Well the time arrived for the grannies to go to the Dixie Stampede. I was really looking forward to seeing Cassie Eliot. She said she would be there in a red hat. Cassie is the person who paid for the tickets to the Stampede for us grannies. She has never contacted me directly but has apparently written to several grannies explaining why she was doing such a great and unusual thing. Raining, of course, when the gang gathered up for the ride. Di had arranged for a shuttle bus to take the group. Caro can‘t walk very far and uses an electric scooter so I drove. We took Jan, Glo‘s mother. Mary Jane and Wes also took their car for similar reason.
I made sure that Caro’s camera had fresh batteries and all memory chips. I took digi with 5 floppys which would be enough for 150 pictures. I felt that was adequate. When we got there and finally all in a group we found out that we could not take our cameras into the theater. “COPYRIGHT” protection. Horse Hockey! It is just one more way for Dolly to get more of your money by selling pictures for outrageous price. (written November 20, 2002-I have now stripped all my music collections of all Dolly Parton songs. I felt violated then and have written several letters of complaint about the camera trick.) Our hostess guided us into a pre-assembly room where drinks and small snacks were sold at outrageous prices. Land O’ Goshen have they no mercy. And of course the only sold Pepsi Cola products. I would drink cat urine before I drank a Pepsi. Just me. Caro likes Pepsi.
Finally we wer taken to the theater where we discovered that we were to be seated in tiers and not at tables close together. That turned out to be not so bad but was just one more PO item. Then I discovered that the food was all finger food. Rock Cornish hens, baked potatoes and some other stuff to eat with your hands. I am a chemist. I don‘t touch my food. Heck, I wash my hands before I use the toilet. So I used several napkins to hold the food which was pretty good. The show started just as we got our first portion. The MC explained how the show would go. The audience were divided into Yankee and Rebel sections. The grannies happened to be on the Rebel side even though most of us are north of the Mason-Dixon line. The show was a series of “competitions“ between two groups of cast members. The winning side got a flag. I think the Rebel won the show competition. I got a kick watching Wes interact. That tall drink of water really got into the spirit of the thing.
I kept looking for a woman other than one of the grannies in a red hat. But I never saw or thought I saw anybody who might have been Cassie. So the mystery continues.
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