Spent night in 2nd hand store parking lot, occasionally awakened by a passing noisy car. Longed for quiet night in the woods. gentle rain on & off hitting roof.
Out of bed after 7 for breakfast & to be out of business parking lot before opening.
Needed a few groceries b4 heading up to rec area. GPSd for groceries. Found a less than gourmand store & WalMArt. I tried the former: No way. I needed a grocery fix and entered Wal Mart grocery. In spite of my opposition to WalMart destroying local competition, this store should have been killed. Actually WalMArt groceries were OK and not really cheap.
Plan was to ride the short trails today, take a shower, pay for a camp site, & drive S the next day. Drove into rec area to visitor’s center to learn of trails. Volunteer woman was only person in building. Learned that trails are just short pieces, less than 10 miles of ST all together. XG fee was $22 but the h2o was hot. Parked in chosen campsite, wrote the fee check, and changed into riding clothes while listening to the rain on the roof. I waited, hoping for a sucker hole to get the Turner off the rack from under the bike cover and protect the road bike. The weather radio picked up the NOAA forecast calling for heavy rain 1 to 3″ tomorrow. No sucker hole opened. Changed clothes again, tore up the check & headed back S. As I neared Cleveland the rain started pouring. Local runoffs where starting to course the roads. Ground was saturated.
This AM I listened to Bob Edwards on NPR interview an author who determined the 13 most important books defining America. He picked 3 novels only: Kerouac’s On The Road, Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, & Uncle Tom’s Cabin which I never read. In Cleveland I found a chain bookstore in a big box shopping center and bought the book. The 20 something clerk neve heard of the book. I parked out in the lot where the rain drained and hunkered down to read & fix dinner. 60 pages into it & my emotions are all ready roiled: selling people like chattel they were considered. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s book was the first inernationally published book and per Lincoln’s comment, So you are the Little Woman who started the big war.
Plan is to hang in the big lot until bed time then drive across the road to park in a motel lot.
Flood conditions will affect my riding for days to come.
Ralph from Raccoon Mtn ride invited me to ride it again. A repeat offer! Maybe he will ride his single speed and just bury me.
Tomorrow Gonzaga play Tennessee here. I will find a place to watch it and might be the only Zag fan.
Bucks almost won last night I found out from the woman volunteer @ Big South. She is an ardent sports fan. I did correct her pronouncement of Gonzaga.
