The Long way Home

And what a more appropriate way to end this trip, than to have us driving off into the sunset?

Art Show

On the way home I found this little work of art from one of the local Rodgersville MO residents.

Home sweet other home

This is the result of our 90 minute sales pitch. I actually had to throw a bit of a fit about this -- the woman doing the sales was a nice enough person -- attractive, charming, a southern belle of a woman -- who wouldn't listen to what her customer was saying to her. She said she'd been doing this for a while, with several companies (wonder if that should have been a warning sign), but she seems to rely on her charms more than brains. I've only been doing retail sales for about 6 years -- technology, rather than semi-real estate. I went to great lengths to learn my products, and the advantages to the customer. There is one thing I've learned though. Even if I think I know that the customer is making a mistake, I mention it once firmly, then sell the customer what they think they want. I don't keep harping on it -- the customer will think I'm calling him stupid and leave without buying. There's also the possibility that there is more going on than I know about, and to rewrite the cliche, the customer is sometimes right. Anyway, a genuinely experienced person and his assistant came in and saved the sale as it were. We didn't really need another time-share, but they have a program to sell off the 3 we inherited and won't ever use, and we'll take that money to pay for the 2 we will use. The previous one will mainly be used to visit St Louis, the one that has us staying in this nifty little 2 bedroom house we may use to visit Branson, or perhaps trade off for the Orlando resort -- or a cruise (they have a much more interesting vacation club than anyone else).

And it's only a little smaller than our old house...

I'm in hot water again...

This is one of the Branson community water heaters. They have several of these around town, as well as several conventional water towers.

Something you don't see every day...

You see, Lake Tannycomo is REALLY big...

Movin' on up...

This is something becoming more prevalent in Branson -- taller buildings. This one is 12 stories tall -- signs around the lakefront are advertising a 17 story complex you can pre-buy into. There are other tall hotels in town, but they're off the main drags in the valleys. It should be interesting to see where this goes, now that we have an interest in the town...

Back in civilization...

We finally returnd to Verizon sponsored cell phone coverage, so I can now send up stuff. Sadly, my phone started goofing up with the camera (I think it's the memory card, I may have messed it up a bit). I'll go ahead and send up the rest of what pictures I've managed to get, and fill in the rest later...

What a way to go...

I suppose being stuck on a pole in front of a veterans museum is better than being turned into a bunch of beer cans...

Not amused ...

I suppose, if it were summer we would be visiting Celebration City, instead of spending the next 90 minutes listening to a sales pitch in exchange for cheap tickets to a show.

The latest in plumbing...

Now isn't this about the neatest bit of public plumbing you've ever seen? Sure, you've seen sinks that turn on when you wave your hands under them -- dryers too. But this one starts by squirting soap on your hands, then a spray of warm water, finishing up with a blast of hot air to dry your hands -- all from one unit. What will they think of next?

Film at 11...

I was planning on doing pictures and other stuff during our trip here to Branson, but it turns out Verizon Wireless can only offer cell coverage here -- no messaging or packet data modem usage. Fortunately the resort has a hot spot in the visitors center.

We did upgrade our ownership to an every year set up -- and since we bought in with this special program we can go to just about any of their resorts we want to almost anytime we want to. We call 14 days in advance, make a reservation, and show up for a week. Then we leave for a week, call again and go in for another week. Free. It's kind of cool, if you've got the time for it. The resort here in Branson is OK (apart from the lack of internet hookups in the units), but Branson isn't exactly my cup of tea. Our previous resort is outside of St. Louis, and we'll probably use it most of the time. This makes 3 time share we have in Branson now (my wife inherited 2 when her folks passed on).

We were going to talk to yet another time share company in exchange for show tickets, but we got held up here, so we'll try again tomorrow. And if I get the chance to snap a photo or two I will, but that will all show up later.

When I can talk to Verizon again...

So here we are, finally on our way to Branson. I took this picture as we made a pit stop before hitting St. Louis. Our route, I55 to I44 actually follows old Route 66, so I thought this was an appropriate starting point. The only problem now is that it's quarter to six at night, and I'm typing this in the passenger seat of the car in the dark (but my, aren't cell phone modems the handiest things!). The GPS program on my phone says we have another 159 miles to go, so including a supper stop sometime, we won't arrive until about nine. Oh well, might as well see if I can get a nap in while we drive.