July 13th – Missouri, Arkansas, & Kansas

Branson, Missouri

What a great town! We had a wonderful time in Branson celebrating Independence Day. There was an outdoor concert featuring different music groups and headlined by Sandi Patti.
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The RV Park we stayed in was located on the banks of Lake Taneycomo. It was a great, peaceful location.

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There was so much to do in Branson – plenty of outdoor activities and a ton of shows. We got adventurous right away and went zip lining! It was a great course that featured 7 zip lines. Lots of fun.

Dolly Parton’s Dixieland Stampede

Branson is known for entertainment, and the choices of shows are almost overwhelming. On the fourth of July we spent the afternoon at Dolly Parton’s Dixieland Stampede. We couldn’t have asked for a better show on Independence Day. Here are a couple of samples.
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Million Dollar Quartet

This show is based on a true story – a recording of an impromptu jam session involving Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash made on December 4, 1956, in the Sun Record Studios in Memphis, Great show with talented performers.
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Six

The six brothers who perform do their entire show a cappella, and they’ve been called “An Orchestra of Human Voices.” They performed everything from Elvis, Frankie Valli, Beach Boys and Tom Jones to MC Hammer, Kansas, Coldplay and Journey.
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We wrapped up our time in Branson seeing a spectacular stage production of Jonah, then a Frankie Valli tribute and we attended a Murder-Mystery Dinner. Overall it was a great time. The only negative was the rain! We even had flash flood warnings one day, and many of the RVs in the park were moved to higher ground in case of flooding from the lake.

Arkansas

Leaving Branson, we headed south to Little Rock, Arkansas. We’ve been enjoying visiting the Presidential Libraries, and the Philanderer-in-Chief Bill Clinton’s library is in Little Rock, so we had to visit.

It was enjoyable and interesting – particularly how they spun the entire impeachment affair to make Clinton look like a hero and concluding that it was “a quest for power that the President’s opponents could not win at the ballot box.” Nothing like rewriting history.

Oklahoma City

After Little Rock, we headed into Oklahoma to pay a visit to the National Cowboy Museum. It did not disappoint. Full of the rich history of the American Cowboy, the museum also featured a large section devoted to entertainment. John Wayne, Clint Eastwood and so many others who are part of the history of westerns.

There was a great Ronald Reagan statue, as well as one of Abraham Lincoln.

Guthrie, Oklahoma

Just north of Oklahoma City is the small town of Guthrie – the state’s original Capitol. Nearly all of the buildings in Guthrie are on the National Historic Register, so we had to stop by and have a look.

The Oklahoma Sports Museum is also located in Guthrie. It was small but had a lot of interesting pieces, including an incredible collection of autographed baseballs.

Abilene, Kansas

Next stop: Abilene, Kansas – home of the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum.

This was an interesting museum which had a huge focus on World War II. This was Eisenhower’s defining moment – planning and implementing the D-Day Invasion – and the WWII exhibit very much overshadowed the Presidency exhibit. Still, it was very interesting history, and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Plus we learned quite a bit about Ike, including the fact that it was his leadership that developed the national highway system and NASA, among other things. He was also responsible for getting the private sector to develop technologies that could be used to spy on the Soviet Union.

Oz Museum

And what visit to Kansas would be complete without a stop at the “Oz Museum” paying tribute to the illustrious Wizard of Oz, and its author L. Frank Baum.