Hanging out with Techs and the Roadies

   What a fabulous Friday night I had, getting to see my fave local band and try out a new bar! Due to a last minute cancellation, Techs and the Roadies played The Hangout (1906 E. Meadowmere) and TOTALLY ROCKED IT! My posse -- Mama, Daddy, my sister Kris, my bestie and her mom Gail -- and I had a great table right in front of the band and dance floor so we could soak it all in (and Kris and I soaked up some Coronas as well). 
   The Hangout Sports Bar and Grill wasn't fancy, but it was spacious and clean, with a beautiful 60-foot wooden bar (according to the News-Leader piece I read). The back deck had comfy chairs and tables for the smokers, plus the cutest beer mug lights hanging all around. The acoustics inside were great to carry Techs and the Roadies' sweet harmonies on their signature classic tunes, done with a Techs' twist, to any seat in the house. The crowd was a good mix of young folks and oldsters, but the oldsters were the ones really grooving their two-steps and twirls on the dance floor. And Techs played to the crowd, changing up their play list with more country tunes than usual to keep the dancers happy. I did my share of dancing, with a group of fun gals who barely sat down the entire evening, and worked up quite a sweat. Speaking of dancing (if you can call it that), I had to avert my eyes to keep from hollering "Stop it!" when a young couple blasphemed Bob Seger's "Turn The Page" -- the guy was shimmying up and down his chick like she was a stripper pole. If you don't have any more moves than that, Dude, just sit down. After a while of the shimmy and grind (it's a long song), Bestie couldn't ignore them any more and took a video with her phone. Who knows, it may be a featured video on YouTube by now.
   Our group had a blast, singing along and chatting it up between songs. As always, Techs and the Roadies was a pure delight to listen to. And it was especially great to see them as a five-piece for a change, with John on electric guitar dueling back and forth with Ronna on flute, Tom fueling the beat on drums, Bill thumping the bass in his smooth groovy style, and Chris leading the vocals and driving the melody on the six-string. If you haven't heard a Techs and the Roadies show, you are missing out on being thoroughly entertained by excellent musicians that are a hoot to watch as well. Get out and catch their show soon! And give The Hangout a try as well. I'll go back, especially if Techs are playing!    

Techs and the Roadies

Kris, Bestie, Me, Mama, Daddy, and Gail

Kris and Me singing (badly I'm sure) into our Coronas

Kris, Bestie, and Me

The dancers getting their groove on to Techs and the Roadies

The Wild Gals -- Bestie, Kris, Me, and Mama

A Beachin' Sunday

   Where can a couple of beach-loving gals get their beach fix on a Sunday in the Ozarks? White Water!
   The bestie and I were there yesterday before the gates opened, ready to soak up some sun and cavort in the water. Bestie is a regular at White Water, so she led me right to a secluded alcove where we commandeered several loungers -- which we piled up with towels, lotions, oils (oh, how the coconutty smell of Hawaiian Tropic makes our hearts go pitter pat!), and books -- as our own personal tanning beach. Perfect! The sun was strong and felt like melted butter on our oiled-up skin, with a beachy breeze now and then to cool us off. The splish splash of water all around us actually made me think I was at the ocean (when I closed my eyes anyway). We spent the entire day in beachy bliss: sunning until we were sweat-logged, floating peacefully around the Lazy River, more tan time, whooping it up in the waves (I preferred the security of an inner tube, but Bestie dove and swam like a dolphin!), then repeating the process until we were baked to a golden brown and happily exhausted.
   White Water is a people-watcher's paradise too! I saw ZZ Top beards and jelly bellies; buff bodies and rode-hard bodies; tattoos out the wazoo; and babies and oldsters alike squealing at the joy of playing in the water. Watching the little kids running around in packs and having a ball without a care in the world about how they looked reminded me to enjoy what I was feeling and doing and forget about whether my thighs jiggled while I was doing it. And I did -- what a freeing thing!
   We had a beachin' Sunday that I'll be daydreaming about on those not-too-distant dreary days of winter! Thanks Bestie, for sharing White Water with me!! And it's not too late to have your own WW adventure -- open Friday, Saturday and Sundays until Labor Day.

Bestie and Roni ready to cruise to White Water in Bestie's Jeep (aka Ms. Truvy).

     

Fall Festival Fivesome

   DMan squired four ladies -- me, my bestie, my niece Jayde, and my aunt Peg who came in all the way from Kansas City -- in the Cardinal-mobile (his Trailblazer is so decked out in Cardinal's bling you'd think he works for them!) to the Republic Kiwanis Fall Festival last night. And did it feel like fall! Usually it's hot as blazes during the festival, but those of us in shorts had goosies before the night was over.
   Of course we headed to the bingo pavilion the first thing, 'cause bingo is the main reason I like to go. And . . . NO BINGO! No ball caller, no oldsters in change aprons selling bingo cards that have been around since I was a baby, no calls of "B-12" over the scratchy PA system. Nada. Just a piece of paper stapled to the uprights saying the Kiwanis/City of Republic (I'll bet there's a lot of blame-throwing going on between those two!) did not get the required state permit in time to have bingo this year. Damn! We were all so disappointed. I am not a lucky person, but somehow I usually manage to win at least one bingo pot and hauling away that $18.50 (or whatever paltry sum I won) always felt like a million bucks. They promised next year bingo would be back, and I'm gonna raise cain if they don't come through.
   What else to do with all those queen candidate tickets I bought but play the cake walk, right? Besides bingo, that is the ultimate Fall Festival treat: stumbling over cracked concrete squares to the tune of "Celebration" by Kool and the Gang with the heady smell of brownies and cake (baked by good Christian women!) in the air in the hopes the music will stop when you are teetering on the magic number that gets called! And we were victorious!! Bestie won first, a pan of Rice Krispie treats, which she generously donated to DMan who was already drooling at the sight of them. Then Peg and I both won and chose German chocolate cakes. It didn't hurt that at least one time we were the only four doing the cake walk. That helped our odds considerably.
   Fair food was a must to squelch our bingo blues. DMan, Bestie, and I opted for corn dogs (the crust was a might mushy, but we ate every bite); Peg had the BBQ pulled pork plate; we shared fried Oreos (dipped in funnel cake batter and deep fried -- almost too sweet for human consumption. Almost.) and fried green beans (which tasted suspiciously like cat fish since they were coated in the same corn meal as the cat fish they were selling, and probably cooked in the same grease, too). Even if we weren't afraid of hurling up all our fair food, we opted not to partake of the rides, which looked like they were only being held together by what was left of the original paint and lots of rust. But a lot of folks did ride, the lines were long with sugar-fueled kiddos and teeny-boppers making out in the magical glow of the carnival lights. The Kiwanians vow to hold the event later next year in order to hire a different carnival group to do the rides, so maybe there's a MoMo the Monster or Tilt-a-Whirl yet in my Fall Festival future. I do miss having my hair stand on end and squealing uncontrollably to the ear-shattering blast of "I Love Rock and Roll" while being thrown about like a rag doll for the bargain price of $5!
   We clustered up in the bleachers to keep warm and listen to cover tunes performed by Soul Witness, a group from the Hood Methodist Church that morphed into a secular band for the evening. They did a pretty good job, too, and had quite a crowd (for Republic) singing along to classics from Chicago, The Police, Kansas, and even Styx (who knew "Fooling Yourself" could be done acoustically, but it can?!). They had an awesome fiddle player -- that seemed even more awesome when they announced he was playing with a broken wrist! -- who gave the band a totally unique sound. By the last song, we were chilled to the bone and satiated with Fall Festival fun, so we hauled our cake walk cache to the Cardinal-mobile and headed home.
   A fun, even though bingoless, Friday night adventure was had by all. And there's still time to catch some Fall Festival frivolity for yourself tonight! Set your GPS for Republic, Missouri, and get your adventure on! (Yay, I didn't forget to bring my camera this time!)

DMan, Roni, and Bestie, post-corn dogs.

Jayde, Daddy, and Mama.

Roni and Aunt Peg -- go Chiefs!!

Me and Bestie, trolling for Fire Fighters -- she does love a man in uniform, so I'm not sure why I'm the one that is posing like a floosie!

Me and DMan on the cake walk.

Soul Witness

DMan, me and Peg keeping warm and grooving to the music!

Me and Bestie being our usual rowdy gal selves!

A sunset quickie

   Sundays at the library where I work, even though it's only a four-hour shift, feels like an eight-hour beating. Yesterday was no exception -- non-stop patrons and books and catching up from what didn't get done on Saturday, plus having to actually be nice while working my fanny off -- and wore me out. Having to buy groceries at Food 4 Less after my work beating was SO not what I wanted to do, but I did it. Plus, it was my sweetie DMan's last night off (he works overnights, four on, four off, and we have to take advantage of the time he has off), so we decided to have a sunset quickie and finish our day with a bang. Not a sex quickie -- that came later and will not be reported on (he-he-he!) -- but a picnic adventure quickie.
   DMan bought a Sicilian sub at Price Cutter for us to share, we threw some grapes and pretzels and a bottle of Belmont Vineyards Cayuga white into the cooler and headed for Lake Springfield. Actually, alcohol is not allowed in the park, but we only drank in moderation with our supper and did not corrupt the children playing nearby nor the wildlife by offering them our hooch, so don't tell on us. And besides, how romantic is a picnic without a little vino? Not very, in my adventurista romance book. We found a hilltop pavilion all to ourselves, sipped wine and munched our picnic goodies (they were delicious!), and savored the cool breeze and sun setting over a western hill decked out with several deer nibbling on clover. As I'm a nut for water, we took a jaunt down the hill for a better view of the lake and saw three more deer feasting in the high grass. One of the deer must have been the lookout because he kept a close eye on us. I gave him a friendly wave, and he went back to his grazing. The hill seemed steep going down, but felt twice as bad dragging ourselves back up. Our calves were burning, we were sucking air, and took a few extra minutes at the top to calm our pounding hearts, but it was worth the exertion to enjoy the peace of the lake and the beautiful scenery (the view of the power plant just comes with the package).
   We had a bonus deer sighting as we left -- a family of ten relaxing and munching on a hillside, including two tiny ones with white spots and two adorned with small racks. What a relaxing way to top off a not-so-great day (for me, anyway)! If you haven't been out to see the splendor of Lake Springfield lately, grab a quickie picnic and head out there soon!

(Damn, I forgot to take my camera, so no pix to post. I'll do better next time!)    

Black Moods and Bumpers

   Last Friday night after I got off work, my life buddy DMan and I took off for an adventure like a couple of college kids for whom the evening doesn't kick in gear until after 9 o'clock. We scarfed down a couple of McChickens, I sipped on a flask of Deadbolt wine DMan had thoughtfully prepared so I could put my work-night-from-hell behind me (and yes, he was driving), and we cruised to Monett in search of a bar called Bumpers and live music by Black Moods. A friend/relative of DMan's had heard the group play and thought we would really dig their sound. Oh yeah, we dug them!
   Even though we weren't familiar with many of the tunes, there was no denying their exceptional musicianship and infectious head-banging groove. Lead guitarist and singer, Joshua Kennedy, has the perfect gritty rock and roll voice to complement his raw-sex guitar riffs. Ryan Prier, on bass and harmony vocals, played smooth as Southern Comfort but gave the band a much bigger and fuller sound than you would expect out of a three-piece. And drummer Danny "Chico" Diaz put on quite the explosive show and charmed the ladies to boot. Even though the band bio says they are from Tempe, AZ, Joshua has roots around Monett and brought his dad up to lead the vocals on "Green River" (CCR) and "Never Been Any Reason" (Head East) and even sit in on drums for a number. Dad was pretty darn good, too, and it was a kick to see them smiling and singing their hearts out together.
   Bumpers was nothing spectacular, as bars go, with a few pool tables inside (hence the name Bumpers?) and several picnic tables outside, but there was plenty of room for a dance floor outside where the band played. The crowd really got rocking on the classic rock tunes, with everyone from 21 (I'm guessing they were legal, but some sure didn't look like it!) to 60-plus dancing and singing along. DMan and I were getting our groove on to "Call Me The Breeze" (Lynyrd Skynyrd, of course, my fave band!) until some drunk gal next to us lost control of her beer bottle and it went kerpow on the concrete too near my bare feet.
   Speaking of bare feet, one of the best things about the evening was the volleyball sand pit adjacent to where the band played. When a bunch of goat roper dudes kept standing up in front of us and we couldn't see the band, DMan and I and his friends parked ourselves in lawn chairs in the pit. It was sheer heaven for this beach lover to be sipping a Corona and listening to good music with my bare feet settled into the cool sand. Also one of the worst things about the evening was the sand pit, because DMan and I came home with our legs bitten up by sand fleas! I looked like I had the pox from the knees down. How much worse it must have been for the two boozie babes -- in dresses, no less -- who were trying out their stripper moves on the volleyball pole and ending up on their behinds in the flea-infested sand! I bet they woke up the next morning itching in places they didn't expect!
   We didn't get to bed until nearly 2 a.m. and I was feeling a bit rough the next day at work, but the Black Moods put me in a good enough mood to get through anything. Don't think we'll be trekking for an hour again to hang out at Bumpers, but we'll definitely be catching the Black Moods any time we can!

http://www.theblackmoods.com/

Bowling with Bestie

   Rainy days and Sundays always get me down. But not this time. This past dreary, soggy Sunday my bestie and I headed to Battlefield Lanes for some bowling to perk up our day.
   Despite using my lucky ball, a charcoal gray with pink swirls Lady Brunswick handed down from my grandma Helen (circa 1960 that she bought at Sherm Lollar Lanes -- every time I throw it I'm amazed it doesn't disintegrate into bowling ball dust!), all my shots sucked. Bestie wasn't doing any better. Rather than have the staff put up the bumper guards, we decided a little lubrication was in order to loosen us up. After several Coronas and Heinekens, we weren't bowling any better but we sure were having more fun. Even though the stick man on the scoreboard kept mocking us -- "Open!" he would declare when we missed a spare, or worse yet "Gutter!," graphics we could have lived without -- we whooped and high-fived so much that the two beefy fellows bowling in the adjacent lane said, "You two seem like fun girls." I smiled sweetly and answered, "We are, but the beer sure helps," and continued with my whooping. By game four, we were tired, out of beer, and inundated by families with children that were bowling better than us (they were using the bumper guards, by the way). It was time to turn in our bowling shoes.
   Next stop was $1 Jewelry Galore in the strip mall next to Battlefield Lanes. I'd been trying to get Bestie in there forever to check it out, and she wasn't disappointed. The author Iris Murdoch said, "One of the secrets of a happy life is continuous small treats," and this is the place to treat yourself to racks and racks of funky cool bling for only a buck! I have little splurges there often, and this time was no exception. I found a black and diamond-like bracelet, plus a silver "SEXY" pendant that I hung from my rearview mirror (a bit ostentatious, perhaps, but definitely fun). Bestie found bangles, a pearl bracelet, and two necklaces, which she put on immediately. Fun girls can never have too much bling, am I right?!
   What better way to cap off a rainy day adventure than with Big Wave Golden Ales by the Kona Brewing Company? None that we could think of. If you haven't tried Big Waves, you are missing out: lovely bright blue waves on the label, a pop of peach (or maybe apricot, we can't decide) taste in the smooth ale, plus under the cap are Hawaiian words to learn. Somehow Bestie got "happy" twice (hau'oli in Hawaiian), while I got the words for "burp" and "dinner party." We sipped Big Waves and had a lengthy chick chat about boys and relationships on my patio, just the perfect ending to my Bowling with Bestie funventure!

http://www.battlefieldlanes.com/

https://www.facebook.com/DollarJewelryGaloreMissouri?rf=150735441636300

Adventurista Album

Beaching at Biloxi, MS

Souvenir City in Biloxi, MS

Me and MJ hanging out at Sharkheads in Biloxi, MS

Bourbon Street Babe!

Don't I just look RIGHT standing here?! I'm a beach babe all the way!

At Blue Water Resort, Myrtle Beach, SC, where I lived for 5 glorious months!!

Myrtle Beach, SC, in 2011. And yes, I did ride the damn Sky Wheel behind me and nearly died from a panic attack!

At Myrtle Beach, SC, with the Sky Wheel for a halo. Isn't she glorious at night?! (The Sky Wheel, not me!)

Coffee and a beach sunrise, my favorite way to start the day!
 

Roni and DMan in the grotto at Casa de Loco, Camdenton, MO, sipping Mysterious Beauty.

Roni and DMan rooting on the Springfield Cardinals. Can you tell he's crazy about his Cardinals?!

Roadtripping Trio having lunch and a wine tasting (a Bloody Mary for the bestie!) at Golden Rock Winery, Camdenton, MO.