Tuesday evening October 9, 2012 (Third travelogue of this trip).
As noted last time, our Eagle Rally is in Branson. To be specific, we are in the Branson Lakeside RV Park (map). We have an Eagle rally at this location every two years. This rally was extended to seven days this time and that has been great. It gives us time to relax, and time to do tourist things.
As you could probably tell, the last post was a bit rushed. I wanted to get some details documented, but we were rushing out the door to see the Gatlin Brothers. We got half price tickets and the show was good.
One of the details that I left out of the last post was a mention of the great catered barbeque dinner we had Wednesday evening. It was a great way to start the rally.
Friday the men went to Springfield to tour a diesel engine rebuilding facility, have lunch in a very unique diner (Caspers), shopped around at the Grizzly tool store (fabulous) and then went to Byron Pigg's wonderful shop that has all kinds of bus memorabilia and projects. The women went to a tea room in Ozark. Some of the ladies then went to do some shopping at an antique mall. That evening we had a hamburger cookout. Just a quick note on Caspers. It is a small quonset hut building that serves great greasy hamburgers and bowls of chili.
Saturday evening we went to a wonderful dinner at the College of the Ozarks. The school is very unique. The student pay their way through school by working. They have a huge dining room that serves wonderful gourmet food. The meal is prepared and served by the students.
Sunday we had our potluck dinner – always a great feast!
During the days, we relaxed, talked buses and went to restaurants. I led a couple of roundtables and Pat had a stamping class.
There are 31 coaches at the rally – 26 were Eagles. The coaches came from 18 states. As usual, there were some really fabulous Eagles that just make your mouth water. Given the cost of fuel (over $4 per gallon), that is a great turnout
The weather has not been too bad. We had a couple of days of rain, but it did not dampen the fun. It has been quite cool at night. At least one night got down to 32 degrees! Fortunately, we are cozy in our bus.
Now, for the highlight of the trip so far: last night we went to see Mickey Gilley. It was a wonderful show!!! He had a terrible fall in 2009 and was paralyzed. He has recovered quite a bit of his mobility. His voice remains strong, but his hands are quite deformed and he is no longer able to play the piano. He puts on a very unique show. He is talks about his career with lots of humor intermixed with wonderful singing. He has to do part of the show in a chair, but you really don't notice it. We had seats in the fourth row (center) and could see his wonderful expressions. He seems to really enjoy entertaining the audience. He made sure that he sang all of his 17 number one hits.
The Mickey Gilley Show
That is all for now.
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