Well, we sure got “showed” on our Edgerton’s Travel Service “Branson at Christmas” trip, didn’t we?
We saw eight shows _ repeat, eight shows _ in less than three days and all of them were unique and worthy of standing ovations. From Jim Stafford singing about spiders and snakes … to SIX (the Knutson brothers) making some of the best sounds we heard with their mouths instead of musical instruments … to Joseph, Mary and real animals coming down the aisle right beside us in the inspiring “Miracle of Christmas.”
And who can forget the Christmas shows of Dino, the Brett Family, the Hughes Brothers and Shoji Tabushi. Throw in the great dancing of the Red, Hot & Blue performers and we saw some of the top family entertainment in all of America.
Wasn’t it also nice how some of the performers would board our motor coach and thank us for coming? You don’t see that in Las Vegas.
Of course, tour manager Sherrill Lee kept us well-informed, well-fed and well-ahead of the crowd. Well-done, Sherrill.
Let’s don’t forget our first-night stop in Saint Louis, either, when we took a trip to the top of the Gateway Arch. What an unbelievable view and what a great museum located below it. OK, so a few of us got a little frost-bitten on the walk back to the motor coach.
It was December, after all. Yet there was enough warmth on the motor coach generated by our fellow travelers to thaw everyone out.
Here’s a few tidbits about the new friends we met on our Branson trip:
Linda Wagner of Niles knows how to make the best of every day. She recently posed for her own picture with Santa Claus while taking her grandkids to see the jolly old elf. She is giving her relatives that picture with a caption that reads: Have Fun Every Day.
She brings along the newspaper’s comics when she picks up one of her young grandsons after school. Then she has him read them to her so they can laugh together.
The Shopper of the Trip Award has to go to Bev Stitt of South Bend. She bought a ton of souvenirs at Jim Stafford’s theater and kept her must-buy momentum going at the other shows. “Branson Bev” obviously liked the music and performers.
Husband Bill just sat back and smiled. He celebrated an anniversary on the trip. As we headed out to St. Louis on our first day, he admitted that he had been on a bus exactly 57 years earlier. But that was on the way to his Army induction. He liked this trip a whole lot better.
Ironically, Bill’s kid sister Carol Noffsinger was also on the trip and neither of them knew that the other had signed up until the Document Night hosted by Tom Edgerton a few weeks before we headed to Branson.
Carol, who lives in Osceola, traveled with her good friend Diane Straughn of Granger. They had worked together at both PDH and the Jameson Inn. They also were a deadly team in trivia contests on the motor coach.
Fern Williams of Buchanan and Florence Gombosi of Niles look like sisters _ even act like sisters. But Fern is Florence’s aunt even though they are only two years apart in age.
Fern married Florence’s uncle. When they first stated dating, Florence figured that Fern was just interested in riding around in her uncle’s new Studebaker. And now all those years later, they are best friends.
Both are widows like some of the others on the trip and two of Fern’s daughters also watch over Florence as if she was their second mom.
It looked like it might be difficult to get Linda Channel and Diane Fark, both of Fort Wayne, back on the motor coach for the trip home. They fell in love with Branson and didn’t want to leave.
They met through Diane’s daughter and have become good friends. It was their first time in Branson and they thought they could actually move there and even work in one of the theaters. We’ll stay tuned to see if that happens.
Dave and Phyllis Finch of Edwardsburg were right at home in Branson, too, even though Dave was really missing … not his five children or many grandchildren (OK, he missed them a little too) … but their new little Shih tzu doggie, Katie. He even bought her a flashing doggie light at one of the performances.
Phyllis spent much of her time on the motor coach writing out her Christmas cards. At one count, she was up to 53 and still going strong _ apparently not even suffering from motion sickness.
Jerry and Barb Badur of South Bend hadn’t taken a real vacation in more than 30 years. Dan, their youngest of three children, fell out of a tree when he was 15 and broke his neck. He is a paraplegic who needs round-the-clock attention.
Barb provides that constant loving care. Jerry was a South Bend firefighter and did some heroic rescues but Barb is a quiet hero each and every day with their son.
As friends and family pitched in to watch over Dan, the Badurs had a great time. It was wonderful to see them both hop up during some lively Christmas music at one restaurant and start dancing.
Norbert and Marianna Boguslawski of Plymouth were also both full of pep. Norbert?
Some people on the motor coach are probably asking, “Who the heck is Norbert?” That’s because we all called him Bogey. He is a golfer and gets his share of bogeys but his nickname originates from his last name.
But then Marianna, as sweet as a lady can be, may think her husband has the same smoothness of another Bogey _ Humphrey Bogart. She was a hairdresser and Bogey was an ironworker but he now drives an ambulance in Marshall County in his semi-retirement years.
Ed and Lucille Kuczmaul of South Bend had been to Branson on other occasions and always have enjoyed it. They have been married 57 years
They met on a double date. Only they had different partners. Ed, the World War II veteran on the trip, liked whom his buddy had taken out. That was the lovely Lucille and they have hit if off ever since then.
Both retired, you would never know they were in their 80s they way the got around Branson. They know their trivia, too.
Steve and Marlane Wagner hail from little Macy, Ind., but they have already had some big-time adventures. During a trip to New Zealand, they went up on a hot-air balloon on Valentine’s Day.
Steve is a farmer and also has driven semi-trucks, motor coaches and school buses. He kept many of us entertained with his many stories about working on the farm. Marlane _ who goes by Gay _ may have been the smallest person on the trip but she had the biggest laugh, making everything a little more fun.
We all had fun in the Show-Me State, didn’t we?