Branson Ramblings

The last couple of days were unusually warm with daytime temperatures in the 70’s with 60’s at night.  We are in Branson, MO, it is almost noon on Veterans’ Day, and I am still in bed because I have run out of my “night meds” and didn’t get any quality sleep until after 4:30 AM.  I’ll have to resort to Benadryl tonight, which will help me sleep but leave me with an “antihistamine hangover” in the morning.  Hopefully my "day meds" will get me through it.  Getting old is hell!

The forecasted high temperature has already been reached and is now dropping sharply.  Dark clouds are moving rapidly across the sky, and I can smell the rain that should begin falling at any minute.   The front has arrived.   There is a 100% chance of rain today with up to 3/4 of an inch forecast.  The low tonight is predicted to be 28 degrees with a 60% chance of rain or a mixture of rain and snow (no accumulation expected).  We are supposed to leave Branson tomorrow and the forecast is for sunshine and a high in the 50’s.  I can now hear the sound of rain on the motorhome’s roof and the temperature has dropped from 68 to 57 degrees in the past 20 minutes.  I’ll have to close all of the windows and turn on the heat very soon.

We were late leaving Eureka Springs yesterday because the full-wall slide on Jim and Joy’s coach refused to retract.  After slightly more than 2 hours of trying a multitude of shade-tree mechanic suggestions an RV technician was summoned.  He quickly discovered a loose wire in a fuse box and the slide was retracted.  We all felt at least a little foolish, if not inadequate.

Instead of our planned lunch at Lambert’s (country cooking and celebrated as the “Home of the Throwed Rolls”), 30 miles north of Branson, we had leftovers before leaving Eureka Springs and arrived in Branson a little before 3 PM.  We are now planning on driving up to Lambert’s this afternoon for an early supper in order to be back in Branson for the 8PM “Legends of Rock” show.  Two days in Branson and this will be the only show that Carol Ann and I attend.  The shows in which I was most interested have no performances scheduled for today.  It’s a shame because some shows are offering free tickets to veterans today and tomorrow (it's hard to believe that it has been 42 years and 2 months since I returned from Vietnam).  If we ever return to Branson we will plan ahead, stay a little longer, and order tickets in advance for the shows we wish to attend.  

The other 4 couples will be staying until Wednesday or Thursday to see other shows.  As mentioned in a prior post, we are leaving tomorrow for Searcy, AR because we have a Tuesday appointment with  “The Fog Doctor” to have our double-pane windows defogged and the gaskets replaced.  After that we will jump on I-40 and head down through Little Rock to Texarkana and US 59 south to Nacogdoches.  It's only 340 miles, two-thirds of which is on I-40 and would normally be a fairly easy one-day drive.  However, we won’t be able to leave Searcy before sometime Tuesday afternoon but should be home Wednesday afternoon.

When we get back home I have to get my "flu shot" if I want to do anymore call-in work in the hospital pharmacy.  I also have to get a "shingles shot"or my supplemental health insurance won't cover me if the virus ever results in my having a case of shingles.  Almost all of us are already hosting the herpes zoster virus, especially if we ever had chicken pox.  All it takes is for the dormant virus to become activated and a very painful course of shingles will result.  Like I said, getting old is hell (but it beats the alternative)!