Hollister, MOOct 11, 2009
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my site at Turkey Creek RV Park for SKP members
Turkey Creek rose last week to the road here - the nature...
Is this house a floater or did it get flooded?
After seeing the sights in Hannibal, I made my way to the Escapees Campground in Hollister, just south of Branson for two nights. I discovered that I was back on Route 66 when I stopped at a rest area on I-44! They had picnic tables covered by fake buildings of the 60s like Floyd's Barber Shoppe, Doug's Diner, etc. The sidewalk had a dashed yellow line in the center as if I was on a road! Inside the rest area was a section for Missouri information but it also had lots of stuff on the walls and floor telling about the historic route. When I got off that smooth interstate, I found that 65 South was like being on a roller coaster ride. I went up and down lots of hills of the Ozarks. All of the Branson area is hilly too!
Hollister is a historic town for some reason (I will have to look it up), but its main street is called Downing Street! It has antique shops, a bakery, a print shop, and a Mexican restaurant that has very good food!
I drove around today getting the feel of Branson and found myself at the Table Rock Dam. It dams up the Table Rock Lake but becomes the Taneycomo Lake below the dam! The map of the lake reminds me of the map of Jewel Cave in South Dakota - lots and lots of arms.
I ended my escapade of the day by visiting the Veteran's Memorial Museum in the heart of downtown. Fred Hoppe, Jr. designed, funded, and built the museum, stocking it with collections from all the US wars of the 20th century. Names of the men and women who died in all those wars are displayed on the walls of each section(except WWI which has an army face for every 2 men who died covering a long wall). Fred also sculpted many tributes and displayed them here. He did all this because his father was a hero of WWII and the stories he told his son gave him motivation to create this to honor everyone who helped defend our country. Fred Hoppe, Sr. saved a wounded fellow officer twice in the same day from German attacks.
The biggest sculpture is one showing 50 soldiers landing on a beach to attack the enemy. The first soldier's face is Fred Hoppe, Sr., while the rest of the faces depict a real soldier of WWII, one for each state. NY is second in line and the guy's name was Vincent Scalia!
