On Saturday July 19, 2003, twelve members of Venture Crew 378 set out on our 3rd annual Super Activity. This year our week long journey was set in and around Central Missouri. Our fun included 2 days of backpacking, 1 day of canoeing, and 1 day of horseback riding.
We set off from the Terrytown A&P at 6:00 A.M. and drove a smooth, problem-free 6 hours until we stopped in a Mississippi rest area, where we not only ate lunch, but our very own species of bob-tailed Zoë got a surprise under her seat. We then continued through Tennessee and Arkansas, ending our all day drive in Williamsville, MO. at 4:30 p.m. We went into town for dinner, a quick stop at K-mart, and a special treat at Dairy Queen. We camped the night at Lake Wappapello State Park.
Sunday, after packing up we drove 2 hours to the Ozark Trail Head, in the Taum Sauk Mountain State Park, filled up our water bottles, and began our eventful 2 day backpacking excursion. After hiking about 3 hours, we stopped for a lunch break at the Devil’s Tollgate, which was a rock form over the trail. Many of us were convinced our souls had been stolen. After lunch we continued for about 5 miles, dropped our packs for a half hour break and allowed the guys to go ahead on the trail and find a campsite. While we were being attacked by killer mosquitoes, we decided that we should go to a campsite that we saw about 2 miles back if the guys were unsuccessful. This is exactly what happened; therefore, we actually backpacked around 8 miles total for the day.
On Monday, we backpacked out the remaining 2 miles, where we were followed by a four-legged friend, a dog named Molly. As we came off of the trail, we took photos on the highest point in Missouri, a rock. We then drove to our campsites in Johnson Shut-Ins State Park. We set-up camp, played a little football, and played in the river behind our campsites, where a few of the guys decided to use the natural legos, or the rocks that were damming the river, to make a sort of hot tub/Jacuzzi. After our crew swim, we went to Elephant Rocks State Park, which was an easy mile hike for everyone including the blind and people in wheelchairs. After enjoying Fat Man’s Squeeze and the “Maze”, we ate and went back to camp.
Tuesday, we woke up, ate breakfast, and went to the state parks main attraction, the shut-ins. It was beautiful!! There were rocks that had been worn down by the water to form a sort of water slide ride. We played on these water slides for a couple of hours and when it was time to go, a few of us, Lisa, Shannon, Jessica, Kevin, Gram, and Gramps, took on the task of going back against the water to meet up with everyone. It was pretty challenging, even harder without shoes. Once we got back to our campsites, we enjoyed our hot tub for a little while longer and then packed up for a 3 hour drive to our next campsite, Montauk State Park in Salem, MO. After set-up, we went to a pizza buffet for dinner, took a trip to Wal-Mart for some supplies, to the gas station for gas, and back to the campsites.
On Wednesday, we broke camp and went to the Ozark Trail rides campsites in Mountain Grove, MO. The sites were horrible. They were on rocks, the land was on a slant, and worst of all, it was right next to the barn where the horses we rode the following day, resided. So, needless to say the plans changed. We decided to go along with everything that was already planned except for where we were sleeping. We ate a tailgate picnic lunch at the barn, and began our canoe trip on the Gasconade River. The water was so low we were scraping rocks and pulling our canoes most of the way. After this, we went to the Caveman Bar-BQ & Steak House Restaurant in Richland, MO., which was a sit-down dinner in a cave. We were picked up by a shuttle in groups of 6 and brought up the mountain and to the base of the spiral steps to the restaurant. After dinner, we went back to the campsites in Montauk State Park and stayed there Wednesday and Thursday night.
On Thursday morning, we got up at 6 because we had a 2 hour drive to go back to the Ozark Trail Rides for horseback riding. We waited while they brought the horses to the arena. Everyone was separated and placed on a horse, or a half-ass, in Perryn’s case, according to experience. After everyone was pretty comfortable, we began our rides in the Mark Twain National Forest. Each of the horses had a personality all there own. Zoë and Goldie’s horses, two males, Shadow and Prancer, were a little too friendly, Chris C.’s horse had two different color eyes, and we also had our very own monkey on a horse. After a while we were met by the truck with the lunch and had a picnic next to the river. Then, we finished out the trail and picked up the horses. Well, Zoë and Goldie’s fun wasn’t over yet. The owner of the two horses asked us to ride them over to their trailer. So we raced. Prancer decided he wanted another round so they turned around, went back and ran it again! After all of this excitement, we left and went back to camp to shower and do laundry. We then went back into town for food and gas. While at the gas station, a simple car wash turned into a 10 minute scratch rescue when Perryn got his truck caught on the code machine at the entrance of the wash. We ate, took another trip back to Wal-Mart, and then went back to the campsites.
The weekend was coming far too soon, which meant our trip was coming to an end; it was Friday. Today, Perryn was leaving early for a wedding, and Lisa went with him to deal with matters at home. So, before leaving our campsites, we switched around the vehicles and a few people and were back on the road. We stopped the 4-car caravan at their splitting point to tell them good-bye. A few pictures and hugs later the rest of the crew was back on the road. We were on our way to Silver Dollar City in Branson, MO. First, we went to the Silver Dollar City campground to sign in and set-up camp. The site was horrible, nothing but rocks on the ground and not a patch of grass to sleep comfortably. The person who didn’t bring a sleeping pad would have really been miserable if it wasn’t for the kindness and generosity of our very own Gram and Gramps. After set-up, we went back to the front office to wait for the shuttle that would bring us to and from the park. In minutes it came and in minutes it left. The park was packed! The stores were on top of each other and there were people were everywhere, none the less, everyone had a good time. We broke into three groups: Goldie, Zoë, Monkey, MP3, Fatty and Masta were in the largest group, Gram and Gramps together, and E.T. and Dork went off on their own. We stayed for 3 hours then went back to the campground. We went to Lambert’s Café where we all enjoyed some shopping and a very long wait. Once we finally got inside, it was great. We were catching rolls left and right, and the guy that was throwing the rolls even stopped to take a picture. While on our way home, we decided to take a back road to get to the campsites to surpass all of the Branson traffic. We pretty much got lost, and separated a few times. But, we finally made it back to camp. We took showers and went to sleep.
Saturday morning we were treated to a late rise, 7, and then a quick pack-up. After breakfast, we rode the Ducks. First we got a quacker, a short tour and a beautiful view, and then it was to the water we went. After driving in the water a little while we went back to shore and drove back to the dock. Earlier that day we met some people that told us the Fantastic Caverns driving tour was a tourist trap and wasn’t worth our time or money. So, we decided not to go and our money was refunded. Following our land-to-water experience, we went to the Bass Pro Shops in Springfield, MO. This store was awesome! It was huge and had everything from camping gear and gulf supplies to a virtual reality ride and fishing equipment. We were shopping for ages, until everyone found what they were looking for and more. Once we finally decided to leave we drove to Lake Poinsett State Park in Arkansas. When we got there, the horror began. We set up the tarp. The bugs were ridiculous then, but we didn’t think too much of it, and we decided to gather wood for a fire to scare them away later, when we got back. Well, after dinner we came back to a nightmare. The bugs were 10 times worse! We built the fire, praying they would go away, but with the stagnant water right next to us, they didn’t go anywhere. So, we took the Citronella candles Gram and Gramps bought and put them around our sleeping area under the tarp, hoping that they would be gone by the time we were ready to go to sleep; no such luck! They were swarming. So, everyone decided to set up tents. With the extra encouragement of the mosquitoes trying to eat us, we all set up in about 5 minutes. As everyone was getting in their tents, they left nothing to chance. On a count to three we all jumped into the tents to allow minimal entrance of bugs. Some say they were getting in through osmosis. And for those lucky few that did get in, they were killed and everyone got a bug-free nights sleep.
Sunday was here, the crew was eager and willing to leave that park, but reluctant to end our trip. The bug problem wasn’t over yet, though. They were a bit better this morning, but not much. Bad enough for all of us to agree to just throw our gear into the back of the burrito, and pack it up at a better location. We packed it up, ate breakfast, and were back on the road for our final 8 hours of our trip. We arrived at the Reeves’ house around 4, made our hour long farewells, and left for home. Luckily, during this trip the 3 plagues tried to attack again, but didn’t make a full comeback.
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