Ozark BBQ

One of the oldest BBQ places on the lake is Ozark BBQ. I was told they were celebrating their 55^th year this year!  Located off TT on the west side of the lake, but easily accessible over the toll bridge and down MM.  Actually the easiest way to get to it is by boat, but since I don’t tend to be in a boat, I go down TT.  It is open Thursday through Sunday, which has caught me more times than I can remember.  Many times making the attempt to go only to find it is closed.  Today when I went it looked closed, but was actually open.  I was the only car in the parking lot, but there were several customers that had come by boat.  

Actually over the years the BBQ has varied somewhat.  Sometimes I have been quite pleased, like today, other times it has been passable.  Today I had the brisket sandwich, waffle fries and coleslaw.  The fries and coleslaw were good, but not great.  The Brisket was excellent.  It is the standard by which I could compare all brisket.  Sliced just right, not to thick or to thin.  Great flavor and just the right amount on the bun.  

They had a very friendly staff, that took pain to make sure that everything was good, and even took the time to have a conversation, no doubt because they were not overly busy.  I am sure that evenings and weekends are a different story.  I must say it is not often that you hear of a good BBQ restaurant located with a Boutique.....

I first came to Ozark BBQ with my parents 35 years ago.  They had an RV parked close by.  They loaded the my family up in the boat and took us around the bend of the lake to the restaurant.  Something only a fool would do today given how small the boat was, and how big and fast the boats are now.  I had not experience much BBQ at that time, and do not even remember what I ordered or how much I liked it, but it must have set off some good vibes, because it certainly was a start of my many BBQ visits since.

Wobbly Boots Road House

For many years there were a limited number of BBQ places at the lake, one of which was JJ’s BBQ.  Located just over the Grand Glaize Bridge close to the old Kalfran Lodge resort.  It was a wonderful BBQ. They had a fairly limited menu, focusing on brisket or pork sandwiches. Both the brisket and the pork was essentially “pulled” heavily sauced and came stacked on a bun so deep that you had to eat some of it off before you tried to lift the sandwich, and so greasy that if you did not get to it quick the bread fell apart and you could not lift the sandwich.  They had a potato peeler that cut the potatoes in long curves, and they came with the grease pooling under the fries and heavy with salt.  There were times you could get most of a potato in one continuous piece!  This was the BBQ that gave physicians vicarious heart attacks.   It was absolutely wonderful BBQ, with awards to prove it.

The couple that owned JJ's eventually sold, and Wobbly Boots opened in the same location.  I don't know if they came from some place else, or whether they started there.  They kept the fries but changed the BBQ.  It was a nice place.  After a couple of years Wobble Boots moved north back across the Grand Glaize Bridge to a location across from the Golden Door Motel.  It is located at 4705 Hwy 54 Osage Beach. It is a very nice BBQ.  It has a nice atmosphere and great BBQ.  It has a nice band stand, and I bet it really gets the road house feel on a weekend night.  I go for lunch, so it is a quieter place.  It has a full BBQ menu.  Their proportions are huge.  The meat is very flavorful, thinly sliced and came with a BBQ sauce on it, that I wish they had put on the side, though it reminds me of the original JJ's sauce.

There are many BBQ options at the lake now, but I would put Wobbly Boots Road House as one of the better places.  

Biking Around the Lake

If you live in Missouri there is only one “lake” the Lake of the Ozarks.  I use to have as many as four meetings a year at the lake.  The meetings were always useful, and I got important information that I could not easily get any place else.  Still there was plenty of time when I was not in meetings that were good times to ride.  Unfortunately there were not a lot of good places to ride, especially riding where there are lake views.   That was not so true thirty years ago,  there were numerous roads that were decent places to ride.  Now the traffic has increased.  The many curving and rollings roads with little or no shoulder are not nice places to ride when there are lots of traffic, especially when many are pulling trailers.

 Hard to believe that guy has not hurt someone.

One place that I enjoyed riding was around the residences at Porto Cima.  This is the upscale community across the toll bridge from the main Lake Ozark business area.  There are actually several communities on the tip of the old MM peninsula.  Riding around them is pleasant, with nice lake views and minimal traffic.  I have ridden around this area for more than 12 years, virtually every time I come to the lake.  I have enjoy seeing what has been built since the last time was there.  I usually make a loop, and ride the loop 3 times totaling 20+ miles.

Unfortunately it takes preparation to go to Porto Cima.  Need to get into riding clothes, then go across the  toll bridge, find a safe, but unobstruciting place to park a car, then get out the bike and ride.  It would be easier if I could just ride from whatever old resort I am staying at.

That’s right “old resort”  I like the old resorts that are around the lake.  Many built in the 40’s.  They don’t have much in the way of luxury, but they usually have decent views of the water because they are usually built within feet of the water.  They have become more and more difficult to find.  The good ones are also good locations for condo’s and are worth much more as condo’s than as weekend and summer rentals.

There are still several of these old resorts down HH which runs by the Lodge of Four Seasons.  The old resorts that have become the location for new condo’s and have brought a larger number of near permanent residents.  Many of these want safe places to walk, run or ride.  Consequently they have built a paved sidewalk alongside the road, but up above the curb.  This puts me away from the traffic.  From Susan Road and Point Randall to Mallard Point is 7 ½ miles, doubling that when you ride back with some decent hills and nice rolling ride.  The intersections are handicapped accessible, and you need to keep an eye out for turning traffic.  It is a pleasant ride.

It is hard to get a picture of the hills, but when you ride off of HH and ride up and down the sides of the hills you get a good workout.  Like at Porta Cima you can ride the ridge, ride down off the ridge to ride by the water, but then you have to ride back up to the ridge.  These are short steep sections that put you into oxygen depletion, and build the lung capacity.

I did find some interesting signs along the route.....

I wonder what they thought the definition of "vehicle" was....I certainly felt that a bike was a vehicle.  I even looked up the definition of a vehicle...."any means in or by which someone travels or something is carried or conveyed; a means of conveyance or transport: a motor vehicle; space vehicles.....a conveyance moving on wheels, runners, tracks, or the like, as a cart, sled, automobile, or tractor" (thank you Dictionary.com) If they did not call it a "hiking and biking trail" I would think I was not allowed.  If bikes are allowed, what "self-propelled" vehicle are they worried about?

I also missed a good picture of some road kill…an armadillo.  I was on a steep downhill stretch with traffic behind me and vultures enjoying the road kill.  I wish I had stopped!

Strike one for Continental Gatorskin bike tires

I had a flat.  The first one I have had on the road/trail in many years. I do not even remember the last time I had a flat on a ride.  I wrote recently about breaking a spoke, and replacing it.  At the time of the repair, while I had the wheel off the bike I went on and replaced the tires.  I had been riding Continental 4000 Grand Prix with the Vectram Breaker for several years.  The tires still looked reasonable, but I had noticed some small pits in the tire surface.  They did not go to the cord of the tire, but tires are so thin any loss of rubber is a potential concern on the roads I ride on.  Still the tires had a lot of miles on them, so it was time to replace them.  I purchased a pair of Continental Gatorskin with the Poly Breaker.  I purchased them because I had good luck with the Continental 4000, and the Gatorskin had reasonable reviews.   I tried to find the Continental 4000, but I guess they have been replaced.

I was riding from my daughter’s house.  This was my second longer ride on the new tires.  I had made my way through town, and was just about to hit country.  I ran into some glass on the road.  I did not even see it, but I heard it.  I stopped immediately and wiped down the tires, and did not see any glass in the tread.  The tire seemed ok, so I got back on the bike, and within a short distance the tire was completely flat.  Luckily I was near a trail head for the Bear Creek Trail which provided me with a good place to get off the road.  

I was able to pull off the tire and inspect the tube, a small hole from the tread side, not the rim side.  I replaced with a spare tube, and inflated the tire.  I could have patched the tube, but decided to wait until I got home to insure that I had a good adhesion of the patch.

Never-the-less a flat this early in the life of the Continental Gatorskin really raises my concern level.  The newer tires should be able to take broken glass, especially since I wiped them down immediately.  I will not take them off immediately, but it is certainly strike one.  Another flat, certainly two more flats in the relatively near term will cause me to change tires. 

I will give thumbs up to the Portable Mini Multi Repair Tool Kit that I purchase from cyclingdealusa.  After finding myself without a tool kit when I broke the spoke, I decided it was time to outfit all of my bikes with some basic tools.  I went on e-bay and found an interesting multi tool, with a variety of bike tools all attached together.  It has two tire tools, and they worked quite well getting the tire off the rim.  The Gatorskin tires are very tight to the rim, and tire tools are needed to remove them.  I did get them on using only by fingers, but it was more work than I was use to with the 4000.

Despite the flat it was a nice ride.  Upper 70’s and light wind, plenty of sun.  I was riding the back roads with some significant hills, short but steep.  The traffic was light. 

My daughter did point me to a new trail near her house.  It is not very long, but all concrete surface and allows me to miss some roads with rather significant traffic.  I am sure that it is a product of the Pednet  grant that Columbia has had, along with the focus of the former mayor who did a lot for bike paths and bike lanes.  It is nice to see so much support for bikes.