LEFT BRANSON, MISSOURI FOR MANCHESTER, KENTUCKY

On Friday, July 10th, we had our coffee and neither of us were hungry so we just started packing up and hitched up. The rain finally quit around 4:00 a.m.

We went to the office to say goodbye to Jeannie and Mark. Mark was still in bed because he had been doing hourly checks on the river all night.

This is unusual for Ralph and I to be hitched up by 8:30 a.m. ready to go, but here we were pulling out.

Just up from the Turkey Creek RV Park is a bridge that is maybe shy of a quarter mile and goes over the Taneycomo Lake. Just below the bridge is a campground called Lakeside RV Park and they have a row of campsites right on the shoreline. Then more rows behind the first row. Well the first 2 rows were flooded but all the RV's had been moved.

I was not able to get a picture of it because I was riding shotgun and on the wrong side to get a picture.

We were on the Highway 60 in the Mark Twain National Forest and I just managed to catch this water fall. I did not have time to roll down the window. This route was just beautiful!

Well our 2004 Dodge Truck turned 10 years old on June 4th. It had a milestone reaching 150,000 miles. Ralph was driving at the time so I just reached over with my iPhone and started shooting hoping one of the pictures would turn out.

I am not sure where this was in Missouri, but we stopped for fuel and a break and saw this poor farmer hay bales submerged in flood water.

When we reached the Missouri/Illinois border and found out a bridge was damaged because of the flooding, so we took a 25 mile detour to get into Kentucky on some winding and hilly roads.

Finally we made it to Bowling Green, Kentucky where there was a Sam's Club where we stopped for supplies and just up the road was a Camping World store. Most Camping Worlds allow RV-er's to stay over night. So we tucked in just after 7:00 p.m.

On Saturday, July 11th after a restful nights sleep we headed into Camping World for some supplies. 

Just up the road from Camping World was a Cabela's. Cabela's are all across the country and they are a mega store for hunting, fishing, camping, shooting and etc. Many have these bigger than life size bronzes outside of their store. This one did not however. It was their smallest store so it did not have any of the grand features that you will read below.

Many Cabela's are like a museum and are a tourist attraction. They are full of animal mounts from all over the world and they are displayed in their natural habitat. Most of the stores have a huge floor to ceiling aquarium that features all kinds of huge salt water fish along with a trout steam and pond in the store! Many have fine restaurants featuring meat from the wild side like buffalo and elk along with a fudge and nut shop where you can buy dips, sauces, soups, breads and seasoning mixes.

Ralph and I enjoy stopping at them as we traipse across the country. We have one of their pamphlets  that list their locations and we check them off as we go. So far we have been to about 13. Most allow RV-er's to stay overnight and they even have horse corrals and dog pens set up for folks stopping for an overnight. 

There are over 60 stores across the U.S. and Canada. They were started by Dick Cabela in 1960 when he bought $45 worth of  hand tied fishing lures while on a buying trip to Chicago with his father for the family hardware and furniture store. 

He placed an add for the fishing lures in a national magazine, Sport Afield. When orders came in for his fishing flies, he included his little catalog and the rest as they say is history. He recently passed away at age 77.

We went through a time zone changed and arrived in the town of Manchester, KY. population of about 1,200. Manchester is in the southeast part of Kentucky. 

We arrived at the farm of Copperhead Joe and his sweetheart Bo. These are their cowboy shooting alias names. They have a cowboy range on their farm in the hills of this area that they call Hill Billy Heaven. This shoot however is their annual championship match called The Black Gold Shootout. Black Gold is another name for coal and coal mining is big in Kentucky.

We were greeted by their Great Pyrenees "Loader" who just got shaved. They have 2 GP dogs because they have cattle. However Loader has no desire to be watch dog and stay with the cattle. Instead he socializes with all the campers and lets the other Pyrenees do all the work.

We soon set up our rolling home. While in Branson, Missouri we got a sign made out of wood with the bark still on it. It is laser engraved. Ralph had time to hang it up.

Here is the sign, it is just above the lamp. The next picture is a close up. Our rolling ranch house is decorated cowboy and Native American.

This is the view out our back window. A steady rain fell most of the day just after we got done setting up.

 I am doing my best to keep up. As I am writing this, it is Sunday afternoon July 19th and the match is over and most folks have left. We will hitch up tomorrow and hopefully I will catch up and be up to date on our travel blog.  It has been one big week long party along with cowboy action shooting.

I know my good friend Janna, the Montana Rancher's wife will chime in. She does this when I complain about being busy and can't keep up with our travel blog. She taught me how to do this travel blog last year. I think she was a Nun in her past life! I know I am going to hear from her for sure.

Until then............Happy Trails to all!