Oh… My… Gosh! I wanted to cry when I saw the wrinkled up rubber membrane on the roof that we just spent an extra few weeks in CO to get replaced. Unbelievable! The wrinkles went further back this time and blew out in two different places, ripping apart the new sealant around a vent and our Pepwave antenna. So, the new roof lasted us 4 days — CRAZY! At the last campground, we brushed up against a tree limb that had thorns on it, which put a tiny hole in the edge of the membrane. Since the wrinkles happened while driving here, we’re wondering if that hole caused the issue, even though the adhesive seemed totally stuck down all around it. (We didn’t notice the hole until we saw the wrinkles and looked closer at the roof, or else we would have sealed it up before traveling.) Sooo, we decided to get the roof covered with Flex Armor, which is supposed to eliminate all these rubber membrane issues! We found one in Illinois that can take us on Aug 30th! (most of those shops book a month or two out) So, we will drop it off then drive a couple of hours to St. Charles to stay with Marissa in her new apartment for a few nights while the work gets done. I’m just glad insurance covered the first roof repairs, which also got rid of some soft spots, so we are still better off than we started with the initial bubbling/wrinkles a couple of months ago, expect for just a lot of time and aggravation from dealing with it. Ugh! We just resealed the holes and are going to try to enjoy our time in Lake of the Ozarks and Branson and ignore the roof for a couple of weeks!
After the initial shock of seeing the roof messed up again and spending some time deciding what to do about it, we started enjoying our five nights at Osage Beach RV Park in Lake of the Ozarks. We decided to just hang around the campground on Saturday, since we had heard it’s not very safe on the lake on the weekend, with lots of drunk boat drivers. Plus we were pretty tired from only staying one night at the last few stops, but we were happy to finally be caught up to our original itinerary!
On Sunday, we went to the Haha Tonka State Park to do a couple of short hikes and to check out the Mini Shootout event (remote control speed boats). After stopping at the visitors center to grab a map, we drove to the Castle trailhead and did the short walk to see the ruins of a turn-of-the-century stone castle that burned in a fire. There were several scenic overlooks on the trail where we could see and hear the Mini Shootout going on down below. After the castle, we did the short hike to the natural bridge, then we drove to the Spring Trail, which was also where the Mini Shootout stuff was set up. Luckily, there was still space to park near the trailhead, so we didn’t have to fool with their shuttle bus. It was over 100 degrees, so we were glad there was shade along the trail. There were even a few spots that felt cool near the huge rocks along the trail. We decided to turn around after about a mile, instead of climbing over 300 steps to get to an upper part of the trail.
When we got back to where vendors were setup for the event, we bought a couple of smoothies then found a spot in the grass to watch the boats. They could go over 50 miles/hr, and one even made it up to 70s, but most of them eventually caught a bump in the water, flipped over and were disqualified. Then it would take 5-10 minutes for a motor boat to very slowly, taking care to not cause any wake, go out to retrieve the flipped boat. After finishing our smoothies and watching half a dozen flip over we headed back to the RV. The real Shootout, with the normal speed boats, is evidently a pretty popular annual event at the lake; but unfortunately it is next weekend.
Before going to the campground, we stopped by the almost 100 year old Willmore Lodge, which claimed on their website to be open on Sundays from 9am-3pm. But their signs on property say “Closed on Sundays”. There were several others who stopped while we were there and also said, “but their website said they were open til 3pm!” But they lie! We walked down a short trail behind the lodge to a cute little garden area next to the lake. It would have been more enjoyable if it hadn’t been so hot, though!
That evening, we went on a dinner cruise with Celebration Cruises. They advertised that there would be narration while we cruised, so I thought we’d learn some history of the area while we ate. After it became obvious that they weren’t going to talk at all, I asked about it. The waitress went and got someone to come over to answer any questions we had, so we ended up getting a private “narration”, which was cool. Before they dammed up the river to flood the area and create the lake, they actually moved some buildings to higher ground and tore down other ones, along with cutting down lots of trees so that boats wouldn’t hit them. The cruise was pleasant and the food was good enough, but the boat moved pretty slow, so we didn’t end up seeing much of the area at all. I don’t think I would choose to do it again, but once was good.
Monday, we drove to the Sunrise Beach side of the lake, to spend a few hours at a friend’s airbnb place. Huge thanks to Doug & Kathleen Miller for letting us hang out in their cove and use their kayak. They’ve done an amazing job at renovating the house. I’m bummed that we didn’t take any pictures of it, but Randy did get a couple of us out kayaking.
The next and final day, we rented jet skis for a couple of hours, which was super fun! That was definitely my favorite way of exploring the lake, and we covered way more ground than the cruise or kayaking. Some of the homes along the shore were pretty dang impressive. But evidently it’s risky to live too close to the edge with drunk boat drivers! The lady on the Celebration Cruise told us the story about a house getting hit last month. Crazy!
We heard the view from JB Hooks was amazing, so we stopped for lunch there after jet skiing. The view and the restaurant were both really nice! We went back to the Willmore Lodge after lunch, and spent time in its Bagnell Dam Museum, which was interesting. Then we topped off the day with Randy’s frozen custard at Randy’s Frozen Custard, just cause I wanted to take a pic of him eating it in front of the sign, haha. (I got some too!!)
I’m glad we were finally able to visit Lake of the Ozarks, even if it was super hot while we were there. There is lots to do and see, so we could go back and find completely different things to do next time. Jet Skiing would be the only thing I’d definitely want to do again!
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