Living Our Dream

Independence, MO, to Frankfort, KY
 

It was a short drive of only about two hours from Blue Springs Campground near Independence, MO, to our next stop in Columbia, MO, where we stayed at Cottonwoods RV Park, a Good Sam park. Cottonwoods RV has paved roads and patios and gravel pads with grass between the sites and a some smaller trees for a little shade. There are a few back-in sites along one side, but most of the sites are pull-throughs. There are full hookups, some with 30-amp electric and some with 30/50-amp, and there is free Wi-Fi.

Although the sites are relatively long, they are a little narrow. There is one row of extra-cost premium pull-throughs that are extra-extra long. The photo below shows our standard pull-through site at Cottonwoods RV.

The next photo is a view down the road past our site.

There was a little traffic noise from the four-lane highway that went past the campground, and we could hear the PA announcer over at the fairgrounds next door on the weekend. However, it was hot so we ran the air the whole time we were there, and the outside noises weren't that noticeable.

Our summer travels are beginning to wind down now that we are heading back east. We scheduled four days in Columbia so we could relax and so we wouldn't be traveling over the weekend. Although there are a few things to do in Columbia, MO, we didn't make any sightseeing plans.

We did make a Walmart run (actually we stopped at Walmart several times while we were in Columbia), and we went to the Boone County Farmers Market on the western side of downtown on Saturday. The market had about a dozen vendors, and they had a nice selection of local produce.

We bought some zucchini and a tomato. The zucchini was a new variety of golden zucchini that was outstanding. It had a somewhat nuttier and sweeter flavor than regular green zucchini. The tomato was excellent, too. What a treat to have locally-grown, fresh produce. Walmart saves us a lot of money on groceries, but produce isn't one of their strong suits - sometimes it's OK, other times not so much.

From Columbia, it was a little longer drive of about four hours to our next stop. We drove through St. Louis, and Margery got a nice shot of the arch as we passed by.

We planned to stop at at Wayne Fitzgerrell State Recreation Area in Whittington, IL. The recreation area has over 200 sites, most of which are first come-first served, so we didn't make reservations. From a satellite view on Google Maps, we could see the campground was heavily wooded, but it looked like there might be a few sites where we could get satellite.

We parked the motor home near the entrance, unhooked the toad, and drove through the campground. Wow! Although it was even more wooded than we thought, there was a lot of dappled sunshine. Had we not been concerned about satellite reception, it would have been a campground that we would have enjoyed.

We found a couple of sites we thought might work; but they had very few 50-amp sites, and all the ones where we thought might get satellite were 30 amps. Thirty amps is fine in cooler weather, but when it's sunny, hot and humid, we need 50-amp service to run both air conditioners to keep the rig cool during the day.

Earlier, at the interstate exit, we saw a sign for a private campground nearby, so we decided to give them a call to see if they had any sites where they thought we could get satellite reception before we tried any of the sites at Wayne Fitzgerrell. The name of the other campground was Whittington Woods, so we didn't have much hope since they had "Woods" in their name, but we figured it was worth a shot. To our surprise, they said they had a full hookup, 50-amp site available where they were sure we could get good satellite reception.

Whittington Woods was a bit more expensive than Wayne Fitzgerrell, but at about $30 with a Good Sam discount, it wasn't unreasonable for a full hookup, pull-through, 50-amp site. Wayne Fitzgerrell is $20 a night for electric only, and only a handful of sites have 50 amps.

Whittington Woods has nice, fresh gravel on the roads and pads. There is grass between most of the sites, but it's a little sparse because of all the shade, which is heavier overall than Wayne Fitgerrell. There are both pull-throughs and back-ins. The next photo shows our site at Whittington Woods. You can see our dish pointing at the small, sunny opening in the trees. Actually, it looked like the two sites next to us would have also worked for satellite, but they recommended the site they gave us as THE satellite site.

 

The sites were pretty narrow, but the campground wasn't anywhere near full so we had plenty of space and privacy. There is a fair amount of traffic noise from nearby I-57, and it would have been pretty noticeable if we hadn't had the air conditioner running all night.

<We originally planned to stay at Wayne Fitzgerrell for two nights, but after we changed our plans on where to stay, we also changed our plans on how long to stay and decided to move on the next morning. We were able to hook up the toad the night before to get an early (for us) start around 9:00 AM. We had a drive of almost five hours (including a fuel stop), plus we lost an hour to the time change from Central to Eastern Daylight time.

Our next stop was at Still Waters Campground north of Frankfort, KY, which is near Lexington, where we planned to stay for a week. We originally wanted to stay at the Kentucky Horse Park camping area in Lexington because it would have been more centrally located to some of the things we wanted to do; but there is a major equestrian event at the Horse Park for the month of October, and the campground was closed to the public in October AND September so they can make the campground into a "grooms' village" for the event.

Still Waters is a gem. It's about 10 miles north of Frankfort making it pretty far out of the way, but that wasn't all bad. There were no trains, no interstate noise, and it was far enough from the two-lane road that passed by the entrance you could hardly even hear the small amount of local traffic. The campground wasn't real full, and it was very, very quiet. The weather even cooled off to the low 80s during the day and the 50s at night so we could open the windows and hear the crickets.

Still Waters has gravel roads and pads that are grassy gravel. All the sites are back-ins, and there is a mixture of full hookup, water and electric only, 30-amp and 50-amp sites. We had a full-hookup site with 50 amps. There is no Wi-Fi and no cable, but that doesn't bother us. We could easily spend a month here which we have noted for the future.

 

As you can see from the photo below taken looking down the road toward our site, the grassy sites are fairly widely spaced. There is also a nice mix of sun and shade.

There appeared to be a fair number of seasonals, but the sites all looked relatively neat. One or two of the RVs were older, but they were all in good condition. About our only complaint about the campground was some of the roads are a bit uneven, which means you have to drive the RV very slowly. The peace and quiet more than made up for a few dips in the road.

We're planning some sightseeing in the Frankfort/Lexington area, so stay tuned; and we'll tell you what we found.

Independence, MO

From Nebraska City we headed south to Blue Springs Campground in Lees Summit, MO, which is right outside Independence. Blue Springs is one of three campgrounds operated by Jackson County. Blue Springs Campground has some campsites with full hookups, some with water and electric only, and some with electric only. Most of the full-hookup sites have 30/50-amp electric, but a few have 30-amp. All the rest of the sites have 30-amp electric. Most of the sites are back-ins, but there are a few pull-throughs that are parallel to the road. None of the pull-throughs have full hookups.

The roads are paved, and the pads and patios are fresh gravel. Quite a few of the sites are "buddy" sites, which are two adjacent, closely-spaced sites so you and your buddy can stay right next to each other without having to share a site. When we made our reservations, we were more concerned about satellite reception, so we didn't realize we had reserved a "buddy" site. However, even the "buddy" sites were spaced farther apart than the sites in most commercial campgrounds. The next photo shows our site at Blue Springs Campground.

The next photo is a view down the road past our campsite. The campground wasn't full, even on the weekend.

Independence, MO, was the home of President Harry S. Truman. Since we have enjoyed our visits to several other presidential libraries, we decided to stop at the Truman Library.

The Truman Library and Museum is dedicated to preserving documents and artifacts relating to Harry S. Truman, who was the 33rd President of the United States from 1945 to 1953. The Truman Library opened in 1957 and was the first of the presidential libraries built under the 1955 Presidential Libraries Act.

Inside the lobby is a mural depicting Missouri pioneer life. Many pioneer wagon trains left Independence headed for the west.

One of the first displays inside the library is a replica of the Oval Office as it appeared in 1950.

After seeing the Oval Office, we watched a movie about Harry S. Truman's early life and start in politics. There are also displays on the lower level with more details about his boyhood, marriage and politics.

Harry Truman was born in 1884 in Lamar, MO, about 100 miles south of Independence. The "S" is his name doesn't stand for anything - he had no middle name. It's just an initial to honor both of his grandfathers, Anderson Shippe and Solomon Young.

When Truman was 6, his family moved to Independence. After graduating from high school, Truman worked for the Santa Fe Railroad and in several other clerical jobs. In 1906, he went to Grandview a few miles south of Kansas City to work on his grandparents' farm where he stayed until 1917 when he went into military service. Truman, who had served in the National Guard from 1905 to 1011 while in Grandview, re-enlisted in the Guard with America's involvement in WWI. Truman served as a battery commander and fought in France.

After the war, Truman returned home to Independence and married Bess Wallace whom he had met earlier. He opened a haberdashery which failed during the recession of 1921. In 1922, with the help of "Boss" Tom Pendergast and the Democratic machine, he was elected a county judge. This was an administrative rather than a judicial position. Truman would have needed a law degree for a judicial position, and he never went to college.

With Pendergast's backing, Truman was elected to the U. S. Senate in 1934. In 1943, his success as head of a committee to investigate military waste, fraud and mismanagement and his common-sense cost-saving measures thrust Truman into the national spotlight.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was president at the time. Roosevelt's health was failing, and the Democratic National Committee felt Roosevelt would not live through another presidential term. They were opposed to then Vice President Henry Wallace becoming President, so they replaced Wallace with Truman on the ticket for the 1944 election. Roosevelt won an unprecedented 4th term as President (Congress voted in term limits after Roosevelt's death) with Harry Truman as Vice President.

Roosevelt died of a massive stroke on April 12, 1945, and Harry Truman was sworn in as President. The exhibits on the main floor of the Truman Library begin with Truman's swearing in and they follow some of the issues and decisions he faced. Truman, who was relatively unknown and untried, would face some of the most difficult decisions any president would ever have to make.

About two months after Truman took office, Germany surrendered, but Japan remained defiant refusing to even consider terms of surrender. President Truman was briefed on the Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb on the day Roosevelt died. Truman ordered an atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on the morning August 6, 1945, and a second bomb dropped on Nagasaki two days later. On August 9th, Japan surrendered.

The decision to drop the atomic bombs was controversial to say the least. Supporters maintain hundreds of thousands of lives were saved, both American and Japanese, that would have otherwise been lost in an invasion of Japan. Opponents maintain the use of such terrible weapons was immoral and that Japan could have been defeated without an all-out invasion. However, the good news was the war was finally over.

During WWII, millions of Jews had been displaced. Although millions were killed, some were deported by Germany, and others fled. Jewish refugees scattered all over the world. After the end of the war, President Truman pressured Britain, which controlled Palestine at the time, to admit Jewish refugees. Britain submitted the issue to the United Nations, which recommended partitioning Palestine into two states - one Jewish and one Arab. This was a decision Jewish leaders accepted and Arab leaders rejected even to this day. Nevertheless, the formation of the state of Israel was announced on May 14, 1948.

Against the recommendations of his advisers, President Truman recognized Israel on May 25, 1948, and he was the first world leader to do so. The Torah in the photo below was presented to Truman by the first president of Israel in appreciation of America's recognition and support.

President Truman oversaw the transition to a peacetime economy. Many feared a return to the tough times of the Depression that preceded the war, but the poor economics of the Depression and the rationing during the war created an unprecedented demand for goods. Although there were shortages, threats of labor strikes and inflation shortly after the war ended, all the pent up demand for goods generated immense investments in manufacturing, and the economy began to boom. New industries like television sprang up. Homes were filled with air conditioners, TVs, electric clothes dryers and consumer goods of all kinds.

The Cold War also started shortly after the end of WWII. The Soviets, fearing a German resurgence, established absolute control over East Germany and eastern Europe, and they imposed their system of Communism. The United States and its European allies wanted more self determination and free markets. Fearing the Soviets were out to grab more territory for Communism, Truman took a hard line to contain the Soviet Union.

With all the turmoil, Truman was not expected to win reelection in 1948.  There is even a famous photo of Truman holding a newspaper with headlines saying his opponent, Thomas Dewey, had won; but Truman pulled out a last-minute, come-from-behind win to serve another term.

The museum has on display a 1950 Lincoln Cosmopolitan limousine that was one of a fleet of specially-designed cars leased to the White House for use by high government officials. This was before the time of special, armored Presidential limos. The car has a V-8 engine, two heaters - one in front and one in back, hydraulically-operated windows, two radios, and four cigarette lighters.

In 1950 during Truman's second term, the North Korean People's Army invaded South Korea. Truman proposed a naval blockade of North Korea, but found out there were no longer enough U. S. warships to enforce a blockade following military cutbacks after WWII. Truman urged the United Nations to step in, and the UN authorized a multi-national military defense of South Korea. The Korean Conflict, as it was called, remained more or less a stalemate for two years with over 30,000 Americans killed before an agreement finally re-established borders and restored peace.

Congress had already passed term limits for the office of president that would prevent a president from serving a third term or from serving a second term if he had served more than two years of a previous president's term. The latter part of that law would have applied to Truman except that the law contained a grandfather clause exempting the current president. However, in early 1952, Truman's approval rating stood at a dismal 22%, and Truman lost the New Hampshire primary. Truman canceled his plans for re-election.

President Truman left office in early 1953 and returned to Independence to live in the Wallace house that had become his home after his marriage to his wife Bess. The house, now called the Truman Home, is a National Historical Site and is normally open for tours. Unfortunately, it was temporarily closed while we were there to repair damage to the home's electrical system caused by a storm. We did, however, drive by for a photo.

 

After his presidential library opened in 1957, Truman maintained an office there and often worked 5 or 6 days a week until a fall in his bathroom in 1964 limited his physical capabilities which ultimately forced him to stop spending time in his office. His office has been preserved as it was when he left it.

President Truman died in 1972 from complications from pneumonia. Bess died ten years later in 1982. Both are buried on the far side of the museum courtyard shown in the photo below. The Flame of Freedom in the foreground was placed by the American Legion. The Truman's daughter Margaret and her husband are also buried in the courtyard.

As with the other presidential libraries we visited, we enjoyed learning more about the history of our great country. We still have another report from the Kansas City/Independence area, so stay tuned. 

On the Road Again

First of all, we would like to thank all our friends and readers who expressed their condolences about the loss of our sweet dog, Molly. She was such a good traveler, and we'll miss her.

After delaying our departure from Bushnell, we finally hit the road on Thursday. We made an overnight stop at Pine Lake RV, a Passport America campground near Fountain, FL, in the panhandle. In other years after leaving Bushnell, we stayed at Chattahoochee RV located on the Apalachicola River. Chattahoochee is closer to half-way to our destination in Summerdale, AL; but last year, the river was flooded and some of the sites at the campground had recently been underwater. With more rain this year, we thought we would just drive a little farther and try a new campground that wasn't located near a river. The next photo shows our site at Pine Lake RV.

Pine Lake RV is located about 16 miles from the interstate, but there is still some highway noise from four-lane U. S. Highway 231 that passes by the campground on the way to Panama City. There is a railroad track a few hundred feet on the other side of the highway. Fortunately, there were very few trains because the rumble of the few that did pass was very loud. Fortunately, there is no crossing near the campground so there were only a few, distant toots of the train horns.

The roads through the campground are paved, but the pavement is quite narrow. The sites are a combination of grass and sand, and most are extra-long pull-throughs. The site width isn't too bad for a private campground. Pine Lake has full hook-ups with free Wi-Fi. Some sites have 30 amp electric and some have 50 amp. As you can see from the above photo, there are a few trees, but the office was very accommodating in allowing us to move to another site to get satellite reception. In the first site they gave us we could get internet, but not TV. They are on two different satellites, and a tree branch was blocking the TV signal.

In the morning we hit the road at 8:30, which is a little earlier than usual. We pulled into Rainbow Plantation in Summerdale, AL, shortly after noon. It was a good thing we got an early start because we got the last available site. A lot of Escepees spend the winter in Summerdale; and although some had moved on, others (like us) were stopping on our way north from Florida.

Rainbow Plantation is one of our favorite Escapees RV parks. The roads are paved, and the sites are a combination of grass and sand. There are full hook-ups and free Wi-Fi. Fifty-amp electric is available for an extra charge. Sites are nice and wide, and the campground is quiet.

One of the things we like about the Summerdale area is there are lots of things to do and see. Even though our visit to Summerdale was shortened because we extended our stay in Bushnell, we still wanted to see the azaleas blooming at Bellingrath Gardens over in Mobile. Bellingrath is famous for the over 250,000 azaleas that normally bloom around the middle two weeks of March. Unfortunately, when we checked the Bellingrath web site, we found out the unusually cold weather this winter had delayed the blooming by about two weeks. This delay was confirmed by observing the azaleas in people's yards in the area. Only about a third of the blossoms on most of the plants open, and it looked like the azaleas still had at least a week to 10 days to go before they even neared their peak. Therefore, we decided to save seeing azaleas for another time.

One of the other things we like about the Summerdale area is the close proximity to the Gulf of Mexico which means there is a lot of delicious seafood available. Last fall when we were in the area we discovered Shrimp Basket restaurants. Shrimp Basket is a chain of about a dozen restaurants with one in nearby Foley. Paul was hungry for fried shrimp, and the Shrimp Basket has all-you-can-eat shrimp baskets on Wednesdays and Sundays, so we headed down to Foley on Sunday.

 

After spending the weekend at Rainbow Plantation, we hit the road again on Monday. We were heading to Branson, MO, for the wedding of Heather, who is our daughter Lora's best friend and former roommate. We were friends with Heather's parents from our former church back in Pittsburgh, and we were pleased to have been invited to participate in the festivities.

With extending our stay back in Bushnell, our recent travels were a bit less leisurely than normal. We usually plan to travel no more than four hours a day, but this time, we would be traveling 5+ hours a day for a couple of days in a row. Our next overnight stop was at Movietown RV Park in Canton, MS, a little north of Jackson.

Movietown RV is a nice RV park. It has gravel roads and pads with full hookups and 50/30 amp electric. Sites are mostly pull-throughs and are fairly wide with grass between. Even though the campground is conveniently located near the interstate, there is surprisingly little traffic noise - and there are NO trains!

Apparently, the name of the RV park comes from the fact that quite a few movies have been filmed in the Canton area. Canton even has a movie office and a couple of movie museums. Maybe we'll go back some day for a longer visit, especially now that we know a good place to stay.

From Canton, we drove north to Little Rock, AR, in another 5+ hour travel day. We stayed at Maumelle Park north of the city last fall when we met up with our friends Marilyn and Alan. Since that time, Alan took a voluntary layoff when he found out the company he worked for was planning a cut-back, they sold their house, and they are now full-timers.

Maumelle Park is a Corps of Engineers campground located along the Arkansas River. The campground has paved roads and pads and gravel patios. There are water and electric hookups (30 amp) only. As with most COE campgrounds, sites are very generously spaced. The photo below shows our site at Maumelle Park.

We didn't make reservations because we were uncertain about our arrival date and because we thought the campground would be empty in the middle of the week in March. Boy, were we surprised when we arrived and found the campground was almost full! It looked like a lot of families were spending the week at the campground, so we're guessing we hit spring break for the Arkansas schools. There were also some college kids on spring break, and we're pleased to report the group tenting on the site next to us were very well behaved. The next photo is a view down the road from our site and gives you an idea of how crowded it was.

We normally look for a campground with pull-through sites when we make a one-night stop, but we liked Maumelle so much, it was worth unhooking the toad. Not only that, but Marilyn and Alan took us to Larry's Pizza when we were there last fall. Larry's is a chain of about a dozen restaurants around the Little Rock area, and, fortunately, there is one right down the road from Maumelle Park. They have a lunch buffet every day, but they only have the dinner buffet on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Luckily for us, we were there on Tuesday, so we had another good reason to unhook the car. The next photo shows Margery loading up at Larry's. Yum!

Here Paul is toasting Alan and Marilyn for introducing us to Larry's.

The next morning, we headed out for an unprecedented third straight travel day. The distance was a little shorter, and we were only on the road for about 3 1/2 hours instead of the 5+ hours we had been doing. We pulled into Escapees Turkey Creek Campground near Branson, MO, a little after noon.

In contrast to Maumelle Park, the campground in Branson was nearly empty. Late spring, summer and fall are the most popular times for Turkey Creek Campground, and we were a little early. But that was OK because some of the sites are also a little small, so we had plenty of elbow room with the campground almost empty.

Turkey Creek has gravel roads and pads, full hook-ups (there is an extra charge for 50 amp electric), free Wi-Fi and cable. Although the temperature was in the 60s when we arrived, we opted to pay extra for a 50 amp site because the weather forecast was calling for rain and falling temperatures so we thought 50 amp would make it easier to do laundry and use the electric heater at the same time. The photo below shows our site at Turkey creek.

We'll be spending a week in Branson, so we'll have time to relax a little between the wedding festivities. We're also looking forward to seeing Lora and J. Michael. We might even come up with some other activities or possibly a good restaurant, so stay tuned.

 

Branson, MO Part I: Branson Landing

After leaving the Omaha area, we drove south on I-29 through Kansas City, MO. Then we headed east a short distance on I-70 before turning south again on U. S. Route 65. It was a long drive of over 5 hours to Sedalia, MO, where we stopped for one night at Countryside Senior and Adult RV Park.

Countryside RV has mostly back-ins, but they have about half a dozen pull-throughs they reserve for those staying only one night. The campground is all gravel and they have full hookups with 30/50-amp electric plus cable. There is a little traffic noise from U. S. Route 65 that passes the campground; but unlike an interstate, traffic dwindles to almost nothing at night. The sites are a little close, but the campground wasn't anywhere near full. It was a great place for a one or two-night stop. The photo below shows our site at Countryside Senior RV.

 

From Sedalia, we had about a three-hour drive to Hollister, MO, which is just south of Branson. Hollister is the location of Escapees Turkey Creek RV Village where we planned to spend a couple of weeks to chill out and to let our budget recover a bit. Turkey Creek, like other Escapees campgrounds, has low daily and weekly rates for Escapees members. We spent the entire spring and summer in tourist areas where most of the campgrounds were pretty expensive. 

Turkey Creek has gravel roads and pads, paved patios, and grass between the sites. There are full hookups with 50-amp electric available at some sites, and they also have free Wi-Fi and cable. Some of the sites and roads are a little tight, especially in the area of the park where our site was located. The photo below shows our site at Turkey Creek.

There is a little daytime traffic noise from Business Route 65 that passes the campground. We could also hear occasional trains rumbling by on the other side of Turkey Creek, but we seldom heard their horns even though there is a crossing nearby in Hollister.

We arrived in Branson a few days before Labor Day weekend. We were just in time to catch up with some friends from back in Pittsburgh who retired to Branson two years ago. We got to visit with them before they took off on a nine-day motorcycle trip to Gatlinburg, TN.

We stayed at Turkey Creek and visited Branson our first year of full-timing. Branson, of course, is known for its family-oriented entertainment and shows. We found out the period after Labor Day is a slow time for Branson. Some of the shows close down or go on a reduced schedule for a while until some of the bus tours start later in October. That was fine with us because traffic was also greatly reduced after the Labor Day weekend.

Speaking of traffic...when we were the area three years ago, any time we wanted to travel in or around Branson, we had to drive right through town which is generally bumper to bumper most any time of the day. There was also road construction that made reaching SR 65 to by-pass downtown an even bigger nightmare. However, with that construction completed, it has become very easy to reach northern Branson (the new Super Walmart to be more specific) by zipping up the limited access, 4-lane road...and by golly there's a Kohl's, Target, Home Depot, and Michael's up there, too!

Branson is named for Ruben Branson, who opened a general store and post office in the area in 1892. The city was officially incorporated in 1912 when the Powersite Dam across the White River was completed downstream of Branson in nearby Forsythe, MO. The dam formed Lake Taneycomo, which is named for the county in which it is located - Taney County, MO. Lake Taneycomo is long and narrow and is really more like a widened section of the river than a lake.

After the holiday weekend, we stopped at Branson Landing, which is located on the waterfront along Lake Taneycomo. Branson Landing was opened in 2006 and is a retail shopping area that is anchored by Bass Pro Shop on one end and Belk's at the other end with numerous smaller shops in between. There is something for everyone.

The landing is also the departure point for cruises of Lake Taneycomo on either the 100-foot luxury yacht the Landing Princess...

 

...or the paddleboat replica the Lake Queen.

 

The other big attraction at Branson Landing is the $7.5 million fountain that features hourly shows of water, fire, and lights (at night) that dance and pulse in time to music.

 

The next photo is another view from the upper terrace overlooking the fountain.

The terraces are planted with colorful annuals and provide an attractive view from the restaurants, condos, and hotel surrounding the central square of Branson Landing.

As we said, Branson is known for its family-oriented shows. In 1959, the Baldknobbers Jamboree opened their show in Branson. In the same year, the theme park Silver Dollar City opened, followed by the outdoor drama "Shepherd of the Hills." At that time, most people went to Branson to fish, and the shows gave them something to do in the evenings. By the 1960s, there were several more shows, and a number of them began to relocate along Highway 76, which came to be known as "The Strip." The growth in the number of shows in Branson that transformed it into a major tourist attraction took place in the 1980s. Incidentally, the Baldknobbers are still performing, the "Shepherd of the Hills" drama is still being presented, and Silver Dollar City theme park is bigger than ever with over 1 million visitors a year.

Branson has some very good shows, so we decided we wanted to see at least one while we were there. We'll tell you about it in our next post.