Missouri: Day One

The first day started out like any other day...the family was at the graduation ceremony at a small liberal arts college in Nevada, Missouri called Cottey College. The day started out with a coat and tie affair with plans to drop the semi-formal look as soon after the ceremonies as possible, get into some comfortable clothes and hit the road...we had fish waiting...places to go.

Soon after the goodbyes were said we headed back to the Inn and lunch. We then gathered up the stuff for the airport run. Mom/wife, Brenda, and Sister/daughter, Sarah, were not coming with Katy and me but had to hop the plane back to the San Francisco Bay Area where we live. I'm sure that the two of them were glad to get out of the truck and haul their luggage into the airport. It seems that the styrofoam boxes that I had sent ahead of time were not planned for in the space allotments. On the way to the airport, all three of the passengers had to hold a styrobox on their lap. Luckily for me the boxes were empty and therefore light. There were no complaints, just a not so gentle hint that we had better be using those boxes during the trip and for shipping at the end.

Katy and I dropped the two passengers off at Kansas City International and then head East on Highway 70 to Columbia before heading South, crossing the Missouri River and into Jefferson City where we would spend the night.

We hadn't made an hotel arrangements prior to the trip. Because our trip was during the middle of the week we didn't think we needed to make prior arrangements and we were correct. As I drove down the freeway, Katy called the hotel of choice on the Cell phone and booked the room. Such a deal.

The part of Missouri that we were entering is dominated by limestone geography. The rivers cut through the limestone and leave behind some pretty dramatic cliff structures. The wide flood plain of the Missouri River left little doubt as to the power of the water rushing down the plain during former years.

We wanted to drop a minnow trap into some water in the evening so that we might be able to capture some noctural fish. We drove west on Hwy. 50 and found that the highway crosses the Maries River just a few miles West of Jefferson City. We stopped next to the bridge and baited the trap with a can of cat food. We threw the trap into the river and headed back to the motel.

Although it was early in the evening, it had been a long day and tomorrow was going to be an exciting one...collecting Darters and Shiners. We hit the pillows and were lulled to sleep by the sound of semi-trucks bellowing down the freeway next to the motel...oK, so no one said everything was perfect on the trip.

Day Two: The Maries River System...looking for Darters and Shiner