Smith Tours

Good morning. As we all await a vaccine that will hopefully bring us all some comfort and help us get back to a "somewhat" normal life, many of us are anxious to get out and go. That is very evident in the number of registrations we have received already for 2021 trips. At this time, the most popular trips are Mackinac Island (which is very close to starting a waiting list), Celebration Belle (we will probably have 2 buses going), the Mystery trip ( 2 buses), Fall Foliage (ab...out ready for waiting list) and Colorado (which is still waiting on a couple of contracts before pricing). We hope to have Colorado priced very soon. Pioneer Woman, Pella Tulip Festival, Warm Springs, and Branson have plenty of seats available at this time. We realize that many of you are interested in traveling, but are waiting to see how the world looks as we get closer to specific travel dates before you register. That is totally understandable. We just want to keep you updated on our end. You can always send in a deposit and if you decide you can not go within about 45 days of the trip, you can get your deposit back. Let us know if you have any questions. Enjoy this bright sunshine today. Melinda -- Smith Tours, llc 9 SW 260 Road Warrensburg, MO 64093 816-726-8275

Merry Christmas from all of us at Smith Tours. We hope to see you in 2021 when it is safe to travel again.Merry Christmas from all of us at Smith Tours. We hope to see you in 2021 when it is safe to travel again.

Good afternoon, We knew people were ready to travel when it was safe to do so! We have had great responses in the past 3 weeks with registrations. Thank you. This email is to let you know that if you are thinking about going on a trip in 2021 with us, and you are just not 100% sure yet due to the virus, or other reasons, we suggest you go ahead and send in your registration papers and deposit(s). You will then be put on the list in the order we receive them. It may be that w...e can not take as many people on each bus this year, and it may be by the time the trips come around, that we will be fine in doing so. Nobody knows for sure at this point. We just don't want anyone to miss out on going, simply because they chose to "wait and see". Remember, if you can not go, or we decide not to travel, you will receive your deposit back as long as you cancel within at least 30 days prior to the trip. If we end up having too many for a trip, and are not able to take another coach, your name will be on a waiting list. The Colorado trip is still being planned. We hope it is completed soon. If you are interested, please let us know to get your name on the list and to be contacted when it is ready. Some of you said this year when your trip was canceled, to go ahead and put you down for 2021. If we have not heard from you since the Travel Book came out, please contact us to verify that you are still wanting to go. If you know someone who would like a Travel Book, let us know. Stay safe and have a Merry Christmas. Melinda

It is time to start thinking about some fun travels for 2021. Everything seems kind of stressful right now, but hopefully there is an end in sight and we can get back to traveling some time in 2021. We will all be prepared and ready when that time comes. Attached, you will find the new Travel Book. Just click on SMITH TOURS TRAVEL BOOK 2021.PDF at the bottom and it will open the entire book. It includes all of the trips we had planned in 2020 plus a new one, an all day trip ...down the Mississippi River and more! The Colorado trip is still being planned and awaiting communication from a couple of venues that are closed right now. It is listed, but there are not any prices attached. If you are interested in this trip, please fill out the registration form to hold your spot, and as soon as it is priced with all of the details, we will contact you. We are also going to include a casino trip to Oklahoma in July, but they are not able to book groups at this time. There are many sights to see around Missouri that will be included in either day trips or one night trips, but these will be scheduled after the first of the year as well. As you can guess, there is always a possibility that trips may be cancelled or postponed due to the virus. We will refund any money that you have paid if that happens, or you may book another trip. There is also the chance that some activities may be canceled in a given trip, but we will do everything we can to replace the activity within our budget. This is going to be a travel year of many communications, we are guessing. Nobody knows when travel will be safe again, or which businesses will survive. The best we can do is be prepared and be ready. If you wish to sign up for a trip, please fill out the registration form on the last page of the Travel Book and send it with the deposit to the address listed. This will guarantee you being put on the list for that trip. If you already had us sign you up from a trip that was canceled last year, please go ahead and fill out the registration so we know you are still interested. It may be that we will have to take smaller numbers this year to maintain a safer distance while on the motor coach, but we will take a look at that as we get closer to each trip. This means, if you think you might want to go somewhere, get your name on the list early. Please read the first two pages of the Travel Book carefully. If you have any questions, feel free to email or call us. We are ready to travel as soon as it is safe to do so and hope to see many of you sometime in 2021. Have a safe and healthy Thanksgiving. Melinda -- Smith Tours, llc 9 SW 260 Road Warrensburg, MO 64093 816-726-8275 Larry and Janice Smith- Owners Melinda Beydler - Office Manager and Tour Escort David and Suzanne Summers- Tour Escorts [email protected]

At this time, we realize getting on a motor coach and traveling somewhere is the last thing we want to do, well, maybe. We are all ready to go, but we also know it is not safe to do so now. No one knows when it will be safe to travel in groups, but we have to be ready when it is. The 2021 Travel Book is nearing completion and we still think it will be emailed and mailed by Thanksgiving! The trips planned for this year are going to be included as well as a 3day/2 night trip i...n August to the Amana Colonies, an all day cruise on the Celebration Belle down the Mississippi River and a fun shopping/lunch stop in Hannibal on the way home. A casino run to Oklahoma is also about completed for July. Several day trips or one night trips have been investigated, but we keep finding places are still closed due to the virus. So, we will plan those next year as things open back up. We hope everyone is staying healthy so you are ready to travel when we are all able.

What a beautiful fall day. It makes me want to get out and travel. This message is to let you know that the planning process is going slower than we would really like, but it is to be expected. Many phone calls and emails have been made rescheduling everything we canceled for this year. Some of these calls and emails have been successful in actually getting information, where others haven't been. Our goal is still to get our Travel Book out by Thanksgiving, but November is he...re in a couple of days, so we will see how the communications go in the next few days. Below is a list of our trips we are putting together and dates for next year. The NE trip date had to be moved up a little due to Columbus Day. We were concerned about that due to wanting to be sure to see the "colors", but we were told that this year, the "colors" happened even earlier. We have no way of knowing exactly when the "peak" season will hit. It will be incredible, no matter when we go. PIoneer Woman/Bartlesvillle/Joplin - April 14-16 (celebrate tax day) Pella Tulip Festival - May 6-7 Mackinac Island/Holland/Frankenmuth/Battle Creek - May 30-June 5 Warm Springs/Harmony Ranch (Alpacas) - June ?? Colorado - July - still checking to make sure fires have not changed our plans Celebration Bell Riverboat Cruise- Dubuque,IA - August ?? Mystery Trip - September 13-17 Fall Foliage NE - September 29-Oct. 10 Branson Christmas - November We are also looking at a few day trips or 1 night trips . -Springfield- Wonders of WIldlife National Museum and Aquarium -Many ideas for Kansas City area -Casino trip - Iowa or Oklahoma -Military/Historical stops in Missouri -Many other ideas We will keep you posted on our progress in getting our trips completed. We are looking forward to traveling with all of you in 2021.

Good morning. We hope you all are enjoying this incredible fall weather. At least you can get out in your yard and breathe in some fresh air. Everyday, I get reminders of what I should be preparing for, who I should be calling, or where we should be on a Smith Tours trip. Needless to say, our trips this year have only been what we imagine them to be. We are still hoping that is better for traveling. In the next couple of weeks, we will be putting together some day trips that ...we hope to take in 2021. There is a lot to be seen in Missouri that would be short, fun outings to help us all get back together and going again. If you have places you would like to go that are within the state, let us know and we will try to include them in our adventures. As far as the overnight trips, we are scheduling the same trips as this year. We will start setting those dates as we make all of the connections with each of our locations. The trip book should be ready by Thanksgiving if all goes well on our end. Below is a reminder of the overnight trips we will (hopefully) be taking. Pioneer Woman - Late April Tulip Festival - Early May Harmony Ranch- Alpacas/Warm Springs - Clydesdales - May Mackinac Island - Beginning of June, possibly end of May too Colorado - Middle of July Mystery trip- September Northeast Fall Foliage- Beginning of October Branson Christmas - November The New Theatre Restaurant has also been popular and it will be considered when the new shows are released. If you wish to get on the list for one of the trips listed, and haven't already let us know, just send us a reply or email message and we will put you down. Your deposit won't be due until our books come out and you send in your registration form. We hope you are staying healthy and finding things to keep you busy at home. Take care. Melinda

It is hard to believe that it is September and we have not traveled together anywhere in 2020. Many of you have been asking about the Branson Christmas trip in November and some have signed up to go. Before making a decision, Joe and I decided to travel to Branson over Labor Day weekend and see what it looked like. Even though Branson has been extremely quiet all summer, we found it to be busier than it normally is over Labor Day. There were literally people everywhere! We ch...Continue reading

Branson Christmas trip is scheduled for November 19-22. I failed to mention that in the last post. Sorry for any confusion.

Good afternoon, It has been a long time since our last communication. There has just not been anything new to report until now. As you know, all of our trips for 2020 have been canceled with the exception of the Branson Christmas trip. Joe and I have decided to travel to Branson in a couple of weeks and get a feel for how things are being handled at the shows, restaurants, and hotel. This way, I will be able to report back to you and see if we think we have enough people that... still want to go. Our hotel requires a deposit by September 19th, unless we can get that changed to a later date, giving us more time to see how society will be down the road. If you are not signed up for Branson, but think you might want to go because you have "cabin fever", just let me know. The shows we will see are the Hughes Brothers, SIX, Duttons, Clay Cooper, and the Texas Tenors. We are again staying at the Savannah House (3 nights) and meals include Lamberts, Culvers, Pizza Ranch, and Grand Country Buffet. Cost for a single is $800, double $665, Triple $620 and Quad $595. We totally understand if you have already signed up and choose not to go, even if we do. It is just hard right now knowing what to do for sure. I will have more information after we have been there and I have spoken to people at each of our scheduled stops. Look for more information around the second week in September. Melinda

Smith Tours has received word from Karen McKay, that her husband John, passed away on July 4th. John had back surgery and experienced complications afterwards. John and Karen have traveled with us for many many years and are known to love being around their travel family and making memories. We all have some great stories we could tell. Please hold Karen and her family in your thoughts and prayers.

Good Morning, What a time to be in the travel industry! We have been holding off canceling the last two big trips for 2020, but at this time, we are not comfortable taking people anywhere. So, we have decided to cancel the Mystery trip as well as the Northeast trip for this year. We will reschedule the exact same trips again for next year with similar dates.. Not only are some of the places we planned to go, not safe at this time, but transportation and hotels are still an is...sue. Some of the NE states are even requiring 2 weeks quarantine if you come into their state. There is nothing right now showing us that travel is going to be the thing to do this fall and we have several deposits that are about to come due, so that is why we are canceling these two trips at this time. The Branson trip for November is not canceled yet. We know by then, many of you will be stir crazy and want to get out if at all possible. Nobody knows what November will look like, so we will hold on to that one for a while longer. We will start to work on writing checks for all of your deposits that have been made for these two trips, as well as some deposits that were applied to these trips from other trips we canceled earlier. If you would like to go ahead and sign up again for the same trip next year, we can go ahead and do that and transfer your deposit to next year's trip. I have the spreadsheets set up and ready to go. Please call, text, or email if you want to do this, otherwise, a check will be mailed to you in the next couple of weeks. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact us. In the meantime, stay safe. Melinda

Thank you to our travel family for your thoughts and prayers this past week as we have dealt with the passing of Joe's father. In the next couple of weeks, we will be looking into the cancellation of the September mystery trip. At this time, the motor coach industry is only allowing their coaches to be half full, with Plexiglas between each seat, due the the threat of the virus. This means we would need to contract 4 coaches instead of two and you can imagine what that does... to our cost. We are not sure if the many activities we have planned will even be open by the time our deposits and number count is due, which makes planning difficult as well. We are disappointed even thinking about cancelling this popular trip, and one that is full of so many interesting stops, but we will just reschedule it for 2021 if indeed we do decide to cancel it. Many of you have stated that you are ready to travel, and we certainly are too, but we are just not comfortable in doing so yet. We are not looking at cancelling the NE trip yet, but it is certainly a possibility as well. Let's hope things take a turn for the better and we are able to get back to a more normal society soon.

To all our travelling family/friends...Please keep Melinda and Joe in your thoughts and prayers this week. Joe's father passed away and will be laid to rest this week.

Can it be possible we are in the middle of May? The social distancing has now been going on for two months and the travel world has not changed in those two months. We have still not cancelled the Mystery trip, NE trip, or Branson at this time, but several factors make those trips look like they will be cancelled too. We will let you know for sure if and when we decide to cancel them. I'm sure many of you are wishing you could go somewhere after being at home for so long, but at the same time, realize that now is not a great time to do that We hope you are all getting a lot of projects done at home, discovering new hobbies, or planning future trips. We look forward to getting together again when the time is right. In the meantime, stay healthy and let us know if there is anything you might need. Melinda

Good morning, As these days seem to run together, I have realized that I missed sending an email last week! Right now, just knowing what day of the week it is can be difficult. For those of you that had signed up to go to the tulip festival, we can only imagine what we would have seen tomorrow and Friday. If you still want to go, just google Pella Tulip Festival and enjoy the pictures. No, it's not the same, but that's as close as we will get this year. Please consider giving... it a try again next year. As for the Pioneer Woman trip, it will be rescheduled as well next April. Hopefully, we will be able to tour her studio as well. That is hard to plan, as they don't give tours on the days she is filming, and those aren't posted until about three months out. So, give this trip some consideration next year. We have been getting emails from some of our destinations in the NE as well as Branson keeping us posted on their openings.Hopefully by the time those trips get here, the virus will have settled down. Just trying to be positive here. As for the mystery trip, no official decision has been made yet. We are all anxious to go, but we will only travel if society is in a much better place than we are right now. As the weather continues to warm up, get those flowers planted and enjoy the sunshine. We are missing our travel family, but hope each of you are remaining healthy and happy. Stay in touch. Melinda

Good morning, Even though this has been a long week, I am late getting your weekly update to you. Smith Tours is hoping that each of you are finding ways to stay busy, complete household projects, and stay healthy and safe. As I look at my daily calendar, it continues to show all of these reminders of phone calls that need to be made for confirmations on trips that we have canceled. Maybe it is time to go through the calendar and delete those reminders. Some of you are probab...ly thinking that you should be getting ready to go on a trip soon as well, but now we are just imagining what that trip would have looked like. Remember, we will be rescheduling all of our canceled trips for next year, so if you want to get on the list now, just let us know. We can save you a spot with no deposit. If when our 2021 book comes out and you have decided you can't go, we can just take you off of the list, no problem. If you still want to go at that time, then you can send in your deposit. As far as the Mystery trip for this year in September, we are still considering it. We don't like the predictions that are being made about fall, but we are holding out hoping things change. Positive thinking, Right?? At this time, the Fall Foliage trip has not changed either. It is just too early to say what will happen with it. If you have any questions, comments, or just want to email to say hello, we welcome those. We would love to stay in touch since we can not do that face to face..Let us know how you are spending your social distancing time. For me, it is a struggle writing and sending this email due to our lab bringing me dirty clothes from our closet and trying to lay across my lap! She has gotten extremely spoiled these last couple of months. Melinda

Good morning, Many of you may be surprised to see a weekly update today since all trips through the end of July are canceled. There is not a lot new in the travel world. We are focusing more, at this time, on our schedule for next year. We will offer all of the trips that were canceled this year as well as a few day trips or two day trips closer to home. We feel like we need to give back to our surrounding communities at this time, so we will be looking at some places around ...Missouri to visit. The rescheduled trips next year will be around the same time as the trips this year. If you would like to be put on the list to be contacted when that time gets closer, let us know. That way, you will be guaranteed a spot. If you can not go when the time comes, we will simply take you off of the list, no big deal. Those trips include Pioneer Woman around April 15th, Pella Tulip Festival the first week of May, Mackinac Island around the second week of June and possibly one the end of May, Colorado the third week of July, dinner theatre trips, as well as our casino run the end of July.No deposits required for your name to be put on the list. At this time, we are still hopeful for the Mystery trip, NE trip, and Branson. We hope everyone is staying safe and enjoying the outdoors when it is warm enough to be out.If you have any thoughts or questions, let us know. Melinda

Good Afternoon, As of this afternoon, all refund checks for Smith Tours trips through the July Colorado trip are in the mail. If you do not receive your check in the next few days, please let me know. If you are signed up for the Mystery trip or the NE Fall Foliage trip, you will not have a refund in the mail at this time as those trips have not been canceled, yet If you were signed up for a trip that has been canceled, but you are also signed up for one of the fall trips, y...our refund was applied to the fall trip. Again, we plan to do all of the canceled trips in 2021 and hope that each of you are still able to go with us then. We hope you and your family stay safe and healthy in this rough time that we are experiencing and look forward to traveling with you as soon as possible. Melinda

Good Morning, Thank goodness for some sunshine and warmer weather so we can get out into our yards! We hope that you and your family are all healthy and well and are staying home as much as possible. This weeks highlights are not positive ones, unfortunately. With the virus still going strong, and several people canceling trips, we have decided that it would be best to go ahead and cancel all trips through July at this time. This is a huge disappointment to us as well as o...ur travelers, but we just don't want to take any chances of someone getting sick while we are traveling and spread it to the rest of the bus. This virus is so contagious and we have many senior citizens that travel with us and don't need to be exposed. As many of you know, one of the NE trips and Alaska trip last year had several sick people, and that was a huge concern for us. We all love traveling, and there is always a possibility of getting sick on any trip, but we don't see any reason at this time to push our luck, even this summer. If things improve and the virus is not showing signs of returning this fall, we will continue with the Mystery trip, NE trip, and Branson. We may even be able to throw in some short day or overnight trips just to get us all going again. Otherwise, we will just take each of our trips for this year, and try them all again next year. Wow, who would have thought in January that we would have such a short travel season?? So, if you are signed up for Warm Springs, Million Dollar Quartet, either Mackinac trip, Oklahoma Casino trip, or Colorado, we will send you a refund if you are not signed up for the Mystery trip, NE, or Branson. If you are signed up for one of these three trips, we will apply your payment to one of them unless we hear from you wanting a refund instead. Please try to let us know by Tuesday, April 7th if you want a refund and not a payment applied to the fall. The record keeping has been keeping me busy, but thank goodness for spreadsheets that help track everything, easily. Some of you have sent us ideas for future trips. Keep them coming. We may add a few more next year, due to the number of people we had interested in traveling with us this year. The business is growing, so will our travel season! If you have any questions or comments, send us an email, or feel free to call. Melinda