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.

Big Trip Soon!

I get my two months off this summer, yeah! My last work day is May 15, I return mid-July. Voluntary leave without pay.

My plans are to go to the Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois. I want to arrive there early the week before the holiday weekend, so I can get a site. I've always liked the idea of checking out this area, because there are tons of trails for Emo and me to explore. Not far to the south is Land Between the Lakes in Kentucky, and the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri is to the west. But I think we may have our 6 weeks worth in the Shawnee National Forest.

One addition to the gadgets is a Blackberry 8830 with Verizon internet access and the ability to tether the Mac G4 notebook to the Blackberry via Bluetooth, so I can have internet access on the laptop at decent speeds wherever I have an EVDO connection on the Blackberry. Verizon has the best coverage area, and I think I will be in fat city in most of southern Illinois. 

High speed internet, satellite TV with the MLB Extra Innings package, 200W Ham radio with a good antenna, full kitchen, DVD player with HDTV, and an iPod to play over the stereo speakers in the RV. That'll work!

Look for pictures late May. 

Motorcycle!

Time for a couple updates.

At the age of 51, I have taken up motorcycling! Last September I bought a 2008 Kawasaki Versys and went to the MSF Safety Course. The bike is a 650cc, a bit large for a beginner bike, but it is working out great for me. Even though I couldn't ride about 2 months solid this winter, and lots of days when it was too cold or raining, I still have almost 3000 miles on it. I love it!

The down side is, my dog can't go. But we still have had some hiking, locally. But not a lot has happened this winter, other than the bike.

Here it is last Sunday at Lake White state park, the picnic overlook:

My long term plans are to get maybe a smaller bike, and take it along with the RV and a small pickup truck, but that won't happen for a while.