Branson In The Fall

I am sitting at the desk in the spacious duplex condo time share a friend of a friend allowed us to rent this week.  Our lifelong friends Mike and Jodi Sala traveled up with us and are occupying the other unit.  Our unit is on a mountaintop near Table Rock Lake about 15 minutes south of Branson.  Finding the condo was a trial.  The place is built on very rugged topography accessible only by a maze of near vertical slope two lane roads, confusing intersections and unmarked streets.  It even managed to confuse our GPS.

Today, I am in the unusual position of taking a vacation from our vacation.  I have done this before on cruises.  When you get so tired or are having so much pain that you aren't enjoying yourself a rest is in order.  I reached that point yesterday and declared today a personal rest day.  The rest of the crew headed out over an hour ago for a scenic train ride and in all likelihood a late lunch at Paula Deen's.

To keep myself occupied today while the others are gone, I set up my little jewel of a Japanese portable ham radio on the coffee table attached to an expedient antenna draped over the beams of our patio.  By midday, I had talked to Texas, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Illinois, Nevada, California and Alberta, Canada to name a few on only 5 watts of power.  This is called operating QRP (low power).  It takes a lot of skill and patience to make long range contacts using half the input power of an average cell phone charger.  The average ham radio puts out about one hundred watts and it is not unusual to hear guys running over a kilowatt.

So far we have had a great time.  On the way up we stopped at Clanton's Restaurant in Vinita, Oklahoma for lunch. We split one of their giant chicken fried steaks which have consistently been voted the best in Oklahoma.  Sheila even threw caution to the wind and ordered their homemade blackberry cobbler with two scoops of ice cream.  It was delicious.

Tuesday, we had lunch at the main dining room of College of the
Ozarks.  This is not a college cafeteria.  It is a very upscale restaurant run by the college and staffed by the students.  Much of the food comes from the University's own student run farms.  The food was fabulous and the prices were quite reasonable given the quality and service. The whole places was a breath of fresh air.  The student/staff were all friendly, well groomed and seemingly happy in their work.  No bad attitudes here.  And it showed in the food.  Our meals were every bit as good as those from any upscale restaurant and made all the better by the great attitudes on the part of the staff.

After lunch, we attended a student production honoring Viet Nam veterans.  It couldn't be called professional exactly even though the players were very talented and the young lady playing an Army Nurse sang like an angel.  I almost broke up when she sang a verse of "Leavin' On A Jet Plane" acapella. That song has special meaning for the guys of our generation who time and again boarded planes wondering if it was a one way ticket.

But, whatever this production lacked in sophistication it was made up in spades by their willingness to speak the truth about the Viet Nam war and our nations shameful treatment of Viet Nam veterans.  My cynical mind turned critical very quickly when they began telling the stories.  I caught myself thinking, "That scene was taken straight out of "We Were Soldiers Once" and that one was straight out of "China Beach."  And then it hit me that I was forgetting that those story lines were based on real events lived out by real people during the war.  And then it hit me even harder that over fifty years later these big hearted, well meaning kids were taking the time and trouble to tell my generation's story, a story almost completely unheard by their generation.  Lack of sophistication aside, the production was deeply moving.  Many in the audience wept quietly as the stories unfolded.

Wednesday, we had lunch at place that successfully moved from the main street  of Haskell, Oklahoma to the main street of Branson.   Mike and Jodi knew the owners and often ate there when they were in Haskell. They are apparently making good in Branson.  They've won multiple awards for their down home cooking, a couple of buses were parked out back and the wait for a table was over forty five minutes.

Last night we saw "Queen Esther."  I don't really know how to describe it.  I was skeptical about any show being worth sixty bucks a ticket but my skepticism vanished five minutes into the show.  The costumes were stunning, the scenery was breathtaking and the stagecraft/special effects were technically amazing.  The talent is world class.  Amazing talented, professional, legitimate theatrical voices performing powerfully and movingly.  The plot follows the Biblical narrative precisely. I was stunned by it all.  The theater seats over two thousand and every performance is sold out.  Buses from all over the middle of the nation were in the parking lot.  When it was over there was a massive traffic jam.  It took us nearly an hour to get back to the main streets.  I usually don't have much patience with big productions and big crowds.  Queen Esther was worth it.  I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Thursday, Sheila and the crew had a good time on the train despite some out of control children and
then thoroughly enjoyed their late lunch at Paula Deen's.  Paula Deen is the reigning grand dame of Southern Cooking and if the chicken wing and butter cake Sheila slipped into her purse to bring back to me was an example the quality of the food has not suffered in the translation from South Carolina to Southern Missouri.  Sadly, Mike was in a bit of pain by the time they got back and both Mike and Jodi were worn out.  They went straight to bed more or less.  

By Friday morning Mike and I were ready to come home.  We were up early, had a quick breakfast of toast, yogurt and coffee, packed our things and headed out.  By mid-afternoon we were back in Tulsa.  It has been a good trip.  Good food, visiting with old friends and seeing a few new things.  At our age, that is a great adventure.