Springfield MO and Fantastic Caverns

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Opted for Springfield MO to check out the Fantastic Caverns versus St. Louis MO since we have seen the arch on television ? Decided not to go to Branson MO 'cause we're not gamblers and not in the mood for a show.

60W was a crazy cool road! Long, curvy, no ? and never ending dips, twists and turns...our Subie sure is doing great, however, it would be super fun to be driving the MB? on this road. There was one point driving through the Mark Twain National Forest area when you were going up and could not see the next part of the road. It took our breath away like a roller coaster. We both went 'weeeee!' Karen said 'slow down!' I was only going 5...ok, maybe 10 miles over the speed limit ?

We saw horse and buggy crossing signs and sure enough, there were 2 young Amish men crossing...both with big smiles on their faces ??different way of life for sure.

People in MO are so nice...first stop for a bio break and caffeine fix - Karen noticed they had southern sweet tea - but it was out ?and they also did not have any unsweetened tea for me...so I asked the lady at the counter and she asked us to wait a minute and she would check in the back. She was able to find the sweet tea but not the unsweetened tea. I found an unsweetened tea in the cooler section and was talking to the lady about our cross country trip from NC...since we had to wait, she said 'I am not going to charge you 'cause you had to wait...get whatever you want.' The girl at the checkout was dancing to the tunes playing in the store and jumped out from behind the counter to open the door for us and said, 'Drinks are on us, so sorry you had to wait. You girls have a great ??trip!' It's not like we were in any hurry ?

Second stop was for more ice for the cooler...not many places to stop on this highway, but it was the nicest and cleanest convenient store we have ever seen. They welcomed us both when we entered ?and they even sold liquor there ?

The camp grounds were closed in the Ozark National Park (according to a phone call but not the web site) ? so we stayed in Springfield at a hotel called GreenStay. What a lucky find...we were able to get a room with 2 double beds, free laundry facility, workout room and breakfast for $65? We both took 2 of the longest and hottest showers so far and got all of our dirty clothes and towels cleaned. Woohoo!!

Another beautiful day - clear blue skies and 80 degrees ? After breakfast we headed to Fantastic Caverns...and fantastic they were! Only four of it's kind in the entire world and one of the ? most beautiful natural wonders. JR was a great tour guide and made sure our noggins were protected. We may have found our next cross country road trip truck and trailer...check it out!

We also took advantage of their hiking trails and had a picnic lunch in the parking lot - ? celery ? and crackers ?

Unfortunately, we attracted some ??yet again...we have come to the conclusion that they like the Puffs with Vicks and the Eucalyptus/mint Epson salts since we also noticed them hovering around our trash at our campsite and when we were loading the ice from the convenient store into the cooler. Subie sure does smell good ? and the aromatherapy is also helping my cold ?

Now on to Historic Route 66 towards OK. Our plan is to arrive at our camp site by sunset ? setup and have salad ? and grilled filet, which should finally be thawed out, for dinner.

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Comments

[Christine]

Trip
I am so enjoying your blogs. I feel like I am right there with you. I still have not heard from my friend Vonn. I will try and reach out again. Safe travels