Casita Trip day 3 - Thursday October 28, 2010

We woke up toasty warm. Leaving the heater on all night did the trick. Yes, it has an automatic thermostat.

I made breakfast burritos with bacon, eggs, and onions. Wish I would have had some green peppers, but they still tasted great. It made us think about Bob and Rita. (RVer cousins) They frequently have breakfast tacos, about which the blacksmith always tells her, he doesn't get the whole taco thing.

We pulled out of camp in Eminence at 10:45. Fifty five miles later we arrived at Montauk State Park. For $21 we were spending the night.

The grounds were beautiful. It has about 150 camp sites mingled through the big oak and maple trees.

The historic mill, which is more than 100 years old stands at the entrance to the park. This historic site was a vital part of the Montauk Community into the 1920s. Built in 1896, the “Old Mill” had elaborate milling machinery. Much of it is still located there.

Below the mill were the trout pools. As we walked by I told the blacksmith the fish were all swimming in one direction. That's when he explained to me they were following him. The fish know they are fed by someone walking by. They just didn't recognized that he wasn't the feeder!

After parking the RV we took a tour of the area. Here is Montauk Spring.

I wish I could have measured the depth. It seemed you could see 20 feet deep, fish, grass, rocks and all. It was crystal clear!!

The area is known for trout fishing. Everywhere we stopped someone was fly fishing. Live bait is not allowed.

WOW, another Casita is in the park.

Remember the song from the Jefferson's? "Moving on up". Maybe this is where we could go? This RV was built by Freightliner! As in Freightliner semi trucks! It had 5 crank outs. Of course I'm sure they were motorized not crank outs.

As darkness set in, we retreated to the camper. We enjoyed our bottle of Missouri Norton wine from Grey Bear Winery. After that, the blacksmith grilled pork chops outside, as I made buttered noodles and collard greens inside.

We had no DVD's for the evening. We enjoyed watching the coming and going of RV's in the park. Bedtime came before 9 with the radio softly playing.

Sadly tomorrow is our last day to play.

Casita Trip day 2 - Wednesday 10/27/2010

As morning approached, we awakened to a slightly frigid camper. We plugged in the heater and got the coffee perking. Soon it was toasty warm. With the forecast calling for colder temperatures the next night, we might get ahead of the cold by leaving the heater on.

My vintage wool army blanket from cousin Mindy made for warm sleeping. (After all she lives in Hawaii and doesn't need wool blankets there)

We made breakfast sandwiches of sausage, eggs, and toasted whole wheat english muffins. We waited for the frost to melt before we headed out.

This is one of the views from what is known as the phone booth. Many valleys have no cell signal. As the blacksmith hunts every fall in this area, they know they can call home from this mountain top.

This is a view from the Current River. It had been about 23 years since I had camped here. The river channel has changed drastically since then.

The blacksmith and his buddies camp on what they call the high bank here every August. It's a week long muzzle loading squirrel hunt.

Another place to try out his fly rod. Once again I grabbed a lawn chair and enjoyed the view.

After no luck fishing we drove to the other side of the river. Here we walked to Blue Spring. The sign going in said the walk was 1 mile. Funny thing the sign walking out said 1.3 miles. We felt both were completely wrong. It had to be more like 3 miles.

As we were going into the park, we met two guys who were launching their kayaks. Both claimed any day on the river was the best day. They were from Rolla, Missouri.

This is the view from the lookout deck, high above Blue Spring.

Eye level view of the spring!

We hiked back to the car, took out our picnic lunch, found a near by table, and enjoyed the scenery.

A few short miles away we found Rocky Falls. We would have this entire area to ourselves. Here's a little information I copied on the falls.

A shut-in is formed when a stream encounters tough igneous rock. While water can easily wear down limestone or other sedimentary rocks, it meets its match in the highly resistant brown, pink and purple porphyry that are remnants of ancient volcanic activity. The result is a dramatic and musical water show, which in this case is as much a waterfall as a shut-in.

Rocky Creek cascades 40 feet down the rock, finally finding freedom in a wide pool of cold, clear water that is an excellent if little-known swimming hole.

It was close to 4:00 before we drove way. It was just such a beautiful day in the Ozarks.

Back at the camper, hamburgers were grilled outside, as I made fried potatoes with onions inside and heated some home canned green beans.

After dinner it was time to enjoy another free DVD from the office.

I can't believe we still have two more days to go!

Casita Trip Day 1 tuesday October 26 2010

We took off on our maiden voyage with the Casita last Tuesday morning. A hundred and thirty miles and three hours later we arrived in Eminence, Missouri. There we found Arrowhead camp ground and pulled in. We had almost the entire campground to ourselves. 3 cabins were rented to construction workers. Another cabin had lights at night but we never saw anyone there except for a lady having an occasional smoke on the porch.


We paid $50 plus tax for 2 nights. Little did we know it would come with all the free DVD's we could watch. The owners were gone on a cruise. The stand in gal really didn't know a thing about the camp ground. She told us that up front, as she is really a school teacher.

After we set up camp we went road tripping. First it was to Alley Springs. Even the parking lot was beautiful.

This would be the first of several places that we would have all to ourselves. The tall three story red mill was so majestic looking. Unfortunately, it was closed for the season.

The spring behind the mill was so calming and peaceful. The water was the most unbelievable shade of blue.

After walking the trails we returned to our campsite. There we checked out the Jack's Fork river. I took my magazine and a lawn chair. The blacksmith took his fly rod. The wind was a hindrance to both of us, but nothing could spoil our peaceful fun!

The bridge over the Jack's Fork made shade for a few ducks splashing in the water.

At dusk we retired to the camper and made dinner. As we were cooking the host came and offered us videos. We turned her down saying we didn't have a TV or DVD player with us (after all we were camping). After dinner we remembered that we had the laptop so we walked to the office. The blacksmith picked out three movies. Avatar, Da Vinci Code, and a Bruce Willis Die Hard movie.

And then we settled in for the night.

Halloween Party at Osage Bend 2010

. . .once again, not to be confused with Osage Bluff.

The son and wife held their first annual Halloween Party.

It was a HOOT!!

If names are not given, it's to protect the innocent

or

those in the witness protection program!

The Blacksmith and wife.

(Not too many devils have hand forged forks.)

(Not too many witches have hand forged handles on their brooms either)

Rosie and Henry Orbit.

Nemo Lizzie


Special forces patrolman.


My favorite costume, great job Joleen.

Aladdin and son.

My son and wife, and her sister and husband, came dressed alike.

Funny thing is, these sisters are the youngest and the oldest of a family of 12 children.

Much to their surprise they both came dressed as flappers with their gangster husbands.

A family protrait!

Excuse me . . .

I've got lots of beautiful Ozark pictures to go through just like this one.

You see, we took off for a 4 day trip in the Ozark Mountains. What a trip it was. I can't wait to tell you about it.

But first I have a few things to catch up on.

Breakfast

Sunday morning breakfast.

Fried squirrel and Missouri fried apples, oh and cheerios!

Is that a redneck's breakfast or what?

Random things

Let's start with Friday. I was up before the butt crack of dawn. The sun wasn't even showing when I left the house at 6:50. It was my day to be smashed, poked and prodded. (You women will get my drift.)

All appointments went great, blood pressure was down, thanks to losing 10 lbs. I did get a tetanus shot, first in many years. That is probably a good thing as I am always around rusty metal, living with the blacksmith.

After all the necessary appointments I had a cappuccino at McDonald's and I treated myself to a cheese croissant at BK Bakery. My next treat was hair color and a trim. I had just stepped in the door at the salon, when my cell phone rings. It was my DIL; Elizabeth had taken a fall. My son was also calling on the other line.

Poor little Elizabeth ended up with 4 stitches in her chin. The boys ages 9 and 6 have never had stitches or a broken bone. Leave it to the rowdy little girl to be first.

When I arrived home my Fall into Fall giveaway had arrived from Michelle. I had to open the cute little zippered bag first, and of course a peppermint pattie just happen to fall into my hands. So of course I ate it! There is a wonderful Gooseberry quilting book, 3 patterns including one for paper piecing (which is my very favorite method), a yo-yo Christmas ornament and a hand stitched adorable little country pillow.

The rest of my day was pretty much uneventful!

Now for Thursday, here is Elizabeth fishing with a cane out the front window.

And from Wednesday, my shopping at the Lutheran Church resell it shop. This cute corduroy jacket was $3.50. I washed it and it will be my favorite I'm sure, it's so soft and warm.

This long sleeve shirt I purchased for only 50 CENTS!! I bought it for my Halloween costume but I think it will be added to my closet afterwards.

These blow up costumes were only a $1.00 but the blacksmith put the ixnay on them. So I donated them to Salvation Army on Friday.

This little Folger's puzzle was $2.00

Friday I went to Specialty Quilts and found the matching Moda prints to the camper panel I showed a few days ago. When the panels arrive I will be ready to sew! Oh does anyone have the On the Road pattern by MH designs I can borrow?

Elizabeth has become good friends with Bentley. I wonder what she is telling him here?

Finally I leave you with a picture of meat for the table. Fall turkey season is in full swing here in Missouri. Nice to know the blacksmith is still putting bacon on the table. The boys were excited when Grandpa shot it in the woods behind the house.

Have a great weekend!!!