Ozark, MO

Oct 26,2007

A classmate, Judy Morrisett, lives in Ozark, Mo. about 20 miles south of Springfield. She is our class agent and had called me when we were in Arizona. She wanted to make sure we were on our way to the reunion. She insisted that we come by and park in their yard and visit a couple of days. We did,,,,,but we stayed 7 days. They plugged in the electricity and we had plenty of water, so it worked great. She and Leroy fed us and showed us around the country and it was a wonderful time. They like to go to the antique shops. Judy has tons of glass and pottery, all antiques. They attend auctions as well as the shops. She tried to teach me what to look for in the glass ware.

She has been volunteering at the County Court house cleaning up the "records" She claims she can't stand unorganization and cleans with toothbrushes. Believe me, its the truth. We got to meet the commissioners and everyone at the court house. They think she walks on water since she has cleaned up the storage area and organized shelves and shelves of books. as well as organized the pages in the books.

She is a wonderful truly southern cook. Greg was treated to wonderful meals that he doesn't get at home. Fried apricot pies, banana bread, cream of chicken soup, biscuits, gravy,cookies,all made from scratch. She loves to make a large pot of soup for any gathering, and she is in high demand.

Leroy was born and raised in Ozark. They love all school sports and attend all the games. For years, Judy has baked cookies for the players. When they go to tournaments, she will bake 4 varieties of cookies and pack 5 gallon buckets for the buses and coaches. She has an award stating she is the "Cookie Mom" of Ozark high school.

They have one daughter, one son, and two grand children. Judy's father and her siblings all attended the School of the Ozarks. She has not missed a reunion and served on the anumni board and any other position that supports the school, excuse me, college now.

We toured several housing developments from Ozark to Branson. Beautiful homes, large lots, mostly rock or brick, out a bit and curvy roads on the side of the hills, not a good scene in the winter.

We tried to harvest black walnuts, but an early freeze had killed them. So, be aware, walnuts will be hard to get.

Every evening, Judy and I would knit our dishcloths. We would laugh and say, "who would have thought 52 years ago, we would be visiting and knitting dishcloths.

Greg commented that we were in the Bible Belt. Which is true. But also, Bass Pro country. The headquarters of Bass Pro is in Springfield. We spend an afternoon there. If they don't have what you want, you don't need it. They have a large museum of animals and fish. All through the store there is stuffed animals, birds, aquariums and actual streams with ducks and fish. This is truly a hunter and fisher's Paradise.

We had one meal out, at a Mexican restaurant, one of the best we found.

Tulsa,OK

Oct 23-24, 2007

We arrived in Tulsa and visited a friend, Mary Golden. Here she is trying to get Logan to be calm. He does not like to be left along and he is very excited when we return. This is the only picture I got while we were there. :-((.

She joined us at the casino for "senior days". You play $20.00 in slots and they will give you back $10.00 and a voucher (3.00) for breakfast ( A biscuit sandwich with bacon and egg.) That costs $2.50. Mary wanted to know what she could get for .50. Her choice was a donut. For $3.50 you could get a biscuit and gravy, but who was going to spend another .50.

When we arrive and park at a casino, we always notify the security or front desk that we will be spending the night. This was a new casino and even though they were "in the book" apparently, it was not common for RVs to park in the parking lot. They had to see my book and after about 15 minutes, they said it was OK. I chit chatted with the manager and as I left, she told the cashier to give Greg and I $10.00 on our players card for slot play. We played the senior days for breakfast for two days. I cashed out with about $30.00 plus two breakfasts. We won't talk about Greg's winnings. He as least got two free biscuits and two donuts AND two free nights parking. What a game...you really have to pick the right machine. I just got lucky.

We later went with Mary to the Gilcrease Museum. Lots of western and Indian artifacts. Also a wonderful restaurant. Mary is 77 and very active in the community and her church. She was taking dancing lessons and bowling lessons. Her husband,Bill has been gone about five years. AND she has attracted an 85 years old widower. It was wonderful to see how excited she was,but wasn't for sure how to handle the relationship. She is use to going when and where she wants to and being very independent. She lived with her daughter and her husband, Lettie and George. OR maybe it's they live with her...I'm not for sure :-) They are school teachers. Lettie and her brothers were students at Shady Grove School when Mom and Dad were there. Both of the brothers were killed in their youth when riding horses.

Before we left Tulsa, we visited with my 1st cousin in Sperry, Mary Todd Jobe. Her mother and my father were brother and sister. She is in ill health and had just gotten out of the hospital. She has unidentified internal bleeding and requires blood transfusions. She and her husband, Preston, live on a farm which one of their three sons now operates. We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant and I they gave us some frozen pork and pecans. She says her husband thinks we will starve before we get to Texas.

El Reno, OK (2)

Oct 22, 2007





The second day in El Reno, I received a call from Steve Lee Smythe. He is my 2ND cousin once removed. My Family Tree Maker figured that out for me. His Great grandfather and my grandfather were brothers. And interesting enough, the brothers married Thomas sisters. Isn't research interesting... He has a website SMYTH(E)/THOMAS/BRIDGES / ALLIED FAMILIES. That is how we made contact, through the website.





I had sent him a picture to post on the website and he was calling to ask me a question. When we determined he was only about 25 miles from where we were, we drove over during his lunch break at 9:00 pm. We were there until midnight. It was a very pleasant visit and I learned more about the relatives :-))). He is also a country western singer and gave me three CD's. He is very good. He plays at the senior center and small groups. He is a respiratory therapist at the Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City. We had a sandwich at the cafeteria in the Hospital. It stays open 24 hours. Good food too.



Just never know when a new adventure will appear.

El Reno,OK

Here we are (first on the left) parked in the Lucky Star Casino in El Reno,OK. We spent the first night just parked in the lot. The second night we plugged into electricity with 6 others at the free RV park in front of the casino. It rained the first night and there was lots of lighting and a hail storm. Greg was very excited and stayed up to watch . I went to bed and pulled the covers over my head.

The next day the visibility was very poor. That was why we spent the second night, plus a spot opened up for free electricity and water.

During the first night sirens went off during the evening. The next day several TV trucks and reporters showed up. We enquired at the security desk as to "why the TV trucks?". They said there had been an incident. Greg ask if someone won a million dollars.....they all had a good laugh.

We later learned there was an "amber alert" and they had found an older man who had stolen a pickup. There was an infant in the truck. He was in the casino playing poker. Very Sad situation. Since we don't get local news on the satellite we didn't get further details.

Santa Rosa II

Santa Rosa is also on the historical Route 66. The old town probably looks just like it did when Route 66 was first opened. I'm at one of the restaurants called Route 66 Cafe. You can't see but the walls were covered with pictures of cars so famous from that era. Food was good too.

The bridge, located at one end of the town, was featured in the film "The Grapes of Wrath". Why it was chosen, who knows. But we'll need to review the movie just to see the bridge. Its interesting to see these movie locations crop up here and there. I'm sure the director or who ever had a good reason when he made the movie.

Santa Rosa, NM

As we pass through the small towns, I'm always courious to what is it that makes them successful. And what attractions and activities are there.

In Santa Rosa we discovered a very unique attraction and activity, the Blue Hole. Itis a geological phenomenon. It is a natural, bell-shaped pool, 80 feet deep and is very clear. A constant water temp of 62 degrees. It provides an arena for scuba diving practice. It has training platforms at 20 and 25 feet. The square in the pictures is at 20 st. and two diver's bubbles are on the left. We talked with two divers from Denver getting ready to dive. They said on some days the diver traffic can get pretty heavy.


I though it was just amazing, in the middle of such a dry area. Apparently there are numerous caverans through out the area. They also had a large lake, a product of a dam on the Pecos River. There were two other lakes that are clear and have planes sunk to the bottom for scuba practice.

The roads in New Mexico are not the best, but you can bet the one up to the Lake was excellant.

Scottsdale

We arrived in Scottsdale, late, but still make contact with Julie Rowe

We had dinner at a casino in Scottsdale. We have had great success at finding good FREE parking at casino's on our trip. The food was great too.

That darling little boy is Skyler Rowe, Julie's new grandson. He lives in Cottonwood.