McGraw's Ford

It's a sad day in the world of Springfield kayakers looking for a close place to drop their boat in the river. Missouri Dept. of Transportation announced today they will be closing McGraw's Ford, located at the intersection of Hwy 125 and the James River. Citing drugs, violence and bridge vandalism, the river access will be barricaded to prevent people from easily accessing the River at this location.

This is a great example of how the actions of a few low-life members of the group of people we like to call human scum ruin things for everyone. You can read all about it on the news-leader's website.

Ahh...the Lake!

The lake. It's probably the most popular Ozarks pass time during the summer. Considering we have around 7 lakes within an hour and half driving time of Springfield, there's a lot of places to go. Some friends of our family allowed us to use their cabin this last weekend, so we did. They have a small cabin around the west side of the Indian Point area on Table Rock Lake. It has 2 bedrooms, a small kitchen, and a nice little back patio looking down several hundred feet to the dock.

To be honest, I think I could probably just move there and be happy the rest of my life. I try to make it a point to go down there at least once during the summer to hang out on a weekday. The lake is so peaceful during the week it's unbelievable! No boats pulling skiers, and no jet skis.

Growing up we went to the lake a lot and I used to take it for granted. It was just something we did on the weekend...every weekend. I can't even remember how old I was when I learned to water ski. Now if I make it to the lake a few times during the summer it's a good year. It's hard to justify spending at least a hundred bucks in fuel just for one day of fun in the sun. So now I just go to the dock with my people-powered boat.

I usually go by myself or with someone else, but this year we went with a whole group (8 of us), and spent a few days. This is definitely the way to go! Our dog Oliver went with me last year and seemed to like the water fine, so I decided to take him again. Here is a picture of Oliver and Jerilyn floating in the water just enjoying the day. Oliver seems to prefer floating on an inflatable raft rather than being directly in the water...after all, he is a herding dog.

I ended up fishing pretty late a couple nights and got up early 2 mornings to try to beat the fish, but they just didn't seem to be biting. I did see a pretty niced sized Longnose Garr floating by the dock the first night we were there. That's the first time I've ever seen one up close in the wild.

A great big THANK YOU to the Nicholsons for a great weekend!