I'm writing this blog entry while sitting outside my little tent, at my camping table, at the fairgrounds in Wauseon, Ohio, where I've been attending the Midwest Geobash.
I arrived at about 10 p.m. on Thursday night, having loaded my car the night before and going straight down here after work. Left about 5:30, made a stop for ice, then stopped again at a cache between Lowell and Ionia that was at an eastbound rest area. Hard to get those going the other direction!
Stopped in Grand Ledge to grab a bite to eat and hopefully check the internet. Wouldn't you know, I picked a McDonald's that DIDN'T have wi-fi! So kept on going south.
Made one more cache stop, a travel bug place at a southbound US 127 rest area. Had to walk through weeds as tall if not taller than me (definitely did a tick check after that!) but worth it as I picked up a military geocoin to take traveling with me. Stopped in southern Michigan for gas, wanted to try to get to Ohio but decided it was cutting it too close. Wish I'd have waited - paid $3.85 per gallon, then in Ohio it was $3.69. Definitely will fill up before I leave the state tomorrow!
Arrived at the fairgrounds about 10 p.m. Nobody on duty to show me where to go. I expected that. Didn't expect that (as I found out later) the sign for my section had been moved, I couldn't figure out where to go for a while. Finally had to get out of the car and walk with my flashlight to read the posts in the middle.
Set up the tent using my solar lantern. It is nice but would have been nicer to have more light. Still have a pretty nice campsite if I do say so myself. Sweating like a pig by the time I was done as it was pretty humid. Found the shower house not too far away so took a shower and felt much better. Tucked myself into bed and woke to rain. Very thankful for a nice dry tent. Only problem was not remembering to bring my rain gear into the tent given the forecast. Thankfully I knew just where to find my poncho in the car. Ate granola in the tent since I didn't want to cook with no rain fly. Things cleared up, though, and by 10 a.m. it was overcast, getting muggy, but no rain.
Met friends from home and we all went together out on the "poker run." We were given 7 sets of coordinates and visited 7 area businesses at those coordinates, picked up bar code stickers which corresponded to playing cards. The best hand won a GPS receiver. Mine is definitely showing signs of wear and tear but I didn't win.
We picked up some caches along the way as well.
Came back and finally got the code for wifi on the fairgrounds so got caught up on logging and such while waiting for the poker run results. Also got my travel bugs checked in and some new ones exchanged.
Soon time for dinner. I brought my backpacking stove, a "pocket rocket" and broiled some chicken that I had been marinating in teriyaki sauce. Also boiled some water for some couscous. Nice dinner. After dinner I got out my bicycle. Had brought it as it was recommended to get around. Found out just how nice it was to get around and find the caches hidden in the fairgrounds area! 12 caches in about an hour and a half on the bike. I'm hooked and want to take the bike out on some of the local bike trails around home. Cached until almost dark and then logged caches until bedtime.
This morning I scrambled some egg beaters and had a nice breakfast. Decided to get out there and get some caches, first stopping at WalMart for some non-stick spray as I'd not packed any. Ended up with 29 caches today, many of them on the Wabash Cannonball Trail which involved quite a bit of walking. My feet, at least the blisters on them, can testify to that fact.
Came back for a while in mid-afternoon after stopping at McDonalds to cool off in their air conditioning. Discovered that there was a challenge cache for completing all 366 calendar days (there wasn't one at home) so decided that was my evening caching's destination. Broiled a turkey burger and added a caesar salad for my dinner. (confession. lunch was a snack size Mcflurry during my cool-off stop.)
Did more walking on the WCT tonight to get the challenge cache and some others. Back to the campground, much the same routine tonight. The internet is a bit spotty so hope this posts ok. Tomorrow morning it's time to pack up and go home. Plan to cache along the way, of course!
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Good dog, Max!
Wednesday night, we were deluged by about 4" of rainfall in the same storm. This was about 10:30 - 11:00 at night, or so. Steve had already gone to bed, and I had just finished packing up the car to go to the Midwest Geobash the next day after work. I was working on the computer, trying to figure out a problem with loading some caches, using the battery power so as not to be hooked up to electricity in case of lightning. Heavy rain is noisy.
Suddenly, Max went over to the top of the basement stairs and started barking ferociously. Quite unusual for him. I finally went over to investigate and discovered water coming in through the back door to the walk out, also through two windows as well. I hadn't heard anything but Max noticed!
Woke Steve up and we went downstairs to try to resolve things. He made the mistake of opening the walkout door, more water started to pour in so he quickly closed it again but the extra water went over the sill and started going into the rest of the basement. Between a pump attached to hose that went out the side window down the driveway, the shop vac, and lots and lots of towels (we had a huge tote full of them from his dad's house...) we stemmed the tide and had minimal losses. I thought for a while I wouldn't be able to go on my trip but got enough resolved that it was ok.
It could have been much worse. If Max hadn't alerted us, I wouldn't have gone back into the basement as I had all the camping stuff I needed for my trip. Steve may not have gone down there. It could have been Sunday before it was noticed. We had new furniture stored down there, in storage for his dad's house as Eric's roommate brought furniture with him. The couch got wet but we got it dried out right away.
Extra dog treats for Maxie!
Suddenly, Max went over to the top of the basement stairs and started barking ferociously. Quite unusual for him. I finally went over to investigate and discovered water coming in through the back door to the walk out, also through two windows as well. I hadn't heard anything but Max noticed!
Woke Steve up and we went downstairs to try to resolve things. He made the mistake of opening the walkout door, more water started to pour in so he quickly closed it again but the extra water went over the sill and started going into the rest of the basement. Between a pump attached to hose that went out the side window down the driveway, the shop vac, and lots and lots of towels (we had a huge tote full of them from his dad's house...) we stemmed the tide and had minimal losses. I thought for a while I wouldn't be able to go on my trip but got enough resolved that it was ok.
It could have been much worse. If Max hadn't alerted us, I wouldn't have gone back into the basement as I had all the camping stuff I needed for my trip. Steve may not have gone down there. It could have been Sunday before it was noticed. We had new furniture stored down there, in storage for his dad's house as Eric's roommate brought furniture with him. The couch got wet but we got it dried out right away.
Extra dog treats for Maxie!
Monday, July 11, 2011
Weekend update
It was (mostly) a nice weekend for me. Friday morning brought little tasks around the house, then I met my friend Carolyn, who had moved to Tennessee and was back for their house closing, for lunch at Keisers in Lowell. We had a great visit - nice to talk in person again! From there I was to meet a scout at the library to review a merit badge. He didn't show up as he hadn't received the message. That's ok, I had wifi stuff to do.
On the way home, I stopped at the nearby rest area, just a mile from my house. When checking on my cache there the other day, noticed the blackberries were getting ripe. Came back today with a bucket and got a nice bunch of them. We had blackberry smoothies with dinner that night and I've frozen the rest for future use.
Just before bed, turned on the news to the second day in a row of special breaking news - Betty Ford had passed away. That will mean an interesting week for Grand Rapids as she will be buried here at the museum with her husband. Imagine it will include dignitaries and such.
Saturday morning, I was disappointed because Steve decided to make other plans instead of sticking with our plan to go to Wayland for a Bears get together. If he hadn't wanted to go, he should have just said so. That was quite disappointing and I did my best to convey that when we talked about it that night. Don't think he got it. Just have to remember to keep my focus on what I do have and not lament the things that I don't have (and probably never will again...)
The Bear get together was fun, though. I took Max and we hit a few caches on the way down, then had a great long visit with Tod & Becky and Sonia & Randy. Vickie & Jim and Joe & his wife were also supposed to be there but didn't show. Thought about a few caches afterwards but it was just too hot.
Sunday morning, after prayer and thought I decided to go with Steve to his Gold Wing meeting instead of going to church. I don't want to make a habit of that but thought one time would be ok - and then we could go for a ride with the group afterwards. Nope. Nobody was riding. So we decided to go for a ride ourselves. First headed downtown, we had eaten on Plainfield and soon passed by one of the houses where the murders happened. Quite a lot of memorial items (flowers, balloons, etc.) there already. Then I asked to go to the Ford museum so I could sign Betty Ford's condolence book. Figured there wouldn't be so many people on Sunday morning and I was right.
We headed down Division to the south. Not too long until we were in the country and headed east towards Yankee Springs and Gun Lake. A nice day for a ride, but getting hot fast. Wish we'd thought to bring our suits as we could have gone swimming at the park. Nice to have that recreation passport on our license plate now instead of buying an expensive yearly pass! Stopped by Dad's house on the way home so Steve could water the new concrete drivewa. Then home by about 1:30 and a nice talk with Scott by all three of us as Eric snuck in just as Scott called.
They have started making plans, thankfully. London and Paris sound like part of the plan, as does, surprisingly, EGYPT. Guess they've found a good package deal. Kinda thought Eric would want to spend more time in Europe itself. Not my decision, I guess.
Today was back to work, but a twist soon developed. Two lines of severe storms came through the area - the first just after I arrived at work, the second a few hours later which caused the clubhouse to lose power. After several hours of dealing with kids in any place that had natural light, the decision was made to close the clubhouse and cancel programming for tonight. So I have some unexpected time to get caught up on the computer and thus my blog entry today.
On the way home, I stopped at the nearby rest area, just a mile from my house. When checking on my cache there the other day, noticed the blackberries were getting ripe. Came back today with a bucket and got a nice bunch of them. We had blackberry smoothies with dinner that night and I've frozen the rest for future use.
Just before bed, turned on the news to the second day in a row of special breaking news - Betty Ford had passed away. That will mean an interesting week for Grand Rapids as she will be buried here at the museum with her husband. Imagine it will include dignitaries and such.
Saturday morning, I was disappointed because Steve decided to make other plans instead of sticking with our plan to go to Wayland for a Bears get together. If he hadn't wanted to go, he should have just said so. That was quite disappointing and I did my best to convey that when we talked about it that night. Don't think he got it. Just have to remember to keep my focus on what I do have and not lament the things that I don't have (and probably never will again...)
The Bear get together was fun, though. I took Max and we hit a few caches on the way down, then had a great long visit with Tod & Becky and Sonia & Randy. Vickie & Jim and Joe & his wife were also supposed to be there but didn't show. Thought about a few caches afterwards but it was just too hot.
Sunday morning, after prayer and thought I decided to go with Steve to his Gold Wing meeting instead of going to church. I don't want to make a habit of that but thought one time would be ok - and then we could go for a ride with the group afterwards. Nope. Nobody was riding. So we decided to go for a ride ourselves. First headed downtown, we had eaten on Plainfield and soon passed by one of the houses where the murders happened. Quite a lot of memorial items (flowers, balloons, etc.) there already. Then I asked to go to the Ford museum so I could sign Betty Ford's condolence book. Figured there wouldn't be so many people on Sunday morning and I was right.
We headed down Division to the south. Not too long until we were in the country and headed east towards Yankee Springs and Gun Lake. A nice day for a ride, but getting hot fast. Wish we'd thought to bring our suits as we could have gone swimming at the park. Nice to have that recreation passport on our license plate now instead of buying an expensive yearly pass! Stopped by Dad's house on the way home so Steve could water the new concrete drivewa. Then home by about 1:30 and a nice talk with Scott by all three of us as Eric snuck in just as Scott called.
They have started making plans, thankfully. London and Paris sound like part of the plan, as does, surprisingly, EGYPT. Guess they've found a good package deal. Kinda thought Eric would want to spend more time in Europe itself. Not my decision, I guess.
Today was back to work, but a twist soon developed. Two lines of severe storms came through the area - the first just after I arrived at work, the second a few hours later which caused the clubhouse to lose power. After several hours of dealing with kids in any place that had natural light, the decision was made to close the clubhouse and cancel programming for tonight. So I have some unexpected time to get caught up on the computer and thus my blog entry today.
Can't believe it happened in Grand Rapids...
But it did. A mass murderer killed seven people on Thursday (one being his own daughter) and led police on a chase through the streets of Grand Rapids, gunfire and all, before heading the wrong way on the interstate and crashing, then escaping on foot and holding three people hostage in their own home before killing himself late that night.
All of our local stations were covering it from beginning to end. I drove home from work unaware of what was happening - had the timing been different I might have been caught in the middle of it. That's what makes it a bit too close for comfort. You always hear about such things happening elsewhere, not in this area.
Freaky.
All of our local stations were covering it from beginning to end. I drove home from work unaware of what was happening - had the timing been different I might have been caught in the middle of it. That's what makes it a bit too close for comfort. You always hear about such things happening elsewhere, not in this area.
Freaky.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Midnight in Paris
Just left my private showing of the new movie, "Midnight in Paris." Stars Owen Wilson. I say private showing because it was an 11:45 a.m. matinee and nobody else was in the theater.
Movie started with a long montage of a day in Paris. That alone was worth the price of admission (only $4.50.) Then the movie - won't spoil the plot but it involves Owen Wilson going back in time. I really liked the movie, for the plot as well as the fact that it was PARIS....it's earned a spot on my all time Top Ten list, I think.
It was worth seeing this one in the theater.
Movie started with a long montage of a day in Paris. That alone was worth the price of admission (only $4.50.) Then the movie - won't spoil the plot but it involves Owen Wilson going back in time. I really liked the movie, for the plot as well as the fact that it was PARIS....it's earned a spot on my all time Top Ten list, I think.
It was worth seeing this one in the theater.
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