The Impulsive Traveler: A bicycling vegan finds a place in Branson, Mo.

When I told my friends that I was planning a cycling visit to Branson, Mo., the Bible Belt’s answer to Las Vegas, they couldn’t believe it. “You’ll be bored!” they cried. “You’ll starve!”

But my biking connections swore that the town has crazy-fun roads and high-caliber stage productions. And if restaurants lacked vegan options, I’d make do with trail mix and protein powder.

Loading...

Comments

• Weigh In
• Corrections?

Personal Post

More on this Story

• The Impulsive Traveler: Branson is vegan cyclist country!
• Details: The Impulsive Traveler, Branson

Branson may be famous for its live shows, but its outdoor spectacles offer cyclists terrific backdrops: rugged Ozark bluffs, rippling lakes, emerald valleys. For an introduction, Downhill Bikes owner Craig Erickson suggested Branson Bicycle Club’s free group rides. “There’s the Five Ugly Sisters, 13 miles mostly uphill,” he told me. “When riders ask if the first hill’s a sister, I say, ‘No, just a cousin; we haven’t gotten to the sisters yet.’ Then there’s the Jasper Disaster. . . .” Hmmm, think I’ll ride solo.

I loop around historic downtown’s quaint shops and quirky hipster-hoarder paradise, Dick’s 5 & 10. On Lake Taneycomo, people picnic, boat and stroll the boardwalk to Branson Landing’s shiny new shops and fire-and-fountain shows starring blasts from fire cannons and 120-foot geysers.

Pumping westward up Main Street, I enter the Strip, the car-clogged theater district. No casinos on this folksy-glitzy Vegas counterpart, but alcohol’s served.

Branson theater debuted in the 1930s to amuse railroad workers ferried up the White River on floats. Float trip operator Jim Owen — before his long stint as mayor — opened the first playhouse, preserved downtown as Owen’s Theatre. Later came music-comedy jamborees and “Shepherd of the Hills,” Branson’s heritage play about late 1800s Ozark settlers and vigilante “Baldknobbers,” outlaws named for the bald Ozark summits (it’s complicated). Now high-tech outdoor extravaganzas, these productions still draw crowds, as do stages built by Roy Clark, Andy Williams and other enterprising celebrities.

Forget the notion that Branson’s all country-kitsch for golden-agers. The kitsch spans all genres and ages. But the current 100-plus shows include spectacles rave-reviewed by elitists: Shanghai acrobats. Aerialist-violinist Janice Martin, who has performed at the White House and the National Gallery of Art, though not while suspended by sashes playing “Stairway to Heaven.” The endorphin-spiking tribute to the Eagles at God and Country Theatre. Liverpool Legends, a faux Fab Four handpicked by Louise Harrison, George’s sister. “The Legend of Kung Fu,” the martial-arts Beijing Olympics opener so exhilarating that after the show I biked miles beneath the starry deep-purple sky.

But that first day chugging up the Strip, hunger stopped me at Nature’s Sunshine Health Foods. I locked my bike beside the “God and America”-bannered topiary. Directing me to vegan energy-bars and entrees, the clerk said, “You’d be surprised how many restaurants have vegetarian food, even vegan. I love Thai Thai!” Just a block west.

Several curries, tofu and phad sounded promising, and bargains at less than $10. “Are these vegan, meaning no milk, eggs, animal-derived?” “Yes,” replied the hostess, “and I know what ‘vegan’ means.” Ginger phad = perfect lunch.