Wanda on our first hike in the Missouri Ozarks.

Part 1: Missouri.

I learned two new things about the Ozarks: 1) The Ozarks extend up into southern Missouri. 2) The Ozarks is all about springs springing up from the ground.

We had an ambitious itinerary lined up, so we drove straight to our first campground in southern Missouri. That meant leaving home around 3 am on November 1, 2016. We were so excited that we could have left at 2 am or never gone to bed. We didn't sleep at all that night.

Hauling a car behind an RV is serious business. There are three ways to do it: 1) A towbar. A bar connects the car to the RV leaving all four car tires on the road. It is a lot trickier than it sounds. Not all automatic transmissions are like this. Your car needs to have a bracket installed. The car's brake lights and turn signals have to work, requiring special electric hookups. The steering wheel on the car has to be unlockable. I chose to avoid all that. 2) Drive the car up onto a trailer. This is the easiest but the most expensive. A trailer that can handle a car is costly. 3) A car-dolly is the middle ground. The front wheels drive up and onto the dolly eliminating all the towbar hassles. The dolly is much smaller than a full-fledged trailer, so it is cheaper. 

We went the car-dolly route. We didn't know that the car must be perfectly placed on the dolly, and perfectly placing the car is not easy. Tying the front tires down is also as much an art as a science, requiring stops every 50 miles to check to see if the tie-downs loosened, which they occasionally did. And did we remember to release the hand brake?

Securing the car on the dolly looks so EZ. That is deceiving. Getting everything just right was the most time-consuming part of breaking camp.

Next, we learned that traveling with a cat that doesn't like to travel is also tricky. Our cat, Bandit, had to be drugged to stay quiet and off my legs and head. Wanda found a product that she plugged into the cig lighter. It emanated a vapor that soothed Bandit. You couldn't see or smell it. You had to take it on faith that it was doing anything and that if it was doing anything, it was only doing it to Bandit and not to me, the driver. The proof was Bandit settling down after a few minutes, and I didn't fall asleep. Eventually, he would lie on the wide dash and stare at the yellow centerline.

Once at camp, we had to figure out what to do with Bandit while we drove off all day to explore. We couldn't leave Bandit cooped up in the RV all day, but we were afraid to let him roam free and lose him. Wanda devised an elaborate system that took about 20 minutes to set up and take down. Still, as crazy as it looked, it was ingenious.

I made a kitty door that fits in the sliding passenger window. Wanda erected a cage system that acted as a ladder to the ground. Then a tubular tunnel took Bandit to the screened-in tent, which had to be escape-proofed. This playground served Bandit well. He loved it. Our camping neighbors never said a word about it, but I know our contraption cracked them up.

By the way, that was the last camping trip Bandit ever went on with us. Bandit wouldn't go near the RV ever again. Eventually, we installed an electronic kitty door in our house. Bandit had a chip surgically implanted in his neck so only he could access the door. We had an automatic feeder and water dispenser that took care of his food and water needs. With this setup, Bandit never needed a litter box. He always toileted outside - never once did he accidentally go inside. So, when we took off for months, Bandit stayed home and cared for himself. He much preferred that. Bandit was more of a roommate than a pet.

Very, very, very sadly, Bandit died at age six. When he was a kitten, the vet told us that he had an enlarged heart and would not live long. That knowledge didn't help when he did pass away.

You can see the kitty door I made for the sliding passenger window. Also, Wanda's caged-in ladder down to the ground leads to the screened-in tube.

Bandit, settling in after a long stressful drive.

Our first stop was at Big Springs Campground. This beautiful campground is part of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways. There are two Scenic Riverways in the Ozarks: 1) The Current River in southern Missouri; 2) The better-known Buffalo River in Arkansas. Both rivers are wild-running, undeveloped spring-fed rivers of crystal-clear fast waters.

Big Springs is on the Current River. As one would suspect, Big Springs Campground is home to Big Springs, a gusher of a spring that flows out of a cave. The campground is in a hollow right on the Current River near Van Buren, Missouri. There are several hiking trails nearby, many more springs, and a huge section of the Mark Twain National Forest. 

Here, we encountered our first and only crisis of the trip. When we got into the campground hollow, I noticed smoke coming from the rear wheels on the passenger side. First, a little history. When we purchased our new tires, I had the shop check out the RV. They looked at the transmission fluid, changed the oil, and while the tires were off, they inspected the brakes. All looked tip-top. However, a week or two later, the rear brakes started smoking after a short run.

I limped the RV back to the shop. They guessed that the brake calipers got hung up. Usually, this causes severe damage to the rotors, but no damage occurred this time. They re-adjusted everything and called it a day.

So, when I noticed the brakes smoking at Big Springs, I knew what the issue was, but I felt isolated way out in the middle of the Ozarks. Now what? Fortunately, we had the little Chevy Sonic. After setting up camp, we drove into tiny, rural Van Buren. The first repair shop laughed us off. They weren't interested in our plight or our business. 

Our next stop was bizarre. We drove down a twisting, hilly dirt road to a junkyard. A decrepit sign announced that it was an equipment rental shop. There was a beat-up old repair garage with a bunch of trucks strewn about that looked like maybe there was a mechanic that knew a thing or two about trucks hanging around.

We stopped and talked to a guy that told us that his boss, the owner of the property, was the town mayor. He would let the mayor know of our predicament, and he suspected the mayor would come out to the campground, assess the problem, and hopefully come up with a solution. OK, we returned to camp and waited for the mayor. 

A couple of hours later, a guy drove up on a Harley with a little girl on the back. Here was the mayor and his little daughter. He looked at the RV and told us to drive it to the shop in the morning. His shop was about 8 miles up and down many steep hills. When I expressed some reservations about driving in these mountains with bad breaks, he laughed and replied, "just take it very slowly, and you will probably be OK."

I did not sleep well that night. That impending 8-mile drive scared the heck out of me. Fortunately, the drive went without a hitch. The mechanic replaced the brakes for $250 - a steal, I thought. Although I was leery of the brakes for the rest of the trip, we did not have any more brake problems. (Well, that's not entirely true - I will explain later. Oooh, I bet the suspense is unpalatable!)

Tiny Van Buren had a wonderful Mom 'N' Pop Mexican Restaurant with great WiFi, genuine Mexican cuisine, and potent giant margaritas, Las Margaritas. We took full advantage of everything the restaurant offered.

We base camped at Big Springs Campground for three days. We kayaked the Current River, hiked some trails, drove miles of mountainous roads, and inspected springs galore. We often returned to Las Margaritas and those fine margaritas.

We were developing our "hub-and-spoke" method of camping. With this technique, we find a campground in the middle of an exciting area to set up a base camp for a few days. Each day we drive out in a different direction to explore whatever attraction is nearby. Sometimes we ended up driving up to 80 miles in any one direction.  

Big Springs boiling up in front of this cave opening. This huge spring, the largest in America at 200 million gallons a day, feeds into the Current River just a couple hundred feet from the cave.

You can just feel that 200 million gallons of water exploding up from the aptly named Big Springs.

(Above) The Current River is on the right. The left channel is fed by Big Springs. The Current River along this stretch is a National Scenic Riverway. (Below) We kayaked this stretch of the Current River. Here we are getting ready to run the Current River. Our shuttle is simple. We drop off the kayaks at the put-in spot. We drive the car to the take-out spot. We ride our ebikes back to the Kayaks, fold them up, and put them on the back of the kayaks. Finally, we paddle down to the car at the take-out spot. Notice that bicycle-like pedals propel the kayaks. I have since replaced the peddles with electric motors.

(Above and Below) Typical backroads that we explored in southern Missouri.

Our next campground was Alley Springs National Campground near Eminence, Missouri. Here is where I took my best photo of the year, a picture of a red mill on a beautiful blue spring-fed river. Here is also where we perfected our hub-and-spoke camping method. c was in the middle of several springs and hiking trails. 

We were a bit apprehensive on our drive to Alley Springs from Big Springs. Although it was a short jaunt, about 80 miles, it was our first test with the new brakes. We didn't even bother putting the car on the dolly. Wanda drove it behind me as I drove the RV. She kept an eye on the wheels, looking for smoke. 

We met our first full-timer at Alley Springs - a single lady in her 40s. She sold everything she owned to buy an RV. Her goal was to visit every National Park, National Campground, National Forest, National anything. She was about halfway through her vision-quest. I noticed that she carried a nice-looking motorcycle on a rack on the back of her RV. I wondered what she would do once her goal was met. Visit State Parks, I guessed.

(Above) One of my all-time favorite photos was taken at Alley Springs National Campground near Eminence, Missouri. This 1894 mill and one-room schoolhouse combo, now a museum, was powered by Alley Springs bubbling up in a pool just behind the mill. Alley Springs pours 80 million gallons a day into the Jack's River. (Below) The crystal clear river formed by Alley Springs. We camped here for several days.

A small cave at Alley Springs National Campground.

A typical hiking trail that we found on our drives around the Alley Springs area.

(Above) Blue Springs is one of the deepest spring pools that we saw. Just look at that blue color. (Below) The river that Blue Springs fed

Hiking trail to the Blue Springs.

A small creek flows out of Round Spring Cave, a tiny spring that trickles up from a little cave. It is the hiking trail to the spring that is the attraction. The trail is heavily wooded and beautiful.

(Above and Below) Round Spring.

Crossing the Current River at Akers, Missouri. This is a family-run, privately-owned ferry. It costs $4 per car to cross. Of course, we drove our little Chevy Sonic on it. Would they have allowed us to take the RV with the Sonic towed behind it? I don't think all that would fit on the ferry.

Dave and Wanda

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