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We left Weldon Springs State Park  Clinton, Il early and drove through fog and rain and finally some sun near Wausau. Great trip. We drove 2015 miles. We paid $3.219 for gas in northern Ill. When we arrived home gas is $3.499. We saw it as cheap as $2.919 in St. Louis.

Branson Shows

Hi, We watched the Packers beat Arizona on Sunday. It was warm and sunny. Bill took a long walk to the nearest Walgreens. Traffic is bad even on a Sunday AM in Branson, For those who have never been here, there is one 2 lane road on top of a steep ridge. The theaters are all along this road. So, it is bumper to bumper traffic all the time. It was a challenge driving into our campground (Branson Shenanigans) towing our car with the RV through the whole town. We hope to find an easier way out.
    Sunday night we went to The Haygoods show, It was very entertaining. Monday we are planning on seeing the Lennon Sisters and later the Presley Family Show (no relation to Elvis). It is raining a bit this morning and cooler. So Long summer weather. If you haven't voted yet don't forget to, Tuesday (tomorrow). We plan on heading home Tuesday. It has been a really nice trip.

Branson. MO

We enjoyed our 6 day stay at Bull Shoals-White River State Park. By Thursday & Friday the temperature soared up to the mid 70's. We drove to Mountain Home for a meal, groceries and stopped at a book store. Bill continued fishing every day plus we hiked around the area. On Friday we hiked a 3 mile "bike" trail. The problem with any kind of trail in the Ozarks, is the plentiful supply of small rocks. I think the bike trail would be a hazard for bike tires. Anyway, the river was up and down every day, depending on when the dam at Bull Shoals was opened or closed..

     We decided to leave the state park on Saturday and drive to Branson. It was easier for us to then drive to see Silver Dollar City near Branson. We saw 3 shows there. They have a long way to go as fas as crowd control goes, compared to Disney World. We stayed until the evening so we could see the all the lights. We are planning on seeing 3 shows in Branson before heading home.

White River Fishing

I thought I would publish this to prove I actually caught fish. Beth happened to be at the right spot when I caught this. I forgot how slippery trout are. It is a challenge trying to hold it without injuring the fish, while removing the barbless hook. It looks like it is going to warm up maybe into the 60's today. Hooray.

Bull Shoals-White River State Park, Arkansas

We are camping for a week here We have a wi-fi signal which is really nice as it is a state park.We are located on the White River. It is a famous trout stream that is below the Bull Shoals Lake dam. The top picture is in front of our campsite. The temperature has been in the high 20's at night and around 50 during the day. So, it is cold unless one is in the sun. We hiked almost 2 miles upon a bluff that overlooks the area this morning. Tonight we are going out to eat at a nearby resort.

Greer Ferry Lake, Heber Springs, Arkansas

We camped at Dam Site (not a darn sight) army corps. of engineer campground near Heber Springs, Arkansas. The place was full when we arrived Tues. Oct.23rd but nearly empty when we left this AM on Oct. 27th. Greer Ferry Lake is a very large lake. We didn't see many fishing though.
    The Ozarks are showing the great fall colors now. We enjoyed temperatures in the 80's until Friday (yesterday) when it was damp and 55 degrees. We chose Friday to visit the Bill Clinton Library in Little Rock. It is a beautiful place set in a really beautiful park along the Arkansas River. We were going to visit Central High School in Little Rock where the first integration took place. Even though it is a national park, my neighbor at the campground who is a retired Little Rock police officer suggested we not go there. He claimed the police don't even like to go there. So we didn't.
     Saturday we drove to a campground in Harrison, Arkansas so we could catch up laundry, email and the blog, Sunday we go to White River State Park for a week. It is located below the Bull Shoals dam. I hope to get a lot of trout fishing in and we plan on travelling around the area as we have the car. The we will go to Branson, Silver Dollar City, etc.  I believe we will have wi-fi at the park so hope to send pictures of the trout that are caught.

Corinth, MS or Bill's Civil War visit

Monday we drove the car to Corinth, MS, where there were 2 decisive battles fought in the civil war or as the southerners still call it The War of Aggression. We discovered the Bill Morris Parkway in southeast Memphis. It is highway 385. Again we discovered that the state of Mississippi has great roads. They spend their money on roads, not education.. I am seen in the picture wondering where the shell is. I think the guy that did this in the war had a short lived career in the military. Tuesday we go to Arkansas and will camp in an army corps of engineer campground north of Little Rock. We won't have internet for 4 days or so. We plan some side trips to Little Rock to see Central High School and the Clinton library. It was 86 degrees here yesterday. Sure feels like summer.

Memphis Zoo

We went to the Memphis zoo this AM. It was quiet on a Sunday morning, so the visit was very pleasant. The Memphis Zoo is one of the few places that has Panda Bears. So, I thought I would send a greeting to you from YaYa the panda. Tonight we are going to a local restaurant that will pick us up at the campsite via a pink limo. The temperature is in the low 80's. Really nice.

Sun Records and National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis

Hi, Today  we visited Sun Records where Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash first recorded hit records. Note the picture of a rocker I found there using Elvis's microphone. We also visited the National Civil Rights museum where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated . It was kind of a depressing place. It was an awakening experience.
. On a lighter note , we then ate lunch at the King restaurant on Beale St., in downtown Memphis. The whole street is blocked off and there is lots of live music. Pretty neat.

OUR QUEST TO FIND ELVIS, Oct, 17-Nov. 7th, 2012

We left Wausau Wednesday AM fighting a strong wind from the south and southwest. This year we are towing the car on a dolly so that cuts mileage down somewhat. We camped the first night at Starved Rock State Park near Utica, IL. We experienced a wild thunder storm that night. The wind picked up the next morning (Thursday). We then drove to Caruthersville, MO and camped at a casino. We had never camped at a casino before. It was a positive experience. The sites were on concrete pads with water and electricity. Laughingly, they had a shuttle to the casino which was maybe less than a block away. We ate dinner there but were concerned about the smoking. However, in the non-smoking part, we didn't smell any smoke which was nice. The food was good too. We didn't gamble. By then the gas mileage was down to 6.7 miles per gallon. The wind hadn't let up all day across the flat lands of Illinois and southern Missouri. Friday AM we headed to Memphis. It was only 100 miles but with the wind, crummy road and Memphis traffic while towing a car, the trip was memorable. We checked in at Graceland RV Park which is across the street from Graceland. We took the tour of the house. We learned that Graceland is the 2nd most visited house in the U.S. They had over 700,000 visitors last year. We wonder what will happen to all of this development when our generation of Elvis fans,are gone. By the way the most visited house in the U.S. is the White House.
     Now we will start exploring Memphis.

First Camping trip 2012

We camped several nights at the newest state park in Wisconsin. It is the Gov. Thompson State Park which is located near Crivitz, WI. We camped at site #20 on May 22nd. We were the only campers in the whole park until Thursday night May 24th. We witnessed the blacktopping of the campground roads while there. We moved to site #24 on Wed. May 23rd. While moving we decided to take the motor home to the boat landing on the Caldron Falls flowage of the Peshtigo River. We spent most of the day there and only saw one family use the boat landing. The showers were the cleanest we had ever seen in a state park campground. At night while sitting around the campfire we were serenaded by a whip-poor-will. That same bird also woke up Beth at 4:30AM. This is a really neat park.