We've actually been to Branson a few times, but never long enough to take in any shows. This time we're here - at America's Best Campground (ABC) for TheRVTravelClub.com annual rally. We've been to their rallies a few times before.
Attendance was down at their rally, and down even further for our seminars, but the people who did show up were big fans and we had a good time teaching our Google Photos, Maps, and Blogs.
One of the best things about our job going from rally to rally is that they often have entertainment. Being in Branson, there are lots of great acts to choose from. We so enjoyed the music from The Petersens.
After that rally, we had a week or so to kill before needing to be in Heber Springs, AR for the next rally. We knew there was an Escapees park in Branson where we've stayed before, so we checked in there and determined to take in at least one show in Branson. We saw that Yakov Smirnoff was in town, in person, so we chose his show.
"What a country!" and "I bet you never thought if it that way before ... you will now" are now part of my vernacular.
We had several days to get to our next gig. From Moline to Brandon 450 miles. We consider that 2 days of driving, so I started looking for an overnight stop somewhere about halfway and found a casino. Along the way, when we crossed over the Mississippi River, we saw lots of flooding, so we went surprised when we arrived at the casino and learned the RV parking area was closed due to flooding. We stopped for dinner anyway as we checked the map and asked for recommendations for camping.
Wakonda state park is just down the road and we were assured that it was on higher ground and not affected by flooding. Cool.
As we checked in we remarked on our good luck for finding such a nice state park when our planned parking spot had been flooded out. We also had to make some jokes about Wakanda Forever, and how we couldn't wait to tell everyone that Wakanda was a real place after all. I still can't decide if their blank stare was because they were bored with that tired joke, or that they were unaware of the magical country called Wakanda from the black panther movie. Come to think of it, I hadn't seen a movie theatre in many miles.
It was a beautiful campground, very peaceful, and really good internet from at&t so we stayed another night, and I was able to use Zoom to make an appearance at a Google Photos class in Wisconsin and answer their questions. It works so good. It really will make it possible to do more and more work remotely. Meanwhile, we just enjoyed relaxing in our comfy camper and taking walks in the magical forests.
Vicki at the quad cities computer club is the one who started it all. Before Vicki contacted us back in 2011 we had no idea that these computer clubs exist. Come to find out there's an organization called Association of PC User Groups - APCUG.org. Because of Vicki we got on the list of speakers for computer clubs Nationwide, and those clubs have been the bulk of our appearances this summer.
We've been back to Quad Cities Computer Club several times. We will always visit them if we are anywhere in the vicinity. The club has since disbanded, but we still visit as friends.
Ironically, after all my teaching on smartphone photography, Vicki credits me with introducing her to SLR cameras
This year, they got the gang together for dinner and we parked overnight in Vicki's driveway before joining them for a Scott Kelby worldwide photo walk in the morning. It was a bit of a rainy and dreary morning, but it made for interesting shots along the Mississippi.
Not everyone would call it "working" but it is what we do. We had 2 live appearances scheduled during our Chicago stay and one YouTube show.
A morning class
On Saturday morning, we presented a "What does this button do?" seminar to the CAEUG computer club. It is a very small group, in fact, they didn't really believe we were coming to such a small group. But it turned out to be one of my favorite meetings of the tour. Maybe the personalities, maybe because it was in the morning (most are at night, when I'd rather be at home in my PJs with a glass of wine) - for whatever reason, it was a lively, fun, meeting. They say they learned a lot.
Live-Streaming our YouTube show
Next we delivered episode 176 of our "Button" show on YouTube. The topic was How to make a map with Google My Maps. We live-streamed it from the back of our Van - "Studio R" for Roadtrek!
A few days off
We had a few days to kill before our next presentation, so we needed to find a comfortable place to stay. What are the odds of finding a pleasant campground in the metropolitan Chicago area? Slim and none I'd say - so we were very pleasantly surprised to find Camp Bullfrog Lake on the west side of Chicago, right where we needed to be. What a pleasant respite.
40 Years later ...
With all its problems, I still love Facebook for how it keeps me in touch with old friends. Even friends I haven't seen for 40 years. Randy and I went to High School together in Florida. She moved to Chicago area some time ago. Because of Facebook I saw that she was cruising in Italy and returning to Chicago right now - while we are there. She asked where we were and, when I told her, she made arrangements to drive over and visit. How cool?! We had to talk fast to catch up on 40 years!
The last Chicago gig
Our final computer club presentation was for the Westside Chicago Computer Society. They had a nice turnout for our Google Photos seminar.
