Tom & Brenda's Family Journal

I thought I had better post some pictures of our campground. We found it on the internet and we have been very happy with our accommodations. The people who work here are very helpful with all the problems we've had along the way. This is our 'rig' with the truck and 5th wheel. The campground is very quiet and most of the other campers are older than us and returning from spending the winter somewhere south. This is a shot of the laundry building taken from our site. It was clean and convenient. America's Best Campground was just getting flowers planted and ready for spring. They had a rough winter here and even had some snow. Yesterday we attended a show called Cassandre-Voice of an Angel . Cassandre has been singing in this area for years and really has an incredible voice. She was backed up by an orchestra that was really lovely. As with each show here, there was a tribute to veterans and a gospel song. In fact, Cassandre gave a great statement of her faith...

We have had a share of problems getting into the RV lifestyle. One thing that surprises me is the number of people who are touring the country and living in RVs. We met many people on the trip out here and then every day we have met more RVers. Its fun to hear their stories about where they have been. Lots are on their way home from Arizona. Our 5th wheel has presented us with challenges as we learn 'the ropes'. One such incident happened yesterday. On Wednesday our kitchen drained stopped working. It stopped abruptly. Didn't slow down gradually-just quit completely and wouldn't even drain slowly. We wracked our brains for answers but couldn't come up with a solution. It didn't act like there was a clog but that was the only thing we could think it might be. So yesterday, when praying for our day, we asked for help with the drain. After breakfast, we headed out for Wal-Mart and got a plunger and a clog dissolver. When we arrived back at the campground...

Today was beautiful and Tom got our bikes all set up so we set out exploring. Near the campground, there is a business park with wonderful roads-but there is nothing there and the roads aren't open. The downturn in the economy is hitting Branson hard too. A waitress was telling us how tough it has been-not nearly as many visitors as normal. Anyway, these roads were great for bike riding except that everything here involves hills. But it made for a great time of exercise and fun. We attended the Jim Stafford Show last night. We've been fans of Stafford since the late 60's when he was the head writer and a performer on the Smothers Brothers Show. He went on to work on the Glen Campbell show and then had his own TV show in the early 70's. He is a talented guitar play and a very funny comedian. The show was 2 hours of laughter. Every show we've been to (4 of them now) has had 3 things in common. First, there is always a tribute to veterans and there are lots...

We have had a fun day and I've uploaded lots of pictures so I hope you aren't bored with them. But we started our day with a 10 AM show which was recommended to us by the people at our campground-ABC which stands for American's Best Campground. That's a story in itself because as we were driving here, I looked them up on my iPhone and found their address which I entered into our GPS. But by mistake, I had clicked on ABC Dolls and we ended up there. We were glad it wasn't our campground because it was right on the 'Strip' here in Branson but it made quite an adventure to get turned around there and then find our campground. Anyway, the Clay Cooper Show was wonderful with singing, lots of dancing and comedy. Not just a country music show. Clay Cooper is a great entertainer and put on a fantastic, fun show. This is Clay. He came down into the audience during the show and asked lots of questions. He asked Tom about his shirt had the name of Eric...