Roaring River S.P MO

The weather was just perfect in the morning and as we are not the type of people to sit put even if it is on a pictures Beaver Lake we took off to visit Roaring  River S.P in Missouri just 25 miles away.

As many MO S.P this one too has a beautiful C.G ,cabins for rent,fish hatchery, Spring and a modern inn.

We visited the Spring and saw the video that was taken in 1979 when divers explored the deep pool made by the cave.

 

This Spring gushes more than 20 million gallons of water daily and the pool is 215 feet deep.

The is also a fisherman heaven ,easy to park ,pull a chair and go fishing in a very green peaceful surroundings.

 

On the way we meet this colourful shy lizard that dashed under the wooden boards  immediately after his picture was taken.

 

Close to 14PM as we were on our way to a botanic garden near Eureka Springs but a sudden change of the weather and strong winds made us change our minds and we made it in time to the C.G to pull in the awning before it fly's to unknown destination as happened to another unlucky camper in the C.G.

That’s how the Lake  looked after we got in the 5W  and dried ourselves.

  

It was all over in 2 hours and we are back to “normal”…

Branson MO

From the peace and quite on Forklake AR to the busy tourist trap in Branson,but sometimes you want to dive into a tourist trap it is like getting lost in the right direction…

We settled down for 3 nights in a  very nice P.A C.G just 10 Miles from downtown,it has a pool,clean bathrooms,full hook ups and the last but not the least WIFI.

In the next morning we took a short drive to the tourist information located next to the dam on Table Rock Lake,collected information and saw an impressive video how the dam was built.

 

The C.G help us pick Rankin Brothers  show out of a long list of shows that are showing now in the town.

As we had time on our hands till the show starts we decided to visit the Historic Down Town and Branding Landing on  Lake Taneycomo,great place to walk just keep the C.C deep in the pocket…

 

American Idol had their contest in town but we could see only the bus

On the way to the theater we saw a place that sells reduced show tickets,the guy explained that he will give us tickets to another 2 shows if we attend a 90 minutes sales presentation for a time share,the calculation said :“148 US$(4 tickets) for 90 minutes” –we are on…

So on the next morning a very nice sales agent made an effort to sell us a time share with no success and we left with tickets to 2 shows and a voucher for 3 days in one of their resorts-not bad.

3 Red Neck Tenors was our first  2 PM  show, the gentleman had a great voice and we had fun.

Till 7:30PM we did some shopping and went to our 3RD show in 2 days…this time it was Billy Dean and the Horses that gave us 2 full great hours of old country with some funny entertaining parts in between.

        

Now that we got our laundry done and got our share of “culture” while playing tourists we are ready again to go back to “real” camping…and that also means we might not have internet in the next 3-4 days and the posts will be posted later when we hit “civilization” again.

Ozark National Scenic Riverways Missouri

After we said good byes to Chuck and his family we did a day trip in the beautiful Ozark Riverways area.

At first we visited Big Spring that is the largest in Missouri and one of the largest Spring in the world with a daily average flow of 286 million gallons.The water boils from the base of a dolomite bluff and travels nearly 1000 feet before feeding into the Current River.

  

Big Springs National Park also offers 123 family sites ,some with electrical hook ups,Historic Cabins and a lodge.

                          

This also was a great place for our midday picnic,it was very  quite with almost no people around although it was a Sunday, we loved it.

Our next stop was promising…at least the name was-Rocky Falls, finally I thought a real Waterfall in Missouri with water..but as we got the the place we found it crowded and it fit a description of Cascade more than Falls, but is was very nice to swim in it and cool off.

Our last stop was at the Blue Spring , and I did not “play “ with the picture –it is BLUE and very deep,if the Statue of Liberty would be standing here the torch would be under the water….

From the TH it is only 1/2 mile to this jewel, and here again we were almost alone ,maybe every one was in the Cascades????

Any how we wondered around for a while taking it all in ,the colors,the peaceful atmosphere and the cool waters in great pleasure.

  

The waters were so still it made it possible  to create a fantastic reflection

 

Another great day….

Clear Water Lake MO area

There are a few S.P located near the lake we wanted to see so we chose the Corps Of Engineer C.G on the lake to be our base for the next 4 days.

Using the scenic HWY 49 we stopped for a break in an old non operating gas station , calling this picture “ a refuelling stop….”

When we arrived to the C.G we found a note at the entrance that the office is closed for 2 days, so we looked around to find a site and come later to check in ,but all the site were either occupied or reserved except one,so we asked the ranger that was on his patrol if this is OK for us to take this site? he looked at the label and said” go ahead” and so we did.

In no time we made “friends” with a whole bunch of people that came together, shared a beer and past the time talking about our and their RV adventures.

At dusk after dinner we took a short walk to the river just behind our site, the water was shallow and it was possible to cross to the other bank.

 

In the following day after a light breakfast we took off to Taum  Sauk S.P to hike  3Mile to the largest waterfall in Missouri (that was the information on the internet),it was hot and humid along the trail

but I was sure to be compensated when we will reach finally the falls, but that was what we saw at the falls….

A trickle…and as one hike from the area said” there was not enough rain in the area and most of the MO falls look like this one”, so with a little of disappointment we made our way back to the TH and drove to Elephant Rock S.P to see some rocks ,they do not need rain to be large….

It is a beautiful unusual park , with a short trail and climbing some rocks this is what we saw:

 

There is a long explanation about how it happened but in a nut shell it was created over million of years when “plates” moved creating pressure and moving this stones to the surface.

Well now after the “great falls” we felt much better and decided to make even better so we drove another 15 Miles to  Johnson’s Shut-In S.P and took a dive into this unbelievable natural water paradise, Our timing was perfect , it was 5PM and many were on the way out when we were getting in.

    

                            

This  “washed” away the dust from the whole day and made us forget the waterfall disappointment.

Coming back to the C.G at 8PM , a surprise was waiting for us-someone said that we took their site and although there was another one available THEY WANTED that one only , the ranger showed up and asked us to move to another site ,apologising for the whole thing , there was nothing to do but move  in the dark to the new site just 2 sites away that was actually was better than the one we stayed.

All the people around us were upset and helped us to make the move , some with flashlights and some with advice.

At the end we got to stay 4 nights paying for only 3-this was the way the camp said “sorry and thank you”

Any how I like driving the rig at night especially backing it up….WHAT A DAY..

Clear Water C.O.E C.G MO

Today we took a day off….did some reading ,writing,cleaning ,making new friends and take it easy.

The river runs just few feet away from our site ,so afternoon we took  chairs and joined the people on the waters, it was good timing as most already headed back to the trailers, the water was cool –not cold and it was real peaceful and relaxing.

 

Later  we went to see a race car or the “WHEELS” as he calls it that belongs one of the guys had in the C.G ready to go to Farmington MO for the race, it looks like the cockpit is to small to even sit in it.

 

 

In the evening Chuck came over to hear about our country and see some pictures, he has it in his future plans to come to visit the Holy Land with his family,I hope one day he will .

                              

After the morning coffee we said good bye to Chuck and his family hoping one day our paths will cross again.

  

Traveling like we do ,sometimes we  make “friends “ even thou we only meet for a short time and it happened not once that we keep in touch and meet again, this is one of the treasures we collect on our journey.