Tornado at Branson, from someone who was there

A facebook friend of mine happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time this week.  I asked her permission to share her story and pictures on my blog, and she agreed.  Lila is the person who maintains the website for one of my childhood home towns, Eagleville, Missouri.  

Well that was a lot of fun!!!....Went to Branson Tuesday afternoon to help my sister Carrol move to a nursing home....Found out when we got down there that she couldn't move in until Friday!...Saw half of a music show, found a place to eat at 8:50 and ate while all the crew stood around with their arms folded waiting for us to get done & get out of there so they could close. 
Went to our room at the Angel Inn, a block south of "the strip" & went to bed about 11:00...At 1:15 were rudely awaken with the tornado alarms going off. A few minutes later, WE WERE VERY ALARMED to hear the roof being torn off of the section of the hotel we were in & it being blown all around & landing on several cars parked in the parking lot. It pretty much demolished them! Our pickup was parked on the other side of the building....Of couse the power went out, and then the water started dripping from the ceiling all over the room. So with the help of Bob's penlight he carries in his pocket, we managed to find our clothes, get dressed, throw our clothes in the suitcase, and ventured outside in the heavy rain...There were some of the hotel's generator powered security lights on by then. The stairway we had orginially used to get to the 3rd floor was filled with glass & twisted metal, so had to find another one. We feel very fortunate, and praise God, that we escaped without a scratch! Needless to say I never want to see or hear another tornado!!!

There was a lot of devastion; several hotels; theatres were severely damaged or destroyed.....But Branson says they will come back sronger than ever! Carrol lives on Bee Creek Rd. north & west of Branson so thank God she was safe from the storm!

They were in one of the first set of double doors you can see on the far right.

Branson

We've had some good times at Branson in the past.  Country music singers who were popular in the seventies, some of our favorites, can be seen there.  I love Mickey Gilley and Moe Bandy, both of whom still have shows in Branson.  The Presleys and Baldknobbers are talented and fun.  
Cliff suggested we head to Branson Sunday morning, get there while the traffic was still moving (as opposed to sitting still), find a motel, and see a show or two.  He had expressed interest in the Titanic exhibit, so we thought maybe we'd see that in the afternoon and catch a show at 8 P.M.  

We walked from our motel to the Titanic museum, only to find out on the way that there were no shows of interest on Sunday night.  I still don't know whether this is normal for Sunday, or because it was the 4th of July.  However, the Titanic was going strong, so we spent three hours there.  It was interesting, but not really worth the $45 spent on two tickets.  
Obviously my knees have deteriorated in the two years since we were last there, because they didn't take kindly to the more than two-mile hike one way.  They are still tormenting me today.  
We were almost back to our motel when I spied a leather shop across the road in a strip mall, and we shopped there for awhile.  I got myself a black leather purse and a leather fanny-pack for a good price.  We were celebrating my birthday, you know.  Then we exited into an open area of the mall where people were gathered for a free show of some kind.  An aging lady in sequins was announcing that the star was almost ready to appear, and we found some seats.  Maybe we'd see a show after all, right?  
Music started playing:  It was that music that always played for Elvis before he came onstage (like in this video I found on Youtube, although this guy is much more talented than the one we saw).  It went on and on, and curiosity was getting the best of me.  Now folks, I had my camera in my pocket.  But I was so dumbfounded at what I saw, the camera didn't even enter my mind.  I could have had a video that would have made your day.  
The world's worst Elvis imitator came out and started singing "See, See Rider".  He had a wig that honestly looked like a piece of black plastic.  
We made it through two or three lines of the song before we beat a hasty retreat back to our stinking motel room where I fought with the intermittent Internet connection and Cliff watched John Wayne movies.  
I was reminded once again that I have to go to Branson at least once every two years just to remind myself why I don't need to go to Branson.  Cliff and I agreed today we'd have been much better off staying at the Hub and taking a scenic ride to Eureka Springs.  
My big sixty-sixth birthday celebration officially ended this morning with my free Grand Slam breakfast at Denny's.  Cliff's wallet is lighter and our bodies are heavier, but it's been fun.  And I'm up for another motorcycle road trip any time Cliff shakes the keys at me.

The Windmill Inn

Cliff suggested we spend Sunday afternoon and night in Branson.  When we go to Branson, we like to park the motorcycle or car at our motel and walk to the shows and attractions; it keeps us from sitting in the tremendous traffic jam that has made Branson famous.
Finding a motel was not a concern; there are always lots of vacancies, because people got carried away building motels in the seventies.  Finding a halfway decent motel, however, can be a daunting task.
We discussed this as we sped up highway 65 toward our destination.
"Hey, there's that one motel where we stayed with the granddaughters once," I said.  "It was pretty decent; actually, we've stayed there twice, and I got a letter this year saying it's under new ownership.  They might have made some improvements since we were last there."
"Yeah, but how will we find it," Cliff asked.
I remembered walking down and across the street to McDonald's last time we were there, so we looked for the Golden Arches and found the Windmill Inn easily.
As we checked in, I asked about the Wifi.
"Well, it's not working so well," the girl informed me.

I remembered their less-than-perfect Internet connection from the previous stay.  Your browser is in a window with ads at the top of the screen, which you can see in this screen shot I took (click to make it larger).  This time the Internet connection was sporadic at best.  Poor Cliff couldn't catch up on his Craigslist ads because the connection kept fading away.



The commode seldom flushed completely, as seen here (don't worry, there's only toilet paper in there).  

Stains on the mattress didn't do much for my peace of mind.  At first I thought the sheets hadn't been changed, because the bed was so sloppily made, but closer inspection eased my mind on that score.  The sheets, by the way, were ragged and yellowed.  
I didn't take pictures of the dead flies in the windowsill, and there's no way I can describe the odor in the room, predominantly urine.  
You're probably wondering why we didn't go elsewhere.  It was the last night of our road trip, and 76 boulevard was already getting messy; it didn't seem worth the effort to get out there in that traffic nightmare on our motorcycle.  We did not avail ourselves of the free breakfast; we stopped at McDonald's on our way out of town Monday morning.  
You can read reviews of the place HERE.  Most of them are from a couple years back:  Trust me, the place has only gotten worse.

I got the adventure I wanted

We rode all morning and came back to the motel for lunch and some rest.  Then we went for another ride, one that took us to a ferry across Table Rock Lake, through downtown Branson, and back to the motel.  However, something happened along the way.  In Branson.  Where our motorcycles always break down.  

Even from the back, you can tell Cliff is distraught.  Here's what happened:  We stopped at the McDonald's east of 65 in Branson to get ourselves a mocha frappé.  When we got on the motorcycle to leave, Cliff started it up and I said, "This thing is making a noise I've never heard."  
"That's just the fan," says Cliff, who not only can't hear well normally, but hears even less this weekend because he left his hearing aid at home.  
"No, I have NEVER heard this noise," I said, panicking.  
Finally he turned the key off.  But the starter wouldn't quit.  It was stuck.  
"Don't you want me to get off?"  I asked the question twice before he finally said yes.  
He got off, with the horrible noise still going on.  He did this thing and that thing, and finally disconnected the battery.  That stopped the noise.  
"Find that book with Gold Wing riders' names in it and see if there's anybody in Branson."  
I found three people, and he called one; there was no answer, but Cliff left a message.  While he was doing that, I suddenly remembered that his Kansas brother, Donald, was camped out at Table Rock Lake, not a half-hour away.  And he's a mechanic.  
"Cliff, you have a brother here right now," I told him.  
I saw instant relief on his face.  "Oh, yeah; that's right!"  

Never have two people been so happy to see my brother-in-law, Donald.  He would have had it fixed in five minutes, but Gold Wings are horrible to take apart.  So getting to the area he wanted to work on took awhile.  However, once there, he fixed it.

The starter relay was stuck.  Don hit it a few times with a pair of pliers and that fixed it.  Cliff will need to buy a new relay once we're home; but for now, it's working.  
Our vacation will proceed as planned.

Boat ride on Table Rock Lake

We rode the motorcycle to Table Rock Lake, down by Branson. Cliff's brother Don was camping down there with his wife, her son, and his family; and we figured at least we could have a good visit with them before heading back home today.

After eating a good supper, we went out for a ride on Don's pontoon boat; I thought you might enjoy a sample of the ride. Turn down your sound, because there's nothing to hear but wind noise.

Our weekend trip

Cliff took off work Friday, so we decided to take a mini-vacation. Sometime before noon, we headed to Branson, Missouri, on the motorcycle. We rode as far as Clinton before we stopped to eat our hobo lunch in the Katy Trail State Park.

When we left home it was sunny and pleasant, and I chose to wear my light-weight motorcycle jacket. The further south we were, the cooler it got. At Clinton I donned my heavy leather jacket and chaps. Cliff put his on, too.

Further along, we noticed puddles along the road. It seemed as though we were chasing a rainstorm; we certainly didn't want to catch it!

When we arrived in Springfield, it was almost "rush hour", the time when people start getting off work. We don't like taking the motorcycle through big cities or on freeways, but sometimes it can't be avoided. We were on highway 65, a very busy thoroughfare, when we came upon a traffic jam. After about ten minutes of inching slowly forward with the rest of the traffic, we realized all cars were being directed off southbound 65 because of an accident. So there we were in a big metropolis, not knowing any other route to Branson. However, we tried to follow the general direction that 65 would have taken and finally connected with it again, down past the accident scene.

Checking out a motel in Branson, the proprieter said, "You guys came down on a motorcycle? Just a half-hour ago, the ground was white with hail!"

Later on we watched the news in our room and heard the details of the accident in Springfield: a young lady was driving through a rain-and-hailstorm, lost control of her car, and crashed. She died at the scene.

I am so thankful that we never did catch up with that storm!

When we got up Saturday morning there was a dense fog, and our motorcycle was soaking wet.

We didn't want to ride in such fog, so we took our usual half-hour walk. We saw this vehicle along the way.

This was at our motel when we returned. Interesting, huh?

I'll tell more about our weekend trip tomorrow.

Rainstorms and Rediscovered Music

Friday morning when we headed out for Branson with two granddaughters, this is how the sky looked. Talking to Cliff's sister on the cell phone later, we found the skies at home had cleared up nicely; but all the way to Branson and after our arrival there, this is what we witnessed.



About a half-hour before we reached our destination, we stopped in Ozark, Missouri, at Lambert's... the home of "throwed rolls". It was a spur-of-the-moment decision, but it turned out to be one of the girls' favorite things. The food there is home-cooking good, the portions are huge, and it's fun to catch rolls being thrown at you across the room. Even if you're a horrible catcher like me. Besides, it's a great place to be on a rainy day, even if you have to wait 45 minutes to be seated.

After a sunny Saturday doing the usual Branson things (go-carts, music show, shopping) we dropped the girls off at their other grandma's in Carthage yesterday morning and noticed storms gathering once again, as you see in the above picture.

Cliff has lots of CD's in the car in three different types of storage containers. One of those had been pretty much forgotten, so we enjoyed old country albums we hadn't heard in years, literally: Willie Nelson's "Red-Headed Stranger", which tells a complete story if you listen to every song; Roger Miller's Greatest Hits; depressingly sad Vern Gosdin; and one of Cliff's favorite singers, Ricky Van Shelton. That's who was singing when the deluge it us, south of Oak Grove. For a little taste of our drive home in the rain, click HERE.

Wordless Wednesday: Branson comedians make us laugh!

Harley Worthit


Seen here with Homer Lee.

Homer Lee and Harley Worthit, as Siamese Twins. Wait, make that Minnesota Twins.


As seen at The Branson Brother's show, Branson, Missouri.

See other (more) wordless Wednesdays HERE.

hot tubs and swimming pools

One reason we chose to stay at Pointe Royale in Branson this past weekend was the fact that they had an indoor swimming pool and hot tub.


If I won the lottery, one of the first things I'd do (after having a new home built) would be to have a hot tub installed. Above, Amber and I spend quality time in the hot tub while Cliff watches the younger girls in the pool.

Friday we had the place to ourselves for two hours. It was great!

The girls enjoyed horseplay with Grandpa.

I was surprised to see how well Amber (on the left) could swim!

The two little girls and I went back on Saturday for another two hours. While we didn't have the place entirely to ourselves, there were only a few folks coming and going during our session, and for the last hour, there were a couple of girls who played with Monica and Natalie, which made it more enjoyable for them.

I can't swim at all, but I love to play in the water.

Planning a getaway

Four years ago, Cliff and I took advantage of an offer for a Branson vacation. We would receive tickets to shows, a $50 coupon for a meal, and $50 in cash. What a deal! All we had to do was take a two-hour tour of the condos at Fall Creek Resort.

We learned that we could buy a time share for something like $19,000, and then be allowed to stay there for a week, once a year. Perhaps I'm exaggerating, but it was some ridiculous amount. That much I do recall.

The two-hour tour turned in to five (shades of Gilligan's Island), and we were both sick of the spiel from the saleslady by the time we got out of there. I felt it was worth it for the payoff, but Cliff said he'd rather pay full price than do that ever again.

We've been planning for some time to take any available grandkids to Branson, October 19 and 20. We aren't loaded with dough, so I've been surfing the Internet looking for bargain places to stay where we can do our own cooking. The cheapest one was near Silver Dollar City, $100 a night for six of us, tax and all.

The two youngest granddaughters would love an indoor pool, but that would require a motel. Motels require some eating out. $$$$$.

Then I thought of Fall Creek Resort. I had seen, online, where a condo could be rented there by the night. They have an indoor pool and hot tub, and miniature golf; and Internet in the lobby and clubhouse.

The price was more, indeed. But considering the pool, and the fact that we can still provide our own meals, I believe it's worth $166 a night. We may not even leave the resort at all!

I read some reviews, many of which were horrible; they seem to have an ant problem. On the other hand, some folks loved it. We'll take the chance, if only for the swimming pool. I'm not too hard to please, since I like primitive camping. Click HERE for more very mixed reviews.

No matter if I like it or hate it, I'll have something to blog about afterward.

Wordless Wednesday

So, my brother-in-law was taking a picture of my sister-in-law, my husband, and me at our Branson motel; but notice the kid upstairs mugging at the camera.

I know, it's supposed to be wordless. But the person who started WW says there ARE no rules. Ha!

To see more WW entries, click HERE.

The newlyweds

Anytime we're staying in a motel, I'm awake at my usual time... which means 5 AM at the latest. I wake up dying for coffee. And most motels don't have coffee ready until their breakfast room is open. At the Ozark Mountain Inn, breakfast was from 7 AM until 10 AM.

Of course there was that little bitty coffee pot in our room. But those things don't make the best coffee. I tried to take a shower very quietly, then figured I'd check out the breakfast area just in case somebody made coffee early.

Since we were with Charlene and Pat, who like to sleep in, I didn't want to make a lot of noise. So I crept out. Or I would have crept out, but Charlene had things battened down so tight that I ended up banging something-or-other trying to open the door. She had the regular lock, the dead-bolt lock, and that thing that lets you safely peek out a two-inch crack in the door to see who's knocking, all secured. That last one is the the one that banged.

Darn it. Oh well, maybe they'd go back to sleep.

I arrived at the door of the breakfast room at 6:45, fifteen minutes early. I tried the door to no avail, and sat down on the stairs right outside, waiting.

A lady came out and said, "We don't open until seven."

"I know," I said. "I'm just waiting here."

"Okay."

About five minutes later a couple joined me with the same purpose in mind: Coffee. And the same lady showed up to tell them, "We don't open for breakfast until seven."

The couple and I commiserated about our caffeine addictions, and in the course of things, they told me they were newly-weds. They had just gotten married Friday, and they were on their honeymoon. We discussed the ridiculous cost of weddings these days (their wedding was small, but not quite as small as mine).

"Well, I hope it works out as well for you as it has for me," I said. "I've been married almost forty-one years."

"I don't think I'll live that long," the man replied. "By the way, are you from Lebanon, Missouri?"

When I told him I wasn't, he said I had a lookalike in Lebanon, where they lived.

So I have a twin someplace.

Once in the breakfast room, I asked them if I could take their picture to share with my journal-readers, and they agreed. I'm used to the look I get when I ask this question. Anyhow, here's the happy couple:

We could have been headed to Branson right now...

Branson, Missouri, is one of those places people either love or hate. I'll admit it's terrible commercialized, but for a cheap getaway, I love it. Especially since we got the motorcycle, because a three-and-a-half-hour bike ride is perfect, really. Most of the way, it's a ride on uncrowded roads.

Motels and resorts are cheap there because they overbuilt, years ago. So if it's nice weather, we can hop on the Gold Wing, head to Arkansas, and enjoy beautiful scenery for only the price of gasoline (yes, I realize that's gotten pretty significant these days, but still...) and about $50 a night for a place to sleep.

Oh, and we love the older country music, fifties through eighties; that's all Cliff listens to on his XM radio. Guess where half the singers from that era live and perform now? Yes, Branson! Here's me with Moe Bandy. I was wearing my George Jones T-shirt that night, and Moe asked me where I'd seen "the Possum".

Anyway: My daughter took time off work to spend spring break (today through Monday) with her daughters, who usually come here after school. This gave us an opportunity for a four-day weekend, and we decided some time back that if it turned out to be good motorcycle weather, we'd go to Branson.

It wasn't to be: the weather guessers say we'll have a high around 50 today and tomorrow, with possible rain tomorrow. Cliff offered to take me in the car, but this time of year I can't see the point. The dogwoods wouldn't be blooming nor the hills turned green. All we'd do would be spend money we should be saving for our trip to Colorado this summer!

The cheapest music shows at Branson cost $25 per person, and my favorite attraction, Dixie Stampede, is over $50 each (but it includes dinner).

Besides, it's just more fun on the Honda.

So we'll wait for another window of opportunity. Meanwhile, I can ride my horse almost any time during this long weekend, which is a wonderful little getaway and costs me nothing. Sunday the temperatures are supposed to be in the 60's, warm enough for an enjoyable motorcycle ride.