American adventure (9) Bluegrass in Branson

Breathtaking. That's the only way to describe the view from Dave Lingner's veranda, with its broad sweeping vista of the Ozark Mountains. "Mountain" is a bit of a misnomer, the Ozarks are very different from the Appalachian's that I was driving through between North Carolina and through Tennessee, and are more like rolling, forested hills. Hills inhabited by "hillbillies". There are those who reckon that the area around where Dave lives is so "hillbilly" that even the Catholics take snakes to church!

 

 

Dave is where the whole Christian fishing thing started for me. One day back in 2005, when I was supposed to be sermon writing (confession is good for the soul), I popped the words "Christian" and "fishing" into Google and ended up on the "Christian Outdoorsman" website, got to know Dave and a whole load of other Christian anglers and hunters, and now, 8 years later I'm staying at his house in the hills.

 

After a 5 hour drive from Illinois to Arkansas, I arrived at Dave's, and having negotiated his three dogs (the family also have a horse), and after a chat and a coffee we went to the local tackle store to purchase a State fishing licence. Said licence purchased, and all "legal and legit", we went on to a 4th July weekend outdoor live music gig and firework display, which proved to be a big highlight. The band, the Missouri Boatmen, played two predominantly bluegrass sets, with occasional forays into their own take on folk rock. One of the band, Dean Webb (a sprightly septegenarian) is a bluegrass legend and inductee in the "Bluegrass Hall of Fame", the songs were delivered with humour, the musicianship (as if I'd know!) was first class, the crowd loved it, and in the middle of the set the band (which included at least three committed Christians) performed a lovely slow version of the hymn "There is a fountain filled with blood", before informing their hillbilly crowd that "true freedom only comes from the Lord."

A great evening, tomorrow it's lined up to be my dream day: church followed by fishing. The only thing that would make it more perfect would be the addition of my family, but less than a week and they'll be in the States too.