I didn’t actually check the mileage, although I’m sure the rental car company will, but when I left out yesterday, my daddy and stepmother live about 30 miles south of the Arkansas border and Branson is about the same distance north of the border. While I may not have traversed the longest part of Arkansas, It was pretty close and there is very little Interstate in the areas where I was driving. That means lots of small towns and two-lane roads with 55 soon falling to 45 to 35 and sometimes 25. I don’t really mind though except I also had rain intermittently for the first 3 of 7.5 hours. With that said, it was a Sunday, so I also didn’t have much traffic to contend with.

The skies did clear and it was a lovely afternoon and evening in Branson. My girlfriend comes here each year to visit her folks and we strolled down to The Landings, a lovely place on the river after you pass the historic area with all sorts of shops and restaurants. They have a marvelous fountain, “fire columns”, and light features with music for a  variety of displays they do throughout the day and then twice at night. I don’t have the right kind of camera to catch it on film, but it is pretty.

We are in The Branson Hotel, a historic B&B that I’ll write more about tomorrow.