Missouri Float Trip

Canoes on the Current River in Shannon County, Missouri.

The Passengers went to Missouri in July because J's brother got married in Columbia. After the celebrations we headed south into the Ozarks for some outdoor recreation. Southern Missouri is a beautiful karst landscape dominated by forested bluffs, riddled with caves, and laced with spring-fed streams. It's a great place for gentle canoe trips, and there are few better streams than the Current River, part of the protected Ozark National Scenic Riverways.

The Current River in the morning.

For weeks temperatures have been unbearable in the Midwest with routine highs around 104 F/40 C during our visit. Fortunately, our river was fed by springs with water temperatures below 70 F. A quick dip in the water always kept us cool during a ten-mile float downstream. There are more details and pictures after the jump.

Further Troublesome English

I recently laughed at the words chosen in translating from Japanese into English an online booking form for a Tokyo ryokan.  This is rather unfair because the person who undertook the translation did his task fairly successfully, and native English speakers are not much better themselves.  Here is the letter of instruction I received with my absentee ballot for the Missouri 2010 primaries.

Please read your ballot instructions carefull.

The computer's spell-check function could have presented this mistake.