After we left the bridge we headed to Naoma to visit my great aunt and uncle. I love visiting with them because it's so peaceful back there with no cell phone service. They have a huge garden with a tomato plant that was already taller than I am, and later in the afternoon the turkeys came out of the woods close to the house to eat.
On Sunday, we left West Virginia to continue the journey. We stopped in Waddy, Kentucky and stayed at a Flying J truck stop that night. That was my first experience backing my camper, and I did pretty good! Kentucky was beautiful, and it was my first time being in that state! It was free to stay at the truck stop, but it meant we didn't get to hook the campers up, so we didn't have AC. I don't sleep well when it's hot, so it was a long night. Truck stops have nice showers, but it was $12 each for us to shower there.
The next day we got up and made our way to Illinois. Instead of staying at a truck stop again we found Wayne Fitzgerrell State Park in Whittington, IL and stayed there. For only $20 a site per night, we had electricity and free showers! The showers weren't as nice as the truck stop showers, but at least we had AC this night. The state park has a 19,000 acre lake that was absolutely beautiful. It rained most of the time we were there, and we all ended up sleeping about 12 hours from being so exhausted from the night before. It's definitely a place I would love to visit again and take the kayaks out!
We had one more day left before we could check into our campground in Branson, MO. So we stayed at another truck stop just outside of St. Louis, MO. That afternoon we walked around St. Louis and got to see the Gateway Arch. The Arch was huge, but was smaller than the New River Gorge Bridge at "only" 630 feet! We also ate at a Steak n Shake for the first time, it was delicious! Another night at a truck stop meant no AC again, so we didn't sleep very well. Since it was the 4th of July we got to see fireworks from the parking lot. The next morning I got up to go pay for another $12 shower, but thankfully a nice truck driver let me use a free shower he had on his Pilot card, it made my day!
Wednesday, July 5th, we finished our journey to Branson. I love our new campground because we actually have grass in our "yard" and trees to have lots of shade! We got settled in and saw some of the sights around town, giant instruments and a Hollywood version of Mount Rushmore. We also visited Table Rock Lake, we will eventually take the kayaks out there!
Saturday, July 8th we decided to adventure to Arkansas since the state line is only about 20 minutes from where we're staying. I pulled out my list of places I wanted to see in each state, and found one of the closer options on the list: Whitaker's Point. It was a relatively short hike, only a little over 3 miles round trip, after a 6 mile drive up a bumpy mountain road. Needless to say, I probably won't be allowed to pick the next adventure, but the view at the end of the hike was definitely worth it!
So, that was our journey through 8 states over the course of 8 days. North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas! Over 1400 miles, I'll be glad to be stationary for awhile :)
No comments:
Post a Comment