  Those towns are significant in that they are locations where some of Pat's relatives (several generations removed) are buried.  We will return to the area after the rally and before we head to Iowa.

Tuesday, we arrived in Branson in the early afternoon.  I gave the bus and car a quick wash and we got settled in.  The rally started yesterday and will go for seven days.

That is all of now

Hello from Colby, KS

Hello from Colby, KS

Sunday evening   September 30, 2012   (First travelogue of this trip).

We are on our last trip of the year in the bus.  We are headed to Branson, MO for the Eagle Bus Rally and then to Iowa to hang out with the relatives.

We really had to scramble to get ready for this trip.  I had quite a few things going on this week, we had a few family things and then Pat went to the Women of Faith event (her birthday gift from the girls).  In addition, Pat had quite a bit of Stampin'Up! things going on.  I had some bus projects that needed to get done.  As a result, we did quite a bit of last minute packing of the bus – something we try to avoid on departure day.  That said, we were able to leave about 11:00 AM and drove a bit over 250 miles.  We needed to get settled in so that we can watch the races tonight.

We are at the Wal Mart in Colby, KS (map).

We are getting pretty good mileage on the bus.  Right now, I show over 10 MPG on this trip.  That is a bit optimistic as I need to put a fuel correction in the computer, but it is well over 9 MPG actual.  We are pulling a much lighter vehicle (PT Cruiser on a tow dolly vs our service truck that weighed over 9K pounds).  The weather on our route was great and we did not need to run the air conditioner and that helps.  Plus, I have slowed down from 68 to 66 MPH.  That does not sound like much, but it can have a significant impact since the wind drag on our big barn door is a square function of the speed.

That is all for now.

Hello from Carthage, MO

Hello from Carthage, MO

Saturday Afternoon October 9, 2010 (third travelogue of this trip).

We are currently at a bus rally in Carthage, MO (map).  This is a small very informal rally that is held each year to coincide with the “Apple Butter Makin' Days” in Mt Vernon, MO (http://www.mtvernonchamber.com/mt_vernon_applebuttermakindays.php). We were at this rally two years ago and were walking to the Court House square when Pat twisted her ankle on a rock in the street and broke a bone in her foot. As a result we did not make it to the fun event. We plan to go today.

Yesterday I went to Colaw RV Salage (http://www.colawrvsalvage.com/). It declares itself the largest RV Salvage yard in the US. I walked through acres of motorhomes that are being parted out. It was amazing how many were fire damaged vehicles. That is really scary. They are pretty “proud” of their parts and I came away empty handed.

Last night the hosts of this rally served a wonderful dinner of smoked ribs and chicken. Attendees brought side dishes. It sounds like we will do the same thing tonight.

When we get to the bus rallies, we are so busy having fun that I don't have time to post a blog. So, I will try to catch up a bit on things that have occurred since my last post.

In the last post, I mentioned that we were going to detour to go to a cemetery. The cemetery is located close to El Dorado Springs, MO. That was not a big detour from our direct route to Springfield. However, that detour was “interesting”. Pat had found a map of the cemetery location, and I put the coordinates in our GPS system. Looked like a pretty straight forward trip – NOT. First of all, the GPS took us on some very narrow highways. Then when we got close to the cemetery location the GPS told us to make the last turn to the left off of the narrow road we were on. Turns out that it was a very narrow, rutted dirt road. We had to continue without making the turn, but that road turned to a dirt road. We had to unhook and turn the bus around at a “T” in the road. We then drove a round about route to El Dorado Springs and left the bus in a shopping center. We were then able to drive to the cemetery in the truck. It was a neat setting and we were able to find Pat's great grandparent's graves. In addition we were able to somewhat recreate a photo she found of her grandparents standing by grave with her standing in the same location.

We then traveled to Springfield and stayed in a Wal Mart. We unhooked the truck and drove to some very long-term friends. Jack and I went to high school at roughly the same time, but did not meet until we were both working at Gates. Jack left Gates and went to work for a competitor (Dayco) but we stayed in touch. Indeed, we see them whenever we get to Springfield or when Jack and I go to Bonneville together. As usual, we had a great visit.

Tuesday we traveled to Branson for the Eagle Bus Rally. This rally has been held every other year for several years. We have been coming since 2002. It is held at the Branson Lakeside RV Park (map). I think there were 30 Eagle buses at the rally. The rally is somewhat low key. We had a barbecue dinner Tuesday evening and a pot luck dinner on Thursday evening. Wednesday evening the group split up and went to various restaurants in the Branson Landing area. We went with a group to a Mexican food restaurant that was OK, but expensive. Wednesday the group went to the afternoon Pierce Arrow show. They have an extremely funny comedian.

I have posted a couple of pictures that were taken by one of the Eagle's International members (Paul Lawry).  They were taken  from a scenic train that tours the area. 

 Branson Lakeside RV Park from a scenic train on the bridge

 View of some of the Eagle Buses.  Ours is in the lower center behind the trailer

Friday, seven of the Eagles headed in a caravan to this rally.

That is all for now.