Branson is Entertainment

We heard about an abundance of live shows and attractions in the small Ozark Mountain town of Branson, Missouri. We decided to make it a primary destination so we could check it out for ourselves and we’re glad we did. What an amazing place this is!

Even our campground was impressive with nearly 600 RV sites spread over 340 acres of rolling hills and lots of recreational amenities.

The first night we were here, the park hosted a “theater sampler” on the club house stage. We were treated to a free 90 minute sample of about a dozen different Branson area shows. It was very entertaining and a good way to be introduced to the local possibilities.


The park had a Saturday night country dance, BINGO, a fish fry dinner and many other events. It’s the most active RV park we’ve encountered anywhere. Fortunately, we took along our Hawaiian shirts and were properly dressed for the Hawaiian Luau.  You never know where you might find a luau, so it's good to be prepared.

The weather continued to be hot, humid and occasionally stormy during our week in Branson. It was uncomfortable and slowed us down, but it didn’t stop us. We played a round of early morning mini-golf and Ron was ready to compete in the shuffleboard tournament. But, due to the hot weather, only five other hardy souls showed up and it was cancelled.

For a small town of about 7,000 residents, Branson has an incredible amount of talent and entertainment. It’s sort of a low-profile mini-Las Vegas without the casinos and huge hotels. There are more than 50 live-performance theaters here and hundreds of different shows and attractions to choose from. And it seems that most of them are along Highway 76 (the strip). It’s only a two-lane highway and traffic bogs down and moves very slowly. But, we soon found the faster alternate routes and had no problems getting around town.

Shows range from Ozark down-home country music to Broadway musicals, rock-n-roll, pop, etc. The theaters are very nice and most of the entertainers are fairly young. There’s a lot of talent and lots of competition, which means we could hear good music in the Branson Mall, in restaurants and other locations where musicians play for donations, hoping to hit the big time. Music everywhere!

At the other end of the spectrum are the proven old-timers, such as Andy Williams, the Osmonds, Yakov Smirnoff and, of course, Elvis (many impersonators). We went to performances of two favorites from our earlier years, Bill Medley (Righteous Brothers) and country rocker Mickey Gilley. (More about them later)


We were pleased to find that everything in Branson is family-oriented. Kids can go anywhere, often for free. Even the comedians keep their shows clean and free of foul language. Very refreshing. Here in the Ozarks the local folks are very friendly and polite. This is also a very religious place. On Sunday there are live gospel shows around town and it’s hard to find anything on TV other than church services. Going with the flow, we attended a free Gospel Hour at the Little Opry Theater just outside our RV park. The small but enthusiastic crowd got a good taste of some down-home Ozark country gospel music.

One of the most visually impressive museums in Branson is the Titanic, a partial replica of the original ship.An interesting Branson attraction is the World’s Largest Toy Museum. It claims to have over a million toys and it was fun finding a few old relics that we recognized or played with as kids. Ron especially liked the collection of trains and trucks, while Bonnie found lots of interesting old dolls.

Branson Landing, along the shore of Lake Tanycomo, is a major addition to the downtown area. It’s an intense assortment of upscale stores and restaurants with several stories of condos above. We took an evening walk along the lakefront pathway and through the interior. The meandering pedestrian-only street is a real people-place with artwork, fountains, benches and other nice features.

The main fountain entertains visitors each hour with dancing waters, colored lights and flames, all choreographed to music. Pretty cool.

A couple highlights of our Branson visit was to see Bill Medley and Mickey Gilley in concert. We understand that many of our younger friends, kids and grandkids may not recognize these names. So, for their sake, we’d like to provide a little information about them.


The Starlite Theater is where Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and Grammy Award winner Righteous Brothers’ Bill Medley does his show, along with his daughter McKenna.

Medley sang many of his hit songs, including “Soul Inspiration”, “I’ve Had the Time of My Life”, “Unchained Melody” and the most often played song in the history of American radio, “You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feeling”. His Righteous Brother partner Bobby Hatfield died in 2003. Bill shared stories about their long music career and did a music/video tribute to Hatfield. It was clear that he misses his partner and friend a great deal. Bill’s daughter McKenna Medley was named Branson’s 2007 Female Vocalist of the Year. She has a great voice and sang several songs and a few duets with her dad.

Bill Medley and Hatfield met at Cal State Long Beach and began singing together in 1962 as part of a five-member group called the Paramours. They later sang in Orange County clubs and were told they had a gospel sound. They named their act "The Righteous Brothers" after a fan remarked of their singing, "that's righteous, brothers." Their first hit single was Little Latin Lupe Lu and their first #1 hit was You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling in 1964. Later hits included (You're My) Soul and Inspiration, Unchained Melody and Rock and Roll Heaven.


Following the show, Bill and McKenna signed autographs and chatted with some of the audience members. Bonnie has been a fan for a long time and she made sure we were first in line. We had our picture taken with Bill and McKenna Medley. It was a real treat to meet them personally.

Country music fans probably know the music of Mickey Gilley. He was one of our favorite country music artists in the 1970s and 1980s.  His hit song "All the Girls Get Prettier at Closing Time" has become the unofficial anthem of honky tonk bars.  Mickey and his sidekick Joey Riley provided an evening of laughs and good old country music.  Mickey and his Urban Cowboy Band played many of his 39 hits, including 17 that made it to #1 on the country music charts in the 1970s and 80s.  He told a few stories about his life and career. He played for years at “Gilleys” in Texas, the world’s largest country music night club.  Gilley’s was featured in the John Travolta movie “Urban Cowboy”. Unfortunately, the club burned down. So, in 1990, Mickey opened a theater in Branson and is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.

In July 2009, Mickey had a bad fall while moving furniture. He landed on his neck, broke several vertebrae and was paralyzed from the neck down. He is gradually recovering and working hard at rehabilitation. He can’t play the piano and does his show from a swivel office chair, but his voice is strong and it was great to see him walk onto the stage after an accident that nearly killed him less than a year ago.  He's still a great entertainer.

One of the most popular shows in Branson is Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede. They didn’t allow photos, but we want to describe it to you anyway. We were among an audience of about 1,100 seated at rows of tables around an indoor rodeo-type arena. The show was 90 minutes of non-stop entertainment. There was a herd of 1800 pound longhorns. There were horse races, buckboard races, stage coaches, pig races, barrel races, stunt riders, comedy, and an on-going audience participation verbal battle that waged the North against the South, complete with union and confederate mounted soldiers. There were aerialists and sets dropping from the ceiling and continuous special lighting and music. While all this was going on, we were attempting to eat our dinner, which consisted of soup, a whole rotisserie chicken, a slab of pork, half a baked potato, roll, corn on the cob and dessert. And it was served without utensils . . . eaten as finger-food in some strange southern tradition. It was a pretty intense experience but we survived and had a good time.


After eight days in Branson, it’s time to move on down the highway. This time we’re headed for Indiana with a “side trip” to New Jersey. Stay tuned . . .

Ripley's Believe-it-or-Not is an interesting piece of architecture.

Carthage, Missoura

We looked for a convenient campground in southern Missouri on our way to Branson. The town of Carthage seemed to be a good place to stop for a couple days. We knew nothing about Carthage but, like many other towns, we found it to be a fascinating place to visit. Carthage (pop. 12,000+) is about 10 miles from Joplin. The town was mostly destroyed on July 5, 1861 in the Civil War Battle of Carthage. Do you remember that one from your American History class? We didn’t either. When the city was rebuilt, many buildings were built of local marble, giving the town a heavy sturdy appearance.

The beautiful castle-like Jasper County Courthouse, complete with turrets and tall clock spire, occupies most of the town square. Businesses and government buildings face the square on all four sides.

We happened to be in town on the weekend of the Acoustic Music Festival. This simple all-day down home style event was held on one corner Courthouse Square. We unfolded our chairs under the shade trees and spent a few relaxing hours listening to bluegrass and old cowboy songs. We also explored some of the local antique shops around the square and admired the old buildings.

Lowell Davis – Red Oak II Missoura
Every town has a local hero or two.  Artist Lowell Davis is famous in Carthage (and beyond). Davis grew up in the small town of Red Oak.  He noticed that life was changing radically following World War II.  He and many other people were leaving the small town life behind and moving into the cities. When he returned from years in Dallas, he found that his boyhood town of Red Oak was nearly a ghost town. He wrote: "The 1930's seemed to be a much simpler time. Neighbors helping neighbors, everyone had a garden and canned their own food. They had a milk cow and they even made their own clothes. By today's standards, they were poor ... they just didn't know it!"

Davis was saddened by the loss and decided to preserve some of his home town.  He began buying the remaining homes and businesses in Red Oak. He moved them twenty-three miles to his Fox Fire Farm near Carthage and restored them to their original grandeur. His new village is now known as Red Oak II. Many of the restored buildings were once part of old Route 66. It’s a fascinating place to visit.

Red Oak II could be described as an occupied ghost town. It’s open to visitors but there is no admission fee and it’s not advertised as a tourist attraction. We had a hard time finding it, but it was worth it. Lowell Davis and several other families live in the restored homes, including this Civil War era home.

Old time music jam sessions are held in the small church.

Davis is primarily an artist so Red Oak II includes many of his whimsical metal sculptures and a few worn out vehicles add character.  Ron loved the old Nash.  Davis' art is also in the Jasper County Courthouse where a large mural depicts the local history.

Another local personality was Belle Starr, the infamous Confederate spy and outlaw. Lowell Davis now lives in her restored home at Red Oak. We were lucky to get to meet Mr. Davis. Ron was standing on his front walk taking a picture of the Phillips gas station as he was leaving to go to dinner. He stopped to chat briefly. Very nice friendly guy.

Precious Moments:
You may be familiar with the teardrop-eyed “Precious Moments” children designed by artist Samuel Butcher. He began drawing these characters in the 1970s to convey special messages to family and friends. They became very popular with collectors and Butcher became rich.

Butcher also used his stylized children to depict biblical events and built an elaborate chapel and gardens in Carthage to display his work. We didn’t know anything about this place but it was free and we were curious so we decided to take a look. It was amazing! The gardens were beautiful.

A museum displayed hundreds of his porcelain figurines along with a huge doll house occupied by cute little Precious Moments children.

The chapel is the centerpiece of the complex.

It was designed specifically for Butcher’s artwork and each painting has a story behind it. The biblical events are depicted in 30 stained-glass windows and 84 murals. Quite a sight indeed! Little did we know that Carthage would be such an interesting town.

Crossing Kansas

On the morning of June 7, we pointed our wagon train in a northeasterly direction on the Santa Fe Trail and got the heck out of Dodge. We planned to stop by Russell, home of Bob Dole, but the weather was working against us. Dark storm clouds followed us with thunder and lightning, it rained off and on, and strong sidewinds made it a challenge to keep the RV in its lane, in spite of its sleek breadbox aerodynamics (LOL).  If that wasn’t bad enough, we had to deal with the wind effects and water spray of semi trucks passing us at 70 mph on the two-lane highway.  So, we passed on Russell and took a direct route to Abilene.

After checking into our campground, Ron replaced a burned out headlight, we watched the rain for a while and did some reading.

Bonnie kept a close watch on the weather reports and scanned the sky for possible tornados. There was a tornado watch for our area for a while, but none materialized. Ron was very disappointed that the rain turned the campground’s mini-golf course into reflecting pools.

Do you remember the song . . . “Abilene, Abilene. Prettiest town that I’ve ever seen. People there don’t treat you mean, in Abilene . . .” We found the people of Abilene to be very nice indeed. When we stopped at the local market and didn’t have their membership discount card, the cashier gave us the discount anyway.

Abilene is the home of former President Dwight D. Eisenhower. 

We spent a couple hours at the Eisenhower Center. It consists of the family home where Ike grew up, an excellent museum, the presidential library, and a Place of Meditation where Ike and Mamie are buried. And, of course, a gift shop. The center was very interesting and informative, especially museum's acounts of World War II and D-Day 1944 when General Eisenhower was commander of the allied troops.

This is the front of the museum.

Abilene is also home to the Greyhound Racing Hall of Fame. Two beautiful greyhounds greeted us as we entered the facility. We learned a lot about the breed and about dog racing but, since we’re not fans of that particular sport, we didn’t spend a lot of time there.

On June 9, we moved to a little RV park at the edge of a corn field near Lyndon, Kansas.

This is a very pretty part of Kansas with lush green rolling hills, scattered deciduous woodlots, neatly cultivated fields, small lakes and quiet country roads.  We took a look at nearby Melvern Lake, which is surrounded by nice parks and campgrounds.  Note the cloudy sky, typical of our week in Kansas.

Bonnie was relieved to find a roomy and sturdy tornado shelter about 100 ft. from our camp space. Fortunately, we didn’t need it.

On a hot muggy Thursday, June 10, we took a day trip to Lawrence, home of Kansas University.  It's a beautiful campus and KU usually has one of the best basketball teams in the country. The city of Lawrence (pop. About 80,000) is a beautiful city. It’s city center has many restored old buildings, nice trees and landscaping, some sidewalk restaurants and other features.  In the surrounding older neighborhoods, we found block after block of beautiful classic old homes on streets shaded by huge trees. The Old West Lawrence Historic District has more than 40 Victorian and Italianate-style residences.  We were impressed with Lawrence and some of the prettiest neighborhoods we’ve seen anywhere.

Due to road construction, it took us a while to find the freeway to Topeka. As soon as we found the on-ramp we were confronted with our first toll booth of this trip. It cost us a dollar to drive from Lawrence to Topeka, a distance of about 20 miles.


We arrived in downtown Topeka and parked by the state capitol.  State capitols are always worth a visit.  They're always impressive buildings and reflect the pride and history of the state.  Kansas' capitol was no exception.  It was partly wrapped in scaffolding as workers were undertaking a major facelift of the building. Industrial fencing surrounded the building and we walked entirely around it before finding the visitor entrance.

We toured the building and learned all about its history, murals, ceiling paintings, massive limestone foundation, antique “cage” elevator and other features. The structure was built between 1866 and 1903 and is 16 ft. higher than the Capitol in Washington D.C.  Ron was anxious to climb the 296 steps to the outer balcony near the top of the dome, but it was closed for renovation.  Bonnie found the tornado shelter in the basement.

The Senate and House chambers were especially ornate, with their beautiful stonework, light fixtures and old wooden desks.  The Senate chamber (31 Republicans and 9 Democrats)is surrounded by columns of copper and brass. Beautiful building.

In the absence of Governor Parkinson, Ron assumed the roll at the "ceremonial desk".

We stopped at Old Prairie Town before leaving Topeka. It’s an assortment of old buildings and botanical gardens surrounding the Prairie Mansion, which was built about 1870.

The 1800s buildings include a log cabin, schoolhouse, church, general store, railroad depot and others.  Abilene also had a small collection of historic buildings in its Old Abilene district.  It's nice to see so many communities preserving pieces of their history for visitors and future generations.  Every town we pass through has something of value or significance that they would like the world to see.  We don't have the time to see it all, but we try.

We have reservations in Branson and will be there on June 14.  So, after a full and exciting week in Kansas, we're ready to leave our little campground in Lyndon and see what Missouri looks like.