home again

Thanks everyone for staying posted with us. We are home again safely. The last 2 day on the road were mostly driving. Stayed in a hotel in OH the last night and made it home by 8 pm yesterday. Now all I have to do is unpack and get everything put away. Kev is spending the day babying the car. Oil change brakes bath and whatever else he can think of. I get to figure out what needs to get paid and what mail can be chucked. Lots has happened in a month. Its been a great adventure I guess now I need to get back to the real world. I can't wait to retire!

Branson day 2

well day 2 of Branson, Saw spirit of the dance it was a good show. then we has lunch at shorty smalls., good food fair coleslaw. Went to Branson landing after lunch and wandered around. Found a couple quilts I really liked but Kev says there is no room for them. The rain has let up some but there is a lot of flooding. one campground we went by had water over the benches on the picnic tables. Kev is ready to come home so I guess we will start making our way there. We have about 1000 miles to go according to Bonnie so we will be home late Sun or Mon. Depending on the traffic and weather. No pics again today.

Branson

we are in Branson MO not a long trip distance wise but it seem like a long drive as it was pouring out here there are flash flood warnings all over and it just keeps on raining. Makes up for all the beautiful days we had the rest of our trip. We had dinner tonight at fall creek, interesting place, They had steak and ribs and catfish and really yummy warm rolls if you could catch them!! There was a guy walking around with a big bowl of hot rolls and if you asked for one he threw it to you!! Fortunately he was a really good shot and most people caught them. There were 2 levels to the place and he'd throw them from the upper level down to the people below. Very entertaining. After dinner we went to see Lee greenwood and the bellamy brothers. It was a good show. Now off to bed so we can go see spirit of the dance tomorrow.

vinita OK

Hi we made it as far as vinita. Tomorrow we will be in branson. It was a overcast rainy day for the most part. No pics today. We did go to Clantons for dinner. its a litlle diner on former route 66 thats been featured on TV. We even tried the house specialty, calf fries, the waitress wouldn't tell us what it was til we tried it. it didn't taste bad just soft breaded fried pieces the size of grapes. turns out to be calf testicles. I wouldn't want a whole meal of them but they were OK. Not much exists in OK at least not what we drove through. mostly ranches and oil wells and gas wells. Well off to get some sleep

Tonight we are in clayton NM. Thats as far a we got today. We appear to be out of the moutains at last. Kev is really happy about that. CO has a really neat thing for animal crossings there was an area that said animal detection area. and these3 electronic signs that weren't on. Well while we were driving a sign lit up wildlife detected and then there were these 3 deer in the road! I thought that was really neat and I would like this detector for NY. More mountains and plains along the way. We are still about 12 hours away from Branson so probably another night on the road along the way. Didn't take many pics today. We did see a bunch of herds of antelope though

mesa verde

We went to mesa verde today and saw the cliff dwellings. It was very impressive but boggles the mind as th how they decided to live there none the less manage to build the house in the cliffs. Just the thought of going up and down the cliffs all day to get water, to the fields and trying to keep the kids from falling over the cliff is exhausting to me. I did try a juniper berry they taste kinda like sweet pine but the seed in the middle is really crunchy. Can't say I would like to live on them. We also did a little shopping picked up some ornaments Kev got a pocket knife I got some earrings. then we hit the grocery store for some staples. Repacked the car for tomorrow and I'm ready to go. We don't know exactly where tomorrow we are going to program Bonnie for Branson MO and just go where she takes us. We will stop if something is interesting or when we get tired.

cortez

Hi We are in cortez CO a short drive from mesa verde. got here pretty early and went and saw the anasazi heritage center. Very nice exhibits even witha replica of a pit dwelling. I thought a lot about how much all the pottery people would like the pottery shown. Some was amazingly beautiful for being so old and primitive. We ere going to take a walk on their trail except for the warning sign to please travel in groups and how to defend yourself from a mountain lion attack! There have recently been tracks seen on the trail. Thats one animal I don't really want to see close up. Had dinner at a nice little diner that served blackberry cobbler warm with vanilla ice cream yum! Well mesa verde tomorrow. Not many pics today as it sprinkled on and off and the wind has been really fierce blowing dust so our car looks like its had a mud bath. this is the first day we have had any "bad" weather