Leaving the Riverway

We’re starting to run low on time.  Time to wander before arriving at our work assignment on Thursday afternoon.  Since I’m the group leader for this project, I have started corresponding with the ranch and have been receiving group leader instructions and materials via email.

I’m the group leader, but we’re the only couple signed up for this project, so I don’t really have a group to lead.  This will be a new experience for us: serving on a project alone and not part of a group.  We have enjoyed the interactions and the getting-to-know-others in group settings on prior projects, so we’ll see how this goes.  If God wants us to serve alone, we will serve alone.  We look forward to what He has in store for us.

Because we are looking at a Thursday deadline, we have to start planning how to arrive there at that time and moving in that direction. So it’s time to say goodbye to the Ozark National Scenic Riverway and move on.  But not without one last look.

That last look was at Welch, a river access point on our way out and also the location of an old hospital.  We stopped first at Akers and talked to an outfitter there, not that we were looking to do anything, but Deb just wanted to ask a couple questions.  The woman was friendly and gave us some perspective on just how popular this area is.  She told us that over a thousand people a day go on the water on these rivers at the height of summer season.  I’m not sure if that figure was just for her outfitter or for everyone, but that is a lot of people.  Makes the crowd we launched with yesterday seem like a trickle.  The place must be a madhouse.  Shoulder season is definitely desirable.  And also because it’s not so hot.  She said it gets insanely hot during the summer.

The road to Welch was a narrow dirt road but it was less than a mile.  Unfortunately, on these roads, by the time you figure out what you are getting into, you are committed.  This road was narrow, winding, bumpy, and very steep. Rocks embedded in the road way made the RV sway like crazy.  I think Deb was going to have a nervous breakdown on the last stretch, which was particularly bad.  She now had something to worry about: getting back out.

The main attraction here is the old hospital that is built over a spring.  In 1913, Dr. C.H. Diehl bought the property and build the stone hospital over the mouth of a cave, which attaches to a passage from which Welch Spring flows.  He believed that air from the spring would circulate throughout the hospital and help heal asthma, emphysema, and tuberculosis.

The hospital was not successful.  Being way out in the sticks, few people were willing to take the trip.  The hospital fell into ruin after the doctor died in 1940.

The hike here was a pleasant half-mile from the parking area and we enjoyed our last hike of the area.

The drive out was steep and slow and bumpy and we managed to crawl out without burning out the transmission.  It was hot, but it survived.

We took the minor roads, opting not to take the interstate as suggested by Google Maps.  Lots of beautiful country out here, very rolling and hilly.  Deb spotted a small sign that said “Farm Market” at an intersection, and we drove a couple miles out of our way on washboard dirt roads to this market, which was mostly an Amish bulk food store located way out of the way. Everything was neatly arranged and the store, inside and out, was beautifully set up.

On into the little town of Licking where we got groceries and ate lunch in the city park.  One thing that stood out to me as we left town was the local lumber store, for obvious reasons.

Our travels eventually brought us to Ha Ha Tonka State Park.  Kind of a funny name (pun intended), but the name reportedly came from the Osage, meaning ​laughing waters​.

This park is the site of several interesting things: a spring, castle ruins, caves, arches.  The most interesting story is that of the castle.  In 1904, Robert Snyder, a wealthy businessman, bought 2700 acres in the Ozarks, which included the spring and a lake.  He wanted to build a vacation home, but not just any vacation home.  He wanted a castle.

It took a year and a half to build the exterior structure.  In 1906, being one of the few people to actually own an automobile, he had the dubious distinction of being one of the first automobile fatalities in Kansas City.

His children finished the castle after it sat for a few years.  In 1942 a fire broke out and destroyed the entire castle, leaving only the stone walls standing.  Embers from the fire also started the roof of the nearby carriage house on fire.

The water tower was inadequate to help during the fire.  It was burned by vandals in 1978.  Now the whole place is a state park and tourist destination.

The water tower roof was restored in 1999 and it is a defining structure in the park.  It housed several of the caretakers, and a steel tank occupied the top floor, providing water for the castle and the carriage house.  It was filled by a hydraulic ram pump from the spring, using only gravity flow to push the water to the top of the tower.

We browsed several of the trails, appreciating the shady ones as the late afternoon sun was so hot.

We are currently camped at the Lead Mine Conservation Campground. It’s in the middle of nowhere in Amish country.  50 sites and we’re the only ones here.

We’ll start heading south tomorrow, towards Springfield and Branson, then ultimately to Lampe where our project is.  Our trek across Missouri so far looks like this: