It’s been a really busy week since my last post so bear with me.

On Wednesday, during a quick run to the farmers market, the truck went into limp mode. Long story short, $150 for that repair, and we need to stop idling the truck so much. 🤷‍♀️ But at least it didn’t happen on a travel day.

On Friday we left Illinois and headed to Branson Missouri. If anyone remembers the planned map, we took Lake of the Ozarks out. I’m sure it’s beautiful but we decided we wanted longer stops and the place on the lake would only allow 2 week stays so we skipped it and made Branson and Hot springs each 3 weeks.

The route took us through St. Louis and along a stretch of Route 66. The signs for some of the kitschy attractions did not disappoint.

The drive was mostly uneventful, except the pump for the auxiliary fuel tank stopped working. Turns out the “dipstick” fell off. Jay ordered that part so 🤞🏻 that won’t be another repair bill. 🙄

We spent the long weekend exploring Branson. A bike ride along the lake, lots of beautiful views, and a mountain coaster ride.

There was an air show in Branson this weekend featuring The Blue Angels. We tried to go but parking was sold out. But we did get to see several of the jets as we drove around.

One thing we noticed as we drove around is that roads are not constructed like they are in the northeast. In New England if a road needs to go over a mountain there will be a slow climbing path probably with lots of switchbacks. But in the ozarks, you’re just going straight up over the hill, or down. This is what 19% grade looks like from the passenger seat. 😳 Thank goodness we weren’t towing!

We’ve talked with lots of people on our adventures and gotten some recommendations of things to see and do so the next couple weeks should have a lot to share (if I can remember to take more pictures.) Stay tuned.