Joplin, Missouri

Here was our written plan for today:

• 8:00 wake up, eat breakfast, get ready, pack up camper
• 8:30 leave for Gathering Place
• 10:00 leave Gathering Place and return to our BW to hook up the camper
• 12:30 Lunch at Nelson’s Riverton Store (Route 66 stop)
• 1:30 Cars on the Route (Route 66 stop)
• 2:30 arrive at Schifferdecker Family Aquatic Center in Joplin
• 6:00 dinner in the park surrounding the aquatic center (cook out hot dogs and brats)
• 7:30 arrive at our BW site as the sun was setting to avoid the heat (no electricity at this one)

Here is what actually happened:

• 8:00 wake up etc. This actually happened!

We did not get ready in 30 minutes though. It took us more like 50 minutes but the park was only 10 minutes away so we still made it there in time to enjoy an hour of park time.

• 10:00 leave Gathering Place. This also happened on time. The park was still fun but not as fun as yesterday. Also it was getting hot quick! Hooking up the camper took longer than I planned.

We also needed to fill up our water tank with our hosts’ water hose. I felt rushed when we arrived so I only took a little water and of course we ran out in the middle of doing dishes last night. We ended up leaving our site at 11:04.

• 11:37 dump waste tanks for free at LazyDays RV in Claremore. Oops! Totally forgot to put this in the itinerary!

• 12:37 Lunch at McDonald’s. We were still an hour from Nelson’s and decided to stop here for lunch instead.

• 2:00 Cars on the Route

This was such a fun stop. No one else there and no annoying gift shop to argue with the kids about either!

We didn’t linger here because it was getting HOT outside! Also we hit 5000 miles so far on the drive. You can see the temperature and the miles on the panel.

• 2:34 Aquatic Center. Hey not bad! We made up some time!

The kids loved this pool. They had a HUGE lazy river, 4 big slides, a rock wall in the water and more!

By 5pm we decided we had had enough sun. We heard an announcement on the radio warning about the heat wave as well as strong storms capable of producing large hail expected tonight. That did not sound fun in a tent camper! We messaged our hosts and let them know the situation and booked a hotel for the night.

• 5:37 Walmart run for dinner stuff. We decided to save brats and hamburgers for a cooler day and pick up cold foods or microwave foods for tonight.
• 6:05 checked in at the hotel and had dinner.

7:30 hotel pool with the girls. They wanted to do a routine to music so they picked a song and worked out their moves. It took several takes but here is the final cut. Enjoy!

• 9:00 back in the room and showers complete. Movie night! We watched Cars in honor of seeing Cars on the Route today!

Did I mention this pool had terrible showers?  No soap and no curtains and hard to operate.   Good thing we all got great showers at the hotel.