Category Archives: Missouri

Pickleball in Branson

After posting about finding a good grocery store that required a long run through heavy traffic, Donna found another store nearby on Sunday. We scootered over to Country Mart, about two miles south of here. I haven’t gone out in that direction much and was unaware of the store. It turned out to be a nice grocery store with a selection of organic produce and other items.

We stocked up on groceries, but took a little too long doing it. Just as we were loading the scooter, it began to rain. We rode home through the rain drops. It was warm and the rain didn’t fall too heavily, so it wasn’t a big deal.

We had thundershowers off and on all afternoon. I kicked back and watched the Moto GP race from Catalunya, Spain – I’d downloaded the European coverage of the event earlier in the day. Later in the afternoon, Donna and I took a walk during a break in the weather. We chatted with some neighbors and then offered to help them carry their kayaks to the creek. Their kayaks are made of plastic and weigh 50 pounds each – much heavier than we expected. We haven’t gotten around to inflating our kayak yet, but we definitely want to take advantage of our close proximity to the lake.

A guy pulled into the park towing a travel trailer behind his truck. He was alone and appeared to be struggling to back the trailer into the site across from us. As I was going out to see if I could help, he got out of his truck and approached another neighbor. The neighbor got into the guy’s truck and started to back it into the site. He was having a little trouble as the owner of the truck was just standing there and not giving any guidance. I walked over and directed the guy in the truck and we got the trailer lined up in the site. Then I found out that the guy that owns the truck and trailer was feeling under the weather and had been driving long hours to get here from New Mexico over two days. He was out of it. He didn’t even unhook the trailer from the truck before he went in to lie down. I rolled up his truck window and closed the driver’s door which he had left open.

Donna prepared spiced pork tenderloin with maple-chipotle sauce for dinner. She served it with asparagus and mashed sweet potato. So good!

Spiced pork tenderloin with maple-chipotle sauce

Spiced pork tenderloin with maple-chipotle sauce

Yesterday’s forecast called for thunderstorms to pass through starting around midday. We took our chances and scootered across Branson to the north side out to the Branson Sports Club. It’s about a 20-minute ride from here. They have indoor pickleball on Mondays from 9:30am to 11:30am. It costs $3 per person to play there. We met a great group of people and played for two hours. There were six courts set up, but we only had enough players for three games at a time.They pushed the time limit and we didn’t finish our last games until 11:45am.

I was getting anxious as I could see a large storm cell approaching from the west on my Radar Express app. We didn’t linger after our last game. We hit the road and made our way back through Branson. We were riding away from the storm cell so I felt comfortable making a quick stop at Macadoodles liquor store. I picked up some IPA brewed in Colorado by Odell Brewing Company. This is a tasty IPA – much better in my opinion than the offering from Mother’s Brewing in Springfield, Missouri.

Odell's IPA

Odell’s IPA

Once again we had a series of thundershowers all afternoon with brief breaks of sunshine in between. I spent most of the afternoon reading a preposterous Clive Cussler novel. It was written in 1975 and it was funny how it illustrates the chauvinistic mores of that time.

During a respite from the rain, we went out and walked to stretch our legs. I was a little stiff and sore from the pickleball activity. My S Health app showed over 8,500 steps on the pickleball court.

I grilled boneless chicken thighs that Donna marinated for dinner. She served it with a delicious zucchini side. The zucchini was cut in quarters, topped with parmesan cheese and herbs and baked to a crispy finish. The chicken thighs were marinated in lemon juice, lemon zest, olive oil and fresh herbs.

Grilled boneless chicken thigh with zucchini

Grilled boneless chicken thigh with baked parmesan zucchini

Today we expect the weather pattern to continue with thunderstorms rolling in around noon.

In Search of Groceries

A great comment adding a little history of this area was written on yesterday’s post by Clayton Elisson – thanks, Clayton.

We were up early yesterday. Donna planned to meet up with a bike club at the high school at 7:30am. I prepped her bike at 6:30am and she hit the road by 7am. I mentioned it’s hilly around here. The first thing she had to do after turning on Evergreen Street, just a few hundred feet from the RV park, was climb a steep hill – so steep that she had to dismount and walk her bike to the top. She made her way to the school, arriving at 7:20am and hung around waiting for cyclists from the club. They never showed up. She found out later that they revised their start time to 7am due to the heat. Not having an alternate plan, she rode home.

After Donna returned from her ride, she walked to the post office to mail some letters and then continued walking for a total of four miles. She walked four miles on Friday as well and snapped a few pictures each day. Here are the photos from Donna’s walks – the first four are from Friday, the rest are from Saturday’s walk.

Cedar steps

Cedar Steps, constructed in 1936, 229 steps and 33 landings

Hollister train stop

Next stop…downtown Hollister

Railroad car at the city office

Railroad car at the Hollister Community Center with a view of historic Downing Street

Hackett Falls

Hackett Falls – a short hike from the memorial park at City Hall

Maurice Lane overpass near Old Mill Road

Maurice Lane overpass near Old Mill Road

Branson Scenic Railway

Branson Scenic Railway train coming through

Turtles in Turkey Creek

Turtles in Turkey Creek (taken from Railroad Avenue)

While she was out, I saw a guy fishing the creek by our site. I walked down and talked to him. He’s from Bolivar, Missouri and has fished around here for years. He said the cold water from Table Rock Lake was good for the trout and trout fishing can be good here at times. Yesterday was not so good. While we were talking, Donna called out to me from the other side of Turkey Creek where she was walking on Railroad Avenue.

Fishing hole on Turkey Creek

Fishing hole on Turkey Creek

I rode the scooter up to Sunfest Market to pick up a few groceries – Donna made a list for me. They didn’t have spaghetti squash or jicama, two of the items on her list. I found the selection of produce to be small and the prices a bit high. I came home and we searched online for another store. We found Rhodes Family Price Chopper and Walmart west of downtown Branson where Main Street becomes Country Boulevard.

I memorized the route and scootered over there. My route avoided the downtown traffic but I found the traffic to be just as bad up the hill on Country Boulevard. After you cross US65, you enter a district with museums, theaters, dance halls, concert venues, hotels and resorts. The traffic crawls along at 15mph with frequent stops.

I found the Rhodes store and it was a very nice grocery store. They had spaghetti squash and jicama. When I was checking out, the girl at the register looked at the jicama and asked what it was. When I told her jicama she said, “That’s spelled with a ‘J’ right?” I told her it was – jicama is pronounced HICK-a-mah. Donna cuts it up into what she calls fresh fries and serves it with guacamole.

The traffic was just as bad on the way back. I got caught in a brief rain shower while piddling along at 15mph. I skirted around the north side of downtown to Branson Landing and found Macadoodles. Macadoodles is a large liquor store with fine wine and a large selection of liquor and beer. Now I know where to shop – that’s always one of the challenges when we relocate to unfamiliar territory. Hopefully on weekday mornings, the traffic won’t be as bad.

After I came home, I was just about to cover the scooter when rain started pouring down. We had showers off and on all afternoon – some of the showers were heavy. This afternoon’s forecast calls for the same 80% chance of thunderstorms. I’m hoping they’re wrong and we can ride the scooter up to Branson Sports Club for pickleball at 2pm.