Bob Miles…
I really wanted to get home at around 4:00 or thereabouts today but that didn’t happen due to various adventures and misadventures. Nothing truly horribilis, just a wee LOT more Frogger Hopper Goat Tracking than I would’ve preferred. And so, I am Toadily Roto and if you do not know what that means, read Road Fever by Tim Cahill (I *think* that’s the book and you can do the googling because I am, y’know, Toadily Roto). Actually, the book never talks about being “Toadily” Roto. That’s my own embellishment.
So I said something like, “I want to leave HL by 1:00.” The GG said something like, “Let’s leave a bit earlier and take M18 and take a “little” hike at this one spot [I fergit the name] along the way.”
Alert Alert Alert! Danger Will Robinson Kayak Woman! Incoming Desktop Trebuchet missiles! I knew the Desktop Trebuchet was a bad birthday gift idea…
Anyway, a short hike along the way? Sure, that sounds like fun. I fergot to take the concept of Bob Miles into consideration… If Bob (or his evil twin) says, “It’s only another mile”, it’s probably more like three. Get the idea?
So, getting to the hiking trailhead was easy enough even though (as it turns out) it was NOT off M18, it was off Reserve Road. M18 is a paved two-lane state highway. Reserve Road is paved for quite a distance, then it turns into gravel, etc. It was still okay when we got to the trailhead. The trail? Perfect! A gorgeous 3.1 mile (not Bob Miles) loop deep in the woods with a fair amount of up and down but nothing extremely challenging. The perfect little side-trip on the way back south to Megalopolis, roight?
Not. When I exited the trailhead parking lot, we had traveled 20.5 miles. The next eight took… Well, I didn’t even keep track of how long it took but I did NOT like the goat-tracking we had to do get back to a paved highway or even something wide enough that the bushes weren’t scraping the sides of the Frog Hopper. I wish I had taken pictures but I was too freaked out. (I wasn’t driving by that time. I stopped the FH and said, “I’m done”.) I don’t really mind goat-tracks. I just like to know that they come out somewhere, not peter out into a swamp or something where there’s no place to turn around.
Eventually, we did get back to a nice paved highway and I took over the driving for the rest of the trip (after a side-of-the-road Pstop for the GG [sticks tongue out]). It was all okay except for intermittent heavy rain storms. The kind we experienced a couple weeks ago in Kentucky and Ohaaaao.
It seems we are observing Mother’s Day here. I don’t EVER expect my kids to honor me in this way but, since Lizard Breath moved back to megalopolis from Cali a few years ago, she has always gifted me with Impatiens flowers from the Eastern Market. She has a taaaar with a slow leak so she was a wee bit nervous about driving over here today (and I was also nervous (because I am her mooom)) but, in the end, she did and all was fine and she’ll prob’ly get it fixed over here tomorrow morning before heading back to work. And Mouse will be over after making an appearance at a cast party.
And don’tcha know that life is pretty good (KNOCK ON WOOD BIGTIME AS ALWAYS). I have two independent, responsible adult daughters that 1) don’t want to live with me (or off me) but 2) like to come visit me. What did I do right? Actually, probably nothing. I think they raised themselves in the typical sneaky kind of way that Fin / Cfam children kind of do.
May 10th, 2015 at 7:02 pm
Good job on this hike.. Yeah, I tend to under estimate what’s ahead and over estimate what’s behind.
May 10th, 2015 at 7:07 pm
Love you anyway, Bob.
May 10th, 2015 at 8:37 pm
Once I’m on the road and headed to a destination, I don’t really like to stop–but Patt DID! It used to drive me bonkers. I’m glad that you had a wonderful MD with your girls; I wish mine were in the country. I’m fortunate that my mom is still alive, but I did miss my girls.