I would recommend that you not use the slideshow – just click on the first photo and then navigate with the arrows at the bottom

We decided to make a DUCK tour our first order of business – the theory being that we learn some about the place and how it is laid out, history, attractions, etc. so we decided on a DUCK tour. DUCK is actually supposed to be DUKW and is a GMC manufacturing designation where:

  • “D” indicated a vehicle designed in 1942,
  • “U” meant “utility”,
  • “K” indicated driven front wheels,
  • “W” indicated two powered rear axles.

but everyone says DUCK. As in many other places the vechicles are used as tour vehicles and the tours go on land and water. Our tour took us up on the hill where the rock quarry that supplied materials for the Table Rock Dam is and then down on the water of the lake formed by the dam called Table Rock Lake. The tour was fun and informative.

After the DUCK tour we went to The College of the Ozarks for lunch. The tour driver told us about it and reviews confirmed that it was good food at reasonable prices made and served by student labor as payment for their tuition. Virtually all of the labor needed to operate and maintain the school and its grounds are provided by students and they graduate without debt. It has been around for a long time and is known as “Hard Work U”. The lunch was very good.

Coming out of Hard Work U we somehow took a wrong (unplanned) turn and ended up at the old part of Branson and its new waterfront development. We will probably go back there for another look in the next couple of days.