Out There with Lea & Larry: Branson, Missouri - August 1, 2011

Branson Lakeside RV Resort

This, our first workamping adventure, is at a beautiful 168 campsite RV Park along the Taneycomo Lake (really the White River). Recent storms and rising water damage had rendered the office and laundry room unusable. The temporary office was a contractor's trailer of sorts and quite cramped if several people were working at one time. But, oh the fun we had in there! Besides the managers, there were 13 other workamper couples in the park from all over the US.

Spending 4 months away is so much easier given the technology available. We managed to stay in contact with our son, Mac and daughter, Sara as well as the rest of the family by phone. But the saving grace was Skype. Had we not been able to "see" and talk to our grandson, Adler, this would have been so much harder. After all, little ones change so much on a daily basis! Adler was able to carry the iPad to show us his newly redecorated room from monkeys to spaceships! He was able to show his dinasaurs and other toys. Once, we even got to see what happens when he gets out of the bathtub and isn't put into a new diaper right away! ha! ha! We were able to show him a silly stuffed monkey we keep in the RV and even read a story to him, all on Skype! He got so used to the technology that he even thought we could see a lizard if he held the regular phone over it!

So, our workamper commitment consisted of working minimal hours in the office or outside on a golf cart assisting guests. We made good use of our plentiful off-time enjoying fellow workampers and the area. We had so much fun going to shows with big and small groups of people and there always seemed to be someone to do something with. We shared meals together quite often and had pot-luck meals like the Trash Bag Taco Salad Day and the Hawaiian BBQ Chicken dinner which included line dancing and other silly behavior (better left unpublished) at the covered Pavilion.

Keep in mind, when you're spending several months in an area, you can see and do a lot! We went to Silver Dollar City, took a lake tour on the Showboat Branson, saw shows and more shows and if I didn't miss one, here they are: Brule', Shoji Tabuchi, Yakov Smirnoff, Mickey Gilley, Kirby Von Burch Magic, Legends of Kung Fu, Six, Duttons, Haygoods, Presleys, George Dyer, Hughes Brothers, 3 Redneck Tenors, Texas Tenors, Pierce Arrow, Smoke on the Mountain, The Bretts, The Gatlin Brothers, Red Skelton Tribute, Legends Tribute, and Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede Dinner Theatre.

We hiked beautiful trails including one that had over 300 stone steps to the bottom where we peeked into 3 caves! The main thing we discovered about this hike was that if you go down 300 stone steps, there are 300 stone steps to come back up!

We rode our bikes a little in the area but boy, those hills! Springfield, Missouri had neat bike trails that we checked out on foot but we never found the time to drive over and ride them.

The River

Fishing just outside our door

Branson Landing Water Feature & Concert

We also spent time in Historic Downtown Branson, visited ice cream shops, and cool 5 & 10 shops! We spent time in Bass Pro. And we really enjoyed Branson Landing. It is a very neat shopping venue within walking distance of the RV Park along the river. The Landing had a great hamburger place called Fall Guys! We also enjoyed Texas Land & Cattle on Thursday nights for happy hour with groups of people from the Workamper Crew. The Landing also had free concerts quite often and the synchronized water fountain was where you could find us several evenings a week. It was so neat! In addition to being a constant water beauty, it had a top-of-the-hour 5 or 10 minute presentation in which it really put on a show. The water shot up so high out of many, many jets. It was set to music and lights and even fire at the end! So cool!

I lucked into the best part time job at the most wonderful Historic Downtown Branson shop called Rosa's Lost Treasure Chest. It was owned by Rosa and her husband, Ken. I also worked with their son, Kevin, who was a former Marine. His wife, Becky, was a sweetheart and was so nice in helping get me trained. Ken was such a nice man and was a big kidder. Rosa was someone I could really connect with. She had a tremendous business sense and really loved what she was doing. She knew so much about the jewelery (many kinds of turquoise including White Buffalo), pottery, kachina dolls, and Indian art reproductions. Rosa gave me a lead on a book to read called Sidd Hartha.

You might be able to tell that the best part of this travel, workamping gig is meeting wonderful people! We enjoyed everyone and loved hearing about their walks of life. There are just too many to mention! We did make sure we had each other's contact information. John & Debbie were our hiking, fishing, and dining buddies most of the time and we've remained in constant contact with them since Branson. We even joined them later for another adventure in Rockport, Texas. It's amazing how your paths can cross again. We have also had the pleasure of Leon & Kathy's company here in the Houston area.

Of course, nothing is perfect but this first job came close! Would I go back to Branson? Absolutely!

Here are a few additional random Branson photos: