The Springs

When I was growing up my parents were doing their best to live the 'typical' American life. That meant lots of road trips. We're talking about the days before the Interstate highway system - there were still interesting roadside attractions everywhere. Some of the major U.S. highways were 3 lanes where the center lane was a shared passing lane (either direction can pass anywhere) - you don't see those much anymore (for obvious reasons)... But one trip I remember in particular was our "Ozark springs tour".

There's a large aquifer system under the Ozarks in Southern Missouri that feeds some amazing freshwater springs, and in the summer of 1960 my dad did got out the map and planned a 2 day trip that included visiting 7 of the springs - I don't remember all of them but I think it included the Big, Round, Blue and (maybe) Meramec springs.

Now I have to admit that I inherited most of my road trip mannerisms from my father. I plan everything in advance and I don't like to deviate. I'm focused on 'getting there' and don't like to stop any more than necessary - and I sometimes try and get in a 'few extra miles' before stopping for the night. (Stopping to smell the roses is never on the itinerary.) But unlike my father, if I happen to miss a turn I don't yell at everyone else in the car (for a half hour) for distracting me :-)
My dad could be such an ass on those trips - mom would come up with games to keep us occupied and he'd yell at us to knock it off because it annoyed him. Sometimes I would stare at the back of his head thinking about how angry I was at him.
Recently I got to wondering if my kids had done the same thing on our trips, but apparently they only stared at the back of my head thinking about how irritated they were with me, so I guess I didn't evoke the same level of emotional response as my father did.
BTW - My wife and kids usually go on vacations without me. They have a lot more fun that way... But I digress :-)

The trip through the Ozarks was a lot different than our usual trips. On most trips we stayed on the highways and stopped only at 'nice' motels. But there were no highways or nice motels in the Ozarks. And some of the springs were so remote that we went for long periods of time without seeing another vehicle. It was all incredibly beautiful but also primitive and isolated.
I only have one memory of the place we spent the night: I woke up at about 6AM and went to the bathroom. I was greeted by a curious cow who had stuck her head through the open window to see what was going on... I'd never had a cow watch me go to the bathroom before (from 3 feet away) - I really wasn't sure what the proper etiquette was :-)

Getting to one of the springs (I don't remember which one) required driving down a one lane dirt road with potholes so deep the car was bottoming out. And the road was so choked with weeds that the car was overheating - my dad had to stop and clear all the plant matter from the radiator. Mom was begging him to turn around and go back (breaking down in the middle of nowhere was not her idea of a good time). My dad (of course) refused - you have to stick to the itinerary :-)
At the end of the road was an abandoned motel inhabited only by rattlesnakes (lots of them) and it was a short hike to the actual spring. I remember that the spring was quite beautiful. Mom stayed behind in the car - she was not OK with the snakes. (I can't believe she actually let my sister and I get out of the car.) But we made it back to the 'main' road with no major incidents...

Another one of the springs I remember in particular is Round Spring. The color is simply indescribable. Here's a picture from the net - it doesn't convey the impact of actually seeing it:


The other spring I have vivid memories of is 'Big Spring'. It flows over 3000 gallons per second. That's the capacity of one of those tanker trucks you see on the freeway - every second. When you're six years old it's a pretty mind boggling sight.

We went on a number of other trips (of course). But they didn't really make that big of an impression on me. I'm not even going to post clips from our home movies :-)

So I think I'll probably do one more 'odds and ends' post about St. Louis and then talk about the move to Philadelphia...