Hi all,

Thursday, Oct. 23
This morning around 7:00, Fred was out dumping his tanks and getting ready to leave.  They then left the park in their car about 8 to take the Holy Land Tour, which is offered in conjunction with the Passion Play.  It was a two hour tour from 9 to 11, so they had no problem being back in time for the 12:00 check out.

Betty and I did some exploring of a couple areas we had not done yet.  We then looked around to find the best way to get the motorhomes out of town on US23 North with a minimum of narrow, winding, downtown roads.  After trying several routes, we decided that straight through downtown was the straightest and least problematic.  We would just have to put up with the bumper to bumper, stop and go traffic for a bit.  As it turned out, we decided to go the longer, but much simpler route.  This took us by Walmart again, so we stopped and did some light shopping.

After about an hour and a half of driving, we pulled into our park in Branson.

We all wanted to go on the dinner/theater/cruise on the Showboat Branson Belle, so we went over to its location, about 5 minutes from the park.  We bought tickets for tomorrow's lunch cruise.

We then discussed when we should go to Lambert's Cafe (Home of the "throwed rolls").  Tomorrow is not good as we will have a large lunch on the showboat, The cafe will probably be quite busy on Saturday (they always seem to have a waiting line), and Sunday is when Pfafmans leave for home.  Tonight was the obvious choice.

Dinner at Lambert's is quite an experience!  We only had about a 5 minute wait before being seated.  Dinner came quickly after we ordered and almost immediately the first round of "throwed rolls" came around.  A fellow pushing a cart of right-out-of-the-oven rolls comes around yelling "Hot rolls!"  You put up your hand and he throws you one.  It is great fun - and the rolls are delicious!  Right behind him was a girl handing out fried ocra.  Other "extras" that were being handed out were "fried taters", macaroni and tomatoes, black eyed peas, and sorghum molasses.  Betty and I each had a fried shrimp dinner.  We each got 10 jumbo shrimp, and could have had as many more as we wanted.  All their dishes are "all you can eat".  We didn't know if they were still doing it, but when the bill came we were told that since Betty "came in her own chair, she eats free!"  That really made our meals reasonable!

Friday, Oct. 24
Betty and I did a little more exploring this morning.  We drove down 76 Music Blvd., where most of the theaters are located, then across the Shepherd of the Hills Parkway.  We returned in plenty of time to leave for our Showboat Branson Belle sailing.

The showboat was built on the shore of Table Rock Lake just above the current dock location before the buildings were built there.  It was launched sideways down steel rails.  They did not want to pollute the lake by using grease for lubrication, so they used bananas, 30 cases of them!  It is the largest boat working on a landlocked body of water in the country.  It is totally electric.  Using two1200 horsepower diesel engines, it generates all the power for the lighting, air conditioning, sound, and the propulsion system.  The drive is a pair of twin paddle wheels, each powered by a geared 600 hp electric motor.

We boarded an hour before sailing and found our tables.  They were great seats.  We then took a tour of the 3 decks that were elevator accessible.  After I took Betty back to the table, Fred and I went back to the 4th (top) deck which is only accessible by stairs.  There was a Dixieland band playing there.  As they finished playing we went back, and they started serving dinner shortly later.  As they were serving, the boat left the dock and started touring the lake.

Dinner was excellent!  We had a salad followed by a grilled chicken breast and a fancy sounding beef that was really pot roast.  Mashed potatoes, vegetables, and a roll finished it off.  Desert was Baked Alaska.  The band was playing the entire time we were eating.  After dinner there was an intermission when we could tour the boat while it was cruising the lake.

The show followed.  There was a singing and dancing group of 4, a pair of Russian dancers, and a pair of acrobats.  The emcee was excellent and also sang.  When we bought our tickets, we were told that the lunch cruise did not include the talking dog act!  Awwwwwwww!  The show was a lot of fun.

A number of members of Fred and Judy's church were coming to Branson this weekend and arrived today.  We all went over to one of the condos they rent and had a good time.  We celebrated a birthday and a 49th anniversary.  We now have 14 new Baptist friends.

It has been quite warm here, but that is supposed to change tomorrow.  There is a cold front due to pass with the likelihood of rain and a significant drop in the temperatures.   The lows will drop from the current 50's to the 30's. 

Saturday, Oct. 25
Today is overcast and definitely colder.  The four of us went over to the Table Rock Dam Visitor Center in the rain and saw their video and browsed the gift shop.  There are no dam tours as a security precaution.

We decided to go over to the Grand Country Music Theater (the old 76 Music Hall) and get tickets for the 3:30 show.  We looked around the gift shop then decided it was time for lunch.  They have a very good buffet in conjunction with the theater.  We took our time, ate way too much, and left the buffet just in time to go into the theater for the show.

The show was very entertaining.  In two hours they kept us entertained with solos, group singing, band numbers, and of course, comedy.  The second half was a tribute to the 40's, 50's, 60's, etc. up to the present.

After the show, the Pfafmans and we went our separate ways.  We drove around Branson.  We found the theater where we will be going to a free gospel show tomorrow morning and then located another theater and bought tickets for a show tomorrow night.  This was on a 2 for 1 ticket we picked up at the show this afternoon. 

Sunday, Oct. 26
We went to the Old Time Gospel Hour this morning.  It wasn't quite what we were expecting, but it was interesting.  It was a full church service which regularly operates from one of the large theaters.  This service was in a different theater as they were preparing the regular one for the Christmas series of shows.

After the service, we went back to the campground where we said our sad goodbye's to Fred and Judy.  They pulled out and headed back to Higden to resume life as normal.  We stayed an extra day in the Branson campground.

A little side note on the Branson campground:  Saturday, we all noticed a single leaf down low on an almost bare young tree between our two motorhomes.  It was fairly breezy and that little leaf was just swinging and bouncing in the wind.  We all expected it to fall to the ground any moment.  Tomorrow morning (trust me on this one - I came back and inserted this) as we were leaving the campground, that little leaf was still hanging on, still swinging and bouncing in the wind, refusing to be torn from its mooring.  May it continue to hang on!

(Back to Sunday)  After making a driving loop of most of Table Rock Lake and a couple hours of relaxing in the motorhome, we headed out for our final show.  This was a family music show which has been operating in Branson for 20 years.  It was very well done and highly enjoyable.

Tomorrow we will leave Branson for a destination near the Lake of the Ozarks.

I have posted these reports and some photos at:

http://myweb.cableone.net/rsmason/arkansas03.htm

Till then,

Dick and Betty