Osage Beach, MO Peek Residence and Fort Scott, Kansas 11/10 - 11/11 2021 Travel Tour

                                          From: casarollnotes.blogspot.com                                                                                                          Tim and Linda Bunyan

We are heading westward to home to arrive (11/10 - 11/18) Sacramento from Missouri.    We are excited to stop at Jeff and Gina's residence in Osage Beach, MO.  They purchased a lovely lake house overlooking the, ever popular, Lake of the Ozarks.  They have spent many summer vacations playing here at this termendous lake.  Now Jeff and Gina are making their dreams come true.

Turnoff highway sign to Osage Beach to visit Jeff and Gina Peek residence.  

Bagnell Dam creatged Lake of the Oxarks.  Began in 1929 and completed in 1931.  The 148' tall concrete gravity dam was built by the Union Electric Company (now Ameren) to generate hydroelectric power at its Osage Powerplant.  The facility with eight generators of 215 megawatts provides power to 42,000 homes.

The lake stretches 94 miles from end to end with 1,150 miles of shoreline.

Jeff and Gina's house overlooks Lake of the Ozarks.

Jeff and Gina are a loving couple and great hosts. Gina's profession is in house decorating and she has done a terrific job in decorating the house and their boathouse (accessable by trolley)

 down the cliffside to fantastic views day or night.  It is absolutely beautiful here.  Their house is lovely, comes with cottage and just enough space to park our RV for a quick overnight.  They have a cottage and allow us to spend the night there.  It is so special to get out of the RV for one night while on the road.

it is difficult to leave this luxerious, splendid space, but we are on a roll to head home.

Westward, directly on I-70 we go by starting through:  Kansas!  We have read so much about the native grasses of America and how through the passage of time and the western movement the native grasses cease to exist.  It has become quite an environmental feat to preserve and or replant native grasses.

WE found the Native Grasses Preserve located at Fort Scott Kansas while on our western movement home.

orst Scott was the first black troops to enter federal service from a northern state during the Civil War.  It was established to provide protection to the rapidly increasing number of settlers, who were migrating from the Eastern United. States.

A training and recruitment center during the war.  After the war the Army's priority was to protect settlers along the migration trails.  The fort was abandoned in 1853 as the idea of Manifest Destiny took hold, causing the promis of a 'permanent Indian frontier" to die.

Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve

has nearly 11,000 acres protecting a nationally significant example of the once vast tallgrass prairie ecosystem.

The preserve is home to more than 500 species of plants and over 150 species of birds.  There are over 2,000 free-range bison in the Preserve.  By 1900 most of the prairies had disappeard, plowed over in favor of farm fields.

Peace and quiet can be found in this open space, beautiful vistas, wildflowers, limestone buildings, and plenty of solitude. 

 Open year round with hiking trails and old ranch roads.  Truly rustic and natural environment.

sites along the road of travel

We are stopping for a couple nights in Parker, Colorado at Ed and Anita Trigeiro residence.