Adventurous Leila

We made it to our next spot in Missouri, Rippee Conservation area where we stayed 12 days. The conservation area has a good amount of boondocking spots. Each of them have fire rings, picnic tables and there was a pit toilet. Just below the camp spots was a beautiful river. However, to get to the camping area you did have to cross over a one way sketchy bridge.

We spent the first few days enjoying the refreshing river, I helped Landon catch a bunch of frogs for his little frog sanctuary he built. We went on many river walks and played in the water. There was a small beach area so of course Landon needed to pull out his sand toys and make castles. My dad did a bunch of fishing but I don’t think much catching, lol.

My mom reached out to a local farm called Air2Ground Farm to see if they sell raw milk and to ask if they happen to offer tours. To our surprise they said yes to both. When we arrived, we got to hold these adorable baby sheep while they explained the farm history and how her husband was in the air force and retired to start the farm. She took us on the side by side and drove us around to see all the animals. They had ducks, chickens, cows both dairy and angus, tons of sheep and pigs. When we stopped by the sheep they all ran over to the fence and baaaaah at you. The little babies ran in circles chasing each other, it was so cute! After we completed the tour she brought us up to their supply area where we bought some sausages, raw milk and lamb chops. We definitely enjoyed our time there and encourage you to support local farmers as well.

Since we were in tornado zone we had some pretty bad weather and ended up right on the outskirts of a flash flood. We were truly blessed that we were safe, because when we woke up in the morning our shoes had all been taken away in the river and we could tell the water had rose all the way up passed the RV. After some exploring we realized how bad it actually was, and that we were stranded as the water level had rose over 12 feet and the sketchy bridge in and out was now covered in hundreds of downed trees. The first few days of being stranded was fine because we had plenty of food and water plus the weather was good. However, after a few days the forecast showed another severe storm with potential for more flash floods. With the ground already absorbing so much water and the levels being so high my mom was starting to worry for our safety.

While we were stranded we spoke with the one other camper who was also stuck there. He had family in town that offered to bring us supplies if need be. To pass the time he offered to take us on a short hike to see an eagle’s nest. Of course we took him up on the offer and went on an adventure. While we were hiking through the tall grass he informed us he had seen a Ranger by the bridge that morning, they were planning to come clear the bridge the following Monday (after the next storms). After a short hike we made it to the look out to see the nest. We weren’t able to see any babies, however we were able to see the parents. One of them even flew out of the nest right above us to keep an eye and make sure we weren’t a threat. I took a few photos and we decided to go back home to get a game plan to prepare for the next storm coming and if we could move to higher ground.

Since this was day 3 of being stranded on basically an island, we were starting to run low on water, so my dad pulled out our life straw to go filter some river water. While down there, another ranger came by and yelled across to him to let us know they didn’t realize anyone was stuck back here and they bumped up the bridge clearing to the following morning. A few hours went by and my dad was still trying to collect water(apparently filtering through the life straw can take a long time) when a city worker pulled up towing an excavator. I think when the ranger realized it was a family and seen Landon they decided to get the rescuers out right away. We were so impressed that they had the bridge cleared within a few hours. Once the bridge was clear we wasted no time, got all drive ready and found an RV park to head to first thing in the morning to ride out the storms with shelter.