Sunday, 3 September – Branson, MO

On the road by 9.30am, sunny and hot today!  We are heading south about 85 miles to Branson, not far from the border to Arkansas.   It’s a nice drive, rolling hills, some steep and it’s green. We are still in route 66 country.

Drive to Branson, billboards advertising all the shows line both sides of the highway

We skirt Springfield, the state’s third largest city.  Springfield was the site of the first recorded ‘quick draw’ duel between Wild Bill Hickok and Davis Tutt back in 1865, fighting over women and cards as you obviously did back then.  In the 1880’s a dude called Rueben Branson opened a general store in the Ozark Mountains, which soon begat a small town.  In 1959 the Baldknobbers jamboree debuted the first live music show in Branson and today there are more than 50 theatres in the “Live Entertainment Capital of the World”.  You can also find the Titanic Museum here, a half scale replica of the doomed ocean liner, complete with iceburg.

Titanic museum with bow wave and iceberg

We stop at the Info Centre and pick up some leaflets and all the show info.  Tonight being Sunday there are not so many on, there were some this afternoon, however the selection is still worthy - Patsy Cline and Friends, Grand Country, Grand Jubilee, Elvis Live, Clay Cooper and even the famous Baldknobbers themselves.  If we hang around until Tuesday we can see the Abba Tribute, Beach Boys, Carpenters, Conway Remembered, John Denver, Everly Brothers, Marty Robbins, Neil Diamond, Statler Brothers Revisited and Waylon, Willie & Good Ole Boys – of course these are all tribute shows, but I am sure the music would still be good.  Prices range between $30-$50+ but of course you get a deal if you buy more than one show.

The Amusement Park end of town

Hollywood Wax Works 

We drive around the theatre loop of the new part of Branson checking it all out.  The traffic is stop go so it gives us some extra time to look at it all.  We do the loop and then get back to the east side where Historical Downtown Branson is.  From the bridge we can see an RV Park right next to the river (Lake Taneycomo) so stop in and they do have a site for us.  It’s not perfect, but it’s available on this holiday weekend, full hook up, gravel, a little narrow but it’s only for a night.

The RV Park is on the right and it's within walking distance of  Historic Downtown Branson

There is a free trolley (Sparky) into town which picks us up right at the Park Entrance, very handy.  We spend a couple of hours looking around and stumble (maybe by design) onto Branson Landing – a shopping centre culminating at one end with the BassPro shops.  Both of us are happy : )

By the time we get back to camp it’s already 5.30pm and it is 35 C so decide we will stay in tonight and enjoy our AC.   There is no public transport in Branson where all the shows are so we would need to cab it and book something so it becomes too messy, for us to be bothered tonight.