Monday Misc for July 21, 2014

Branson: Vivian and I went down to Branson over the weekend and I had forgotten how horribly bad the traffic there is. Maybe it was because when I was there before it was in April during the week. This weekend, the only main street/highway through town was stop and creep because the traffic was bumper to bumper for miles.  There are very few stoplights so it is almost impossible to get out of a parking lot into traffic or make a left turn. If you haven't been there, think of the Strip in Las Vegas being 2 lanes with no stoplights.

The drive down, especially when you get into the hills, is really pretty. We went through an area where there are a lot of Amish people and this was one of them on the 4-line highway. We stopped at an orchard on the way home and got some great tomatoes, etc. In my opinion, Lone Star Steak House has one of the best steaks you can get and there is one in Branson so guess where we went for dinner on Friday and guess what I had.....

Great-Grandfather Arnold:  The search continues and I'm happy to report that progress is being very slowly made! I have gone about as far as I can go on him until I get the information back from the National Archives.  I'm starting on his father next - Micajah Arnold who was born abt 1811 in either Tennessee or Georgia but lived in Tennessee for a lot of years and moved to Arkansas sometime between 1840 and 1850 since he is in Arkansas on the 1850 census.

This is the first time I have ever mapped a person but he seemed a good candidate to start with. I think if you click on the map, it will be larger on your computer.....

Southwest Airlines: I get their weekly email covering fares that are on sale.  It is interesting to see the ones from Kansas City since I looked at Tucson's for so many years.  The big steal last week was a flight to Chicago for $67.00 one way.... Now I have no real desire to go to Chicago but it did cross my mind based on that fare. Larry saw a $29 fare from Tucson to Denver and said we couldn't resist it so we went to Denver for a few days.  After using our senior discount, the fare ended up being about $25 each way each person.