SNAKE run for your life!!!!

The rains continued so we had movie night at Saffire Thursday night. If there had been any more of us we would have had to have a second sitting! We saw "Taken" and "The Greatest Game", and with hot buttered popcorn we had a full house for the showings. We were really glad to have something to do because it was wet and blustery outside.

Because of the heavy rains there was no more kayaking, only dryaking for us today! So Friday we decided to go down to Baptist Camp for a picnic and playing in the river one last time. Diane and Reileigh were especially happy about the outing. When it was time to leave Diane had to pick her up and put her physically into the car. She came into her own as a Lab this trip, outdoing even Tucker in the water.

Luanne says she would have had another fish....she had one on and said she was just "a smart but" wanting to show off and was hollering for Deb to look and the fish just slipped right off! It was awful!

Deb and I played a game of Scrabble, I'll let her tell you who won.

A fish report since I forgot to say I caught three nice trout one afternoon and Luanne was ready to give up the sport as she didn't get a bite. She went Saturday evening and is back to being an aficionado as she had two when she was out. Now Deb on the other hand......she took off the waders before I could even get a picture! She says "fightn that water is hard work" and "you put that tippet on and I had ta break the line and it was over afore I started" I guess I don't have to be explicit and tell you that she caught no fish!

After we left Baptist Camp we decided to go walk into Montauk Spring. It looked like a short walk so we all took off in sandals and had dogs along. We had hardly started down the path, Teddy and I were ahead when I felt something soft moving over my foot. I looked down and could hardly breathe when I saw it was a snake!!!!!!!!!!! Somehow I managed to stay semi-calm, just wanting to get myself and Teddy away and warn everyone. We all stood back with goose bumps covering our bodies watching this poisonous Copper Head slither across the path and into the woods. I then began screaming for paramedics, the helicopter rescue, knew the little scratch on my foot was a puncture wound, it was AWFUL!

Believe it or not we continued down the path and Luanne spots a Black Snake. With that I left the whole bunch of them and went back out to the paved lot. Look at the picture, I think it was five foot long, though my dear friends tell me it was closer to three!

We returned home and built a great fire in the afternoon that kept us cozy all evening.

We had a deluxe dinner, Diane grilled chicken and I fixed pasta with pesto, yum! Then, this being their last night and all we had to have chocolate martinis. Well, some of us had a bit more than others, and when the conversation turned to shushal shecurity it was about time to call it a night (and yes, you know who you are).

It wasn't Teresa, who was very quiet Friday night, was she already missing us or stressing about the drive to come?

Saturday morning dawned much too early as Teresa, Diane, Jeanne and her sister Joann packed to go. We were all out helping where we could and feeling very melancholy about their departure, we had all had such a great time. We were already talking about where to meet again and hoping it wouldn't be too long before we were all together in an even larger group.

Jeanne pulled out with scraping sounds in her trailer brakes and we were concerned for her.

Fortunately she had no problems and reported in from Clarksville TN Saturday night.

Teresa was next to report her arrival in Tupelo, MS and then Diane from Lexington, KY.

I went back to bed for an hour after they left, and only got up because Luanne and Deb came knocking, wanting help getting Deb into the waders. I stayed behind, cleaned up Saffire and sat and read for a bit. It was a quiet day for the three of us who were left. We went up and had a late lunch at the "A building" (that's what Luanne calls the restaurant) and came back to camp. Deb went to sleep, Luanne went fishing and I enjoyed my book the rest of the afternoon.

Deb brought meat for chili and when I cooked it up there was lots of fat so I poured it on one of the logs. Later, when I started the fire, we had a most impressive blaze. We sat there all evening, ate Deb's chili and were treated to a bluegrass concert by our neighbors. Their voices were nice, and the guy played banjo, mandolin and uke, it was great!

So now we come to Sunday morning, could we just forget this, leave it off completely? I guess I don't have a prayer, Deb and Luanne would tell. And Nancy will be so happy, she warned me!

I have never had as much as a drop when I dump that went where it shouldn't and today, well I'd say shit, but thank God there was none of that! The connection just wouldn't seal today, so it was a mess and Luanne was enjoying every second of it. I even had to change my clothes after I washed everything down with the hose (or in Deb's southern lingo Hose Pipe?)

So I'm glad to say after that we had an easy trip back to Kirkwood. Luanne and Deb are staying the night and will be able to go to their homes in a day from here. We're going to go into Kirkwood and walk around and have dinner later. Hoping to hear from the others that they have gotten home.

Diane most likely won't go to work tomorrow because I am sure her patch of poison ivy is very pustule and she certainly will need a day off.

So I think this is the end of this adventure. I am going to put my pictures together into a slide show for the attendees, and if anyone wants a copy email me your addresses.

Over the next few weeks we'll see if we can come up with a spot that is equidistant from DC, Tallahassee and Chicago, because these are the furthest points people gather. Teresa has suggested Vogel, so we'll take a look at distance and dates and get some plans going for next fall.

Hope you've enjoyed the trip with us!!!

more pictures

Teresa's day

Corrections and additions from previous blog.....the bird wasn’t JUST a bird, it was a Turkey Vulture. According to Teresa they are ESPECIALLY ugly and it would not have been a happy splat for her new kayak.

second....Teresa took all the pictures at Devil’s Well, I didn’t bring my camera!

third....Deb said that what we did was drive kayaking, so the new term is dryaking!!

So now for today. We had a great campfire last night, everyone had a hand in it, most especially Joanne who taught us how to “whack” a fire to make it burn. Ask Teresa to demonstrate at the next campfire.

And speaking of Teresa, after a little libation she began to expound on her observations of the male species in polypropylene waders. She was very descriptive and even demonstrated the wader waddle for us. Be sure and ask her about it too at the next campfire.

We’ve a new camping “must have” courtesy of Deb. She has a cooler on wheels, which has many functions...cooler, water toter, table, grocery hauler, mobile fishing dock.

Diane this morning thought she had channeled Nancy at Douthat, her head didn’t feel quite so good and she was wondering if she had said anything inappropriate, can you imagine that in this group?

We actually lasted past quiet time last night, the rains began again as everyone settled into their beds. It has rained pretty steadily though not heavily since.

This morning Cheryle and Jenni broke down their tents and headed off in the rain for Asheville. They thought they would stay at a motel tonight and try to dry out. I can guarantee I wouldn’t have been as cheery as they were taking down all that wet stuff.

Diane just can’t stand to head back to DC quite yet, so she has signed on for an extra night. Her site wasn’t available, so this morning we turned into a house moving crew. Luanne and I are quite experienced at this having moved Nancy a whole campground over when we were at Babcock. She was in her new site before she even knew it.

Now picture this, there is NO traffic in this campground. Diane hitched her open camper and started driving down the road. Suddenly there was a traffic jam, must have been five cars lined up behind her. She did a stellar job backing in, we were all impressed.

We each took a corner of her screen room and toted it down, so now she is in the enclave. Deb is the only one up the road, I told her if she’d take a shower once in a while we’d let her join us!

After the move we decided to take a drive into Salem for lunch. It was raining so, why not. Diane, Deb, Luanne and I came out with small purses or $$ in a pocket, Lady T came with everything she deemed important in life, from her Garmin GPS to her notebooks containing lists of books she’s read and wants to read!!

We found a diner that belongs on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, the Main Street Cafe in Salem. Everything we had was great, but the pies...wow! Teresa said we certainly observed a lot of local color!!

After much debate, we all gave in to what Teresa wanted and stopped at an antique shop. This must be Teresa’s day, she’s in the blog a lot. The shop was incredible, truly, I’m not an antique shop person but this was beyond words. Look at the pictures I’ll post and you’ll understand just a little bit what it was like.

Our next stop was a beautiful little Catholic Church, St. Jude. Must be a mission church, has Mass at 3:30 Saturday afternoons. It is a charming little log church in a beautiful glade, surrounded by a split rail fence. Interesting as we walked there were four of five of us who’d been raised Catholic, and Luanne and I both had 12 years of nuns.....maybe that what’s wrong with us!

We returned to the campground, had a very short walk before more rain came, and now Teresa, Luanne and I are sitting under the awning. Deb and Diane are napping, Jeannie and Joanne have been sleeping all day. It’s one of those days, but it is supposed to be bright sunny Friday and Saturday...here’s hoping!

Correction already!! Diane has just shown up under the awning, it is raining HARD, and she WASN’T sleeping, she was cleaning and reestablishing her household.

and the burning question is.....

Picking up where we left off, we had just gathered after floating when a HUGE storm blew up rather suddenly. We were sitting under the awning and the winds and rain blew us inside Saffire. The rain pounded and the winds blew while we sat with the air conditioning on, Saffire snug and dry.

When we finally had a bit of a break in the deluge, we headed for the restaurant and brought some life to the room! We had a good time over dinner, sang happy birthday to the waitress and got a weather forecast. There was some concern about flash flooding, as our campground is looped by the river, and apparently has been underwater in the past. We were reassured that the ground has been very dry and nothing to worry about this week.

By the time we got back to the campground, the storm was raging again and we all went to our own camps and had a little quiet time.

The next day dawned with a beautiful sky and we decided to head to Baptist Camp with the dogs for a picnic. We went early and didn’t get home until very late afternoon. The day was spectacular, and all the dogs, but Reileigh (?) and Tucker in particular had a great time in the river. They chased balls and fought the current for hours.

We had endless washer and ladder ball tournaments, endless because no one could score a point!

Deb, Luanne and I all fished and the casting was looking very professional, but nary a fish was caught.

The oddest thing of the day was the appearance of two snorkelers, yes snorkelers, on the river!!! One had on a wet suit, the other had on JEANS with a wet suit top. I couldn’t stand not knowing what they were up to, and when I asked they said they were diving for crawdads!! Who knew???

We came home, built a campfire and had dinner that Jenni had fixed while we were gone. Dessert was mulled cider and chocolate martinis, and we sat around the campfire until we couldn’t sit up any longer. When we first arrived and found a very quiet campground and 10pm quiet time, I was afraid we were going to get thrown out.

Turns out we are all so worn out that we’ve been in bed before quiet time!

We got up this morning (Wednesday) ready to go on another float. Chicken Deb said no way, I had enough and the river is going to be high. I must admit I had reservations myself, but was ready to try. The rest of us all headed for the outfitters where they told us we could go but they wouldn’t! Deb had the last laugh!

That was enough for us, we gave up on the kayaking for the day and headed for another local spot that looked good, Devils Well. It was a facinating spot, a big sinkhole that wasn’t explored until the middle 50’s. Two brothers were the first to go down, one lowering the other on a bosun’s chair. They found an underground lake holding millions of gallons of water! Today you can walk down about 60 steps to the mouth and it was very cool.

We made a very serious discovery today when we found out more about Teresa. Be warned..watch your dogs.....she is an animal slayer!! As we drove, not only did she KILL a squirrel, but she almost got a bird with her kayak. Give her two drinks and she’ll tell you all about it!!

We wandered around a bit as we made our way back to camp, stopping to order pizza for dinner tonight. Going to go to the office to send this off and buy a daily trout stamp for some late afternoon fishing. The river looks as if it has cleared just a bit, so the ever hopeful will be hitting the water.

Tomorrow’s plans, who knows, depends if we have more rain!

And the burning question from the campfire is.....do squirrels poop...and what does it look like????

more pictures

Monday at Montauk

Lots to catch up on. Deb arrived, grinning as she drove down the road, obviously glad to be here. We were glad not only to see her, but the great cookies and cake she brought along with her.

The last of our travelers, Gail and Paul, did not fare as well. They have a motor home, and just south of Cape Girardeau, MO they broke down. Reports are it is fairly serious, they were only able to drive in first gear to get into town. Luckily, they quickly found not only comfortable place to stay overnight, but helpful people in Cape. They are at the Ford dealer today being diagnosed, and last word we had was they had moved into a motel and cancelled their reservations at Montauk. We are really sorry they are having so many problems and will miss their faces around the campfire. Hopefully their problem will be quickly resolved.

We fished yesterday. Deb had a fish she was after, she named him Elvis. Said it was because both he and the fish had left the building! We didn’t catch a thing but had fun trying.

We had a HUGE storm night before last and it left our beautiful crystal clear stream muddy. We couldn’t get in to wade the stream because we couldn’t see the bottom. Fortunately, today it had begun clearing, and the weather along with it. We have had a spectacular day, blue sky and puffy white clouds. Early this morning fog was creeping all along the stream and low into the hills but cleared as we slipped our kayaks into water at Baptist Camp.

And we were off!

We floated eight miles of the Current this afternoon. We had a blast! Deb and Diane both rented sit on top kayaks and the rest of us had brought our own. Deb has kayaked before, but Diane had not. Diane is hereafter know as River Dancer, a name she earned on this trip. We would enter a swift current and Diane would pirouette down the stream, making graceful circles around everyone.

That worked really well for her until Cheryle stopped for a bathroom break in a most inauspicious spot. Before we knew it, we were all struggling to come to a stop to wait for Cheryle. Diane, crashing into Jenny, decided to take a little swim. She did that very gracefully too, climbing out of the stream, fluffing her hair and climbing back aboard.

Downstream, we approached a rapid with a left turn in the stream and an island in the center. We all stayed left of the island and bedlam ensued. First Jenni got hung up, decided to stay in the corner for everyone else to bounce off of her. Cheryle hit her, glanced off and went through. Luanne, Diane and Jeanne became their own armada in the bend of the stream, and all took on a great deal of water though no one capsized.

I came through to the left of them just as they were breaking loose. I thought I was doomed, knowing I was going to be turning over soon. Turns out there was just enough room to skinny through with trees tangling me all the way. Deb followed my line and skinned her arm, actually she said “I ate that tree branch!” and Teresa did pretty much the same thing. However, we emerged victorious, all a little wetter and more river savvy!

We floated eight miles in three and a half hours. It was so beautiful, the bluffs, caves, great blue heron, trickling water, ducks, turtles, fish and us! Our kayaks looked so pretty on the water and I’m going to load some pictures to give you an idea of our day.

We are all back now, having a beer, a shower, a dog walk, just taking it easy. Looks as if we might have another shower, but we have had the best day ever!!!!!

Boy did we have a lightening storm, a good excuse to go out for dinner and post this

Sunday Morning

It is Sunday morning, and everything and everyone is quiet. Teresa arrived Friday afternoon, Diane, Jeanne and her sister Joanne yesterday afternoon. They were all exhausted after long drives, Tallahassee FL, High Point, NC and the DC area of Virginia! We had nice dinners and lots of laughs both nights.

Jeanne and her sister must have had a most interesting drive. They used MSN Bing for directions to Montauk and following those they began to hear banjos playing. They were on gravel roads for miles and swear they almost went over a cliff!

Teresa said she was on a road that made her feel like she was on a roller coaster when she came in, so it has been a real adventure for all arriving.

The group was ready for bed and we decided to make a last walk to the bathroom. As we got on the road, who should step out of the dark and ask “may we join you?” than Cheryl and Jenni!!! The came from Colorado to surprise us, and they sure did!

We didn’t have a campfire as it had rained from about 4:00 on yesterday. We had BIG rain during the night, lightening and thunder. It was enough to blow the breaker on Saffire, no problem though, the propane automatically picked up on the refrigerator and all was well.

It is really good to see everyone, and we’re looking forward to Bama Deb and Gail and Paul arriving today. Nancy gave us a weather report from Atlanta assuring us that tomorrow is going to be beautiful here, and there are a whole lot of kayakers itching to get on the river. Yesterday we explored even further than previously, and it looks like it is going to be a great trip. We will have to rent a few kayaks and we’ll be ready to roll.

We didn’t fish yesterday, there was a tournament here at Montauk and it was reminiscent of opening day with all the rods on the stream. We expect everybody to move out today and we’ll have lots of room all next week.

When we fished Friday we found a stretch of river that was beautiful, had watercress at the head of a flow and daisies and queen anne’s lace along the bank. It reminded me so much of Montana streams that I spent a while there and was rewarded with two fish.

If nothing else nice happened this trip that hour would have made the whole thing worthwhile.

Luanne is like a convert, she has really gotten into the fishing! We can access the river right behind Jeanne’s space, and there are fish everywhere so it keeps calling her name. From what I hear Jenni is going to be right next to her.

Teresa wants to go explore Licking today and probably will get someone to go in with her. It is still very damp after all the rain last night, looks like it is going to be overcast here most of the day with a high of 63, but tomorrow is predicted to be beautiful, and Tuesday a bit iffy again.

Deb has arrived and we've come up to the restaurant for lunch.

Think that’s it for the day, will write after the kayaking tomorrow!

Monatuk Pictures

Thursday morning

It’s another beautiful morning here at Montauk, sunny and just cool enough for a shirt. Luanne picked up some texts this morning when she went to shower, and got the message Janice is not coming because her dog is sick, it’s too bad and I know she’s really disappointed. She was especially looking forward to the kayaking which looks awesome here.

I have learned some new things about Luanne on this trip. She has NO sense of direction!!! When we went to Baptist Camp, she would have been lost in the woods and never seen again if she had followed her nose....does that mean her nose is crooked??? She was most amazed when we arrived back at Montauk, sure that I had missed a turn and was going to have us lost. Ha!

THEN, off she walks to the bathroom last night before dinner. It was almost dark when she left, I’ll give her that. I tossed a salad, got things ready, waited for her, the salads were wilting and she finally walks in the door. I said, “did you get lost?” and she said YES. She went left rather than right from the bathroom and was walking in loops, not having a clue where our campers were! She was really glad to see me!!

We fished all afternoon yesterday, and each got one fish. There was only one man near us catching fish, everybody else was saying what a slow day it was, that’s our excuse anyway. There is a tournament here Saturday so the campground is already filling up. We’re talking about going kayaking Saturday and getting out of the park while all the fishing is going on.

You should see Tucker catching frisbees. He must have been inspired by Luanne catching fish! He is really doing well, and is fun to watch. Luanne says this is a first, and Teddy just stands and watches him. He is more interested in visiting with fisherman walking down the road than in running to catch a frisbee, he is certainly my dog!

Going to try to load a few pictures, Baptist Camp fishing and Tucker catching his frisbee

UGH

It’s Wednesday morning, I am sitting around after a frustrating night, and Luanne and Tucker have gone off for a hike.

Teddy ate later than usual last night, and when I went to bed I had a feeling he would want to go out again, and sure enough, just as I was falling asleep he did. As I came back inside after letting him out I spotted white liquid running on the floor in front of the refrigerator....french vanilla coffee creamer! And it was a large bottle I’d brought from my home refrigerator. It didn’t sit quite right in the fridge door, and I guess earlier when I’d put something else back in it turned on its side and had been seeping out for several hours. Although I was not happy about it Teddy was ecstatic, lapping as fast as his little tongue could, trying to stay ahead of my mopping.

So after I got that cleaned up and got back into bed it took a while to fall asleep. I woke some time later, and I was hot. At that point I realized I hadn’t opened the roof vents after our rain shower so had no circulation, up I get, open the vents and turn on the fan.

Lovely cool breeze now wafted through the bedroom.

And you probably think that was enough to earn the UGH title today.....wrong! Sometime before dawn I came to with my stomach feeling upset, and yep, got sick. Now that WAS enough to earn the UGH.

I’ve eaten a bit this morning and feel OK, just a bit tired. We’re going to the restaurant for some soup for lunch, after which I plan to be fully recovered and ready to fish!

Will send this off while we are at a wifi spot, and hope to report later that we landed some big trout!

Luanne says the walk was barely OK, but the weather is so beautiful it didn't matter!

Montauk State Park, Missouri

Saffire’s latest adventure began last Sunday, September 13th. The WAC group from all over the country is meeting at Montauk State Park in Missouri. Most are arriving beginning Friday, and we are expecting people from Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Florida and Colorado.

Montauk is one of Missouri’s premier trout parks. The Current River, one of American’s National Scenic Riverways, has it’s headwaters in Montauk. The river is fed by four natural springs which put billions of gallons of fresh water into the river daily. The flow through the Park is ideal for rainbow trout, and just out of the park is beautiful kayaking water.

I decided to come down early to get some serious flyfishing in before the crazy fun begins. Luanne decided to come too for more lessons.

On the way down I saw a man coming down I-44 going east, he was riding a bicycle on the shoulder of the interstate. That would have been interesting enough, but he was towing three trailers behind the bicycle! Two of them were the kind you pull kids in and the other looked like a homemade something. I wish I could have gotten a picture of him.

Luanne decided to come early too for more flyfishing lessons and either I’m a good teacher or she’s a great pupil because her first fish here was a 17” rainbow! This was the first fish she landed on a fly rod and did a great job. We are “catch and realeasing”, so she put the big boy back in the stream to be caught another day.

We went exploring Monday and found out where to go to get shuttles for kyaking and wandered around the hills. The country is beautiful and pretty remote, great to visit but not for me to live! As usual, AT&T has no service, so I have no phone, but Luanne’s Verizon is intermittent and she can at least send texts. The only wifi is at the park store.

Today we left the park to fish at Baptist Camp, a beautiful site with flowing river and towering bluffs. This is a put in point for kayaking, and over a weekend is probably pretty busy, but today, we had the river to ourselves. The fishing was slow, but so beautiful it didn’t matter if we were caught anything. (I did catch one so we weren’t skunked!)

The weather has been glorious, a little shower at night and very pleasant during the day.

It looks like rain this afternoon, but we’re hoping to get back on the stream a while before dinner. We could go kayaking but we’re having so much fun fishing that will probably wait until the group arrives. I think we’ll have 9 kayaks for floats, and if the weather holds will probably go at least three times next week.

Will try and get this posted today, but won’t put any pictures up until I get home. Back soon!

Pere Marquette Park, Illinois