Branson Golf Adventures, Early Voting and the Cost of Everyday Life

SPEAKER_1 (0:01)

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Remember when social media was truly social? Hey John, how's it going today? Well, this show is all about you. This is Fifty Plus with Doug Pike. Helpful information on your finances, good health and what to do for fun.

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Doug Pike (0:52)

Welcome one and all to this Tuesday edition of Fifty Plus. And thanks to all of you who are listening today. I've returned from, boy, my first golf trip in quite some time, part business and part pleasure, a media visit.

The first in years that I've made with a really good friend and a good host, Dan Shepherd, with whom I did a lot of golf outings around the Gulf Coast before my son was born. And I really was glad he didn't totally drop me off his list. This particular trip was to Big Cedar Lodge, just outside Branson, Missouri. And it included four other guys from all over the country.

We literally had all four corners covered, and then I kind of covered the central part of the country. And by the way, I'll be interviewing several of those people that I traveled with, each from different parts of the golf industry.

Most of those interviews are going to land over on Sports Talk 790 on my weekend outdoors and golf show, as they should. But I am going to interview the woman who's in charge of the CVB, the Convention and Visitors Bureau for Branson, Missouri. I'll probably get that done later this week or early next week. And I think it'll be well worth listening if you and your family like to plan vacations where everybody can have a lot to do. I had some preconceptions about what Branson, Missouri was like when I left Intercontinental Airport a week ago yesterday. And I've got to say, now that I've been there, I was pleasantly surprised at how many more family-related activities they have. Branson kind of has a reputation, or it did at least before I went up there, in my mind of being some place that was just busload after busload of retirees from around the country coming in to spend a day or two or three or a week watching shows performed by people whose time in the sun might have been a few years ago. The shows are still there, the entertainment is still good, but there's a whole lot more that Branson has become since then, and it really is worth a look. And if I might, before we get into all the juicy stuff, two quick outstanding highlights from the trip before I go into elections and politics and riots around the world and all that. Actually, I'll give you first two dumb moves on my part in regard to this journey. Both brought on, I'm blaming both of them on the 3.45am alarm I had to answer to make my 6am flight out of Intercontinental Airport, which by the way was extremely crowded considering it was still dark outside when all those people had arrived. So anyway, I get my car parked and at the same moment, the shuttle pulls in behind me with six or eight people inside. You can see them staring at me like, come, hurry up dude, come on, get on the bus. We got places to be. And I couldn't tell which one of those people was the first one on that bus, but whoever that guy was, he'd been circling that lot for a good eight or 10 minutes, probably waiting on people like me to load up. So I throw my clubs on the bus, then I check my check bag full of clothes and essentials. Then I get my carry-on bag over my shoulder and I climb aboard and off we go to the airport. And like I said, all these people standing in line to check their bags, half of them can't do it right. They've got to have help. I was among them this time, actually, for one particular reason. It doesn't matter what. But yeah, there was a long line at the ticket counter. So anyway, I deal with all of that. I say goodbye to my clubs and wish them a safe journey. Without them, that trip's gonna not be nearly as fun as it was. I would rather have lost all of my clothes and all of my toiletries and even my phone maybe, than to have lost those golf clubs. So now anyway, I'm in the airport, I'm feeling kind of good, and then I go to security. I've gotta get there. I gotta go all the way through that little snaking line, bagging forth, bagging forth. I finally get up to the front, grab my little plastic bucket, and this cold chill washes over my entire body. For the sixth, maybe seventh time, despite having reminded myself a dozen times in the past 24 hours not to make that same mistake again, I realize that I've left my little Leatherman Microtool, the one with the one and a quarter inch blade on it that's so dangerous, it's in my pocket.