Friday evening I went to Red Fox, an old watering hole, for a prereunion gathering. Thing was that there were all kinds of other people there and nobody wore name tags. How  would I recognize class mates from 45 years ago? I made a name tag w/ my name and class of 1977, the year was wrong but on purpose. Several people saw thru the ruse. I visited w/ several identifiable classmates.

Sat AM I drove down to ride the Mohican Wilderness trails, some run under a zip line company, Tree Frog. I hoped that I might run into classmates up in the trees. No such happening. The trail was littered w/ blowdown damage from the dericho 2 weeks prior. Purpose built trails. The start was rude w/ a steep climb into the woods. Tree parts that were bigger than I could ride over forced me to bash thru the brush on the side of the trail. Not much fun, The zip lines are up in the hardwood canopy above the trail. I could hear voices and seldom saw a person. Short effort and good grunt.

My ride was to be rewarded by a dish of hard ice cream  @ a gas station where after previous rides I savored pure fat uptake. The gas station replaced the ice cream w/ cuts of beef to support the probably 1000s of campers and recreators floating the Black fork river. dang. Wally rd follows the river valley. It seemed that every flat opening was a pay camp ground. White RVs packed door to door. Just no way to recreate. On the way down the river was empty. Hours later on the way back the river must have had a 1000 floaters on it. There are numerous canoe liveries in the area to meet the Fun Center of Ohio recreationists needs.

I stopped @ my dad’s house for a shower then drove into the reunion. Dad gave me turn by turn directions. I plugged the address in the gps to see how it would route me. Just say that following gps directions is not always the way I would choose. However, where I am not knowledgeable of the locale, I accept the route.

reunion: class of 1967, 250 graduates, 50 attended, 33 are dead, a bunch didn’t respond, and a bunch more were missing. 2 of my buddies attended. Tom and I on freshman spring break did a conoe trip from one of the liveries I passed earlier in the day. A local newspaper reporter happened to be there who took our picture and wrote an article, thrust was students on spring break. All the people attending the reunion wore name tags, senior picture connoted class mate, school mascot, the falcon, indicated a guest. This way I was able to recall something about them. Women wore them on their chest, above a breast. I broke eye contact to read the nametag…. . I made it till 10:30 then left. Did not find any tribe members. No one was interested enough to engaged in conversation nor tour my home. One classmate is from Augusta, GA. I asked her if she knew Bill and Liz and she did.

Sunday I drove back down to Mohican, this time the State Forest to ride the 24 mile trail, it is part of the Mohican 100 ultra endurance mtn bike race series. The trail is well signed thus not requiring a map. Hot day. rain threatening. This was my 5th time of riding the trail. Really well made and maintained as the dericho damage had been all cleared away. I rode all but one feature. Hard ride. 23.74 miles in 3 hrs, climbed 3116′ imagine the elevation gain in the state of Ohio. Maybe 20 rigs @ the TH prior to my stop yet I encountered 4 riders. Only 4 rigs were in the TH when I finished. AM riders.

last night our full family visited an old close friend for dinner.

Stayed in town @ my sister Lynn’s house. More hot weather. Hot hot hot. And no rain, almost NOAA defined drought.

Rest day today. Tues I will prolly ride Mohican again. Thurs I leave for Brown County Indiana.

And opened the refrigerator. Rubbish to the statement that you can never go home. Actually, Ohio is not where I really want to spend quality time. OK, my family is here. Bright spot. leave ’em wanting more.

So, I am parked on the grass at my dad’s where I spent my formative years from 4th to 12 grade. We live in the country, farm land, bedroom blue collar borough to a rust belt city. At least no new houses have been built w/in sight of his house for a coon’s age. And their lives might not have been too long. They hang seed bird feeders on low branches of a mountain ash outside a family room window. recently they looked out to see a gaggle(?) of raccoons learning how to burp the feeder for food. They called an exterminator and the rest is known to him….. .

So… I have my new replacement frame received Tues @ Gung Ho @ York, PA. I was there b4 the UPS driver unloaded my incorrect street address. Jay, the shop owner, did the heavy lifting installing the bottom bracket and adjusting the shifting cables. The shop told me about Rocky ridge, a local riding area. I was in, I needed a ride and a shake down would be grand. The trail was per its name sake: Rocky Ridge. Bike and build performed, no skretches, all quiet on the Turner 5-Spot.

Time was scruntched. I improved my balance on rock gardens. Dashed back to Gettysburg Y for a shower then drove up to0 Teaberry TH where I have been staying and it is the starting point for tomorrow’s ride.

I was up early thurs Am for my ride. Even b4 my 6:30 bfast a gaggle of riders arrived for their early AM ride. One guy recognized me from the Tour De Burg 2 weeks prior.

I geared up for my later ride. I dismissed any rain falling as I hung my towel out to dry and opened the roof vent wide. More later.

Great thing this GPS device as I loaded the ride into my Edge 305 aqnd followed the icon on the small screen. And I needed it. Again,riding Michaux is CHALLENGING. There is no way the course could be conventionally mapped. I followed the track. Kent who gps’d the route showed 28 miles and 4/3/4 ride. Kent is a young buck and is a local rock rider. I neglected to turn on my computer so I have no factual data. I will say I was out about 6 hours of solid ride time. I never sat down and caught my breath. F…ing rock gardens. My left leg started cramping; I walked a bit to shake the cramp out. Not much success. I squirted the one packet of mustard I had and ate 2 more electrolyte pills. Finally I raised my saddle a bit that put my muscles in a good place. Then I was running out of steam, not bonking, just worn out. The route dropped me onto rattlesnake rd to High rock. I rememered the finish to be on logging roads making me weakly smile. Maybe 5 miles of road. The skies continued to darken and peals of thunder were added to clue the clueless. I was on the gravel road when the skies dumped. Just b4 the deluge I stopped under and oak tree and put on my rain jacket. I finished the last maybe 25 mins pedaling a wet gravel road.

The rain all but quit just b4 the van. Remember the towel and open vent? The towel was holding 115% relative humidity and a large wet spot was on the carpet under the open vent. And I was wet, sopping wet. And excess moisture was outside. What will really dry out?

The ride beat me. You want tough, ride Michaux.

I packed up and headed to Rayestown, PA to ride Allegrippis that friend Todd built.

Time out….

Family events are on tap. Maybe more later.

Allegrippis was fun. The machine cut trails are weathering in.

Michaux SF lacks internet coverage. But up high where i have been staying is almost 1000′ higher and a bit cooler. Handling 90 some degrees is killer.

On the 3rd I walked the length of the Union lines @ Gettysburg on the day of the final battle. Little Round top, the angle, Pickets charge. I visited w/ 2 Union Officers, one was Grant, and a Confederate. Each were wearing replicas of uniforms. Union claimed the wool was actually cool by opening the tunic and letting evaporative heat loss to occur on the undershirt of linen. They can say that. yesterday during an enactment the troops benefited from new tech w/ ice and misting sprays. Lots of memorial markers.

A shower @ the YMCA on my health club membership. Back up @ Teaberry TH. On the 4th 4 separate mass horse rigs populated the parking area. Only 1 of mtn bikers. Hot and humid. Able to sleep w/ my slider door and driver windows open w/ mosquito netting.

On Thurs I drove to York to Walgreens for script refill,buy some backpacking food stuff, and check out Gung Ho bike shop where my replacement frame will be UPS’d, schedule delivery is Tues. No real backpacking stores to be found. I bought 2 dinners and a bfast freeze dried meals. made arrangements w/ the shop to support my bike build on Tues.

I decided that I would hike a short section of the Appalachian Trail from Tumbling Run shelter to Rocky Mtn shelter, a distance unknown but greater than 5 and less than 7. I loaded my never used Osprey pack. Thurs I camped @ a lower TH at the AT. Hotter.

Friday I laced up my old heavy leather boots, last worn back in 2005. 2 pairs of socks. I hoisted the pack onto my back… not too bad. Is 5 miles really going to be long enough? The trail climbed immediately from like 600′ to 1700′ The ascent was very rocky, too tough to mtn bike on which was not permitted. At Chimney rock side trail I encountered a woman thru hiker and her male support friend. She started in GA, she said that the bubble of north bound hikers is ahead of her. She and her friend were wearing fabric trail runner shoes and single pair of socks. I was over dressed but sufficient for the Pacific crest.I  do have a pair of runners I bought in Hood River 2 years ago. To me the light weight shoes w/ little foot support would leave feet beat from all the rocks. Will I ever try new shoes and leave the iron maidens home? (that’s what we called leather boots on the crest, the light weight shoes were flying slippers, back then the slippers were not substantial enough to hike in.)

As the miles added up my stride became slower and less comfortable. I reached the intersection for the Rocky Mtn shelter, .3 miles off the trail. I found 2 new shelters unoccupied. I didn’t see any tenting spots meaning I would be staying in a shelter. I unloaded my pack except for my h2o filter, cooking pot, and hydration bladder and headed further off trail following blazes to the h2o source. B4 I arrived @ the spring I found tenting spots suitable for me. Nice cold flowing spring piped out. I filled my bladder and drank several cups of h2o. I moved my stuff down to the tent site. I set up my Pyramid floorless tent. I inflated my thermo  rest and stuffed it into their backpacking chair that offers back support. All by myself. Boiled h2o for freeze dried dinner. lazy man’s food solution. My sleeping bag is rated to 20 degrees. At bed time it was 79 degrees. I pulled on light weight wool long under wear tops and bottom and laid on top of the sleeping bag. 73 degrees @ 5:30 AM. Too fucking hot.

I treked to the spring for a big fill up for the hot hike back. I packed up, everything fit back in the pack. I just put my head down and got it done hiking nonstop back to TH. Cold beer.

I stretched after each hike. I drove back to Teaberry TH for the night. My back stiffened up crippling me almost like i Pulled it again. Hot @ TH. Skies showed T storm relief, someone else received the benefit. Slept on top of covers. Too hot.

Today I planned on driving to Chambersburg to check it out & grocery shop. I stopped @ Caledonia SP and visited an old forge, destroyed by Confederates because it was owned by abolitionist Thadeus Stevens. i hiked a trail to a charcoal hearth over a mile away in the heat w/ a stiff back. The hearth is just a clearing about 30′ diameter where wood was burned to make charcoal. No historical info.

I drove on RT 30, the Lincoln Highway to Chambersburg  that was the only major Union settlement to be burned during the Civil war. i found Giant grocery store where I lingered during my shopping enjoying the comfort.

I needed beer. I goggled beer sales in Chambersburg and found Good ta go shop. Walked in, their speciality is lots of beers and make your own six pack. Too many choices.

I will be heading back to Michaux for the night. Forecast is for cooler temps.

Tues the frame arrives. I plan on getting the bike built up then drive back up into Michaux, maybe not a ride but staged for Wed  ride. Thurs maybe ride Alligrippis @ Rayestown, a trail Long Cane worked on then sprint to my dad’s house @ Mansfield, OH. The broken frame has cost me 8 days of riding. left rides on the table.