Sharp's Travels

We had plans to tour the State Capitol today. We arrived there at 9:30am and the tour began at 10 am.

The Capitol was built in 1866 and took 37 years to complete at a cost of 3.2 million dollars. The renovations to the capitol are in progress now, one wing at a time. The dome is being renovated right now and so we were no able to climb the stairs to the top and overlook the city. They are stripping the inside down to its original colors. The trim colors on the moldings up close to the ceilings are really neat. There is a mauve strip, a beige strip and a cream color with beige walls. It looks really neat. The floors are marble, brought in from Mexico, Belgium and Italy.

Topeka Capitol building is the 3rd tallest dome capital at 304 ft, It is16 feet taller than the US Capitol in Washington DC, and also taller than the Statue of Liberty.

We began our tour by taking the cage elevator, which was installed in 1923, up to the 3rd floor. We stepped into the Senate Chambers and WOW! What a beautiful room. The massive copper & bronze columns were striking. They were shipped here from Italy. There was marble on the walls and floors. The woodwork was beautiful. There were massive chandlers with etched globes. The desks were all the original pieces.

The next stop on the tour was the House of Representatives. It was not quite as beautiful as the Senate but never the less it had its own charms. The ceilings were all stenciled and the gold on the ceilings and columns were 22 carat gold leaf. It also had lots of marble on the walls and floors.

We were then taken to the Supreme Court Chambers. Today this room is used mainly for committee meetings. All the stenciling on the ceiling has all been restored, along with beautiful marble and woodwork throughout.

The Governor’s Ceremonial Office was decorated with elaborately carved white oak trim. The fireplace is one of 11 located on the second floor.

There are murals pained on a number of walls depicting different events throughout Kansas history.

It was a beautiful Capitol building!

We went from the Capitol Building over to the Grace Episcopal Cathedral for a tour of the parish with its twin towers modeled after that of Magdalen College in Oxford, England. Our guide told us the history of the church and showed us all the beautiful windows.

We ate a bar for a fast lunch and then headed to the Kansas Museum of History. It tells the story of the early people of Kansas, Indians, trails, civil war, settling in the frontier, trains and towns, and items of the early 20th century. It was a lot to take in.

About half way through the exhibit we got a call from our friends Don & Doreen Foster from Oregon. They are here in Topeka also, so we made plans to go over to their RV Park and visit. It was great to see them. About 5 pm we all headed over to Boss Hawg’s Barbeque restaurant for supper and more visiting.

The weather was great today. The attractions were lots of fun to see and being able to visit with our friends made this day memorable.

Gay got pictures of the day and also pictures from Sunday uploaded. He still needs to do the captions but they are there to view. Click here http://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravelsand then click on the album that you want to see.

We began our day with church at the First Presbyterian Church at 10:30am. We arrived early hoping to get a chance to look at all the Tiffany Stained Glass windows. We were lucky enough to get a personal tour of all the windows by one of the parishioners.

The church was built in 1884. The Tiffany windows were installed in 1911at a cost of $14,000. Louis Tiffany came to the church and planned the windows for this sanctuary. The special characteristic of these windows is the depth and perspective, especially in the landscape windows. It looks like you could see forever in these windows. The colors are enriched by using layers of glass or by wrinkling or changing the surface texture. Their value cannot be assessed. They are irreplaceable. Each window in its exquisite beauty is a sermon and a prayer, as well as a treasured work of art. They are shielded on the outside with bullet proof glass because there is no way to replace them should any damage occur.

The Ascension window has been removed for repair, so we missed seeing that one. We did see a picture of it and it is beautiful.

Everyone there was very friendly and welcomed us to their church. It was a very nice service.

We had an energy bar for lunch and headed right away over to the Old Prairie town. It is a 6 acre historic pioneer village. It features a botanical garden and a working old time soda fountain. There was an 1854 log cabin, 1870’s prairie mansion, 1891 Victor Schoolhouse, drug store, livery stable, train depot, general store and an 1880 church. We checked it all out and then went back to the soda fountain for chocolate malt. Neither one of us could remember the last time we had a malt.

It was early afternoon, so we made a call over to the Combat Air Museum to check on their hours. We were lucky to have time yet to go through that facility. It houses a collection of over 30 US and foreign aircraft from World War I to the present day. It also had a wide variety of military aviation artifacts, from WWI to the present day. Gay loves to look at old planes.

Since this is Sunday night, it’s pizza night. I found an ad for Via’s Pizzeria, Topeka’s original authentic pizzeria. I thought it was worth a try. Boy was it ever good.

We got back to the 5th wheel at 5:30pm. What a FULL DAY!

Gay has uploaded pictures of the First Presbyterian Church. For pictures click here http://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels then click on the album you want to see.

We didn’t have a strong enough internet signal to upload the other pictures of the day. We will take our computer with us tomorrow and see if we can get them uploaded when we are downtown.

Gay was up early but I was able to sleep in this morning.

Its Memorial Day weekend and last night we tried to call the campground we wanted to stay at in Topeka but got no answer. We haven’t been able to book on earlier because we weren’t sure when our 5th wheel would be done at the service center, Gay tried again this morning and they are full. We found another one about 12 miles out of Topeka. Luckily someone was just pulling out this morning and we got their spot. We have full hookups so we booked it for five days.

We only have to drive 235 miles today so it won’t be bad.

We made a stop in Marysville at a Wal-Mart. We took time to eat our salad for lunch and went into pick up a few things and were on our way again.

We pulled into our campground at 3:30 pm. I can see why we were able to get a site here as it isn’t a very nice campground. We got set up and then I started supper.

I’ve checked out the visitor’s guild for Topeka and there is a lot to see. We will get a start at that first thing tomorrow

It was another sleepless night. Gay was up at 4am and I got up at 4:30am. We were off for breakfast by 7am. We walked into the restaurant and I said I’ll have my usual and she remembered exactly what I’d ordered the last 3 mornings.


We went back to the Service Center and were told our unit would be done today. That’s what we wanted to hear.

Early afternoon we went for a walk. We stopped at the Old Dutch Mill at Wagner Park. The mill was built in 1870. For years it ground corn, wheat and buckwheat brought in by the farmers in the area. Wind power operated the mill until about 1913 when kerosene engine was installed.

Finally at 6:30pm they pulled our unit out of the shop and got it set up for us to spend the night.

We tried the Buck Shot Lodge for supper tonight. They served barbeque ribs and pulled pork.

It was excellent. We’re glad we found it.

We headed back to the 5th wheel and took showers and watched a little TV before turning in.

Tomorrow we’re back on the road again.

My Queen

Just hanging around

Maybe a Drunken Driver

I guess we have fallen to a Camp Peterson lounge camping routine. Cheri was up at 4:30 am and I was up at 4:45 am. After we were dressed and squeaky clean I made a pot of coffee and sat down to the computer to do my morning computer stuff. Then it was time for our morning devotions and Bible study. At 7:00 am we headed over to the 2nd cup restaurant for breakfast and then to the grocery store to pick up doughnuts for the repair workers. See it is the same as yesterday except now we know what time things open up. When we got back we both read for a while and then we played a game of Hand and Foot which Cheri won again. No lunch again today as we had the big breakfast. More reading this afternoon and another game of Hand and Foot, this time I got to won. No rain today and lots of sunshine and a little cool for a motorcycle ride we might have gone anyway but couldn’t get in the 5th wheel to get the clothes we needed to ride. We were looking forward to sleeping in our own bed tonight but it wasn’t to be. They still are working on the slides. So it’s another night in the Lounge. Cheri says we each have our own crib to sleep in. Two overstuffed chairs with hassock in between. We were able to get into the 5th wheel at 4:30 pm to get some more clothes to wear. Cheri also got the soap so she could do a load of laundry, there a washer and dryer in the ladies restroom. Once again we went to Duffy’s Steak house for supper; we are getting tired of eating out. The laundry is done and our showers are done so we are ready to watch some TV, well maybe it looks like everything is reruns.

Cheri's Crib




Gay's Crib



It rained during the night, but it is clear this morning. We were in our way by 9:15am. Not far out of town we see a Casey’s Gas Station, we love their cake donuts. We pulled into a vacant lot by the station and bought some for the road. We haven’t had any of these for about one year.




We take HWY 36 out of St. Joe. It’s the Pony Express Highway. Every once in a while you see a statue of a pony express rider and horse up on a hill along the highway. They are at a full out gallop.


By 11:30am we have made it half way to Smith Center. It’s a beautiful day with light fluffy clouds. There is very little traffic. This road is made for us. We pass by some huge stock yards with hundreds and hundreds of cattle in them. What a site.


About 12:15 we took a break for lunch. We have only 56 more miles to go.


We pulled into the Excel parking lot and Gay unloaded the motorcycle, and then he moved the 5th wheel to the back side of the building and we got set up.


It’s our home until the 5th wheel is fixed. We have no idea how long it will take.


We drove by the church to see what time church is tomorrow and then back to the 5th wheel for steak on the grill.




 

We were packed up and ready to leave by 9:30am. Just as we were ready to pull out it began to sprinkle. It didn’t last long. We made our way through Branson and onto HYY 65 headed north.




When we got through Springfield the skies were dark and gloomy and it started to rain once again. The rain followed us to Clinton, where we pulled into a Wal-Mart parking lot for lunch. I had salads all prepared, so we went back into the 5th wheel and took a break for lunch.


We’ve come 139 miles so far. We are making good time.


There is quite a unique bridge spanning the Missouri River in Kansas City. I tried to get some pictures. Bet that was expensive to build. The rain has let up a bit and the traffic is heavy.


St. Joe is 47 miles ahead. Thank goodness for the GPS.


We arrived in St. Joseph, Mo at 2:30. Our campground is about 1 mile out of town on HWY 36. We got set up and then headed to Wal-Mart to fill up with fuel and get a refill on Gay’s medicine. When we returned back home I fixed supper and we settled in.


We did 287 miles today.

It was time to get out and explore the country around here.



The temperature was 61 degrees this morning and went up to 75. A regular heat wave!


About 10:30am we headed north out of Branson and wound around on some of the curvy back roads. It was great to get out and do a little riding again. We saw 3 deer dashing across the road in front of us, got a few pictures of old barns and enjoyed the view around each curve. By the time we got back into Branson we had put on 88 miles.


It was time for some lunch and I wanted to try Mel’s Hard Luck Diner. It’s the home to Branson’s original singing servers. It’s a 1950’s era diner. Many of the singing servers are currently in some of Branson’s most popular productions, like Shoji, Magnificent 7, Country Tonight and more. The servers have to audition to work at the diner. This is the day job; the diner closes at 6pm so they can get to their night jobs at the shows.


Matt Kesler, the American Idol Season 4 Finalist works there. He was our waiter and one of the first ones to sing for us while we were there. I purchased his CD and had him sign it!


Behind the Hard Luck Diner are the Grand Village Shops. They have 17 unique shops. The wood carver one was neat to look through. We spent some time talking with the carver and he explained and showed us what he was working on. The lamp shades made from wood were unique. The turkey feathers that were painted on were outstanding. Our mouths hung open in awe throughout the whole store.


They had the glass blower shop, clothing shops, and oh my, the jewelry shops. I bought a couple of items there.


There was an author outside the book store on a book signing tour. Her name was Radine Trees Nehring. She writes mysteries set in Arkansas. She digs deep into the history of the area she is writing about. We bought the first in her series of 6. She signed it for us and we will read it and see if we want to collect the rest of the series. We like books that deal with the history of an area. She says they are beginning to put them out for sale on the Nook. That will be great for us.


This is the most fun I have had shopping here. Each of these shops was unique.


We left at 7pm to take in the show Haygoods. They are 7 brothers and a sister who sing 50’s, 60’s, 70’s pop, Country and Acappella. They had amazing harmonies, play 20 different instruments and had some great dance routines, including tap dancing. It is a high energy show. Our seats were ok. We were in row M center section, seats 3 & 4. It was defiantly ranked a 10!


We were also lucky enough to meet their parents. Neither one of them sings or plays any kind of an instrument. The Dad just use to make them sit and listen to his records when they were young as a way to have a little peace and quiet in the house.


A wonderful day.


For pictures of the day click on this link on http://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels then click on the album Branson motorcycle ride and shopping.

It’s beginning to warm up a bit, but we had rain, so we didn’t venture out at all until it was time for our show. We enjoyed reading and catching up on a few of our recorded shows.



We left at 7pm and headed to the Hughes Brothers Theater to see SIX. They had a full house.


They are an amazing group of six brothers/zero instruments. They are an orchestra of human voices. You would swear you heard instruments playing, but they make all the sounds with their voices. Their voices are amazing.


We both agreed their show we saw 3 years ago was better than this one. We were disappointed.


The singing was great, but the comedy they added dragged out too long and we wanted to hear more music. The second half of the show was back up to their great standards. Now we are in the groove again.


Our seating was ok but we much prefer sitting center stage then off to one side. All in all we would rate it a 7. (All due to the comedy routine).


Our campground is in a great location, so getting back to the 5th wheel was a breeze.

It was 43 degrees this morning. After breakfast we made a trip to the post office and then stopped to pick up a few groceries, before heading back to the 5th wheel.



I fixed soup for lunch and then we headed to the IMAX Theater to see Water for Elephants. It was real good. Thanks for the heads up on that Pam! We had also hoped to see Conspirator too, but that is not playing in Branson anywhere. Maybe we can catch that at our next stop in Smith Center, KS.


When we came out of the theater the sun was shining and the temperature was 67 degrees. Wow, a heat wave!


Gay ate too much popcorn at the movie and didn’t want any supper. We just had a bagel with honey and that’s all we needed.


We watched Dancing with the Stars. They have some good competition there. I think it’s between Mark & Chelsea and Hines & Kym.


Another relaxing day, just what the doctor ordered!

It was only 47 degrees this morning and no sunshine. The temp topped out at 58 degrees, cold by our standards.



We checked the church listings and decided to go to the 10am service at the Hamner Barber Theater. We arrived early and found a seat, as the special music began a couple of ladies across the aisle from us continued to talk loudly. I got up out of my seat and went over to ask them to please be quiet so everyone could enjoy the guy singing up on the stage. We enjoyed the service and stayed for communion after the service.


After church we headed for the Circle B Theater to order our tickets for the Ozark Murder Mystery Dinner Show. The show starts at 6pm, so it was back to the 5th wheel to relax and read till show time.


We arrived for the show at 5:30 and were seated to the left of the stage area. There were 40 people there for the show. Our salad was already on the table and as we began eating, the cast began coming out and telling us who they were and we learned a little about what was going on in their character’s lives. As the show continued we were served our main dish, penne with pasta sauce, meatballs and a garlic breadstick. It was tasty.


As the show came to an end we were served ice cream and cookie along with 2 ballets, so we could make our guess as to who committed the two murders.


Our favorite actor was the detective. We did not guess right on either murder. There was only one person in the audience who guessed right on only murder.


The cast did a good job. Their play on charter names was funny. We enjoyed it.


It was time to turn in by the time we got back to the 5th wheel.

It got down to 50 degrees last night and today’s high is 55 and windy.



It’s craft day today. Gay took me to the Branson Craft Mall and it didn’t take him long to go through it. He headed out to the truck to read. They had lots of neat stuff and I picked up a gift for our granddaughter.


We also did the Branson Mill. There were craftsman demonstrating their wares. They had booths with jewelry, fashion, home décor and more. We enjoyed checking it out.


The quilt store was next, it was so big one could get lost in there. There was so much to look at. I ended up buying a quilt book and a jacket pattern. I could of spent hours in there. I might even have to go back there.


We made stops at the Americana Theater and the Hugh’s Brothers Theater to pick up our tickets to see SIX and HEYGOODS.


At 6pm we left for the Sight & Sound Theater to see Noah. The theater seats 2,000 and has a 300ft stage. You journey with Noah and his family, as they uphold the call of God to build a boat in a land that has never seen rain. We watched them load the animals, some animated and some live. The live animals had done the show so often they knew just where to go all by themselves. You felt like you were sitting in the Ark with a bird’s eye view of all the animals because the stage surrounded us on 3 sides. Wow!


The show was fabulous. We ended up buying the DVD of the show, so we could enjoy this experience again.


It was almost 10pm when we got home. It was another great day.

So today is Friday the 13th and that never worried me before today. First we had some problems with the kitchen slide so we only put it out about half way. Well when we went to put in the dinette slide it wouldn’t go in. I tried several times but it wouldn’t move. I checked out the mechanism under the 5th wheel. I got a wrench and started to turn the shaft that controls the slide and had Cheri push the in button and it moved a few inches and after doing this a few times it finally went in. It was almost 9:00 am before we got on the road. We only had 80 miles to go to get to Branson where we are staying at Treasure Lake RV resort. It was near noon by the time we got set up and the motorcycle unloaded. We also had trouble getting into our RV site as it was a pretty tight fit. I only put the kitchen and dinette slide out half way so I don’t expect any problems getting them in. They will only have to go couple of more time before we get to the factory to have them serviced. After lunch we went and got our show tickets. This evening we went to see Marty Haggard who does a tribute to his dad Merle Haggard. It was a free show here in the RV Park and was very good. The other tickets we got are for Noah on Saturday night, Six on Wednesday night, and the Heygoods on Thursday night. Monday and Tuesday are two days with 0% chance for rain and plan on going to see Shepherd of the Hills which ever day it is the warmest. We had a light rain all afternoon. So we after we got the tickets we stayed inside to rest. Besides the rain it only got up to 60 degrees today with a breeze.



For pictures of the day click on http://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels then click on album Bull Shoals to Branson.

We were awake and up early this morning. We were on the road by 9am.



Getting through Little Rock was easier than we thought. We got onto HWY 65 and were tooling right along and the truck started loosing power. We were just crawling along. This has happened before so we knew just what was going on. The fuel filter plugs up due to contaminated fuel. We carry spares just in case. We were lucky enough to just be going by a hardware store with a great big parking lot. We pulled in and Gay lifted the hood and began putting on a new filter. He had that job done in about ½ hour and off we went. Gay is one of those guys that can do everything. I am a lucky gal!


The countryside is beautiful; we loved all the curves and hills (motorcycle country).


We arrived at our campground in Bull Shoals at 1:30pm. We got set up, Gay checked the truck, and we had some supper and took a walk down to the lake.


Tomorrow we will head over to see our friends and spend the day with them.


For pictures of the day click here http://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels and then click on the album you want to look at. The new album today is Problems, Mountains, and Crooked Roads.

It was another good day, 291miles, and a minimum of traffic to deal with.


We called our friends, Dave & Mary Ann near Mountain Home, Ar. this morning and made arrangements to spend Thursday with them.


We had only one stop today and that was for lunch around 11:30am. Oh, the joys of that large extra gas tank.
We pulled into the town of Sheridan on HWY 167 at 3pm. We were lucky to find a campground there. Gay saw a small, faded sign that said CAMPIMG with an arrow. That would have been so easy to miss! We were ready to call it a day.


There was no one in the campground but us. We have full hook-up with 50amps. We will have an easy day tomorrow.

Happy Mothers Day to all the mothers and especially to my mother.Today didn’t start out very good. Around 3:00 am I woke of with pain in the kidney area and knew that wasn’t a good thing. I got up and took some pain medicine that the doctor gave me after the last kidney stone which was a few months ago. I don’t know what’s up with the kidney stone thing because it had been 30 years since I had one before this last one. Long story short I was able to weather the storm without going to the hospital. I told God that I needed help with the pain and I am sure he took away much of the pain. After a few hours I said well God I think I have had enough pain and within a few minutes the pain was gone. So around 8:00 am I told Cheri that I wanted to go to church and found a community church in Foley about ten miles away that had a service at 10:00 am. So we hustled around and made it to church. It was a very small church and enjoyed the service and friendship he offered to us. It was near noon by the time we got back to the 5th wheel. The rest of the day was spent resting and reading with some TV in the evening. I want thank our Life Group for all their prayers. Prayer is a very powerful thing.

After watching the news this morning we’ve decided to bypass New Orleans due to the impending flooding. We decided to stay an extra day in Elberta. Our friends from town here called and wanted to meet us at the park and walk through the craft booths, so off we went to Foley.



The crafts were beautiful, lots of jewelry. Joyce and I didn’t buy anything. The guys were happy about that.


About 11:30 we headed to the Gift Horse Restaurant. We wanted to get pictures of it to post on the internet. Yes, we ate there again! It was just as good the second time around.


We took a look in the antique store next door to the restaurant before saying our goodbyes to Joyce and Clay. It was great seeing them and spending this extra time with them.


We headed off to Orange Beach. It was a beautiful day so of course the beach was packed. Gay got some great pictures. We walked the boardwalk, had a seat on the benches and spent time enjoying the view, watching the volley ball game, and checking out the parasailing.


We found a book store called Books-A-Million. We were able to get the book we have been looking for and then headed back to the 5th wheel.


Gay watched the stockcar races and I did a little reading before calling it a night.


For pictures of the restaurant, beach, arts and crafts click here http://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels and then click on the album you want to look at

Gay spent the early morning hours washing off all the love bugs from the front of the truck & 5th wheel. I began getting things put away inside. It was 11am before we got on the road, but that’s ok, we are not in a hurry to get anywhere.


Traffic was light and by 1pm we were ready to stop for lunch. I had salads all prepared so we pulled into a rest area and ate at one of their picnic table there.


We only had to go 187 miles today to reach Elberta, Al. We have friends there we used to ride motorcycle with back in WI. We had been trying to call them for the last 2 days and got no answer.


We followed the GPS directions and it got us on the wrong road to our campground. We were lucky to find a place to turn around and back on track again. After we checked in at the Lazy Acres Campground and got set up we headed for Clay & Joyce’s. We found them home, had a nice visit, and then took them out for dinner.


I had picked up information on an eating place in Foley, about 10 miles from their place, called the Gift Horse. What a fabulous place.


Jackie McLeod and her husband purchased this historic building in 1984 and took 3 or 4 months to renovate it. Jackie had dreamed of owning her own restaurant, but it must be a big building with tall ceilings to accommodate large chandeliers.


The outside entrance of the building was all decorated with mesh and ribbons. What a welcome.


The walls and ceilings were stripped of layers of paint, down to the beautiful beaded pine and were coated with 150 coats of polyurethane. It was beautiful. The entrance doors were leaded glass. The two stain glassed windows came from an old spaghetti factory in New Orleans. There was a crystal chandelier in the foyer and 4 large brass chandeliers that highlight the main dining room. The art work was painted between 1900 and 1910, by a woman who was commissioned to do the painting for the Queen Mary.


There was a 28 ft. banquet table that Jackie bought in New Orleans. Records show that this table was in the White House at one time. The table holds 15 to 20 salads, meat dishes, vegetables, fried biscuits & soups. They have some to those real southern dishes like apple cheese and praline sweet potatoes. Of course there was dessert. There were white table clothes on all the tables and that slow easy music was playing in the background.


For all of our CPCC friends---this is another restaurant we would like to take you all too.


We were back at the 5th wheel to settle in by 7:30pm and making plans to stay here 1more day.

It was 54 degree this morning and that was cold, Yah I know we are wimps, that’s why we are in no hurry to get back to the North Country. After a few degrees of warm up it was very nice working outside. I started by cleaning the truck window inside and out. I still have to wax the truck and put on some new windshield wipers, the sun is a real killer on wiper blades. I put the bicycle and lawn ornaments away for the summer. I regenerated the water softener and that should be good for another 4 to 6 weeks. I also took the grill apart and gave it a good cleaning, a job I do before we leave Florida and as soon as we get back in the fall. This afternoon we made a trip to the post office to do our mail forwarding and it was closed. Yep we should have known because it is Saturday, funny thing about being retired you never know what day it is. Of course we do have a clock that tells us the date and time and I also have a watch that tells the date and time. So I am not sure what the problem is, maybe getting old and forgetful. Later this afternoon Cheri got a call from Pam wanting us to get in touch with our Life Group for prayers for their daughter Holly. She said that their daughter and husband were at the beach and while she was in the water something bit her and she was in a lot of pain and her foot was bleeding. Pam said that Kyle was taking her to the emergency room. They put her foot and a pail of hot soapy water to help ease the pain. It turned out to be a stingray sting. They gave her some antibiotics and a tetanus shot. She still is in a lot of pain and can’t put any weight on the foot. I guess it takes about 48 hours for the pain to go away. We decided to have a Papa John’s pizza for supper as it has been a long time since we have had one.