North and East through Missouri
We had a three-hour drive from Blue Springs to Macon, Missouri today.
A later start
We didn’t want to arrive at our new campground too early, so we moved a little slower in the morning. Tony wasn’t feeling too great, so it’s good we didn’t have to rush in to anything.
Tony put the new taillight lens on the Ram. I did a little bit of writing and a little bit of cleaning. Check-out was noon, and we took up every bit of the time we had. We headed out about 11:45, with a gas stop just a couple blocks away.
Something I didn’t even think of yesterday is that it was only about noon when I called Trailside RV Park in Grain Valley, Missouri, and they said they had a site for us. We headed right over there and checked in and parked, then met Julie for lunch. Normally I am very careful not to arrive at a campground before check-in time but with the stress of needing to find a site quickly, I didn’t even think about what time it was!
Gas and coffee
While the gas tank filled, I headed into the store for a coffee refill. We like when travel centers have the machines that brew coffee fresh into our cups. We can each choose the strength we prefer, and we know it’s fresh.
With Tony not feeling well, we really hadn’t made a big deal out of breakfast. I had just mixed some blueberry shake mix into cottage cheese. So I was getting hungry. I grabbed a chicken salad sandwich and Tony - because he didn’t feel good, you know - got an ice cream sandwich.
I got to drive!
Tony was getting tired of driving, so he pulled into a rest area. I ran into the plantation house-looking building for a tinkle and then took over behind the wheel.
It’s really a rare occurrence that Tony does’t feel like driving. I don’t mind being the passenger, and I’m good at being the navigator. At any given time I may be looking for a gas station, an interesting roadside attraction, a rest area…
There wasn’t much to see and we didn’t feel like making a lot of stops, so we zigged and zagged north and east on two-lane roads through Missouri. It was a pretty, and fairly quiet drive. The nice thing about two-lane highways is that not many truckers like them. I was the traffic hold-up in this scenario. I could easily keep up with the speed limits, but I didn’t go any faster than that. Only one pickup bothered to fly past us.
Actually, we weren’t the biggest hold-up on those roads. There were quite a few tractors out and about, and we had to slow for them. Every time we see a big tractor we quote Mater: “There’s Frank!” We even passed some sort of junk yard and there were tractors tipped on their backsides. “Tractors is so dumb!”
We needed another bathroom stop, so I pulled into a school parking lot and we stretched our legs and emptied our bladders.
Bevier RV Center
We arrived at our destination, Bevier RV Center, and went inside to check in. As I got our paperwork, Tony noticed they have a great store with not only the stuff at a regular camp store, but also repair supplies. Because Bevier is also a sales center, and a service center! One stop shopping! We checked out the plumbing section and then Tony talked to the service manager about looking at the water heater, which started leaking AGAIN.
One thing Bevier could be a bit better at is communication. I don’t know if I messed up, but I couldn’t not find a single thing in my files showing that I had a reservation other than a note in our calendar saying what site number we would be in. So, no email or any other confirmation had apparently arrived (unless I accidentally deleted it).
When we got to our site and set up, there was only 10 pounds of water pressure. That just would not do! We decided to try to fill the tank instead, but realized water was only dribbling out. We finally saw a staff person on a cart and stopped them. They said a tree branch hit a water main and they were working on the water. Several hours later, we stopped another cart and they said it should only be half an hour more. So that was fine, but I wonder why they didn’t let us know when we were in the office checking in?
A site by the lake
We are camped right next to the lake, which has a beach and an awesome water slide. We set up, including taking out our comfortable chairs, and sat outside watching the kids on the slide. It looks like a lot of fun! The lake also offers fishing. That tells me there might be fish where I could swim. That always freaks me out a little bit, for some reason.
We are backed up to a little creek that flows out of the lake, and there is a footbridge leading to the event center and lodge. There is a also a really big pavilion for gatherings out of the sun - or out of the rain. The whole park takes advantage of the natural contours; there are pockets of campsites throughout the property.
Tony and Grace
Tony used the Omnia oven to cook some beef and broccoli for dinner, and we made rice. In case TonyG and Grace wanted to join us, we made extra. TonyB loves rice, so he wanted plenty. And plenty he got! TonyG and Grace needed to get back to their puppies, so they just stopped by for a quick hug on their way home from their day trip. I think we now have enough left-over rice to feed the whole campground, hahaha.
We are looking forward to spending the next couple of days visiting with TonyG and Grace. And they have hinted at some delicious dinner and beer experiences so — weigh-in Monday morning might be a sad affair.
Starlink dish points right in to the trees
Starlink
I tried to get a site that would have good sky exposure so our Starlink would work. Unfortunately, the dishy wants to look right into the tops of the trees. So, we have signal but it’s a little bit spotty.
Crickets and Cicadas Sing
We are in cicada country. I’m not sure we are in 17-year cicada country, or just regular cicada country. They were singing when we arrived, but they really aren’t overwhelming. We wondered if they would get worse at night, but TonyG explained that they stay quiet when the temperature is below 80 degrees. The evening was cooling down nicely so we did have a quiet night. There are the crickets chirping but they are not nearly as loud.
Being the beginning of Memorial Day weekend, though, it might have been our last quiet night for a while!
