Travelogue

Blue Springs Campground was the site of my longest campsite selection and check-in process.

Tom photographing Lazy Daze at dusk - AJGWe were hot and tired and just wanted a nice place to park our RV and unwind after 11 hours of driving. As usual, Herb let me out to handle the normally straightforward process of obtaining a site. However, when the nice couple in the booth asked me what type of site I wanted, I couldn’t decide. I have this really hard time making decisions when I’m tired, so I kept waffling back and forth about whether I wanted to spend the extra $3 for water when I knew that all we really needed was electricity to run our air conditioner. Then I made the mistake of asking if the sites were level. The next thing I knew I was being scooted away in a golf cart by the campground host in order to get a first-hand look at the merits of each site. Herb and the boys were quite amused and even took the time to video my adventure.

Unfortunately, the process did not end there. The site that I had selected was reserved by someone that had not shown up the previous day. Apparently this was not a situation that the nice couple that ran the campground office had encountered before. Over the next 10 minutes, I really got to learn more than I needed to know about their feelings towards the mysteries and sometimes vengefulness of computers.

When I finally got back to the RV, Herb asked me whether I had purchased the site or just rented it. I couldn’t think of a witty response, so I didn’t give him the satisfaction of an answer. I just pointed to my new friend in the golf cart who was cheerfully waiting to lead us to our site, which I might add was quite nice.

Before settling down to relax, we thought it would be a good idea to get a run in after the long day of just sitting in the RV. The boys have to run pretty much every day for their summer XC training and Herb and I try to squeeze one in as often as we can. The boys set off ahead of us with the plan of meeting up at Blue Springs Lake for a refreshing dip. The run was extremely hilly and it was very hot out, so I was not having a very good time. My mood worsened significantly when we caught up to the boys who were staring at the lake through a chain-linked fence with a sign indicating that the beach was closed for the evening. That always gets me so angry. Why do all these parks insist on over-regulating and over-protecting people? Our forefathers got to swim without lifeguards, so why can’t we?

Sweaty, unrefreshed, and cranky, we ran back up the rolling hills to our campsite for a refreshing shower and a relaxing evening before the next day’s big push West.

Description

Blue Springs Campground is part of Jackson County's Fleming Park, which has two large lakes for swimming, fishing, and boating. The Blue Springs Campground is just a short distance from both a swimming beach and a boat launch on Blue Springs Lake. There are 61-sites.