I did something outrageous and surprised my friend Matt (not Mark) for his 54th birthday in Columbia Missouri!
April Float trip!!
We got to do a long-time bucketlist item of mine, floating Cedar Creek which serves as the border between Boone and Callaway counties. I grew up caving and fishing Cedar, so it was a long long time coming!
Our put in at Rutherford Bridge, which has been decommissioned my entire life Local wildlife Approaching Rutherford Bridge (Ralphord’s) cave, the first cave I went in at less than 10 years old!Tons of karst on Cedar CreekMatt lives right up the road and was the first friend I made when I started 10th grade; we later lived together for over 6 years during our mid 20s Kickin it root down I found three “arrowheads”! Matt isn’t so sure, lol Shenanigans began…April in ‘ole MO means tarps off, boys!!Just an average rock in BoCoMo; look at those crinoids!!!Flexing those mussels Shenanigans continue, Stu (not Steve) told some kids to “get off our lawn” lol Dreaming deep (or long anyway), caves that is If this doesn’t feel like home, I don’t know what does. I fucking miss this place and can’t believe I’ve let half my life go by barely visiting… there’s CAVES in them thar hills We probably portaged 1/2 mile of the 2.5 mile float. Small price to pay for this quiet karst paradise; we were the only ones on the creek!!Too shallow for two as we approached our pull-out at yet another old steel bridge at the bottom of Devil’s backbone Blast from the past These boys don’t risk fucking up their vehicles so we portaged the boats to the top of the Backbone. I didn’t have the heart to tell them I’ve taken my Subaru down worse roads, lol. Adulting, I suppose and discretion IS the better part of valor!Another fantastic specimen!
While catching up to the boys, I slipped and gashed my leg open in this ag-run-off (think cow shit and fertilizer) creek. By time I got back to Seattle I needed two days of IV antibiotics, but hey, adventures don’t happen when everything goes right, right?!?
SO happy to spend this time with Matt (not Mark) and Stu (not Steve)!!
An evening on the Devil’s Backbone, so called because it’s a narrow ridge where Cedar Creek flows on both sides in a massive U-turn Two old friends hanging out for sunset
Farm life
Matt has quite the collection of animals on his modest 14 acres
I’m not sure there’s a cuter goat! Daaaaaaaaaaaaam cute Cock pic! Just a random box turtle crusing through Matt’s driveway. This might be the first one I’ve seen in decades!! Pet boyed Pele is an absolute lover girl!And deserving of glamour shots!!Pele knows there’s a mouse in this hole And yes, she’s a bona fide mouser and totally unalived it. (She’s a suitor! That’s a Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? reference lol) Dio is a killer and absofuckinglutely ridiculous (there’s a armadillo carcass above him in this photo, part of his personal boneyard)Why yes, we do take the goats for a walk!Pele and Dio know damn good and well there’s a mouse hiding in Matts lawn tractor Yes they flushed it out and yes Pele unalived it forth with End of the goat walk, they willingly go back to their pen (stable?)
Flora
Spring Blue-eyed MaryBlue Phlox One of a dozen or so morels Matt found this year on his property – how does one increase production??This photo does the property zero justice; 14 acres of hardwoods adjacent to Mark Twain National Forest, a dream property!
Devil’s Icebox
This is the longest cave in Boone County, in Rick Bridge State Park. In the 90s I was the first person to push past the “terminal siphon,” where we found an additional ~500 feet of passage and the only gypsum in the cave! I took a short, sweaty stroll there…
The namesake rock bridge180-degree of the stream that leaves the Icebox (right) and flows under the rock bridge (left). Missouri is the epitome of karst topography!! Looking down into one of the karst windows that serves as the entrance to Devil’s Ivebox Looking into the Icebox, which requires canoes to enter!Karst window to left, main entrance on the right Dreamscape
CoMo
I spent my formative years in Columbia, Missouri in the 1990s and moved out west in January 2000
I used to live on High Street. To this day they have to put the sign waaaaaay up or folks steal itThe duplex we lived in has been gentrified Rumor has it MU erects a new column everytime a virgin graduates 🤔University of Missouri Health Sciences Center, the hospital where I learned echocardiography in the late 1990s and worked 4/1993-12/1999!The department I spent my formative years. I could write a book on what went on behind this door!The house on Church Street in Ashland, MO where my earliest memories are from. When mom and dad brought home Mike from the hospital, it was here I stuffed him in a suitcase and said “take him back!” 105 West Johnson, Ashland MO. This is where I lived from K-4th grade and it hasn’t changed much since! I think overcooking eggs must be a Midwest thing- everytime I had them, they were browned… the key to cooking eggs is to take them off the heat before they are done! Farewell to Matt from his front yard. Until next time, buddy!! ❤️🤘😎🤘❤️
