Still Branson

Wow, I had such a non-interesting day I almost forgot to blog about it!

I'm in sort of a weird spot right now. My Americorps reuinion thing is this weekend in Chicago, so it's too early to drive there but too late to make it home. So I find myself needing to kill time in the midwest. Oh the joys. It was with that thought in mind that I woke up this morning, still feeling exhausted. I had planned to get up for the hotel breakfast but decided instead to go back to sleep. After all I'm in a decent place here, I might as well hang out and keep the room.

So I fell back to sleep, wake up and veg for a bit, and then realize I never called the front desk about keeping the room. At about 10:59 (11:00 checkout time) I call and they tell me "No, sorry, we're sold out for tonight." Ack! I get a late checkout for noon and rush to get cleaned up, packed up, and out.

I didn't really know what I wanted to do with myself, but I knew I had a lot of pent up energy and was very tired of my car. So I threw some water and a map into my backpack and went for a hike. Around Branson. Unfortunately I didn't actually look at the map before I got going, and I managed to end up in the most un-interesting part of the town. An empty highway. But I walked a lot....I'm guessing at least 5 miles but probably more (a very quick estimate from the map gives me 7.5 miles). Enough to give me blisters from my sandals. (Ouchie!)

I had planned to stop and see a show or go out to eat or something, but I never really saw anything interesting so I just kept walking. I did eventually find a nice patch of grass perfect for stopping to enjoy the sun. It's been many, many days since I've seen much sun. Today there was not a cloud in the sky and I wanted to take full advantage. I ended up drifting off for quite a while. The good news is, I'm no longer looking pale like I thought I was this morning. The bad news is, pale has been replaced with an impressive shade of red with faint white-glasses lines all over my face and down my neck. Of course I couldn't have slept on my stomach or covered my face with something first.

After my nap I continued my walk and eventually did go to the giant go-kart track. 4 stories of track in this crazy double spiral with an up and down bridge between them. It was fun, though the go-karts themselves sucked. I floored it the whole time and I would get going for a bit, slow to a near stop, then get a big vroom burst of speed and then slow down again. It made it far less exciting than I'd hope, but it was definitely one of those gotta try it once things. I raced a bunch of highschool kids who all really sucked. I started in the back and passed all of them...and I think I may have lapped one of them. I guess I shouldn't be bragging about beating highschool kids...but they were cocky boys who were beat by a girl, so I can enjoy my moment a little. :) From there I continued my search for a restaurant, but still never found anything too exciting so I instead went to Fuddruckers. As some of you know I had a bit of an obsession going with Fuddruckers after Outward Bound, but now it's been a while since I've been to one. It was pretty good, though I tried a buffalo burger (which was listed on the menu as a lighter option) and it was drenched in grease. Totally drenched! Speaking of their menu, they've changed it. My old "usual" is gone. So sad!

After dinner I got myself checked in to my new, super tiny but much more affordable hotel. And get this....the door uses a real key! No key card here! That actually makes me really happy. Ever since the New Mexico Best Western during Americorps that checked me in to an already occupied room and sent me to walk in on some unsuspecting guy, I have been very wary of key cards. At least with a physical key they're more likely to know when there's someone already in the room! Still though, as soon as I get in a hotel room now I do the top latch/chain so that even someone with a key can't walk in on me! Yeah I know, I'm paranoid.

I considered going to a show tonight, but everything that looked interesting also looked painfully expensive. So instead I sat in my strange smelling hotel room, shivering while trying to air it out with the AC, talking to friends. I'm considering a breakfast show tomorrow. We'll see. I had really hoped to camp tonight since the weather was so beautiful today, but seemingly within minutes as I was having dinner the sky went from not a cloud to not even a glimpse of sun or blue sky. Now I am listening to a thunderstorm outside. It's good to be indoors, despite how it smells. (And if you're wondering, which you're probably not, it's not a smoke smell like some of the rooms i've had. It smells like somebody spilled an entire bottle of especially horrid old lady perfume).