Missouri Road trip...Floating the Black River

We've been trying to go to the Johnson Shut-ins for years. I've put it on the summer bucket list a couple of times, only to paste over it with something more attainable. The kids are getting big and finding a weekend when someone isn't at band camp or art camp or EFY or scout camp or girls camp....it would take, like, a pandemic or something to find an opening on the calendar.

So...let's go.

Let's make the most of this global crisis.

Mark and Ethan stayed behind...Ethan had to work and Mark stayed back to keep him out of trouble company.

We will do our best to document every moment. So they don't miss a thing....like this moment when we realized that this sign is the most fun to say of all the things we have ever said. Ever.

Do it.

Say it out loud.

After 4 potty stops (we may need to see a doctor) and a Chick-fil-a drive thru, we arrived at Thee Abbey Kitchen to check into our bungalow. We were an hour early, so we explored the ice cream parlor/candy shop

There was also an absolutely charming bakery...this was the actual bakery...where they, you know, bake stuff.

We ventured up to the totally deserted upper floor full of 80's era dishware and homemade soaps. It was HOT up there.. but it helped us burn 60 minutes. I do have my eye on a cute apron (only 5 bucks!)

And I am super tempted to snag this ice cream cup for Mark. It would be even more perfect if it said, "Don't judge me". This is pretty close.

We finally checked in and left to find our bungalows. The ice cream shop is on the main floor of an old Catholic school that has been converted to a Bed and Breakfast called Arcadia Acadamy.  Naturally, there is a graveyard on the grounds.

And how about this cutie patootie yellow bungalow??

AND BONUS....there is a bed for everyone. We are seriously moving up in the world. Remember the Bryce Canyon 2-beds-for-8-people fiasco? **shudder**

We got settled in and waited a bit for the Wadas to arrive and we were off to float the Black River. Now, just close your eyes and picture this....3 adults, 8 kids, 1 baby, 2 paddle boards, 4 tubes, 1 rafts, 1 lounge chair, 12 life jackets, bug spray, sunscreen, 1 electric pump, 1 foot pump, 2 hand pumps.....oh my word. It was a complete circus! Alisa and I looked at each other at least a half a dozen times and started laughing. The sheer amount of physical labor it takes to pull this off is mind boggling.

And 100% worth it.

We stopped on the side of the road and unloaded everyone, and all the gear. We got everything pumped up and helped them take it down to the river to wear we planned to "put in". We may have trespassed through private property to get down there. But we didn't get caught....so we felt pretty pleased with ourselves. Then Larrrin and I drove both cars down to the Lesterville public access point to drop of one of the vans. He hiked down to the water to lay out a beach towel as a marker so we would know where to get out (ahem...that was my brilliant idea!).

Then back we drove in the other van to go start the float with everyone else. At this point, we are an hour into the work and haven't even touched the water!

But we were making it happen....time to load up!

But first. Mathew caught the coolest tadpole.

Everybody had a raft or a tub or a paddle board. It was total chaos! lol

Everly preferred to hold on to my paddle board ankle strap. Sometimes slowing me to a stop, other times acting like a little propeller.

Anna was largely unsatisfied with any and all modes of river flotation. She went from paddling my board, to a tube and a life jacket, to just a life jacket and then to just a tube. There was a whole lot of negotiating and we let the air out of at least three tubes and then ended up blowing them all back up.

Mathew did a lot of help getting little girls adjusted and settled in. He blew up tubes for the ones that change their minds and was seriously a massive help in every way. Once the help requests settled down, he brought up the rear and even fell asleep for a bit.

Laney borrowed an oar from the Wadas and had herself a ball...she was happy as a clam.

Meg got out ahead of all of us and had a lovely peaceful trip down the river...just her and her paddle board. Lucky duck.

The Wadas made their way down in their awesome collection of floaties all tied together.

I have no doubt in my mind that even though it was a challenge for us to get everybody feeling happy and floating in the same directions, it was infinitely harder for Alisa and Larrin. 4 kids, 7 and under. OY! But aren't they adorable?

What we thought would take us an hour to float, actually took us 3. Thank heavens we didn't try the 4 hour option!! We would have had to send for an airlift evacuation.

I have to say, though, that I really loved this. It was fun to be there with my kids and the river was calm and completely clear. I can't wait to do it again.

At long last, we spotted the towel on the shore! We started the process of getting all the gear out, hiking back to the van, driving down to retrieve the other van, then back to the shore again to bring everyone and all the rest of the stuff up to the cars. It was 9 pm by the time we got back to the bungalow.

All we had energy for was making our Totinos frozen pizzas. Mmmmm....we love those nasty little things.

Bedtime at the bungalow!