JB's excellent Branson adventure: Day One

The day has finally arrived, after months and months of planning, saving, getting time off from my real job and much more in between.....the blessed day had arrived for yours truly to head off for Branson and the ultimate Welk experience.

Of course, it would only mean watching the Welk Stars Reunion at the Champagne Theatre and staying at the Welk Resort!

I did take pictures, but the hotel's computer does not have the proper software to download them....God I wish I had a laptop.

Anyway, the day started when I woke up at four in the morning, and after packing everything I need...off I went westward bound in my '88 Olds Cutlass Ciera. The journey took me through first northwest Ohio, then to Indiana where I hooked up onto I-70 thru Indianapolis, where I got to see the Colts' new stadium in the distance, then to Illinois where I changed over to Central Time and lunch in the St. Louis area.....gotta love those two for 99 cent tacos from Jack In The Box! Then after driving through the hills of rural Missouri, I finally arrived in B-town where I checked in at the hotel at 5:30.

The funny thing is throughout the trip, it was stinkin' hot out....and with no working AC in the car, it was none too pleasant. Once arriving in the Las Vegas of the Ozarks, the forecast called for rain, lots of it, as in remants of Hurricane Gustav....let's say I did cool off, and got soaking wet!

My room is very nice, comfy beds, television, coffee maker...the works. After checking in, I got to meet many members of Welknotes (the famous Yahoo! Group where I am a member) and to my surprise, members of the Musical Family slated to be in the show! I ran into Anacani, got to meet the Otwell Twins (David and Roger), played catching up with Sheila and Sherry Aldridge, said howdy to Arthur Duncan, and met Tom Netherton for the first time in person...and it all happened at the Stage Door Canteen were everyone met for a nice buffet dinner.

Also, ran into Tim Padilla in the lobby, he is very excited about the show.

Of course, Gustav continued to be a pain in the keyster....but knowing me, who wanted to make the most of his vacation, went ahead and took a dip in the resort's pool and relaxed in the hot tub! There's something about a moonlight swim, even though it was no moonlight and all rain.

Hey, I worked hard for this experience and I am damn well sure that I will get my ten dollar value!

And just a while ago, while I am blogging....Mary Lou Metzger and Richard Maloof showed up in the lobby. She gave me a hug and had a nice quick chat, I got to meet Rich and he's a very nice fellow. I told him that Mary Lou should take up blogging, and take it from me, it's a fun hobby!

Anyway, it's almost bedtime for me. I went to the local supermarket in town, Julibee, and got me some Chips Ahoy and milk to munch on while typing and before going to bet. I can tell this is going to be a fun couple of days here judging by what happened so far.

And there's not one thing Gustav can do about it!