Y’all come. . .

Branson is the heart of the Ozarks and maybe not as “country” as Nashville, but it’s pretty darn close! There are only about 10,000 souls who actually LIVE in Branson, but millions come each year to see the shows and spend time on the lake. The local paper, the Branson Tri-Lakes News (the Sat/Sun/Mon/Tue edition) quotes the sheriff that the population including tourists is about 70,000. And I think they were all on the road this morning! And every morning. If I hadn’t tried to drive through beautiful downtown Branson, I wouldn’t have believed the traffic. This morning I went to meet Randy after his golf game and the traffic was backed up for a quarter of a mile. Why? Because they weren’t able to make a RIGHT turn and therefore the straight ahead traffic (including me) couldn’t get through the intersection. And Randy thinks the traffic in Tucson is bad!

Mike Babler saved us (Randy, me, and Kathy) in Okinawa when we were bumped off a flight home from Bangkok.

Tom Lockhard took a bus (!!!) from Sedona to Tulsa then rented a car to get to Branson

12 of the original 26 (5 have died)

And the wives

One of the two dinners

We came for here the 50^th anniversary of Randy’s graduation from USAF pilot training because it is central and I think that was a good idea. But Randy and I would never survive LIVING here. I seriously doubt there is a single liberal Democrat in all of Branson, perhaps even all of Missouri. Not there are that many in the officer corps of the Air Force! Needless to say, we didn’t spend a lot of time at the reunion talking politics!

But we all had a wonderful time catching up. Some of the guys had kept in touch over the years, but most were like Randy who had not met with anyone over the past 50 years. Nevertheless, it was as if there wasn’t an intervening 50 years. The guys couldn’t stop talking—well, shooting the bull! Tom Lockhart regaled us with the story of his BUS trip (these guys are all PILOTS—why he took the bus we never found out) from Sedona to Tulsa, 24 hours! Walt Turk, who was in the AF for 37 years, talked about building his own airplane. Everybody had a story! Several of the wives were the same wives that were in Big Spring during pilot training in 1962-63 (including me) so we had some catching up to do as well but even the wives who weren’t there in 62-63 had fun. All in all a great time for all.

Typical Branson architecture

On the way to the showboat

Our showboat

Dinner and a show

View off the back of the showboat

So what is there to do in Branson? Well, there are shows. And more shows. And did I mention there are shows? They all are terminally cute. We went on the  Branson Belle, the “most entertaining showboat in America.” They offer "dinner" at very long, skinny tables where, if you aren't already very good friends with the person next to you, you will be very good friends by the end of dinner. We were seated next to Bubba, his bored granddaughter, and about 30 others, and there is no booze! Then imagine these tables, about 20 rows of them, each seating about 30, spaced so close that you can’t leave the table without Bubba and his granddaughter getting out before you. The music and magic was adequate, but the food was mediocre at best. Never again.

Tuesday we are leaving on a 2200 mile journey to Victoria. Probably better than going 20 miles south of Branson to a small town where, we are told, the KKK still flourishes! We haven't seen any blacks here; do you suppose there's a relationship there?