My technical adviser wants me to correct myself. Regarding getting the email notification about a new blog post, it does not contain a link, it just simply opens up into the blog itself. But if you choose to read it there, you cannot get the photos to open into the carousel mode of viewing, so all you will see is the cut-off versions. Like I advised, if you sign up for the email notification, once you receive one you would be better off just opening the blog in your browser of preference. Nuff said…

After leaving the North Shore area, we headed south, aiming for Red Bay, AL. We did an over-nighter at the Minneapolis Southwest KOA, then headed into Des Moines, IA for a couple of nights at the Des Moines West KOA. We made good use of our time in Des Moines, starting with a visit to the Des Moines Downtown Farmer’s Market in the Court Av. district at the base of the Polk County courthouse. This has to be one of the premier farmer’s markets we have been to, coast-to-coast, hands down. It was jam-packed, humans and K9’s, and they had wall to wall booths for farmer’s products, crafts, and all manner of food to nosh on. Several musical entertainers were interspersed throughout the massive downtown area. Being kinda like “produce snobs” (former life-long residents and escapees from California, the  produce capital of the U.S.), we were pleasantly surprised at the quality of the fruits & veggies.

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While we were downtown, we veered over to the capitol complex and wandered the grounds taking in the statuary. At least we got to see some history before the numb-nuts cancel culture gets to it…

On our way to find some chow we cruised by and found Pappajohn Sculpture Park. A walkabout took us by several “interesting” pieces of sculpture. It appeared the park would best be enjoyed after dark, since all the sculptures seemed to have ample spotlights surrounding or contained within each piece.

From Des Moines we continued south to the tiny town of Kansas City, Missouri/Kansas and a couple of days at yet ANOTHER KOA, the Kansas City West/Lawrence KOA. It was OK as far as KOA’s go, the only drawback was it is about 30 minutes driving to get to downtown Kansas City and be prepared for at least one toll highway, I-70, the toll is between KC and Lawrence.

Our excursion into KC led us to check out the City Market, a semi-indoor marketplace. It was a sad example of a “city market” in that there was a serious lack of patronage when we were there.

Lunchtime we took a short stroll to Jack Stack Barbecue and partook of some BBQ that came highly recommended through social media and local sources. The area was pretty cool to walk through, the BBQ fare was good but not extraordinary.

For our grand finale in the big city we stopped by the Boulevard Brewing Co., local brewer of craft brews. What I found out, heretofore unbeknownst to me, was that Boulevard has two “sister” breweries, Brewery Ommegang and Firestone Walker Brewing Co., and those are certainly a pair to draw to! And Boulevard has an outstanding offering in their Space Camper Major Volta Imperial IPA…

Southbound and down, into Branson, MO we went. A couple of days visit with Jeanne’s sister Denise’s family provided us with a nice day on Table Rock Lake with Denise and husband Tom, and a nice BBQ feast put on by Jeanne’s niece Savohna and husband Robert. This stop has now taken top billing for how far off direction my on-board trucker’s version GPS (nicknamed “Rosie”) can possibly get. We were programmed for the Tall Pines RV Park near Silver Dollar City, but Rosie  took me in the opposite direction, up into the hills above Table Rock Lake and the half-lane wide, winding and congested roads. For that particular day’s lesson in 4-letter word vocabulary, Jeanne, I do sincerely apologize! 

Red Bay, Alabama hasn’t changed much over the course of the last 7 years. I’ll cover our exploits there in the next post, stay tuned…