NELSON'S NOTES #69

Sent from Branson, Missouri, August 22, 2007

CAUTION: THIS VEHICLE MAKES WIDE TURNS

Bruce recognized this truck's long cargo as two wind generator blades. I was surprised at their size. When I see generator blades spinning at wind farms, they don't appear this big.

LAND BETWEEN THE LAKES

When we camped at Prizer Point in Cadiz, Kentucky, our son, Craig, and his wife and daughter, Sandy and Sarah, visited us from their motel in Cadiz and toured the Land Between the Lakes with us.

Sarah tries out a campground bike near our waterfront site on Lake Barkley.

Sunset from our campsite.

Sandy, Sarah and Craig at the 1850s Homeplace.

After the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers were dammed, the surrounding area became a public recreation area called the Land Between the Lakes. Extending from western Kentucky into Tennessee, it has two big lakes--Lake Barkley and Kentucky Lake, a visitor center with a planetarium, a nature station that cares for injured animals and birds, an elk and bison prairie visitors can drive through, and a living history farm called the Homeplace.

Interpreters work at the Homeplace as if they were living in the 1850s on a typical farm between the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers. Chores are done in the same way that they were over 150 years ago.

Bedding hangs out to air at the double pen house, just as it might have in the mid-19th century.

A chamber pot was an indispensable item in an 1850s bedroom. Sarah opened it to see if anything was inside (it was empty).

An interpreter at the double pen house stands in the breezeway, which is an open central hallway that separates two equal sized "pens" or room. Later called a "dogtrot," the breezeway usually faced the direction of the prevalent wind. Even in the breezeway's shade, this lady looked hot in her long dress. She said it was made with 7 yards of material. In the mid-19th century a southern woman had to be completely covered, even while working on a farm on a hot summer day.

ANHEUSER-BUSCH BREWERY

While staying in St. Louis, we toured this spacious and attractive complex, which includes the company's international headquarters. In a spotless production facility, we learned how barley malt, rice (for crispness), hops (for a spicy flavor), yeast (for fermentation), and water are made into internationally top-selling beers like Budweiser and Bud Light.

When the tour ended, several attendants were waiting to serve free beer to our group. They filled our glasses, not with just a few splashes but all the way to the top. The beer was good but I left my glass half full (after all, it was only 11 a.m.). Like me, Craig was "feeling it," too, as he hadn't had a beer in almost 20 years. Bruce attributed the wonderful crisp taste of his Grolsch beer to the fact that it was a tap beer served at just the right temperature, 40 degrees.

Over 100 years ago, kegs of beer were delivered in wagons pulled by Clydesdale horses. Today, Clydesdales are still an important part of the Anheuser-Busch image. The first stop on our tour was a classy air-conditioned stable where each horse had a large, clean stall which was labeled with his name. (The name BRUCE was printed above one of the stalls.)

LAKE OF THE OZARKS

Even though we're camping in a town called Osage Beach and we drive and walk around a lot, we seldom get a good look at the lake. (Our campsite is high on a bluff but the view below is a Home Depot parking lot.) One day we discovered a hilltop at Ha Ha Tonka State Park that has a nice view of the lake. It takes a bit of time and effort to drive and walk there but it's worth it. (The park's name, Ha Ha Tonka, comes from Osage Indian words meaning "laughing waters.")

An arm of the Lake of the Ozarks as seen from the remains of a castle begun in 1905 by Robert Snyder, a wealthy Kansas City businessman. Today, the remains are part of Ha Ha Tonka State Park.

Snyder never got to see the lake view from the finished castle because a year after construction started, he was killed in an auto accident. The castle was finished by his sons almost 20 years later and in 1942 the interior was destroyed in a fire.

Luckily, Osage Beach RV Park has cable TV. For the last week we've been watching the Weather Channel often to track the whereabouts of tropical storm Erin and hurricane Dean. Original predictions showed Dean heading toward Brownsville but as it turned out, neither storm landed near where we live. We are about 40 miles from the Gulf of Mexico and 20 miles from Brownsville.

We'll arrive home around August 29 and will see then just how wet it is there. If another hurricane threatens the area, we'll take off in our motorhome.

Marianna Nelson