OK. You live here/ You live with the high humidity and temps, ticks, and poison ivy. You deal with it. Well, I did a long time ago and left Ohio for a whole lot of other reasons. I lived in Spokane on the dry side of Washington state for 18 years enjoying 17 inches of rain, hardly any poison ivy, and dry. maybe some mosquitoes, horse and deer flies. I could sleep well @ night. I didn’t need a tornado shelter. So, put my big boy pants on and suck it up. I will still make observations.
Last night I stayed up till almost midnight to finish Calico Joe. Didn’t sleep well because of above.
Today after bfast I drove back down Green Mtn rd to hwy 5, turned north and drove to Syllamo TH . I wanted to start my ride w/ a climb to end on a downhill, a great conclusion that wipes out the grunts of the uphills. I chose to ride Scrappy mtn up then split off on Bald Scrappy back to Scrappy to the TH. Ride the trails in the direction the map says which i did. Bald Scrappy was a rideable challenge but i chose to walk several moves. Great route, 10.95 miles in 1 hr 48 mins climbing 1541′. My rides are around 2 hours now. The humidity saturated my clothes, like sopping wet. Again, lots of poison ivy.
Finished. I rinsed off w/ the remaining h2o in the solar shower.
I drove the 12 miles to Calico Rock. Historic. Again, a dying town. I treated myself to an old fashion black and white malted made by a woman old enough to be my mother (OK, perhaps close to), she has been in the town for 60 years. She heard of Grisham’s book. Several doors down the business had a large poster of Grisham’s book photo; they sold out of their book supply. Tourist after reading the book might come touristing. Lots of places to sleep.
I drove back to Mountain View. I did my wash. Line drying my non dryables inside my van will take days to dry. Shopped Walmart, found groceries on my list. I walked around downtown. The city lays claim to being the folksong capital of the world.
I had planned on driving to Jasper this afternoon. GPS displayed a 2hr drive of 50 miles. I decided to return to same TH camp spot for internet access and exposure to any breezes.
I’m tired.
Buffalo River is a scenic undammed river flowing 132 miles. Tomorrow I will be in the very upper headwaters.
I am wandering w/o a plan. perhaps my next stop is Alabama. Oak Mtn is an IMBA epic. And there is Huntsville nasty MT Santos park.