Corinth Contraband Camp

While in Corinth Mississippi touring the Corinth battleground and Civil War Interpretive Center we were told that there was going to be a guide telling all about the Corinth Contraband Camp.  So we rushed over to step back more in time with someone who knows the history of the camp. African Americans who fled Southern Plantations and farms for Freedom migrated to Corinth after the issuance of the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln on Sept 22, 1862. It was 11 days before the battle of Corinth.  The proclamation authorized as of Jan 1, 1863 freedom to all slaves in states still in rebellion against the United States.  By Dec 1862 Grant reported a sizable population of 20,000 refugee African Americans being housed, fed, and protected within his Dept.
 Many were used in the war as teamsters, cooks, laborers.  Men were enlisted into the 1st Alabama Infantry Regiment of African descent.
The people were safe here, and became a small town with a church, commissary, hospital,frame and log houses. An American Missionary Association school operated nearby where eager students of all ages sought knowledge day & night.  The people were treated well and considered the model camp.

Civil War continues

The Battle of the Civil War continued into Mississippi. We enjoyed more History that was there at the Interpretive Center.  I bought a DVD there called " Shilo the Fiery Trail".  The Corinth National Cemetery is the final resting place to 6,000 Union soldiers who fought at or around Corinth.

Inside the Interpretive center we could see old things of the Civil War and hear a lady read from the Diary  of one of the Nurses that took care of the wounded. The nurse said if they did not die in battle they died of infection.

Shiloh National Cemetery

Union cemetery, last resting place of the soldiers. Many Confederate soldiers are buried here too and many unmarked graves of the unknown soldiers. Later many of the wives were buried with their husbands and you will see the husbands name on one side of the grave stone and his wife's name on the other side so they are buried together.

There are 5 Confederate mass graves on the huge park area.  Many had to be buried fast because of the stinch of death of so many dead.

The Civil War

Dan and I could not believe how big an area and how many  soldiers fought in the Civil war in Shilo, a total of 23,746 died from the Union against the Confederate army's.  I took lots of photo's of the statues of many of the states that came to Shilo to fight the bloody war.  There was a trail to go down to where the first shot had been fired and we were just about to come to the clearing when we heard a branch break off a tree making a loud sound like it exploded or something. I looked at my watch and it happened just before 6 P.M. and Something just gave me goosebumps and give me the chills.  We walked a few more feet and read a sign that the first shot had been fired just before 6 A.M.!!!!  Believe it or not and I'll tell ya we were spooked!!
Shiloh  got it's name from the Shilo Meeting house, the log Methodist church that was there .
So much to see and read about, a must see though if you are traveling through Tennessee.

Graceland

We had a great time at Graceland in Memphis Tennessee, toured the house and grounds and many museums all packed with things about Elvis

Yeehaaaw we're finally in Tennessee

Hooray we finally got to to a state we have never been to....TENNESSEE!!!!  Wow what a beautiful lush green state!!  I loved all the Ranch style brick houses and seeing some houses that were HUGE and Mansions galore on acres and acres of land!!

The park we arrived to was not the greatest but we did park in a nice large campsite with shade and close to the bath house.  It was strange that out of over 200 campsites there were only 9 RV's in the  park...where is everyone???  We later found out why LOL.

We did lots of exploring here, went to Shilo Tennessee & Corinth Mississippi to the Civil War area's, wow alot of history about Shilo & Corinth.  When we were at Shilo we were walking down a trail to the spot where the first shot was fired starting the civil war in Shilo and suddenly we heard a large branch break off a tree making a spooky loud sound. I noted it happened just before 6 P.M. , hair was standing up on my arms and I felt chilled.  We walked a bit more and found a history sign that said the first shot was heard just before 6 A.M.......Believe It Or Not!!!  Needless to say it did spook Dan & I!!

Dan did alot of Geo-caching around the areas, he's found over 2000 caches now.

Saw Deer, Geese and Goslings, turtles & Bunnies in the park plus fish in the ponds.

Good Times with Good Friends

After leaving Mill Creek campground iun Missouri we traveled to Mountain Home Arkansas to spend a few days with our old Puyallup church friends Don and Sharron Johnson .  They have a beautiful home out in the country on 20 acres of wooded land. One morning I woke up early because my left hip was bothering me and I noticed the cats pacing the windshield and realized they were watching a Gray Fox, bunny, a Buck and Doe and lots of birds.

We arrived on June 18th and Sharron surprised us with a chicken dinner that was yummy.  Don had cooked a beer can chicken, it was so tender and juicy cooked that way.

Next day  19th Don took us exploring the area and went over to the Bull Shoals Dam, showed us the church they go to and Don is a very busy custodian there....Father keeps him TOO busy there!!! After the tour we picked up Sharron and we all went out to dinner at Colton's for some good lip smacking Southern dinner.

20th Don, Sharron, dan and I went to the afternoon matinee to see the movie "The Greater Glory" It was about the people in Mexico fighting to have Religious  freedom to worship in Mexico. It was a tear jerker movie for sure!  Afterwards we went out to dinner to Freds\'s Fish House for dinner and I LOVED eating the the tomato relish and so Dan bought me a jar...Hooray!!

We drove around afterwards and found another nice Corps Of Engineers park close by Don & Sharron's so next time we come through we can park there and that way Don can take his pontoon boat out of the garage and go out on the lake then.  We had it blocked parking in their driveway.

Had a great time and the Johnson's said we had to stay longer next time  and we will!!!
Thanks Again Don & Sharron for the great time!!

Eureka Springs Arkansas

Dan and I love Eureka Springs Arkansas because we got married here on July 12, 1994, we love it because it is the most beautiful romantic Victorian town we have ever seen.  Some of the houses are very old and the Crescent Hotel was made in the 1800's.

Dan  found several cache's here in town

Crescent Hotel

We enjoyed going through the Crescent Hotel again, this old hotel is very haunted and mostly because of the patients who used to be here at one time when it was run by a Dr. Baker who was a quack We noticed a bunch of people staying here and some weddings in the garden and noticed the dining rooms were set up for 2 seperate wedding dinners.  Dan found a hidden cache in the garden and we found the hotel kitty out behind the hotel. It has a special stairway &  door just for him to go in and out of the Hotel.

We love this town because this was where we got married on July 12th 1994, I love that is is the most beautiful Victorian town I have even seen and even has cobbled streets.

Saint Elizabeth Of Hungary Catholic Church

Saint Elizabeth of Hungary Church is the ONLY church in America that you enter through the Bell Tower, a fact noted in Robert Ripley's "Believe It Or Not" Book. One of the most beautiful churches in the Ozarks.  It did not intend on being a church though but instead a Memorial Chapel to Elizabeth Kerens by her son Richard Kerens.
Mr. Kerens went away on business and came back and found out his mother died so he decided to build the memorial to his mother where he had last seen her- in the Cresent Gardens below the Hotel


 The chapel was completed in 1904. Later it became the church.

Richard Kerens a St. Louis industrialist came to the little city of Eureka Springs during it's early days and fell in love with it.  He was part owner of the Missouri and North Arkansas Railroad, which in it's heyday had 8 to 10 trains a day running from St. Louis to the little town of Eureka Springs. 

Mr. Kerens also served as part of the financial backing for the construction of the Cresent Hotel above the chapel.

How the church got it's name Saint Elizabeth of Hungary  is unknown except there was a Parochial school in Eureka Springs with the name Saint Elizabeth.

Rockin Pig Saloon

My Niece told us we had to stop for dinner at the Rockin Pig Saloon before heading into  Eureka Springs and said they had the best food.

Jade was right it was good!!! Best pulled pork Sliders I have ever eaten!!!

I got a kick out of the parking area in front of the Saloon was for motorcycle's only! Cars had to park off to the side of the saloon. Everyone was coming in with Harley shirts from everywhere around the U.S.A.
Thanks Jade for telling us to go here it was a cool place to go to the best food!!

Berryville Arkansas

We ventured over to Berryville so we could go bowling with the great Nieces Taryn & Elexis and have more time with my Niece Jade and her new baby Grayson.  Kids beat us big time bowling...Dan and I were so out of practice because we have not bowled in ages and I slipped my left foot over the line and down I went on my butt from the alley so slick as walking on ice!! I felt real dumb and nearly did the splits!!

Afterwards Dan & I did some Geo caching around town and found some old Pioneer buildings before venturing over to Eureka Springs.

We found the court house where we got our marriage licence and got a photo of it, I had totally forgotten we got it in Berryville Arkansas!

White River Fish House and Branson Landing in Branson Missouri

My niece Jade told us we had to go to the White River Fish House for dinner in Branson so Larry, Shirley , Dan and I met up there. As we were coming down Hwy 76 known as the Branson strip we noticed how many places had been damaged by the 2011 Tornado that hit the area and also hit the Branson Landing area.  Old Branson had changed alot and what used to be a beach and campground was suddenly a area with hotels, condo's, shops galore and Restaurants along the shores of Lake Taneykomo. Most of the area had been restored some area's were still boarded up. Some of the Branson Landing area had been hit but restored. I liked the Fish House Restaurant's decor , old fishy stuff, lamps made out of bait boxes .  Old life jackets hanging from the rafters with oars and old windows separating the eating areas. Great food and nice staff,  we really enjoyed ourselves. The Restaurant was sitting on the water and when they had some flooding last year the Restaurant moved  some.  Larry and our friends in Arkansas and even Jade said the flooding last year really made areas come up dangerously high.

Fri 15 we decided to meet up with Larry & Shirley in Branson to go to the White River Fish House Restaurant for lunch and wander around Branson afterwards.  Heading over to Branson we came down the Branson Strip and noticed all the buildings being repaired from the Tornado that hit the area and really did alot of damage.  We saw many places rebuilt and alot of others still in need of alot of repair. Had a great lunch with Larry & Shirley.  Since it was so hot Larry & Shirley headed back to camp and Dan went Geo-caching and I went window shopping so I could take photo's of Branson Landing and duck in the shops and cool off from the Air-conditioning.

We were so shocked to see how much Old Branson has been built up!  What used to be a beach with a campground is now Million dollar property of Hotels, Shops, Condo's, Restaurants right on the edge of Lake Taneykomo.  We'll have to go back so we can eat at Joe's Crab Shack the next time. 

Family Time

 We are having a great time with my Brother Larry & Sister-in-law Shirley Poche while they are on their fishing vacation.  Larry had mentioned where he was going to be and asked if it was possible we could come close to them.
Larry & Shirley are in some cabins on Table Rock Lake and Dan and I are also on Table Rock Lake 11 miles away in the Mill Creek US Corps Of Engineers park in Lampe Missouri.

Dan and I now have the Senior Pass because he turned 62 on March 15th so it finally qualified us to get half off the regular price of the COE Parks. So instead of paying $21 a night we are only paying $10.50.  Our site is right next to the lake and we have a beautiful view. Our pass gets us into National Park areas free, so getting older does have its benefits.

We were really excited that we finally got to meet our Niece Jade Clark and her children Taryn, Elexis
& newborn Grayson. Jade is a sweetie and  a fantastic Mom , we adore her kids. I enjoyed playing with the kids and Grayson has to be the most content baby I have ever met!! What a cutie!!

Motorhome repair in Springfield Missouri

On our way to Mill Creek a warning light kept going off on the dash so Dan called Freightliner in Springfield Missouri to get it checked out. Our appointment was On Tuesday 12th at 10:00 A.M. So we had to be up early and put things  away so we could be there and left the Jeep in our campsite and told the Camp Hosts we would be back that afternoon crossing - our fingers. Crew did not get to us till 1P.M.!!!  They said they were swamped with trucks...lovely ...NOT!  So we had no choice but to wait because someone screwed up our appointment at 10:00.

Moochy was having a hissy fit that she had to be in her kennel and was howling for quite some time.  Think I'm going to have to put her in the bigger kennel because she hates hers.

Got a photo of the guy under the bed trying to get that alternator off and replace it, not an easy job and it was hot in the engine area let alone hot outside that day!
 Finally got the problem solved and needed 2 new starter batteries and a new Alternator . We were finally back on the road after 4 P.M.  $1,019.27 shorter in our pockets but left with peace of mind that this did not happen some where down the road in the middle of nowhere !!

We had passed a Lambert's Cafe in Ozark Missouri and noticed they had a special area for RV's so we pulled over to have some yummy dinner...we were starving!!     

Lambert's Cafe

 After a long day at the Freightliner shop getting the motorhome fixed with new Batteries & Alternator we were hungry and had passed a Lambert's Cafe in Ozark Missouri.  So we stopped for a early dinner. Lambert's Cafe is a fun place to go and have a great Southern Breakfast, lunch & dinner.  They are most famous for being the ONLY home of the Throwed Rolls.

Lambert's serves rolls that are 5 inches in  diameter. One day a customer was anxious to get a roll from the waiter and said " Just throw the **** thing!" So the waiter threw it and a legend was started on May 26, 1976 and rolls have been thrown every day since!!

Waiters & waitresses are dressed in jeans with a light blue shirt with Bow Tie & suspenders. Often you see them carring huge mugs of Sweet Tea and serve you your dinner in a skillet.

Lambert's Cafe bakes 520 dozen rolls a day,  making it 2,246,400 individual rolls a year!  We love the fried Okra, people demanded Okra be served all the time so last year they cooked 61,200 lbs of Arkansas Okra.

We have gone to 2 out of 3 Lambert's Cafe's  in Ozark Missouri & Foley Alabama. The first one started  is in Sikeston Missouri we'll have to go there on another trip

Got a chance one night to talk to the next door neighbors in the park. I guess they had reserved 4 campsites together but one set of kids had to cancel who were suppose to be  in our site. Which explains why they wanted us to switch sites when we arrived.  I told them sorry that I could not switch because I really needed the longer site because my RV was 40 ft long.( also did not want to give up the fantastic view we had from our campsite)  I told them I was sorry their kids could not make the trip and tell them thanks that they gave us a fantastic site for 9 days. Turned out they were nice people. another family was on the other side of us with 3 campsites and they said they come every year and book their vacation there for their sites months in advance.  With the beautiful view I can see why and they had a boat and 2 jet skis.

Dan and I both said we had the best campsite of any park we have gone to so now we will make a point to come back to that camp again someday.

On the 10th we got together with Larry & Shirley, they drove their boat over the lake to our campsite and talked for awhile before they had to get back before dark. Poor Larry was having trouble with his boat motor not working right.

Mon 11th-  We were scheduled to go pick up Larry & Shirley but got hit by a strong Thunderstorm that came across the lake FAST and hit us hard for about 2 hours and then let up. I called Jade my Niece to let her know we were not going to be able to pick up Larry & Shirley at that time. Oddly enough Larry & Shirley did not get hit nor Jade by the Thunderstorm, guess we were the only ones in it's path.  Because we were parked sideways to the lake it hit our passenger side  with all the wind and rain. We could barely get in & out the door from the wind! I do not like this states weather!!!
Finally got the go to head to Jade's.  It was great to finally meet up with my Sister Teri's daughter. Jade's daughter's were shy especially Elexis and we could not believe how quiet newborn Grayson was -amazing!

Mill Creek, US Corp Of Engineers Park in Lampe Missouri

Dan & I arrived to the Mill Creek US Corps of Engineers park in Lampe Missouri yesterday. Disconnected the Jeep and went over to see if our site was open since the Ranger said someone might still be in our site. I radio'd Dan with the Walkie-Talkie that it indeed was open and come on over.

When I pulled into the site with the Jeep a guy next door came over and asked me if this was my site and I said " Yes it is" his wife came over and asked if we would be willing to swap campsites with their kids so they could be together. Their kids had a 25 ft travel trailer and my reserved site was 50 feet long right on the lake so I politely declined and said I need the long campsite for a motorhome.  The lady did not know how big we are!! The kids were suppose to be camped across the road from them.  They had arranged for 3 campsites but ours was taken so the kids were suppose to be across from them. Shorter but wider and not right on the lake like mine. Oh well, sorry folks but I reserved mine weeks in advance online and made sure the site was big enough for the motorhome. 
We have a fantastic view of  Table Rock Lake for 9 days. since we are right on the lake it is only a short walk to the water to launch my Kayak on the non windy days Hooray!!

My brother & Sister-in-law are camped in some cabins on the South end of the lake so will go visit them soon, they are less than 10 miles away.

Think I am going to enjoy these US Corps Of Engineer parks, they are really nice and because we have the Senior Pass now we only paid $10.50 a night to camp...such a deal!!!

Bears Den Resort, Grove Oklahoma

June 1st we arrived to the Bear's Den Resort in Grove Oklahoma. Grove is in the upper North East corner of Oklahoma. Got a nice big pull thru site on 50 AMPS. That's good because the weather is hot and very humid here. After we arrived we had a drizzle of rain.

Sat 2nd NOAA radio alarm went off and said a Thunderstorm was heading our way. I was prepared to bring the slides in. We had wind and rain and lots of lightening action in the sky and some thunder. We were safe though no tornado threat. Mon 4th drove around the area and went Geo-caching close by. Wed 6th we decided to explore so we went over to Miami ( pronounced Miam-AH) to the Newell motorhome factory and took a tour. The average cost of the beautiful motorhomes was 1.7 million dollars, top of the line and made very strong with the best materials and just beautiful. Then we traveled over to Joplin Missouri so we could see what the town looks like after a EF5 multiple-vortex tornado flattened a one mile wide by six mile long area in the middle of Joplin on May 22, 2011. Really sad to see what that tornado did!


Campground was pretty peaceful during the week days, lots of guys catching catfish out on Grand Lake. I love seeing the sailboat bridge at night and see the lights reflecting off the water dancing. Pretty peaceful stay here at this park, we leave on Sat 9th to Mill Creek Corps Of Engineers park in Lampe Missouri. It will be our first COE park that we get into for half off now that we have our senior parks pass that Dan got last month. We get into parks half off and National park areas free now because Dan turned 62 yrs old in March.

Because of all the debris along the shoreline of the lake next to the Bear's Den Resort from the Severe Thunderstorm that came through last week I did not want to risk taking the Kayak on the lake because it is a rubber Kayak, I'll wait till I get to Table rock Lake and hopefully take it out there. Our next campsite has the lake right behind it so we have a beautiful view. What is really cool is we googled our campsite that was reserved so we already have a view of the area, very nice!

Our visit to Joplin Missouri

On June 6th we went to Joplin Missouri to see the aftermath of the EF5 tornado damage that touched down on May 22, 2011. We found the areas that been in the path of the fierce sudden tornado.The tornado started to quickly form in Kansas just over the Missouri state line. Newscasters did not even see a storm coming their way hense why when it quickly touched down in Missouri the Tornado sirens did not go off. The tornado traveled 6 miles and 1 mile wide, destroyed everything in it's path going 200 MPH or more.  Sadly 161 lives were lost from that tornado, the worst recorded one in Missouri history and damages over $2.5 Billion dollars.

We saw buildings and houses still just shambles and then we saw alot of new homes and homes and businesses being built.  Many people pitched in to help others and restore Joplin. It has been a slow painful recovery but they showed their spirit on May 22, 2012 when the survivors, families who lost someone, every day hero's who pitched in to help and the volunteers walked 4 miles in remembrance of May 22, 2011.  It really tugged at our hearts to see the all this and makes you humble.  We saw homes on both sides of the area wiped out unharmed and bet those people were on their knees giving thanks that horrible day that they were spared.

 I did not take this set of photo's, I got them from the news on May 22, 2011. This was a day to go down in history as the worse Tornado to touch down in the U.S.

This was sudden, not expected and took everyone by surprise. sadly 161 lives were lost that day from the horrible force of winds going 200 MPH or more.
God bless those families as they still grieve and try to rebuild their lives.

Newell Coach Factory

Dan and I went up to Miami ( pronounced Miam-AH) Oklahoma enroute to Joplin Missouri and decided to take the Newell motorhome tour.  Newell's are Million dollar motorhomes and Beautiful.   They are made secure  and we were very impressed from the start to finish of these beautiful coach's. As beautiful as they were I did notice they are all 45 ft long, have a two burner electric stove, residential refrigerator ( this could be a good thing since all the Norcold's were causing fires!) .  I was also looking for windows that are big enough to get out in case of a fire and I really had a hard time finding the windows that opened up wide enough to get your body through.  You really had to know where they are!  Made me very thankful that the windows on my slide out of our Seeya is big enough for any size person and the bedroom window opens very easy now that I worked on lubricating the seal around the window.  We found a few Newell's we liked, especially the one that had a Murphy Bed in the bedroom with two theatre seats across from it making it the theatre room.  Great if you both go to bed at the same time but Dan and I are opposites, he gets up at the crack of dawn and goes to bed early and I like to sleep in and don't go to bed before midnight. Found one motorhome where the bed was in the middle of the bedroom like an island at the foot of the bed was a pop up big screen TV. Bathroom was behind the headboard and the headboard had all kinds of lighted buttons so you could control anything from the bed!

Everything was made there at the factory, they did all their own work, work must be good because they have had staff there for 20-30 yrs.  I can just imagine all their pride seeing their hard work finished and ready for a new buyer....just beautiful!!!

Thanks Dave Prince for your excellent tour we really appreciated it.