Sunday, June 20, 2021 - We drove to Branson, Missouri. The drive was five hours long and uneventful. The weather was great and no issues (thank goodness) were encountered. We arrived at America's Best Campground and found our names plastered across their marquee; it seems that our name had been selected and we had won free tickets to a popular show in town. A great way to start our visit. This RV park is an excellent park that has been rated number 1 in the Branson area. The owners are very customer oriented. After setting up the RV, we took a drive into Branson to check out the area. We also drove to Table Rock State Park to check it our for kayaking and hiking. This is a very pretty area.

Monday, June 21, 2021 - We had a thunderstorm pass through Branson last night. We had about two hours of hard rain and some lightning; one lightning strike was pretty close. After breakfast, we went to the office at our RV park to talk to Joy, who schedules shows for tenants. Through Joy, we scheduled about six of the major shows in the area. The shows cost between $50 and $80 for two persons. We also selected two shows that we would have to schedule ourselves. Joy gave us vouchers for the show, so we decided to go to the venues and trade the vouchers for real tickets. This way, we would not have to do this in a crowd on the night of the shows. We also had a couple of shows that we would have to schedule ourselves. What we decided to do was to travel to the venues, but before doing so, we went to a donut shop called Hurts Donuts. This is a great donut shop with a huge selection and cinnamon rolls that are huge. The cinnamon roll was large enough to be divided into at least three meals.

After the donut shop, we drove to all the venues that we had purchased tickets to see shows in order to get the actual tickets. This helped us better understand how to get around town. We are getting familiar with the town after just two days. We also went to get the tickets for the show that we won from the RV park. It was for a show called Legends in Concert at Dick Clark's American Bandstand Theater. Turns out that there were openings for this show today at 3:00. It is a tribute show with performances by impersonators for Michael Jackson, Freddy Mercury, The Blues Brothers, Lady Gaga, and, finally, Elvis Presley. Since we had to wait for the 3:00 show, we decided to get some dry ice and go back to the RV and defrost our refrigerator. Sounds exciting, doesn't it?? We used the dry ice to keep the frozen items frozen and the refrigerator items cold. We left the refrigerator and freezer open as we went to the tribute. show. The performances during the tribute show were excellent, and we had a good time at the two-hour show.

After the show, we returned to our RV and finished cleaning out the refrigerator. It is all nice and clean now and cooling down. It has been a fun day, even though it did start out with rain.

NOTE: Our impressions of Branson, so far. Branson is clearly a tourist destination with lots of activities for adults and children too. There are lots of stage shows for adults (and retirees) and ziplines, go-karts, bumper-cars, and more for the kids.

Tuesday, June 22, 2021 - We have two shows schedule for today; #1 Hits of the 1960s and The Famous Baldknobbers. Since our first show is not until 2:00, we decided to work on washing the outside of the trailer. I figured that if I could get the nose-cap and the front under-carriage of the fifth-wheel, I would be well on my way to finishing the much-needed cleaning. Lisa came out and helped with the cleaning on the side of the RV, so we made good progress. The RV is pretty dirty since we have not cleaned the outside since we left California.

At 1:00, we departed the ABC campground for The Clay Cooper Theater where we were scheduled to see a musical called "#1 Hits of the 60s." The show was excellent with a great band and very good singers. They sang over 100 songs dating from 1954 through 1969. They did not sing all of each song, but they did sing most of the songs. The chemistry of the performers was excellent. We really enjoyed the show. They also did a tribute to the military that was very nicely done. So far, this was the best of the two shows that I have seen. The Legends Show was good, but the Lady Gaga performer was less than would be expected. We were also not familiar with Lady Gaga's songs and mannerisms. Both were still fun to see and well worth the cost of the show.

After dinner, we traveled to the Branson Famous Theater to see one of the shows that was a first show in the Branson area: Branson's Famous Baldknobbers. The show begins at 8:0, so we will be on our way again after dinner. Again, I believe that this show is singing and dancing. Should be fun since it is pretty well-known and has been playing here for a long time. What are "Baldnobbers?" Apparently, the Baldknobbers were a group of vigilantes in the Ozark region from 1855 until around 1889. Seems that they met on the grassy top of local hills in the Ozarks that were called bald knob summits, hence the term 'baldknobbers." They were dedicated to protecting life and property and also made sure that people who violated local social or religious mores were punished. In the mid-1900s, a group of singers and musicians met on some of these bald mountains to create music reflecting the local area; hence, the adopted the name. The Baldknobbers is one of the oldest groups to perform in the Branson area. They play country music with a touch of gospel added. They are great singers and musicians and their show was a lot of fun.

Wednesday, June 23, 2021 - We decided to travel to downtown Branson to explore. The City of Branson is built along Highway 76 with the historic old town part of town located on the eastern end of Highway 76 where it runs into Lake Taneycomo. Lake Taneycomo is a narrow channel that averages about 300 feet wide and runs into Flat Rock Lake to the west of town. The historic town has historic building and lots of "touristy" places to shop and eat. Along the boardwalk on Lake Taneycomo is a new commercial mall with a Bass Pro on one end and Paul Dean's Country Cooking restaurant on the other end. You can also walk along the sidewalks along the lake. We decided to kayak the portion of Lake Taneycomo along the boardwalk tomorrow. After touring the historic area, we drove along the length of Highway 76 (also called the Strip like in Las Vegas) to see the locations for all of the stages shows.

Note: Branson has about 150 stage shows of differing levels of quality. Some shows have been here for as many as 60 years. They are fun shows to see, but they are not of the lavishness that you would find in Vegas with super-big name entertainers. Branson is more personal with many families performing in a fun and welcoming way. Western Branson is the Strip with most of the stage performances.

We had scheduled a show at 5:00 in the late afternoon. The show was called Back to the BeeGees. It was a very good show with three singers singing many of the hit songs of the BeeGees. The singers made it clear that they were singing BeeGees songs, but not trying to replicate their songs. They were putting their own spin on the BeeGees songs. It was a great show and lots of fun and energy. The shows in Branson all seem to last about two hours with an intermission (to sell food, CDs, and other fun things).

Thursday, June 24, 2021 - We decided to start the day with a three-hour kayaking trip in Lake Taneycomo (Branson is located in Taney County) beginning just west of the downtown historic areas. We passed the entire Branson Landing area and then cruised up what is called the Roark Creek tributary that flows into Lake Taneycomo. Once we got into the kayaks, we realized that the water was super, super cold. We decided to be extremely careful not to capsize and end up in the water. I would say that the water was about 50 degrees in temp. There are lots of trout in the lake and fishermen are all over the area. At the halfway point of our trip, we pulled into a marina that had a little store, so we went up to get a soda. Turns out that they also had some "Twinkies" and "Ding Dongs," both of which we had not tried in years. So, we had to give them a try; yum, yum. Brought back fun memories.

After kayaking, we went back to the RV to shower and prep for the night's show. We had "The Heywoods" scheduled for later in the evening, but before going to the show, we went to Culver's Fast Food Restaurant to use their WiFi. Turns out that Culvers has "Fast and Free" WiFi. I was able to upload photos to several photo galleries and begin loading some new videos too. We stayed at Culvers until we had to leave for the show.

The Heygoods is, likely, the best show in Branson. A musical family going back over 30 years with tons of talent and energy. This show uses lots of laser lighting (one of the Heygoods is a trained professional in laser lighting) and pyrotechnics. They play all sorts of instruments, including Christine Heygood on the harp. Christine plays about seven different instruments in the show. They play a wide variety of music from rock to country to gospel and they are outstanding. They have one of the sons "fly" to the stage up-side-down on wires while playing his guitar. Another brother is also into robotics and has incorporated great lighting on a suit that he wears. They also play a musical instrument called a harp guitar with three separate sets of strings. They sing a song with three family members playing this instrument at the same time. It was a great show that played to a full house. Lots of fun.

Note: The Branson areas is not biking friendly. There are not shoulders on the roads and people are moving along at pretty good speeds. The drivers here are courteous and friendly, but there is just not enough room on the roads for everyone. There is a place near the RV park that leads to a subdivision that has some roads that we can ride, BUT, they go up and down with grades reaching 12-15 percent of climb (ouch!). We haven't wandered out there yet, but we will try to before we leave.

Friday, June 25, 2021 - We were a little tired on this day so we mostly sat around and "let our meat loaf." We even took a nap at around 10:00 in the morning; retirement is sure fun!! We then did some work on the RV, but nothing too strenuous. We were going to go for that bike ride, but we seemed to talk ourselves out of it. Sometimes, you just have to take a day to take it easy.

In the evening, we drove into Branson to see The Pressley's. This is another musical stage show that is on a level with The Heygoods. The Pressleys have been in the Branson area for long time, and were the first to build a performance venue on the Strip in the mid 1960s on Highway 76; the Strip. The Pressley's play country and gospel with some contemporary music throw in too. They played "Wipe Out" and "Walk, Don't Run" from the early 1960s too. The Pressley's also have some comedians who come out and perform periodically during the show. These comedians are also talented musicians too. This makes the show lots of fun listening to the corny jokes and songs. The Pressley's and The Heygood's are probably the best two shows on the strip.

Saturday, June 26, 2021 - This is the first day in Branson where we did not have any activities scheduled, so Lisa went looking for something to do. She found that the College of the Ozarks has a dining facility where they serve high quality meals that are served by students at the school. The College of the Ozarks is a Christian school and the administration fully believes that students should not be in debt when they graduate. They make sure that all students have jobs that help to pay for their educations. Reservations are hard to get, but we got in for lunch on Saturday. It was a lot of fun interacting with the students and the serving and food preparation was excellent. This was a fun experience that was helpful to the school.

Note: The College of the Ozarks is dedicated to teaching patriotism, personal responsibility, love of country. This school is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) which includes smaller schools (only about 1,600 students attend). All schools in the league have been put on notice that if any player from any team disrespects the flag of the United States or the country itself, the sporting event or activity will be immediately ended. The entire school is committed to honoring America and not disrespecting the country. There will be no kneeling for the flag at any game or activity involving College of the Ozarks. If you say that this is your way of protesting, the school says, "We don't care!" The game is over. As an aside, I would like to say that we have found this to be the prevalent attitude in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, and many of the north central states in the United States. The United States is considered a good place and people appreciate the military, the flag, and their faith.

After lunch, when it was hot and humid, we went for a three mile hike at a set of trails called the Lake Forest Wilderness Trail. It was a very pretty place to hike, but it was very warm too. Part of the trail was moderate to advance and required some climbing over rocks. Luckily, it wasn't for an extended distance. The trail ran along the bank of Lake Taneycomo, so we could see the jet-skis and pontoon boats through the trees. It tried to rain on us a little too, but not enough to wet us down. After the hike, we returned to the RV for showers. Felt good to get cleaned up and relax after being so sweaty. We are finding that high humidity is not much fun for a work-out.

Sunday, June 27, 2021 - We loitered around the RV until about 10:00 this morning and then decided to travel to western Branson to take photos of the activities on "The Strip." Since is was Sunday morning, there was virtually no activity actually happening on the strip; most people were in church. This gave us a chance to get a good walk without a lot of traffic to contend with. We walked up and down the strip (four miles) and took photos of the different venues for the blog gallery and a video. It had rained earlier in the day, but it was now clear, hot, and muggy now. We were dripping with sweat. The stage shows in Branson are found on the western end of Highway 76 which travels through the middle of Branson. Be sure to check out the photo gallery and the video to get more info on this key part of the Branson experience. There are tons of activities for kids during the day too. The Branson experience is highly family oriented. All of the shows are suitable for children and no alcohol is served at any of the show venues. Patriotism and faith are in abundance. These are not huge shows like you would see in Vegas, and the is a good thing; they are very up front and personal. The audiences are often brought into the performances in one way or another. They are a lot of fun.

After the hike to explore western Branson, we drove to Culver's Restaurant to "mooch" their WiFi. We have no WiFi at the RV park, and I need to upload photos and videos to the web. Photos upload very quickly at Culver's, but videos to YouTube are disgustingly slow. It takes about two and a half hours to load a 15 minute video to YouTube. The good news is that Culvers has great food, so we could have lunch there too.

Tonight, we have the Clay Cooper stage show to attend. This is a highly regarded show in the Branson region and should be lots of fun. It is primarily country-western music with some gospel thrown in too. More to follow on this later. Clay Cooper is an excellent entertainer. He has been performing in the Branson area for over 35 years and he is a true professional. He is primarily a country singer, but he can crossover to other genres too. He even sang some BeeGees songs in falsetto. He has lots of dancers and additional singers in the show. One thing that makes Clay unique is that he spends a lot of time out in the audience talking to and meeting the people in attendance. His approach to the audience if fun and funny. Clay and his cast also spent a fair amount of time on gospel and patriotic music. Clay's wife actually wrote and joined the performance on a very patriotic song. This is a great show and I would highly recommend it to any who get to Branson.

Monday, June 28, 2021 - This was a day that we had to get some work done on the truck. One of the suspension air lift bags had a broken air fitting that is located in an awkward location. My son, William, sent me the parts that I needed to fix the system. I drove to a repair shop and they sent me to another repair ship. That shop sent me to another repair shop that sent me to another repair ship. At the fourth shop, they said that they could fix it for me. They did. It was really nice to have it fixed before we leave since this is an integral part of the truck suspension that comes into play when we hook up to the trailer and add another 2500 to 3500 pounds of weight to the truck. These bags keep the truck level and take some pressure off the overload springs.

Since we were going to the Dolly Parton's Stampede dinner show at 5:00, we just kind of hung around the RV through the afternoon. I could work some on the blog and also prep the RV for travel in two days.

Dolly Parton's Stampede is, in my opinion, a "must-see" show in Branson. I could not believe that they had three shows on this particular day; one at 2:00, one at 5:30, and a third show at 8:00. I will prepare a video on this show so that you can better understand the layout of the arena and how the audience fit into the actual function of the show. The meal is served as you are watching the show and courses keep coming just as you are ready for them. The serving of the meal is super-coordinated with the show. The servers, we found out later, are paid with tips from the diners. There were dog and pig races during this show and beautiful staged performances of square dancing; even with riders mounted on their horses. There were also well-choreographed aerial shows with dancers suspended by wires from the ceiling. There were also trick riders, barrel racing, riding two horses at once, and much more. This show is very well staged and performed. We were both glad to have been able to see this show before we left Branson.

NOTE: I will be working videos for several of the shows that we attended to give you a better feel for what was going on at the venue. Be sure to check out the videos, since they give a much better representation of the shows.

Tuesday, June 29, 2021 - This is the day before we leave and we did not any activities planned. So, after breakfast, we did laundry and some of the work in preparation for our departure tomorrow for Oklahoma. We also cleaned the inside of the truck and prepped it for travel. I check all the fluid levels under the hood and also checked to confirm that the newly repaired air-bag suspension system was still inflated. When all that was done, we decided to do two things that Lisa had read about or been told about.

First of all, we went to a winery where you can sample five different wines while sitting on a deck with a beautiful view of the entire Branson areas. We also got cheeses, sausages, crackers, and a bread basket that was outstanding. This was our lunch as we sat on the deck and enjoyed the scenery, ate the food, and Lisa enjoyed the different wines. Seems that the couple running the place are full-time RVers too. We talked in detail with her about their RV and where they have traveled. It was a lot of fun.

After the winery, we drove to a commercial attraction called Flat Rock Bat Cave. What you do is pay a fee and then drive a golf cart on a one-way, looping course that takes you through some beautiful country with awesome waterfalls. There is also a point where you drive through a bat cave that has waterfalls underground. It is a lot of fun and very scenic. Lisa drove the cart while I took lots of photos that I plan to put into a video. We have also placed some photos of this event on the photo gallery. This attraction was mentioned to us by two ladies who were traveling together and had gone to this event. They enjoyed it, so we thought we would give it a try; we are glad that we did. It was fun!

Upon return to the RV, I decided to go to Culver's restaurant to use their WiFi. They have fast WiFi that allows me to upload photos to the gallery very quickly. Now it's time to work on videos. Hopefully, we will soon stay at a location that has a strong WiFI. Not at our next stop though which is a Corp of Engineers location in rural Oklahoma.