Branson Day 2 of 11

We boarded the bus in the morning and went to the Hughes Brothers show called  "IT".  They are a family group of five brothers, their wives, and 33 children.  They were wonderful.  I took many pics in the theater with no flash and got just a few good ones to share.

There are over 50 singers, dancers, and musicians entertaining us on stage.  It was a very good show and I loved it. 

These are some of the older boys

The younger boys

The brothers

The family.  I tried to put in some pics of the girls, but the pics did not turn out so great.  After the show we were served a wonderful lunch there at the theater, served by family.

After lunch we boarded the tour bus with a guide and we traveled around the Branson area.  One of the places was the Shepherd of the Hills Fish Hatchery.  Here I spotted this interesting plant.  It is called American Beauty Berry.  So pretty.
 I wanted to get some great underwater pics of the big breeding fish they have so down I went in the cold.  LOL  No, we went down to the aquarium level of the visitor center and took these next pics.

The hatchery is the largest trout-rearng facility operated by the Missouri Department of Conservation.  It produces between 350,000 and 400,000 pounds of trout each year.  Both rainbow and brown trout are raised at the hatchery with 80% of production going into the lake were they were raised. 

This is a rainbow trout.  This is an the large aquarium level they have at the visitors center where we also saw a short film about the place.  About 1,200,000 fish are raised each year. In the aquarium they had on display some of the breeding stock for the hatchery.  These guys were BIG.

We are at the bottom of the damn and you can see some of the runs, where the fish are raised.   They must cover them because the birds think the fish is for them.  There are 10 flood gates on the damn as you can see and two years ago they had so much rain they had to open all ten gates.  Our guide said that people came from miles round to see this sight.

We also traveled to the College of the Ozarks or also known as Hard Work U.  This building is a kind of visitor center for the college.  They had rooms, restaurant, gift shop (all the gifts are made by the students).  It is a very interesting place. I will tell more in other blogs, but it is late and we have a very busy day tomorrow with 3 shows to go to. 

Inside I spied these window framed in copper.

Copper ceiling in the dinning room.

wood inlay of the college logo.

Next are 2 very beautiful and interesting chairs made here on campus by the students.

 

must be comfy for Rog.

We came home from the tour and had 45 minutes to eat and then get back on the bus to go to the Shji Tabuchi Show.  We were told on the tour by our guide that we must go into the bathrooms and look around when we got there.  Wow!!!

They were big and beautiful.  Notice the ceilings too,  In the ladies room there were door after door to the stalls.  The decorations were amazing. 

Is a little fuzzy, but this is what is behind the closed doors. 


 
This is another area of the bathroom all the sinks, sitting area, fireplace in the back behind the ladies. Notice the chandler
Close-up of the chandler


Now to the men's bathroom .  I was not the photographer for this so did not get all the pics I wanted.  But they have a pool table.

 
Here you see the sinks and I was told that all porcelain fixtures were black with brass knobs and stuff.  Over the top beautiful.
This is Shji Tabuch.  He was originally from Japan.   As a child he began to play the violin and continued playing into his teens.  Then he saw and heard country western music and fell in love and came to the U.S. and started playing here.  He became a citizen and all.  He is a wonderful entertainer and violin player.  I do not have pics of his show because the lighting is so much less than the other show they did not turn out.  He had a band to back him up and a group of singers including his daughter.  It was a great show too. 

Looking forward to tomorrows shows.

Tom/ Day 1 of Branson Rally

 
 My son, Tom, is in the Air Force and is stationed in Japan.  Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta visited Tokyo, Japan Sept. 17, 2012. Panetta visited with defense counterparts in Tokyo before traveling to Beijing, China and Auckland, New Zealand on a week long trip to the Pacific.  While he was there Tom met with him and a pic was taken.

Today was a fun day.  This is really day number 1 of our 11 day Branson, Mo Rally.  We came in a day early and had a fun day visiting instead of rushing around trying to get a spot for the rv and then registering at the rally.  They had free coffee and the park provided free pancakes for breakfast.  
Then they had an orientation for the first-timers.  We broke for lunch and came back to the convention center for the opening ceremonies where we met the owners of the company and all the people in the organization.  We also met the major of Branson. This part of the day was split into parts and between the different parts a comedian would come in and entertain us and he was so funny.

We broke again and came back at 5 pm for social hour and then had dinner.  It was ham, salad, potatoes, veggies, and desserts. yumm.

After dinner we had a fun show that came to the rv convention center. 

This was our evening entertainment tonight. They are called the Homestead Pickers Hillbilly Band and they were good singers, story tellers and great fun.

This gentleman is playing the hammer dulcimer.

The theme for the evening events was Ozark "Hillbilly Hoedown" and if you wanted you could come dressed like a hillbilly.  So we did and it was fun.  Rog and I got first place for the best hillbillys there. Notice Rog got all dressed up with tie and all. LOL

  Hillbilly is a term referring to certain people who dwell in rural, mountainous areas of the United States, primarily southern Appalachia but also the Ozarks.  "a Hill-Billie is a free and untrammeled white citizen of Alabama, who lives in the hills, has no means to speak of, dresses as he can, talks as he pleases, drinks whiskey when he gets it, and fires off his revolver as the fancy takes him.

The gentleman in the center in the red shirt is Horace.  He was at our table for dinner and the show.  He is 85 and from Louisiana. He brought his accordion for one of the band members to play, but they talked him into playing, it did not take much convincing to get that to happen.  He was quite the entertainer.  He even sang a Cajan tune.  

Tomorrow we are up and on the tour bus at 9 am and return at 5:30 let the dogs out change if we need to and back on the bus for a trip to the theater for a show and home at 9:30pm,  Busy day fun fun fun.

Branson, Mo Mega Rally

We arrived in Branson after lunch.  We are in Branson, Mo attending an Adventure Caravans Mega Rally. The campground escorted us to our place which is really nice with a grass area for the dogs, trees, two picnic tables for guests, and all the other stuff for your rv.  We placed the jacks down, slid the rooms out, and plugged in. Quickly took the dogs out and headed over to the check in area.  We turned in essential paper work and signed in.  They gave us a welcome packet with all the information we will need for the rally, a blanket,  and a $50 gift card for the rally store.  I got a very nice hoodie and Rog got an orange, yes orange polo shirt.  We signed up for craft classes, games, dinners, and other stuff.  Then we visited with the peeps and had a nice time.  We came in a day early so we did not have to worry about the time traveling and all.  Now tomorrow is the official start of the rally and the fun begins.  

What is an RV Rally?
A gathering a Rvers - who meet at a fixed location to participate in a popular area, event or happening.  The rendezvous park will be used as our 'hub' (homebase) holding various activities and events.  From the 'hub' we will venture to the surrounding area to enjoy attractions and events related to the theme and culture of the rally location.  Once the rally begins all necessary transportation for tours events and activities is per-arranged.  Guided motorcoach tours, and showboat fun. 

I will be out and about tomorrow taking pictures to share with you.

  
Try this it is fun


 

Another work day.

We had another busy work day at Sally's place.  She has an rv too.  Let me go back a bit in time and tell you how we met Sally.  We went to Alaska last summer for 58 days.  We went with a group of people.  Kind of like a cruise thing, but we all took our rvs.  It was a great trip and we met some really nice people and Sally was one of those nice people.  It is great that we keep in touch with so many of the people on that trip.  We met three other couples in Florida last winter.  And we are planning a trip to Maine where another couple from this same trip is setting up an "Alaska reunion" in July and 8 of the rvers are going to be there.  Well that is the story of how we met Sally.  She is the neatest lady and so very funny and generous.  She let us park in her driveway and she has shown us the best time ever.  

Now to the days events.  Sally has an rv and when she is home she washes and waxes and cleans it up real pretty and then covers it.  To make sure the cover stays in place she needed to secure it.  So on one side of the rv she placed eye bolts to tie the straps to the cover down and on the other side she secured the straps by placing cement blocks  on top of them.  Rog suggested she place eye bolts on that side too.  Sally was not sure how to do that so Rog said he would advise her on the installation of said bolts.  So over to the store and back with all the stuff for the job.  So Rog came with the proper advisory wear to help when needed.

Sally needed to drill holes in the concert slab to place the eye bolts.

She needed to vacuum up the cement dust and make sure the drilled hole is clean.

She then places the anchors for the eye bolts into the drilled holes.

The next step is setting the anchor with a setting tool and a hammer.  She will be using that same hammer later.

The last step in this process is to screw the eye bolt into the anchor.  This process was done three more times.

She is having some difficulty turning off the vacuum so she is using the "bigger hammer" theory to fix her problem.  All I have to say on the subject is the 10% rule.  This a military rule that our son told us.  You have to be 10% smarter than what ever you are working with in order for things to work out correctly.  Obviously there is a big problem here.

Sally is really putting her back into this one.  This is the last hole she will need to drill and the job will be complete.  Notice in the pic you see a nice soft mat for Sally to rest her knees on.  Her adviser finally thought of it on the last one.

The adviser doing what advisers do best. 

Great job Sally.

Well Sally is not the only one working around here.  I decided to replant my herb garden.  I needed to put light weight stuff in the bottom for drainage and to lessen the weight.  So I took all the plants and soil out and place light weight stuff in.

Then I replanted basal and oregano.

Job done.

These are the cement blocks Sally used to hold down the straps to the rv cover.  She now has great new eye bolts so these are not needed anymore.

Rog is helping load up and look at those muscles.

After all the working she still had the energy to prepare us a great meal.  I am only showing you this pic because of the neat tool used to turn steaks over.  It has nothing to do with the steaks and baked potatoes we had for dinner.  LOL

This is our last day with Sally and we will be moving on.  It has been so much fun and so great to see Sally and her six pack again.  We are hoping to see her many times in the years to come.  We will be traveling this great country as she will be and we hope those travels happen to cross many times.  
THANK YOU SALLY!!!!
and 
CHEERS

A working day

We decided that today we would stay put and do some repairs, cleaning and painted on our rigs.  After a quick run to the store for needed supplies, we each tackled the tasks at hand.  

 Sally had a water leak in her rig and she asked Rog for some advise on how to repair it.  She made it understood she wanted to learn how to do the repairs and wanted Rog to work in an advisory position only.
 The first thing that needed to be done was remove the bad spot.  This meant a cut had to be done.  So her adviser advised where to cut.   This first step was the hardest (but Sally the brave gal that she is) knew there was no other way.  Cuts completed, she moves on to the next step.

The next step is to place the new fitting inside the plastic water pipe.  This has turned out to be a little more difficult than first thought.  So her adviser advised her to use a bigger hammer or in this case a bigger vise grip to force the issue.  This still did not work so..
 The adviser is showing the correct technique for the "bigger hammer" method for repair jobs. 

   her adviser's wife suggested she use heat to soften the plastic.  A hair dryer was the perfect tool for the job.

Job is complete and the fix is holding at maximum water pressure.

We stayed in the rig and talked a bit to kill time to see if it was going to leak.  Sally gives it a thumbs up so we know we are a go and all it good. Job well done Sally, adviser and adviser's wife.

 Rog decided to wash the car and make it shiny.  So he grabbed his wash bucket, scrub cloth, drying towels, and wife and got the job done in no time a all.

The way I remember the story is that Sally and a tree had a misunderstanding and we have some small stratches, tiny stratches, but if you know Sally the whole side of her rig is gone, destroyed and she needs a new rig.  So Rog tells here about the time he had a misunderstanding with some bushes in a parking lot and how he was able to buff  out the scratches with some magic compound and a buffer.  So Sally was willing to give it a try before doing anything rash.  
 Hard at work with the buffer.


Scratches all gone and another happy Sally with a job well done.  By the way she decided to keep her rig after all.  LOL

Here I am painting the tow bar that goes on the car to make it look like new.  This job needs to be completed tomorrow because the paint was not dry and we need to flip the metal to paint on the reverse side.  We all worked hard today.  









Always look forward.
Love this cartoon.