The Dump at the End of the Road

It has been a while since we have updated the blog so we will try to get you up to speed.

Mom has finished seminary and is excited to have the summer off. She enjoyed the experience but needs time to recharge her batteries. Since she finished on June 1st and dad was leaving for Europe on June 2nd, and dad needed to be in Kansas City for parts of the following two weeks, we decided that mom should go ahead and go to KC for the entire three week period. We were planning to take the grand kids on vacation this year to southern Missouri on Bull Shoals lake so we decided to go from June 13th through the 16th. We had researched several resorts/cabins and decided to go to Cactus Ridge Resort in Pontiac, MO. It was a double unit with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living area with two sofa sleepers, a kitchen and a dining room. In addition there was a Rec Room across the drive that you could play games, cook, get together, etc.

On our trip was mom, dad, Nellie, Aaron, Hannah, Connor, Zayne, Alyssa, Taylor and Brody. We headed out after Nellie got off work on the 13th and all gathered at Gabe and Jerren's house. We were on the road shortly after 5:00pm with a five hour drive ahead of us. We stopped for ice cream in Clinton but were on the road most of the rest of the time. When we got to the steep and winding roads of southern Missouri, it was 9:30pm. The winding roads brought up potential car sickness in Brody and Connor and we needed to stop on a couple of occasions. We had the cars divided up into "Boys" and "Girls" cars. Dad had Aaron, Connor, Zayne and Brody in his vehicle and mom had Nellie, Hannah, Alyssa and Taylor. We had walkie talkies so we could talk while we were driving. The kids watched movies and were entertained on the way. Because of the slow ride on the winding roads, we were slowed considerably and did not arrive at Cactus Ridge until 11:00pm. Dad checked in and then took a tour of the rooms. What a dump! It was dirty, smelly, things were broken, the sofa sleepers were horrible, the locks didn't work correctly, etc.

 It was on a gravel road outside of town and we were actually in Arkansas. It was too late to do anything else and we were all very tired so we decided to gut it out and spend the night. Mom and dad had one bedroom, Nellie and Taylor had the other bedroom, Aaron, Alyssa, Connor and Brody slept on the full size sofa sleeper (Brody crosswise at the bottom) and Hannah and Zayne slept on the twin sized sleeper. In the morning, Brody had ended up with Hannah and Zayne. When we awoke in the morning, mom and dad went into town too see what other accommodations we could find. Everything was booked. We decided to stay another night until we could find something else and make the best of the day. Mom and Nellie went into Mountain Home, Arkansas to the Wal-Mart to get food and supplies. Dad stayed with the kids and took them swimming in the pool at the "resort".

The pool was okay although a bit dirty. The water was clear but there was some dirt on the bottom and bugs on the top. The kids took care of the strainer net and kept it clean. This also gave them something to do!They swam for a couple of hours and then took a tour of the marina and fed the fish. They then went down to a lakefront area and explored. When they returned to the "resort" mom and Nellie had just returned from Wal-Mart. We had lunch and then went to the Rec room. Dad renamed it the Wreck room. It was equally horrible and dad was unable to breath due to the dust, mold and mildew. We played pool, checkers and other games and then headed to the lake front to go swimming. The lake front was great. The water was clear and we swam for a couple of hours. They found a clay area in the lake and took a clay bath and Aaron made a clay pot. We went exploring, looking for "Signs of Life". We found several signs of animal, insect and human life.

Brody came up to Poppy and told him he needed to go to the bathroom. Poppy told him to go over in the bushes as we were the only ones there and we were in the middle of nowhere. Brody asked, "Do you even know what kind of bathroom I need to do". That summed up what needed to happen. They went to a clearing in the brush and Brody did his business. The job is never finished until the paperwork is through.

By the time we got back to the cabin, it was getting late and dark. We had planned to have chicken on the grill for dinner and knew it would take a while to heat up. Fortunately, when we returned someone else was taking food off of one of the grills and there was plenty of charcoal left. We asked if we could use it and they said sure. About an hour later we had grilled chicken with salad for dinner. It was soooooo good. While dad was cooking, Nellie routed the kids through the showers so all were able to shower that evening. Mom assigned cleanup detail to Brody, Aaron and Zayne, and after a little battle with Zayne, the kitchen was all cleaned up! Dad had told all of the kids that we would go swimming, boating/tubing, fishing and hiking during the trip. Before we went to bed, Brody asked when we were going to go fishing since all we did was swim, sigh. It was late so time for bed! Everyone fell right to sleep.

Day 2

When we awoke, we were back in our gloom over the accomodations. We decided to have bacon and eggs for breakfast and while it was cooking mom gave Zayne some milk and orange juice. Not a good combination for Zayne and he was soon not feeling well. He was called "Barf Bag Louis" from this time forward.

Our plan was to rent a pontoon and go to the lake in the afternoon. Zayne threw up all morning. We were hoping he would get better. After breakfast we went for a hike on the road that led to the lake. Once again we were looking for "Signs of Life". We looked and looked and found all kinds of cool things to see. Finally, we saw one sign of life that we did not want to contend with, a big dog in the middle of the road. We headed back to the cabin for lunch. After lunch we headed to the lake to go on the pontoon and go tubing. Unfortunately, Zayne and mom were not able to go with us. Zayne had stopped barfing but was still a little green. As soon as we were out of the wake area, dad stopped the boat and threw out the tube and asked, "Who is going first"? No one volunteered so he decided to go. Brody decided that he wanted to go with him so they both climbed on. As they were pushing away from the boat, Brody decided to change positions on the tube and they both toppled over. That was enough for Brody and he got back on the boat. His tubing career now over. Dad stayed on the boat and Aaron drove. Aaron did an excellent job. After that Nellie tubed and then Aaron. Connor decided he wanted to ride with his Poppy so they got on. All through the ride he kept saying how fun it was but he never wanted to ride again. After a few minutes Aaron turned a tight corner and Connor and Poppy went flying! Connor came out of the water screaming "THAT WAS AWESOME". From that time on, Connor, Nellie and Aaron were big time tubers. Alyssa decided to give it a try before the day was over. Hannah, Taylor and Brody weren't up to the adventure. Here is some of the fun.

The rescue of Nellie's hat!

We pulled over a couple of times and threw out the anchor so we could jump off the boat and swim.

Mostly, we just had a good time.

We decided to call after a couple of hours to see if Zayne was better and if they wanted to go on the boat. He was still under the weather so he and grandma were not able to go.

When we returned to the cabin, grandma had the grill ready and we had hamburgers and baked potatos. They were sooooo good! It was still daylight so we went back to the lake front and went fishing. Everyone caught a fish, except Poppy and Aaron. We got photos of all except for Alyssa, hers got away. (her fish was a little camera shy)

If we combined all of the fish that were caught, you might have enough to make a fish nugget.

It started to get dark, and there was thunder and lightning in the distance. We headed back to the cabin and slept very well. Another long and tiring day.

Finally, all of the activities that were promised were completed; boating/tubing, fishing, swimming and hiking.

Stayed tuned for the sequel.