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5/17-5/19
The last two days have included work for Sheri, golf for the guys and catching up on each other’s lives over dinner & evening chats. It’s been a lovely visit with our treasured friends. We’ve known one another for almost 50 years. We’ve shared education, career start-ups, child-rearing and, now, the other end of life. We say a temporary goodbye to our friends. Temporary because they will be joining us for a few days in Branson.
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Ken & Sheri with Uncle George, who lives the good life with them & his caregivers, all lovely, good-natured Texas women. They indulge & enjoy him. He enjoys them, too. At 95 years young, he smilingly tells me that it’s hard to control the hired help. He wouldn’t have it any other way.
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We leave this afternoon to start the drive to Branson, about 363 miles from here. We’ll do the drive over 1½ days. It’s not simple to get to Branson from Paris. We’ve been warned that the most direct route may not be suitable for motorhomes, so we have to drive about 90 miles out of our way to stay on main roads. We start on SR-271, then a toll turnpike. Next is I-40 to I-69, back to the toll road, then I-44 and, finally, SR-165 will bring us to Branson. The weather is OK today, but expected to turn a bit ugly tomorrow. We drove about 140 miles and were ready to stop for the night.
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Entering Oklahoma on our way to Missouri, we are on a toll road. There are no buildings, no billboards, just lovely countryside. The river pictured on the right is the south fork of the Canada River. Very red & muddy looking. Passed a few more rivers that looked the same. Interesting looking, but cannot imagine fishing in them. I’m sure there are no fish as the rivers appear very muddy.
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OK, we won’t. These signs are posted frequently along this road. Obviously, they must have frequent fires. It is hard to believe, with everything being so green & lush, that there is a fire danger. And, living in wildfire country ourselves in sue-happy So. Cal., we wonder that we don’t see these signs around our freeways.
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Unable to locate a campground along the route, we ultimately saw a new, brightly painted, billboard on I40 about 6:30 pm. It claimed that just 3 miles south of I-40 on I-69, Onopa RV Park offered sanctuary for us weary travelers. I think this is best described as a place for vintage rv's to rest forever with their owners still residing in them. It's a bit ‘off’ here. Oh, the natural surroundings are pretty enough-lots of trees & green undergrowth as seen throughout this area- but something is ‘off’ in this campground. As we pulled in, we saw a sign indicating that we pick a spot & they'll come around to collect. No prices listed. Two men staying in the park-one outfitted as a tweeker-motioned for us to take a certain spot & Gary pulled in. They then told him it was the best spot left, that the site available further in the park was subjected to 'too much drama' from the occupants parked in that area. A few minutes later Gary went to the 'office' & a nice gal, newly married to the owner, asked if we wanted 50 amp service. Gary said 'yes'. She said, 'Good, you picked the right spot.' We think this is the ONLY 50 amp space in this 30-space-or-so campground. Now, for the dogs. First rat terrier I've seen that walks right up to ya & checks you out. Arrogant little fellow. He is followed by two large mongrel dogs who are busy checking you out with their noses. Seemed friendly enough. These were the owner’s dogs. There are too many resident pets to describe here. Just know the word ‘leash’ is never seen on a sign & certainly never used. We think we may survive the night. The Verizon broadband service is poor. No satellite tv-too many trees. Cable or wifi, you ask. Not happening here. Oh, the price, you are wondering. Well, because we have the upgraded 50 amp....never mind the open sunken water-meter with no lid that you fall into on your way to the 50 amp plug-in....we had to pay the princley sum of $15.00 for all this luxury. We paid. View out the front window......that would be the large backhoe complete w/front blade parked next to what I think is a large chipper machine, that would be next to the flatbed trailer WITH tailgate & the speedboat on its trailer parked next to the owner’s travel trailer w/slides, all artistically arranged in the grassy field. Our site was fairly level, the shore power worked just fine.
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The family living here has at least one child. The kid-size bike is parked near the lattice. Their living quarters are the same size as their car. But, at least they’re not living in the car.
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Because the weather would be getting worse as the day wore on, we left about 7 am to push on to Branson. By 8 am the sky was dark with clouds. By 9 am it is looking more like night than day. The rain has started and gets progressively heavier as the day wears on. The weather reports for Oklahoma were ominous with promises of tornado warnings & flooding. We trudged on. Later in the day, the tornado sirens were going off in Muskogee (near the campground we’d stayed in) & touchdowns were recorded around Oklahoma. Glad we were out of there. The rain continued as we drove into Branson. The terrain is getting more mountainous. In our ignorance we didn’t realize we are now in the beautiful Ozarks. The rain stopped as we arrived at Cooper Creek Cabins & Campsites. A short distance from downtown, where all the theaters & other related tourist fun stuff are. The park, within a natural forest, is located on a lake. Accessing the campground is unpleasant with a very narrow public road in bad condition. The roads inside the park are A-OK. Most license plates here are Missouri, indicating these folks were here more for the fishing than the bright lights of Branson. Generous size spaces are offered in this peaceful place. We spent our afternoon with coach chores & a walk to the docks on this finger of the Lake Tanneycomo. Temps are comfortable. We went to sleep to the rain tapping on the roof & the sounds of thunder.
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It is 8am & the toll booth is lighted up as if it is night. The storm has hit & brought darkness with it. These toll booths are better looking than some stretches of this road.
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It’s now 9am & getting darker. The rain hammers everything. The storm stays with us, but lessens in intensity as we reach Missouri.
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Hwy 76 is what I call ‘The Strip’ of Branson. Loaded with entertainment, dining, motels & all tourist services, it is a crowded, narrow road. As we’re getting to the beginning of the most popular places, it is time to turnoff & locate our Cooper Creek Cabins & RV Park. And it proves to be a comfortable, peaceful place. Located about 4 miles from Dick Clark’s place, we’re away from the traffic, lights & noise. But, we can get to ‘The Strip’ rather quickly to partake of the fun..
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This campground is located on a ‘finger’ of Lake Taneycomo. There is a dam (Lake Table Rock) that spills over into this lake. So this ‘finger’ has a current from that spillover, much like a river would have. Fishing boats can drift with the current or fire up their engines for going ‘upstream’, so to speak.
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One set of the two docks located at Cooper Creek Campground. Why do they call this place ‘Cooper Creek’ when it’s sitting on a named lake that has a current? Drives me nuts. I keep calling this body of water a river. LOL Anyway, the docks attract the boaters, the shore fishermen and folks like us who just sit on the park benches & watch the river, errrr the lake, go by.
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Looking back up to the campground from the docks at the Lake. We are parked about 40 ft. or so from the trailers you see. With all the rain that’s forecast and the amount of water being dumped through the dam, we’re glad to be on higher ground.
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