Thibaut Point Park COE Campground- Warsaw, Missouri

Another great campground hosted by the Corp of Engineers.  Not on the water this time, but close enough to view it from our site.  One of the aspects I love about these sites is the surroundings.  They are usually by some body of water and surrounded by forestry.  Who doesn’t love nature’s wake-up call – the birds singing to the dawn of a new day.  It beats most private campgrounds where sounds range from train whistles, highway noise, or loud conversations from the camper next door.

Knowing we didn’t have many sun-filled days, we tried to take advantage of them.  The first day we went to the edge of the Harry S. Truman Reservoir (it looks like a lake to me), propped our chairs, and listened to the lapping of the water hitting the rocks as the boats sped by. We enjoyed a packed lunch – pasta salad compliments of Chef Durene and soaked up the rays of the sun. The following day, we rose early to take a hike through the Shawnee Bend Bluff trail. Hikes are interesting as you never know what will cross your path.  I am intrigued by the variety of flowers and foliage I have never seen before.  The highlight of this hike was a dilapidated old stone cottage.  Besides its stone beauty, I found the story behind it more fascinating.  Questions such as who lived there, when they lived there, and how they thrived will forever be unknown.  

We went to the town of Warsaw and walked the Main Street. It was a quaint little town and we enjoyed the looking at the shops. They had a few stores from long ago like the Rexall drugstore and the Texaco station which had the old fashioned pumps. Since the station was closed, we didn’t know if it was just for show or they actually pumped gas. We also strolled across the suspension bridge which was erected in 1904 spans the Osage River. We came across various locks attached to the bridge. We saw the same thing when we went to Italy, and I am not embarrassed to say, I put our own lock of love on one of the bridges. I would like to someday go back and see if the lock is still there.