The Rambler

After leaving Lake of the Ozarks we headed to Hannibal, Missouri to spend a week at the Mark Twain Cave and Campground. We had planned to stay in Hannibal so that I could connect with my former Watlow co-workers, among other things. My friend, colleague and co-retiree Scott hosted a fun get-together on his deck with a bunch of the Watlow guys.

The cave campground turned out to be more fun than we had anticipated. In addition to finding a bit of hiking, and the Mark Twain kitsch, we just happened to be there for the Halloween Trunk or Treat event, so we sat out that evening handing out candy to a hundred or so kids.

The trip to Hannibal ended up including real work for me as well. Early in October I signed a contract with Watlow to do some part-time work, so I ended up spending a day of work in the office. This was unexpected but fun! I've committed up to 16 hours a week, which doesn't impact our retiree routine too much, and I'm enjoying the work. Besides, it helps offset some of our expenses.

After Hannibal we shot north to Amana, Iowa, which is very close to Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, so that we could knock off some dentist and doctor appointments. The RV park was little more than a big flat grass lot with RV pads - quite boring, but perfectly functional - and we were one of just a dozen campers in a 200-unit park. We left on the day they shut down the park for the winter. During our stay there we made a trip to our storage unit and traded out some stuff, and we had dinner with Oskar.

Following our short stay in Amana, we traveled south for two days, stopping overnight at a Walmart south of Kansas City, and landing the next day at Big Pines RV in Roland, Oklahoma. This is right off I-40, next to the Cherokee Casino, and near Fort Smith, Arkansas just across the state border.

Our stay in Roland has been our longest at 23 nights. It has been a mostly low-key, hang-around-and-relax stay, with a few outings and activities for punctuation.

We checked out the Fort Smith National Historic Site and learned about Fort Smith history, and we went to the Lee Creek Reservoir Recreation Area where we hiked the beautiful and spectacular Crack in the Rock and Cemetary Loop trails. Both sites are well worth a visit, should you find yourself in this area.

In addition to the many walks with the dog around the small RV park, we took lots of longer individual walks around the "neighborhood," which consists of the RV park, the casino, a diner, a motel and a convenience store. Kristin made a game of finding money in the casino parking lot, finding nearly $2.50, including a 46-cent casino voucher that she cashed in.

On our first two Friday night outings we went to two different Mexican restaurants, both of them very good. For our last Friday outing we went to a mom-n-pop restaurant for homestyle food, and then to the casino for a drink while being bombarded by flashing lights and the smell of tobacco.

I spent time doing Watlow work, rigging up a simple air filter to improve our indoor air quality, studying for my ham license test, updating my Sardines page (check it out!), and upgrading our RV batteries to lithium. The battery upgrade was a big project that took me several days to complete. It is a relief to finally have it done, as it is the first step in extending our boondocking capability. I have additional upgrades to complete before next May, when I plan to do some backpacking at the Grand Canyon with Audrey while Kristin boondocks with the camper in the national forest.