Sunday, September 7, 2014

Branson 1#

Okay, sorry it's been so long, but here's my first
post about our trip to Branson, Missouri! Please pardon
details I can't remember.

Well, we leave early Sunday morning and Annah and I try
to get in some naps along the way. We arrive on time to attend
church with saints in Springfield, some we know personally,
some not.
Springfield was very interesting. We were quite entertained by
the different store and gas station names they have down there.
I'm used to QuikTrip, Wal-Mart, Shell, Philipps 66, and so on.
Kind of uniform and spread out. The names down in Springfield
 I thought were quite unique: Kum & Go gas station, BasketCase,
and many others.
We have lunch in Springfield at McDonald's. I know. Where else, right?
Now, I'm used to Ozark hills. We've traveled them since I was little.
But the hills down in Branson? Whoa! They were like mountains!
(In case you're forgetting, this is my first time down there.)
I'm not used to traveling those kinds, so steep and long, so high
and long. And in the rain too! We reach Branson and drive in
the heart of it, wide turns on the side of "mountain" on busy
streets and intersections. I felt so unbalanced, not on level
ground, I mean super "not level" ground.
Thank God for safe traveling and we finally reached our hotel,
which was really nice.
We rested some, then Dad and I decided to drive around and
find out where some things were, plus there was this lake
(I can't remember the exact name) Dad wanted to see, near the
fish hatchery. It was getting dark after we'd looked at the lake,
but then Dad found a guy to talk to. While they conversed,
I sat in the car listening to CDs, not with the motor on, but
with the key in the ignition. Dad finally came so we could
leave and I turned off the car. Dad turned it on, well, rather...
tried to! The car died on us right there. He asked what I did
and I told him. He opened the hood and looked. Oh, I
felt awful! I felt so bad! I thought for sure I'd killed the battery!!
Dad called to Jeff, the guy he'd been talking with and he came
to help us out. They tried jumper cables but that didn't work.
 It turns out it wasn't the battery, but the starter. Dad called
towing, and Jeff brought him and me back to the hotel,
then went back with Dad to the lake. I still felt terrible about
it. I was thinking, Lord, we've got to get the car fixed! It's 
going to be expensive! We need our car to get home when our
trip's over! That was day 1# of our trip. To be continued...