Tennessee Time

We headed into Tennessee on the 22nd of September, driving 160 miles to Parkers Crossroads RV Park. It was a nice little place in Yuma - but it was another one of those places that we stayed simply because they were on the way to another destination. We only stayed two nights and then hit the road again on the 24th another 116 miles to Nashville.

There's a chain of RV resorts called "Yogi Bear's Jellystone Parks" that we haven't stayed at because they are just overpriced. I found a "50% off your stay coupon" though, so we stayed at the Nashville Jellystone.

We had dinner at a fun little place called the Opry Backstage Grill. They have live music every night! The night we ate there was a band of young musicians that did some fun countrified covers of new music - my favorite was Uptown Funk. I tried to get a good video, but between the servers walking back and forth and Hudson talking away, it didn't turn out.

We lucked out and were in town for the Tennessee Arts and Crafts Fair - which is only held twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall. There was so much to see. I wanted to buy something at almost every single stand.

I want them ALL!

NOM NOM NOM

Down the road from the RV park was a restaurant called Cock of the Walk. I can't lie, we went there solely based on the name. It was a cute place - the seating in the waiting area was all rocking chairs and the wait staff all wore country outfits.

Rock on

The food though? I honestly didn't know what half it was. After ordering the waitress told us she'd bring our "fixin's" right out.

I'm thinking rolls, maybe?

But no, it was ... this stuff:

Am I supposed to EAT this?

I managed to choke down some of the green stuff (which was "greens and beans" apparently). But the pickled onion and coleslaw-ish thing? No thank you.

September 27th we headed 192 miles over to Heiskell which is just outside of Knoville. We stayed at the Raccoon Valley RV Park, an Escapees RV Club park. The people were really friendly - they even had a little ice cream social just after we checked in.We only stayed there until the 30th, but we did a little sight seeing around Knoxville.

Tennessee State Capitol

Church Street United Methodist Church

If you're ever in Knoxville I recommend a drive through the Old Gray Cemetery. We had planned on walking through and looking at the gravestones. Until we got there and realized that the entire area surrounding it was homeless shelters. There were questionable looking characters all over the place. It was still nice to drive through though.

I see dead people

A Brief Stay in Arkansas

The drive to Crowley's Ridge State Park in Paragould, Arkansas on Sunday, September 20th was 209 miles. In hindsight, a 4+ hour drive after 2 weeks of being stationary was a poor decision. We picked this place for the simple reason that it was a place to stop. There is pretty much nothing to see in Northern Arkansas, except for flea markets on the side of the road every few miles. 

Another sticker for the map though!

The park itself was gorgeous and nearly empty, a great place to recharge. It's quite amazing some of the places that are considered 'turn-arounds' for coaches. The one here required us to disconnect the FJ in the middle of it so that Jason could do a little reverse, turn and forward, reverse, turn and forward maneuvering. 

Once we got parked the boys were able to ride their scooters all over without any worries and Jason and I were able to sit and enjoy a beer.

The Beaver in her natural habitat.

Being around so many people and then going back to just us was a bit of the culture shock. The boys had quite a few complaints of being just "so bored" without other kids around. And even though I did miss the company, I really am more of introvert and the alone time was needed.

We only spent 2 days in Arkansas, and we only hung out in the park. There were hiking trails right by our spot so we explored most of them. The only downfall to this area? The daddy longlegs were the size of small puppies. Seriously, they were insane. How do these people live here?

Fulltime Families Rally in Branson

Sunday, after 201 miles and over 3 hours of driving, we finally made to America's Best Campground in Branson, Missouri - our entire reason for high-tailing it across the country. Why Branson? Why Missouri? Sometimes you just need to surround yourself with like minded people. To reassure yourself that you aren't in fact (overly) crazy, and your children aren't going to turn out strange just because you decided to go against the norms. Enter the Fulltime Families "Not Back to School" rally.

And this is BEFORE everyone arrived

Booyah!

Crotch flop!

Like I mentioned before, this group of fulltime, traveling, RV living, not retired-and-super-old, people - are some of the best people I've had the good fortune to meet. We've already been missing friends and family, and this is like an extended family on the road.

The rally itself was only a few days long, Thursday to Sunday, but we stayed at ABC for a full 2 weeks knowing there would be others hanging around. We did so much. A group trip to the The Titanic Museum, a surprising enjoyable show from Shoji Tabuchi, and "Fifi", a B-29 Superfortress, flew in as part of the Commemorative Airforce tours - so we went over to check it out.

This isn't Fifi, but she's still a looker

We did have to miss a few of the activities though, and not because we had something better to do. Oh no. Most mornings I walk Emma, but on Saturday morning Jason was kind enough to let me sleep in and he took her out.

But ...

Then the phone rang.

Emma got sprayed IN. THE. FACE. By a skunk.

Not once.

Oh yes, our supposedly highly intelligent dog, she went back for seconds.

Why you so mean to me guys?

OMG. The SMELL. Make it STOP.

I didn't understand the full extent of the HORROR that is skunk spray. I wish I had never found out. But despite that mishap, the trip was well worth it. The boys really enjoyed being able to spend time with other kids.

The original grass surfers

The final night of the rally was 80s prom theme. Seriously, how much fun is that?

Christmas card pic material?

Final night group pic

I wear your Grandma's clothes. I look incredible.

P.I.M.P.

Into Missouri

On Friday, the 4th of September, we cruised 163 miles over to the Blue Springs Campground in Missouri. It was a really pretty area, but we ended up with only a 30 amp hookup. When it's super hot, this is a major bummer, we can only run 1 of the 2 air conditioners. Which means the inside of the Beaver is only vaguely cooler than the Hades hell fire that is outside.

And Missouri makes eight!

On Saturday, we were soooo over sweating. But it was okay - because we were just down the road from Blue Springs lake! I went over to Walmart and got us some clearance floaties, everyone got suited up. Towels, sunscreen and snacks were packed. We hopped in the car to for a nice family fun day at the lake.

There's 720 acres of water in Blue Springs Lake. And you can't go swimming. I should know. We drove around, and around, and around. Lake as far as the eye can see, just taunting you. Turns out, Missouri doesn't think you should be allowed in their lakes unsupervised. That's right. There is a fenced off 'beach' with hours, and an admission price. Apparently we're just spoiled in Oregon? If you want to go to the lake? You just ... well - you GO.

Long, super frustrating story, short? We never did get in the water :( Do I need to mention that moods did not actually improve after this outing? The remainder of the afternoon was spent staying as still as humanly possible.

If all else fails, sit in the shade with a Corona

Back in the day, Oregon had all kinds of drive in movie theaters. I don't know why they all closed down, I think they're super fun. That night we went over to Boulevard Drive In. It was a great set up. There's a nice playground area in front of the screen so the kids were able to run a muck before the movies started. The boys brought the football and tossed it around for awhile. There was also a pretty big snack shack with everything you could imagine. We watched the Minions movie and the newest Transporter (Jason Stathom isn't in it, boo), but by the time the third movie came on (another Mission Impossible movie? Seriously Tom, give it up already) - it was nearly midnight. So home we went to rest up for our final travel day - tomorrow was finally Branson!!!

It's my first movie you guys!

More Nebraska-ing

On September 2nd we drove 143 miles to Nebraska City, Nebraska where we stayed at the Victorian Acres RV Park. I'm not sure what the 'Victorian' part was, but it was a nice campground. Just past the RVs was a beautiful path that I was able to take Emma down.

Where the wild things are

The poor thing got absolutely covered in little stickers. In hindsight it was a perfect picture moment, but I got sidetracked by the full 30 minutes of pulling the little suckers out of her coat. Oh the joy of pets :)

Nebraska City is a pretty small place with just over 7,000 people, but there was actually quite a few things to do. We went to the Nebraska City Museum of Firefighting. The gentleman that volunteered at the front desk was very friendly. It was obviously a less than exciting position though, he followed us through the entire museum and talked Jason's ear off.

The see me rollin'

I'm not quite sure what this expression is

After the museum we went to the "farmers market" (and I use the term very loosely). I guess I shouldn't have been expecting much, but it was the smallest market I've ever seen. We wandered around downtown after that, but it was 100* out - which just makes for cranky everyone.

There was a toy store on the 'things to do' list that was a bust, but next door to it was the craziest antique/junk/you name it shop ever! It was a 2 story house and I'm guessing the upstairs was where the gentleman that ran it lived? The downstairs though... if I didn't think it would have offended him, I would've taken pictures. There was just SO MUCH STUFF. Everywhere. Stuff on top of stuff on top of that stuff. Anything you can think of? It was there. Old milk jugs? Check. Rusted car parts? Check. Glass vases? Hundreds of them. Old records? Yep. A full set of 'NSync dolls? You know it!

I was finally able to find a small, but still heavy, vase for fresh keeping fresh flowers in the Beaver. The one I first picked out was apparently "super rare". It looked like a plain glass jug to me, but dude wanted $20 for it. Um...  I'll take the "regular" one for a buck, thank you very much.

Everyone loves a decorated Beaver!

After the downtown shenanigans we drove over to the Arbor Lodge State Historical Park, which was just beautiful. Like I said before though, it was hot and we were all over it. I hopped out of the car to take some pics of the mansion there. It's the former estate of the founder of Arbor Day. I wish we'd gotten there earlier in the day for the tour. The place looked amazin

Not to shabby

By Friday the 4th we were off again, and getting soooo close to our Branson, Missouri destination. I'll leave you with a picture from my morning walk with Emma

Sunrise is beautiful, I just wish it didn't start so early 

Iowa & Nebraska

On Monday, August 31st we traveled 177 miles from Plankinton, South Dakota to where we (eventually) ended up - Scenic Park Campground in South Sioux City, Nebraska. Originally we had reservations to spend 2 nights in Stone State Park by Sioux City, Iowa. We even made it there.

It was a beautiful spot, but ... no sewer, which we could've handled, but also no water or cell service. Which are deal breakers. I was already tired and stressing out and then we realized the only other people in the campground were some incredibly loud and unnecessarily loud old gentlemen. It's a good thing that the guys are pretty chill, because I was just losing it.

In theory I could've gone into town and worked at Starbucks, but I just wanted to leave. So - across the Missouri river and into Nebraska we went.

The view from the Beaver - in Nebraska looking at Iowa

While we were there, we had lunch at the Hard Rock Buffet. The hard rock was mostly a large casino, but they had a few restaurants and a small gift shop. Nothing to exciting, but they had awesome decor!

REAL cassette tapes in the wall!

We went to the Sergeant Floyd River Museum, and to the Palmer's Old Tyme Candy Shoppe.

Aye, aye Cap'ain

I will NOT smile in this ridiculous thing

Can you hear me now?

One of the activities at the Not Back To School Rally is 80's prom night (seriously, how fun is that?!) so we stopped at a (slightly sketchy) Goodwill. I honestly think the boys had more fun trying on possibly-lice-ridden clothing than anything else we've done so far! It was hilarious watching them.

I'm gonna pop some tags

I've noticed over the past week or some crazy loud bugs. They seem to be in trees mostly, and I swear they yell at you. We mentioned it to someone and I guess this is the year of the cicada. And for the record, they are seriously gross. So rather than show you one of those nasty little buggers, here's a pretty (for a bug) guy that Hudson found.

*whispers* he's dead...