Missouri and Back Again: A Johnson Journey

You might remember we spent some time in Springfield, Missouri last October. Well since then our daughter accepted a job in Missouri and we hung out to help with the move. Branson is close enough for her to commute and it has lots of opportunities for us to explore.

While Branson, Missouri is well known for its shows and family attractions it has some awesome natural options as well. We stayed at Branson Jellystone R.V. Park and it was incredible. Though it is early season for them and many of their daily calendar events haven’t fired up yet, the grounds are beautiful with three hiking trails right in the park.  Nala, Mark, and I made good use of these trails.

Our daughter arrived the day after we did. We took that time to set up the garage area of Rufous (the RV), to be her bedroom. While the “garage” is a garage for hauling Mark’s bike (Wanbli 2), during travel days or short stops; it can also convert in a dining room, or two queen sized beds, with a powder room of its own. We converted it in a private room last year for a visiting friend, but because Ranna is our daughter, she had the top bunk queen and we invaded her space every night for dinner. We set up the bottom as a dinning room, under her bed. She stayed with us for 9 days commuting to work each day while we played in the wilds of Missouri. We enjoyed the bonding time together, though I’m not sure she enjoyed waking up and adulting while we played each day!

We hiked the trails at Lakeside Forest Wilderness Area and to a bat cave in Drury/Mincy Conservation Area. We didn’t see Batman or Robin, but it was a nice hike with a naturally terraced trail.

We did take time to do a walking tour of Branson and eat local at the Landing in Branson. We heard about College of the Ozarks and restaurant, from a fellow camper at one of our Arkansas stops. The college is in Hollister, Missouri which is only minutes away from Jellystone. The college is also known as Hard Work U.  It is a Christian based college where the student body can work on campus, as part of their tuition and education. They run a 15 room award winning hotel (closed for Covid this year) and the beautiful Dobyns restaurant, a creamery and bakery among other handcrafted items.  We chose to reserve a table there for a celebratory dinner with our Daughter for her new job.

Once the new apartment was ready to move in, Ranna had already started her new job and only had 3 days off. We drove 10 hours to Houston, slept a few hours at my sister and brother-in-law’s house, picked up a U-haul, grabbed her husband, who had stayed behind to finish up life there, loaded up their apartment, slept a few more hours, drove back 10 hours and slept a few more hours and unloaded. WOW!! But we got it all done and they are in a new town and looking to start another chapter in their life. We wished them all the best. And then we rested, BUT not for long!

Leaving Missouri we couldn’t help but spend a night at the Arcadian Moon Winery & Brewery. It was supposed to be a just a stop along the way, but it turned out to be an excellent destination. We received a warm welcome and enjoyed an awesome dinner of wood fired rustic pizza with wine for me and an in house made IPA for Mark. Then we were surprised by live music after dinner. The grounds covered 75 acres and 4 ponds. We had a front row space to the whole of it.

Thanks for checking in on our adventure. See you next week, another state and another adventure.