September 22 Show Time

Not sure what time we got up but we left at 8 so we could be sure to on time at the Dodge dealer for our 8:30 appointment to get our key made. Well, we were early, which was OK. Then we waited 45 minutes for them to tell us the got in the wrong key. We were told to come back around 1:30 as their parts delivery from Springfield would be here by then. No problem as we were heading north to Wilson Creek National Battlefield and didn’t know how long we would be.

Today's photos are taken with my phone

Wilson’s Creek was a Civil War battle a bit southwest of Springfield, MO. There were over 2,500 casualties and most were on Bloody Hill (the after war name) on a farm owned by the Ray family. They took shelter in their root cellar while the 6 hour battle took place. Then their home became a field hospital. Although the north had more soldiers, the south won. Yee Ha! There were a number of mistakes made, one being that both sides were not totally distinguishable by the color of their uniforms. Both sides had many in gray and navy uniforms, so that caused one big problem. Can you imagine a small farmhouse whose 80 acres cornfield was now strewn with dead and dying soldiers and no real medical supplies or help to begin taking care of them. At that time each side pretty much took care of their dead but many were decaying rapidly with maggots and flies on those hot August days. Eventually after the war a National Military Cemetery was established in Springfield, but it was done by the Union so they moved their dead first. Then the Confederates established another cemetery to the SOUTH of them and moved their dead. Later they were unified as one military cemetery. Don’t forget that in addition to the people dead that day there were many horses and animals too, so the stench had to horrible for quite some time. This battlefield was not secured by the park service for over 100 years after the battle so it had been scoured numerous times by “collectors”. Surprisingly though the park service continues to find relics of the war with archeology groups from the University of Missouri. We started our tour at the visitor center to view the movie there and the various displays. Then we drove the 5 miles loop tour of the battleground and saw the house of the Rays along the way. We did a ¾ mile hike loop to see the monument marking the general area of where Union General Nathanial Lyon died. He was the first general to die on either side during the Civil War. Along the way I spotted a long snake skin too. Down the road from the visitor center is a Civil War Museum that is also part of the park service and it was really nice. We could have stayed longer there as the displays were of other battles also. Due to short staffing they have to close up at lunch time and so we had to leave. This is a really nice park for Civil War buffs, but it’s way back in and you have to really want to go to get there. It’s not off the main road at all. It’s actually in Republic, MO.

We thought by the time we got back to Branson it would be about time for the key delivery so we went straight there. No luck, the key wasn’t back yet so we sat in the truck in the parking lot and ate our picnic lunch. Tried again, but still no key. I had wanted to go to the Petco I had found at the next exit up the road so we decided to go and get Xena’s unscented salmon oil. They had it so we accomplished one goal. It was also in the same plaza as Wal-Mart so I thought we might as well get our milk and few other items on the short list. You can’t store much in the little fridge so we stop for fresh items every few days. When we were in the line at Wal-Mart they called to say our key was in and if we wanted to come in it would only take about 30 minutes. So we headed back and true to his word, it was only about 30 minutes….and $213 later we have a replacement key to the truck.

I find I’m having more time to sit back and enjoy a glass (or 2) of wine each evening and am on my 3rd bottle since leaving home. I brought 4 with me and bought 3 more so far, so I’m good for a few more days. I want to go to the other winery in Branson before we leave. Tonight I would have to pass as we were having a buffet dinner at the theatre before seeing Ray Stevens. We didn’t have much time once we got back so walk the dog, put things away, shower and get to the theatre. We had to pick our tickets up there so we leave the RV about 6. There’s no really direct way to get there but the camp managers told up to go north, then west, then cut back south. You really have to be here to understand the layout. We had no traffic that way so we were earlier than expected, picked up the tickets and were able to get into the buffet sooner than scheduled. The buffet was OK. Not much of a salad bar and the meats were baked chicken, pot roast or lasagna, over cooked veggies except for the green beans. Mashed potatoes and 2 gravies, corn, plain white rolls. The pies were thawed frozen ones and the cobblers were frozen baked ones, so no, I was not impressed.

My new best friend



Bill and Larry



After dinner we checked out the bronze statue of Lawrence Welk and his personal golf cart and some of his memorabilia and the gift shop. Then the show…. The Ray Stevens show more than made up for the dinner. The place was almost full and he did 2 segments. The first half was patriotic and very political. He’s very anti-Obama and the audience seemed to be 100% behind him. He did some new songs and brought back some old ones that related to the current situation. The second segment was almost all the old favorites, The Streak, Mississippi Squirrel, Ahab the Arab, Gitarzan and the list goes on. Bill doesn’t like for me to sing along, but that’s half the pleasure of the concert for me. He is also pretty impressive on the piano. He hawked his CDs, etc but they all do that. I made my own of my favorites and keep them all on my computer.



We got home around 10:20 and wound down watching TV a bit, then reading and then it was really bedtime.