Missouri & Illinois

We left Mount Magazine in Arkansas and headed North 150 miles to Branson Missouri where we stayed at Table Rock State Park on Table Rock lake.  The campground and State Park were very nice, and busy. We stayed here six nights, saw three shows and had a pretty good time just looking around the area.  Branson is full of shopping, food, and entertainment.  While in Branson we took a three-hour dinner cruise aboard the Showboat Branson Belle.  The dinner and entertainment were great!  We also did the Yakov Smirnoff Dinner show  - another really great evening.  And, we did an after noon Marty Robbins tribute - They did a nice job and we enjoyed the two hour show sitting three feet from the stage...

Showboat Branson Belle

On-board the Belle

This guy was amazing - you had to be there.

After Branson we drove up to Lake of the Ozarks State Park for a couple nights.

At Lake of the Ozarks - We're actually parked level - (Must be camera angle)

 

After ozarks we stopped one night at the Casino Queen across the river from the St. Louis Arch.  Of course we made our donation in the casino....

We're now at Wolf Creek State Park in Central Illinois for a couple days before heading to a Bluegrass Weekend in Remington, Indiana before completing our plans in Ft. Wayne, Indiana where we'll visit with sons and grandkids for a couple weeks. After that we'll head back to Florida for the winter.

This Owl was posing for us at Wolf Creek

Mt. Magazine - Arkansas

Mount Magazine is the highest point in Arkansas. We stayed in the State park for 6 nights just a few feet from the summit which is 2753 ft.  That doesn't seem very high compared to last years' Rockies, but it was high enough to escape the heat down below in the 90's and occasionally over 100 degrees.  We drove into Paris, AR a couple times for lunch at a great restaurant - The Grapevine.  Really great food and service. Seemed like everybody in the town was there.  The temps on the mountain while we were there was in the 80's and as low as 65 at night.  The State Park has a fairly new lodge, opened in 2004, and a visitors center that looks about the same age.  The hiking trails are fun because they follow the rocky cliffs where the view is great.  Hiking was our primary activity as well as attending  a few of the brief nature walks with Don, the State Park interpretive guide.

At the summit

One of the ridge trails - on the edge

A popular launch site for hang glider enthusiasts - One hang glider set a record from the Mount Magazine launch site -
A six hour flight North about 170 miles into Missouri.

Hummingbird at the visitors center

Two steps back?  Don't think so.....

Sunset on the mountain after a light rain....

Oklahoma

We've completed our 2 month committment volunteering at Lake Whitney, TX and are on the move as of July 1st. We stayed two nights at Fort Richardson State Park, Jacksboro, TX on our way North.  We were the only visitors to the fort on Monday. After the civil war, this fort was in operation for only about 12 years; and used primarily for attracting settlement to the area. The fort had no walls and indian trouble was rare.  The few remaining buildings are mostly reproductions, but the exterior walls on the one remaining troop barracks are original.

Troop Barracks Bldg. Vertical pole walls.

Fort Richardson Park, Like Lake Whitney, has lots of deer. We see several with young fawns every morning and evening right across from our camp site. 

After Ft. Richardson we crossed into Oklahoma and stayed three nights at the Chickasaw National Recreation Area near Sulphur, OK.  The surrounding land is now Chickasaw Indian land, which was once Choctaw land.   We visited the Chickasaw Cultural Center and learned a good deal about the tribe.  I have this story pretty close - Many years ago, the Chickasaw and Choctaw were one people. To escape warring with other tribes they started west, led by a sacred pole they put into the ground each night. The next mornoing they would find the pole leaning and they followed that direction.  One morning the pole was wobbling and the chiefs two sons could not agree which direction to travel, so they split.  Each son guided those who would follow. One group was called Choctaw after the son named Chahta and the other son Chikasha.    The Choctaw ended up in Oklahoma while the Chickasaw were in Mississippi. Our government later gave half the Choctaw land to the Chickasaw nation when they were kicked out of Mississippi, breaking both treaties.

Some of the museum art.

As I write this, we are camping for three nights at Eufala Lake near the dam in a Corp of Engineers Park.  Eufala Lake is really big and spreads for 50 miles every direction.  This is a great water sport destination;  Too bad we don't have our boat anymore, it would be wonderful to take time and explore this lake.

Eufala Dam

On Monday we'll head to Mount Magazine State Park in Arkansas. Mount Magazine is the highest point in the state and is supposed to be 10 degrees cooler there becasue of the altitude.... We sure look forward to getting out of this 100 degree heat we've been in for the past month.