4-19-24 Lake of the Ozark State Park

 

Lake of the Ozark

We woke up to the temperatures in the 40's and a little breeze. This is perfect weather for sleeping. I crawled out of bed at 7:10 and made cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Larry had already been awake since 6:00.

After breakfast we started to get ready to leave. We put everything down and secure. We were on the road by 8:00. Our next destination was Lake of the Ozark State Park, 60 miles away. The drive was two lane highways.

On the way to the state park we stopped at Walmart. When we go to take a shower we like to wear a shorts because their easier to get in and out of. When you wear long pants they may get wet. It seems I always forget to bring a pair of shorts when we go on our trips. So while we were in Walmart I bought a pair to keep it in the Minnie. Of course I have had shorts to keep in the Minnie before but I always seem to forget to put them back after washing them at home. After shopping and putting the groceries away we were back on the road. Needed to go another 20 miles.

The park is very big and the road you take to get to the campground is 6 miles long. Lake of the Ozark State Park is very nice with a lot of trees. It is largest state park in Missouri. The park has 85 miles of shoreline on the lake. The lake is known for the Party Cove, where people gather and be rowdy. It has been featured on the Playboy Channel. It has two swimming beaches with imported sand, 12 trails, the Ozark Caverns (opened only during the summer), a boat launch with a little marina and the Lee C. Fine Memorial Airport. There are four camping loops with basic sites, electric sites and family sites. There's a small marina, where you can get gas and rent a slip.

We arrived at the park at 11:00 and checked in at the gate. Someone was there. In today's times the gate are seldom managed. She was very friendly and because it was our first time in the park she explained the park. We found our site but it wasn't level. Larry used every leveling block we had and even brought the Minnie in backwards and we still were not able to get close to level. Larry got on the website and found out what sites were still available. Then we walked around and found one that was better. There are very few sites here that are close to level. We went to the lady who checked us in and she said there was no problem moving. She didn't even give us a chance to explain why, she simply stated we couldn't get level. I guess this is a common problem here. On this site we still had to come in backwards but we had enough blocks to get level. Coming in backwards did require us to feed the power cord under the Minnie so we could plug in. We are very happy with our new site.

Then we relaxed. Larry read and I played games. I did the Daily Solitaire Challenge and the Event, which was Free Cell Adventure of 20 games. It took me 2 hours, 27 minutes and 26 seconds, which put me in 17th place in my group.

About 3:00 more people started to show up. It was very steady for a couple of hours.

For dinner we had bacon on dinner rolls and tater tots. After dinner I walked around the campground for an hour. While walking I saw a few deer in the trees and a lot of campers and the lake. It seemed like the lake was low because I saw a lot of land and the boat ramp was out of the water.  I had a great walk. When I got back I rested and watched our neighbors setup camp. It was a father and son. They were camping in a tent and they worked together to get everything setup. It was great to see. The son seemed liked he was enjoying helping dad out. I ended up doing 16,500 steps, which kept me in 1st place in my group.

 

The marina's store

 

The dock and boat ramp

Another view of the lake

We had a super day.