Arizona 2007 November

9/27/05 Drove 350 miles to Santa Rosa New Mexico. Checked into OK RV Park in Santa Rosa. They also had a barbecue restaurant, so we celebrated Linda’s birthday with two orders of baby backed ribs delivered to the trailer. They were excellent as we watched a new episode of Las Vegas on satellite TV.

9/28/05 Drove 175 miles to Amarillo Texas and checked into Overnite RV Park. The wind was horrible gusting 40 to 50 mph so I decided to make it a short day. This park had WIFI so I read my email and paid some bills. We had dinner at the Big Texan Restaurant which was excellent. I had a delicious rib eye steak, green salad, and Texas beans. Linda had a Country fried steak with mashed potatoes. The restaurant had a very interest marketing gimmick advertised on signs for miles before Amarillo. They will serve you a 72 oz steak and if you can eat it in an hour it is free. If you are unable to eat it, the cost is $72. I did not take the challenge. The restaurant was a huge rustic building with western memorabilia and stuffed animals all over the place. I snapped a few photos of it.

9/29/05 Drove 250 miles to Oklahoma City and checked into Rockwell RV. Took Meghan for a run in an open field and she stopped running and would hardly even walk. I checked her paws and legs which were full of very sharp stickers. I encouraged her to walk back to the trailer where I spent a good ½ - ¾ hour removing all of the stickers. Linda warmed one week old tortilla chicken soup for dinner. Yuk yuk.

9/30/05 Drove 340 miles to Branson, Missouri We checked into a nice heavily wooded Cooper Creek RV Park about 3:30 p.m. Linda wanted to see the Gatlin Brothers so I checked into ticket availability and found some good 11th row tickets at the Lawrence Welk Theater. We enjoyed the show allot especially Pam Tillis who was costarring with Larry Gatlin. The cost was $37 each. The show duration was 8:00 to 10:30. The show room was huge and only about 1/3rd full. Apparently the high price of gas is affecting visits to Branson.

10/1/05 Kicked back relaxing and watched the Wisconsin-Indiana football game on TV. Explored our camp ground with Meghan. Its surrounded by trees and wooded area but good open space or trails to let Meghan run. The main attraction at the Park is fishing for trout on Lake Taneycomo. Its actually a river which is highly dammed. The area is very hilly and beautifully wooded with several lakes. We drove 35 miles north on hwy 65 to Lamberts Café where we met my two sisters Charlene, Joanne, and their husbands Mike and David. The restaurant had great food and delivered hot rolls to our tables by a waiter who actually threw them at high velocity.

10/2/03 Kicked back in the trailer and watched the SD Chargers beat the New England Patriots bad. Visited Charlene and Mikes Condo which was very spacious, nicely furnished and decorated. Joanne made squash stuffed with barbecued hamburger which was really good. After dinner Linda and I attended the Shoji Tabuchi Show. He is the most talented violin player I have ever heard. The variety of music he played was really diverse from classical to bluegrass and everything in between. The special effects, sets, and choreography was better than most Las Vegas shows. This is a must see show for anyone visiting Branson.

10/3/05 David and Joanne made delicious French waffles that melted in your mouth for breakfast. We all attended the Baldknobbers show at 8:00 p.m. The show was a variety production of singing country gospel and comedy. It was a very funny clean slapstick comedy. This show was the first one in Branson going since 1958. Not the best show we saw but still very entertaining.

10/4/05 Had both sisters and their husbands over for huckleberry sourdough pancake breakfast this morning. Pancakes turned out very good. We all took a short walk down to the Lake Taneycomo fishing docks adjacent to the RV Park. They were catching Rainbow and Brown trout. Apparently the cold water coming out of the bottom of the dam is good habitat for the trout. This evening we all attended the Shepard of the Hills play written by Harold Bell Wright. The outdoor set was done with real western horses, donkeys, and sheep. Lots of breakneck speed horseback riding, gun fights against the Baldknobbers, and even a live log cabin fire. The play was excellent and well worth seeing, in the top three must see shows in Branson.

10/5/05 Still keeping up our breakneck itinerary, we attended Silver Dollar City Theme Park for adults. Their features this time of year was blue grass music and crafts. We visited free, two great family blue grass groups one being the O’Brian’s who had two fiddlers in the running for fiddler of the year. The talent level was really high. Checked out a few of the woodworking crafts venders. In the evening we attended a singing group called the Pierce Arrow. They were good but not as good as the Gatlin Brothers.

10/6/05 We had a two for one ticket at Silver Dollar City so we were there at opening time 10:00 a.m. We decided to see Marvel Cave, the reason Silver Dollar City was built. We walked one hour through the beautiful cave and got loaded onto train cars that were to hoist us out. The lift system jammed and we all had to get out of the cars for 45 minutes while the system was hopefully repaired. The only way out was out this train or walk back the way we came. Our guide kept us occupied with all kinds of cave facts and the repairmen got it working in 45 minutes. So the one hour cave tour took us 2 hours and some claustrophobic fright. Charlene and Mike were waiting for us when we finally got out. Next we went to a Vaudeville type Can Can music and slap stick comedy. I was selected from the audience to play a game. I picked Kid Carson as a famous cowboy who died at the Alamo. Boo hiss I couldn’t remember Davy Crocket under pressure of the audience. We left at 2:30 p.m. and returned to the trailer to make dinner for my San Diego friends Rich and Linda Strobel. They also had with them a very nice couple Gary and Carol. We had a great time discussing the show we all saw and the food was also reasonable.

10/7/05 Last day in Branson. We attended the 2:00 p.m. Spirit of the Dance performance. The dancers were excellent, but the choreography did not compare to a similar show we all saw River Dance. We then visited a shopping area that had excellent craft shops and gourmet food shops. We spent about $40 on some gourmet items.

10/8/05 Finally got on the road around 9:30 a.m. It was a beautiful day for driving. Stopped at a Steak n Shake restaurant for lunch. Its basically fast food but good and very popular here in the mid west. We drove 360 miles to Springville, Illinois. Checked into an RV Park for the night.