duright

Got to Branson, Missouri on October 7th. We had a beautiful drive through the Ozark Mountains and fell in love with that country. Branson, though, is a a crazy place with theatres and stores everywhere, and it is all two-lane traffic! When we got to town there was only one room left in town, a 2-room suite. It had a jacuzzi bath tub and two bathrooms. We really splurged but it was nice. The next day we drove out to Lake Taneycomo and the Bass Pro Shop. We stopped at many Bass Pro Shops on our trip and I decided they were my favorite store. I love them. I think I felt this would be the last one I could talk Wayde into stopping at. That afternoon we went to the Dixie Stampede which is a production of Dolly Parton's. We saw a great juggler before we went into the show (who ever thought there could be such a thing as a great juggler?). W sat on benches around a big dirt arena. There were long tables in front of us where they served the food (no silverware, had to eat everything with our hands). There was buffalo, trick horse riders, pig races, ostrich races, dancers in Civil War costumes and, of course, a patriotic speech by Dolly on the big screen at the end. I thought it was great but Wayde had to hold his tongue and keep from snikering. He was a good sport. After the show we walked across the street to the Dick Clark Theatre and saw Paul Revere and the Raiders, and then Bill Medley. Music was great and they put on a really good show for a bunch of old guys. The next day we saw Shoji Tabuchi, a Japanese fiddler. He had a major production type show that was really good but our very favorite was the Jim Stafford show we saw that night. He has always been one of our favorites and he did not disappoint us. We had a great stay in Branson but were glad to be on the road again on the morning of October 10th. We left Branson and stopped in Springfield, Missouri for breakfast. As we were eating breakfast, Wayde said "I'm ready to go home." That was fine with me so we cut our trip short a week and headed for Jackson to see Beth and her new family. We stayed that night in Council Bluffs, Iowa and drove across Nebraska the next day, eventually getting to Caspar, Wyoming to spend the night.