Rallie's over, Monday June 16, 2008

We got up Monday morning, expecting to fix a big breakfast for us, but it was raining so we decided to go down to the rally hall again for breakfast. I'm glad we did because we got to meet Shane, the President of KOA. He actually came over to our table and sat with us while we all had breakfast. I found out later that the KOA's had a contest to see which park could make the largest donation to a foundation and the Branson park one the contest! In return for winning the contest, the president came to the park to do whatever work was needed for a week! I'm sure he didn't spend too much time cleaning the restrooms or showers, but at least he was in the park for a week. We met him again in the afternoon when they had an ice cream social to honor his coming to the park.

After breakfast we went downtown to ride the train from the old-town part of Branson. Along the way, we stopped at Wal Mart (first trip to Wally world all week, pretty much a record for us!) so I could get another memory stick for my camera. The other new one I had bought had gotten misplaced, so I picked up another one.

Upon arrival downtown, we got our train tickets and Dee needed to go to one of the sales kiosks to pick up something and after, we returned to an outdoor patio at the Irish Pub for lunch. Dee and I split a Rueben sandwich (delicious), Stella had bread pudding and Ricky had a chicken dish. It was good and just about the right amount of food before the train ride.

The train ride was okay, but nothing spectacular. The hills are heavily wooded and there is nothing much to see except some sights along the way that were pointed out by the trainmen. One of the sights was an old townsite that is nothing but ruins now. I can't say I would recommend the train ride to others, but the ride is on the old style Pullman cars and that's kind of interesting in itself. If you've never been on a train, this could be a good experience but the scenery is not too much.

After finishing the train ride, we returned to the park, intending to eat our steak dinner but no one was very hungry and we ended up ordering a pizza from the KOA office. It was good for a frozen pizza so we just hung out at our rigs, making preparations to leave early tomorrow morning. Ricky and I took the porch down and we both drained and cleaned our tanks. I put away the table and chairs and got everything outside ready to go tomorrow. It was a pretty night, cool and clear. We all regretted having to leave tomorrow.