BRANSON!

Branson Missouri has a population of 10,789 and  is like "South of the Border" (SC) on steroids. I mean seriously, King Kong?....the Titantic?. Located at the northern tip of the Ozarks, it's  about 35 miles below Springfield -  basically the middle of nowhere. The city is billed as "the Los Vegas" of the mid-west and essentially consists of a 5 mile strip of motels and cheesy tourist traps. 

When the book, "Shephard of the Hills" , became a best seller in 1907 people started flocking to the area. The first show was "The Baldknobbers Hillbilly Jamboree" in 1959 and today there are over fifty to choose from.

Admittedly it does have a little bit of everything going for it. My pricncess' attraction of choice was the Zip Line of course. She turned 61 the other day and felt her life would not be complete with a ride on the Branson Canopy Eco-Adventure. 

The Butterfly Palace was another must do. But then there are so many on the list. In any case after three days of fun in southern Missouri, we felt compelled to ride on to other adventures.......

Five Point Hook-Up

Aunt Shannon, Tom and the Girls

Technically, a five point point hook-up is water, sewer, electric, cable and wi-fi. Nonetheless, Tom and Missy's New Place on Army Post Road has all the amenities we could ask for; a free place to spend the night, wi-fi, electric and more importantly, what no KOA could ever compete with....


       Four Granddaughters;Rowan, Jovie, Sienna and our newest addition (6 weeks) Lola.


Missy's parents have been putting up with our shenanigans for  years but we finally decided that parking in front of their barn was not doing their business any good at all.

To that end Tom and Miss were kind enough to build us a place to park Fred and Erema. It comes complete with a 30 amp RV plug on the back of his garage and wi-fi (from the router in his bedroom).







It's perfect for when we come out for visits and doing things like going to the zoo or down to the east village.

...It's all good.  We're already scheming and planning the next trip back!

Republic of Floyd

Friday night tradition at Highland Haven is dinner at Hatcher's and on to Floyd for the Music. Not much to look at, Hatcher's is a Biker Bar but friendlier. The order of the day is  strong drink and southern comfort food.


As for Floyd, population 432 and the county seat, it's a one-stoplight town about 20 miles away on the road to Galax.

A regional mecca for old-time music and a must see stop on "The Crooked Road", Friday nights in Floyd are a hoot...chock full of street vendors, pick-up blue grass jams, people and the occasional street preacher.

...IT starts with a well-worn fiddle, held in equally well-worn hands above a tapping black cowboy boot. Then in comes the banjo, plucked with steel finger picks, followed by the autoharp, the mandolin, the percussive beat of an upright bass. Another banjo grabs the melody, and suddenly the room is bursting with knee-slapping, country-porch music. A man in a crisp checked shirt gets up and starts to dance, bouncing out a complicated bumbumBAM bumbumBAM with his feet, moving as smoothly as a Martha Graham dancer, hitting the floor on the downbeat.

...Excerpt from New York Times.

"http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/05/22/travel/on-virginias-crooked-road-music-lights-the-way.html?pagewanted=all

On the Road Again...

After what I would call a particularly "Bad Day (week) in the Office", My Princess and I found ourselves with two weeks of time off for good behavior.  Hmmm...what to do?....What to do?.............

No Question about it - gather the posse and hit the ground running.

FIRST STOP - Highland Haven to get Erma Squared away.

For those not in the know, Highland Haven is a little slice of Heaven in the Blue Ridge Mountains just south of Roanoke...





about half way to Floyd... just take a right when you see the "boys" at the top of the page and the  first left after Pugsville (seriously). 

Highland Haven is like coming home, Virginia Sunsets, Hikes to the Falls and all of our Airstream cronie friends up and down the runway.

The Queen of Everything Happenin' Now!

Praise Jesus and all his Holy Angels...

It is Summer again and a new Airstream Season is finally upon us!!

We are now official members of Highland Haven Airstream Park and to that end, have moved Erma down to the park for the season. It's incrediable and we love it.

My Bride and Princess, aka "The Queen of what's Happenin' Now", is totally in charge. Our Site is #41; first on the right coming in the gate. You cannot get by without HER/us seeing you.

In any case, our first trip down, was to make sure that Add wasn't BS'ing us and actually was going to graduate...

He wasn't...and he did. We are SO proud if him...with a degree in Chenical Emgineering!! He is the man...

Add landed a job at TVA and will be resideing in Chattanooga, TN (actually Hixon). He 's the bomb...

Can't wait to find the neighborhood KOA !!!

The Reason for the Season

My Posse

There was more than 20 feet of snow in Deer Park last Winter and it was a long, long, long time letting go. So it was like...May before Erma was up and ready and June before she got out of the blocks.

Nonetheless boys and girls, another season was upon us - it was time to gear up and go! Peg, my right hand, unfortunately couldn't make the trip, so Handsome Rob took shotgun and like Jake and Elwwood Blues, we found ourselves on a mission from God...

Heading to Iowa to see Tom, Missy and our three newest relatives; Jovie Jane, Sienna Elaine and Rowan Anna. That's right - Triplets, a three-fer. Tom and Missy weren't kidding around.

And old Uncle Handsome was a natural.

Of course we still managed to squeeze in a little fun. I introduced Rob to the pleasures of sleeping in a Walmart parking lot, a visit the world's largest Truckstop, the mandatory visit to George the Chili King (August '09) as well as a little downtime on the Florer family farm...Life is good :-)

Oh Fred, Say it ain't so...

6500 miles, 13 KOA's, 6 Wal-Marts, a spell at the Florer Family Campground and Fred decided to throw a hissy-fit. What's up with that? It's true we did manage to limp into a Citgo Station, but still, he basically just up and quit on us.

Four hours later we found ourselves hitched up to a huge monster-sized wrecker and on the way to Harvey Chevrolet in Radford, Virginia. I can't tell you how traumatized my princess was (not from the breakdown, but having to ride in the wrecker). I can tell you that neither our new BFF Bruce nor his wrecker was inspiring much confidence.


Never-the-less, it was still a good thing and a bad thing. Bad in that nobody in their right mind wants to see Harvey Chevrolet, but good in that Virginia Tech was close. So, sweet as shoofly pie, I was on the phone to Addie asking him if he (AND HIS CAR) would like to have dinner together. Needless to say, it was not long before Peg and I were headed up I-81 (in Addie's Car; he's such a good boy) and Erma was patiently waiting for Fred to get out of the hospital...