While staying in Bevier RV Center we also visited Macon, Missouri to buy some groceries and have a cup of afternoon coffee. Then Tony and Grace took us site-seeing and we had dinner at Ugo’s Pizzaland.

Starlink in, Starlink out

I thought I had chosen a good campsite for our Starlink to be happy, but I guess I didn’t aim quite right. The dish is aimed pretty much into the trees, so the signal comes and goes. Our phones each have fair service, so we can tether our computers to them but it’s little a slow going when we need wifi.

Outdoor life

Tony got up and went straight outside this morning to enjoy the cool morning air. I woke up when the door closed, so I decided to join him. We sat in our comfy chairs until it started to sprinkle. We stashed the chairs and headed indoors to make fresh coffee and eat some breakfast.

RV Service

We lucked out being at Bevier; not only is it an RV park but a service center as well. When we checked in we made an appointment for them to look at our water heater that has sprung another leak. We weren’t sure what time they would come so we did’t turn on the water heater.

Finally we decided we needed hot water to take showers, so we turned on the water heater and, as you might have predicted, the service guy showed up in about 10 minutes. He came and went a few times, then just tightened the PEX fitting and called it done. The service manager called and said we were out of warranty, so he didn’t send it to Rockwood but he only charged us $28 so that wasn’t too hard to handle.

Ready to explore

While we waited for the water to get hot again, we decided to walk to the office and pay for the service. The park really is large, and has several areas of campsites. They also have a lodge and I was curious, so I snuck in. Well, as much as a big girl can sneak in broad daylight wearing a bright pink dress! It’s a neat setup with a central lounge and kitchen area and two hallways. Each hallway has four rooms (we didn’t try to peek in those) and a full bathroom. There is also a half-bath in the central area.

We walked to the office and paid, then walked back and had our showers and heated up leftovers for lunch.

We needed some groceries, and thought we might find a PEX tool for the next leak. Because we all know there will be a next leak.

Also, we discovered after the water came back on in the campground, that our camper still had really low pressure. We realized it had been a long time since we replaced the external, inline Clear2O filter. Those are often available at Walmart and a quick search found that we could replace our filter about five miles away.

Macon, old style

We went to Walmart and bought a filter and a few groceries. Then we found a local coffee listing. We drove to the old town part of Macon. It’s so cute! We got coffee at Maple City Roasters, then wandered into the Miller’s Rexall Drug store. We wanted to explore the mid-century store but they were temporarily away both times we looked. I also saw some Jewel-T items in an antique store window, and my sister Kathy said she could use one of the pieces. Unfortunately they were also closed.

Tony and Grace, most excellent tour guides

When we got back to camp, TonyG and Grace came by and we chatted a bit. They brought us FROG (fig, raspberry, orange, and ginger) jam and bacon jam. And some bullet-hole stickers for the boo-boo on the camper. In exchange, we offered a can of Natty Park Smash beer that was brewed at Superior Bathhouse Brewery in Hot Springs National Park in collaboration with April and Ken from Living a Stout Life. That’s also the couple who co-hosted the Camp Carpe Diem that we attended last weekend. We also gave Tony and Grace a package of chocolate from Buffet’s Candies in Albuquerque. I hope it’s ok, we had to refrigerate it to avoid the heat of traveling!

We all hopped into Tony and Grace’s truck and they took us on a driving tour of the area. We saw the dam and Long Branch Lake. We drove through the campground at Long Branch State Park. We had thought of camping there, but all the sites were booked by the time we knew we were coming here.

We also made a stop at Koch’s General Store. This is where the jams came from, and it’s a terrific store full of local fare, and even some fresh produce. I pinned Rio Rancho in their visitor map - I’ve never seen a map that didn’t already have “my” pin!

Koch’s also had a really fantastic bee display. It is an exposed (glass-enclosed) hive with a tube to the outside so the been can come and go as normal, and we can watch the activity inside the hive. TonyG said he learned a lot from our podcast interview with the Keene beekeeper family (episode 243), as had we. We were all fascinated by the display at Koch’s.

Tony picked up some peanut butter cookies, and some boysenberry syrup so I can make protein waffles in the morning for a special treat.

Dinner!

After our tour, we drove to Ugo’s Pizzaland in Bevier MO, which is an excellent pizza and Italian joint. The boys had a couple of Boulevard Brewery beers, and we ordered. I had cannelloni with lobster, shrimp and scallops. The cheese sauce was every bit as good as those enchiladas I ate the other night! Tony had manicotti and it was also really good.

We went back to camp and sat round chatting for a while, and the Tonys tried their Natty Park Smash beers.

We watched the kids play on the water slide until almost dusk. I swear, kids do not feel cold. I was wearing a sweatshirt by that time!