Thursday, Sept. 26

Up at 6 a.m. to get ready for a vacation trip to the northwest part of the state. As soon as I was dressed, I woke Daughter, and she hopped right up to get ready.

Before we left town, Hubbie stopped by a gas station to air up the tires on the camper. As we waited, Daughter and I noticed a line of birds perched on a power line...but the angle of the sun made the wire invisible to us, so it looked like the birds were suspended in midair.

We were on the road by 9 a.m. Sis, who was to come and stay with Mother for the weekend, wasn't scheduled to arrive until sometime after lunch.

The trip was interesting, if uneventful. We saw a field of pumpkins still on the vine, crossed a bridge over Hog Skin Creek, and passed a street named Buzzard Roost Road.

Around 12:30, we stopped at a roadside park for lunch. After lunch, I called Mother. Sis answered, so Daughter and I breathed a collective sigh of relief. We're always edgy when we leave Mother at home for any length of time.

As we traveled, we enjoyed an audio book on tape that Daughter provided. She'd gotten it free at her public library. Actually, it is three books in one, and we had time to listen to one book and part of another on the trip.

Along the way, we stopped at a roadside fruit stand where, on large signs and in painted in large letters, the vendor advertised tubs of apples for $1. Well, the tubs were about the sized of butter tubs and contained three apples each. Deceptive advertising. The buckets of apples were $4 each, and we bought one.

A young couple were selling the apples, and the woman of the pair had constructed a chair by stacking two boxes of apples, cutting the one side out of another box and placing a cushion in it to make a chair. I thought it was clever and told her so.

We arrived at our destination around 3 p.m. This town has 2,073 people, though it seems like a lot more. It's a tourist town, so maybe all the tourists made it seem larger. We learned that the town has absolutely no industry beyond tourism.

At the campground, signs abounded warning folks to not park in the driveway...Welcome, Pull Forward, Keep Left, Please Park here to Register. Hubbie, who considers signs suggestions only, parked in the driveway.

Once the camper was set up, we went on a tour. Stopped first at the Christ of the Ozarks. Daughter was amazed by this enormous statue, as she was with Thorncrown Chapel, which is a glass and wood structure situated in the middle of the woods.

The seven-story high Christ of the Ozarks has overlooked the town since 1967. Thorncrown Chapel, which opened in 1980, rises forty-eight feet into the sky. It has 425 windows and over 6,000 square feet of glass.

We also visited St. Elizabeth's Church, which is entered through the bell tower, and the grounds of the Crescent Hotel, which is said to be haunted.

Back at camp, we had chicken noodle soup and blueberry muffins for supper. Later, we dressed to go to The Great Passion Play, but learned that it was not open tonight. So we went to an overlook, which features a lovely viewing structure.

Two young women were at the area, both of whom looked stoned. They engaged in lively banter with us, and when they found we were not interested in visiting with them, they left.

From the lookout, we could see the Crescent Hotel on a hill across the way. It's a sort of castle looking building, and with most of its lights glowing yellow, combined with the twilight of this evening, it looked sort of spooky and haunted.

Back at the camper, we played a few games of Skipbo. I won two, and Hubbie won one. None for Daughter this time.