Day 11: Relaxing 'n Branson

Did not do a lot today. Started today off getting up and having coffee with dad and grandma on the enclosed porch. Rained pretty hard down here with lighting and thunder. Checked the radar back home and wonder if either of the kids had checked the house cellar with all this rain. Does not seem that either have. Asked them both to check on it and let me know.

Everyone is starting to stir now. Michelle made a pretty good breakfast, scrambled eggs with mushrooms, meat and cheese. Mom made some gravy with biscuits and sausage. After breakfast Michelle loaded up the suburban with Breack, Phoenix, Jason and Ryan to search for a couple of "castles" in the Branson area. It got quite. It was very enjoyable.

Mom finally got up from her mid-morning nap. Mom, Mari and I headed to town to get tickets for the Balbnobbers show for tonight. Got the call from truss company that Home Depot uses. They are delivering the trusses on Monday. Confirmed Home Depot will be delivering the materials for the garage. If all goes well and the weather cooperates we will begin building on Monday. Can't wait to have a garage.

Grabbed an ice cream from from Cold Stone Creamer. Tastee.

Then went to the Stone Hill Winery here in Branson. Took the tour and got to sample 13 different wines. I was feeling pretty good. No, I was not drunk and tipsy. They only give you a couple of ounces to try for each wine. I was liking the sweet wines towards the end of the tasting. Between Mari and I we bought 4 bottles to take home to enjoy. Headed back to to the lodge with mom driving. Relaxed until supper time. Had hamburgers and chips.

Went to the show and really enjoyed it. The show started at 7:40pm and did not finish until 10:10pm. Traffic was a pain to get back onto the strip and back to the cabin.

Got back to the cabin and cleaned up the kitchen a little. Got clothes and stuff packed. Mari and I just need to load the car in the morning and we are heading back to Iowa. Looking forward to home. Been gone almost 2 weeks.

Day 10: Silver Dollar City

Seems everyone is enjoying vacation because again every one slept in this morning. I was up at 7:30 today to find grandma already making coffee. Enjoyed a fresh cup of coffee sitting out on the enclosed porch listening to the birds and the rustling of the leaves in the breeze. Very relaxing. It would be a great area to retire to except all the commercialization. Still, wonder what it would be like here in the winter. Thou, I don't think I would like driving up and down the hill to get to the cabin since it is sooo steep of a incline.

Came back in side to get a fresh cup of coffee and decided to do a little blogging before we get started on today's adventures. While sipping on cup of coffee and kicking back on couch I start a fire in the fire place. Got to love gas fireplaces, just takes a flip of a switch. I would like to put one of these in our house. Ah, every one is starting to stir and get up. I may have to go up to the bed room.

Sounds like mom, dad and grandma will not be going to silver dollar city today. They are going to a show or two in town. Silver Dollar City is a bout a 1 mile from the cabin, thou I think we will end up driving over to there and park. The park does not open till 9:30am and it is ten after 9:00am. I've never been to this theme park thou it can not be to different from others that I have been to before growing up. Mari thinks she is going to get me to go on the roller coaster rides. I think Jason and Ryan are going but they are still asleep. Mari is ready to go so I better quit blogging and get ready. I'll update today's blog later this evening.

Went to Silver Dollar City and spent the whole day there. Really enjoyed it. I even went on a couple of roller coaster rides. Most of everyone tried the water rides. They really got soaked. Well check out the pictures on the side.

Going to bed, long day but enjoyable.

Day 9: Branson Tourist Stuff

Today got up early, before 7am and had coffee and sat out on the screen enclosed deck off the kitchen/dinning area. Dad and grandma joined me. Sat around enjoyed family and a couple cups of coffee. Headed back to room to start getting ready for the day. Mari finally up, she went down to have breakfast and to talk about today's activities. They scheduled a dinner show with the Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede Dinner Attraction for the 8pm showing. We would have to pay and pickup the tickets before noon today. They also decided to do the Titanic museum and Ripley's Believe it or not. By the time everyone ate breakfast, got dressed and ready to go it was 11am. We headed to the first stop to pickup tickets, Dixie Stampede arena. From there we headed to the Titanic museum. Mom & dad headed off to do their own thing.

The Titanic was enjoyable and educational. The downside was they did not allow any cameras and wanted you to turn off your mobile phone because they would supposedly interfere with the audio equipment. Basically you get to hear about the history of the Titanic being built, live accounts of the sinking of the ship from survivors and finding the titanic. They even have a pool of water that was 26 degrees with a timer to see how long you can keep a finger or hand submerged. This was the temperature of the water when the Titanic actually sunk. I tried keeping my hand submerged twice, the first time for a minute and then second time 1 minute 15 seconds. Mari only lasted a 15 seconds. Ryan lasted a about 30 seconds. They even provide souvenir portraits with your picture superimposed on the Titanic staircase, boiler room, and the bridge. Mari had me buy a set. Jason also bought a set with us himself, Ryan and me in it.

After the Titanic we had a quick bit to eat at McDonalds. Yea, I know what your thinking but we wanted to save a few dollars eating a inexpensive lunch. We then headed over to Ripley's Believe it or not. Again, all interesting. Lots of interesting and neat things.

From here it was about 4:40pm we headed back to the cabin for a quick break and to get mom, dad and grandma. Then off to the Dixie Stampede. Again, NO photography or video recording. We had to show up at the Dixie Stampede by 6:45pm to get to the pre-show entertainment. We sat above the stage in the Carriage Room. The entertainer was funny. After the 45-minute act we headed off to our seats in the main arena. The menu consisted the following, hot home-made biscuit served with original creamy vegetable soup, then tender whole rotisserie chicken, hickory smoked barbecue pork loin with herb-basted potato and buttery corn on the cob, then finally for desert it was a flaky apple pastry. The meal was served throughout the show.  The show was great and the food was excellent. I differently recommend this show, it is well worth the money. From here everyone headed back to the lodge. Sounds like we will be splitting up the groups. Ryan, Mari and I heading to Silver Dollar City. Michelle, Breack and Phoenix heading off to do their own thing. Jason was still up in the air. Mom, dad and grandma doing something, they didn't know what yet.

So off to bed. Sounds like the gate opens at 9:30am and Mari will want to get there early.

Day 8: Branson

I slept in again on vacation today. I finally got up before 8am this morning. The beds here at the inn are so comfortable. Mari and I each get our own. What am I going to do when we get back to home and have to share a bed with Mari and the dogs, Lizzie and Patches? Mari was not stirring yet so I got dressed and headed down for breakfast. I worked on the computer updating the vacation blog. Mari finally made it down and had some breakfast. What to do today? Mari called mom and she said no one was yet stirring. So we may not see the rest of the family until sometime this afternoon. Knowing Michelle she may want to take a detour to check out a few things on the way up. She calls it, "Making Memories". I have to agree and just smile. Well, got to go for now. Mari and I have to find something to do. This is going to be sooo hard here in Branson.

We made a few phone calls and found out that we could get into cabin today. We packed our stuff and headed to the cabin we will be staying at till Saturday. We got checked out of the Honeysuckle Inn. It was a very nice place to stay and I would recommend it to anyone coming to the area. If you book through expedia.com you can get a third night free. The rooms are clean and updated. The staff is friendly. The only issue is the sporadic wireless internet connection from our room. And all the chocolate or oatmeal-raisin cookies you want to eat. As long as you walk up to the lobby.  We got checked out and headed to the cabin.

We were told that the cabin we would be staying at was 235.  I was driving and Mari found cabin "235". The door locks use a combination code. So we tried the code that was provided and found that it did not work. Mari gave Eddie a call with the Table Rock Lodges LLC. We tried a couple of different combination. We finally got into the lodge. I have put a few pictures of the lodge on the today's photo album. After unpacking and starting some laundry we decided to head back into town to get lunch.

On the way to lunch, Mari received a phone call from the temp agency, Palmer Group, that provides temporary employees to Wells Fargo. She found out that she and about another 100 people were getting laid off from the section of Wells Fargo. But they will transfer her to another section of Wells Fargo when she gets back to different section of Wells Fargo.

We ended up going to Mel's Hard Luck Diner for lunch. The diner’s servers, hosts, cooks, and cashiers are also professional singers, song writers, and musicians. They offer you a great dining experience seasoned with a song! Waitress sings opera. She did a fantastic job. I had a burger and fries and Mari had chicken salad sandwich with fries.

After lunch we browsed through a couple stories and headed over to Bass Pro shop to browse to see what they had. Afterward we went to Walmart and picked up a few souvenirs for the kids. We figured that everyone would be showing up shortly at the cabin. So, we headed back to the cabin.

We waited a while. Mom, dad, Ryan and grandma showed up. Helped them unload their expedition. We were sitting around and dad asked what cabin we were in and I could not remember if it was 235 or something else. I walked back out to the front of the cabin and realized that we are in 253. We are supposed to be in 235. Mari made a phone call to Eddie and he told use that we are okay and that he would make the change on his end. Mari even admitted that she had a senior moment and got the numbers mixed up. While clearing up that problem Michelle called to find out where the lodge was. Gave her the information. Mari started grilling pork chops for a late supper.

Michelle finally got here and they all ate supper.  With everyone getting in late we stayed in and just relaxed. Rearing up for the next couple of days. So good night.

Day 7: Branson Exploring

Ah, wake up to start of a great day. We got to sleep in till 8am this morning since we arrived so early this morning or so late depending on if you are an optimist or pessimist. Went down and had the complementary continental breakfast. Discussed what we were going to do while at breakfast. I worked on yesterday’s blog and got caught up and Mari took a nap. The only issue I have had here at the inn was the sporadic connection to the internet. Once I got my blog typed up I ended up copying to my blackberry and sending it via email. When I had finished I looked outside and seen the cloud cover that was unique and snapped a picture or two.

So, Mari headed out and checked out the sites Branson had to offer. We first traveled the strip G-76 to see what was available and what we should do first. So many things and places to go we ended up just checking out the area. We drove along Fall Creek Road and ended up going to the Table Rock dam and the fish hatchery. While exploring it would sprinkle and rain. The fish hatchery raises brown and rainbow trout. I did not realize that the trout would get so big but they do. Mari bought some fish food and we spent 15 – 20 minutes feeding the fish. After finishing we headed back to the vehicle and did some more exploring. We decided to go towards Silver Dollar City and to find the cabin we would be staying at once the rest of the family gets to Branson.

We found the cabins, The Lodges at Table Rock Lake. Nice cabins. The only issue was that some of the cabins are literally on a side of a hill. The grade going down you made sure that brakes don’t fail and shift all the way down to first. Then on the way back up the hill you are literally looking straight up into the sky. I can’t wait to check out the inside of one of these cabins. From here we headed back into town to have lunch. We headed to a restaurant that Mike Morris recommended. He couldn’t remember the name of the restaurant but knew the general area, so we hoped it was the one. The name of dinner is Odee’s Restaurant. They serve great BBQ dishes. Mari had a sampler platter and I settled for the pulled pork sandwich.

After lunch we went over to Ride the Ducks. This is the ride that was shown on Undercover Boss. No, we did not have the tour guide that was on the show. Our guide was Captain Science, a retired science teacher.  This is a great tour of the area with comedy and humor being incorporated. You also get a free souvenir with the ride, a duck quacker. The ride takes you through Branson and into Table Rock Lake. We both really enjoyed the ride.

After the ducky ride we went back to the inn and got on the laptops to check out shows and prices for the next couple of days. Since the internet was sporadic from the room we went down to the main office and setup camp. I grabbed a complementary cup(s) of coffee and a chocolate chip cookie and Mari had some hot tea. Not too many combo packages or discounts available WOW, prices of shows and entertainment are not cheap here, so plan on spending some money. Mari worked on a few post cards to send out to family. After wards we headed to a post office to mail the cards and some more site seeing.

On the way back to the inn we made a stop by the Dixie Stampede and the Titantic Museum to ask some questions. After wards we went to SubWay to split a six-inch sandwich and save some money. Then right next door there was the Cold Stone Creamer. Yum, Mari had cheese cake ice cream mixed in some reeses peanut butter cup. I had the Chocolate German Cake, the mixed the ingredients right in front of you. This was great.

So back on the main strip heading back to the inn I decided it would be fun to play a game of golf tonight. There are so many course here in Branson you could play a different course every day for a week. I stopped at one we spotted earlier. I pulled into the Professors Hacker’s Lost Treasure Golf course. This is a miniature golf course if you have not figured it out yet. Mari was doing pretty good for the first nine holes and was +6 over par and I was +7 over. The last night Mari seemed to have gotten exhausted or just tired. She did not do to good. Mari ended with +15 and I ended with +10 over a 42 par. As we were leaving the miniature golf course next door was the seated sling shoot ride. Mari and I watched some kids go on it. Nope, no way I just can’t see myself riding something like that, especially for $50 a person. We are both tired and came back to the inn.

Day 6: Murfreesboro AR to Hot Springs AR to Branson MO

I got up this morning and Mari was still sleeping. So, went down to mom and dad's room to find out what was going on this morning and to see if dad had plans to go back to the Diamond Crater to do some more prospecting. Mom and dad were just stirring, Ryan was snoring away and grandma was already up and at the main building for breakfast. Dad decided that he had enough playing in the dirt and wanted to go on to the next city. So, I went up to the main building and had some coffee and toast with grandma.
After breakfast went back to the room and started packing to get ready for the next stage of our road trip. Michelle and her crew came into town from their cabin and were waiting down at mom and dad's rooms. Mari and I got the car packed and pulled down to mom and dad's room. In the short time that Michelle had gotten there Phoenix decided to go for a walk after waiting for his mother (Michelle) to go to the Dollar General there in town. Well Phoenix got tired of waiting for his mom and headed off by himself. Michelle got into her suburban and headed off towards the main road to the Dollar General to find him. She did find him about a half mile or so. We all headed out towards Hot Springs. Before heading out of town, mom informed me that she got a call that family member had died yesterday afternoon. His name was William Marion McKinney and lived at Good Samaritan Nursing Home with his wife Della (my cousin). The news was a depressing. Since we out of state my thoughts and prayers are for her in her time of need.

Not much of a drive from Murfreesboro to Hot Springs, at least we did not make any stops. Mari and I got into Hot Springs about 12:30. Check in at the Knights Inn was not till 3pm. So, we headed out to get gas for the vehicles and to find some lunch. Got the gas, and had lunch at Ci Ci's Pizza. Not bad. From there we went to Walmart. Mari needed to get a prescription filled. By the time we got there the pharmacy was closing for lunch. They got her information and said they would fill it after their lunch break. What to do while waiting for a half-hour, SHOP! We shopped at Walmart. Ha Ha

We went to the Knights Inn. My parents and Michelle had their rooms already. Michelle had two rooms. So, we checked out the rooms that she was going to share. We checked out one room and it was heavy with the odor of cigarette smoke. Talked to the clerk and he switched the room to a second floor room. Well the air conditioner did not work there. Mari called the front desk and the clerk came up and agreed and changed the room to a room next door. The AC worked a little better but not great but we decided it was better. The temperature here in Hot Springs was 96 degrees with the heat index over 100 degrees. This was frickin miserable. I have no idea why anyone would want to live this far south.

Mari went swimming and so I looked up some stuff to do on the computer. There is a Duck Tour of the area combined with Wax Museum, Miniature Golf and Winery tour for a combo price of $28. Since it was hot I thought this would be fun to do in the morning when it would be cooler. I went down to mom's room to get a game plan. Michelle was supposed to come down too. Got tired of waiting and headed back to our room and took a nap. Mari returned to the room after swimming and sun bathing. She took a nap as well. While napping the rest of the group decided to go do the Duck Tour tonight.
I decided that I wanted to head out to Branson and enjoy what they have to offer. So, I told Mari to load up the car and we headed out. We made reservations while enroute to Branson. We booked the hotel through Expedia.com. We compared prices first through AAA, which they did not have the best rate. The destination that I plugged into the GPS took us through the mountains which were very curvy and hilly. We left Hot Springs about 8:30 pm and got into Branson at 12:45.
Today we had traveled a total of 286 miles.

Sent from my U.S. Cellular BlackBerry® smartphone

Day 5: Murfreesboro

What a long day it has been today. First, Mari gotten ill over night from eating late and her acid reflux. So, we did not get very good sleep. I got up and went to have breakfast at the front office. Grandma was already there eating some toast and having coffee. It turned to out to be a little disappointing what was available. Let me give you the low down. White or wheat bread, plain or blueberry bagels, couple varieties of dry cereal with milk and some processed fruit cups and oh yea coffee. Yum. I guess that is the difference between continental breakfast and complementary.  After breakfast checked to see if dad and Ryan were ready to go to the diamond crater to search for our fortunes. Not quite yet, so headed back to the room to drink coffee and check on Mari. She was doing better.

Finally they were ready. So we loaded up (dad, Ryan, grandma, and me) in dad's expedition and headed off to the Crater of Diamonds State Park. Michelle, Breack, Phoenix and Jason were already out at the crater and brought some equipment from the cabin they were staying at. We got out to there about 8:30. The price to dig through some dirt was $7.00 for the day. You could rent equipment if you did not bring anything. Equipment ranged from a screen for $2.50 all the way up to $11.00 for the advanced diamond hunting kit. Deposit also was $5 to $60 depending on what you rent. Once you pay your admission and got your diamond hunting kit you head off to the field that get turned (aka plowed) once a month. Check out the virtual tour. The following stars on the overhead picture indicates were we all set up camp for the morning.

I guess people have dreams of striking it rich by digging and find a big old diamond. Ha, well that may occur occasionally but I really doubt that it happens that way. While out her digging, shifting and picking through the dirt it got hot and humid. By noon it was in the low nineties with a heat index in the low 100's. I dug a hole about 3' long by 2' wide and 3' deep. Really did not look very hard. Just looked for fresh soil for dad and Ryan to shift through. Grandma and Jason left the crater and decided that this just was not their cup of tea. Dad broken down and ended up working from his lawn chair doing dry shift and also put up an umbrella to keep the sun off his head and neck. Michelle did the wet shifting with Jason and Ryan trying their had at it as well. Breack dug a different hole and did some dry shifting and hauled a couple buckets of soil for Michelle to do some shifting. While Breack and Michelle were looking for their fortune, Phoenix enjoyed playing in the water park right next to the entrance to the field.

About 13:30 everyone just about had enough and decided to head back to town lunch and rest. Mom and grandma had went to the grocery store and got some stuff for cold cut sandwiches and chips. That was really good instead of eating out. Mari was feeling better and had been out by the pool relaxing and soaking up the sun.

After lunch I decided to join Mari in the swimming pool. I enjoyed that. The water was warm and the pool only had a couple of others. After swimming for an hour I went back to the room to get cleaned up and to get out of the sun. Mom, dad and Michelle went up town to check out some antique stores but returned empty handed.

After a short rest Mari and I headed out to have supper. No else seemed interested right now (17:00) so we went to the only fast food joint in this small town, Sonic. We grabbed our food and headed to Lake Greeson which is only about 5 miles outside of town. We enjoyed the area. It reminded us of Black Hills, SD and Yellowstone Park, MT. Nice park. Would have enjoyed staying at a cabin around the area and done some trout fishing.

After finishing supper Mari and I headed back to town a different route we came up on using the GPS. What an adventure. It took us down a gravel road that was windy and bumpy. It was and adventure. I kept reminding Mari of all the horror movies where a couple takes a wrong turn and end up being killed by a scary crazy family out in the back woods. She just laughed...nervously. As you can tell we made it back to town, though Mari's car (explorer) needs to be washed.

We headed back to the hotel to show who ever was interest the pictures from our short excursion. While talking to mom and Michelle they mentioned that it did not sound like anyone wanted to go back out to the Diamond Crater tomorrow. They also mentioned that the reservations they made in Hot Springs were for June 7th thru 9th at the Knights Inn in Hot Springs, AR. So, there were no reservations or any placed lined up for tomorrow night. They said they went through Expedia.com back in January/February and when they tried switching the dates they were getting the run around. So, Mari tried calling the Knights Inn. They did have some rooms available but could not make the changes since Expedia was used. So, I called Expedia and talked to Steph and she made the changes. The only problem was that they had to charge a little extra or just call it a service charge for late notice and penalty. This actually allows us to get to Branson, MO a day earlier and enjoy the large cabin for a extra day.

I checked with dad to see if he planned on going back out the the crater and he did think he was interested but would let me know in the morning. So, we have to be out of the hotel by 11am. Will see what happens in the morning. So good night.

Day 4:Fort Smith to Murfreesboro

Today I was up early and had the opportunity to workout early in the hotels fitness center. Went back to the room and got cleaned up and packed to head out to Murfreesboro. Mari was up and we went down for the continental breakfast. Nothing fancy but it was filling.

Mari and I headed out to get some gas and to get a birthday gift for Jason. Today is Jason's thirty-fifth birthday. So, what to get for Jason? Well, we have to consider that the past three previous years Jason has not been able to go on vacation when we went and we have been gone on vacation during his birthday. We swung into a Best Buy to browse around. Since we have been traveling I figured out an appropriate gift. While at Best Buy mom called and was going to the Clayton House.

We decided to catch up with the rest of the family and go to the Clayton House. The house is a historic home built in 1882 and occupied by some prominent figures of the area, William Henry Harrison Clayton. William Clayton was the federal prosecutor in the court of of celebrated frontier judge Isaac C. Parker (aka the hanging judge). The Clayton House is a magnificent home with extensive carved woodwork inside the home and on the exterior. 

From the Clayton House mom and Michelle wanted to check out the Darby House but Mari and I had enough of Fort Smith and decided to start heading south towards Murfreesboro. 

We took the scenic route through the Quachita National Forest. The route was scenic and windy. I eventually let Mari drive and the Road Rage Queen redeveloped. It got scary. Mari enjoys tailgating people and speeding around the turns/curves and then yells at everyone...including me. 


When we finally got to Murfreesboro it was after 5pm. Murfreesboro only has three hotels/motels. The Queen of Diamonds Inn, American Heritage Inn and the Little Shamrock Motel. They are listed in size and probably price, large to small. They all appear to be mom/pop operations. You can not reserve rooms by AAA.com, expedia.com or any other sites you normally have used. 

We decided to see if the Queen of Diamonds had any opening. The rooms are large and typically have two double beds. They are clean and well kept. The huge downside I have was the price, about $100 a night for two people. The price will vary depending on the number of people staying a room. While getting registered mom, dad, Ryan and grandma made it into town. They ended up getting room here as well. Michelle decided to be adventurous and got a "cabin" outside of town. After getting settled in to the rooms Mari went swimming, dad and Ryan went to check out the Crater of Diamonds state park. Mom and grandma rested back in their room. 


Michelle and the rest of here pack finally made it into town. Apparently she says that the GPS unit she had quite working and they ended up getting lost, supposedly. 

We had supper at the Buddy's Ranch House across the street from the Queen of Diamonds Inn. The food was good. Mari had the chicken fried steak, which was one of the best I have ever tasted. They make everything from scratch right at the restaurant. 

Afterward we went back to the hotel and gave Jason his birthday presents. Mari and I gave him a Garmin GPS 205W. He said he liked it and had been thinking about getting one. Maybe now Michelle won't get lost since she and Jason will have one each in her car. Ha ha.


We traveled about 165 miles in five hours today. Tomorrow we get up and try our hand at digging for precious gems in a field. Hope it does not get to hot. It has been in the 90 here with heat index about 100-110.


Good night.

Day 3: Fort Smith

Today we spent the day doing touristy stuff right here in the big town of Fort Smith. We stayed here to wait for Michelle and her crew to catch up with us before heading further south. Anyways, we headed out first to Sam's Club or Walmart to get a couple things. Well, we found Sam's Club. Walked around the store while mom got a few things. Once we finished there Mari and I in our Explorer (ha ha) headed down to the historic part of Fort Smith. I thought the others were following us but they went to the gas station for some gas. Oh well.

Mari and I went  on to Fort Smith Historic Museum. We went ahead and paid the entry fees and got trolley tokens for the trolley. We went through the museum first. The museum had two floors of interesting stuff relating to Fort Smith area. Mari got in trouble with a volunteer from the museum. She was using the camera and it was using the flash. The staff member said that the flash destroys the paint and/or stain on the wood furniture. Funny thing we never saw a sign at the beginning and no one told us not to use flash photography when we paid at the front.

After going through the two floors relatively quickly we decided to enjoy a beverage at the old fashioned soda fountain near the entrance of the museum. We both got ice cream soda, Mari had a chocolate and I had a strawberry. They were delicious.

After finishing our drinks, the rest of the family showed up. They got their tokens for the trolley ride, Fort Smith Trolley Museum. The tour guide/trolley operator did a great job. He got myself and Ryan involved in lowering and raising the contact arm for the trolley. Even though the route is probably less than a mile the trolley operator did a great job!

After the ride we returned to the Baymont Inn to meet up with Michelle, Breack, Phoenix and Jason. From there we went and had lunch at the Western Sizzlin restaurant. It ended up being one of the best meals I have had so far. From the restaurant mom, Michelle, Jason and I headed to the brothel down in the historic area of Fort Smith.

The brothel is actually a restored museum/welcome center. Back in the 1900 it used be Miss Laura's Social Club. The city did a great job restoring the building. The building is well kept and the rooms are very well kept.

From the brothel we drove by the Fort Smith National Cemetery. This was established back in 1819 and has served as a cemetery for military personnel since. First for the soldiers of the Fort, then both union and confederate soldiers during the civil war and the other great wars such as WWI, WWII, Korean, Vietnam  and even soldiers from the most recent wars. Mom said it was very humbling. I have to agree. From here we went back to the Baymont to see what was going on.

Turned out not much was going on. Found my nephew Phoenix and Ryan swimming.

Not sure what time we are heading out to head towards Murfreesboro in the morning. I guess Michelle, mom and the others are staying up and playing some card games and try to figure out a game plan. I'm heading to bed.

Day 2: Neosho, MO to Fort Smith, AR

Mari and I got up this morning and had the continental breakfast at the Super 8 hotel this morning. Nothing spectacular! We had gotten downstairs before 8am and it was already picked over, not much left. Mari made a waffle and I had toast. Yum. When I checked out, I inquired about the safe charge. Turned out they have safes in the rooms and you get the charge added on even if you don't use it. I did get the charge taken off, since we did not use it.

We gathered up the posse and headed out. We had a goal this morning. In the nearby town we were going to find my great grandfather grave. Without much information except what I had learned/researched from the internet we headed off to Granby Memorial Cemetary. The website that I had found was www.findagrave.com. We were trying to locate Shelton Allen White, the website said he was buried in the cemetery in lot 10A. With no markers or knowing how the cemetery was laid out with walked around randomly. Grandma ended up finding it.

I found it neat to find out about one of my relatives.

From Granby we back tracked through Neosho to get to on US-71 and head south towards Fort Smith. Oh, Mari decided that it was to far out of our way to go back north to hit the Precious Moments Park. After talking we decided we would swing by there on the way back home from Branson, MO. Since we did not go to the Precious Moments Park we decided to got to a cave.

We went to the Bluff Dwellers Cavern south of Noel, MO. The cost for the cavern is $12 a person. The price included a hour to hour-half guided tour. Some of the wildlife in the cavern we got to see was salamanders and a bat. The caverns are not very extensive but it is very well designed to get around in.

After the cavern tour we checked out the gift shop and museum. Mari, Ryan and Dad ended up buying a bag of sand with stones in it. They went out and "panned" for precious gems. Mari really got into it and was excited about some of the items she found.

From the Bluff Dwellers Cavern we went back into the town of Noel to have bit to eat. Stopped at a local cafe recommended by a worker from the cavern. We ate at Kathy Kountry Kitchen. Nothing impressive. It was funny when I sent the order of fried mushrooms back to the kitchen for Ryan when I tried one and it ended still being frozen in the middle. The cook brought the order back out after re-cooking them. Ryan started to explain to the cook what to look for to make sure that they are fully cooked.

On the road to Fort Smith. Mom was driving and she ended up passing me outside of Fort Smith. So, I assumed that she knew were she was going. Well she was driving like there was a fire. She got several cars ahead of me and ended up taking exit before she was supposed to. We did not get off at the same exit and did get off at the right exit. Garmin GPS is the way to go, at least 90% of the time. It did get to the front door of the hotel...this time. Well, did not do much after getting here. Mom did get here finally after sight seeing Fort Smith. I worked out, Mari tried the pool. After wards we meet up and had supper.

Not sure what we are doing tomorrow. Michelle is driving just leaving Indianola now 23:00 with her posse (Breack, Phoenix and Jason).  Sounds like they are going to drive straight through to catch up with us. We will stay another night here in Fort Smith.

Today total miles traveled was about 150 miles.

Day 1: Indianola to Neosho, MO

Traveling the mid-west this year instead if going to South Dakota/Montana or Caribbean seas. Heading south to Arkansas on Interstate 80. Did not get out of Indianola until 11:30 this morning. That was okay. I told mom and dad that I wanted to be on the road by 9:00 this morning with the true time frame being 11:00am. If I had told them we needed to be on the road by 11:00am we wouldn't have left town until 4:00pm tonight.

We followed dad's expedition until we stopped at Cameron, MO for a pit stop and light lunch around 2:00pm and back on the road. I was getting sleepy before the stop so Mari offered to drive. The bad part is that she would be driving through/around the eastern side of Kansas City.

Most of the way down we have had road construction. Now we are in Kansas City area and they have stand still traffic due to the construction. Hope Michelle and her posse will be okay when they come down on Thursday late evening/morning to meet up with us.

I will post an update once we get to our destination.

I can not believe the construction on the roads. You can defiantly tell it is spring/summer. Boy I got to see the road rage come out with Mari driving! Ha, some of you think I have road rage.  We stopped at the Cash N Dash in Nevada, MO for quick fill up. With mom driving and ahead of us they ended up pulling over at an earlier town for gas. So we missed each other and would not see each other until Neosho. I took over the driving duties from Nevada to Neosho.

Made it to the Super 8. Got our room but no signs of the parental units. Gave them a call and they are in Neosho but down by the city hall. Turned out I put in Neosho, MO in the GPS unit and figured that it would get them to Neosho and they would plug in Super 8. Boy was I wrong. They ended up sight seeing the town of Neosho. Ha. Ha.

Tomorrow we leave Neosho and head on south to Fort Smith, AR. Mari and I may back track a little to go to the Precious Moments Park in Carthage, MO. See really wanted to see it today but the hours of operation did not allow us to stop.

I'm having a hard time staying awake so off to sleep. Until tomorrow.

Total miles traveled the first day was 345 miles.