A great comment adding a little history of this area was written on yesterday’s post by Clayton Elisson – thanks, Clayton.

We were up early yesterday. Donna planned to meet up with a bike club at the high school at 7:30am. I prepped her bike at 6:30am and she hit the road by 7am. I mentioned it’s hilly around here. The first thing she had to do after turning on Evergreen Street, just a few hundred feet from the RV park, was climb a steep hill – so steep that she had to dismount and walk her bike to the top. She made her way to the school, arriving at 7:20am and hung around waiting for cyclists from the club. They never showed up. She found out later that they revised their start time to 7am due to the heat. Not having an alternate plan, she rode home.

After Donna returned from her ride, she walked to the post office to mail some letters and then continued walking for a total of four miles. She walked four miles on Friday as well and snapped a few pictures each day. Here are the photos from Donna’s walks – the first four are from Friday, the rest are from Saturday’s walk.

Cedar Steps, constructed in 1936, 229 steps and 33 landings

Next stop…downtown Hollister

Railroad car at the Hollister Community Center with a view of historic Downing Street

Hackett Falls – a short hike from the memorial park at City Hall

Maurice Lane overpass near Old Mill Road

Branson Scenic Railway train coming through

Turtles in Turkey Creek (taken from Railroad Avenue)

While she was out, I saw a guy fishing the creek by our site. I walked down and talked to him. He’s from Bolivar, Missouri and has fished around here for years. He said the cold water from Table Rock Lake was good for the trout and trout fishing can be good here at times. Yesterday was not so good. While we were talking, Donna called out to me from the other side of Turkey Creek where she was walking on Railroad Avenue.

Fishing hole on Turkey Creek

I rode the scooter up to Sunfest Market to pick up a few groceries – Donna made a list for me. They didn’t have spaghetti squash or jicama, two of the items on her list. I found the selection of produce to be small and the prices a bit high. I came home and we searched online for another store. We found Rhodes Family Price Chopper and Walmart west of downtown Branson where Main Street becomes Country Boulevard.

I memorized the route and scootered over there. My route avoided the downtown traffic but I found the traffic to be just as bad up the hill on Country Boulevard. After you cross US65, you enter a district with museums, theaters, dance halls, concert venues, hotels and resorts. The traffic crawls along at 15mph with frequent stops.

I found the Rhodes store and it was a very nice grocery store. They had spaghetti squash and jicama. When I was checking out, the girl at the register looked at the jicama and asked what it was. When I told her jicama she said, “That’s spelled with a ‘J’ right?” I told her it was – jicama is pronounced HICK-a-mah. Donna cuts it up into what she calls fresh fries and serves it with guacamole.

The traffic was just as bad on the way back. I got caught in a brief rain shower while piddling along at 15mph. I skirted around the north side of downtown to Branson Landing and found Macadoodles. Macadoodles is a large liquor store with fine wine and a large selection of liquor and beer. Now I know where to shop – that’s always one of the challenges when we relocate to unfamiliar territory. Hopefully on weekday mornings, the traffic won’t be as bad.

After I came home, I was just about to cover the scooter when rain started pouring down. We had showers off and on all afternoon – some of the showers were heavy. This afternoon’s forecast calls for the same 80% chance of thunderstorms. I’m hoping they’re wrong and we can ride the scooter up to Branson Sports Club for pickleball at 2pm.