Missouri, Branson April 9-16

My classmates Delbert and Noni Frericks put a mini Redfield High School Class of 1959 reunion together.  There was a ton of effort to plan this fantastic.  We attended six different shows in 4 days.  The shows included, SIX, Down Home Country, Haygoods, Red Hot & Blue, IT, and the 100 years of Branson Celebration.  Great choice of shows.  Six of the seven couples stayed at the Best Western Motel.  Kay and I stayed in our camper at the Treasure Lake RV park about a two blocks away from the Best Western.  We met the group each morning for a continental breakfast and in the evenings we usually got together for wine and snacks before heading the show.  It was good to see people from my class, and spend some time getting to know them again.  We should do this more often.  Again I want to thank Delbert and Noni for all the hard work they put into this reunion.  

Branson, Missouri

Front row from the left:

Don and Karen Schafer, Larry and Glenna (Johnson) Herker, Dick and Bonnie (Anderson) Lien

Middle row from the left:

Delbert& Noni (Brown) Frericks, Marty (aka Roger) and Kay Moeller

Back row from the left:

Gordon and Marie Sjodin, Leland and Doris (Allen) Harms

Delbert& Noni (Brown) Frericks

Hollistor, Missouri

Marty (aka Roger) and Kay Moeller

Wheat Ridge, Colorado

Larry and Glenna (Johnson) Herker
Muncie, Indiana

Dick and Bonnie (Anderson) Lien
Watertown, South Dakota

Leland and Doris (Allen) Harms
Raymore, Missouri

Gordon and Marie Sjodin
Tulsa, Oklahoma

Don and Karen Shaffer

Buena Place, California

Karen - Kay - Noni

Don trying to get me drunk on his wine. He almost got the job done.

Kay - Noni - Bonnie

Noni - Glenna - Bonnie

Don serving Doris and Bonnie

Larry and Ray ( Don's brother)

Noni and Karen getting into the shrimp and drinking a little wine.

Glenna happy as she always is.

Don - Larry - Glenna - Lee

Noni - Marty (Roger) - Bonnie

Marty - Don - Larry - Dick waiting for the girls to get done shopping.

Marty - Don - Gordon - Delbert

Marie - Noni - Kay - Karen standing in front of Trigger.

Roy Roger's horse Trigger and his dog Bullet.

Dale Evens' horse Buttercup.

One of the shows we went to,  Down Home Country.

Another one Red Hot and Blue

I can not believe I had the chance to talk to Buck Trent.  He is the best Banjo picker in the world.

Arkansas, Hot Springs April 2-9

Our campsite in Lake Catherine State Park is one of the best of our trip this year.  We are located about 15 mile south of Hot Springs, AR.  With the kayaks sitting right behind the camper on the edge of the lake, I went for a ride at least once a day.  I guess we were looking for something different for the Hot Springs in this area.  When I think of them, I think of the one in Idaho, where they piled up a bunch of rock along the river to make bathing pools.  It is not the case here, it is all pretty commercial stuff.  We wandered around the downtown area and gardens within the National Park area.  We spent an afternoon at the Oaklawn Race track in Hot Springs.  It had been a long time since either of us had been to horse races.  Kay told me the last time she was at one, she was not old enough to bet.

We planned our trip home to include the Hot Springs National Park.   A place we had never visited before.  We stopped by the visitor center which is right in downtown Hot Springs, Arkansas.  Too our surprise the park is in town and consists of several bath houses.  Only two are still in operation.  The park is the oldest protected area in the US.

This picture was taken on the grounds near the visitor center.

More pictures on the grounds of the National Park.

These pictures are some of the beautiful old buildings in downtown Hot Springs.

Azalea bushes in the park.  Can't resist taking pictures of them.

This is a picture of our campsite at Lake Catherine State Park.  We both think it is probably the prettiest spot on this past year's journey.  We left our kayaks right by the water so that we could go kayaking whenever we wanted. 

Some pictures of Lake Catherine from the kayaks.

We found this hidden waterfall.  What a peaceful spot!  We had thought about bringing a picnic lunch one day but never did.

Someones catfish line drifted away from where they expected and this bad boy was near our campsite for a while.  When no one came to claim it Marty decided not to let it go to waste.  It sure tasted good.

We had ducks and geese around begging for scrapes of bread.  They didn't care for salted peanuts.  Max and Zoe loved watching and barking at them.

We all enjoyed sitting around the campfire in the cool evenings.   We also had a full moon shining over the lake many of the nights we were here.  It was stunning but the pictures didn't turn out very well so you'll have to take our word for it.

For something different to do we went to the horse races in Hot Springs.  It had been a long time for both of us and made for  a fun afternoon.  We weren't too good at picking winners but kind of got the hang of it in the last few races.

This was our first winner I think it was in the 7th  or 8th race before we had a horse come in.

Max says he's sad to leave Lake Catherine State Park.