Travelling Trio

We arrived in Vandalia on Tuesday evening.  Set up camp and hit the bed really early.  My blood pressure has been bothering me, so I started taking 1/2 pill today.  Check-up in my future when we return home.  Wednesday morning we got up and took Daddy to the VA in Columbia.  He passed all his appointment with flying colors.  We had lunch at Golden Corral.  Donna met us there too.  After lunch we headed back to the VA for more appointments.  Finished and headed home.  Daddy and I both went to bed early.  I even gave up watching games on the Big 12 tournament. Wednesday morning Donna picked me up and we headed to Quincy to have a Sister's Day with Deb.  Donna and I got our nails done while Poor Ole Deb had to work.  She met us at the Nail Salon.  After Donna and I got beautiful Deb took us to The Pier for lunch.   My Favorite Sisters at "The Pier" in Quincy View from our Dining Table Grandma Deb try...

We got up and drove the main drag of Branson to check out the tornado damage.  If we had more time, we would have liked to stop and volunteer.  This was the first of the damage we saw as we drove west down Hwy 76.  Last summer, we went into the pawn shop and quilt shop in this strip mall.  Dolly's land was not touched, yet the building beside it was destroyed. We went back and got the camper and headed north to Daddy's.  We stopped at Camper World to pick up a USA Sticker Map.  I still need to find Canada.  (But Sharon and Clem or Robert and Robert) Here is the camper for you to pull behind your red SUVs.  I've always liked these.  Light weight and interesting. We fought the wind and headed north to Vandalia.  We passed through Jefferson City and I caught a picture of the capitol in the background. We stopped n Mexico to buy our weekly groceries and pick up my meds.  While I was there Susan called to ask me to help her wit...

We are..... leaving Texas for 2012 winter.  We headed north to Oklahoma.  We passed several casinos and I didn't have Gary to stop one time.  Here we are entering Arkansas. Signs of Spring 2012 Road Tunnels in Arkansas?  I have never seen tunnels except in the mountains.  Missouri--home again, home again.  The birthday boy celebrated with Liver and Onions at Lamberts.  Just north of Branson.. We parked under the "Dangit Martha" sign at the $10 per night at Misty Mountain RV Park.

 We left the Baffin Bay a little before 9am.  Mixed feelings!  Ready to see the family, not ready for cold weather.....We headed north on Hwy 77 and when Bertha told us to take a left, we took a right and then we decided she might have know what she was talking about so when she became insistent, we took a short-cut up through Seguin and hit Hwy 35 North.  Dallas was a bugger.  When traffic shot into a single lane, there just about was a pile up.  Our driver did an excellent job.  Even though we squealed and the back shook, he kept control and the four cars in front of us avoided being hit and hitting each other.  I hate city driving.  Country roads, here we come!  We got through Dallas and the sun was going down when we got to Sherman so we made camp and went out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse.  Our meal was excellent.  We are celebrating his birthday for two days.....he deserves it after driving without a meal since breakfast....

We meet our friends at 8:30am for breakfast and headed out to the Kings Ranch for a tour.  One of the first things we saw was a herd of their famous quarter horses.  If you were lucky enough to buy one of these that were trained by the King cowboys it would cost you $25,000.  If you got a two-year old that did not make the cut, then these are sold for $5,000.  The King Ranch prides itself of care of wildlife plus their purebreds.  One of the top stud at rest.  They only have quarter horses.  In 1946 the Ranch had the only Triple Crown winner and the only quarter horse to ever have this title.  The Ranch contracts their own excavation crew for $1.3 Million per year.  They are currently replacing their fence at $15,000 per mile with King Wire with two special crimps to allow for heat and cold.  They put cedar post cut on the correct sign of the moon for additional wear.  Metal post were put every other section to hold the fence in...

 On the way to Kingsville, we went through "Robstown".  I don't know where Alice went?  For dinner, we met Robert, Roberta,  Debbie, Ruddy, and Baby Gabby at the Kings Inn.  This is a famous eating establish on the Baffin Bay.  John Wayne would helicopter there often and they put a pad for him to use.  Debbie and Ruddy and seen Ted Turner eating here too.  You order your fresh seafood by the pound and it was served with two different salads, onion rings, and fries.   I purchased a pair of fancy flip flops in the gift shop.  The restaurant just about sits on the water.  These are two beauties from Missouri that don't look old enough for a senior discount.  We KNOW, we were told....haha! Thee  Robert was taking our picture too, with Ruddy wondering what in the world had hit his world! Ahh, this is where the man wants to park.  Weather was perfect and he could see the ocean from his chair....LIFE IS GOOD! ...