September 23 More Branson Shows

Another early start at we had tickets to see the Roy Roger’s Junior show at 10:00 at the Mickey Gilley Theatre. I made scrambled eggs with cheese and ham with toast. Didn’t know what time we’d get out of the show for lunch so that would tide us over well.

Bill and Roy Jr

Bill and Dustin

We had to be at the theatre by 9 to pick up our tickets and pay for them as they would not take a credit card over the phone. We got there at 8:45 so we once again checked out the gift shop, looked at the memorabilia and sat in the lobby and read til the doors opened. It was very sad that there were not more than 50 people there. The show was excellent although Roy Jr. (Dusty) has a much deeper voice, he sings really well. We also got to hear Dustin Rogers, who is Roy’s grandson. He actually was a fire fighter in CA and then moved to Branson when his folks moved there to open the Roy Rogers Museum and do the show and is a fireman. Sadly, the museum didn’t do well and the family closed it and auctioned off Trigger, Bullet and the rest of the great items. We were lucky to visit it when it was in CA and got to meet Roy in his old age when he was riding Trigger 3, his electric scooter. Dustin looks more like Roy in size and facial structure and even sounds more like him, but needs more work on his singing. Dusty has the same squinty eyes. They talked a lot about Roy and Dale and their lives. They had 9 children between them. Roy’s first wife died after 10 years of marriage from an embolism after the birth of Roy Jr. They did a nice tribute to Roy and all the old singing cowboys, in addition to some patriotic songs and a bit of gospel. They came down and signed items and met the audience and let you take photos, etc. Bill was happy to have his photo taken with the next to generations of Rogers as I did get his photo with Roy when he met him.

When the show was over we went kinda next door to the other outlet mall, but a lot of it was empty. Only bought a utility knife and a bottle of bbq sauce. Still looking for a new purse!

We lunched at the Mickey Gilley Café. It was OK. Most of the menu was southern fried so I had the lunch special of chicken fried steak with white gravy and Bill had a fried chicken sandwich. I videoed some of the Main Drag on the way back to the RV where Xena was anxious to see us and go for a long walk. I did some wash and tidying up and Bill did some outside stuff, I don’t really know what he was doing out there. Since the internet is spotty and today the cable was snowy, I called the office to see if they could do anything so they send a guy out. He did get the cable running better but basically someone’s rig is blocking the signal to me. They have 4 signals and said where we are normally get a good strong signal. So it still comes and goes and it’s very frustrating when I try to download photo to the blog.

No dinner with the show tonight so we had leftover enchiladas, beans and a salad. Helped make some space in the fridge. Earlier I had made some guacamole with the last 3 of the avocados I brought from dad’s tree. They will be the last we get this year but the guacamole was really good with dinner.

Bill and the Boys

Backdrop at the show

We needed to be at the theater by 7:30 when the doors opened but left at 7 and it’s only 5 minutes from here. Tonight was The Oak Ridge Boys at the Oak Ridge Boys Theatre. Good thing we were early as the place was close to full and we’d have had to park a mile away. The theatre holds over 2500 and was pretty close to full. The show was awesome! It was great to sing along to all the old hits. The Oak Ridge Boys started in the late 30’s as the Clodhoppers and were asked to perform on Saturday nights in Oak Ridge, TN and became known at The Oak Ridge Boys. Over the years as members dropped out a new one would come in and the current Oak Ridge Boys have all been there since 1965, 66, 72 and 73. So they’ve been together the longest of any and that’s 37 years, longer than most marriages. These guys have to be late 50’s into 70’s. The crowd was very responsive to the new material as well as the old songs. I left humming Elvira over and over!

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.

September 21 Our First Day in Branson

Happy Birthday Carole! Not sure if you are home or still in Laughlin, but wish you a great day and hope you won lots of money!

Bill coughed and coughed all night. Needless to say, neither of us slept very well. When I woke up at 8 he was on the little couch so I kinda just laid there and waited for him to wake up.

Once we were up, had some breakfast, showered and walked Xena, we headed to the Locksmith to see if we could get new keys for the RV and SUCCESS! At least now I have those keys back in my possession. Bill wanted to check out “The Strip”, which is the main drag kinda like Vegas that is solid traffic and has most of the hotels and performance venues along it. Branson is not easy to navigate. It’s build on the side of a mountain so the area to be built is leveled along side the mountain for one road and buildings on each side, then there’s another level done the same way. Not many connecting roads to change back and forth to the main ones. We spotted a Walmart, not the same one as yesterday, but stopped to get some cough medicine for Bill and honey for my tea. Then we went a little further up and stopped at the Tangier Outlet malls for a while. Didn’t go in many stores, but Bill got some stuff at Bath and Body Works, I got a top at Liz Claiborne and looked for a purse there and a few other places but no luck. I knew Bill was tired and shopped out already so we got back on the road and the traffic is just so bad he asked where he could turn. We headed in the direction of the Welk Theatre where we’re going to see Ray Stevens and there was a winery along the way. Being the nice husband that he is, Bills said we could stop. We were going to go on the tour but there was a 15 minute wait and the tour was going to be an hour and he didn’t feel like hanging out there that long, so I got in on a wine tasting instead and left with 3 bottles of wine and he got 2 of juices. Kerry and Karen, guess what you’ll be getting. We also got a pretty good price on cheese curds so we each picked our own flavors. Mine is dill and garlic!

Once we found the Welk Theatre we took a different route back thinking it might be less traffic when we drive there to the show. Well it was a very scenic ride across the Rock Table Lake Dam and then of the lake and several parks, but it was hilly and curvy and not really a very direct route. We agreed the tourist maps are not the best and not even close to scale.

After lunch Bill wanted to go to the Old City of Branson to the Dick’s Old Time 5 and 10. It’s pretty close to the park and luckily we found a space right away. The town is downhill so we walked up a block to the store and we loved it. Nostalgic and a little bit of everything. They even had garter replacements for girdles and I think they even made them any more. It really reminded me of the stores when I was a kid. From there we went up another block or 2 and looked in the shops, stopped in the fudge shop and got a dark chocolate turtle to share for our dessert, stopped in the ice cream shop for a scoop each and did the shops on the way back down.

We didn’t event think to take our cameras today so there are no photos. We have a week so we will take them on our future outings.

When we got back lucky little Xena got a bath. I had planned to buy some kind of plastic tub even if we only used it once, but then I remembered we have a shower sprayer on the outside and it has hot and cold water, so I put down a piece of plastic and Bill helped (for the first time in 12 years) to give Xena a bath. He always helps towel her but not the bath part. I was afraid she might make a run for it and we had taken off her harness. She did really well and tonight she is all fluffy and smelling good!

I’ve been trying to get the TV in the bed room working so tried all the cables I had then swapped them with the big TV, then tried the little TV in the living room and it works fine, so know it has to do with the cable. I noticed when we bathed Xena that the Class A beside us was not using their cable hook up and we have 2 long cables so we hooked it up and ran it into the bedroom window and TA DA, the TV came on. If the RV place can’t fix it for free then I’ll just buy a splitter and see about installing an outlet to hook to or run a cable in myself. I am so over trying to get that TV to work.

I washed up all the rags we’ve dirtied in a week and tomorrow will do some regular wash. It’s so nice not having to go to the laundry. Just like home, pop the clothes in the washer and fix dinner or read email or read. Well, that’s not always just like home. For dinner I made venison cube steaks, boiled new potatoes with butter and dill and a tossed salad. Later we shared our turtle and the dark chocolate was pretty darn good.

Bill did up his dishes and we watched the season openers of NCIS. Too bad we didn’t bring a VCR to tape what we’ll miss tomorrow night. Up til now it didn’t matter as most were reruns but we hate to get behind on our favorite shows.

Need to hem the sleeves on my new top!

September 20 On the way to Branson

Not a really spectacular day, mostly driving to Branson. We left Monroe City around 8:40 and arrived, checked in and were set up in Branson, MO by 3. We didn’t take any interstate highways today and it was all really good road. Mostly 4 lanes, just like an interstate but not much traffic. Of course there were no rest areas either so we’d just look for a building that looked empty with a circle drive to put into. For lunch we stopped at a Sonic and I parked next door while Bill went for our lunch. We just ate in the truck and that made our stop pretty quick.

Bill’s coming down with a cold so he starting to be pretty miserable. I didn’t bring any cold meds except for a sample bottle of Nyquil that he took last night. He’s just pretty congested.

Bill called our campground, Branson Lakeside RV Park. It has it’s good points and it’s bad points. It’s on the water with a marina, so if you have a boat, etc, it’s good. The spots are kinda crowded and there’s only one bathhouse for 179 spaces. It is very convenient to all the shows and really is in town. If you pay for 6 nights you get the 7th for free, so the price is pretty reasonable.

Once we checked in and set up, we made some calls about getting keys made for the truck and the RV and should be getting a new truck key on Wednesday. We found a locksmith who has RV keys but needs to see ours to know if she had the right one so will go there in the morning. We also made reservations for the Ray Stevens Dinner and Show. The RV office gave us discounts coupons for the Oak Ridge Boys for $15 each and they are only in town for 3 nights so we called they said to come ASAP to get good tickets. We went there and got our tickets for Thursday. Stopped as the Chamber Tourism Office for some maps and more “info”, then stopped at Walmart for a few groceries and finally at a gas station to fuel up.

Xena was ready for a walk when we got home and I put the groceries away and started dinner. Made fried potatoes with onions, hot links and salad for me and sliced tomato for Bill.

I tried and tried to get the darn TV in the bedroom to work to no avail. I haven’t given up yet. Watching some of the season openers.