Clint Eastwood, eat your heart out. We met some very friendly folks while camping in South Dakota and they invited us down to their ranch when passing through Missouri. Melinda being Melinda, they had her at the word “ranch”. So we go to Tommy & Ginger’s place (just find the spot on the map that says “the middle of nowhere” and go a little past that). That being said, the place was great. A real working ranch and Tommy & Ginger are as welcoming and genuine as anyone you can imagine. A lot of people “play dress-up cowboy” (myself included) but these guys are the real deal.
They saddled up some horses and went out to check on the cattle (I think they have over 30 head). It’s calving season and they had to go out and check on who had baby calves and make sure they were safe. I couldn’t ride a horse due to my leg injury (and an innate sense of distrust for anything that can poop and run at the same time!) but I somewhat followed on their four-wheeler. I like anything with a throttle that I can control. Melinda was so excited, she practically pooped and ran at the same time herself! I got to wear some of my cowboy hats to cover up thinning hair not visible to me and that I deny its reality, but Melinda likes to point it out. ALOT! The second day, Melinda helped on a cattle drive (rounding up the cattle from one field to the next… and hey! “6 cows & calves are PRACTICALLY a HERD!”) I tried to assist finding the 
lost calves with my drone and managed to lose my drone. (I love technology!) I have it’s exact coordinates, and even height, from the black box. It’s stuck up in a tree somewhere about 24′, but the leaves are so dense that it is now a sacrifice to the cow gods. That afternoon, we went for a great motorcycle ride (Tommy & Ginger rode Tommy’s three-wheeled Harley) and we drove across Bagnell Dam and saw a burnt-out old castle. Very cool. That evening the they went out to look for more calves and I tried to find the errant drone. They had much more luck than I did. Wednesday, the three of them took the bikes out again for a scenic ride. My leg wasn’t feeling it, so I took the four-wheeler out to ramble around the ranch and take one more look for the drone (the damned thing was expensive!) I didn’t find the drone, but I did find every chigger in Missouri and a few ticks that were jealous. Hey, Stupid should be painful, and I am here to tell it just really itches.
They fixed us supper every night and it was like 3 days on a dude ranch for Melinda. They have two full hook ups for RV’s, just for guests, and it was perfect.We can’t thank them enough. In my opinion, it was probably the most fun she’s had since we started this journey. We are trying to make our way back there next year, but our schedule may not coincide with calving season.
RVonTheRoadYet.com is a blog to keep our friends and family informed of our latest adventures or misadventures. We are NOT RV professionals, doctors, lawyers, or travel guides. We are a couple of people who have decided to embrace the full-time RV lifestyle of idiots and gypsies.