2026 Branson, MO Adventure

I checked an item off my Bucket List last week! I’ve always wanted to go to Branson, MO and now I have! Nov 1-7 I took a group bus trip to Branson and it was a great trip. I talked my friend, Cathy, into going with me, so it was even better! There were also a few others I have traveled with before and a couple friends I know outside my travel adventures on the bus, so that was cool. Here are the deets….

The bus loaded up just shy of 50 people (counting our tour manager and driver) for an 8:00 am departure time….and we were off!!! It took two loooooong days to get there! I’ve been on other bus trips that had two day transit times, but I don’t believe the overall distance was as long….small “touristy” stops were booked to help break up the travel time a bit. This one was a bit brutal…..BUT…..our fabulous tour manager, Kathy, kept us pretty busy with movies, games, and conversations…..and we had the usual required rest stops every 2-2.5 hours, lunch, dinner, and….of course….naps! So, in hindsight, it wasn’t as bad as it seemed at the time.

The trip was billed as a “Branson Show Trip Extravaganza” – we were there three days and saw TWO shows every day plus other activities in between. We saw and did a LOT of stuff — it was a jam packed trip, for sure! It was a Diamond Tours trip offered by First Choice Travel with tour manager, Kathy Hamm, and driver, Rachel Thompson – the dream team!

BTW – there were several Cathy/Kathy’s on the trip — I’ll be mentioning two of them throughout this post — to help you not get confused – when I use Cathy with a “C” – that’s my travel buddy….when I use Kathy with a “K” – that’s our tour manager!!! 😉

Our tour manager, Kathy, and driver, Rachel — if you’ve read about other trips I’ve taken with First Choice Travel, you know Kathy is usually the tour manager and I’ve also had the pleasure of having Rachel drive us on a few trips. They both really go out of their way to make the trip fun, efficient, and safe….but mostly fun!!!

I often travel with my best friend, Cathy, and I’m so glad she decided to go on this one with me! We had fun!

This is our group photo – taken in front of the entrance to the College of the Ozarks – it was taken when we toured this campus on Day 4, so you’ll read more about that later in this post – just wanted you to see all our smiling faces and that we still seemed to like each other a little over half way through being on a bus together for seven days!!! 😉

The weather cooperated and was actually down-right pleasant the whole week! Branson was full-on Christmas themed with everywhere all decorated for the season and lots of Christmas themed shows. They are also very patriotic — almost every show had a time where they recognized the veterans in the audience or did something patriotic in some way. And…..almost every show read off all the names of the different groups in the audience to recognize and show appreciation for us!!! That was nice! There were dozens of buses in the area — LOTS of groups everywhere we went — I think they said that Diamond Tours alone had something like 20 buses there that week – and that’s only one of several tour companies represented!!! WOW!!! BUT….I have to say that the entire city and all the restaurants and venues knew exactly how to manage the big crowds — they have it down to a science and can move people through efficiently and effectively without making us feel rushed or like herded cattle at all!!! It was really quite impressive!

Day One – a travel day:

As you know, if this isn’t your first time on my blog, I do a Daily Photo Challenge – each day, I have a photo topic and have to find something that fits the topic to take a photo of……ironically, on November 1, the topic of the day was “A Place To Sit”……well, that was easy! hahaha

Kathy sets a “theme” for each day that includes a message and a sticker for our name tags – we all look forward to filling our name tags with stickers to remind us of each day’s theme – usually associated with what we will be doing that day. Day One is always the same: “Be Kinder Than Necessary” to remind us that everyone is going through something we know nothing about and if we see someone without a smile, to give them ours – it sets the tone for the trip! The sticker was a Smiley Face!

We had a pit stop in Northwest Harborcreek, PA and had lunch at the Culvers in Macedonia, OH. I have been at Culver’s on other trips before and have not had the same thing twice — this time I chose the crispy chicken sandwich, onion rings, and sweet tea – Cathy had the grilled chicken sandwich.

I didn’t take a lot of photos of the scenery along the way — we were mostly on the thruway and interstates and there wasn’t a ton of interesting stuff to see and it isn’t easy to get good photos as the bus sails by…..maybe I’ll need to talk to future drivers about that — they can see if something interesting is ahead and give us a heads up to get ready and maybe slow down a bit!!! hehehe But, we did get to see a lot of colors in various stages of change for the season.

After another pit stop in Choctaw Lake, OH, we had dinner at Olive Garden in Richmond, IN about 5:30-ish.

Our in-transit hotel was the Best Western in Fisher’s IN. There was a bit of drama with the hotel — we were originally booked at the Holiday Inn Express in Indianapolis, IN, but when Kathy called to let them know we were getting close, they let her know their elevator wasn’t working….and most of us were in rooms on the fourth floor!!! So…..while the hotel was trying to find a sister hotel that could accommodate us, Kathy jumped into action with calls to Diamond Tours and First Choice Travel to find an alternative…..and that they did…..they rebooked us in the Best Western about 20 minutes away – the same hotel we were booked in for our return trip. Problem solved…..things happen…..it’s all about how they get dealt with and this, while it was stressful for Kathy and a tad worrisome for us, was dealt with in a way that worked out with a happy ending. We didn’t have to sleep on the bus or find a Motel 6 somewhere on the road side…..all was good!!! 😉

Day Two – a travel day & destination arrival:

After a good night’s sleep and a lovely breakfast, we were back on the road for our last of two travel days.

Kathy greeted us with hugs and pumpkin glasses and a candy cane necklace that lit up with flashing lights. The day’s theme was to celebrate autumn before we hit Christmas in Branson! She read this quote by Vincent Van Gogh: “As long as autumn lasts, I shall not have hands, canvas, or colors enough to paint the beautiful things I see.” Our name tag sticker was an autumn leaf.

We had lunch at Arby’s in Vandalia, IL – Cathy and I shared a sandwich and curly fries, since we were having an early buffet dinner.

While driving through St. Louis, I got a good shot of the Gateway Arch…..it was foggy and shot through the bus window, but still a pretty dang good photo!!! The only other time I saw the Gateway Arch was on a cross country motorhome trip with my brother and sister-in-law in 2016 — we were stuck in a bad traffic jam on an interstate and we were getting scarily low on gas while in total grid-lock!!! The photo I got that day was no where near as good as this one — I think we were on the other side of the highway and didn’t get as close a view across the lanes and traffic! So, SCORE!!! (BTW – we did make it out of the stand-still on that other trip in 2016 in time to gas up before we ran out!)

Here are some other photos I took of the Mississippi River as we crossed it and a couple cool things in St. Louis as we drove through.

Dinner that night was at the Sirloin Stockade in Rolla, MO. It was a nice buffet dinner – the fried chicken was on point!

We arrived at the Stone Castle Hotel in Branson, MO about 8:30 pm…..we stayed at this hotel for the four nights we were in Branson. It was a nice hotel located right in the middle of everything! Most things we did were within a few minutes of the hotel and others weren’t very far! It was very conveniently located, comfortable, and clean…..what more could you ask for?

Day Three – Branson Day One:

We were in Building Two at the hotel and the breakfast room was on the second floor – a HUGE room with an impressive breakfast offering and a lovely view of a waterfall and garden area between the buildings. The elevator had a poster of the Dolly Parton’s Stampede on the door — it took a minute to realize that was the elevator!!! hahaha (I wish we would have been able to see that show — that would have been a blast!!!)

Branson was all decked out for Christmas – everywhere we looked! And, Kathy & Rachel both started out our first day there wearing Christmas glasses as they greeted us loading up the bus. The theme was joy – the message from Kathy was “The good news of great joy changed the course of every silent night” – and our name tag sticker was the word “JOY” with a manger scene. The sticker was too big to put on the front of the name tag, so it had to go on the back all by itself…..thinking that might be appropriate in some odd way. And….the bus was festively decorated for Christmas!

Our morning show at the Reza Live Theater – the first show of the trip – was the “Doug Gabriel Morning Show” – a family run variety show with Doug and his wife and kids – including a son who was a comedian! It was a GREAT show — wonderful kick off for the time we spent in Branson. The vocals on all the singers were awesome – an extremely talented ensemble cast – and it was put together beautifully. FANTASTIC SHOW!!!

This electric guitar was made from a car muffler – if I remember correctly, he said his father made it!!! It sounded amazing — I don’t believe he would have gotten a better sound if he used a top-of-the-line custom Les Paul or Gibson guitar!!! Unbelievable joyful noise came from that old car muffler!

The son was really funny — he did a few walk-on schticks that cracked everyone up…..including this one where they got a guy from the audience to come up to be a ventriloquist to his “dummy”….hysterical!

Part of the show was various musical genres and popular tunes and part was Christmas songs. They also read the Christmas Story from the Bible and sang “Mary Did You Know” to a teary eyed crowd.

Seen on the way to lunch……a purple bull!!! LOL

After the show, we went to Branson Landings for time on our own to have lunch and shop. This is a large open air venue with lots of shops and restaurants. Cathy and I chose Joe’s Crab Shack for lunch – it was a good choice – Cathy’s fish and chips was HUGE – we should have considered sharing one dish of that, but I (of course) had to have a boil — I chose one that had snow crab legs, shrimp, lobster, mussels, and the usual corn, potatoes, and sausage. Mine was a tad over-cooked and I got real spoiled with the fresh mussels in Prince Edward Island and New Hampshire, but it was a good lunch and I’m really glad we chose it! And our table over-looked a beautiful view.

The Crabby Queen……good one!!! LOL

Photos from around Branson Landings:

Our evening show was “The Miracle of Christmas” at the Branson Sight & Sound Theater. I’ve been to several Sight & Sound productions in Lancaster, PA, but this was my first time in the Branson location — it looked exactly the same – once you’re there, you’d have a hard time knowing if you were in Branson or Lancaster if you didn’t know where you were! LOL I saw “The Miracle of Christmas” in Lancaster and was really looking forward to seeing it again — loved it the first time and was not disappointed seeing it again!

The photo on the right was just an “over my shoulder” shot of the theater — I have no idea who these people behind me are — they weren’t with our group! Sorry, guys — don’t mean to make you famous! 😉

Sight and Sound does not allow photos of the show – it’s copyrighted – so, this bible verse that came up before the show is all I got for you!

Dinner that night was Pasghetti’s Italian Restaurant in Branson. It had a huge meatball with a fork stuck in it at the entrance and a really cool interior design – looked like you were outside strolling down a street in Italy! There were 3 or 4 choices for dinner – I chose the spaghetti and meatball and the waitress was very kind to bring me a replacement salad that didn’t have cheese on it (the salads were already on the table when we got there). The spaghetti was very good – a sweet sauce that surprised me – the meatball had a nice flavor, but it was very dense and chewy, so I didn’t eat much of it. Overall — a great place for dinner, we had a big room to ourselves to eat, and I loved the spaghetti and the cake they served us for dessert!!!

Day Four – Branson Day Two:

Kathy greeted us in a graduation cap and gown as we got on the bus. Her daily quote/theme was “There are no secrets to success – its the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure” from Colin Powell and our name tag sticker was a graduation cap. This was all to remember our mid-day activity of touring the College of the Ozarks. Kathy requested this be added to the itinerary and we were all so glad she did! It was originally scheduled for Thursday, but the college told her they were having a big commemoration of a POW/MIA memorial on the campus and asked if we could change to Wednesday – as it turned out, that was an easy swap, so we went with it!

Our morning show was at the Hamners’ Variety Theater – “The Beach Boys California Dreamin'” show — very nice, indeed! It was a cast of two guys and two girls who sang Beach Boys songs and some other songs of the same era. Sing-along worthy show, for sure!

I was so happy they sang “Kokomo” – one of my absolute favorite Beach boys songs with clips from Tom Cruise’s 1988 movie “Cocktails” on the screen (a favorite movie, too – “Kokomo” was on the soundtrack for that movie)!

After that super fun show, we had lunch at a Chik-fil-A that looked like Christmas threw up all over it – yeah, that sounds bad, but it is the best way to describe it…..even though it looked absolutely festive and beautiful!

After lunch we went to the College of the Ozarks — aka “Hard Work U”! This is a Christian college with a very unique and inspirational format – they focus on their students graduating debt-free! They encourage applicants to show financial need, as well as GPA’s and other criteria, but financial need is in the forefront! Then, the students work various jobs around the campus to work off their tuition – they have a working farm on campus, as well as a medical clinic for nursing students to work at, among other jobs. It was fascinating to hear about it all. If you’d like to find out more about this incredible university or would like to support their mission, click here for their web-site: https://www.cofo.edu/ (if you click on this link, just use your back arrow at the top right corner of your browser to get back to this spot in the blog post)

Their Mission (from their website): The mission of College of the Ozarks is to provide the advantages of a Christian education for youth of both sexes, especially those found worthy, but who are without sufficient means to procure such training.

They have a “No-Tuition” format – this is from their web-site: Each student participates in the on-campus work program for 15 hours per week and two forty-hour work weeks per school year. Credits from participation in the work program, any federal and/or state aid for which students qualify, and the C of O Tuition Assurance Scholarship combine to cover tuition. There are no student loans involved and there is no cash due from students for Tuition Assurance: Only good, solid, hard work. All C of O students are given the opportunity to graduate debt-free.

We had a student get on our bus and take us around the campus – Evan Johnson – he is a senior and he shared all about the college history and programs and also shared his personal story with us. He was a very impressive young man!

We drove by the working farm:

There were three places around the campus where we could get off the bus and explore – the Stained Glass & Candle Shop, a Mill, and a Chapel…..all pretty awesome with information, gift shops, and students working.

Evan had the bus stop by the 9-11 memorial and explained about it and the new POW/MIA memorial they were dedicating the next day – the campus boasts a safe place for veterans.

This is Kathy with Evan at the end of our tour – right after he took our group photo that was posted at the beginning of this post.

After we left the College of the Ozarks, we went back to the hotel for a little break before dinner. Dinner was at McFarlain’s Family Restaurant at about 5:45.

I chose the Chicken Pot Pie — it was OK….I wish I had chosen the Pioneer Pot Roast, though! The cornbread was VERY good!!!

After dinner we went back to the Reza Live Theater for our evening show: “Edge of Illusion by Reza” – an illusionist show. The first half of the show was a bit frustrating for me – there was a lady in front of me that totally blocked most of the show and what I could see around her was blocked by a camera guy who was filming the up-close parts onto a screen – which was nice to see the details of what Reza was doing, but he really should have filmed it from an angle other than in front of the action! I ended up watching most of the first half from the projection screen rather than seeing it live….and that was too bad cause we had great seats!!! But — during admission, I was talking to the “other” Kim in the group who was sitting behind me — during the first half, I didn’t lean over much because I didn’t want to create the same view I had for the person behind me…..but, as Kim and I were talking, I realized I could easily lean way over (we were both on aisle seats) and see everything better and not impact his view!!! PERFECT!!! The second half was much better – both for my viewing pleasure AND because the tricks were much better, as well!

Reza brought several people up from the audience — the best was the little boy he did a trick with where they held glasses of water over their heads and tipped them over to show the water had disappeared from the cups!!! Bet that boy will remember that for the rest of his life!!! 🙂

It was a good show……but, I was happy to get back to the hotel at 10:00 after a long, jam-packed day!

Day Five – Branson Day Three:

Thursday was our last day in Branson…..but no less full of fun and great activities!

After breakfast, Kathy and Rachel met us at the bus with Christmas glasses and headbands — it was going to be an explosion of Christmas themed day! Kathy’s morning message was “A Christmas Tree is a treasure trove of memories. It stands tall and proud – a symbol of hope and peace and the enduring season.” And our name tag sticker was a Christmas tree.

Our morning show was at the King’s Castle Theater – “Christmas Wonderland” – and boy, was it Christmasy!!! Start to finish “Christmas”…..I heard that someone in our group said they thought they heard every Christmas song ever written….probably wasn’t far from it!!! It was a wonderful show and really got me in the Christmas spirit. And Santa was the star of the show…..he was in many of the numbers – singing, dancing, acting a-fool, and reading the “Night Before Christmas”! Beautiful costumes, beautiful songs, and it even snowed for the finale…..I really enjoyed it!

The theater folks gathered us for a group photo before the show started! I didn’t purchase one, but someone on the bus that did shared a photo of it with me! 😉

After the morning show, we went to Historic Downtown Branson for time on our own to eat lunch and shop. What a sweet downtown area…..VERY crowded – tons of people there and the traffic was unreal – but it was still a very sweet area with shops and places to eat and everything decked out for Christmas!!!

This mural was made up of a gazillion smaller squares that were individual pictures! Very cool!!!

Since we were going to Golden Coral for a buffet dinner, Cathy and I decided to eat light for lunch – we chose the Pie Safe – a really quaint little café that boasted the best pies in Branson – Kathy Hamm joined us and we sat outside and had the best time talking and eating pie — Cathy and I had the pecan pie and Kathy had the coconut cream — all were VERY good!!!

Before we went to the Pie Safe for our wonderful treat, Cathy and I checked out Dick’s 5 & 10 store…..interesting — sorta like our Vidler’s here in Western NY…..but, again, it was super crowded. I picked up a gift for my great niece for Christmas (not gonna say what it is to spoil the surprise, but it is a vintage item that I think she’ll love – it caught my eye and I couldn’t resist) and a refrigerator magnate and we high-tailed it outa there!

This window display caught my eye and gave me a chuckle….can you see the old guy sitting inside waving with the white buffalo on his lap??? hahaha

We then had some much needed time to refresh and recharge at our hotel before dinner…..ahhhh…..nice!!!

Dinner was at the Golden Corral…..buffet…..very good! I think it was the best Golden Corral food I’ve ever had — the layout was a bit odd – not like most Golden Corral’s, but the food was outstanding!

This was in the parking lot of the Golden Corral — a bit of NY in MO!!! hahaha

Our evening – and final show of the trip – was at the Clay Cooper Theater – “The Haygoods Christmas Extravaganza”! I expected another full-on Christmas show, but was happy that the first half was a variety of music genres across the last few decades and the second half was the Christmas focused part.

The Haygoods is a family of 5 brothers and 1 sister – they play an unbelievable number of different instruments and they sing and dance and put on a CRAZY GOOD, energetic show with laser lights and pyrotechnics!!! AWESOME show!!!

One of the brothers entered at the beginning of the show flying in from the back of the theater playing the guitar UPSIDE DOWN!!!

Another brother (or maybe the same one???) flew in later in the show on a jet pack!!!

Sister, Catherine, did a rousing rendition of “Devil Went Down to Georgia” on the fiddle that ended in flames!!!

She also tugged at all my emotions playing the harp — stunning!!!

They also had a motorized recliner and a portable canon that threw “snowballs” into the audience! A very entertaining show througout!

You can’t tell by the photo, but their cloths and instruments and the background are all lighting up and flashing in time with the music….cool beans!!!

This is a special three-in-one instrument – the part that the sister, Catherine, is playing is harp strings….they sang “Sound of Silence” using it and it was beautifully done – they were all singing and it sounded like one voice! Amazing!

These brothers were doing a stomp dance upside down…..and at one point, Catherine was on the top of the frame playing the fiddle (I missed getting a photo of that)!

Another really cool surprise happened during the show —- they said there was a real-life celebrity in the audience and introduced Barry Williams – Greg Brady from the Brady Bunch!!! He stood up and waved, but I didn’t have my camera ready and missed getting a photo — he was on the aisle seat in the row kitty corner from the row I was in — it would have been a fantastic photo…..but, I missed it and when he was seated, there were too many heads in the way to get a shot!!! UGH!!! Then, a little later, they did a “Kiss Cam” thing where they scanned the camera across the audience and stopped on couples to get them to kiss on camera — it was cute, but I noticed they scanned past Barry Williams, so I got my camera ready in case they caught him again and BAM – I took the photo of the projected shot of him in the audience —- YES!!! I did get proof that I saw Greg Brady in real life!!! hahaha

And here’s one of the cute couples they got on the Kiss Cam:

What a great show — and a great way to end our time in Branson — icingon the cake, so to speak!

And when we got on the bus after the show, Santa and one of the brothers came on the bus to thank us for coming!!! 🙂

Day Six – Heading Home:

One last breakfast in Branson at our hotel with the huge breakfast room FULL of bus groups enjoying their time in the area!!!

We were greeted when getting on the bus by Kathy dressed in Stars and Stripes for our first of two travel days back home…..the theme was Patriotism for all the patriotic things we experienced in Branson and for our travels across this great country of ours. Kathy recited the first verse of America the Beautiful: O beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain; for purple mountain majesties, above the fruited plain! America! America! God shed his grace on thee, and crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea. And our name tag sticker was an American flag!

We stopped for lunch at a Love’s Truck Stop in Rolla, MO that had several options for food – I chose McDonald’s thinking I’d get a burger, but saw a sign saying they had McRibs!!! OMG!!! Love them!!! So, that’s what I had and I was a happy camper!!! (BTW – when I got home, I went to our McD’s on Monday and was sad to find out the McRib is NOT back here!!!)

Mid afternoon, we made our last touristy stop of the trip in St. Louis, MO — The Missouri Civil War Museum at the historic Jefferson Barracks. This is a military installation that has been in service since the Civil War and has served as a major military support barracks for many wars since and during peace times. It now houses the National Guard and a few other military branches.

The Missouri Civil War Museum is a small museum that is quite impressive for it’s size – a very nice collection of artifacts and history! It was a really good stop! I tend to enjoy this type of attraction and this one didn’t disappoint at all.

If anyone from our group didn’t walk around the back of the building to the handicap entrance, they likely missed this gem — a beautiful statue of Abraham Lincoln!!!

We stopped at a travel plaza for dinner – with several places to choose from, I chose a Popeye’s chicken sandwich! Cathy got a veggie pizza from Sbarro’s.

Our enroute hotel was the same as the one we stopped at on the way down — the Best Western in Fishers, IN

Day Seven – Last Travel Day:

On our last morning of the trip, Kathy greeted us at the bus dressed as a piggy!!! She always ends her trips saying the sticker for the day is a piggy in honor of her last name – Hamm – and that she’ll never forget us and she hopes we’ll never forget her!!! The message of the Day: “‘Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam, be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home” and the name tag sticker: a Piggy!

All our stickers…..plus the one on the back that wouldn’t fit on the front!

And, we loaded up the bus one last time to head out on our last full travel day!

Cracker Barrel was our lunch/dinner stop — we decided to combine lunch and dinner with a later stop and just do pit stops for the other rest stops throughout the day.

Then at our final rest stop in Erie, PA, we all gathered to say our goodbyes — doing it when we get home isn’t always ideal – it’s chaotic getting our bags and we’re tired, so Kathy always suggests we do it at the last rest stop and that works out very nicely! We said our goodbyes and gave the gratuity envelopes to Kathy and Rachel and took photos. A great way to end the trip — a bunch of strangers (for the most part) got on the bus seven days ago and here we were a family ending a lovely visit!!!

Kathy and Rachel — the dream team — love them!!!

Erie, PA – almost home!!!

So – another great adventure in the record books! I absolutely love these group bus trips — someone else drives, someone tells me where to go, when to eat, what time to get up and on the bus…..I just have to sit back and enjoy the adventure!!! Can’t beat that with a stick!!!

I kept getting asked which show I liked best —- all of them were good for different reasons and no two were even close to being similar! I loved the Beach Boys California Dreaming one cause the music really struck a cord (see what I did there) with me and the illusionist was very talented…..The Miracle of Christmas was amazing – like all Sight and Sound productions…..and the full-blown Christmas themed one was very enjoyable……BUT……I will say that the other two really stood out as the BEST OF THE BEST for me — The first show we saw (Doug Gabriel Morning Show) and the last show we saw (The Haygoods) really book-ended the trip in a spectacular way!!! If I had to choose between the two, I think – in my never to be humble opinion – the Haygoods edged out as the top one for me…..it was energetic and flashy and just plain crazy good!!! So there…..that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!!!

This trip was a bit rough on me, though…..I recently had a pretty major health scare, so I was feeling particularly tired and vulnerable, my asthma was kicking up pretty bad – new triggers that differ from the norm of home, and my back was really screaming at me to slow down a little…..but, I survived and loved every minute of it!

I’ll end with this funny (now) mishap that threatened to put a damper on my mobility…..but, I didn’t allow that! My back pain makes it difficult to do any prolonged standing or distance walking, so when I take these trips or when I go somewhere that I know (or am not sure) I’ll need to do a lot of standing or walking, I use my cane and take along the seated walker that I kept after my Mom passed. Well, during this trip, one of the front wheels on my walker broke…..it had felt a little wobbly for a while and then a few days into this trip it seemed to not roll as smoothly as it should. Finally, it was obvious that something was wrong, so I turned it over in the hotel room to inspect the situation…..the spokes on it had mostly disintegrated – I’m thinking it was wobbling a bit too much and the frame it is bolted to wore at the plastic spokes and broke them – it is an old walker and the wheels were probably ready to be replaced, anyway – just unfortunate it happened on a trip!!! After that, I had to be careful with it — I still used it just fine — it didn’t stop me, but from time to time, I had to straighten the wheel back up after it buckled in on itself…..making it very difficult to move!!! So – I got online and found replacement wheels on Amazon and ordered them – they arrived and were here when I got home! Now, I’ll have four brand new wheels and be ready to roll smoothly again…..problem solved — can’t keep me down long — even THIS didn’t stop me from finishing and enjoying the adventure to the fullest!!! hahaha

I can not wait till the next adventure — wonder where I’ll go next!!!??? I do know I’m booked to go on one trip to Boston/Cape Ann/Salem and another to Shipshewana, Indiana next summer and I’m sure there will be a Mystery Day Tour (or more) and we’ll see what else comes my way…..But, for now, I need to recuperate from this one and the New Hampshire one just a few weeks prior…..these old bones need a bit of time in between! LOL