There and Here...Then and Now...

Well, I know that title sounds a little backwards, but, since it is now and I am writing about then to catch up from there to here...I guess, in the long run, it will make some sense. Anyway...

About a month ago, we pulled up the jacks, ran in the slides, and headed east out of Texas.  We made an overnight stay at the

casino in Philadelphia, Mississippi, which is a  good choice when

Camp Red Bay is your next stop.  We had been planning this trip for awhile, since one more time we needed to have

the gasket

on the driver's side slide replaced for the 4th time.  We were glad to learn that it has been redesigned and should not give us any more problems.

We also found, after their inspection, that the top rails that were checked just last year had begin to show some minor cracks.  Tiffin has been replacing these under warranty as necessary...guess it was our necessary time.  So, since we were there and we had time and they were caught up, we said go for it now.

And, sure enough, the next day, they

replaced the top rails and the following day we were off to have

it painted.  And, with that, our work was done for this time.

Now...while we were enjoying our stay in Red Bay, it was nice to have Jim and Ellie and Glynn and Sylvia there too.  We enjoyed visiting with all of them.  And, for as many times as we have all been to Red Bay, I thought we had taken just about every day trip one could imagine.  But, Ellie, came up with one that took us out of Alabama, through Mississippi and just across the Tennessee State Line to the

Shiloh National Battlefield.

We walked through the

cemetery that overlooks the

Tennessee River and did the driving tour through the

battlefields.

It was a great day and fun to spend time with friends.

However, since all of our repairs had been made, it was time for us to relinquish our campsite and make room for the next Red Bay customer.  So, we paid up and packed up and headed out...next stop,

Mid South RV Park, Tunica, Mississippi.  During our stay, we drove into Memphis and drove by

Pink Palace, which was a mansion build in the 1920's  by Clarence Sanders, founder of the Piggly Wiggly grocery store chain.  However, because of the Stock Market crash, Sanders never got to live in this house.  The city of Memphis transformed it into a museum.  It got it's name from the Georgian pink marble used in the construction.

Then, it was off to lunch at

Central BBQ, one of the places Mark had seen from the Food Network.

I think a lot of others

had seen it too, because the line was outside when we arrived.  It was definitely worth the wait.

We spend another few days in Tunica, enjoying dinner at Paula's, fun at Harrah's, and a few of the other casinos.  We also shopped at the outlet mall and took a drive down to the

Tunica River Walk.  We were amazed at how low the

Mississippi River water level was.  While we were there in town, the water authorities closed 11 miles of the river and the barges where having to carefully navigate the waters to keep from running onto the sandbars.

After a few days we decided we had all the fun we wanted to have and would like to move on, but, with the Labor Day holiday approaching we needed to make a decision about an RV Park.  We knew that Keith and Donna were staying at Turkey Creek RV Village in Hollister, MO, just outside Branson.  So, we made a phone call and they told us there were plenty of spaces available, so we took off to Hollister which was just a couple hundred mile day.

It was nice to be

parked and settled in before the holiday weekend.  Turkey Creek is an

Escapee's Rainbow Park and great park to stay in without being in the middle of Branson.

We stayed busy with Keith and Donna, taking some day trips, seeing the show, SIX, shopping, and of course finding unique places to

eat, like the Hook & Ladder Pizza Co. in Hollister.  The inside was decorated with all sorts of old fire equipment and

     

and uniforms.  And...the pizza was good too!

Then...in the mist of us having fun and enjoying all the

beautiful countryside that Branson has to offer, Hurricane Isaac decided that it would take a path that would bring lots of rain to that area.  Again, it was decision time.

So, we put our heads together and decided that we would just head towards Sedalia, Missouri, which was to be our next stop anyway.  So, with a plan in mind, we loaded up one more time and with

Keith and Donna leading the way, we left Branson and headed north.

We settled in

 

at the camp ground and weathered a couple of days of some on and off heavy rains from Isaac.  The rains were very welcomed in this area of the Midwest that has been so dry.

Now, for those that don't know or might be wondering why are we in Sedalia, Missouri...we are here for the 2012 Escapades RV Rally and are looking forward to visiting with lots of friends that we only see once a year.

Mark and I are serving Escapades this year as the Assistant Coordinators and part of our job is to help decorate the stage in the main assembly area.  So, he and Bennett have stayed busy

building some light post.  Great job guys!

It's not all work...so, one day, along with Keith and Donna, we took a different kind of day trip.  We went to the

train station in downtown Sedalia, waited for the

west bound train...and we were off to

Kansas City.

We stopped in several small towns including

one famous one!

In just a couple of hours we

arrived at

Union Station.

We had about 4 hours to spend...we

ate lunch in this beautiful old

restaurant.

Afterwards, we enjoyed touring through the old

station.  In this room, which was the original waiting area, the ceilings are 65 foot tall.

I met a special guest while we were there and even had my picture made with him...the

Kansas City Chiefs mascot.

We took time to walk out on the

bridge that crosses the train yard and look down

on the freight trains that were coming and going from here to there.

And, soon, it was time for us to board our

eastbound train back to Sedalia.  Wow...another fun adventure!

And, now that we have been there and we are here, and it was then and now it is now...we are only a week away from the 2012 Escapades.  Now, as the staff

begin to arrive,  things will start to pick up, as we prepare for the arrival of some 1200 SKP friends by the end this next week.

Stay turned for more fun from the Missouri State Fairground and the 2012 Escapades!