 Floating Conditions, Weather and Forecast for Eminence, Missouri
October 1, 2008
Our rivers are in great shape. We continue to receive sporadic rainfall to feed the Jacks Fork and Current Rivers. It will keep them at optimum flow rates for the remainder of the autumn months.
We are seeing the early stages of fall foliage and colors - some reds, oranges and yellows are starting to show. Peak will be in a few weeks, around mid-October.
The float trip from Alley Spring to Two Rivers is the most popular option on the Jacks Fork River. There remains a couple of challenging chutes to navigate on the Alley Spring to Eminence section of the river. It is now running at slightly above average early autumn flow rates.
Many put-in and take-out spots on the Current River make great float trips. Visit with your favorite canoe outfitter for advice. The Current is wider and slower than the Jacks Fork and is less challenging to float. You'll find many, many scenic and unique offerings along the Current - caves, bluffs, long gravel bars, and wildlife. The Current is running at slightly above average early autumn flow rates.
Our 2003/04 major project list was completed and the repairs and upgrades included - we stripped and sealed all cedar cabin exteriors. Removed all the old porch carpets from every cabin. Painted all interiors - Story's Creek Manor, cabins and motel. Replaced a few indoor carpets in the office, Story's Creek Manor, and in three small cabins. Added windows to four motel rooms and they look great! Now, we have only two interior motel rooms without windows. And, we added two 50 amp RV hook-ups.
In the winter of 2004/2005, we continued our remodel and upgrade of Shady Lane. We replaced all of the older beds on the place and we upgraded to queen size beds, bedspreads, and bedding in the small and large cabins. We put new full-size beds in the motel (not enough room for queen beds). New end tables and headboards in the cabins are rustic, hand-built log furniture. We replaced the swivel rockers with new recliners in the large cabins. We added city water and sewer to our Story's Creek Manor property. For security, we replaced every old entry door lock on the place, we added swivel door guards in the cabins, and we changed our numbering system to the 100 series in the motel to diffentiate between the motel and our cabins. For the first time in it's twelve years of existence, we had a professional cleaning service clean all of our carpets. Also, we hired a professional exterminator to provide monthly insect service.
We replaced all remaining carpeting during the winter of 2005/06, other than three small cabins and Story's Creek Manor which were replaced two years ago. We bought new recliners for the small cabins. We placed fresh gravel on all driveways and parking areas. We improved soundproofing in the motel with solid doors. And, we added deadbolt security locks in the motel.
A severe windstorm damaged every roof on the property in September 2006. We completed two projects in the winter of 2006/07 - We replaced and upgraded roofs with green metal roofing. And, the windstorm destoyed much of the horse pasture fence, so we removed it and are now mowing and manicuring the pasture into a large lawn.
Jeanie built a drive-through coffee house at the end of our drive. Watch for Captain Jack's, Jacks Fork River Coffee Company in the Summer of 2008. She is offering espressos, lattes, cappucinos, fine coffees, lemonade and tea. She has fresh-baked cinnamon rolls and scones in the morning hours. We replaced landscaping and retaining walls between the large cabins in the winter of 2007/08, and we stripped and stained our small cabins. We installed eight new heating and cooling units. Last but not least, we installed WiFi and DSL, and although we are trying to expand the range to all of our cabins, we have sporadic service in them. If you need service, you can depend on our Wi-Fi Zone in our office and lobby.
OUR THREE YEAR REMODEL AND UPGRADE OF SHADY LANE HAS CONCLUDED, but as you can see, we are continuing to improve and upgrade our Shady Lane properties!!
Thanks to the hundreds of folks who took the time to offer suggestions and comments on our survey cards. Positive feedback shows what we're doing right. On the other hand, the constructive criticism on a handful of cards is also much appreciated. We do not take these comments lightly, and even though we provide the nicest and cleanest lodging in the Eminence area (notes from comment cards), there is always room for a few improvements.
We're working hard to earn and keep your business.
A couple of notes from comment cards, and direct comments from our guests, are worth a short discussion - the two most common concerns. A common concern is that we do not have phones in our rooms. None of the large resorts have room phones in Eminence. If you intend to get away from it all - Eminence is the place to be. CenturyTel, our local phone carrier, offered to put phones in our rooms for $20,000 - whether we wanted to hook-up all of our rooms, or just a few of them. We will not consider the addition of phones until CenturyTel rethinks their position on phone line installation costs. And, a number of comment cards suggested that we add microwaves in the small cabins. We couldn't agree more, but our insurance carrier disagrees. Microwaves are the Number One cause of home fires, and they do not want any additional microwaves on our property. Cost is not a factor in our decision and we have thought long and hard on this subject. We do not plan to add microwaves in the small cabins in the near future. We have a microwave in the office and it is for our guests' convenience.
By the way, most of our off-season work is accomplished with deposit monies. Deposits are important to you, and us, in three ways - they allow us to complete major repair, maintenance, and dozens of improvement projects in the wintertime, and they show good faith that you will arrive. Most importantly, your deposit binds us to provide lodging for you upon arrival. If you find that we made an error and we do not have lodging for you upon arrival (only once in the past five years), we will find equal/nicer lodging and we will pay the difference.
For our birdwatching guests, and to provide a natural defense from insects, we now have two complete purple martin gourd poles, six bluebird houses, four wren nest boxes, two barn swallow nesting shelves, one robin nesting shelf, two dove nesting platforms, and we have four bat houses on the shed at our home (one bat eats as many as 600 mosquitoes per night - a great benefit to our guests and others).
We planted some tree saplings, flowering trees and bushes, and ornamentals. The ornamentals and flowering trees will add a little splash of color in the Springtime and Summer in a few years, and some White Pine saplings and a Magnolia tree will remain green in the wintertime which will provide contrast to the brown and gray oaks and hickories on the property.
We want you to enjoy our improvements and upgrades at Shady Lane, and we hope you will stop by and check us out in 2008!!!
|
