Spring 2011 Property Outing Review

The Spring 2011 Eckert Property Outing was ... well ... interesting. It was in many ways our least enjoyable ever, due to conditions and a significant injury. The property area experienced very heavy rain on Friday, May 13. Several inches of rain fell in a two-hour period, followed by additional rain. See this video to experience the roaring creek, which was much more like a river after the rain.

There was a strong turn out for the outing, despite the forecast and rainy conditions. 25 people in all attended. Several showed up later on Friday evening, which is where the trouble began. Leo Eckert was heading down the hill from the cabin to the tent area to help out when he began to slide and fall in the muddy conditions. He fell (around 11 pm) and broke his ankle. We would later learn that it was a very significant break requiring surgery to insert a plate to help the leg heal. Cari Eckert and Tom Burns took Leo to the hospital in St. Louis and spent the night there.

Many of the attendees left on Saturday morning/afternoon due to the continued rainy and muddy conditions. Everyone did a great job of pitching in and helping to clean and pack up (especially all of Leo's items which were left behind).

The weekend did mark the outing "debut" of Julie Wolfe and her son, Alex, who attended for the first time as guests of Johnny Eckert.