Branson!

We left Independence this morning and drove south through the changing countryside. It was easy to tell when we were finally in the Ozarks--Ken had to put the truck in tow-haul mode to handle the steep hills.

We registered for 3 nights at Turkey Creek RV Resort, an Escapees park in Hollister, right across the river from Branson. We might stay longer, but we'll start with 3 nights.
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Truman Library and Museum

Today we traveled to Independence, MO, hometown of Give 'em Hell Harry Truman. We wanted to visit the Truman presidential museum and library. The boyhood home was a mile away from the museum and run by a different outfit; we decided not to bother to go see it. There was a fair amount of information on the atomic bomb decision, his being the first national leader to recognize Israel as a nation, creation of the United Nations, the Marshall plan (by his Sec'y of State), and the Berlin Airlift.

We stayed at the Campus RV Park, 406 S. Pleasant, Independence 64050, 888-254-3750.
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Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum

This morning we departed Smith Center and hit the road again on our adventures. On our way to Branson we plan to visit two presidential libraries. The first one, today, is in Abilene, Kansas, birthplace of Dwight D. Eisenhower. For both Ken and me, Ike was the first president whose name we knew, so we were especially interested. The Eisenhower complex includes a Visitors Center, Ike's boyhood home,the Place of Meditation, the Library, and the Museum.



In front of the statue are the words "Champion of Peace." On the pylons in back are plaques provided as memorials to Ike’s parents, his brothers, the military, Americans in general,and Ike’s roles as leader of the army and the nation.












We arrived at lunch and picnicked on the grounds, then started at the Visitors Center, which is basically a gift shop. We became members of the Eisenhower Foundation, which permits us to visit any of the presidential libraries operated by the National Archives without charge. Then we went to the Place of Meditation--very like a chapel, where Ike and Mamie are buried. Some quotations from Ike's speeches are on the walls. Here is my favorite: "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed." (from The Chance for Peace Address).





The Place of Meditation














Ike lived in the modest home located here from 1898, when he was 8, until he left for West Point. The house contains the original furnishings and really gives some of the flavor of life growing up in small town America in the early part of the 20th century.














Many items used by Ike are on display, including the staff car he used in Europe during World War II.














The museum currently houses a special exhibit called Presidential Treasures. For me the highlight was JFK's rocking chair.
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Old Settlers Day

We decided to take in Smith Center's Old Settlers' Day. The festivities started with a parade at 10 a.m. on Main Street.


We couldn't believe the size of the crowd that turned out for the parade.









Most of the entries in the parade were tractors--different brands, different colors, different ages, different sizes, but all tractors. Here are some of the John Deere entries.






Of course, since building Excel fifth-wheel RVs is the major industry here (other than farming), there was an Excel in the parade.







The celebration included a free BBQ lunch in a parking lot off Main Street. We enjoyed live music while chowing down on BBQ beef sandwiches. After doing some laundry, we went to the fairgrounds for the afternoon activities of Old Settlers' Day. We drove up wondering how hard it would be to find a place to park--and found a spot right across the street from the fairgrounds. We may have been the only people there who weren't entered in an event. We spent most of our time walking past the rows and rows of tractors on display. After a while we sat down in the bleachers (the only people there) to watch some horseback riding events. The first was an equestrian version of musical chairs, in which the riders had to dismount and lead their horses with them to the chairs. That was about as exciting as the afternoon got. Another event was the lead-back race. The riders had to ride their horses the length of the arena, dismount, and lead their horses back to the starting line.















In the evening we went to the high school for the last activity of the day--a concert by The Skirtlifters. According to their web site, "The Skirtlifters authentically recreate the music of the 19th century riverboat, stage and parlor." The name comes from the way ladies' skirts spin up when the ladies whirl around to the group's dance music.



















Tomorrow we will be "on the road again" at last. We'll be heading for Branson, Missouri. We plan to stop along the way to visit the Eisenhower and Truman presidential libraries.
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Repairs Complete!

After all the waiting, we drove away from Peterson's service area at 5:30 p.m. with our damage repaired as well as some minor things taken care of.

We decided to stay at Sunset Park RV. Will add more later.
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Progress Report on Repairs

Peterson has our trailer torn apart, and we've moved into a motel. We're told that they may finish the work this week, but maybe not. The trailer is getting new rubber roofing over about the forward half. That work is being done in the factory in equipment used to put roofs on new rigs that are being built. We've been advised that our trailer might get bumped out if one of the new units they're building gets to the point of being ready for its roof. So we won't know for sure when our work will be done until it's almost finished.

Our time here may also be extended because of other work we've asked them about. Lee would like a pull-out shelf for her notebook computer in an open space under the counter of our entertainment center, along with a pair of doors to cover the space. They're going to give us an estimate for installing these, and then we'll decided whether or not to have them do the work. If we do, that might involve more time.

We've also asked them to replace the water hose that came with the hose reel built into the outside wall of the trailer. The original hose has a number of kinks in it, and we want to replace it. We don't think this should take a lot of time, but we'll see.

We're staying in a motel just a short walk down the highway from Peterson's buildings. We're happy that it's clean and everything in the room works. This town is small enough that one can't ask more than that.

If we're still in town this weekend, we'll probably take in some of the events in the annual Old Settlers' Day celebration. We'll probably go see the parade, and maybe the tractor show. And maybe the evening music presented by Clarke Buehling and The Skirtlifters.
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More Waiting

Peterson was supposed to start repairs on our trailer today, but it's not happening. They tell us now that they will start tomorrow. We'll take the trailer to their service center early in the morning. They'll remove the damaged parts there, and then move the trailer to their factory for the installation of the new material--front end cap, half of the rubber roof covering, some plywood panels in the roof, and some trim. The service manager is sending to our insurance company an estimate of $5500. It's looking less likely that we'll be done here by the end of the week.

Oh well, we may get to see the local Old Settlers day celebration on Saturday. This is the town's celebration of its founding. There'll be a parade, a free lunch barbeque, and some other festivities.
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Waiting

Today is another waiting day--we'll take Venture to Peterson tomorrow for repairs. Today we ordered a new internet dish, which is being sent to our friends' house in Tyler, Texas. That's the next place we'll be where UPS shipments can be sent. We also had to call Lee's daughter-in-law, Julie, to ask her to forward the Sprint modem we had sent to their house, since it will be a few weeks before we get there. Meanwhile we are without an internet connection, so this blog entry is being posted at the Smith Center Public Library. It's a small library, but very bright and well stocked and with extremely friendly staff--and a free wi-fi spot.

One result of our not having an internet connection is that we can't listen to NPR on the web as we usually do. The only over-the-air station we can pick up here is out of a nearby town, and when we tuned in this morning, they were spending 15 minutes on the classifieds. That's right--people call in to say that they have a brand new pair of ladies' size 10 bowling shoes and give their phone number (no area code) to call for more info..... One caller had a VCR and some pieces of coax cable.... Exciting stuff.

Ken got a haircut at Bob's Barber Shop on Main Street, so he looks much trimmer. Speaking of trimmer, he's in the last hole on his new belt.
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Kansas Is Windy

We went for a bike ride around the town of Smith Center this morning--literally, from the north end of town to the south and from the east to the west. Not difficult to do with such a small town. We stopped at a flea market in town and saw lots of old collectibles, and lots of junk! The wind was kicking up enough dust that the horizon looked a bit fuzzy, almost like smog.

The sad result of the Kansas wind sweeping across the prairie is that our satellite internet dish blew over, warping the dish. We have not had any problems with stability of our dishes in so long that we had neglected to stake them down here. Another lesson that is likely to be rather expensive. We'll have to order a new dish.
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Laundry Day

We admit it: fulltiming is not all fun and games--we still have to do the laundry, but it's more fun in Smith Center, where the only laundromat is next to the library. Lee couldn't resist the opportunity to pick up a couple of used books from the sale benefiting the library. Afterwards we explored the town a bit and found our way to Wagner Park, site of the Old Dutch Mill--windmill, that is. We walked around, enjoyed the lovely breezy day, and sat in one of the convenient and comfortable swings.













As we left the park, we noticed a hazardous waste collection in progress and stopped to ask about recycling. One of Lee's ongoing frustrations is the difficulty of finding places to recycle, and the back of the truck was beginning to fill up with bags full of cans, plastic milk jugs, etc. Fortunately we received directions to a recycling trailer nearby and divested ourselves of most of the collection. Unfortunately there was no bin for glass.
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Repair Estimate

We took the trailer to Peterson Industries today, to get an estimate of what it's going to take to repair the damage from our collision with a tree and to schedule the work. The service crew were very thorough in checking for hidden damage--and they found some things we hadn't noticed. They'll probably replace the end cap on the front of the trailer. As for the roof, they'll peel back the rubber covering the roof enough to check out the plywood roof itself, then replace any plywood that's damaged. They don't expect to have to replace any of the beams that support the roof. Their first rough estimate puts the cost at two or three thousand dollars.

The damage looked even worse in the shop than it had out on the road.


The work will be done in the factory that built the trailer originally, rather than Peterson's service facility. We'll take the trailer to them on Tuesday. We're told we can expect them to finish the work by the end of the week. We're still waiting to find out how much we'll be able to use the trailer during the week.
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Missouri to Kansas

Last night we found a quiet shady campground right off the interstate, Deer Rest, and our pull-through campsite even had a view of a little lake. Ken was so impressed he took 44 pictures. Thanks to Woodalls! This was in the town of Warsaw, Missouri, near the Harry S. Truman Reservoir.



Warsaw's reflection lake was just a few feet from our trailer.










The lake offered attractive views in several directions.















Someone had set aside a nice spot with a good view of the lake.









This morning we got up early and headed out for a full day on the road. For the first part of the trip we were in wooded rolling hills, but towards the end we were in endless Kansas prairie.

On the way we passed through Junction City, KS, where we had been earlier, when we came to tour the New Horizons facility. Deja vu....only this time, instead of anticipating a tour of that plant and of Peterson's and visiting Chris in Iowa, we are headed in to Smith Center for repairs.

We decided to stop in Concordia, KS, and make the rest of the trip in the morning, but neither our directories nor Google Maps showed any campgrounds nearby, so we thought we'd spend the night in a Wal-Mart parking lot. On the way into town, we checked at a gas station and were told there was a small RV park at the Armory, so that is where we are now, just off US 81, at a very nice little campground with level pull throughs, electric, and water, and the fee is .... a donation.
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Ouch!!!

We accidentally encountered an overhanging tree branch yesterday, damaging the end cap and roof along the front part of the street side. Insurance will cover the repairs, but first we have to get to Smith Center, Kansas, where our manufacturer is located. We'll be on the road the next couple of days, with plans to arrive there Friday. The repairs will be done next week.



That will delay our plans to go to Branson and then on to Texas. I (Lee) was driving, so I'm feeling especially down, but we are glad that no one was hurt and no permanent damage was done.
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Gateway Arch

We left Horseshoe Lake Campground (just east of St. Louis) this morning with high hopes. First we'd visit the Gateway Arch and the Westward Expansion Museum. Then we'd move on towards Branson. We researched on the web where the RV parking was for the Arch and laid out a route over the Martin Luther King Bridge. Our first problem was a low clearance. We tried some alternate routes, and actually found a sign for RV parking, but the gate to the lot was closed. Finally we talked with some officials who told us that all the RV parking was underwater from the rain the previous day--spinoff from Hurricane Ike. We decided to try to find some remote parking area, drop the rig, and return to the Arch. After wasting a few hours, we finally gave up and decided to go on and visit the Arch another trip. We did see the Arch from several angles--just not the one we wanted!

Then we set out towards Branson, with a possible camping spot in mind near Devil's Elbow, which we had located on the web. The day ended in disaster.

We camped at Glen Oaks RV Park (Easy On, Easy Off) in Waynesville, MO. We had a place to sleep, but with the traffic on the nearby interstate, it wasn't easy.
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Travel Across Illinois

We started off this morning from Terre Haute and drove almost completely across Illinois, making a couple of stops along the way. The first stop was to see the Cumberland County Covered Bridge, which spans the Embarrass River near Greenup, IL. We have been traveling the Historic National Road (in preference to I-70) because we hope to see more of the country than can be seen from the interstates. The bridge is new, built to handle modern traffic, but is a reconstruction of an earlier bridge on the site. Some say that Lincoln may have helped to build it, and he probably swam in the river here while arguing a court case nearby.





Our second stop was in Vandalia. We wanted to visit the old statehouse there, but it was closed on Mondays, so we wandered across the street to visit the small "Lincoln Park." A statue of Lincoln as a young legislator seated reading a newspaper is the central attraction of the little park. We then asked a local citizen what else we should see, and he directed us to the city's museum on the next street over. The museum is located in the lower hall of an old Presbyterian church and is full of 19th century memorabilia, including much related to Lincoln. The curator pulled out for our inspection their pride and joy, a froe which once belonged to Lincoln and which has the initials "A.L." inscribed on the handle. A froe is a tool used to make shingles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Froe), and we both got to hold it.




































Our final stop for the night is a small campground at Horseshoe Lake State Park on the outskirts of St. Louis. There are no hookups, so we are running our generator for a bit--it needs regular exercise to keep it in condition, and we wanted to charge our computers.













We seem to have a talent for finding campsites near rising water. As we drove to the campground, Ken pointed out some partially submerged picnic tables. We heard on the radio that the river is expected to crest on Friday, so we should be safe tonight.


Tomorrow we plan to visit the Gateway Arch before continuing on towards Branson.

Here's some inspiration: “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
Mark Twain
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Crossing Indiana

In the morning we rode our bikes on the National Road Heritage Trail. We got on the trail at the Twigg Rest Stop not far from our campsite in Hawthorne Park on the east edge of Terre Haute. We rode in to downtown Terre Haute as close as we could get to the Wabash River. Round trip was about 14 miles.

Later we visited the Eugene V. Debs museum in his former house on 8th Street. Two tour guides added commentary on the house and its contents as they walked us through the house. We were surprised that there was not more information offered up on Debs's life and work.


















On Firday, the 12th, we traveled from Springfield, OH, to Terre Haute, IN. Along the way we stopped for a sandwich at the US 40 Diner in Plainfield, Indiana. Lee has seen the diner advertised on line as an historic sight on the National Road (Route US 40). The web site said that the diner had gone out of business. We were surprised to see an "Open" sign on the place as we drove by, so we turned around and went back. We shared a grilled chicken sandwich with cole slaw and French fries, with a real ice cream milk shake for desert.
















We stopped for the night at Indy Lakes Campground just south of the loop highway around Indianapolis. This is not much of a place. The central attraction seemed to be an artificial but allegedly well-stocked fishing lake. We got the impression that the business gets most of its income from fishing, with camping available as mainly for the benefit of fisherman who want to fish in the campground's lake.
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National Museum of the United States Air Force

Today's highlight was a visit to the National Museum of the United States Air Force, which is located at Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton. We arrived at 10 a.m. and left at 5 p.m.--and still didn't see everything. After we spent almost two hours in the hall devoted to the planes of the early 1900s, we realized we were going to miss a lot of interesting aircraft if we didn't speed up a bit.

We enjoyed walking through four presidential aircraft (Air Force Ones). We saw the spot on Kennedy's plane that was modified to hold his coffin after his assassination in Dallas. On a brighter note, we enjoyed see that the museum has planes designed by Northrop Grumman, the company that sends Ken his pension check each month. That includes two airplanes with stealth technology--Tacit Blue, built to prove out the technology, and the B-2, the first operational stealth bomber. A new display, opening just last month, is a Northrop unmanned air vehicle that has flown combat missions. This RQ-4A Global Hawk flew more than 4,800 hours and provided hundreds of thousands of images in support of U.S. forces around the world.

Us with one of the Northrop products--the YF-23 fighter.

The museum has an IMAX theater that was showing three different movies at various times during the day. We saw a show on a fighter pilot's experience with what the Air Force calls Red Flag--the training program in which pilots get accustomed to combat by engaging in mock combat against a specially-trained fighter squadron. Ken's son Jeff pointed out the Red Flag unit to us when we visited him in his office on Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas. There were some great in-flight shots from inside the cockpit during the mock combat flights.

Tonight we had a final campfire before the storm strikes. Wait--actually the rain did start, but it was a gentle shower, so we just got out the umbrella and rain jacket and waited the brief shower out. Meanwhile we did some laundry, including Sweetie's beds, so we can start off fresh tomorrow.
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In the Shop

Today we had an 11 a.m. appointment at Best Buy RVs in Springfield to get several things worked on. They are an authorized service center for Dometic, and the most important item was a toilet that's been causing us problems for months. We got to spend the day at this dealership and got to know the workers who were especially taken by Sweetie.

The first news we had was that they had to order a part--it would come in by UPS around 3 p.m. Okay, so we have some time to kill in the visitors' lounge.....

Meanwhile, they did manage to install a replacement courtesy light outside the door. We had received this part, along with an actuator arm for one of our ceiling vents, from Peterson, our manufacturer. Well, the mechanic reported that Peterson had sent us the wrong actuator arm--it was for a hand crank vent, and the one we needed was electrically operated. They also installed some struts on a cabinet door we had bought during our visit to Smith Center. We hung the door but somehow couldn't get the struts to fit properly.

When the toilet part finally arrived, we had high hopes of being on our way shortly. We planned to go over to Dayton and boondock at a Walmart near the Air Force Museum. Unfortunately, the tech determined that an earlier repair person had installed a bent brass rod, and the toilet could not be fixed. A new one had to be ordered from Elkhart and would arrive on Friday afternoon.

So back to Buck Creek State Park. Our site was still available

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Birthday!

Today is my birthday--always wonderful to be reminded that I'm loved 8-) It started out a bit gray and rainy, but the sun managed to break through. We played three games of Through the Desert, and as is only fitting, I won two (points for longest caravans, reaching oases, stopping at waterholes....). We got out on our bikes and rode through the park one last time before we leave here tomorrow. Ken got me a peach pie, so we will have pie a la mode to celebrate.

When I took Sweetie for her walk, the western sky was pink above the dark trees, there were children's voices in the distance, and the crickets and cicadas were in full chorus. I have much to be thankful for, and the love of my family and friends is at the top of my list.

We also made it out to go shopping. One of the things we found was a hitch lock with a cable to secure our bikes. We had a locking hitch pin before, but no real way to lock the bikes on to the new hitch, so that's just what we needed.

We put a couple of loads of laundry on--the camp laundromat is very nice, so we decided to take advantage of the opportunity before we pack up camp in the morning and head to the repair facility.

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From Berlin to Springfield

We left Berlin on Wednesday, 9/3, first stopping at Heini's Cheese Factory, where we enjoyed lots of tastes of cheeses, dips, cream cheese fudge, and other treats made here. We visited Swiss Village Bulk Foods in Sugarcreek on the way to Dover, Ohio, where we stopped in at Warther Knife Factory and had our Warther's knives sharpened for free.

This being Amish country, we saw horse-drawn buggies everywhere.

From Ohio after Cleveland

From Ohio after Cleveland

We headed south and set up camp at Salt Fork State Park, just outside of Cambridge, Ohio.

That evening we watched some of the Republican convention, including Sarah Palin's speech. She obviously is a great speaker and had an electrifying effect on the convention attendees. We found much of what she said misleading to say the least.

The next day we went to town and did our laundry and explored a bit. Cambridge is on US 40, the Historic National Road (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Road). We plan to follow the National Road west to St. Louis before heading south to the Ozarks. US 40 follows the path of the first macadam surfaced road which started in Cumberland, Maryland, and opened the west to new settlers and travelers. We would like to use "red roads" rather than interstates where we can, because of the more leisurely pace and more interesting scenery.

On Friday we went to the camp office to ask if we could stay another day or two at Salt Fork, but someone had reserved the site we were on, so we moved on to Buck Creek State Park, just outside of Springfield, Ohio, which is just east of Dayton. We are enjoying Ohio state parks, because they have large sites with reasonable privacy. It's especially private now, since everyone leaves on Sunday at noon. We have only a few fellow campers and been enjoying our bike rides around the park.

Our Buck Creek campsite.

From Ohio after Cleveland

We'll stay here until Wednesday, when we have an appointment to have some minor warranty work done on our rig, then head over to Dayton to visit the Wright Patterson Air Force Museum. That means we'll be here to celebrate Lee's birthday on Tuesday.


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Ohio's Amish Country

We moved from Berlin Center, Ohio, to the village of Berlin; which is identified with the Amish and Mennonite people of Ohio.

The village of Berlin was laid out in 1816, and is the oldest existing village in Holmes County. John Swigert, a native of Berlin, Germany arranged for 108 lots to be laid out along an east and west street and a north and south street. Folklore suggests that Swigert chose the site of Berlin because its elevation, the highest in Holmes County, made its defense more feasible in case of an attack by Indians.

We went to the Amish & Mennonite Heritage Center for an interpretive tour of Behault (We're told that means keep or remember.), a stunning 265-ft circular mural depicting Amish & Mennonite history. The tour featured a 30-minute presentation of the elements of history depicted in the mural.

The Heritage Center gift shop had oodles of baskets for sale--all made in the area.

From Ohio after Cleveland

Then we loaded our bikes into the truck and drove to the town of Millersburg to a point where we could pick up the the Holmes County Trail. We biked a few miles north from Millersburg and back. This multi-purpose trail covers several miles. One 8-foot lane of is paved with asphalt for biking. The other lane is paved with something called "chip and seal" for horse-drawn vehicles and horseback riding. The different lanes are identified by signs posted every so often along the way.

From Ohio after Cleveland

But the horses have done a good job of their own identifying which lane is theirs.

From Ohio after Cleveland

This trail is a Rails-to-Trails project. The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy is a nonprofit organization working to preserve unused rail corridors by turning them into recreational trails. Their mission is to create a nationwide network of trails from former rail lines and connecting corridors. The goal is building healthier places for healthier people.


We ended the day with dinner in Berlin at the Boyd & Wurthmann restaurant. This is a family-owned business that prides itself on being "where the locals eat." They advertise that they have Amish cooks turning out homestyle food, including a large variety of homemade pies. We split a veal parmesan entree and wrapped up the meal with pie and ice cream. We tried the peach (Lee) and apple (ken) pies. Both were great!
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End of the Season

We spent the holiday watching the exodus of campers from our formerly crowded campground. By afternoon we were nearly alone. The campground was spic and span, since the camp hosts were quick to tidy up each site and sweep out the fire rings. Our evening bike ride was much quieter than it has been for the last couple of days. We celebrated our last evening here with a campfire and marshmallows. Read more!