November 9, 2004

November 9, 2004

Meramec Springs State Park & Potosi, Missouri

DAY 145

 

We were invited to join an Elderhostel day trip to Meramec Springs State Park about 45 minutes west of here. We piled into one of Trout Lodge's vans with 8 Elderhostel guests right after breakfast. At Meramec Springs State Park is a high volume artesian spring coming up out of the ground under a cave. Missouri has many caves, and many springs like this. The state uses the river from the spring as a trout hatchery. While we were visiting, two park employees were in the icy cold river counting out 40,000 trout for transport. As soon as we got out of the van and started walking, Eva, one of the Elderhostel women tripped and fell. She twisted just enough to avoid falling on her face, but she landed hard on her right shoulder. She knocked the wind out of herself, scraped her knee, and injured her shoulder. Old women don't bounce well. For the rest of our outing, she walked beside me holding onto my arm. At this park, there are the quite intact remains of a 150 year old "Iron Works" or outdoor iron foundry. There were many iron mines in this part of Missouri, including 5 on the YMCA's property, and around some of them, these outdoor foundries called Iron Works existed. While at Meramec Springs State Park, we saw two deer. Deer hunting season starts in about a week, and everybody here is getting pretty excited about it. Hunting is a very big deal around these parts. Deer can't be hunted in state parks, so over the generations, the smarter deer have learned to stay put in the safety of the state parks.

We returned to Trout Lodge for a very quick late lunch, then rushed off to Potosi for my 2:00 P.M. appointment at the GM dealer. The truck's windshield washer system was completely replaced and we were on our way by 4:00. Bargain Tire for some adjustments, Auto Zone for some parts, Dollar General for some supplies, then Wal-Mart for groceries, and diesel. I was going to go to Dickey Bub’s for the auto parts I needed, but Joanne reminded me that Dickey’s Bub’s auto parts are very poor quality. Bad Dickey Bub ! Back to Trout Lodge for a late supper. We had to hurry because the dining room stops serving supper at 6:45 during the week when there are a lot less guests than on the weekend. Everybody here was quite excited about the news that the Northern Lights would be visible this far south tonight, a very rare occurrence. I took our RV Park neighbours Jack and Sharon out onto Trout Lodge dock on Sunnen Lake to show them the Aurora Borealis. They didn't know what to look for. It was a pretty weak display, but any display of the Northern Lights this far south is pretty exciting for the locals.

Then I spent way too long trying to download today’s photos from the digital camera to the computer. Since I downloaded the Windows XP “Service Pack 2” upgrade recently, my computer has been behaving oddly. Now it refuses to interface with the digital camera the way it’s supposed to. I finally managed to get the photos from the camera to the computer, but not the quick and easy way that it’s always been.

The news on TV reported about a local pit bull attack incident. As some children got off their school bus a pit bull rushed onto the bus and attacked two children on the bus, biting them quite seriously. As the bus driver was trying to wrestle the pit bull away from the children, and getting attacked and bit in the process, the dog’s owner rushed onto the bus, whipped out his .44 magnum revolver, and blew the dog to kingdom come. Problem solved. God bless America !

DSK