Hi all,

Monday, Oct. 27
We were slow getting up this morning, but had the rig all ready for travel by about 10:30.  We didn't decide where we were heading until about then, when we decided to go to Lebanon, MO.  This is a drive of about 100 miles and is about 25 miles south of the Lake of the Ozarks.  As we neared the town of Ozark, Betty commented that it was almost lunchtime!  That was a hint that a stop at Lambert's would be a good thing.  An excellent hint!  We pulled into the lower lot where there was plenty of room for the motorhome, unhooked the Saturn, drove the long gruelling drive to the upper parking lot, where we parked and went in for lunch.  As we went in there was one fifth-wheel parked in the upper lot.

We had another excellent meal with plenty of "throwed rolls" (Really, too many!)  As we left, we saw about 6 or 8 RV's parked all over the lot.  When we went down to the lower lot, there were 3 more.

We pulled into a Passport America (1/2 price) campground in Lebanon and are all set for the next couple of days.  This campground is a Route 66 Motel (we are on Route 66) with 10 RV spots along one side. 

We took a tour of the town this afternoon.  It is a fair sized town.  We went to the south end of town and found an "outlet center" that had been advertised along the road.  What we found was a single large store which featured several brands of items.  One end of the store was filled with figurines, silk flowers, stuffed animals, kitchen implements, etc.  There was a large section devoted to Chicago Cutlery, then was the largest display of pocket knives I have ever seen.  There must have been over 100 feet of glass counters filled with several brands and every conceivable configuration of knives and combination pocket tool kits.  They then had a long counter filled with Zippo lighters.  I guess they were "collectable" ones with enameled figures such as Betty Boop and others. 

We left there several dollars lighter and headed for a "Walnut Bowl Outlet" and barrel manufacturing shop.  We found them.  The store was interesting.  It featured turned bowls of all sizes and from several woods, various small trinkets, and grandfather clocks!  Their clocks were beautiful, and ranged in price from about $1800 to well over $3000.  While we were there, one of them struck the hour and played "Ode to Joy".  We hope to take a tour of the barrel factory tomorrow morning. 

Tuesday, Oct. 28
We got up and headed to the barrel factory.  I went up first to check on the tour situation.  They are not giving tours right now due to construction!  I wandered around the 3rd story room and looked through the windows down to the manufacturing and decided Betty might be interested in at least that much.  I got the elevator to the ground floor, finally figured how to open the inside accordion door, rolled Betty in and pressed the key for our floor.  Nothing!  I tried several times, re-opening and closing the two doors, but still nothing.  I took that as a sign that we were not to go, and we left.

We took a drive up to the Lake of the Ozarks.  We drove down a narrow residential street to some very nice homes on the shore of the lake.  In this area, the lake had been finished with a concrete sidewall all around.  There were private docks and other lakeside amenities.

We went back to the Lake of the Ozarks State Park and looked around.  There was a huge parking lot along with boat launch facilities, picnic areas and a lot of park like surroundings.  The trees here were the prettiest we had seen since Eureka Springs.  (None have equaled the ones we saw there.)

After getting back to the motorhome, we planned the balance of our trip.  We have eliminated a couple of things due to the lateness of the season.  Most attractions and many parks have either closed for the season, or will do so the first of November.  From here we will head further north to Sullivan, MO.  We want to see the Meramec Caverns there and see the area in general.  This will be our turn-around point.  From now on we will be heading back toward home.

Thursday we will head south to Fort Smith, AR which the Saturn episode prevented us from doing at the start of the trip.  We want to ride the train there.  We will be heading home from there, planning to arrive on the 6th or 7th of November.

Wednesday, Oct. 29
We pulled out of our Route 66 campground heading for Sullivan and a campground on - you guessed it - Route 66!  It is about a 100 mile drive (by freeway, not Route 66.)  As we approached Rolla, about 2/3 of the way we were talking about possibly going to the US Geological Survey location there.  They are the nation's map makers.  We pulled into a rest stop several miles before reaching Rolla and called them.  The are still giving tours and they are accessible!  We unhooked the Saturn and drove over there, leaving the motorhome at the rest stop.

We had a wonderful, private tour.  This USGS facility is one of 4 in the country.  In general they are responsible for about 1/4 of the USGS maps produced, although there is some specialization between the facilities that upsets the balance.  We were shown a short videotape that provided an overview of their responsibilities, and some of the basic techniques.  We were shown much more of how they used to make the maps than how they do it now.  Everything is done digitally, on computers now, with much of the process automated.

We were shown the largest graphics camera I have ever seen.  It has a film capacity of 56 inches by 56 inches with massive copy boards.  It can either enlarge or reduce.  All the elements of it are built on seismic slabs - areas of concrete that have very high mass, and are isolated from the surrounding ground and concrete.  This keeps nearby trucks or construction equipment from vibrating the camera enough to compromise the image.

We were shown copper intaglios which were used for the printing process many years ago, along with many of the field survey instruments which were used from the early days up to the present.  The highlight of the tour was the stereo plotter.  This is probably the finest precision machine I have ever seen.  It is Swiss made and loaded with beautifully made precision details.  It accepts two aerial photographs taken from slightly different positions.  These can be aligned and calibrated in such a manner that with one or two known elevations within it field of view, all the elevations can be determined and plotted.  This, and other variations of this machine, are what made the modern topographic maps possible.  We had a special treat:  our guide could not find the person who normally describes the use of this machine (He was taking his wife to the doctor.).  Instead they brought in a man who had spent about 20 years operating these machines, and who is scheduled to retire this Friday!  He sat down and immediately started tweaking many of the adjustments to precisely align the two images and to remove the parallax.  He then proceeded to show us how, for instance they might plot a new road.  They start at one end, carefully align the two images at that point to determine the altitude, and plot it.  They then move slightly and repeat the process.  This continues until they have completed the length.  They could plot just about anything on this machine.  The later models, like this one had encoders to digitize the data, feeding it directly to a computer.  Now, almost all this type of work is done directly on the computer.

It was a very interesting tour.  We drove back to the rest stop, re-hooked up the Saturn, and proceeded to our Sullivan Camp where we signed up and paid for 2 nights.  After getting settled, we got in the car and headed for the Meramec Caverns.  We decided to drive Route 66 to the next off ramp, then get on I-44.  When we reached the off ramp, it was the one we needed for the caverns. 

We arrived at the caverns, and I smelled smoke.  There was smoke coming off my oil-wet exhaust pipe.  Not good!

We went into the caverns, which advertise they are fully wheelchair accessible, and double checked.  The security fellow who sold the tickets said if we made it up the fairly steep ramp out front, we should have no problems.  We bought our tickets and as soon as a guide came, we started our private tour of just the guide, Betty, and me.  They are interesting caverns, both from the historical factors and the beauty of many areas.  Jesse James and his gang used the caverns as a getaway hideout after many of their robberies.  They would gather in one of the large rooms, split up the loot, then swim down the river that runs through the caves.  The first several areas we went were very large connected rooms.  The walls here are a rock that is several times as dense as concrete and are therefore totally dry.  There are no stalactites or other formations here.  As we moved further into the cave we were alongside a river and we started seeing beautiful formations.  There was water alongside the trail for much of the first level of the cave.  There are 7 levels in all, but our tour only covered the first five.  We were not really aware of which lever we were seeing once we left the flat first level.  At one point we came across some stairs that lead to the 6th level (and I assume the 7th.)  We ended up in the "theater".  This is a fairly large room with a wall of spectacular "draperies", an orchestra pit, and balconies.

As far as being wheelchair accessible:  1) We did manage to make it, without incident, the entire way.  2) There were some very steep trails where it was all I could do to maintain traction and push her up.  The entire trail is concrete, with the steep areas finished with a rake for a very rough surface.  3)  These same areas were twice as bad going down.  At one point, I was hanging on to the chair very tightly and my feet started to slip down the slope.  The tour guide ran over and helped slow us down.  I took all the other steep down slopes backwards, and had a lot less problem.

Other that that it was accessible!

We really did enjoy our tour even though it was scary at one or two points.

Thursday, Oct 30
Our new Super Wal Mart opens today in Prescott!

This morning I got up and checked the car.  With the engine running, there was a small but steady stream of oil dropping from the lowest point on the transaxle, plus a couple areas dripping oil.  I called the Saturn agency in North Little Rock.  We agreed that I should tow the car to Springfield, a  little over 100 miles south of us, but on our route.  We cancelled our plans to drive around the Sullivan area and packed up the motorhome.  We got away a little after 11 and made it to Saturn by 2:00.

After a while, the service manager called me (we were parked in the back of their parking lot) and asked me to come to his office.  He said he didn't know how to tell me this, but my transmission was "toast"  He felt there was major damage within, based on the amount of metal particles in the oil, and not knowing exactly what North Little Rock had done, he could not assure me it would be all under warranty.  After a lot of discussion and another call to North Little Rock, we decided to tow the car back there and let them fix their own job.  Other options we reviewed were 1)  to leave the car in Springfield for them to do all the work, hoping it would be warranted, and staying nearby with nothing to see or do, and no transportation other than the motorhome, or 2)  to just hook it up and tow it back to Arizona.  The problem there is the closest Saturn dealer to Prescott is in Phoenix!

They filled the transmission up with fluid, hand pushed it down to where I had moved the motorhome, (It leaks badly when the engine is running.), and we hit the road.  We stopped in Harrison, AR and are parked in a Wal Mart.  This is our first overnighter at Wal Mart.  We should have about a 2 to 2 1/2 hour drive in the morning.  The stay at Wal Mart didn't turn out to be quite the bargain we thought: it cost us almost $40 to check out!

We have decided to leave the Fort Smith train ride for another trip, and will be heading home as soon as the Saturn situation is resolved.

Friday, Oct. 31
Happy Halloween!

Dad passed away 35 years ago today.  That's over half my life ago!

We left Wal Mart shortly after 8 this morning over narrow winding hilly roads.  We finally reached North Little Rock and stopped about 10 minutes from the Saturn agency.  I called Chris (the service manager) and asked where I should pull the motorthome, reminding him that he should push the car to the service bay to avoid spilling oil everywhere.  He described a road alongside the agency.

When we arrived, I called him again and unhooked the Saturn.  By the time I finished, Chris and another fellow were there with their "car pusher".  This is a box about 2 feet cubed, on wheels, and with driving handles.  The front has a padded, curved bracket to go against a car bumper.  One person jumped in the car to steer while the other drove the machine, pushing the car.  Neat!

We then drove the motorhome, without a car on the back end, to Fred and Judy's.  I really hope that we are not imposing on them tooooo much!

This afternoon I again talked to Chris.  He said the oil leak was coming from a hole in the side of the case the size of a half dollar!  "A bearing was about 1/8 inch out of position, allowing the transmission parts to wear on the case."  He also said the transmission really looked pretty good at initial inspection, that all the metal particles Saturn Springfield found were from the aluminum case.  The mechanic works tomorrow (Saturday), and should be able to totally disassemble the transmission, clean, and inspect all the parts.  The new case has already been ordered.  He did not say what happened that the bearing was that far out of position, but I suspect a snap ring was probably either not seated in its groove correctly, or was omitted.

Chris hopes to be complete by Tuesday.

I'll write one more report after we get home and I'll let you know what happened.

I have posted all my trip logs for this trip and some photos at:

http://myweb.cableone.net/rsmason/arkansas03.htm

Till then,

Dick and Betty