The cost of our travels; the joys and perils of camping

I used to love to visit Branson.  Not these days, though.  It's expensive and crowded, and we go scooting right on by.  Within thirty minutes of leaving Branson, we can be in peaceful, quiet Arkansas riding on motorcycle roads with very little traffic, and the only cost to us is gasoline.  Last week we were on the road with our Gold Wing a lot, and only spent  $76.00 on gas.  By the way, gasoline is higher in Arkansas than here in the Kansas City area.  
Camping out cost us $25 for two nights at the Hub (that includes a $5 tip), and $11 (senior citizen discount) Friday night at Lake of the Ozarks State Park.  We ate off McDonald's dollar menu twice, and treated ourselves to a Mini-Blizzard at Dairy Queen once; the money came out of the grocery envelope.  Other than that, we ate stuff we took from home.  
Cliff wanted to show people that I actually cooked on our last little trip, so here's the proof:

Making grilled cheese sandwiches

Campbell's tomato soup to go with the sandwiches

Gourmet cooking at its finest!  We had to improvise somewhat, because we need paper plates and throw-away bowls, and my grocery funds are so depleted that I refused to buy those items until Cliff's Social Security arrives in the bank.  Saturday morning as I lay in my sleeping bag waiting for daylight, I wished for pancakes; next time we're on the road I will make sure to have some complete pancake mix along (just add water).  
I've found our Travel Toilet to be very useful around the campsite:

 It serves as a handy helmet-holder.

 And makes a sturdy place to sit while you're putting on shoes.  Cliff uses it as a prop to get up off the air mattress, too.  

The best part of camping is that you get to see sights like this after you wake up.  


The down-side of camping is Cliff's discomfort.  Years of butchering has left him with arthritis in his shoulders, back, and hip.  He sleeps quite well on the air mattress, and it seems to be fine for his back; but getting up and down from our bed on the floor of the tent is difficult for him.  Even at home it takes him quite a while to get all his parts moving as they should, and it's worse when we're camping.  We are going to buy a couple of those chairs-in-a-bag before next spring, because a picnic table is not very comfortable for sitting.  
We saw some very well-behaved children at the state park.  One little girl was riding her bicycle, saw our motorcycle coming, and got off the road, waiting until we passed to continue riding.  A father and his daughter were tent-camping near us, and I watched the little girl, perhaps seven years old, entertain herself with a baton for quite a while; then she had fun poking at their campfire with a stick.  On the other side of us was a family with a child who appeared to be around three years old, and he, too, entertained himself nicely. 


One purchase I'm happy with is our five-day ice chest.  I seriously doubt the ice would last for five days in hot summer weather, and we haven't fully tested it.  But over a three-day period we did not have to worry about buying ice, and that's a wonderful thing.