Across the USA Part 1

On our way across the states toward our first major stop (Las Vegas for Thanksgiving), we wanted to find some fall color since it had been awhile since we had seen any (save the one tree by Western Auto in Juneau). We were driving in mid-October and took the "mid-western" route towards the West Coast with a planned stop in Branson, MO for our first few nights. I have to give Bill HUGE credit here since we were driving very curvy roads and going up and down mid-western mountains - he was inexperienced but you would never know it! Our RV is 40 feet plus another 10 feet of truck and, at 13' 8" high, we were limited for underpasses, drive-through's and even some roadways (weight-restricted). I usually like to sleep while Bill drives, but I felt it best that I play "wing man" during these long driving days! I found interesting things on Sirius radio including a great two days of Halloween radio shows on the Radio Classics channel, talked about things that we would do when we got to our destinations and kept him fed with almonds, sausage sticks and water. While I greatly enjoyed the scenery, it is hard for the driver to appreciate what is along the road since his eyes have to be on more urgent

matters!

Branson was a stop for two reasons - one was that since were could choose which route to take, I picked Branson so I could go to the Andy Williams Theater (yes, I'm old!) but more importantly is that we have good friends from Juneau that spend winters there (they "summer" in the beautiful Kenai Peninsula in Alaska) and we wanted to stop and reconnect. Lucky for us, we got the fall colors we were looking for, the annual Christmas Spectacular at the theater had just opened (included in this chapter is a photo of the Lennon Sisters along with Janet's daughters who are now part of the act) and the Tappe's were very generous with their hospitality! While there, we went to a popular BBQ restaurant that featured "throwed rolls" (yes, they throw warm just-from-the-oven rolls across the room into your waiting hands), took a day cruise on the Branson Belle Showboat and, our favorite thing, a tour of the beautiful "Top of the Rock" Lost Canyon Cave & Nature Trail. This tour was done by golf cart over 2 1/2 miles of twisty turn fun! Part way through was the Bat Cave - a drive-up bar serving a featured whiskey drink (or soda or water) in an adult sippy cup. We also took advantage of a free bus tour of the Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course near there - the practice greens were designed by Arnold Palmer and were spectacular! All too soon we had to pull out and start our drive south. Stay tuned!