Wednesday 4-1-26 April Fool's Day & Fun Time in Springfield Missouri

 

Happy April Fool's Day

Happy April Fool's Day! Did you play any jokes on anyone? We didn't play any jokes on each other. We had an outstanding day.

We woke up with the morning temperature of 68 degrees at Roaring River State Park. The high was 79 degrees in Springfield Missouri. It also was overcast and a small rain storm now and then.

We had three super nights at Roaring River State Park. We did two hikes for a total of 6.5 miles. I did 7.5 miles of walking around the campground. We barbecued all three nights. Today we said good-bye to Roaring River State Park.

I woke up at 7:15 am because I couldn't sleep anymore. I got dressed and we had a lite breakfast. Then we put everything away and secured. We were ready to go at 7:45 am. On the way out of the campground Larry stopped by the dump station and dumped the tanks. There are no water at the sites but the dump station had a fresh water tap to fill the water tank. 

We didn't have too far to go. Our destination was Springfield, which is 71 miles away. The drive was two lane highway. It was a little different then other highways because it was really three lanes. It had a passing lane that switches back and forth from one side of the road to the other side. It didn't have any turn lanes and no shoulders. It took us through small towns and cities. We saw a lot of ranches with cattle and horses. It was a nice drive.

We got to Springfield about 10:00 am. Larry surprised me by taking me to the movie Project Hail Marry. It was showing at 11:00 at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. We have never watched a movie at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema before so it was very exciting. Larry told the cashier we wanted two senior ticket to Project Hail Mary. He assigned us a seat and showed us where they were. Larry was surprised because usually you pick your own seats. He said he could change the seats if we wanted him to. But the seats were perfect. They were in the middle of the screen and not too close and not too high. We found our seats and sat down. They have tables at the seats because you can order food on your phone and they deliver it to you. A gentleman came to us and said he was our greeter and he would be available to help us before the movie started. Larry told him it was the first time here so he explained how to order the food. We didn't buy any food because we had just had a sandwich in the Minnie.  Project Hail Mary was a good movie but I highly recommend you to read the book first. By doing so you can follow the movie better.

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema

While we were watching the movie a small rain storm came in and was gone by the time the movie was over (two and a half hours). When we got back to the Minnie we continued our adventure in Springfield. Larry plugged in our next destination in the GPS. It was Mega Games to play pinball. It was eight miles down the road. We have been at Mega Games a couple of other times so Larry kind of knew where it was. 

Mega Games is a very nice place. We played pinball for an hour and a half with fourteen different games. I guess I should say I played mostly, Larry did play a few games. The games were Godzilla, King Kong, Foo Fighters, Elvira and the House of Horrors, Rush, Iron Man, Cactus Canyon, Metallica, Monster Bash, Dungeons & Dragons, Beatles, Robo Cop, Dead Pool and Star Wars. Last year we played Indianapolis 500 but they didn't have it this year instead they had King Kong. While playing we ended up playing King Kong five times because it already had some credits on the cabinet. Larry played Iron Man twice because he matched. I played Elvira and the House of Horrors a couple of times because I matched. Larry played the Beatles because I won and extra game. I played the Beatles twice because I matched. When we were leaving we stopped and talked to three guys who were setting up a board game. Larry asked them how to play the game. They were more than happy to explain the game and other games. They said the games may take between one and a half hours to 2.5 hours, it depends on what game you're playing. The board games keeps Meta Games in business. They have a brand new pinball game, which is Pokémon by Stern. It was just released in March. We watched one of the workers play it. We had an outstanding time playing pinball.

Meta Games store front

Playing Iron Man

Dead Pool

Elvira and the House of Horrors

King Kong

Robo Cop

After playing pinball we went to Bass Pro Shops, which was four miles down the road. This is our final destination. We're spending the night in their parking lot. After setting the Minnie up for the night we walked down the road a few blocks to Springfield Family Restaurant to have dinner. We shared a deep fried pork loin sandwich and fries. The food was ok and the service was good. The restaurant was old but very well kept up. We had a good experience.

Our dinner at Springfield Family Restaurant.

Before calling it a night we walked through Bass Pro Shop, which took about a hour. While walking around we bought some fudge for dessert, a piece of cinnamon roll fudge and a piece of chocolate walnut fudge. The fudge was delicious. I needed to get a little bit of steps. I ended up doing 5,000 steps for the day.

Grizzly bear exhibit by the fishing area in Bass Pro Shop

Elk exhibit at the back entrance of Bass Pro Shop

A wheel circulating the water for the bass

 Chocolate walnut fudge and cinnamon roll fudge

When we got back to the Minnie I played my Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Experts Only of 10 games. I only completed nine of the games. I played the games for 1 hour, 48 minutes and 29 seconds, which put me in 10th place in my group. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2.