The Missing Month
We’re halfway through our Okoboji summer, I can barely believe it! I spent so much time looking forward to this summer, and it’s gone by so fast.
This was supposed to be the dream summer. Jamey got a job driving rental boats for Okoboji Boat Works. We bought a boat of our own. We registered for an organized bike ride. We have friends and family booked for visits in Okoboji.
The weather had other plans, and we basically lost a month of the summer dream.
Please stop raining
It has been a rainy year. SO. MUCH. RAIN. Okoboji has seen quite a lot of rain this summer too, lots of rain at the campground has lead to plenty of standing water and muddy dog prints in the camper.
But there were nice, sunny days too. We managed to get our boat on the lake a few times, and bike the nice trails. Overall, the summer was off to a good start. Rainy, but great.
The day before our friends were coming to spend a week in Okoboji, it poured. And poured. It had already been a very rainy few weeks, and then we got seven inches of rain overnight. We went out for pizza that night, ran to the restaurant in the rain and drove home in a downpour. Then we went to bed and didn’t give it a second thought. The next morning, we were walking the dogs and carrying garbage to the trash can when someone stopped us and said “you aren’t getting that to the trash anytime soon…” The front half of our campground was flooded. Decks washed away. Someone tried driving their ATV through the water the night before, it was quickly submerged, and he had to swim to safety.
We were very fortunate to be in a section that didn’t flood, we barely even had standing water on our road. Others were not so lucky. Two rows behind us remain bogged in mud – the flooding seems to have uncovered an underground spring or something. A month after this flooding and that section still has standing water and you can see water bubbling up from the ground. Those poor camper are literally stuck – the road is way too soft and muddy to drive on, let alone pull a camper out and move to a better site or campground.
The lakes flooded. Docks were destroyed. The shore suffered serious erosion. Houses flooded, some were totally lost. The wastewater treatment facility flooded and released sewage into the lakes.
The people in Spencer, Iowa (only 15 miles south of us) had much worse flooding. People were rescued from the roofs of their homes. Here is KTIV video footage of Spencer flooding.
These photos were taken in the same place. On the left; normal water levels. The boardwalk meets rocks, and then about 4 inches to the sandy beach. On the right; water crashes over the boardwalk.
An emergency no-wake, 5pmh rule was imposed on the lake to prevent further damage to the shore and property, and also to protect boaters – there was a lot of debris floating out there. The beaches were closed because getting a little water in your mouth could make you sick, or in an open wound could lead to infection. Look, but don’t touch!
Finding our fun
We promised our friends a week of boating, taking the dogs for swims in the lake and lots of great walks on the nice trails. Obviously that didn’t happen. But we made the best of things. We still took lots of walks and enjoyed the free music by the lake. We smoked all the meats and we drank too much alcohol.
Back to normal
As of last weekend, July 20, things were almost entirely back to normal. The water had receded. The no wake limit was lifted. The bike trails are no longer under water. Docks are back in the lake. The water is clean again and the beaches are open. Home owners still have much work ahead of them, and some parts of the shoreline have years left to recover. But it was starting to feel a lot more normal.
Jamey’s family is coming to spend the week in Okoboji next week. Hopefully we get sunshine and plenty of days on the lake. I can’t take more time inside a 200 square foot camper!
