'Way down in Missouri where I heard this melody........

When I was but a little child on my mommy's knee;
The old folks were hummin'
Their banjos were strummin'
Way down in ol' Missouri'


From the wide open range of Oklahoma up through the northeast 'green country; with its gentle hills and foliage, we entered Missouri's pastoral lands; cows gently grazing in the front pastures, trees just in the early stages of blossoming, bales of hay piled carefully.

'Welcome to Missourah' (that's how folks from Missouri say it) chirped the wide-grinning sparrow-like woman at the welcome center who proceeded to gather up all sorts of data for us to enjoy our visit in the state of 'Missourah'. Our destination was Branson, deep in the Ozarks in the south west corner of the state. What a strange place for a strip of music venues! It all started way back in 1894when a guy by the name of Bill Lynch started charging for the square dances he organized inside the naturally formed Marvel Cave. It wasn't until the 1960's though that musical groups started building theaters along the current day 'strip' and in the 1980's it was transformed into a major tourist destination.

See! I knew it....Elvis is alive and well and appearing in Branson.

Driving down from Springfield on the road taken by those who fly in, the route is lined with billboards: Mickey Gilley, Legends of Country, Country Comedy (laugh 'til your sides hurt), the Baldknobbers, The Duttons, The Osmonds (not including Donny and Marie – they're making big bucks in Las Vegas).

I remember when Tony Orlando and Roy Clark opened their theaters there. Today there's no sign of Tony Orlando's and Roy Clark I believe is long dead. We figured we'd have to do one of those hokey shows so we checked them all out – they're mostly country which is just not our taste. So we settled on either Shoji Tabuchi who'd been recommended to us or The Righteous Brothers with Bill Medley appearing with Paul Revere and the Raiders – none of them country. But we found out that they didn't open until spring break which was the following week. 'Oh good! We can save the $40+ each' was my first thought. Shows how much I really wanted to go. Branson is no Las Vegas. Even though not a country fan, if Roy Clark were performing, I'd have gone to see him just to hear him sing that haunting and more meaningful-than-ever song, Yesterday. It almost makes me cry.

Yesterday when I was young
so many songs were waiting to be sung,
so many pleasures lay in store for me
and so much pain my eyes refused to see.
I ran so fast that time at last ran out,
I never stopped to think what life was all about
and every conversation I can now recall
concerned itself with me and nothing else at all.


There's no boondocking around Branson. The low-slung Ozark Mountains, more like pimply hills to us northerners were heavily developed for a wide area around town. The roads twist and turn, up and over the rocky, undulating hills and finding level ground could be a real challenge. So we settled into the Pea Patch RV Park in the midst of the midway that is Branson's theater strip. Roller Coasters, bungie jump rides, Ripley's Believe it or Not, a huge representation of the Titanic complete with iceberg and so on, and so forth. Lynn and Lorraine, life partners run the Pea Patch and they welcomed us along with a torrent of three adorable little dogs, a shaved shitzu, a dacshund and a bichon Frise. They tumbled out of the door and attacked us with licks and wiggles. Oh how Caesar would have loved them ...... but I suppose they were far too rambunctious really for the old geezer. We gathered up all Caesar's dog food and snacks for the delightful little trio who kept us entertained for the next few days.


We geocached out in the woods and along the lakes while the weather was glorious not really enjoying Branson for what Branson really was. Alongside the historic old town there's a lovely river walk and an entertainment / shopping complex with some great restaurants. We were starving after traipsing through the forest and we shared a humungous seafood platter at Joe's Crab Shack. We also found two wineries with generous tasting rooms. The vineyards are further north along the Mississippi, but they have a captive audience in Branson. One of them gave us 14 different samples – good thing we could walk home after.


Two weeks after falling flat on my face, I'm all back to normal. I've horrified some of you by having the audacity to post such unattractive photos and even caused one sensitive fellow to have nightmares about my nose. It just goes to prove that I'm very self-assured but when you get to my age, you've learned to live with the battlescars that just come along with aging. So rest easy, sensitive friends, the nose is looking pretty good again and the black eyes have faded. Now hopefully my friend's nightmares will turn to sweet dreams of me.


Our daughter's partner is an Arkansan who recently relocated to British Columbia. As we were headed for Little Rock, Arkansas we emailed his parents (J&MK) and put forward an invitation to take them out for lunch – what a perfect opportunity for us all to meet. After a dozen emails back and forth, they with typical southern hospitality invited us to park Maggie in their massive paved driveway. We at first felt that it would be presumptuous to take them up on it but we were convinced that it was a heartfelt offer. We felt a bit like 'the Fockers' though (you'll know what I mean if you've seen the movie 'Meet the Fockers') when we drew up into their driveway. I wondered if they'd seen the film and what preconceived ideas they had about us – they were very brave to have invited us sight unseen. Obviously our daughter had made a good impression!


It took absolutely no time at all for the four of us to become firm fast friends and instead of just having a couple of hours over lunch together, we were there for three fabulous days. We asked them to choose the restaurant and went for dinner instead of lunch, out through the woods to the little town of Prattsville, population 340, where we had a feast of southern fried catfish, hush puppies, slaw, baked beans, cornbread and the best of all 'pickled green tomaters'. It was a little bit like eating in a church hall with the long tables, chrome chairs and down home cooking. For $8 per person at the Whippet, you had all the fix'ns you could eat. Yummo! as Rachael Ray says.

As is usual, I got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and my fingers noticed what felt like a little skin tag at my waist. I took a look in the mirror and it was dark coloured, sort of like a little blood blister. I tugged at it and scraped at it and pulled and it came off. I got out the magnifying glass to take a look at it. Eeeeeeekkkk! It was a tick, fully engorged on my blood and almost ready to drop off or was it dead? - it sure wasn't moving.


I immediately thought of all the dire warnings of lyme disease we get in BC so I put it into a little plastic lidded container. You have to give me credit; I didn't scream out loud; I didn't wake up Fernie; I just quietly dealt with the matter. But I felt awfully queasy about it. I told Fernie the next morning and he said he'd have to check and see if I had any more on me and he found one tucked in the crease behind my knee. This one was not hanging off and it took some work to remove it and I plopped it into the plastic container with his friend. If I came down with some fatal disease, at least they'd have the culprits. I checked Fernie over and he was clear. The last time we were in the bush was in Branson, three days prior so those little suckers had been with me a while. I didn't even feel them when I showered. There was absolutely no sensation and no pain after. I found out later that ticks are commonplace in Arkansas, rarely causing problems and they drop out of the trees onto you. I think I'll stick to urban geocaching in the south. One week later, one of the ticks is still alive in the container....he's my new pet, I guess.

J&MK took us out touring for a day. Hot Springs is about 35 miles southwest of Benton, the Little Rock suburb where J&MK live. The city takes its name from the natural thermal water that flows from 47 springs in the historic downtown district. It has been determined that the water that reaches the surface in Hot Springs fell as rainfall 4,000 years earlier.

J&MK in front of the hotel where they had their honeymoon.

Hot Springs has quite a colourful past. It was taken from the Quapaw Indians in a treaty in 1818 and spas developed over the next hundred years. Illegal gambling became entrenched in the community in the late 1800's and in the 1920's Al Capone and some of his gang took residence. Bill Clinton was raised in Hot Springs as were Alan Ladd and Billy Bob Thornton. There are no pools as is usual in north American hot springs but just big individual tubs and steam cabinets. Fernie would just love to spend a day there. At least you get privacy there, unlike Tecopa.


Arkadelphia, the town where J&MK resided for 32 years and brought up their family is about 40 miles south east of Hot Springs. It was our next stop. It's a small college town where J was the dean of chemistry at Henderson State. Another college, Ouachita sits right across the road. Obviously these seats of higher learning are the only reason that Arkadelphia exists.

The Clinton Library is the jewel of Little Rock, situated within walking distance of the downtown business district overlooking the Arkansas River.


It's staffed by elderly volunteers, many of them veterans and well to do dowagers. 'How're y'all – come right on in' from one of the grey-haired old guys 'where y'all from?' and when we said Canada he retorted 'I saw your car in the parking lot'. Guess they don't get too many Canucks. The exhibits were enthralling and told the story of the Clinton's lives in fascinating detail but we made a hasty retreat when a couple of school buses disgorged hordes of rambunctious school children.



It was in 1957 that 9 black teens entered the front doors of Central High School, a formerly segregated all-white high school and I remember what happened so clearly as I was a teenager myself and the story was all over the news. They were greeted by a mob chanting racial slurs and obscenities and were turned away by the National Guard called in by the Arkansas Governor. Two weeks later the nine teens again attempted to gain entry to the school, rioting broke out and the police removed the nine again. President Eisenhower ordered federal troops to escort the nine in and to stay with them for all of their classes. This all happened at the beginning of the school year but the National Guard had to remain for the entire year. What a difference fifty years has made. It's almost impossible to now believe that this could have happened.


We miss Caesar terribly, but now that the initial grieving has passed we're noticing that we're much more free. Gone is the responsibility to rush home to him by 4pm; we can now stay out til midnight if we so desire. Gone is the guilt of leaving him behind. Gone is the worry about his allergies and his chronically infected eyes. Gone is the worry about when his time would come. We can once again take an international holiday; for the last two years, we just couldn't leave him.

We emailed our friends L&J in Las Vegas and said “watch out for a special on that 28 day around Australia cruise that we all wanted to take, because we can go now”. Coincidentally, three days later, they received notice of a two for one – very cheap on the very cruise I mentioned. Within twenty-four hours, they booked it for us with some tricky maneuvers around the fact that we (as Canadians, probably) weren't supposed to be able to get the same 2 for 1 fares. We'll take a couple of weeks to mooch around Australia before the cruise which means we'll be off at the beginning of November, and getting home just before Christmas.

Here's the itinerary:

Day Port Arrival Departure
1 Melbourne, Australia 11:59 PM
2 At Sea
3 Adelaide, Australia 8:00 AM 6:00 PM
4 At Sea
5 At Sea
6 Albany, Australia 8:00 AM 5:00 PM
7 Bunbury 9:00 AM 6:00 PM
8 Fremantle, Australia 8:00 AM 6:00 PM
9 At Sea
10 Exmouth, Australia 8:00 AM 6:00 PM
11 At Sea
12 Broome 8:00 AM 6:00 PM
13 At Sea
14 Darwin, Australia 8:00 AM 5:00 PM
15 At Sea
16 At Sea
17 Port Douglas 7:00 AM 4:00 PM
18 Airlie Beach, Australia 9:00 AM 7:00 PM
19 At Sea
20 At Sea
21 Brisbane, Australia 8:00 AM 8:00 PM
22 At Sea
23 Newcastle, Australia 8:00 AM 6:00 PM
24 Sydney, Australia 8:00 AM 8:00 PM
25 At Sea
26 Hobart (Tasmania), Australia 8:00 AM
27 Hobart (Tasmania), Australia 12:00 PM
28 Tasmania (Burnie), Australia 9:00 AM 5:00 PM
29 Melbourne, Australia 7:00 AM

How fortunate we are to have the lives we live. Not a day passes that we don't recognize the miracle and wonder of being able to live our life on the road – like snails, our home is always with us. We're living life for each day that dawns and loving every minute.