Our Caravan to
Vettes On The Rockies (VOTR) 2006
Day 5: Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Branson, Missouri
We had such a great time last night that we were a bit slow getting it all together today. Buzz arose early and found a do-it-yourself carwash to clean the big lumps off his car. He and Jackie and Ron and Robin went to a seminar on Ozark cowboys and Gael and I went off to wash our car; we all met for lunch at Shorty Small's Restaurant:
We'd read about the "Ride the Ducks" boat tours of the river and decided, even though it's hotter than the backside of hades, we'd opt for one:
The Duck Boats are amphibious vehicles, part bus, part slow cruiser. They date back to 1943 (the one we were on was built in that year) and were used heavily in WWII. Each Duck boat holds 38 passengers and a captain. And, since it's really a commercial vessel, each captain must have a Master's license. Here's our captain, Captain Trapp:
Captain Trapp is a former Marine Vietnam vet and a very interesting guide. The yellow thing around his neck is a "quacker"; each guest is issued one upon boarding and we quacked our way through the afternoon. It was required that, when we passed another Duck boat, the occupants would compete for loudest quacking. I expect my hearing (such as it is) to return in a few days..
The "land" portion of the tour took us up on top of a mountain where they quarried the limestone for the dam down on the river below. Here's the view from the top:
They'd assembled a bunch of old army vehicles from wars going back to WWII up there:
One of the vehicles was one of four Jeep ambulances used on the Mash TV series; can you guess which character this one was named for?
Once the land tour was over, we zoomed (and I mean "zoomed") down a concrete ramp into the river for the "water" portion. The Duck was surprisingly stable in the water and we pooted about for a while at seven knots. Captain Trapp let a couple of little kids steer (so it couldn't be that difficult!). Here's the Branson Belle, one of the largest paddle wheelers anywhere. We're giving thought to the dinner cruise tomorrow night:
We weren't the only folks enjoying the river; here's a parasailer:
Despite the heat we had a great time; here's how we looked when it was over:
After the Duck boat ride, we were all too hot and wind-blown to do more than head back to the condo. We have theater tickets tonight to see Jim Stafford so we crashed until suppertime.
We ordered in a pizza and left the condo at 7pm to get to the Jim Stafford Theater by 7:30p; we'd learned by now that traffic in Branson is a killer. We got to the theater on time, retrieved our tickets and were seated in a packed house:
Most of us remembered Jim from the 70s when he was on Johnny Carson, the Smothers Brothers and so forth. He's a really talented comedian and an excellent guitar player:
The show was simply great; great stories, interaction with the audience and, man, can this guy pick! His 9yr old daughter and 13yr old son also played piano in the show; especially interesting as we later learned that they are both adopted:
I'm particularly proud of this next photo. Shooting telephoto, using only available light (stage lighting) from about 100' away, half-second exposure, no tripod:
All in all, a great evening!
And so to bed..