Drove up river. Stopped @ XG hoping to poach a shower again. Pulled in, darn, the camp host was present. Parked van, walked up to guy, asked him if he was the host, I asked if I could take a shower, he said technically it is not a day use area but he said he would allow my shower. After my shower we chatted awhile. Didn’t learn of his former occupation but we shared  a whole lot of similar views. Set up for future showers.

Arrived @ Thunder Rock XG. Decided to stay inside & rest. Ran heater. Bright moon after dark. reading Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Turned light off early.

Slept the best since this cold has come on.

Today I plan to easily ride Tanasi to coax myself out of this cold. Beautiful day, frost in AM. Waited for it to warm up a bit.

River is running clear and volume is slacking. Rain damaged Rhodendron trail along river. Trail up in woods survived the rain well. Some places the rain ran directly down trail washing out the leaves perhaps hiding front wheel stoppers. trail is so buffed out the wheels kept turning. I cleared several trees off the trail. I was clearing a big tree fall when a branch I was moving let loose its stored energy and smacked me in the face just under my glasses. Drew blood. Rode route I had in mind. Trails are fun to ride but not demanding. A small section of Chestnut Mtn trail b4Thunder Rock Express, a 1.4 mile trail dropping down to TH, is original hand dug trail, something like Bernard peak. Not enough of it.

Blue skies all day, warmed up a bit.

Drove back down to XG for shower. Waved to host, showered, waved on way out. Clean again.

Cold is still getting me down.

Tomorrow I will attempt Raccoon down at Chattanooga by myself, drive back up Ocoee to XG for shower, then further East to Jack Rabbit in NC then on to Brevard.

Scott’s has my bike wheel; it will have to chase me down. Closed Sat, open @ 10:00 on Sun.

Yesterday I contracted a cold that has taken me off my game. Yesterday was a recovery day and I hung around Cleveland.

I parked in a grocery store parking lot when a pick up truck pulled up alongside and a guy stuck his head out & stated asking questions. This went on for awhile when, John, asked me if I wanted to come to his house for dinner. I am developing a fuller self and maybe a little more confident. I said yes and John gave me his address to gps from.

I drove to Blossman’s propane because my spitter valve was now spitting vapor indicating I am running low on propane. The owner whom I talked with before was there again. We picked up where we left off in understanding the design of my system. yes, I needed propane. He said that he was glad that I came back as he wanted to talk to me. We never really got to his subject but we did bat around some religious thoughts. I believe he was asking me to go to church w/ him on Sunday.

While I am not the devil child, religion and I are not congruent. There are bodacious churches here. I do not want to get caught up in a religion discussion or conversion attempt if I say I am against religion. This affects my acceptance of friendship offers.

I went to John’s house for dinner. Huge house. Real nice man and father. Excellent stay at home dad. He wants to do an adventure motorcycle ride from Alaska down to Tierra del Fuego. We got to talking about what it would take for him to make this happen. He really wanted to hear my stories. His trip will happen. We touched on religion. He has done several missionary missions bring western view of deity to indigenous people who had their version of deity. great how western white man’s view destroys indigenous beliefs. How can 1 be more “right” than another. What gives 1 a”right” to destroy the other? Oh, both he and his wife are engineers but she went back to school to become and oybgn after their 2nd son was born w/ Downs.

Watched the GU / UT game @ Chillies. Only Zag fan but I was left alone as most people were hardly into game. GU won in OT breaking UT’s 37 game home win streak.

After game drove back to same gravel parking lot I used last night. Pulled in and there were 2 semis, one w/ a refer. Oh great, that means the engine will turn on & run off & on making diesel engine noise. It was too late and I was too sick to drive off to find another place. The cold really makes my body ache. I was shivering cold under the blankets. When I crawled out from underneath the covers I found the van to be fairly comfortable. But I was so cold. Refer woke me up every now & then but I really wasn’t sleeping anyway. Truck left during the night. No more noise.

Slept in as best I was able to. Day 2 of cold is different from day 1. Going to drive back up Ocoee River to Thunder Rock XG and try some walking to recoup some strength.

Ralph invited me for a Thurs. afterwork ride of Raccoon but I passed because of cold. Asked to ride this weekend perhaps. Forecast is calling for freezing temps @ night.

The snow story from Spokane is daunting: record breaking amount & then rain to sop everything.

Parked in same grocery store parking lot writing this. Several rigs have slowed to look me over but none has stopped.

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.