This is what our tire looked like when it was taken off. Unbelievable!

We are lucky to be alive.

Tire Blowout

Our tire or what is left of it.

Very scarry event. We had left the pro shop and were on our way to St. Louis when the front right tire blew. John was able to keep the vehicle on the road and stopped the coach on the left shoulder. I called 911 and we got the sheriff and a tow truck. The sheriff backed up and went to where there was a little hill to try to make sure traffic could see us and he could devert them out of the left lane.

The first tow truck that they sent even though I told operator that we had a 40 foot motor home they sent a poor guy who took one look at us and said this is a bus. I cannot help you but I will call someone that works with trucks that can help. Then the sharrif asked him to also help devert traffic. So he backed up and worked on the traffic too. Next a guy came with a tire and once John got the jacks to raise the right side of the coach he got his jack under it and was able to change the tire. We also had some other damage but nothing that would prevent us from driving it. The gasoline filler on the right side was ripped out by the tire and we now can only fill on the left side of the vehicle. John tied it up and we just don't fill the tank all the way.

Bass Pro Shop

Fireplace inside the store



Alligator inside the store and it was alive



This is one entrance. There were many. This store covers more than a city block. It is like a shopping mall but it is all one store. If you want sporting goods or camping supplies this is the place to go. It also has a wild animal park inside but it was closed during expansion. The new aquariums and waterfalls were pretty neat. This is in Springfield and it is the first and probably the biggest store. It also has a catalog warehouse with it.

Camping $10.00 a night

We found camping for $10.00 a night with full hook ups north of Branson. It is Misty Mountain Sheep Skin Campgrounds in Walnut Shade, MO. It is on the top of a mountain and there is no tax, just ten dollars. There are about 10 campsites and it has a beautiful view.

One problem it is only 40 degrees at 8 AM. We are definately too far north too soon.
The next morning the camp host knocked on our door and gave us two notepads with pens as a memento of our stay there. I think it was a good marketing idea for them because the name of the park, address and phone number are on it. Just don't know how they can make any money charging so little. I didn't have the heart to ask for the "Good Sam" discount.

Branson

Billy Bass - We went to a restaurant in Little Rock called Flying Fish.They had walls and walls of these fish.

Little Rock

View of downtown Little Rock from our side of the river.



View or our RV park from the down town area.



The park area around the museum



Clinton Museum



Clinton Museum



The RV Park



View from the RV

Good morning everyone. I am sitting at the table and looking out at the sunshine and Arkansas River. We have a beautiful spot on the River. It is in the 60's and there is grass and no mosquitoes. The flowers are blooming and we walked last night thru the downtown area and ate at a fish place that was a real dive. However, the food was good and there was endless line of people waiting to get it. Yesterday, we filled all out water bottles and jugs with hot spring water from Hot Springs Arkansas so we now have spring in our steps. Later I will put pictures on the Blog. But we have to leave soon to tour the sub and Clinton Library.

Hot Springs - We filled our bottles with the spring water. Hurray- no more clorinated water to drink!

Judy and John fill their water bottles with hot spring water.

Judy and Mary put their hands in the hot springs. The water is too hot for Judy to keep her hands in for more than a second.

One of the spa houses in Hot Springs, AK.

5,350 miles

We are now in Tall Pines RV Park in Shreveport LA. A very nice park and hopefully tomorrow we will be in Little Rock, AK. Five Pm and still 69 degrees.

Free Laundry!!!!!!!

On the corner of Owl Prowl and Bear Loop.

Did not have much laundry but it was free so we washed what we could. Check out the cool building for Laundry, showers and bathrooms. They even have a screen porch.

Palmetto Island State Park in Abbeville, "Loosiana" is a beautiful park. Price $16.00 a night. Complete with hook-ups, free internet, free washers and dryers, bears, alligators, wild hogs. The weather has been cool and rainy, but the ranger says it should warm up tomorrow. There are not many other campers here, but we have to share the park with the ........mosquitoes.

TV working

We finally got all the parts on the TV working. We have cable TV when available, Direct TV, Local channels with the antenna, VCR's and we can watch DVD's. However, we do have a problem driving.

Palmetto Island State Park

We went to church at St. Pius X again. This is our third Sunday at Pius. Following church, we went to see how Tabasco Pepper Sauce is made on Avery Island, LA. Very interesting place.

Now we are staying at a new and very nice state park in Abbeville, LA. Eleven dollars a night with water and electric hookups. Mary went to register and they told her there was a lot of wild life here. Alligators, wild boar, and snakes. We went out for a walk and found the wild boar walking down the street. The weather is still cool but is suppose to warm up to 76 tomorrow.

Timber Ridge RV Park in Magnolia, TX.

Because the weather is not swimming temperature, we are doing some touring. Yesterday was the Blue Bell Ice Cream Factory. We even got samples. Now we are on to some places in Louisiana.

Mountain View RV Park

This is an empty park 300 sites and 4 campers. We are able to let the dogs run off leash. Today was solar panel and roof window cleaning and inspection day. We will be leaving soon to see what is at President Johnson's Park in Austin TX.

Van Horn TX

This morning we got up early and made some tracks. We are in Van Horn, Tx for the night. We have stayed in a lot of RV parks that said they had internet only to find out that it did not work on our site, so today we got smart. We drove around the almost empty park and Judy held her ipod and waited till there was a good connection to the internet and that is the site we chose. The few others that were in the park probably thought we were crazy as we would drive into a site and then Judy would lose the connection, then we would pull out and drive to another site. It worked well because we have the best connection we have had in weeks (except while at Al and Karen's house.)

Tombstone TX

The mountains behind Tombstone



Very tight sites. The worst we have ever paid for.

Yesterday we went Tombstone. They have gunfights on the streets every day at 2 and 4 pm. You can pay $10 a person and go in to see how it all ends. Wyatt Earp and his brothers and Doc Holiday try to throw some cowboys out of town. It has the original buildings and was used for some TV shows and cowboy movies. We stayed at an RV park there that squeezed us in as tight as we have ever been in a park. I was worried we wouldn't be able to open the slides or even the front door. It was nice to be able to walk into town from the RV park, but we were glad to leave in the morning.

Bone Yard Tour

We took a tour of the airplane boneyard in Tucson. Apparently the desert is the ideal place to store airplanes that are out of service or being taken apart for parts. The planes are sprayed with a rubberized coat to protect them. There are miles and miles of planes. Many of these planes are able to be airborn by removing their coating and putting in some gas.