Final Weeks- Part 2

Final Weeks- Part 2. Yikes. It's getting closer... I've been getting countless emails begging  us to keep the blog going. It appears people are suffering from lots of depression and anxiety because of the fact that we're slowing down blog posts. 

Just kidding.

After leaving Sioux City, Iowa, we traveled to St. Joseph, Missouri. I know I haven't mentioned travel days much during the posts, but there was one thing that we found very sobering and post-worthy. As we were driving to Branson we encountered a plethora of buildings, fields and communities that had suffered from severe flooding. It wasn't uncommon to see an entire barn almost completely submerged. In fact, Nebraska is facing 1.3 billion dollars in flood losses. Definitely keep those people in your prayers. 
In St. Joseph, we didn't really do much, since we were only staying for one night. In fact, I only have one thing to mention about our time there. They had canoeing/kayaking rentals for a lake there. So I, being the only one wanting to do so, decided to rent one. And it was pretty fun! Granted, it only took me about 15 minutes to traverse the entire lake (it was more like a large pond), I certainly took pleasure in hanging out in the peace and quiet out there. And a bonus was that I got to see a very large bullfrog! 
After St. Joseph, we journeyed to the city of Branson, Missouri. Upon arriving at Branson, we immediately felt a difference in the campground. It was very welcoming, and had a huge amount of fun activities going on throughout each day. The name itself was unique: Jellystone RV Park. It was named after the fictional character Yogi Bear's home: Jellystone National Park. One of their daily activities was log rolling, in which you'd get in a small pool with a plastic log was in it. The goal was to balance on this rolling log for as long as you could. In this case, being smaller helped tremendously, because the log wouldn't roll as much if you didn't weigh as much. We really got a kick out of this activity. My record was just over a minute. The owner's son beat the overall record while we were there, and stayed on for just under 14 minutes. Pretty crazy, huh?
Another thing that we were impressed with was the friendliness of the staff. They were very kind, and we made friends among many of them. One couple, the activity directors, actually hiked coast to coast and back in the course of a little over a year! We were very inspired by these folks. An individual that we enjoyed the company of, who also worked at the campground was extremely kind to us. He is in college, and had a very intriguing story of what he's doing. He's interested in a lot of things that I (Will) am, including Star Wars and filming. 
I won't say much more about the campground other than that we really enjoyed it and would definitely recommend the Branson Jellystone RV Resort. 
Something else that we loved while in Branson was going to the SIX show. SIX is a group of 6 (Whoah. A coincidence? I think not!) a cappella musicians. And they're brothers. We were highly entertained by these guys in their show. They were funny, and did some really great a cappella versions of famous songs. And if that wasn't enough, they also played a few classic movies with no sound, and provided the audio for it. For example, they played a scene from the classic Disney movie "The Love Bug", and were providing car sounds, crash sounds, etc. 
Branson was filled with a ton of great things, and it doesn't stop here. One day, we took a trip out to Table Rock Lake, just outside of Branson, and rented a boat for a few hours. Nate and I tubed on the lake, we swam, ate lunch and had a blast out there! 
Branson is a great city, if you've never been. We had a truly incredible stay in Jellystone RV Resort, and also enjoyed a great a cappella concert. Not to mention a terrific time out on Table Rock Lake. From Branson, we only had two stops before getting home. Stay tuned for the final installments of Connecting Four's trip around the U.S.!

​Woodsman Will 

Beginning my canoeing trip in St. Joseph.

Posing with Yogi Bear.

The Jellystone campground had a jump pad that we enjoyed jumping on.

The SIX brothers after the show.

Boating on Table Rock Lake. Table Rock was very clear, and we were impressed at it's "unmurkyness".

Posing with the campground owner's son.

Tiimmmbeeerrr!!