New things

I got two new vehicles, it's all part of a plan.

First was a motorcycle, I still have the Versys, but I bought a Kawasaki Super Sherpa. You can find out more at http://www.kawasaki.com/Products/Product-Specifications.aspx?scid=14&id=371. This is a 250cc dual purpose bike, it weighs well under 300 pounds with a full tank of fuel. I will be able to take it with me on RV trips, and after I retire. It is an all around bike, doing nothing exceptionally well, but getting by quite well enough in city, backroad, highway, and forest roads. I can take it for short distances on the interstate, it will go 70 MPH easily on flat ground, but I don't think I want to do that for a long time. It will also handle some rougher trails than I have skills for.

Next, I traded the beloved Subaru for a 2010 GMC Canyon extended cab work truck, with 4x4. The only option on the truck is a locking rear differential. It is red. Here's more info: http://www.gmc.com/canyon/canyon/index.jsp. This was about the only option that can be towed 4 down without restrictions, will have quite enough capability to carry the motorcycle on a hitch carrier, is under 4000 lbs. so I can have some capacity for storage and still be under the 5000 lbs. towing limit for my motorhome, and has 4 wheel drive and good ground clearance. I have the hitch and a tonneau cover on order to be installed by Cruisers near Xenia, and the hitch carrier should arrive Wednesday. I take the truck to Lewis RV on December 7 to have the RV base plate installed so I can hook it up.

So, my rig will be the 2008 Itasca 26a pulling a 2010 GMC Canyon with a 2009 Kawasaki Super Sherpa hanging off the back. Sounds like fun!

Emo is not too happy with the truck, but he will learn to love it. I'm not so happy with all the dog hair and slobber, so we're even...

Shawnee RV trip

Emo and I did get back to Shawnee in late October, and camped in the RV for two nights. We spent most of our time cruising the forest roads and looking at the trees. As always, click on the pictures for a bigger look.

Some roads are winding -

Some roads are straight.

But the trees were always beautiful.

Motorcycle camping at Shawnee

I loaded a bunch of my backpacking gear into the bags on the Versys and put poor Emo dog in the kennel for the weekend. Took US35 to SR41, a twisty, pretty road, went to West Union and hit SR125, another nice road, and arrived at Shawnee State Park. I couldn't go in the campground because it was filled with children for the pumpkin festival, so I rode around for an hour. Here is the bike all loaded up at Picnic Point. Click on the pictures for a bigger view.

I finally went back to the campground after an hour riding around, and set up camp. This is a nice campsite a short way from the campground road.

Up on Picnic Point, I took a picture of some of the trees in color. That's Kentucky in the background, the river is down there.

I got to ride gravel roads a lot, the weather was perfect for the amount of gear I had on Sunday. With my new tires, this bike eats up gravel roads. Only a newbie, in short order I was comfortably putting around on the gravel, enjoying the trees. On some of the other paved roads around the forest, where there are small communities, I was chased by several dogs. I think the dogs and I both enjoyed it.

There are several overlooks at Shawnee, here I am parked at one of them.

I love this motorcycle, it is like my Subaru, it isn't the very best at anything, but it does everything well, and it does all I want quite well and quite enjoyably. Aside from being very cold in the tent at night because I brought the wrong sleeping bag, it was a great trip.

Ready for October trips to Shawnee

I have two trips to Shawnee State Forest near Portsmouth, OH planned, campground reservations made! The first is on the Columbus Day weekend and will be tent camping, I'm taking the motorcycle there. I got new Avon Distenza tires today, so I can handle the gravel forest roads well, and I mounted all the Cortech soft luggage. Here's a pic of the farkled up Versys:

The second trip will be two weeks later, I will take Friday off and take the RV and Subaru and Emo Dog with me for fall colors.

Look for pics next month!

Motorcycle Ride

I went for a ride a couple days ago, 204 miles in 4 hours. I took the 65MPH 4 lane state route for about an hour, a few country roads for a short while, then ran around Tar Hollow State Forest. I went on both paved and gravel forest roads. I was OK with it on the stock street tires on the Versys, but I think something like a 250cc dual sport may be in my future. I also saw the carrier I am thinking about hanging off the back of a towed vehicle, and getting the 400+ pound Versys up that short ramp and into the cradles would be quite a chore.

I'll enjoy the 650cc bike for a couple more years, but when I hit the road full-time, the RV may be towing a small 4WD pickup with a 250cc bike hanging from it.

I mowed today, next nice day, Emo needs to get me out for a hike.

Settled in

We've been back about 2-1/2 weeks now. I went to the Mac Depot to get a new battery for the PowerBook, and of course took Emo with me. Driving back, I saw a sign outside the shelter that said, "Dog Wash." We got to meet other dogs and we got cleaned up, without having to suffer through the cold hose rinse in the back yard.

There is a lot of work, but some people have none, so I guess I shouldn't complain. The Reds look to be out of the pennant race after the yearly West Coast diasaster, chores are starting to get done, it's good to see my friends. We got to Possum Creek last weekend for a day hike, but it's rainy this weekend. Such is life in Dayton.

Back Home

We are back home safe and sound, the RV is back in the storage lot, and we have chores to take care of. It was a great 2 months. I hope to post more as I get to do more hiking, etc.

Big Storm

A big storm blew through here last night, with straight line winds up to 70 MPH. It was a bit scary, the RV actually was swaying just a little. Emo, of course, was terrified. The power went out, and didn't come back on until about noon today. I saw a lot of people taking refuge in the concrete bathroom/showerhouse. I watched the radar on the Blackberry. This morning, I looked everything over, and saw no damage to the RV or the Subaru. We came close, however!

A tree broke and almost came down on the car, it is still hanging on, as you can see in the first picture. The second picture is a tree that fell across the roadway right below our campsite, temporarily trapping a pop-up camper. A contractor came with a chain saw and got the tree out of the road so the camper could leave. I moved the Subaru, talking with the tree guy we don't think the "widow-maker" tree will come down on the RV. I'll be gone Wednesday morning.

It's pouring rain right now, we did get out for a drive earlier, and didn't see a whole lot of damage. The campground host said no one was hurt, and the tree fellow said this was his only call. My satellite TV went out, I had it back for a little while last night, but now it is out again. The VuQube works great, unless there are overcast skies.

The last picture shows Emo as I was looking things over and taking pictures, he wasn't sure if it was safe to come out yet. He didn't come out until we went for our drive, I stopped at the first dirt road and he peed about a quart. These storms with thunder are really more than a dog should have to put up with. He was able to work through his fears enough last night to eat dinner.

Relaxing, driving, hiking, cleaning

Well, it has been slow, which is good. Emo and I have driven all over LBL, in search of the good boondocking sites, and there are a lot of them. We get to drive the back roads, sometimes covering the Subaru with mud. When I get to a site, I let him out to swim, and take a break. There are about 10 or so places here that are easily RV accessible, where I can set up with the $14/yr. backcountry permit, that have a fire ring, table, nice gravel parking site, some shade, southern sky exposure for sat. TV, wonderful view, and lake access for swimming. If it wasn't 90 degrees in the middle of the day, these sites would be perfect. 

We have walked this entire campground several times, and yesterday we hiked the 5 mile Honker Trail in the heat. It's a great trail, mostly shaded, and halfway around is the ol' swimmin' hole, so Emo got a drink and a cool-off while I ate my apple. I plan to hike the entire Energy Lake loop tomorrow, 5-1/4 miles, and the 2.2 mile loop around Hemitite Lake before we go. Maybe some more hiking, I don't know, there are trails of every length available here.

Chores today, I checked the new last year Interstate deep cycle batteries, the water is well over the plates. I've started using water from the spigot here for Emo and for my coffee, and after doing dishes today, I still have over 1/3 a tank of fresh water, and the black and grey are fine, so I think we will make the entire 3 weeks without needing to run to the dump station! I also just finished cooking a pressure cooker full of navy beans with a big onion cut up in them, and I need to burn some stuff (why do they put so much paperwork with every prescription?).

AA tonight, my favorite step, step two. I plan to have everything packed up and even the car hooked up before next Wednesday morning, we will probably drive straight through. See ya'll late next week, then it's back to work. Maybe I'll get to blog some day hikes or long weekend trips, maybe even a motorcycle trip, who knows? Life is good.

Fun, chores

Yesterday, we went to the impromptu beach and took a swim. Emo thought he needed to come out to see me, so he kept swimming out to me and then swimming back towards shore where he could touch bottom. There is an earthen (really stone and gravel) dam there that goes about a quarter mile to an island, after swimming we walked out there. Saw some dead fish, long and narrow with long snouts and teeth, I'll have to ask someone what they are. Emo was worn out on the walk back. After that, we drove up north to get gas, then back home. 

Today, I slept in a bit, watched Obama's news conference, and we went in search of a laundry. The GPS on the Blackberry sent me on two wild goose chases, first time I'd tried it. It got me to the address it thought was a laundry, but they were not laundries. I shut it off, went to the little town outside LBL, and found a place easily. It is a car wash and a coin laundry, and it has a bay with no roof at all, so I think I will wait until I need water to dump, fill up, wash the bugs off the front of the RV, and do laundry. Emo enjoyed the driving today, and hanging around the car wash/laundrymat wasn't too bad. When I got back, I did dishes and cleaned the floor (dog food, dog hair) and now we have the black tank 1/3 full, grey tank still sitting on E, and the fresh water tank reading 1/3. Each tank has 3 sensors, so I have between 1/3 and 2/3 tank fresh water. I think we will need to make one trip to the dump station, fresh water being the limiting factor.

Two people I met, one lady at the gas station after the southern end of LBL, she was at the pumps in a Lazy Daze Mid-Bath. I approached her and started talking RVs, as I studied a lot about Lazy Daze before I bought the Winnie. She asked for directions, and I happened to have an extra LBL map to give her. Nice lady, she says she half times, 3 months traveling, 3 months at home.

The others were a couple. I had just crossed the US68/KY80 bridge from Camden going across the lake, it is a narrow bridge, My turn to go back to Energy Lake campground is right after the bridge, but there was a pickup/travel trailer rig in the way. I went around and asked the lady ground guiding her husband if they were OK? She said, "I think so, the window broke, we're going to pull in here and look." Turns out a semi had clipped the outside mirror, slamming it back so it broke the driver's side window. The old gentleman and his wife were fine, I gotta give him credit for holding it straight on that narrow bridge after that! They cleaned up and he intended to head on to their destination at KenLake State Resort then try to find a Ford dealer.

When I got back this evening, I saw a motorcycle camper a couple sites down, I may talk to him some about motorcycle camping. 

Things I miss:

Motorcycle

Washer and dryer in basement

Soup at Lihn's restaurant

Familiar AA and lots of it

that's about it. There's something to balance out each of those, too.

Tomorrow, maybe a long hike? I wonder if Emo will want to go along?

Camping @ LBL

This is camping heaven. There are basically 3 types of camping here. 

You can get a backcountry pass for $14, it is good for one year from date of purchase. This allows you to camp in several areas, good for backpacking, car camping in the woods in many, many places, and camping at some of the boat launch sites. There are some nice campsites even for an RV at some of the launches, with a picnic table, fire ring, lake access, but no trash pick-up or water, and maybe a porta-potty. That's fine with me, the one on the southwest part has tons of trails nearby, it is PERFECT for RV boondocking. 14 day limit, then you have to move a mile.

For $9/night, half price if you are 60 and get your Senior pass, and small discounts for longer stays ($113 for 14 days) you can get into a little more developed campground, with a dumpster, a brick bathhouse, and central water tap. There is a full time attendant volunteer at these. They are nice! No RV hook-ups, and I think you can stay 21 days. There are many of these, almost all with lake access, you choose sun or shade, etc.

There are sites with hook-ups. The campground I am in, Energy Lake, is $12/day, half for seniors, plus $6/day if you have electric. So, I'm paying $18/day, electric only, a senior would pay $12. There is a shower house, dump stations are available at the north and center centers, dumpsters, water spigots, and contractors who do a good job of keeping everything clean. There are two campgrounds that offer full hook-ups, $28 or $32 per night. 

I love it, love it, love it. I want to come here in the spring or fall, and dry camp with the RV. I want to kennel the dog and come down here on the motorcycle, there are great roads to explore. I want to stop by here every spring and fall when I fulltime!

I also found a really neat place, tomorrow I'm driving out in swimming trunks and taking my water shoes, and I'm going to swim with Emo. He'll flip! And there are lots of trails I want to do, too, but highs in the 90's are challenging! But, I like it hot.

Typical $9/night campsite

This Blue Heron was hanging out by the campground pictured above, he did not seem a bit concerned about my presence. I was hoping he would fly off so I could get a picture, but I wasn't going to shoo him.

Sunset from my bedroom window.

A good place

Stubborn beast!

Today started with a good breakfast, then we hiked the 2.1 mile loop trail that starts two campsites down. There is a cut-off that shortens it to 2.1 miles, the other connecting loop is 4 miles, it's 5-1/4 all the way around. It was a good little two miler for today, with temps eventually getting into the 90's.

Back to the a/c for a nap, lunch, then we went for a drive. Emo got to swim several times. I really enjoy going down these forest roads in the Subaru. Beautiful woods here. We saw another turkey, a blue heron, a lizard, and the turtle above. He would NOT move. I drove slowly around him, and about a quarter mile later at Ferguson Spring I saw a turtle 3 times as big in the water, but it swam away before I got a picture. On the way back out that road, I saw another turtle in the road I stopped and talked to as I went by him, and our friend above.

The maps here are easy to follow, I use one they give to hunters that I got a few years ago, in addition to the usual road map they give out. There are other trail maps I have, too, for walking. We went to Hematite Lake and hiked over the earth dam and back, about a quarter mile each way. We stopped lots of places while driving, to let Emo swim, or me eat an apple, or just to soak it all in.

A couple mosquito bites, but NO TICKS! I love it. I just got back from the shower house, and I can use it just fine, in fact it's nice to have unlimited hot water. We may last a long time before I have to dump, if I get dog water from the spigot and put some of the dishwater down the toilet.

Everything here has exceeded expectations so far, we are in paradise again. Just gotta dodge those turtles!

Interesting meeting trip

I went to a meeting last night, 3 parts - getting there, the meeting, and getting back.

Getting there, I did NOT see a smashed turtle on the section where I dodged one. I did see another turtle smashed on a different road, so I know now what a run over turtle looks like. I did see, very much alive, two turkeys, a grey fox, and some deer. Dead on the road, several skunks (phewww). 

There were 6 of us at the step meeting, and 3 guys had over 30 years. My 18 years was the shortest time there. They read the second half of step 12 in the 12x12, about sober living, and we had a good discussion. I took a lot away from the meeting, and plan to go next week.

On the way back, on the 3 mile stretch from the Nature Center to the campground, I found myself dodging frogs. It had rained a little, and these little frogs were out in the road, and sometimes jumping, sometime just sitting in the road. I did my best to swerve in such a way as to hit the fewest number of frogs, but I must have got a handful of them. I double checked my sobriety and sanity, and, yes, the road was full of frogs.

Well, it's a beautiful morning, it's going to be a scorcher, so I'm going to get a hike in early.

Set up at Land Between the Lakes

We made it here in fine shape, got here about noon. We are all set up. It's about 90F here today, so we are thankful for the air conditioning. Got level, put the slide out, set up the satellite dish, and now I'm on the internet. In the middle of the forest! This site is a bit pricey, but I think it's worth it. We have the site until July 8 if I decide to stay, I'm all paid up. Here's a picture of this wonderful pull-thru site.

Here we are at site D7, Energy Lake Campground, Land Between the Lakes.

When I checked in, I asked about the trails, and the volunteer said they are all open. They had a lot of damage from the ice storm back in January.

View from the front.

I think I might have got a turtle on the way in. He was a big one, I think I missed him with the motorhome, by the time I saw him and saw what he was, I drove so he was under the RV, but I am afraid the Subaru tires might have hit him. I don't know, maybe he got lucky.

View from the picnic table under the awning. Hope the bugs aren't bad, there might be several meals eaten here.

I'm very close to the restroom/showerhouse, so if I take a few showers there, I can probably keep my trips to the dump station to one, and another on the way out. It's a pain to pack everything up and have to re-level, etc. We are really roughing it here.

Well, the White Sox - Cubs game is on in 8 minutes, gotta go. I'll put on shorts and take Emo for a stroll in a little while. He was happy when he saw where we moved to. I tied him to the picnic table while I set up, and he kept going back in the RV the little way the leash allowed. He knew the air conditioner would be on soon! I'm stocked up on Chuck food and Emo food, full water, a case of bottled water, re-filled my medicine, we are ready to have some fun. More pics of this wonderful place later.

Short hike in mud, Little Lusk Lodge

Double click on the images for full size.

Well, we got out and had a little fun today. We went for a drive, and I decided to try to hike the trail to Indian Kitchen. I took a bath in DEET before we left the trailhead, and still found a tick when we got back (I'm blogging in my underwear). There has been so much rain here, the horse/hike trail had a lot of mud.

Muddy trail.

We did go back about a mile, before it just got so bad I had to turn around. This would be a good hike in drier weather. We took a drive through the country, went to a state recreation area with a road closed gate, then on the way back I passed a forest sign, crossed a creek, and saw a mud road heading off into the woods. We Subarued back to a wide spot next to a beautiful creek, and took a good long break.

Pretty creek, and a nice soothing sound.

Ah, nice and cool now!

When we got back, I decided to take some pictures of Little Lusk Trail Lodge where we are staying. Lonnie and Peggy have been great, Lonnie has had surgery and some not-so-good news while I've been here, but they drive by a couple times each day. I can always talk to them if I want, or if I don't, they keep going. The place is large, not pictured are several shaded sites in a different area, and several buildings and horse accommodations. Most nights there is a gathering somewhere in or around the Lodge. It's beautiful inside.

Part of the inside of the Lodge.

There is a huge porch on the back of the Lodge.

Here is the view from the porch. My RV is barely visible under the tree on the far right side of the picture.

Across from our site are some horse campers. They have 3 beautiful horses. The trailers these folks use are like 5th wheel toy haulers, horses in back, living quarters for people in front.

Here's the view from two sites to the left of us. The little pond has a swimming beach. There are trails going into the woods slightly outside each edge of this picture. Lonnie and Peggy's land borders the National Forest, so you can hike or ride straight into the forest and get on the trails from the campground.

I've enjoyed my stay here, no complaints, but I'm really looking forward to Land Between the Lakes. I think I'll shower this DEET off now, and go to Carrier Mills for the 7PM meeting.

Chores

Laundry, prescription refill, haircut, Chinese buffet, AA meeting, online banking, walk the dog, groceries, checked - no storm damage, empty holding tanks, car wash, what happened to vacation?

Decision made, big storm

It's raining bullfrogs right now, it started about 9:30 tonight and from the radar, it looks like we are in for a long one. Emo is scared, there is a lot of thunder and lightning. The ONLY time he ever gets into bed with me is when we are in the RV and there is a thunderstorm. I was looking out the back window, there were some big lightning strikes. The power has had some glitches.

We went and scouted Land Between the Lakes today, and reserved an electric campsite D7 at Energy Lake. Almost the best possible scenario, I will have electric hook-up, a shaded site in the forest overlooking the lake, satellite TV with my new VuQube, the only irritation is no water or sewer hook-ups, so I'll have to go to the dump station a time or two. No big deal. LBL is a great place with tons of roads and trails, lots of water, everything we could want. I will go there June 17 and head back towards Dayton July 8.

My world

Here are some pictures, the first two were taken from my usual seat kicking back on the U-dinette in the RV.

Ball game on the Direct TV, coffee, computer, what more can I want?

Horses right outside my window.

This is the Allovus House, where I've been going to meetings.

Good meeting tonight, 3 of us, but we talked recovery for about an hour and a half. Life is good, so is this ice cream...why did I really go to town tonight?

Lazy Days

Sorry, no pictures this time.

We've been taking things slow, got out a couple times, but no big hikes or car trips to speak of. The ticks here are horrible! Part of the objective for me, for these long summers, is to see if we can live in the RV for extended periods. Well, yes. We have not been the least bit claustrophobic or wanted for anything (except ice cream...). Emo has seemed content even with me watching softball until my eyes bled, and dragging around for a couple days. He likes the life of leisure, too, but he really likes it when we load into the Subaru and get going.

I've decided to move soon, probably to Land Between the Lakes in Kentucky. We will go down there probably tomorrow to reconnoiter it. I have maps from a trip there a few years ago, just an overnighter in the winter to look at eagles, but I really was impressed with it. It looks like there will be several places to camp with the solar panels and decent size tanks. There are 3 dump stations there, too.

I'm paid up here for another 10 days or so, so we will take our time making our move, and make sure we haven't missed anything. I don't think so, maybe another car trip to the western side of the forest to see a couple sights, but I am reluctant to do any long hikes in the woods because of the ticks. I'll go into town one last time to get a meeting, refill a prescription, and stock up on groceries. I'm glad they moved the Klondike bars from the prominent freezer on the end of the first aisle, they got me once.

Bad Dog!

Softball doesn't start until 8PM Central, so I had breakfast at the bar (best breakfast around), went to the 11PM meeting, and Emo and I went on a hike by One Horse Gap Lake. Emo had a good time, I guess. He took off chasing two deer, and came back exhausted after about 20 minutes. I stood around wondering whether I'd ever see him again, and swatted mosquitoes. I keep on trying to give him a chance, and he just can't resist. It's his instinct, it does no good to punish him, although I did swat his behind once and scold him, just to let him know I was angry. It's the 27 foot retractable leash from now on, I'll only let him off to swim.

The face of a BAD DOG!

But, who can really blame the beast? There are so many deer around here, and they were right in front of us. So many, I caught 3 pictures of one taking a squat. There were 3 of them in this field, they just stood there while I stopped the car, shut it off, unlocked the glove box, re-started the car, fished out the camera, and took about a dozen pictures. 

It was like this for a couple minutes, so I think it was number two.

A couple good softball games tonight, I am rooting for Michigan. The first game has the great Washington pitcher, I guess they will pitch her again. The second game with my favorite Michigan against Number One ranked Florida should be good. Enjoy!

A different hike

We had a good short hike today. The weather was good, so we went to the Bell Smith Springs area to do some hiking. It's only about 8 miles from camp, so we will eventually cover all 4 of the trails there. The trail for today was the Natural Bridge Trail, only 1.5 miles, but plenty enough, as you will see.

First, I owe ya'll a picture of the radio set-up, and I want to show you some falls we stopped at on the way. Below is the current set-up in the RV, I love the Brown Bros. key and paddles. I have them adjusted so all I have to do is think about dits or dahs, very little pressure or travel. They seem to be rock solid, too. Thanks, Kathy.

Kenwood TS480HX (200W on CW), TH-F6, Brown Bros. CTL

We stopped by Burden Falls on the way, this is the highlight of the Burden Falls Wilderness Area, which also has several trails. I just stopped in the small parking area and let Emo get a drink, while I took some pictures. By the way, I saw my third turtle, a deer, and a wild turkey on the way there. Other critters seen have been a rabbit, a snake, several colorful little birds, a couple lizards, and a peacock. Of the 3 meetings I've been to in the evenings, twice I've been scared on the way home by deer standing in the ditch by the road. Oh, we also saw a couple herons.

Burden Falls, a short on in the foreground, taller on in the background.

The tall falls

The short falls, fed by a shorter falls. Nice sounds here. Pleasant place, there were a bunch of black butterflies with blue markings there.

Next we went to the Bell Smith Springs Recreation Area. There is a small campground ($10/day, trees, pit toilet and pump water), a picnic area, and the trailhead parking lot. I decided to go to the arch first, and I'm kinda glad I did. The trails interconnect, and if you are going to go almost anywhere, you need to go down from the parking lot. The creek has carved out the cliffs. Here's how you go down at first:

Emo negotiating the stairs carved into the rock cliffs.

Once we got to the creek at the bottom, I realized there was only one way to stay on the yellow trail to the natural arch. I had to take off my shoes and socks, and wade the creek. Andy the Geologist can explain to me when I get back why there are only two types of rocks in this creek. Slippery and sharp.

The creek crossing

Emo kept busy swimming while I put my shoes back on.

We finally made it up the cliffs on the other side, and crossed over the natural bridge.

We did not take this shortcut.

This was a good, strenuous hike for both of us, we were satisfied. Emo had a blast because I let him off the leash the whole time, and he got to swim a lot. This area is very pretty, it compares to Glen Helen back in Ohio. Southern Illinois is kinda like a mix of Ohio and Texas, lots of ranches, cattle, and horses, but Midwestern terrain, too. I like this place.

I may not blog much for a few days, the Women's College World Series starts tomorrow, and I plan to watch it all. It will conclude Monday. This blog accepts anonymous comments, so drop me a note if you want.

Relaxing

It was a busy Memorial Day weekend here at the horse camp, almost every spot was filled. Lots of horses, but there was some rain Sunday and Monday. We have the place basically to ourselves now.

I have a swollen spot on my back where I removed a tick, I called my insurance's nurse hotline and they told me to get treatment within the hour, so I went to the ER in Harrisburg. Doc didn't seem overly concerned, but he said I had a good infection going there, put me on antibiotics for two weeks and gave me some ointment to put on it. They also took 5 vials of blood. I guess I'll call Thursday to see what became of the blood work. It is a bit uncomfortable, but won't stop me from enjoying anything.

QRV! I got the radio and antenna set up in about 10 minutes flat. I still need another connector to get the Brown Brothers CTL paddle/key combo wired up, I'm anxious to try it out. I listened to several different frequency bands and tuned up, but no QSO yet, haven't tried.

I watched a lot of the Super Regionals for NCAA softball, went to another meeting, and kinda took things slow. We did get in the car yesterday and reconnoitered the area around one horse gap. This is a hard place to navigate, the maps don't always give a clear picture of what is on the ground, and the signs are misleading or not helpful at all. My maps give Forest Service road numbers, and the roads signs give names, when there is a sign. But we got to the area I was looking for no problem, and there is a ton of good hiking there. 

It rained hard last night, and it's grey and overcast right now (8:43 AM Central) so I might just take care of errands and chores today, and save hiking for tomorrow. An AA told me of a good laundry, I need that connector for the paddles, refill my prescriptions, and spend 30 minutes to clean in here. 

BTW, I turned 52 this weekend. Am I young or old?

3 short trails hiked today, a lot of pleasure driving, a lot of dog swimming, a trip to Wal Mart, and a pot of beans cooked in the pressure cooker. Another great day. The first hike was about two miles on horse trail, the horse trails appear to be nice to hike here, which is great news, because most trails are dual use. Pictures from Garden of the Gods, foot travel only. Click 'em for a bigger image.

Actually, a very safe trail.

This is about as close as I got.

Some of the rock outcroppings we had just been on.

Notice Emo is not near the edge - he's no fool.

These are not technically arches anymore, but they were at one time.

The slender formation right center is called the Devil's Tower.

Table Rock is really, really flat, and fairly level.

Tight squeeze! Yes, that's part of the trail.

Lake Glendale pix, moved camp

Here are some pictures from yesterday's hike around Lake Glendale. If you click on the pictures, you can see them bigger, same is true of other pics on here.

There were a lot of trees down, a couple hanging branches, and a lot of work had been done to keep the trail open. We passed by a couple closed picnic areas, and the closed beach. But it is a great trail, similar to Hargus Lake I blogged about before, but a little shorter and less strenuous. I did see a lot of what I think is Poison Ivy. Bugs were not bad at all.

Emo takes a break in a creek. He had no trouble crossing it. Nice trail, see how wide and well kept?

Here is a bridge over the spillway, and the earthen dam.

The lake from the dam. 

Today so far (it's 1 PM Central Time, 2 PM Emo time) we moved camp to site 17 at the:

Little Lusk Trail Lodge

Delwood, Illinois

618-672-4303

Peggy had a cancellation. She came by as I was setting up, we had a nice chat. This place will fill with horse people for the holiday, then it should be mellow. She charged me $400 for the month, a little high, but that includes FHU and unlimited electric, and this is a nice place. I'll wait until the horses are here to get some good pictures. It smells a little like a horse place, but I don't mind, and Emo loves it. He didn't seem to get excited by the two horses that went by a little while ago.

I'm all set up except for the radio, I may wait to put my antenna up until after the crowd leaves. Got the utilities hooked up, Emo's long leash tied to the camper step, and the DirecTV is working. I have a strong 3 bar EVDO signal on the Blackberry, and I surfed some on the Mac, this will work great. Not as fast as the DSL line at home, I understand the bluetooth may be the slow part. But plenty good for what I do.

So, we sit fat and happy. This afternoon, I think we may take a long drive, then get some groceries. Life is good!

A good day

 This was a fun and successful day. Goals - get a forest map from the ranger station, find a good campground, and hook up with AA. Plus, have some fun.

Emo Dog doesn't understand that we are now on Central Time, so we were up early. I found the Ranger station in Vienna, but it wasn't open yet, so I went to a local restaurant and had a good breakfast. After that, the Ranger station was open, and as usual, I had a nice conversation with the ladies there and got a good forest map. There has been a lot of storm damage here, even more in the Western part of the Forest.

We spent a couple hours on gravel forest roads checking out some primitive campgrounds and just having a good time, then I checked out a couple commercial campgrounds. The second one had a cancellation, and I will be able to move tomorrow and get a good site with everything we want, full hook-ups and a clear view of the satellite. Details tomorrow.

The campground here with the Forest Service is OK, I guess, but it is run by a private concessionaire, and the price is now $18/day. That's for electric only, and I have no DirecTV. But it looks like this forest has enough stuff to keep us busy for a month, so I am taking the monthly rate at the commercial campground.

What remained here was, since we were leaving Lake Glendale tomorrow, we might as well spend the afternoon hiking its trail! That's what we did, it is a little over 3 miles around the lake. I have some pictures, but the internet is intermittent here (a good signal at the commercial campground) so I'll post some of them tomorrow.

It took a couple phone calls, but I did find a meeting place tonight, and attended a meeting with 5 of us, but it was a good meeting, we went over an hour. Now I have a meeting schedule, so I can go when I want. And the meetings in Harrisville, along with full service shopping, is only about 20 minutes from tomorrow's new campground.

So, a great day. I might not blog every day of the trip, but I will try to get some more pictures up soon.

We made it here to the Lake Glendale Recreation Area and are camped in spot 20 in the campground by the lake. No satellite TV under these trees, and all the local stations I can get are two NBC stations and some Christian evangelical stuff. And the internet is slow here off the Blackberry. Even worse, I'm by the playground, so things may get bad over the holiday.

Tomorrow, we will check around the local area and see if we want to stay here over the holiday, or what. I will have to move to a spot with TV before the 28th so I can watch the Women's College World Series. But actually, this is a pretty campground with electric and a nice trail around the lake, and I have some DVD's with me, stuff to read, and I am online. So, we will decide tomorrow.

Made good time getting here, it turns out I didn't leave until about noon today (Monday) but got set up here well before dark. Time to feed us both, more later.

Getting ready to hit the road

My last day of work was today, and I hope to get on the road Sunday. But, we may have some disappointments with Shawnee Nat'l Forest - there was a wind storm and some portions of the forest are closed . This is a bummer for us, because we like to explore the forests, but I think we will still be OK. The big storm was May 8, and the campground we want to stay at, Oak Point, is still open. 

The RV and the Subaru are all ready for the trip, I've done the outside work I needed to do, stopped my mail, the washer and dryer are going as I write this, about all I need to do tomorrow is get the RV over here, pack up, maybe put a few grocery items in the RV, and clean the house a little so I won't be embarrassed if Tom has to go in. Emo dog doesn't suspect anything yet, but when I park the RV in the driveway and start to stock up, he will know.

I plan to go I75 to I71 to Louisville, then I64 over into Illinois and shortly after the border go south to the campground. I will probably stop somewhere to overnight Sunday, but I haven't decided where. It may be a rest stop or a truck stop.

The big important thing is to get a campsite before Memorial Day, so we don't get shut out, but with a week's jump on it, I think we will be fine. Worst case, we boondock, but I have solar and plenty big enough tanks, so that's OK, too.

Baseball

Through is all, childhood, alcoholism, the Army, school, sobriety, good and bad, love, war, peace, rich and poor, there was always baseball. From listening to my little transistor radio under the covers at night seeing how many cities I could hear from Ohio, to watching everything on Direct TV's Extra Innings package from the middle of nowhere in the RV, there is baseball. I love the history of the game, the dead ball era, Cobb and Speaker and Wagner, Johnson and Matty, and Grover Cleveland Alexander, all the way through the 60's. There is a void during my drinking days, and the modern game has twice as many teams and is hard to keep up with, but I sure do enjoy watching.

And I played as a kid, and played softball as an adult. I hustled like Pete Rose in co-ed softball. Always played the game right. Played a lot of shortstop and first base, pitched a one hit shutout in the Babe Ruth league. 

I've been to several professional games, minor and major league, but never to an entire 3 game series. Until last weekend, I got good $50 tickets to all 3 games of the Cards - Reds series and had a good time. 3 good ballgames, the Reds have some good pitching this year, so I wasn't afraid of a bunch of blowouts. It is a different perspective to attend the whole series. Here's some pictures from the Saturday night game, I parked in Kentucky and walked over the bridge to the stadium.

The old bridge from Covington, KY to Cincinnati

Cincinnati is my kind of town!

A view of the Great American Ballpark from the bridge.

The ballpark is beautiful inside.

Albert Pujols looks at a pitch

Fireworks from the twin stacks after the Reds win.