Take On The Lake

This interview is a rare opportunity. And I'm excited for you to hear it.

Fred Ross is the extremely successful entrepreneur behind Oasis at Lake of the Ozarks, the half-a-billion-dollar development set to open in 2027 and 2028. And he doesn't sit down for many interviews.

I got Fred and his development partner Todd Schneider — the amusement rides specialist who calls himself a "modern day carnie" — to break down some huge details about the development.

We talk about the amusement park opening in 2027, the 401-room Marriott resort, indoor water park, restaurants, convention space, boat slips and a lineup of major rides, including two roller coasters and the giant observation wheel that's already changing the Lake skyline.

We also get into something I think a lot of people still don't understand about Oasis: there's no admission fee just to get in. Parking is free. Boat slips are free. You can show up, walk around, meet somebody for a drink or dinner, and only pay for the attractions you actually use.

Fred talks about his lifelong history at Lake of the Ozarks and why he's putting so much into this project. Todd tells the wild story of going from developing Walmarts to building giant Ferris wheels, including the project that brought together a massive wheel, Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville and the very first LandShark Bar & Grill.

We also talk about their bigger bet: that Oasis can help push Lake of the Ozarks toward becoming a true year-round destination.

And yes, we finally get the timeline:

Amusement park: April 2027.
Indoor water park: October 2027.
Marriott resort: April 2028.

There's a LOT happening across from the Grand Glaize Bridge.

Here's what's coming.

Jennie Wall audits Camden County finances for fun. She literally told me spreadsheets help her relax.

And she thinks she's found something pretty worrying in the county's bank account.

Jennie is the woman behind The Watchdog Report — a short-and-sweet, but densely-packed newsletter she circulates around the Lake area. And she has built her own system for tracking Camden County funds. So I brought her on the show to find out what exactly she's looking for... and what she thinks she's found.

I saw the spreadsheet. We talked about the spreadsheet. I translated her finance-speak to real-world terms.

Does the Lake's only first-class county have a serious financial problem? And is anyone paying attention?

Ty Myers swung through Lake of the Ozarks and we managed to get him in the Take On The Lake studio for an interview.

We talked about his background, his family ranch in Texas (and being homesick), and how he went from "I make videos with a few hundred views" to touring the world.

We also sang a little...

Ty tells the wild story of the TikTok that changed everything, and how three record labels reached out during a 50-minute drive to Key West. We get into growing up around music, blowing out his knee in high school, writing songs on his own instead of in Nashville writing rooms, and why Willie Nelson, Bill Withers and John Mayer have had such an influence on him.

Plus: life on the road at 19, his upcoming Willie Nelson tribute project, why he refuses to use a teleprompter onstage, and what happens when the PA dies but the band doesn't know it.

And yes, somehow Ty and I wound up singing Lean On Me together. So I've pretty much made it.

This was a fun one. Enjoy.

The Lake of the Ozarks Shootout is one of those events that makes people ask: “How have I gone my whole life and not known about this?”

Apparently, Cadillac is asking that question too.

In this quick Shootout-week episode of Take On The Lake, I sat down with Chris Wilson, a Kansas City Cadillac dealer and Lake regular who made it his mission to get the national brand's attention. After literally cold-calling Cadillac executives and bringing them to the Lake, Chris helped convince them that the Shootout and Cadillac were a natural fit.

Now they're going all-in.

Cadillac has brought 80 Escalades to Lake of the Ozarks for Shootout week, along with displays and experiences at Performance Boat Center and the Oasis at Lakeport. And they're bringing some serious hardware, including a 682-horsepower Escalade V, a rare CT5-V Blackwing and the ultra-exclusive, hand-built Cadillac Celestiq, a car that can run into the $400,000–$600,000 range.

Plus, Chris teases one more vehicle coming Saturday that he isn't allowed to reveal yet.

Performance meets performance at one of the wildest boating events in the country.

Welcome to Shootout week.

There’s gold in these Ozark hills. You’ve probably walked right past it.

Not the shiny kind. The delicious kind.

The forests of the Ozarks are loaded with wild edible mushrooms, and most of us have absolutely no idea what we’re looking at.

Morels get all the fame in Missouri, but they're just the beginning, and actually there are many easier ones to find... if you know what you're looking for.

Chanterelles glow gold on the forest floor. Indigo milkies accent the woods with a stunning grey-blue. The chicken of the woods at the base of that oak tree that you hit with the mower every year actually wants to go on the dinner table. An entire world of other edible mushrooms is hiding in plain sight.

For this episode of Take On The Lake, I sit down with Mike Snyder, a mushroom forager with 15 years of experience whose obsession with fungi has grown into teaching, guiding and now writing Foraging Mushrooms of the Ozarks, an upcoming field guide from Simon & Schuster.

Nerdiness alert: we geek out pretty hard! But there's a lot to learn:

• the strange magic of mushroom hunting

• why morels are only the beginning

• what makes the Ozarks such an incredible place for fungi

• how a beginner can start learning what’s edible

• and why people who already hunt, hike and fish are surrounded by wild food they simply don’t notice.

Yes, Mike and I are both completely addicted to mushroom hunting. (The legal, delicious kind of mushroom addiction.)

Mike argues that Missouri is especially blessed with mushrooms that are both excellent edibles and relatively easy to identify. His new book covers how to identify them, where to find them, how to harvest them and even what to do with them in the kitchen.

If you spend any time in the woods, this episode may permanently change what you see when you look around.

There’s treasure out there. Go find it.

Missouri’s August ballot is confusing.

So let’s just talk about it.

In this solo episode of Take On The Lake, I break down two of the biggest amendments you’ll see on the August 4th ballot—Amendments 4 and 5—and explain what they actually do. And I try to do it in plain English.

Topics include:

And yep… I reveal where I land on each one.

One of my absolute favorite films growing up was The Pistol: The Birth of a Legend—the true story of “Pistol” Pete Maravich.

It had me dribbling a basketball around the house like I was the next Larry Bird… to my mom's chagrin!

So when I found out one of the producers of that film—Rodney Stone—lives right here at the Lake, naturally… we had to have a conversation.

And it did not disappoint.

We cover:

• What it was actually like producing The Pistol

• Why Hollywood turned it down

• The life—and tragic early death—of Pete Maravich

• Rodney’s close friendship with the Cathy family (Chick-fil-A)… including the wild story of Truett Cathy stepping in to fund the film

• The idea of mission-funded movies—and what the future of Hollywood might look like

• What he’s working on now

• And... how the actual Death Star from Star Wars ended up at Lake of the Ozarks (yes... actually)

It’s part nostalgia, part behind-the-scenes, and part “how have I never heard this before?”

You’ll love this one.

And if you’ve never seen The Pistol—go fix that. It’s got that 90s innocence, a ton of heart, and it still holds up.

Stream it on Netflix, or rent/buy (it's on sale!) at https://www.thepistolmovie.com

Memorial Day Weekend, 1954

When a sudden storm struck a tour boat full of passengers in the middle of Lake of the Ozarks — two newlyweds vanished without a trace.

In this special Legends & Lore episode of Take On The Lake, host Nathan Bechtold begins with the recollection of a recent unexpected storm on July 4th weekend that caught boaters unawares... and then dives into the story of the Grand Glaize disaster of 1954, one of the darkest days in Lake of the Ozarks history, and the mystery that still surrounds it.

In this episode of Take on the Lake, host Nathan Bechtold sits down with Missouri State Representative Jeff Vernetti for a wide-ranging conversation that hits some of the biggest issues affecting the Lake right now.

From predatory ADA lawsuits targeting local businesses, to illegal labor in construction, to the creation of open-container entertainment zones at the Lake—this was a legislative session with real, local impact.

Rep. Vernetti also opens up about stepping back from social media after receiving a death threat during session, why that boundary has made him healthier and more effective, and how he dropped 30 pounds during the grind of the legislative calendar.

The conversation then dives into his biggest wins from the 2025 session—including legislation that passed with zero opposition—before landing on the ongoing debate around data centers, AI infrastructure, and whether any of it actually benefits communities like Lake of the Ozarks.

What changed. What didn’t. And what it actually means for people at the Lake.

The conversation around data centers at the Lake got heated fast. But behind the headlines, something bigger is happening.

In this episode of Take On The Lake, I sit down with entrepreneur and local developer James Rericha. And midway through the episode James revealed something: he’s part of a team that's helping rewrite the code on how data centers are regulated in Camden County.

James also was directly affected by how the whole "Data Center" and "Opportunity Zone" conversations got married... we get into that too.

Among the many topics: