The End of Fall in Missouri

It could freeze tonight. The high temp today was in the 50’s. It is time to head SOUTH!.
I’ll be heading that way Tuesday, October 25th.

The Annual Missouri Community Betterment Conference is over for this year. I spent part of a week in September, on the road with a great gal, judging population category II. She and I have been judging partners for the past three years. This year we spent time in Lowry City, Grant City, Green City, Novinger and Paris, MO. Very long days but the people are so great! Here’s MCB’s website: http://www.mocommunitybetterment.com/. I think it is a great organization that helps communities in the state of Missouri to be some of the best places to live. (Except in the winter. They haven’t figured out how to keep the temps above freezing.)

I’ve taken a couple of road trips, one of those was through Roaring River State Park, just south of Cassville, Missouri. One of Missouri’s best trout fishing areas.

      

It was a beautiful fall day......

      

      

Then on to 4,300 acre Pea Ridge National Military Park near Garfield, Arkansas. The park is acknowledged as one of the best preserved Civil War battlefields.(Although for some reason, I favor the Lexington Missouri “Battle of Lexington State Historic Site”.)

       

         

The Battle of Lexington is mention in this dateline, however the cannonball shot during the battle, that struck the Lafayette County Courthouse is not.

         

Missouri Fall

August in Missouri is normally hot and humid. Seems this August is not much different. The first week I was at Smith’s Fork Campground just below the dam of Smithville Lake, north of Kansas City, MO. The campground belongs to the  Corp of Engineers and is leased by the city of Smithville. It’s very rustic. The pull through sites are u-shaped and can be a little difficult to maneuver in or out of. The site I was in had a lot of shade so I didn’t run the air conditioner very often.
I spent an afternoon wondering around the lake and the Jerry Litton Visitor Center. Litton was a Democratic U.S. Representative from Missouri.  I remember when he was killed in an airplane crash along with his wife and two children. It was in 1976 and he had just won the Missouri Democratic primary for U.S. Senate.

   

I’m at Tall Pines Campground just south of Highway 76 and east of 265. It is less than two miles to Branson’s Silver Dollar City. The terrain is as all of this area, very hilly. This campground is terraced with a lot of oak trees and some pines. With the utilities and trees it took some maneuvering to get situated. Because of the drop off in the front and the steep up-hill climb, going out it is going to be a trick. (And the acorns are falling.) I'm in Branson assisting with the preparation for the Missouri Community Betterment annual conference.