Hundreds if not thousands of people showed up at the Lake of the Ozarks to enjoy the water. Folks from as far away as Texas, California and Florida made their way to mid-Missouri, to the lake, for this first busy weekend of boating.

Boat traffic on the lake today was at some of its highest levels ever, and at the town of Lake Ozark's only boat rental location there was proof of that.

Tammy Grider's boat rental business is busier than ever. She and her son Justin operate Lake Ozark Boat Rentals and on a holiday weekend, all the docks are empty.

"I'm gonna say Memorial Day is actually probably the craziest just because everybody's kinda got winter fever," said Tammy Grider.

Holiday traffic can sometimes prove difficult.

"You gotta send boats in, they come out, we send them, some go out for four hours, gotta send another boat out the next four hours, it's gotta be a quick transition to keep everybody happy," said Justin Grider.

And why the boating hype?

"It's the water, the boating, the bars on the water I think, and just some good family fun," said Tammy Grider.

Her son also believes that the draw lies in all the options for fun.

"Coming out here in the summer time is just the best, you've got the wave runners, the kayaks, all that stuff. [You] can ride on the boats, I get to take them out, working here, stuff like that," said Justin Grider.

All the options for fun make the Grider's boating business a busy one to run.

"Let's put it this way, we started yesterday morning at 6:00 getting boats ready to go out, we got home about 10:00 last night, back here at 7:00 this morning, and we'll probably be here until 10:00 tonight," said Tammy Grider.

But after living at the lake for thirteen years, she isn't worried about the Memorial Day weekend boating rush this time around. It's all in day's work.

"[I] just kinda got here, liked the lake life, and we've been here ever since," said Tammy Grider.

That was the same story we heard from other boaters as well. Boat rental business owners like the Griders say this whole weekend has been nuts. They do expect things to calm down around Tuesday when everybody heads back home.