Fortune in a cookie?

I do enjoy… seeing what pre-printed… mass distributed… little words of wisdom… are randomly selected and thrown in with my Chinese Dinner. Not to mention there is a 50/50 chance on what I get… vs what Jesse gets! I took this one as a challenge. Something fun… singular?… we’ll see about that!

I got off on a bit of a rocky start as the Friday night weather was not the best. A storm rolled through and cooled things down considerably. So… I took a typical walk…but in the cool evening air… and was glad I slipped on another thin layer over my t-shirt and shorts. So now the pressure was on for real fun!

Maybe it wasn’t fun… but I sure enjoyed sleeping in Saturday morning. I was up once… but the cool air convinced me to curl back up under the covers… and I guess I needed the sleep. So… when I finally did get up… I fixed up a mess of biscuits and gravy. Again… not necessarily fun… but very enjoyable! But after some chores… it was time to have some fun… what to do… what to do?

It was quite cool (high of 60 F… slight breeze making it feel even cooler… but no rain)… perfect day for a good hike! So I tossed a few things in my day pack… filled my water bladder… and was off to the Holly Recreation Area. There is a series of trails through the park that make a nice 10 mile jaunt when combined right. I parked in a lot off the road between marker 24 and 19… then headed to 19, 18, 17, 16, 11, 10, then took a left 14, 15, 1… back around to 10, 11, 12, and back down to 19, 20, and on around past 24 and finished where I parked the truck.

To say the weather was nice… is a major understatement! After the hotter summer temps we have been having… these cooler temps were a blessing doing a more vigorous hike. I had messed around the house long enough to put myself in a bit of a crunch to finish my hike before dark. So I tried keeping a pretty good pace going. Normally the water drawn out of my water bladder… into the drinking tube gets warm before I take another sip. On this day… the cooler air chilled the water in the tube… making each sip that much more refreshing. This was especially nice as the sun was headed down fast as I rounded the lower loop. This is when I would normally be getting tired and slowing down. I did slow some… but could not slow much as it would be getting dark before long. I averaged about 2.5 mph… finishing at sunset. Perfect timing!

I headed home for dinner to enjoy the result of one chore… which was to stick a roast in the slow cooker to have shredded beef and potatoes ready when I got home. As I was finishing dinner… I heard a racket outside… sounding like fireworks. I stuck my head out the door… and sure enough. There was a little fireworks show going on downtown for Holly Days. And about the time they stopped… I heard a band crank back up downtown… playing some old rock and roll. A beer tent… with live music… what’s more fun than that?

So… slip on some boots, jeans and a shirt… and walk downtown to catch the last part of the show! I am honestly not sure which was more fun. The band was pretty good… and played some tunes I really liked. But I think the real show was on the dance floor. Seems there were a number of people around feeling the need to cut loose (wonder if some of them had Chinese… and got the same fortune?). I decided to keep a safe distance… and enjoy the scene as a casual observer. After my hike I did not have the energy to jump in. Which was probably a good thing… as there was some trouble dancing around I did not need to be part of! A couple drinks and laughs later… the band and fun were ramping down… so I headed home.

I did not sleep in as long Sunday so I could get cleaned up for church. Always nice to hear the good Word… see friendly faces… and sing praises! After church I ran home to get a couple more chores done… then figure out how to have some more fun! The high was supposed to be about 70F… not too much breeze… perfect paddling weather.

I set my sights on a stretch of the river I have not been on in some time. I dropped in at Shiatown Park… which used to be the location of the Shiatown Dam and reservoir. The first time I covered this stretch… all the maps and photos still showed the dam and reservoir intact. To my surprise… I arrived to a fairly recently blown dam… and instead of a flat pond to paddle up through… I faced a fairly steady drop where the river had freshly cut a new path through layers of silt that had built up in the pond over the decades. The river now drops steadily… about the height of the old dam… between where the river used to flow into the reservoir… and then exit at the dams spillway.

At least this time I knew I would have a fairly long steady paddle up through the mile or so of old reservoir bottom… then on up the 5 miles of river channel to my destination Geeck Rd Park (about 6 river miles each way). Going up river did not offer many breaks on this stretch. But this is sometimes better than periods of slower current… broken up by stretches of faster water and steeper climbs that can nearly exhaust you. So… slow and steady was the game.  At first I did not realize the recent storm had the river up a foot or more. But after not encountering many real shallow spots… I began to suspect that was the case. I remember a few spots I had to speed up paddling to get up through… but I only remember one where I nearly stalled at the cusp of the climb.

I cannot explain the physics… or if my observation is maybe a complete illusion. But I swear you can come up through a stretch where the river is dropping… and progress pretty steadily… but the cusp at the very top of that drop… seems to be where the water is moving the fastest. Maybe it is just the effect of getting tired from the sustained push. But I have regularly observed a significant need to boost the power… just where the flat above… transitions to the fall below. I seem to regularly experience a stall in forward progress at that point… even when continuing to paddle steadily… requiring an extra boost of energy to get up through that last bit… and safely into the flat above. If you pause and rest too soon… you can quickly be sucked back over that cusp. So you have to put in that final push until you feel your forward momentum accelerate indicating you are beyond that point where the water tension gives way… and the drop really begins.

Anyway… my suspicion the water was up… was confirmed when I got to the Geeck Rd launch. Most of it  was under water now. Last time I put in here… most of the ramp was above water and dry. I think the cooler temps had river traffic down… as I only saw a couple of fisherman early in my up river run… and a family pulling out at the Geeck Rd launch as I arrived. I have to admit… I was getting pretty tired when I finally got to that launch. I must have looked it to… as the father of the family said… you chose the wrong direction to paddle. To which I responded yeah… I finally figured that out… so I guess I’ll turn around and head back.

I did take a moment to rest… have a snack… and hydrate. I didn’t even bother to get out and stretch my legs. I just sat there and watched the poor fellow drag his daughter, then wife, then mother (in-law)? up the ramp to where they could get out on dry ground. I was afraid to say anything suggesting age as I have gotten myself in trouble there before. But the daughter jumped out and was doing cartwheels… while the older woman struggled to get out of her kayak like I do. I suggested she just stay there and see if he would load her in the truck as is. She did chuckle… as she built up the energy to crawl out. And she smiled instead of hitting me with her paddle once she did… so I don’t think I crossed any of the lines I sometimes do.   

I had started out a little before 4 pm… got here just after 6pm. The chart shows this as a 1 hr and 45 minute down river run. I had taken a little over 2… maybe 2.5 hrs to cover it against the current so I was pretty sure I had plenty of daylight to make it back. I rested maybe 20-30 minutes… then pushed back into the river. Just over an hour later I pulled the boat out and loaded it up back at Shiatown. About 2.4 mph against the current… and about 4.8 mph with the current.

The trip back was pretty uneventful. Sometimes I really have to scout things out on the way up… to avoid obstacles… that can be hard to see in fading light. But with plenty of water and not too many trees down, big rocks, or sand/gravel bars to avoid… I made it look easy… though I was feeling the workout. Along with the cooler temps… some of the trees along the river were already showing a hint of fall color.

Some trees showed more color than this… and even this was brighter earlier with more direct light. But fall is nearly here.

We had some pizza for dinner… but the fall like weather had me hankering for something else… so I found an oatmeal cookie recipe I had most of the ingredients for. I substituted some blueberries from the fridge for raisins. The recipe called for both baking powder and baking soda… which made them more cake like than cookie. But with blueberries in them… they were more like muffin tops than cookies. Anyway… one last bit of fun for the weekend.

Here's hoping all your fortunes are good. I have to admit I am more of the mind we make them… rather than just take them. But when I see one like I just got… I aim to make it come true. So if you are challenged with your fortunes currently… print the one above out… cut it out… and make it yours. Have (make) some real fun during the week and weekend ahead!