October finds us getting ready to leave Cannonville, Utah and the Bryce Valley/Cannonville KOA.  

Just a word about this park.  If you are visiting the Bryce Canyon National Park or Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, then please stay at the KOA in Canonville. It is only 12 miles from the entrance road to Bryce Canyon NP and is much quieter than Ruby's campground.    Life up near Ruby's is pretty hectic and since there are no traffic signals in all of Garfield County, its a quick 15 minute drive to the entrance to the park.  It is also about 10 or more degrees warmer in the Bryce Valley than up on the plateau where the park is located.  That can be important, especially during the shoulder seasons of Spring and Fall when it often freezes at the National Park.

Besides, we are going to manage a motel/cabins and pizza cafe in Tropic, Utah next summer.  Stop and see us at the Bryce Canyon Inn located in Tropic, just five miles north of the KOA in Cannonville.

We didn't travel too much the first two weeks of October except for a trip to Cedar City for our last grocery run and to get the oil changed in our Tracker. 

Our friends, Dave and Sally Stribling arrived a week before we left the park. They stayed with us almost a week and we had a great time showing them around and telling them where to go in the area. 

The camper nights slowed down a great deal in October, a couple of nights we had only 8 or 9 campers in the park. 

Marsha Holland, one of the owners of the KOA made us a last Monday cake (oddly enough on our last Monday) and then on Tuesday, she presented us with some homemade sourdough bread.  On our last day, we received some homemade chocolate chip cookies, a card and also a nice pizza dinner from the Bryce Canyon Inn in Tropic.

We left v:ery early on the morning of the 16th, about 7:30!

We haven't moved this early in years, but we were excited to get on the road again, so we pulled out of the KOA at 7:30 am.  By noon we were at the intersection of US 89 and the road to the south rim of the Grand Canyon, about 250 miles south of our summer home.  We continued on, stopping in Gallup, NM for the night.  This was one of the longest days we have driven in over three years.  We stayed at an old KOA (no longer in the system) that was between railroad tracks and at the end of an airport runway.  We had forgotten about railroad tracks since its a long way to any of them from Cannonville!

The next day, we jumped back onto I-40 and traveled east to Clines Corner and then turned south on US 285 which goes right to Carlsbad and directly past The Ranch.  Libby drove from our fuel stop to The Ranch, about four hours and I just lazed about in the passenger seat.  We arrived at The Ranch just at Happy Hour and went directly into The Ranchhouse, leaving the rig in the road!

We stayed at our old home in the west for 6 days.  We then left The Ranch, heading east on US 82 into the oil fields and cotton ranches of west Texas.  We  followed US 380 to Haskell, TX where we spent the night in a city park. This park had many pull through sites, full hookups and best of all, it was free for the first night.  After that, it was $9 a night.  To find this park, you go to the center of town and then proceed south on US 277 for block or two until you see the signs that say, City Park, Free overnight parking.   If you have a GPS, the coordinates are:  33.09.15 North Latitude and 99.43.87 degrees West Longitude.

After Haskell, which has a Dairy Queen!, we drove north on 277 toward Wichita Falls.  At Wichita Falls, we jumped up on I 44 for just a few miles until we turned east on route 70 in Oklahoma.  We followed 70 until we reached route 69 at Durant. From there we traveled north to McAlester, OK and the Elks Lodge there.   We stayed for free in the Elks Lodge parking lot with a 30 amp electrical hookup.  Since it was Friday, we had a nice prime rib dinner in their restaurant. 

The next day, we rolled on up to I 40, following it east to Ft. Smith, Akansas.  At Fort Smith we turned north in I 540 and went ot SpringDale, AR where we picked up route 412, following it all the way to route 65 just south of Branson, MO.

We arrived at Branson in the middle of the afternoon on Saturday.  Our friends Pappy and Cecile Doughty from Young Harris, GA were there waiting.  We immediately headed out to dinner!

On Monday, we went to Springfield, MO and visited the Bass Pro Shop headquarters.  What a place!   We saw two pickup trucks in the parking lot with  Just Married written on the windows.  We figured it must have been quite a honeymoon to be spending part of it at the Bass Pro Shop!~

On Tuesday, we saw a show put on by the Yeary's.  Good show and a lot of fun.  On Wednesday, we drove over to Eureka Springs, AR and spent a few hours touring that old tourist and spa town.  Then we went on west to Bentonville, Arkansas to visit the Wal-Mart museum and Sam Walton's five and dime.  It was quite interesting.

Dave and Sally Stribling at Dog Canyon	Eureka Springs, Arkansas	More Eureka Springs
Sam Walton's Store Bentonville, Arkansas	Bass Pro Shops Boat Showroom	Libby flirts with a bear at Bass Pro Shops

Thursday saw us attending the Acrobats of China show in Branson.  Incredible.  We hope those kids don't have back problems when they reach our age!

Friday, we went to the IMAX theater in Branson and saw the Lewis and Clarke show.  It, too, was just excellent.

On Saturday, we hit the Jakov Smirnoff show.  Simply wonderful.  When you go to Branson, you have to go to that show.  YEP, it was great.  Those of you who have seen him know what that means!

But that was in November, so more about that next month!

Camping for October         $150
LP for November                  0
Diesel Fuel for October   $302