Big Spring Recreation Area in Ozark National Riverways
We had a great day. The morning temperature was 66 degrees in Mountain Grove, Missouri. The high was 84 degrees in Van Buren, Missouri.
Larry woke up at 6:15 and did his normal routine. I crawled out of bed at 6:45 because I had to go to the bathroom. I decided to stay up so I got dressed. Then we started to put things away and secured. We had a quick breakfast of a Hostess Cinnamon Crumb Coffee Cake and shared a meal replacement shake. We were on the road by 7:15. Larry wanted to get an early start so we did.
We didn't have too far to go. Our drive was on highway 60 East, a four lane highway for 80 miles to Van Bren, where we got off and onto a National Forest road to Big Spring Recreation Area in Ozark National Riverways, which was about 4 miles.
As we were driving highway 60 we saw people on the side of the highway holding tall crosses. There were a lot of them. It took us a bit to figure out why they were doing this. The reason is because it's Good Friday. The people were in groups of two or more. As you drive by they waved so we waved back. This was the first time we have seen this and it was cool to see.
One of the crosses we saw
Every year volunteers on Good Friday stand along highway 60 in Missouri to participant in the annual "Carry the Cross" event. Hundreds of Christians hold 10-foot tall white crosses every quarter of a mile to create a "live cross" spanning the state. The event runs from 7 to 11 a.m. The participants stand from the Illinois line to Oklahoma and intersection at highway 63 (running north-south from Iowa to Arkansas) to form a giant cross shape across the state. The crosses are constructed from PVC pipes during church "Cross Building Parties", with the goal of making a visible witness to the significance of Jesus Christ's crucifixion.
We arrived at Big Spring Recreation Area about 9:30. We found a site with no problem, there was only two RVs in the loop. We backed into the site, which is #228 and then Larry reserved the site for a couple of nights. If we want to stay longer we can. We have been here before, back in 2024. During our stay we were evacuated because of the river was going to flood the camping area.
The loop is very beautiful. The park has paved roads and the RV pads are paved. In our loop each site has a picnic table, fire ring, a lantern hook and power. There is one water spicket in the middle of the loop and at the dump station. There is one bathroom in the whole loop with running water.
After lunch we went on a motorcycle ride. Larry wanted to explore the park and find where the two trailheads were located. We found them, the Chubb Hollow Trail (four mile loop) and Ozark Trail (five mile loop). We found a place where we can park the motorcycle while we hike. It's where the cabins and CCC buildings are. The CCC built the cabins, dining lodge, pump house, storage shed, garage, ranger station, which is the visitor center, shelter house, footbridge, a museum, restroom and two picnic shelters. We walked around the area and looked at the buildings. There was a nice dock area for you to launch kayaks. We saw the cabins and there were a lot of stone steps getting to your cabin from the parking lot. This area was being rebuilt when we were here in 2024. They did a great job. We walked over to the signs, that explain the history of the park and CCC work. There use to be a lodge right there but it's gone now. It was a nice walk around.
We got back on the motorcycle and drove around looking at the cabins. On the way back we stopped at the day area, where the Big Spring was located. There's a short hiking trail around the Big Spring but we didn't walk it because we didn't have the correct shoes on. Big Spring is gorgeous. After looking at Big Spring we went back to the Minnie.
Big Spring
While relaxing I played my games. I played the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Free Cell Adventure of 20 games. I only solved 19 games. I worked on doing the games for 1 hour, 44 minutes and 15 seconds before giving up. I came in 11th place in my group. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2.
While I played games Larry did some research on where to go after we leave Big Spring. He also started reading a new book.
For dinner Larry barbecued hamburgers. After dinner we walked around the campground. Larry walked with me for 20 minutes and did a mile, which was doing all the loops once. Then he went back to Minnie. I continued the walk around I did the loops another two times and our loop a couple of times. I walked a total of 3.5 miles in 1 hour and 15 minutes. By the end of the day I had done 13,000 steps.
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I would love to hear friendly comments on anything at all. Ruth