We went to Patton Alley Pub with Chris, Kim, Curtis and Jason. Here’s a pic of Chris, Kim and Celeste all laughing about something (probably a TV show we were talking about).

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We went to Anton’s with Jason and Janelle for a impromptu late lunch.

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I’ve started a new category called “Memories” on the blog. This will be a place for me or Celeste to post fun memories we think of… whether they’re from last week or childhood… this will be things from the past.

To start, I was just thinking about how my dad always had CB radios when I was a kid. It was the 70s and CBs were the only way to keep in touch with people “on the go”. A lot like cell phones now-a-days we used the CB to talk to my mom and dad when they were driving around town. My dad’s call sign was “Star Duster” and my mom was “Lady Starduster”. Jason and I had numerous call signs through the years… “The Hulk” was one of mine I remember… but mostly they just called us “boys” or by our names.

We had a big antenna on top of our house and you could pretty much talk to anyone all over town. It was all hooked up to a “big” CB that was located in my dad’s photography studio and we would leave that “big” CB on all the time and when my parents would leave… always “listening” for it to sqwak in.

The best thing was when they’d be gone and we’d here them calling us to ask us if we wanted anything from McDonald’s, or Burger King, or Cashew Chicken. That was something you always hoped for with the CB.

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If you’ve not gotten an email from us yet, and haven’t noticed the new link at the top of our site, then I want to point you all to the page for our 2008 Halloween party.

The theme this year is “Villains” and tickets are only $15. There are going to be a lot of fun surprises and twists, so if you enjoyed last year’s party, or have wanted to come to one of ours before, or just found this website and want to make a trip to Springfield, MO for a family friendly good time, then please, get tickets, start on your costume, and we’ll see you there!

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We went to the UNM Children’s hospital tonight for my first “official” troop! We dressed in conference room, then spent the next hour or so walking around and seeing the kids.

Our “docent” would knock on the door of the child’s room, tell them there were some Star Wars characters here to see them, then, if the they wanted, we would go in and say “hi.” Sometimes the kids had “contact restrictions” in which case we’d wave from the door. Of course some of the kids, or the kids’ parents, didn’t want us to come in for whatever reason, but for the most part everyone wanted to see us.

In fact, the first wing we went through was pretty quick… 10 or 15 minutes to do the whole thing. We would wave, say “hi”, and move along, move along. But the 2nd wing we went through was a Star Wars fan club! Children had Star Wars books, parents had Star Wars tattoos, one young man (probably 15) had a poster of himself someone had made for “Episode VII”. So, needless to say, we spent much more time in that wing taking pictures and just interacting with everyone.

It was as great of an experience as I’d have hoped it would be. The kids (and parents) were all so excited to see us. “You’re the real deal,” one parent said. “You’ve met the Stormtroopers,” another told his son. It was sad in many ways to be there, but the smiles and laughter of the kids made it much easier. What a great first troop!

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If you visited Silver Dollar City between 1978 and 1984, then you may remember a ride called “Rube Dugan’s Diving Bell”. Located where the “Lost River of the Ozarks” is now, the Diving Bell was a simulation ride, that took passengers on an journey to the bottom of Lake Silver and back.

Far ahead of its time, the Diving Bell was first proposed to Disney World for construction. They told SDC it would be impossible to do… but IF it WAS done… couldn’t be done for under 6 million dollars. Silver Dollar City decided to go against the advice of the large amusement park and succeeded… finishing the Diving Bell for a mere 1.2 million!

The ride was comprised of a 20 minute “show” aboard a hydraulically controlled “submarine”. Guests watched as Junior Dugan (an actor), interact with Rube (a voice from above) as they were led on a race to find Grand-Pappy Dugan’s silver. The view screen allowed patrons to see what was believed to be the murky water in front of them… when in fact the boat never left the dock. This technology is now used on a much larger scale by Disney World, as well as other amusement parks around the country.

The Diving Bell was removed in 1984 to make room for The Lost River of the Ozarks… a ride that can move more guests through per hour. However, the Diving Bell was never forgotten by those who rode and loved it, but when I played Rube Dugan I learned many people would like to see the ride brought back!

If you would like to encourage Silver Dollar City to bring back the Diving Bell, then please contact to Silver Dollar City by clicking this link, or at the address below and would like to see the Diving Bell return.

On a related note, while Slim Pikens did the voice for Rube Dugan on the ride, I was the only person to ever play Rube Dugan in the flesh on park. The cool thing is, I didn’t add that information on Wikipedia.

Here’s a picture of me as Rube Dugan. I made the costume, and while SDC management wouldn’t let me carry a gun, they loved the idea of me carrying “dynamite”… dowel rods covered with red construction paper and dipped in wax… all with real fuses. I had some good times with that!

If you have any questions about this article, things I’ve said here, or the ride, email me or leave a comment and I’ll do my best to answer. NOTE: I am not affiliated with SDC nor do I claim to be an expert on the ride.

Silver Dollar City
399 Indian Point Road
Branson, MO 65616

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Well, it’s 2008… so Happy New Year everyone! We’re glad (in a lot of ways) that 2007 is now over, and that we have a fresh start with this coming year. While we had a lot of wonderful, wonderful things happen in 2007 it was, overall, what we’re choosing to call a “faith building year.“

2007 started out with our decision to move to Albuquerque starting to become reality with our house beginning to be built (a good thing). We had decided to move out here around December of 2006… just before Christmas… and it was God’s hand that led us to do it for sure. Things just fell into place to make the move very obvious, and as much as we hated the fact we’d be leaving friends and family (including church family) behind in Springfield, it would’ve been selfish and unfaithful for us to stay. Faith building #1.

We had just came back from Christmas (and house planning) in Albuquerque last January when the great ice storm of 2006 hit Springfield. It knocked us (personally) out of power, internet and phone for 10 days. We were finally, and thankfully able to get have internet access and let our clients know what was going on. I believe the ice storm, however, was a faith building experience for everyone in the Springfield area.

It wasn’t long after that we made our trip back to Texas to attend our good friend Amber’s Mom’s (Hermion) funeral. Her mom had struggled with cancer for basically as long as Celeste had known Amber and it was, in many ways, a relief to see her finally go home. The funeral truly began with “fun” and while there was crying and sadness there was joy and praise for her life and the gift she still is to Amber’s family, and to all of us. It was another faith building time though.

Then Granny Rose, the spitfire, piano playing, very active mother of Celeste’s mom, had 2 strokes. We were really worried about her for a while, and worried too that she wasn’t going to recover to her full self. God answered our prayers in the way we hoped He would and she is doing much, much better now… but it was a faith building time for sure.

There didn’t seem to be anything else that could happen. It wasn’t even 3 months into 2007 and all this had happened already… then, while we were on the road one day we got a call that Celeste’s brother had been diagnosed with Thyroid cancer. While this is “the best” kind of cancer you can have if you’re going to have it it is still cancer and it was yet another thing to lay at the feet of the Lord. He was gracious to us all yet again and healed him completely from it.

It wasn’t long after that my older brother Barry’s wife Sheila unexpectedly passed away one morning in April. Barry was, understandably, beside himself with grief, and it was a time for family to stand next to him and with him through it all. Our oldest brother Leland did a great job of representing this correctly at the funeral when he said, “Isn’t it great to be able to get together for such a wonderful event?” We know, without a doubt, that Shelia is with the Lord now, along with Amber’s mom. While her funeral had a much more somber mood than Hermion’s it was an amazing funeral because Shelia wrote most of it herself. While she didn’t know when she was going to go home, she knew that she wasn’t long for this earth and she planned accordingly. Barry even pointed out that she had written “Lord willing” on the calendar for a planned trip to Oregon. The whole thing gave us all, as a family, to represent things the way they should be… and Shelia helped us before going to get the right start. It elevated my opinion of her a great, great deal… and helped our faith become stronger for sure.

Among all this we had plenty of reason for worldly celebrations as well… such as the wedding of Cari & Jeremy. And, back in January we had the wedding of my sister Janelle and Maxx. We also had a record year with Park East (our business), so there was a lot to smile about too… but it seemed that we constantly had something new to add to the prayer list at church.

Recently it was the final days of our dear family friend “Aunt” Melissa. The day we got to Albuquerque Celeste’s mom got a call that Melissa was on her final days. She had suffered with MD for many, many years, and we knew that she was ready to go home as well… however, it didn’t make it easy, especially for Celeste’s mom who was there with her for the entire week until the Lord gathered her up. In the nursing home she lived in for many years she always kept a red cord on her door… a symbol of the hope she had that the Lord was faithful and that He was going to one day come back and escort her home. That red cord was still there on the day that He did just that… and was then given to Celeste. A treasure, and testimony, to what a faithful, Spirit filled, life can do; hope and wait on the Lord.

With all this behind us we were ready to continue in prayer when we found out that Celeste’s dad Dan had his 6th and 7th kidney stones simultaneously. He went in to surgery a few weeks ago and then about 2 weeks ago had to go back in because of complications. He wasn’t doing well at all for a few days… and we were all honestly pretty concerned… but worry didn’t take hold of us because we knew that God is faithful and no matter the outcome we, and Dan, was in His hands. Thankfully, yet again, God showed His grace and Dan is doing very well now. He still needs to pass the final stone, but he is himself again, and we pray that we all have many, many more years together.

God is good… we have no doubt of that. He hears us… we have no doubt of that. And whether it was one of the times that didn’t turn out like we’d like, or one of the times what we hoped for coincided with what He saw fit to give us, our faith was strengthened through every single experience, “good,” or “bad,” that happened all year.

We look forward to what 2008 brings, and hope that God will grant us another full year together, as well as many, many after that. We praise God and thank Him for all He does and is… and have faith that this year will show His love for us yet again, and will carry us through whatever we happen to encounter always providing all we need.

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Porter Wagoner died today at the age of 80. There’s a story about it on OzarksFirst here, but I wanted to write a post about it because of his (small) relationship to my family. No, he wasn’t an uncle, or even any relative for that matter, but he did date one of my relatives… my mother’s aunt Mildred… my grandma’s sister.

Porter was from West Plains Missouri, where my mom’s family is from. When they were in high school (or sometime around then) he and Mildred dated.

I remember finding this out as a kid and picturing them driving around town in a big limousine with horns on the front of it (like Boss Hog’s car) and him wearing one of his sparkle rhinestone suits. I was, however, only a little disappointed when my mom told me that they dated long before he was famous.

Jason and I saw him about 13 years ago at the Grand Ole Opry and I was hoping they would sit on the edge of the stage after the show (like in Branson) so I could go ask him if he remembered Mildred… who had already passed on at that time… but, alas, they didn’t, so I never got to speak to him and ask him about her. I wonder if they’re riding around in a stretch limousine with sparkle rhinestone suits together now? I like to think they might be.

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