Day 3-The Beach...Warsaw Style

Only in quiet waters do things mirror themselves undistorted. Only in a quiet mind is adequate perception of the world.  Hans Margolius


For all the humorous side notes made about the Ozarks, those of us who live here know that the true beauty of our tiny corner of the world lies in the view of the lakes.   At anytime of the year the lake can be seen as one of the true blessings that the Lord has made.  I have driven the Mile Long Bridge thousands of times and each time the view of the cliffs and the shore change.   We have viewed the lake from its many roads as well as from our boat and each and every time we see and experience something different.   Shawnee Bend Beach is another of those awesome places and for our family a special place indeed.  Before we bought our home here in the "region", we spent a windy, blustery day playing on the beach and knowing that this would be only the first of many wonderful days on the shore of the lake.

Today was another of those wonderful days.  The leaves on the shoreline across the lake were bursting with color and their reflection in the water was so pretty.  The sun was out, the sky was awesomely blue and there was a breeze that just added to the crazy beauty of the day. Right off the shoreline, the white pelicans were vast and cluttered as they scooped up fish for their late afternoon snack and above our heads the seagulls were playing in the breeze.  It was a setting that only God could create. 

Earlier in the week, while scoping out sites, we had decided that we would drive in as close as we could get to the beach so that we would not have to lug all of our gear.  This wouldn't have been an issue except that the direct road to the parking lot was closed.  During the summer the road is open but now, late in the Autumn it was gated and locked as if to say no beach goers allowed (this would become an important point later on in the day).   Not to fear though-where there is a will there is a way.  The adjacent road remains open year-round and there is access by foot to the beach.  But, since our plan was not to lug gear, babies, tired kids and the like, we needed to be creative.

Once loaded and ready to roll, we made our way to the beach.  Sam was adamant about the timeline for this shoot (the lighting and such)  and we, being the obedient ones, were on time and ready!  We drove into the adjacent parking lot and lo and behold....tire tracks leading to the beach.  "Do as others before you have done"  became the motto for the moment!  Now mind you, we were not rolling over sacred ground nor were we destroying nests, endangered weeds or artifacts...we were simply following tracks of those that came before us so as to get the beach on time.

Once parked and unloaded Rupert went to work creating his magic through the lens while Tim the "Jolly Green Giant turned Brit by proxy" captured each and every moment in sound. Emily (poor thing) was busily running back and forth from the car for this and that and Sam was, as all good director's do, giving us instruction on what he wanted and didn't want.  There was so much amazing footage shot and we were all having a great time enjoying the day.  That was until the white pick-ups started to show up.

You would have thought it was an invasion of national security right here in Warsaw, Missouri!   Only two of them were brave enough to get out of the official vehicles to confront the evil villains invading the beach but out they did and down the long path they came.  The view was worth capturing.  Tall in stature, brown from top to bottom and ticket book in hand they were ready to defend our shores.

Knowing that our crew was here on work visas and that their accent could do nothing but get them in trouble, I decided to join them.  It was, for those of us old enough to remember, reminiscent of a scene right out of Alice's Restaurant with a few changes.  In that context, imagine Officer Obie...the 27 8x10's and a ticket for trespassing on the beach instead of the dump.

Now mind you, the crew had previously contacted the Park Ranger and the Army Corp of Engineers and had not only permission to film but to be on the shoreline overlooking the dam (which by the way you cannot film...national security and all).  Given the previous chat with the big guy, this should have been easy.  We filled the nice Park Rangers in on why we were there and I shared with them that we were locals.  Emily and Sam went about their polite way explaining that they had permission and Rupert and Bret were busy keeping the rest of the family and crew at bay.

"You are violating section blah blah blah of the national code of something or other and how did you even get here?"   Well let's see....how did we get there?  "We are the evil beach goers from Mars and we came in our green suburban space ship.  These are our comrades from Saturn otherwise known as the UK".  You have got to be kidding me!  Now this is a movie about the power of love people....so I will politely move on. "You need to move the vehicles now or I will fine you $100 for each vehicle."  So much for love.

We asked if we could have a few minutes to finish filming and they lovingly responded that we had 10 minutes to pack and leave.  We went back to finish filming the last few scenes before we lost all semblance of lights and sound and all of this while under the bird's-eye watch of the brown.  We finished, packed up, and proceeded to exit through the now unlocked gate, in our green Suburban space ship, tailed (of course) by the men in brown in their white pick-ups.

As we headed home we could see through the rear-view mirror of the green spaceship that the brown unformed men in the white pick-up we close behind.  Once back on Mars we were not at all surprised to find that they had  followed us all the way home (just like the fifth piggy on my son's foot!).  We felt so lucky to be that important!

All in all though it was a great day of shooting.  The kids had a blast and, quite frankly, so did I.  Tonight...weenie roast!