Branson, Memphis, and Rosedale High

June 12 - 21, 2010 - Danny and I set up camp in Branson, Missouri, at "The Wilderness" campgrounds which is affiliated with Silver Dollar City (a theme park in Branson.) Our good friends, Mike and Linda McClenny, from Lindale, Texas, joined us for this outing. Our site was shady and level, and Danny did a great job of backing in and setting up the RV. A great advantage to this campground is that a bus came every two hours to shuttle campers back and forth to Silver Dollar City! The bus let us out and picked us up right at the entrance.... No hassle to park or put up with Branson's heavy traffic! The Wilderness has a pool, rec room, nice showers/bath house, & a general store. Because we have season tickets to Silver Dollar City, we got a discount on the camping charges, and we were able to go back and forth to the park at our convenience.... much needed as it really was hot and humid!

Saturday afternoon, Mike, Linda, Danny and I went to Silver Dollar City and immediately saw Leon and Carolyn Welborn (friends from Tyler, Texas)! Small world! They recommended that we stay after closing for the Great American Country (GAC) show celebrating Silver Dollar City's 50th Anniversary. The show was really good with popular songs from the past 50 years being performed by some young talented singers..... not bad on the eyes either!

GAC Silver Dollar City's 50th Anniversary Show

Sunday, the four of us went to church in Hollister and then out to eat at The Hard Luck Diner where the waiters and waitresses sing to patrons while they eat. They sang beautifully and made our lunch even more enjoyable. Our afternoon was spent strolling through some shops and taking silly pictures as well as going to Branson Landing to watch the fountain show at seven.

Danny and Maggie

Linda and Mike McClenny

Branson Landing Fountain Show

We really enjoyed the beauty of the evening by sitting outside and catching up on news of our families and mutual friends. We had some great vacations in the past with the McClenny Family.

Linda McClenny

Danny and Mike McClenny

Early Monday morning, Danny and I caught the shuttle to Silver Dollar City in time for the opening ceremony which honored active military personnel & veterans who were present, held a flag raising ceremony complete with the Pledge to the Flag and the National Anthem..... very impressive and started the day well! Danny and I then enjoyed a couple of water rides and watched a funny Saloon Show before heading back to the campgrounds where Linda and Mike had prepared some yummy burgers!

The four of us saw some great shows: Pierce Arrow (funniest comedian in Branson), Branson Belle Showboat (dinner cruise and show), and SIX (6 brothers who sang acapella and made accompanying music with their own voices... fantastic!) We also went back to Silver Dollar City a couple of more time and toured Marvel Cave which is a part of the park. Astonishing that all of this beauty is below Silver Dollar City park!

Many, many steps down, but a cable car pulled us out.

Mike and Linda McClenny & Danny

Maggie and Danny

Marvel Cave has a room large enough for the Statue of Liberty to stand in it. A hot air balloon has been inflated inside this room. Long ago, dances and a wedding were held in this room.

Stalactite formation in the cave.

Marvel Cave waterfall colored with lights.

Reluctantly, the McClenny's and we traveled our separate ways on Thursday morning..... they back to Texas and we on to Memphis. The drive was challenging and tiring for Danny as there were many huge hills/small mountains with very curvy two lane roads between Harrison and Clinton, AR. Once we arrived in Memphis area, we checked into the East Memphis Campground in Lakeland, Tennessee. This camp was nice enough, but it was inside of a mobile home park. Our site was level, had full hook ups, and we had a tree shading our RV. It is located about 15 miles from Courtney and Keith. They stopped by after work for dinner with us in the RV, and then the four of us went to Bartlett Woods Church of Christ to help them get their room ready for VBS which started on Sunday night. We were definitely ready for bed when we arrived back a the RV.

Friday morning, Danny, Courtney and I met Cheri Creasy Vaughn and her husband for coffee. They live in Somerville, TN, which isn't far from Courtney and Keith's home. What a fun time we had catching up on news and reliving the "good ole days" in Rosedale!

Danny and Cheri Creasy Vaughn

On Saturday, we drove (without the RV) to Cleveland, MS, where we placed a memorial spray on Danny's parents' headstone. We really miss them.... hard to believe that they aren't still over in Searcy waiting for us to call or visit.

That afternoon, we drove to Rosedale High School's Reunion at the country club. He had a great time visiting with classmates and we had a delicious prime rib steak meal! There were over 200 people from several classes all crammed into a small space, so the noise level required that everyone yell at each other just to be heard, but that didn't dampen the joy of being together again.

Bill & Dianne Arnold and Georgia Smith in foreground with some of the other 200.

Lynn Fletcher Shurden and Danny

Laurel Burnside Travis, Danny and Bill Arnold

Bill Arnold, Danny, Thomas "Stick" Smith, and Kirby Lane

We drove back to Memphis Saturday night, went to church with our kids on Sunday, and enjoyed a Father's Day meal with them at Randy and Lynn Reason's home (Keith's parents).

After being away from home for 10 days, it felt good to pull out on Monday morning and head for home. Our first long trip went well, and we're looking forward to traveling to Abilene, Texas, in early September to meet our new granddaughter (she's to be born on August 30th). Until then.... adios!