LEAVING KANSAS FOR MISSOURI, SAYING GOOD BYE AND SOUTH TO THE OZARKS!

On Sunday, June 14th, we woke up early and I did a 2 mile walk. Afterwards we went out to breakfast with Titus at the Big Biscuit. Digger John and Susan had a prior commitment with family but they had recommended this restaurant to us for breakfast.

Oh my goodness, was our breakfast yummy and each breakfast plate came with the big biscuit! It was nice just to kick back and relax and enjoy our friendship with Titus. I only wish his wife Fannie Kicker was here with us, but she was at home keeping an eye on their sweet German Shepherd, Zoey who has been recovering nicely from Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.

We left Kansas and just over an hour later we were back in Missouri at Titus and Fannie's home. Ralph backed our rolling home up their 1,500 ft. driveway. We set up our ranch house and relaxed a bit before visiting Fannie. It didn't take long for Pearly the kitty cat to find her way to Ralph and used his knee for her pillow to take a nap.

Then Ralph went to relax on the couch and Pearly found her way to his lap. She kneaded and kneaded his lap until it was "cushionie soft" where she soon took another nap.

Zoey is a quiet and sweet shepherd. But when she needs to be, she can act ferocious and has a deep loud bark when there is a knock at the door. She is a good protector and also Fannie's shadow.  She  has separation anxiety when Fannie is out of her sight. 

Fannie takes her to the nursing home in town a few times a week for the residents to pet and love on. Zoey brings a lot of happiness to everyone at the nursing home.

A treat for a hand shake.

Zoey patiently waiting for a scrap to fall while Fannie and Titus were making delicious white chicken chili and Mexican salad for dinner. Oh my goodness, it was so delicious and the best part is Fannie packed us up the leftovers for our dinner that we will enjoy at our next front yard.

On Tuesday, June 17th we hitched up our rolling home and said our goodbyes. Folks over the years have asked Ralph and I the negatives about RV-ing. We never had any except for this one. Over the years you just meet great folks that you have hit it off with. Then you have to leave and your trails may or may not ever cross again. But now with the convenience of cell phones and emails, you can at  least keep in touch.

We just hit it off with Titus, Fannie, Ginger and Cash. We will keep in touch and actually our trails will cross again. We are going to see them next month in Manchester, Kentucky at the Black Gold Shootout. The nice thing is they both live in Missouri, the center of the United States and that makes it very convenient as we crisscross the U.S.

Ralph and I pulled out late morning and headed for Branson, Missouri about 4 hours away. It was a nice peaceful ride through the Ozark Mountains and rolling countryside.

On the way down, Fannie made a list for us of the shows we should see. She also listed some restaurants and top on her list was Lambert's.

Lambert's Cafe is known as Home of the Throwed Rolls. The restaurant has been featured on the Travel Channel. They named the cafe as the "World's Best Place to Pig Out". Lambert's Cafe opened up in 1933 by Earl and Agnes Lambert and today is still in the Lambert family. Besides being known for throwing rolls, they are known for their "delicious down home cookin!"

The first roll was thrown in 1976 by Norman Lambert. He would walk around and hand out the homemade rolls to his customers. One day the cafe was really busy and Norman couldn't get through the crowd....one of the customers yelled to him to "Throw the dang thing!" and with that the "Home of the Throwed Rolls" was born.

Although it is hard to see, the server has a cart full of trays of homemade hot out of the oven rolls and he has thrown a roll to the man on the far side of the room in the gray shirt. He has his hands up to make the catch. To me there is no better aroma than that of freshly baked rolls. They should make a perfume that smells like that.

Dang, another sideways picture. Here Ralph is putting butter and honey on his piping hot roll.

The decor throughout Lambert's was nostalgic and unique. It was a lot of fun looking at everything.

Well as tempting as it was, I decided to keep with my nutritious eating and had the grilled salmon with veggies rather than the Hog Jowl. Oh yes, we are in the Ozarks! Raccoon, Possum and all the other road kill meat. (Apologizing ahead of time if I offended anyone)

When your entree comes around, not only does it have 2 sides that you picked, but servers come around with buckets and bowls of macaroni and tomatoes, fried okra, fried potatoes with onions, sorghum molasses, apple butter and black eyed peas. They would just keep filling your plate. You wanted a 3rd or your 4th roll, just raise your hand and get ready to catch it.

Ralph ordered one of his favorite meals, fried catfish!

By accident I deleted the picture of our main server, Cassie. I had taken a picture of her presenting me with my entree of grilled salmon along with my choice of 2 sides that were turnip greens and green beans in a big frying pan that I ate out of.

I was so upset with myself and unfortunately I can't retrieve it once I deleted it. She was a great waitress, very bubbly and loved her job. She did try to talk me into the Hog Jowl though! Thanks, but no thanks Cassie!

What a fun time we had at Lambert's!

We headed to Branson and pulled into Turkey Creek RV Park. It is right along the Turkey Creek. This area has been swamped with rain over the last several weeks. Our campsite is on a slight rise and the creek is over its banks so the water is about 150 feet away from us, so we are keeping a good eye on that. What is good about having a rolling home, you can hitch up and get out of dodge.

The ducks and their babies are enjoying it.

It is a little had to see the water, but there is our RV and white truck and you can just make out the water line. It is just under the branches of the trees on the right.

On Wednesday, June 17th I took a walk into the town of Branson about 1-1/4 miles away. On the way over I crossed the bridge that goes over Turkey Creek. There is an RV Park called Lakeside and it is right below the bridge. They must have had RV-er's vacate the row that is right along the shoreline as you can see. This area is expecting around 4 inches of rain over the next 24 hours starting tonight.

This part of Branson is full of touristy type shops. Some stores are unique and they have a Five and Dime Variety Store that I enjoyed browsing in and actually found a few things that I couldn't live without.

I picked up lots of literature on the shows that I thought that would interest us including the list of shows that Fannie thought we would like. Tomorrow as the rain comes down, this will keep me busy as Ralph and I sift through all these brochures

.By the way, a couple of blog entries ago, I complained about how busy I was and that I was having a hard time keeping up with my blog. Well our good friend Janna, the Montana Ranchers wife who by the way is about as tough as they come, well she left me a comment about my statement. She stated something to the fact about me keeping my blog updated and to quit my sniveling about being busy. So I have put my big girl pants on and hope to do a better job!

She is the one that taught me how to do this travel blog. My knuckles are still sore!

Until next time..............Happy Trails!