Giessow's Cottage Farm

Giessow's Cottage Farm is a resort in the Ozark Mountains where Jaybird goes with his family every summer. But this summer is different because a new baby sister has joined the family and Jaybird feels so neglected that he has decided to run away from home. Jaybird's 11-year old head is in for a confusing, adventurous whirl when he meets Phil, a wild-eyed mountain man. Jaybird quickly sees that Phil is a little bit crazy, but he likes him because Phil is the only grownup who doesn't treat him like a kid. In the next week Jaybird survives a wild ride on a raging river, loses a finger to a firecracker that almost costs him his life, falls in love with a beautiful young girl, rides in a railway cattle car, eats Mulligan stew in a hobo camp, wins $500 in a crap game, serves as batboy for a major league baseball team, wins a fortune on a horserace then loses it in a flash flood. But all this is nothing compared to what Jaybird faces when he returns with Phil to his family at Giessow's Cottage Farm.