Branson, Day Two. Dam, and Hard Work U

Another day on Branson, Missouri. A nice day spent with nice people.
Miss Terri Pribeck, another friend of a friend, John Dodge Miles, came to my rescue today. She picked me up this morning and we went to lunch at a Chinese buffet called The Great Wall. It was a good lunch and despite no chicken and broccoli, the selection was decent. Love that chicken and broccoli, though…
We went to the dam, which, when opened years ago on the White River (The same White River that roared past me in Cotter, Arkansas) and it was an amazing structure. Flat Rock Lake was created, and it is, for me, very reminiscent of the beautiful Ashokan Reservoir in upstate New York. From the top of the dam there are scenic panoramas of the entire area, including basically all of Branson. It was pretty awe inspiring, a word that has come to mind a lot while I have been in the Ozarks.
We also took trip to a place called the College of the Ozarks. I had not heard of the school, but Terri told me it is called “Hard Work U” because the students work their way through school. I investigated a bit online later and discovered that indeed, it has no tuition requirements for full time students, who must work 15 hours weekly in addition to their classroom schedules. While there are many different degree programs, it is essentially an agriculture school (hey, this IS the mid-west!) including a tractor museum. There were also many greenhouses overflowing with flowers and plants of all sorts. The place was incredibly clean and well cared for. I suspect it was built up around older buildings that were there long before it was a school. There is a lovely old grist mill and many other structures that are camera ready.
Later, after returning to my room, I got bored, so I went in search of Chinese food. I decided to keep walking and ended up at the Presley Theater again, where Cricket and I hung out and where he introduced me to many people involved with the show, including multi-instrumentalist Mark Walker, who let me play his guitar right there on the stage of the theater. I am a good player but my skills have so eroded that I know when I get back to my own instruments Im gonna need some private time with them to reacquaint my fingers with the strings. We talked about music, and musicians, and I really enjoyed the brief look into he backstage and pre-show preparations. For almost the entire time we were talking Mark Walker was tuning his many instruments, including several guitars, woodwinds, sax, banjo and mandolin.
Leaving the theater, I continued my search for more Chinese food. I ended up back at the same place that Terri Pribeck and I had lunched. Unfortunately, for whatever reasons I was not in the mood for meat, and was expecting to have a lot of veggies, but there were almost none to be found. Fried meats of all sorts prevailed, and the only vegetables were a few pieces of broccoli buried in some beef and broccoli. A terribly unsatisfying last meal in Branson. Ah well. Back to Vienna Sausages.