Clanton's Cafe

The photo above is early morning at the balloon fiesta. It's "Main Street" at the balloon park where they sell all the breakfast burritos and Tom Thumb donuts. I liked the moon peaking over the mountain.
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We traveled from Norman towards Branson/Hollister, Missouri, to stay at the Escapees RV Park for a couple of days of relaxation before going to work at amazon.com in Coffeyville, Kansas.

Thursday as we drove to Vinita and saw the "former" largest McDonald's in America. It was a large arch over the highway but inside I understand there is a regular size McDonald's and the rest of the building is other shops and stores. The current largest McDonald's is in Orlando and is built to look like a large bag of fries.

Some people who fulltime, have "themes" for their travels....to see national parks, to see all NASCAR race tracks, or historical homes. Bill, Leslie, Jim and I travel to see as many restaurants as possible that have been visited by Guy Fieri in his "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" Foodnetwork tv show. We've been to quite a few of them from Florida to Arizona. So in Vinita there is Clanton's Cafe and Guy was there for their Chicken Fried Steak and their Calf Fries.


Two of us shared a luncheon portion of Chicken Fried Steak and an appetizer of Calf Fries. They are "An Oklahoma delicacy, known as the 'cattleman's hors d'oeuvre,' served fried, boiled, battered, grilled, and seasoned." Both were very good. We got one of the owners to sign a take-out menu as a souvenir. We actually got Lesle and Bill to try the Calf Fries...and they ate quite a few of them :) These were cut smaller and were much more tender than Rocky Mounain Oysters, which Jim and I really like a lot.

We were getting tired and decided not to try to go all the way to Branson and another customer at Clanton's told us to stay at Downstream Casino at Exit 1 in Missouri. So we did just that. Downstream Casino had a separate rv area with electricity and water and you can stay for three days FOR FREE.

After a restful night we drove on to Branson/Hollister and are staying at the Escapee rv park for two days to rest up a bit. Then we go to Coffeyville on Sunday where we start working at amazon the week of Oct 25. Don't know what shift we will have but know it will be nights. We managed to get reservations at a FHU commercial rv park in town, so no more being woke up by the "honey wagon" three days a week.

I'm not a big fan of Branson but Lesle REALLY wanted to see it, so we came. We went to an Easy Spirit store and bought Anti-Gravity shoes to wear at amazon.com. Then we took a tour of downtown Branson. I'll have to ask her tomorrow what she thought of it. We saw that Rib Crib was having a "two meat all-you-can-eat dinner for $10.99", so no need to ask me twice-----ribs and pulled pork it was!

Tomorrow we just rest!!!! I want to sit and knit our daughter Beth's Christmas gift. We all finished our summer jobs, attended the Colorado Chapter Rally, drove immediately to Albuquerque and "worked" every day crewing for a balloonist, then drove six plus hours everyday for four days......we need a rest!!!

Remember, you are loved!