VETERAN'S WEEK IN BRANSON

It's Veteran's week in Branson, and they are treated very well, with free shows and meals, a parade, and exhibits all over town. Tommy Franks has one in the parking lot of Branson Landing for his museum.

There were many interesting things in the exhibit. Here's a Barbie doll from Iraq.

Very interesting!

BRANSON LANDING

You can walk through Branson Landing, or ride the trolley back and forth.

This is a picture looking at the water show (which isn't on ) from the other angle.

This helps to get you in the Christmas mood.

They're pretty-close-up.

Even the reindeer are decked out.

WALK ALONG LAKE TANEYCOMO

There's a real nice walk along Lake Taneycomo that runs behind the Branson Landing shopping center in downtown Branson. It's a great place get your daily exercise and a nice view too.


Looking the other direction, you can see one of our favorite restaurants on the water, owned by Bass Pro Shops.

The shopping center consists of up-scale stores with condos and apartments above them. In the center of the mall, down by the walk, is a set-up for a water show with fountains and fire, similar to what you see in the Dells or at the Belagio in Las Vegas. You can walk in front of it or behind. At this time of year , the water is synchronized to Christmas music. There are also speakers in each of the light poles, so you can sing along as you walk.

Coming from the north, I'm always thrilled to still see roses blooming in November.

You can tell winter is on the way-they've planted the pansies and kale.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

We picked up the RV on Tuesday and spent the night in Clinton, MO. The new transmission works fine, and we're very grateful that it was under warrenty. On Wednesday, we drove to Branson and are currently at Turkey Creek, the Escapee park in Holister, just across the river. The river is out of its banks, and is up to the outer road in the campground. It looks funny to see the trees in the water. The rest of the town is already decorated for Christmas, which I love. We're still trying to decide which Christmas shows to attend-and of course, there's shopping to do! Fun awaits us!

GOOD FOOD

Boy, I'm slipping! We only ate out 4 times during October, and two were at lunch. Since we were on the road, and got up at 4 a.m. and ate a granola bar, we were ready for a late breakfast before we left Des Moines. The GPS listed a diner down the road, and we love diners -so, we stopped at the 5 & Diner. We both had the short stack and agree they were some of the lightest, best pancakes we've ever had. Even the light syrup was good. The place was full and all the food looked good!

LAST WEEKEND

I finally got the pictures from last weekend in the computer, so will catch up. We hadn't seen much of Lucas this summer, so wanted to get to one of his athletic events, so we drove up to Des Moines to see him play basketball. He did very well. The pace of the game is very fast, so it's tough to get good pictures. He's #4 in the grey uniform.

STILL IN KANSAS CITY

We're still in Kansas City-sitting in a motel room, waiting for them to put in a new transmission in the RV. Thank God it's still under warrenty! You know all this stuff is above my head, but apparently the Allison Co. tried to save money on some bearings and they ended up costing them thousands of dollars in replacement transmissions. They were amazed that we were able to hobble in to KC. Hopefully they'll be done around noon and we'll be able to head out. We had to stay in a motel, because they're not used to RV's and were afraid to let us stay there. It's also jacked up, so it would have been difficult.
Anyway, I don't have my pictures in the computer yet, and don't have the cord with me, so I'll back up to last weekend later.
For those of you who believe in prayers, our son with five children lost his job on Friday-nothing he did, just a sign of the times. If you pray, please add Russ to the list, if not cross your fingers! Those of you who know him, know he can sell ice to the eskimos, but times are tough. We'd appreciate your help.