Views from the Big Country: Branson Bound

Tuesday, September 3

First, a correction to my previous blog. Carter Park is located near the campus of Bowling Green, not Ball State as I previously stated.

We awoke to cool temps. After highs in the mid to upper 80's and lows in the low 70's for the past two weeks, 59 degrees felt cold!!

We packed up and we were on the road by 9:00 am, headed to Terre Haute, Indiana for the night.
Traffic was light; Dayton and Indianapolis were a breeze to get by.

While stopped at a rest area, Coop and I went for a walk...

Leaves are changing. Love this yellow.

Chicory growing alongside the road

Empty until Spring!

We were grateful for another easy and uneventful travel day...

There's a first for everything. After a bit of a mix-up (our escort took us the wrong way to our site, and we couldn't make the turn to pull into the site) we were upgraded to their large patio site!! We've never received an upgrade to a site before!!

It was a beautiful evening, highs in the upper 70's. After dinner, we took Cooper for a nice walk in the park...

Now that's a tree stump!!

For my Harry Potter loving friends, this tree reminds me of the "whomping willow" tree...

Not sure what this is...

Walnut

You never know what you'll find while walking through a campground...

Coop's new friends...

Poor Coop, he thought all cats were nice and would want to play...

Coop's injury...one swipe and the cat got his nose!!

Chess anyone?? Reminds me of Harry Potter. I've never seen a chess board this large before.
This is located right next to the playground.

This is a nice KOA, located right off of the freeway. However, there are a lot of trees within, and surrounding the campground. We would definitely stay here again.

Wednesday, September 4

On the road again. Headed to Cuba, Missouri. We've another great traveling day. We've been blessed by great weather.

Around 9:30 am we drove past the exit for

Blue Springs Café has been featured on the food network. Sure wish we could've stopped for a piece of pie!! Someday we'll get back to this part of Illinois and stop in!!

For some reason I love crossing the Mississippi River..."go west young man, go west" and all that. I really do feel as if I'm in the "west" once I've crossed the river...

As we were driving around the south side of St. Louis on I-255, we were able to catch a glimpse of the Arch in the distance. Always an impressive sight.

Love this exit off of I-270 to I-44...it was fun!!

We've left the land of corn and beans behind...

We're staying at Ladybug Campground in Cuba, Missouri tonight. In it's previous life, this was a horse camp. It's a small campground; the owners are very friendly. It's right off of I-44, surrounded by lots and lots of trees. They give a 15% discount to Escapees. We would definitely stay here again, though we would call ahead to insure they have room.

Cuba is a nice, small town. It's known as "mural city".

About a mile from where we are staying (exit 203 off of I-44) we saw a sign for the "World's Largest Rocking Chair". So naturally we had to go take a look!! There's a nice gift shop here as well. They sell a lot of Route 66 things. I-44 is part of the old Route 66. While we were there, we met a couple from England. They were headed to LA, Route 66 all the way. They were riding a nice Harley and were headed to Springfield for the night.