Friday, November 04, 2011

Playing catch-up

Ozark Vacation_0014

We got home last evening from a three-day, two-night trip to the Bluegreen Wilderness Club at Big Cedar in Ridgedale, Mo.

It’s a massive resort complex on the southeast side of Table Rock Reservoir a few miles south of Branson, Mo.

Maria’s parents were planning an autumn visit, so we signed up for the three-day getaway at the Bass Pro Shops store in Memphis several weeks ago. The catch was that we had to sit through a time-share presentation that was touted as a no-pressure half-hour deal.

No. It was a one-on-two presentation that lasted nearly three hours Wednesday morning.

The presentation was kind of a buzzkill after being dazzled with the appointments of our site – flatscreen TVs in the living room and both bedrooms, infinitely detailed décor designed to make the place look like an Adirondack hunting/fishing lodge, full kitchen, concierge service, and super prompt to-your-door shuttle service to and from anywhere on the enormous property.

Maria’s mom opted to hang out in the suite Wednesday morning, so OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAMaria and her dad and I went to breakfast at the Devil’s Pool Restaurant where omelet chef Doyle Crockett whipped up a couple of the best omelets we’ve ever tasted.

The shuttle delivered us to the presentation center and Maria’s dad back to the suite.

After the sales presentation, we drove up to the Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World store in Springfield. It’s the company’s mothership and, as the sign over the front door says, is the “granddaddy of all outdoor stores.”

We had the lunch buffet at Hemingway’s restaurant in the store, then spent a couple of hours exploring and buying shirts and pants. We only spent about $10 out of pocket there since we’d been given $75 in Bass Pro Shops gift cards for sitting through the sales pitch.

Back at the suite, I fired up my netbook to blog and found it wouldn’t load Windows – gave me a “no operating system found” message.

The weather was sunny and warm Tuesday and Wednesday, but a cold front moved in Wednesday night and sent the temperature plunging into the low 40s with rain and blustery winds.

We hit the road about 9 a.m., Maria’s parents heading north to visit the site of Gene’s Army basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., and us homeward bound via Batesville for lunch at Josie’s and fabric from Marshall’s Dry Goods.

We were running ahead of schedule, so I phoned the kennel and had Pete ready to be picked up by the time we arrived at 4:30 p.m.

Later in the evening, I got around to looking into my netbook problem. I put the old 8GB hard drive in and it worked perfectly, leading me to conclude that the 32GB RunCore SSD has died. It didn’t take anything irreplaceable with it when it went, so it will be a simple matter to replace it and re-install software I need.

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