Having said good-bye to family and friends on Friday night, we met Ken and Tracy in the Wal-mart parking lot on Saturday morning to pick up Benji and Zoe, hook up the RV and head out. The morning broke cool and windy so good-byes were quickly said and off we went.
First stop was the Walmart Shopping Center in Sioux Falls, SD. High head winds slowed us down and as such we did not get as far south as we had originally hoped (not to mention eating into our gas mileage - 2.9 Kms/l - OUCH!). Then to add insult to injury, our RV battery didn't recharge during the journey so we ran out of power quite early in the evening. Good thing we were ready for bed by 2000 hrs. Next morning we purchased a new battery and were on the road again by 0930 hrs.
Second stop was - you guessed it - a Walmart Shopping Center but this time in the town of Bolivar, Missouri. Hey what can I say, the price is right! While we had lots of battery power this time, two of the three slideouts did not open! While the RV was cramped, it was still livable. We assumed the problem was related to the previously diagnosed "sagging" rear end which was scheduled for repair in Kansas City on 30 Nov. With that in mind we pressed on to Branson the next day.
Branson, Missouri is nestled in the Ozark Mountains, a small town that is focused on tourism and is famous for it's line-up of live shows. With more than 40 theatres and 100 shows playing at any given time, you can take in three shows a day and not see them all in the run of a month.
We stayed at the Ozark Country Campground located about 4 miles south of the city. The campground staff were great and the facilities were excellent. A little too cold to use the swimming pool but we took advantage of their small library and very clean laundry facilities.
Of course, the first order of business was a round of golf! There are nine golf courses to choose from in the Branson area. Jim and I opted for an Executive course in the heart of the city called Thousand Hills. The view from the clubhouse of the first hole gives you a good idea of the construct of the course, hilly and narrow!
Jim and I both parred this little par 3. Good for morale given the way we played some of the other holes(LOL).
But as I mentioned earlier, Branson is famous for its live shows. We decided on three - a local musical duo, a local comedian and a more familiar country performer. We were not disappointed. The duo, the Rankin Brothers, gave an outstanding performance of songs from the 50s, 60s and 70s. Their ability to sound like the performers who did the actual songs was uncanny!
The second performance we took in was an Ozark version of Buddywassiname and the Other Fellas! Paul Harris is an outstanding comedian and with his four supporting musicians put on a show that had everyone rolling in the aisles. Pictured below is the Cleaverley "trio" - yah there's five of them in the trio! It was hilarious.
We finished the week by taking in a Christmas performance by Mel Tillis and two of his children - Mel Jr and his youngest daughter Carrie April. Again, a very entertaining evening. Apparently Mel Jr is an accomplished songwriter and Carrie April is a singer (although not as well known as her older sister Pam). Her performance of O Holy Night and Ave Maria sent tingles down your spine. Mel was vintage Mel, performing some of his favourite Christmas songs as well as familiar country tunes. It was a great way to end the week.
Bright and early Sunday morning we hit the road for the return trip to Kansas City. We arrived safely and are tucked in at the Travelside RV Park in Grain Valley, MO, directly across from the dealership that hopefully will fix on RV so we can resume our travels. See you next week.
