Branson, Memphis, and Rosedale High

June 12 - 21, 2010 - Danny and I set up camp in Branson, Missouri, at "The Wilderness" campgrounds which is affiliated with Silver Dollar City (a theme park in Branson.) Our good friends, Mike and Linda McClenny, from Lindale, Texas, joined us for this outing. Our site was shady and level, and Danny did a great job of backing in and setting up the RV. A great advantage to this campground is that a bus came every two hours to shuttle campers back and forth to Silver Dollar City! The bus let us out and picked us up right at the entrance.... No hassle to park or put up with Branson's heavy traffic! The Wilderness has a pool, rec room, nice showers/bath house, & a general store. Because we have season tickets to Silver Dollar City, we got a discount on the camping charges, and we were able to go back and forth to the park at our convenience.... much needed as it really was hot and humid!

Saturday afternoon, Mike, Linda, Danny and I went to Silver Dollar City and immediately saw Leon and Carolyn Welborn (friends from Tyler, Texas)! Small world! They recommended that we stay after closing for the Great American Country (GAC) show celebrating Silver Dollar City's 50th Anniversary. The show was really good with popular songs from the past 50 years being performed by some young talented singers..... not bad on the eyes either!

GAC Silver Dollar City's 50th Anniversary Show

Sunday, the four of us went to church in Hollister and then out to eat at The Hard Luck Diner where the waiters and waitresses sing to patrons while they eat. They sang beautifully and made our lunch even more enjoyable. Our afternoon was spent strolling through some shops and taking silly pictures as well as going to Branson Landing to watch the fountain show at seven.

Danny and Maggie

Linda and Mike McClenny

Branson Landing Fountain Show

We really enjoyed the beauty of the evening by sitting outside and catching up on news of our families and mutual friends. We had some great vacations in the past with the McClenny Family.

Linda McClenny

Danny and Mike McClenny

Early Monday morning, Danny and I caught the shuttle to Silver Dollar City in time for the opening ceremony which honored active military personnel & veterans who were present, held a flag raising ceremony complete with the Pledge to the Flag and the National Anthem..... very impressive and started the day well! Danny and I then enjoyed a couple of water rides and watched a funny Saloon Show before heading back to the campgrounds where Linda and Mike had prepared some yummy burgers!

The four of us saw some great shows: Pierce Arrow (funniest comedian in Branson), Branson Belle Showboat (dinner cruise and show), and SIX (6 brothers who sang acapella and made accompanying music with their own voices... fantastic!) We also went back to Silver Dollar City a couple of more time and toured Marvel Cave which is a part of the park. Astonishing that all of this beauty is below Silver Dollar City park!

Many, many steps down, but a cable car pulled us out.

Mike and Linda McClenny & Danny

Maggie and Danny

Marvel Cave has a room large enough for the Statue of Liberty to stand in it. A hot air balloon has been inflated inside this room. Long ago, dances and a wedding were held in this room.

Stalactite formation in the cave.

Marvel Cave waterfall colored with lights.

Reluctantly, the McClenny's and we traveled our separate ways on Thursday morning..... they back to Texas and we on to Memphis. The drive was challenging and tiring for Danny as there were many huge hills/small mountains with very curvy two lane roads between Harrison and Clinton, AR. Once we arrived in Memphis area, we checked into the East Memphis Campground in Lakeland, Tennessee. This camp was nice enough, but it was inside of a mobile home park. Our site was level, had full hook ups, and we had a tree shading our RV. It is located about 15 miles from Courtney and Keith. They stopped by after work for dinner with us in the RV, and then the four of us went to Bartlett Woods Church of Christ to help them get their room ready for VBS which started on Sunday night. We were definitely ready for bed when we arrived back a the RV.

Friday morning, Danny, Courtney and I met Cheri Creasy Vaughn and her husband for coffee. They live in Somerville, TN, which isn't far from Courtney and Keith's home. What a fun time we had catching up on news and reliving the "good ole days" in Rosedale!

Danny and Cheri Creasy Vaughn

On Saturday, we drove (without the RV) to Cleveland, MS, where we placed a memorial spray on Danny's parents' headstone. We really miss them.... hard to believe that they aren't still over in Searcy waiting for us to call or visit.

That afternoon, we drove to Rosedale High School's Reunion at the country club. He had a great time visiting with classmates and we had a delicious prime rib steak meal! There were over 200 people from several classes all crammed into a small space, so the noise level required that everyone yell at each other just to be heard, but that didn't dampen the joy of being together again.

Bill & Dianne Arnold and Georgia Smith in foreground with some of the other 200.

Lynn Fletcher Shurden and Danny

Laurel Burnside Travis, Danny and Bill Arnold

Bill Arnold, Danny, Thomas "Stick" Smith, and Kirby Lane

We drove back to Memphis Saturday night, went to church with our kids on Sunday, and enjoyed a Father's Day meal with them at Randy and Lynn Reason's home (Keith's parents).

After being away from home for 10 days, it felt good to pull out on Monday morning and head for home. Our first long trip went well, and we're looking forward to traveling to Abilene, Texas, in early September to meet our new granddaughter (she's to be born on August 30th). Until then.... adios!

First RV Trip

March 5 - 8 With excitement and nervousness, Danny and I began our first excursion with our Fifth Wheel.... I think we should come up with a great name for it..... any suggestions? We made reservations for 3 nights at Denton Ferry RV Park in Cotter, AR. We arrived safely with no problems with the truck or the Fifth Wheel.

Our site was right on the White River, and from our living area we could see an eagle's nest in a tree across the river, a flying eagle, numerous cranes, and other birds. The scenery was great and the site was level and very clean.... we'll return there. We left soon after arriving to buy fishing licenses and some waders for me as well as groceries.

Upon returning to the camp, a neighboring camper immediately came by to meet us and invited us to supper, but we declined as I already had pizza in the oven.... and besides, they were having salmon which isn't my favorite food. We did join them and two other couples at their bonfire for conversation.

Saturday morning, Danny spent an hour or so getting his fly rod ready tying the fly on his line. He's not too crazy about this picture because he thinks he looks dumb.

Courtney, Keith and Seth drove over from Memphis Saturday morning and our fishing fun began. I finally caught a fish.... 100% improvement from my first try at fishing in the White River back in November, 2007. Danny did better than I did, and Keith caught his normal 30 or so. Keith (along with Courtney and I) took Seth over to the Norfork River ( about 30 minutes away) to fish in an area reserved for kids under 15. He was hugely successful as he caught fish after fish....It must have tuckered Seth out because he fell fast asleep on the drive back to the RV. While they were fishing, Courtney and I toured the fish hatchery there. Amazing how many fish were in those tanks. The tanks were covered with netting to keep birds from preying on the fish.

In the evenings we would build a fire in our firepit and roast marshmallows and make S'mores.... It was really cold at night and we had to bundle up and stay close to the fire to keep warm.

But the beautiful warm sunshine allowed us to enjoy being outside a lot. We took hikes and found a cave. We were too chicken to go far into it as we were afaid that a wild animal might be hibernating in there. While hiking, Courtney and I had a good "Mom & Daughter" talk. Little did she know at the time that she was pregnant.... just praying that they would be parents before too long.

Sunday morning brought excitement to the campground! A camper several sites away thought he had dumped his firepit dead ashes in the river, but they were still hot and caught the underbrush on fire. Cotter's fire department came with sirens wailing to put out the fire!



Following worship services at the Mountain Home church of Christ, we ate out for lunch. We had a safe trip home and are anxiously awaiting our next opportunity to RV!!

Our Adventure Begins By Buying Our Fifth Wheel RV

October, 2009 - Danny and I had almost given up on finding just the right Fifth Wheel, but finally he saw in the local paper an ad offering a Crossroads Cruiser for sale at the right weight, the right space and amenities and the right price! After we bought it, we had it hauled to an RV shop until we could have a sliding hitch (not cheap by any means) installed into the short bed of our GMC 1/2 ton pickup truck. The sliding hitch automatically slides back to allow the Fifth Wheel to make sharp turns without crashing through our back window..... very much needed, don't you think? Here's are pictures of the RV and the sliding hitch of which Danny is very proud! Until Later......