Posted: Tue, 30 Jun 2009 07:13 AM - 8,434 Readers

By: Katherine Stolp

This heat and lack of rain are not only drying up our lakes but also several businesses, especially the ones on Lake Travis. The lake level there was 27.5 feet below normal on Monday.

Owners at Johnny Fins, a restaurant and bar that floats on Lake Travis, told CBS 42 they’ll do everything they can to not shut down. Right now, if you go by car, you’ll have to walk more than 100 yards straight down just to get to the restaurant because of the low lake levels. Soon, a car may be the only way you can get there. The restaurant is floating on about 10 feet of water.

“People have lived here all their lives and they're seeing changes that they've never seen before,” said Grace Spears who’s lived on the Lake Travis for more than a decade. She showed us a very desolate, dry view of what's left of the lake from aboard her boat.

“It's getting pretty scary,” Spears said. “This lake is drying up.”

As we pulled up to her favorite floating restaurant, Johnny Fins, Spears said we're lucky their boat even made it here.

"I have a lot of friends with bigger boats who can't come to Johnny Fins anymore,” she said because of the shallow waters.

Employees and the owners said it may look bad, but they're confident rain will come and save their business.

“One point in the year we get a huge rain and that's what I'm banking on,” Owner of Johnny Fins, Bryan Kelley said.

Employees told us they can keep moving the restaurant out about 10 more feet, if the levels continue to drop.

“We're out here 3 to 4 days a week. In a month we're wondering if we’ll still be able to do that,” Spears said while sitting in her friend's boat.

In the restaurant's nearly 30 years of business, its never closed because of low lake levels.

The employees over at Johnny Fins are trying to keep positive. They're planning several rain dance parties and for the 4th of July, its a B.Y.O.B party, which stands for bring your own bucket of water, to pour into Lake Travis.

Another lake business hurting is Carlos and Charlie's. Managers there said the low lake levels are also preventing bigger boats from docking.

*  Story Contributed by: Katherine Stolp