Independence, Kansas

 Independence, Kansas

After a about a seven hour trip, which included our visit to Outdoor World, we arrived in Independence. Kurt’s old buddy, Rob, had called us the day  before and told us about an ACOE campground that is about 3 miles from his house. The campground is on Card Creek, which flows into Elk City Reservoir, where the state park is located. We drove into the campground and found it to be very nice and no one was there other than the camp host. We picked our site, backed up to the creek. The sites were $16 per night, with electric and a water hydrant within hose distance of our site.  We filled the fresh water tank and got all hooked up. We were pleasantly surprised and glad that Rob had reminded Kurt about this place. We unhooked the truck and decided to go into town to Walmart and get food and provisions. We also picked up pizza to take back for dinner, as we didn’t want to cook that night. While in town, Kurt talked to Rob on the phone and arranged for him to come out to our camp when we got back. Rusty had also called and he and Debbie were coming out also. So, our first night was a fun evening of chatting, sharing stories of the good old days in Independence. And of course, we had pizza and adult beverages. The evening ended very late and we crawled into bed after midnight.

The next day we had made plans to go to Rusty and Debbie’s property, where they live in their fifth wheel, when they are not working on the road. Rusty’s family owns quite a few acres back in this lovely valley with a creek running through it, Kurt calls it Woodville, as Wood is their last name. Rusty and Debbie have their piece of land up on a hill that they excavated and built out for their RV. It’s so awesome, with beautiful trees and rocky outcroppings all around. We took a tour of their amazing fifth wheel that they recently had custom built. Man, we would love to someday have an RV like that! Since they live and work from their RV, they have all the comforts of a beautiful home. Rusty drove us down to his parent’s home on the property and we sat around the table telling more stories of the old days. Rusty’s mom, Myrna, is an amazing woman, a regular hard working, caring country woman. It was a hoot listening to all the trouble these boys ran into during their young adult lives! Rusty wanted to drive around the area, go back to Kurt’s farm where he lived as a teenager. They also visited some other friends that Kurt had worked with on the farm. It was so much fun running around the rural area and seeing sights that Kurt grew up around. It is very pretty in this part of Kansas. There are green rolling hills, rivers, creeks and farmland. Rusty and Debbie were going to a grandson’s baseball game, so we headed back to the camper. Rob then came over to visit for the evening. We grilled some chicken and had a fun time hanging out and talking. Another late night, but we enjoyed every minute of it.

For Friday evening, we had made plans for them all to come over for a gathering that night. Rusty called and wanted to meet us for lunch in town at a Mexican restaurant. Rob went into town with us and we all had a nice lunch, then headed back to the campground. Rusty was driving his TBucket, his big toy. Check out the pictures on my Picasa web album. It’s a model T converted to a street rod. It’s beautiful and draws lots of attention from everyone that sees it. Rusty and Debbie were going to run home, then come back to the campground for the rest of the day. When they did return, they were towing the trailer (his rolling garage) with the TBucket. We were all treated to a ride and to drive the car. It was a lot of fun, driving around on the country roads. I’ve never even had a ride in a car like this, let alone drive it! Too much fun. Rob went home to get Gigi, after she got off work. We had so much fun preparing food and drinks! We had a meat feast, with steaks, burgers and pork chops. Everyone brought some food to share. There was so much food that we couldn’t eat it all, so we won’t have to cook for a week! The guys built a huge campfire after dinner and we all hung out telling more stories and having so much fun. Again, another late night, but it was so worth the time that we spent with long-time friends. Now, if we can just get them to visit us in Florida, they will be able to see how we live in the warm winters. (hint, hint)

Before dinner time, someone noticed a snake swimming on the creek toward our campsite! After looking at it, Kurt determined it was a small water moccasin. It came near the shore, then slithered up on a floating log right next to the water’s edge. Luckily, there was a brave Floridian to take care of business, while the local boys sat cowering in their chairs (Kurt’s words). He went closer to inspect it, and decided that we didn’t want that creature sitting there waiting until dark so he could slither up into the camp site. He began throwing large stones to scare it away. Instead, he swam off the log and headed for the shore! Kurt then picked up a huge fire log and smashed the evil creature to death. We were all relieved that he was gone, especially Debbie! Kurt picked up the dead snake and we thought Debbie would pass out. We were able to enjoy the rest of the evening snake free.

We slept in a little the next morning, but we weren’t really in a hurry. We broke down camp and got ready to leave. Rob came by to say farewell, we all had such a great time. Next we’re heading for an overnight flop at a Walmart in Dodge City, Kansas. It is half way to our next stop in Colorado Springs.

Table Rock State Park - Branson, Missouri

Table Rock State Park – Branson, Missouri

As a last minute change of plans, we decided to head to Table Rock S.P. near Branson for three nights. On Sunday, we drove into the park and were allowed to pick the site we wanted. Our site backs up to the lake with a beautiful view and the site is very spacious. The park is beautiful with many amenities and the lake is beautiful. Our view also includes the State Park Marina, which is huge and has a variety of rental boats, from jet skis to 2 story pontoon boats. They have other excursions, like a catamaran cruise and parasailing. It’s quite extensive, with a huge marina store and a restaurant. We soon decided that we  would stay four nights, so we contacted the ranger office and setup that last night’s stay.

We quickly setup the trailer and got settled into place. Both of us immediately loved the camp site and the whole package. It’s hard to explain, but we both felt “at home” here. The park has a paved lake shore trail, with one end at the dam and the other end at the second campground in the park; it’s 2.5 miles one way. Also, within the park there are over 20 miles of biking and hiking trails, which includes 7 miles of mountain biking trails. The Army Corps of Engineers manage the dam and a few lakeshore campgrounds. At the dam is the ACOE Visitors Center, which has dam tours and other educational exhibits. It’s quite a nice building, mostly run by volunteers. We would someday like to volunteer here and spend some more time in the Branson area. We rode our bikes around the park that evening just to check everything out. The dogs also got to go on a short hike on the lake shore trail.

The next morning, we decided to drive into Branson to look around and go to the Bass Pro Shop on the downtown riverfront. We had some items we needed to purchase for our trip. We always love shopping at Bass Pro, all that outdoorsy stuff! We love the hills of this area. Branson city itself is very touristy; it reminds us of International Drive in Orlando. There are many music theatres, restaurants, shopping centers, souvenir shops and other tourist traps; like water parks, mini-golf, go-carts, etc. That part of Branson is not our cup of tea… However, the surrounding area and the lake are the main attractions for us.

We looked into outfitters that could shuttle our kayaks on the river, that they call Lake Taneycomo, which is actually part of the White River basin. We contacted two outfitters and found one that would pick us up at the take-out, then shuttle our kayaks to the put-in, near the dam. This was perfect as we can take our time paddling and arrive on our schedule at the end.

Kurt decided to go “check out” the mountain bike trails. He left the campsite around 3:30. After about two hours, I called him to find out what was taking so long. Well, he took off without a trail map, his hiking GPS or water. All he had was his cell phone, and since the trail goes down into valleys, he didn’t have such a great signal. When I called him he was totally lost and exhausted after riding all the trails. He couldn’t find his way back to the trailhead. I took out a map and was able to explain some trail points to him. About 30 minutes later, he called and said he had found his way out. I had already left to drive to the trail head to “rescue” him.  He got in a lot of trouble from me, regarding going off on a bike ride with nothing that he really needed. Sometimes I wonder if his anxious obsession gets in his own way! Well, he settled down and had some beers! After dinner, Kurt built a nice campfire and we enjoyed that for the evening.

So the next day, Monday, we were able to do the paddle. We put our kayaks in the water at 11:30 and headed downstream. The Corps was releasing water for hydro power, so the current was really whipping. It was really a “float” with steering. The water was crystal clear, ice cold (about 45 degrees) so we couldn’t go swimming or even put our feet in the water. We were able to stop once at a public boat ramp to get out and stretch our legs. Along the river, there were high and low bluffs, many with mansion homes and others just regular houses. Most homes and resorts had floating docks with boats. This river is all about the trout fishing. It was a sunny day and the paddle was very enjoyable. We arrived back at the take-out in about 3 hours. We returned to the campground to hang out and get the dogs out on a hike.

The next day, Tuesday, we hung out around the campsite. I got some housekeeping taken care of and relaxed a little. Kurt went on another mountain bike trail ride and this time he took the map, GPS and water! He was able to ride all the trails in about one hour. So much better when you’re prepared…  Later on, we rode the entire lake shore trail and rode it end to end. It was good exercise. Before dinner, we began prepping for our departure the next morning. When we awoke, it was beginning to sprinkle rain, we were able to get everything packed up before the  heavier rain began. But, here we were again, at the dump station in the pouring rain. We bugged out fast and got on the road to Springfield.

We had a planned stop in Springfield, to visit Bass Pro Shop/Outdoor World. This is the original store and is massive! Going in this store is like Disney World for us. The décor and exhibits are amazing and huge! We took many pictures in the store, it was amazing! After that, we stopped for lunch and then headed toward Independence, Kansas. We will be camping on Elk City Lake, near the home of one of Kurt’s old buddies. We will be hanging out with Rob & Gigi. Also, another old friend will be in town, so we can see Rusty & Debbie also.

Buffalo National River

Buffalo National River

After a long five hour drive through some Interstate roads and then miles of winding mountain roads, we arrived at Buffalo Point campground. Wow, is this out in the boonies! We had made a Walmart provision stop in a small Arkansas town. Driving into the campground we found that it was pretty much self-serve. There was a closed ranger station, good thing we had a reserved campsite. We found our site and got the camper in place. This campsite is really cool, on a sloping hill, terraced with other campsites. Our whole rig just fit in the space, but we got it in okay. Our site had a rock wall around our front patio living space and was perfect for our needs. We quickly found out that down in this river valley there are no cell phone signals, no TV, no radio… basically, disconnected in every way. At least our trusty weather radio worked if we held it in our hands; guess we were the antenna booster! We rode our bikes around the park to get our bearings and find out where everything was, we were able to find park maps at an unattended information station. This is a national park and reduced staff, closed bathhouses, closed camping looks, etc. are being blamed on the “sequester”. Really???  Closed bathrooms? Campground host volunteers are the ones that actually clean and maintain bathrooms… damn federal government.

Later, we took the dogs down to the river to play on one of the swimming beach “gravel bars”. They had fun running in the shallow water and playing retrieve the stick (at least Kody was retrieving). Kurt also got in the water to cool off; it was a great end to busy driving day.

The next morning, we drove up the road to check with an outfitter about shuttling our kayaks upriver. We found a small, family run business and they were extra nice (southern style). We setup a shuttle for that afternoon. The plan was that we would paddle out of the park downstream to the last take-out point for the lower part of the Buffalo River. The outfitter simply picked up our truck and drove it to the take out so we could arrive there on our own schedule. It was perfect. This section was a 7.5 mile paddle (float) downstream, was calm and absolutely beautiful. The water in the river was crystal clear, as much of the river is fed by springs and creeks. There were many turns in the river with most of them consisting of a gravel bar. So there were many places to stop to relax, swim or have a picnic. We took our time and stopped a few times, to cool off and swim or simply enjoy the amazing scenery. Many parts of the river were lined with high, rocky bluffs. Other areas were just hills and many birds. We saw some wildlife; many turtles (sliders), some water moccasins, otters and birds everywhere. It took us about 4 hours to get to the take out, it was so much fun. It was a very enjoyable paddle and is one of the prettiest rivers we have ever paddled.

We had so much fun we decided to go ahead and book a different float for the next day. The outfitter’s plan was to pick us up at our campsite (wow!) and take us to the put-in at a different part of the river that was above the previous paddle. This section was a 11.5 mile float, which was supposed to have more small rapids and more current. It was still a wonderful paddle, with many gravel bars along the way. We truly enjoyed this river and the surrounding area.

The next day the weather forecast was for severe thunderstorms, which turned out to be true, along with tornado warnings in the area. (This was the same weather system that went through Oklahoma City and caused damage.) The weather kept us off the river, so went drove down to Blanchard Caverns to take the cave tour. It was spectacular, the first level caverns tour was 216 feet down! It was very impressive, as the two “rooms” we went through were massive. The first one was as long as 6 football fields. I posted some pics of the most amazing formations in this cave. It was well worth the 45 minute drive through the mountains to get there. After returning to the camp, most of the bad weather had passed by, so we took the dogs down to the river gravel bar to play. Again, we all had a fun time.

Later in the middle of the night, the storms came back with heavy rains and lightning. It woke us up a few times. All was well; I guess being down in the river valley was a good thing at that point. The next morning it was still raining somewhat, but was clearing up. Later in the morning we decided to hike a trail in the park that goes back to an ancient rock cave where native Indians had resided since around 700 AD. There were some other highlights along the trail, like an old abandoned zinc mine. The hike was beautiful and most along a lovely creek. It was very humid and hot, with a big elevation change. I hate it when you hike downhill first, then have to go back uphill to the trailhead. Anyway, we had a great time and really enjoyed the artifacts along the way.

In the afternoon, we began prepping for the next day departure. We met our camping neighbors who were very friendly. After we ate dinner, Kurt started a nice campfire (despite the wet wood) and our neighbors came over to share the fire. We all sit around the fire until almost 11pm, then we had to get some sleep. It was a fun evening.

The next morning, we were breaking down camp during rain. We just had to put on our rain gear and get it ready to bug out. Everything was wet, so it was not a lot of fun. The next stop is near Branson, Missouri, at Table Rock Lake. Kurt and his friends in Kansas used to hang out at this lake over 30 years ago. Also, we want to see what Branson is like.