(Too bad it ended up going wrong)
Monday morning they came and picked us up and all 6 of us rode down to Salem/Eminence, Missouri. (About a 3-3.5 hour drive) My stomach didn't care for the winding roads, but I made it through without getting sick. We arrived at Akers Ferry around 5:30pm and went inside this little store to get the keys to our rental and the address for the cabin.
It should have been a warning sign when the lady told us there wasn't any address for it, you just " go upt that road over there until you see a sign for JJ then go till you see a gravel road, its the blue house." There was no address. So, we go, and find it. From the first look I had decided "nope. No way." There were 3 trashbags of trash thrown out on the porch, the cabin itself looked like it was going to fall in at any minute. There were three bedrooms, and the website said bedding was provided...all that was there was dirty, stained, box spring mattresses. The air smelled musty, like this place had been abandoned for 20 years, had rat traps in the closets, as well as animal nests inside. It was, in a word, horrendous. Not to mention, on the dirt road we had to take to get there, we passed several condemned/falling in/ uninhabitable buildings, and you have to cross a river that was already flooding. Also, the only lights that worked were in the kitchen. The rest of them were burnt out fluorescent bulbs that flickered at best.
Before they would give us our money back, we had to see two other cabins- and both were gross. At this point, we were all frustrated, tired, and hungry. We ended up at Montauk State Park and actually, got really lucky! They had cabin #32 available, though only for one night. We took it.
Newly renovated, central air, two bedrooms- both looked the same- a couch, TV, and a Murphy bed. It smelled like wood, which I LOVE and was clean AND CHEAPER than the other crap-hole. We sat down to dinner at 9:30pm and were all asleep by 11:30pm.
Tuesday- we had no plan...we wanted to go to current river, but the people at Montauk told us Jacks fork river was open for sure. I actually had cell phone signal, so I typed in "Jacks fork, Eminence MO" into my Google maps and we headed that way. Um, apparently that will take you to a personal residence with "No trespassing" signs posted everywhere. So, we decided to just drive. We happened upon Harvey's Alley Spring Canoe Rental. It looked nice, so we stopped, got out tubes, and they took us to the drop in area of Jacks Fork river.
We took the Go Pro with us on the river, and didn't lose it! Since there had been so much rain, the river was high and the first half of our 7 mile float was filled with higher currents, trees, and rocks. I was having a minor break down, as I had never floated before. We have canoed, but with those you have some control of where you end up. We stopped a couple of times to re-group, and the last half was more enjoyable. Minus the fact that we were tired, and I was sunburnt. I was very happy to see the pick up point and was the first one to get out. We spent Tuesday night at Pine Crest Cabins in Eminence, MO. They were like any other hotel room, decently clean and they looked nice from the outside
Now, on to one of my favorite things from this trip...Hideaway Pizza. This little hole in the wall in downtown Eminence could have possibly been the best pizza I have had, outside of Italy itself. We ended up with three pizzas, a thin crust supreme, a meat locker (pepperoni, sausage, bacon) and a western (BBQ sauce, onion, sausage) and all three were delicious. All of us ate until we were too full to move. I would make the 4 hour drive to eat at this place again. It was fantastic.
Wednesday we headed back towards home and stopped at one of my favorite caves in Missouri. Onondaga Cave State Park.
I like Onondaga because:
1. The part of the cave you tour is beautiful. This is still an active cave with lots of colors and formations.
2. The tours are small because it is less crowded than Meramec Caverns or the other surrounding tourist-y caves. Our family of 6 was the tour. In a way, we got a private tour of this monster.
3. You get a workout, and they don't do stairs in the tour. Everything is a grated ramp system, so no stairs to fall up or down.
After a late lunch at Steak n shake, my in-laws dropped us back off at our apartment and the cat seemed surprised to see us. Guess he thought we left and the apartment was his now.
No comments:
Post a Comment