Day 9 - K.C. to Branson, MO

This morning we headed head south from K.C. on I-49, a great road all the way to just north of Joplin, MO. Then we headed out into the Ozarks in search of Rocky Comfort and the Prosperity Baptist Church cemetery, where my grandparents and great grandparents are buried. Our phone's map app had a tough time with all these twisty back roads, but she got us there! Back in the day, if I recall the family history correctly, the three Biggs boys married the three Davidson sisters. They all grew up in Rocky. My Dad's parents were Zona and J.Q. and the grandparents were John and Dicey (those are the wonderful portaits we have hanging in our home!)

We found the church easily enough. Its hard to explain. The village of Rocky Comfort has essentially died - its a ghost town. Last time we were there, 2012, there were operating turkey farms. Today, they're all boarded up. There is seemingly nobody around. The area is really distressed. But here sits this church up on the hill, with a very large cemetery on the side. The church is well cared for, new siding and roof, the large lawn is freshly mowed, the reader board mentions three services and Sunday school. So where do the people come from?

From Rocky we headed east, back into the Ozarks, up and down roller coaster back roads, pretty country. Lots of churchs, but no many people! We arrived in Bentonville, home of WalMart, and visited the Crystal Bridges Museum of Art. As you might imagine, Bentonville is a thriving community, obviously the beneficiary of lot of WalMart execs who live there. The are new home subdivision, great city parks, etc. Quite a change from what we had been driving through.

The Crystal Bridges Museum of Art was opened in 2013. It was started by Alice Walton (not sure of the relation to Sam Walton). Its an architectural achievement, hard to describe. But it houses a great collection of American Art works. And it has a great gift shop!

We continued on for another wto hours, still in the Ozarks on back roads, until we reached Branson. Quite a zoo! We found our hotel and met up with Ann and Bryan who had found a good campsite down by the lake. We had dinner at Mel's Hard Luck Diner, the home of the singing servers! It was blast! We decided what shows to see tomorrow.

Time for laundry tonight!

What's left of downtown Rocky

Crystal Bridges Museum main entrance

This is really creepy! Its a self portrait by the artist, using many different mediums. But, Its TWICE normal size!

This guy is actual size!

Singing server