The weather is so very hot.

Yes it is very hot and steamy here today. The only things moving outside are the bees and wasps. Well I did see a John Deere tractor go down the road but of course it was air conditioned. We have been very lazy for several days since the heat set in, so we have both spent quite some time on the internet. One of the cool things I think of when it is this hot is a cruise. So I managed a way to spend money this week and booked two cruises on Voyager of the Seas. Starting Nov 22, 2009 we will sail from Barcelona, Spain to ports in Italy and France. How cool is that. It is just such a long wait but we will certainly appreciated it when it is finally time to board..



On November 29 we will sail again from Barcelona Transatlantic to the US . Twenty one days on a ship, I think I can handle that.

A trip to Lake of the Ozarks

Luckily the boys made it. The fire escape.

The narrow road. The entrance to the cave.




June 7 we traveled to Lake of the Ozarks to Ron and Shirley's house. Mary and Don were traveling down the lake road as we turned in. Once we got settled Bill and Jo showed up. We spent four days doing what we do best, laughing, eating and having a few margaritas. It is always fun to go to Knoche Knorner and so very relaxing with beautiful views of the lake.

Our first afternoon Ron and Shirley took us on a surprise adventure. It was a 45 minute drive to an unknown destination for dinner. We got to a hollow in a wooded area by a river, parked our cars and we're met by an older van which picked us up. I figured the Knoche's wouldn't do any thing to get us killed by some Ozark hillbilly so I entered the van without hesitation but not without Shirley. We had seen signs along the road pointing the way to Caveman BBQ. The van drove us up a hill into an opening in the side of a cliff. We got out a rode a creaky elevator to the second floor and sure enough here was a restaurant built inside a cave. It was really pretty interesting with fountains from the water that trickled through the rocks. Old fashioned light fixtures and booths that looked like they had been used in the 1950's. There were also various stuffed animals like a hawk or turkey (it was a bird) and a mountain lion or cougar. (it was a big cat)

We had a good time and good food and really enjoyed this unusual experience.

Appleton City and Truman Lake

The swinging bridge in Warsaw, MO and the Osage River

Truman Lake and the visitors center

Ellet Hospital and Appleton City Depot

The libary and the Blue Inn


Yummy omelet and the unique menu


June 4, 2009 We headed south to Appleton City, MO. We had read an article in our Co-op newspaper about a restaurant in AC that served home cooked meals at reasonable prices. We enjoy finding new places to eat especially in small towns and we were not disappointed in this one. The Blue Inn is ran by a young family and they do a great job. The quality of the food was super and the variety on the menu made it difficult to make a choice. It was 11 am and sense we hadn't had breakfast we decided that would be our choice. I ordered biscuits and gravy and Paul and Don and Mary ordered omelets. It was so good that we are anxious to go again.

We also were surprised to find that the old downtown district of AC was still being utilized. Most all of the parking spaces were taken outside of the storefronts. It seemed to be a pretty busy little town. After breakfast we did a walk over to the old AC Depot. It was built in 1870 when the MKT (Missouri, Kansas and Texas) railroad came to town. The original library and hotel still stand across the street from the depot.

We then decided we were close enough to Truman lake that we would drive over and go to the Visitors center. The visitors center sits high on a bluff overlooking the dam. It is just beautiful.
Truman lake was built to control flood waters from the Osage River, the Maris de Cygne, the Grand and the Pomme de Terre rivers. Thinking back on the hardships that residents endured in these flatlands boggles the mind. They anticipated floods every June and yet it wasn't until the 1951 floods that hit the big cities in MO that state officials decided it was necessary to build a lake and damn. Truman Lake was completed in 1973. We have spent a lot of time at this lake
over the years and it will always be our favorite.

A day for shopping with Don and Mary

June 3, 2009 We were pretty tired from the previous day and decided we would go to Martin City for a little shopping. Our first stop was a party shop where Paul and Don tried on sunglasses. Next we made it over to a very large liquor store for a few purchases. We then went to Michaels, Gordman's, World Market and The Dress Barn. Had a quick lunch and then returned to Harrisonville for a little drive around the town. Back home we ate leftovers which tasted quite good followed by a yummy Tippins Banana Sprit Pie provided by Don and Mary. We made plans to go to Appleton City MO the next day and try out a restaurant we had read about. We played the card game "Golf" and Paul whipped all of us.

Arthur Bryant's

Unpretentious Dining room



Delicious Ribs

Don and Mary's visit to our house

The beautiful Liberty Memorial


The reflecting pool at the entrance to the Memorial.


Glass walkway with field of poppies below



Kansas City's Union Station




June 1, 2009 Our friends Don and Mary who are full timers stopped by for a visit on their way to the East Coast. We invited Ron and Shirley and Bill and Jo to come down for lunch on the day of Don and Mary's arrival. We enjoyed a few strawberry margaritas and then got busy planning out what to do the next day.

On June 2, 2009 we started the day with breakfast at MacDonald's and then we followed Bill down to the National World War I museum at the Liberty Memorial in Kansas City, MO. The Memorial is a beautiful structure which has a lot of improvement made to it so that it can house the World War I museum. The museum is outstanding and we spent several hours there. We rode up the elevator in the tower and then walked forty five steps to the top and outside. Outstanding views of the city from the top. It is a wonderful museum and gave us a better understanding of how the war was started and why it was called World War I.


After spending many hours at the museum we were all hungry and made our way to Arthur Bryant's restaurant in the 18th and Vine Jazz district. We had a large plate of ribs that were just delicious and enjoyed being in another historic part of Kansas City. After our tummies were full we headed to Ameristar Casino. Made our donations and headed home.

My first blog

Inspired by a friend, I decided it was time to get underway with this blog. We are full-time RV wannabees and frequent cruise ship travelers. Rv'ers know that a full timer is someone who has given up the sticks and bricks (house) to travel across the country. Since we still have a home that we are trying to sell, we are part-timers who have become Winter Texans. We travel to South Texas in the fall and come home when the temps have turned mild in the springtime. The above photo is of our RV lot in Mission, TX, our winter home.

We have found that in our travels we have met so many people who we have kept track of through the years by way of their posts or blogs. So we have learned that travelers love sharing their experiences. Since we are home in the summer I will be posting about short trips we will take and posting about trips we have taken in the past. I will also post about mundane things that happen everyday and don't have anything to do with travel at all. We hope you won't find it too boring.