Yesterday I grabbed the ol' Karate Monkey and headed out to my local trails. I honestly thought with it being mild weather that the lot would be full. Nope, It was only me and a couple of other folks who were passing thru whilst escaping from Florida. It has been rather rainy and wet for the last several days so taking a quick turn on local trails seemed a great idea.
It was.
I had the trails pretty much all to myself. Yes, I scared the shit out of a guy sitting on a stump and yes I saw a couple of hikers. I grabbed the ol' KM because I knew the trails would be slick with fallen leaves and I could not really power up some rooty sections with the R/S/S/S Kona. It was a nice little ride even stopped and drank a frothy malted beverage at a lesser known trail intersection. Which is where I ran into the Florida couple. We chatted for a few minutes they were doing a road trip and they moved on. I finished up my beverage and started down the trail.
I have to say as opposed to some of my fellow single track travelers. I've *knock wood* had very few strange encounters and hardly found any weird stuff on the trail. So imagine my surprise to find (actually ran over) a cell phone in the middle of the trail after a little obstacle. I immediately know it belonged to the Florida couple. I was hoping they'd call it or there would be a number on it I could call but to no avail. I tucked it into one of my zippered pockets and hoped that they would discover their mishap before leaving. I made it a point to head back to the Mazdarauder via the single track in hopes of running into there folks. Still nothing.
Got back to the trail head and the Mazdarauder, changed outta my clammy shammy and put the KM onto the rack. The only other car belonged to someone with a Fla tag. I made the logical leap that the phone belonged to them. The phone also had a little stick on wallet with drivers License and a couple of credit cards. Knowing these folks were on the road doing a trip made me want to make sure I put the phone into their hands. Because I can only imagine losing that shit while out on the road.
I did not have to wait long maybe 20 minutes. As soon as they came into talking distance I told them I found a phone and some cards so what's your name. They gave me the right name and I handed over their gear.
Needless to say they were THRILLED.
The woman hugged my neck and the dude shook my hand with great vigor. Truly they were very thankful for the fortune that smiled upon them. Seriously what luck to have the only other MTB rider on 20 plus miles of trail run across your cellie and essential ID and cards. I was happy to be of help to someone because deep down inside I am an over grown and often misunderstood boy scout.
I would have offered them beers problem was I had only the one and I swilled that one one the trail. I should have gotten contact info because damn if I didn't make a good impression on someone for once. I did neither and more is the shame.
At least there were smiles all around. Thanks for reading.
In case you have not gathered it in the past I really dig the end of October and the very first of November. The 3 days/nights I'm talking about are Devil's Night Oct 30th, Halloween Oct 31st and Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) today Nov. 1st.
It's a fine time of year in Georgia the temps have finally cooled down from the summer swelterfest and the leaves are now just starting to change here in Mid-Ga. in the past I've done a myriad of activities on these days which we I refer to as the "Fall Holy Trinity" I have a personal story as to WHY I love these days, I'll spare you the sentimentality this time though.
I had to work on Friday so well Devil's night was pretty much a bust. It consisted of me making the drive back from the A-T-L back to good ol' B-ville making a quick stop at a growler shop near work. Feest Noel was the beer of choice. I drove home listening to a podcast of creepy stories. Got home washed the smell of work off of me then watched a little of Broadway Empire. blissful slumber soon followed
Halloween started off with a trick. Somehow during the night I knocked the alarm clock off onto the floor between my improvised and multi functional nightstand and floor turning on the alarm. Hopes of sleeping in on All Hallows Eve were dashed. So I spent the morning checking the weather obsessively, working on a project that I finally got parts for and getting my shit together for that nights ride all the while listening to a lot of The Cramps and The Misfits. In general being distracted. I also made sure I was properly caffinated.
The project I was working on is the LED light project. A long while back BIL give me a string of LED lights for the Mazdarauder. With promises of hooking up a switch for the cab/cargo area. Well it never happened and I was stuck with a very functional and useful item I did not know how to make work. I had tried hooking it in to a straight plug right into the wall but well, it tripped the breaker in my apartment which threw sparks and made me do the "Ah fuck" dance. Which is the dance you do when you fuck something up. Fearing electrocution by the wall fairies and lying in the burn unit at work I decided to rethink and research this problem.
Let me add here that I am TERRIFIED of electricity. I've seen some tragic deaths (a couple of which were lingering and painful) to it so let's just say I tend to want to be VERY cautious with the wall fairies.
I researched on how to wire up LEDs on the old you tubes and lo and behold I can buy conversion kits on the ebays for cheap. The happy dance is what I did when I saw the box containing the kit. I wired it all together and let there be light:
I left it plugged in for a couple of hours to see if you know it would catch fire, it did not so I added some magnets I had lying around to hang off metallic surfaces like in my kitchen because it's as dark as the inside of a coffin in there. Also, I can now plug it into my yeti 150 for truck camping trips/adventures.
Later in the afternoon I loaded up the Ol' Karate Monkey and struck out for Dauset trails. Dauset is special for many reasons. First it's close to where I live about a 20-25 minute drive. Next it's a well maintained and traveled set of trails located next to a nature center and finally most importantly on this night is that the trails close at 2200 (10 pm for you civilian types) I rolled into the trail head parking lot close to sunset right when most folks were packing up to leave or returning from their rides. I took my time made sure all my lights worked and hit the trail at almost 1900 (7pm).
I have to interject here that I was a little sad I did not ride the Voodoo. It's down at the moment because I'm trying to get the stem height just right. Bummer I know. The KM is a great choice because it's a damn stable bike. 29er that I've ridden for years. Its a help with aging eyesight and a pitch black night to have a bike that can roll over most anything.
Another unforseen tricks I played on myself was grabbing the wrong map out of the mazdarauder and forgetting my emergency whistle. I really don't need a map at dauset I'm familiar with the area. It's just helpful when I'm on the trail because I don't have the same consistent loop, in the spirit of Indiana Jones I'm making it up as I go.
Oddly enough there was night course being done by the Georgia Orienteering Club while I was there. I saw a few of the points and talked to a few of the folks participating. I saw a few of the check points lots of people at the pavilion there. I've thought about doing the orienteering thing but then I remember the orienteering course from my hitch in the army and decide not to relive that particular time in my life. They were really focused on what they were doing unlike me who was marveling at seeing raccoons, opossums and deer out at night. I even had an owl swoop down into my view over on the #9 trail. Good fun!
I got back to the truck and set about making some dinner and drinking one of my special occasion cold malted frothy beverages from Colorado:
And let's not forget my Ghoul Friend of the night:
While cooking dinner and drinking above beverage I had a guy and his girlfriend pull up and ask directions to the local haunted house. Without missing a beat I told him I did not know about any haunted house but I had just heard a radio report of a deranged mental patient roaming the area. He and his girlfriend laughed nervously but left in a bit of a hurry. The cops never showed up. It was said in the spirit of good Halloween fun.
I wrapped up and headed home while listening to The Cramps (rockin and reeling in Auckland New Zealand) and then to a fave pod cast Dirt bag Diaries edition of Tales of Terror.
So ended the all hallowed eve.
Today is Muertos. I would normally go to Pop's grave and drop off some stuff there in remembrance unfortunately I have to study for an algebra exam tomorrow. I feel awful that I did not spare the time to do that today, I should have woke up early to do just that or not write. Instead I lazily slept in. I'll make it up there this week and lay my remembrance down then.
My next "holiday" ride will be Black Friday. REI is doing a great promotion which hands down I totally agree with:
Working retail for many years soured me to 'black friday" and now over the years since it seems like Thanksgiving is no longer a day off for most of the retail workers I give a hardy salute to REI for not giving in to corporate greed and letting most of their folks on this holiday of consumerism. From what I gather all retail locations will be closed. Weather depending I'll be down at the trail:
Alrighty I finally succumbed to the pressures of social media and have an instagram account just look up and to the right for the clickie badge.
Hopefully that makes all 4 of you happy. As my fave month press on towards the most awesome holiday ever (that being Halloween) I have had the chance to go on a local ghost tour with a woman who also finds this up coming holiday just as interesting. Unknowingly the "medium" who was guiding said tour doomed me.
"Oh..." This medium says as we are standing in a local cemetery on this tour. "...there is a little old lady standing next to you, she says you have a kind soul." This tour guide/ medium turns towards my date and asks "Is he a kind man?" This being our second date she says "As far as I know, yes." This tour guide/medium goes on to say that the little old lady ghost that is standing next to me says there is a "goal out there for me to achieve you just don't need to be afraid to achieve it."
I go on these tours to hear the history, dig the creepy vibe and if I'm lucky spend some time with a attractive woman who is of the same mind. Not to be cold read by a "medium" I'm a skeptic of such things. In the past on other such tours I have been told the same thing. that I have a "kind soul"
Unknowingly this tour guide/medium doomed my second date to end with a fizzle so to speak. Damn her "kind soul" comment.
My date looked fantastic, was great company and smelled awesome...I just wish the guide said something like "Why are so many ghosts following you around?" Just saying it would have worked out in my favor a little more.
Sigh so it goes in my dating life.
On to bitchin' fantastic news:
It only took a tad over 6 years. I finally got my hands on my fave seasonal beer Isolation Ale. Odell brewery does not distribute east of Mississippi so since leaving Colorado I have been sad not to have this beer. An old work friend who was doing contract nursing work up in Wyoming was headed back to Georgia and made a stop or two in Colorado. He remembered how I have lovingly mentioned this beer (and my occasional text asking him to do me a righteous solid by getting me some of this fine brew) I have swilled some of this beer. I confess it is as good as I remember it.
As for riding I have been getting out most every Thursday to ride for the last few weeks. I have been riding the good old Kona single speed (R.S.S.S.) Rigid Steel Single Speed. It's been great fun. I went by Mom's and got the Karate Monkey for some more MTB fun later on.
Well time is short and I have school projects to get to. Thanks for reading.
Well, I don't know why we come here Guess I just needed the bang We walk in the beef, and then we pull on the rope And then the, then the hammer comes down
Cables Cables Cables
So I guess they know I'm not no company man But I can pull on a rope, I can kill a cow Slow as any other fucker can
Cables Cables Cables
A little while back Dave-O gave me a shit ton of old cassette tapes which both thrilled me and made me want to strangle him as well. As Dave-O tells it to me I had a pretty big influence on his musical tastes. He and I went to a ton of shows together in the mid-90's before I moved out west to Phoenix and beyond.
There are some real gems in this collection of old cassettes. Among them is a personal fave Big Black's "Atomizer" It is a thick with solid jams that gets the blood pumping. It brings back a lot of memories of adrenaline fueled nights heading to a local show to see what kind of trouble I could stir up.
Fave lyric:
'So I guess they know I'm not no company man...'
This one sentence wraps up my entire professional life no matter where I am in my career. THEY know I'm not going to be in the inner circle no matter how hard I try. I can do the job as well as any other fucker can. So eternally I'm on the outside looking in which I've made as much peace with as I can. I've accepted it.
The temps are finally getting cooler here in in the Empire State of the South. I got a couple of bikes with me. The Cross Check is now back and doing commuting duties to campus, grocery & liquor stores and every other place in between. I slapped the old topeak rack on it with an old busted pannier. I need to get my hands on some spare 700 c tubes although I have super thick tubes in it already. I got the Kona S/S here too. It was doing commuting duties it just did not seem right to have it doing that. I have been wanting to get back on single track. It's been tough getting over to Dauset with the school grind. Maybe this evening. It's be the first time I've been single speeding in a few months.
In other bike news I need to get it together to sell my TCR C2 giant road bike. It's tough parting with it because I worked my ass off and took a fair amount of shit from the bike shop owner getting it paid off. I worked at the shop so you can imagine that every time I walked in with a cuppa joe from the coffee shop next door I'd get a goddamn ear beating:
"Oh you bought coffee today, well I'm glad you can spend 5 dollars (actually it was a buck cause we had an understanding with the coffee shop owner) on a cup of coffee instead of paying off your bike. At least that son of a bitch next door is getting paid."
Fucker.
Anyways I don't ride it much and actually it's spent more time on a trainer than on a road. I need the money because of certain unexpected expenses like truck problems. I just got to get it together to put the damn thing on my rack and drive it back down here and over to the LBS.
It's been a little over a month since I last wrote here. the reason for absence is simple. I've been busy. Yes friends and two readers, too busy to write. The move into my new place was uneventful. It's typical apartment living, the race track over head at 0700 and the occasional neighborly bass treatment. Nothing too bad that can't be dulled or drowned out by a fan. At least if it gets too bad I have a landlord who will enforce a noise rule, rather than the "you can ignore it" nature of my last residence. The box fan I learned is a powerful ally in the fight against ass holish noise.
The apt is small which is fine by me it prepares me for a tiny house eventually. I have severely cut down on possessions and will continue to at the next long break which is around the holiday season. I finally get to cook what I want when I want without again having people look over my shoulder and make comments to the effect of "Oh you're on the health kick again" or "That sounds gross" I digress the Chinese water torture of living with family is behind me. The experiment of getting closer to family has been an abysmal failure, let us bury it under the ever growing trash heap and acts of familial apathy that led to the experiment's very demise.
I have started back school for the fall semester. My second semester of biology, another attempt at college algebra and a theater appreciation course are all on tap. The college algebra is my biggest headache naturally. I'm worried about it but not so much that I let it get me down too much. I'm a little psyched for the theater appreciation class because it is going to give me a chance to polish a story I want to submit to "The Moth" If I get it down and recorded to a point I like and if I figure out the tech I'll post it here. Biology should not be too difficult although I do need to get cracking on studying my note cards.
Speaking of biology let's talk brewing beer. It's been on my mind for well over a year now and since I have my own space I can move forward with it. Yeah...yeah I have to buy the kit still but Dave-O said it should be under 100 bucks which would be easily covered by an extra shift at work. That extra shift money will have to go towards the dreaded credit card because of a recent complete and total break down of the Mazdarauder adventure mobile (aka my truck) It cost for me a small fortune I was able to cover it but it hurt tremendously. In one morning I prob hemorrhaged a decent percentage of my current annual income. It was tough, so it goes in life. I'd much rather have a costly truck break down than an accident that totals the vehicle altogether.
The truck though won't be used too much currently except for trips to work up in the A-T-L and to check on my mother. I have my surly x-check back in working condition after I loaned it to a friend and having the "chain fall off" of it. I threw the rack on it and have my bags and panniers at the ready to go grocery shopping and to school. I even left the cross tires on it so I can take it and ride over at Dauset if I chose to.
Well the morning drags on and I have a shower to take and some studying to do. I'll try to write more often. Thanks for reading.
The latest trip to WNC/Smokey Mountains area went well. Although for a small while we did have a good downpour. I had no probs with a camp site like last time. In fact I got to sleep VERY close to the WEMT classroom. The class was a total blast and very small. I was actually challenged a little bit during the class which is a big plus for me. I made a quick friend she and I went mountain biking at Tsali on the right hand loop and did the alternate because she was so out of shape. I did not care despite her groaning about how out of shape she was. My perspective is that hey we're outside. Enjoy!
It was a good ride and a good time, I realize why more often than not why I like riding all by myself. nothing against other people it just gets old hearing complaints, ride and have fun!
Came back Saturday evening. I just did not want to deal with doing laundry in a busy tourist town on a weekend and trying to find a good camping spot in the area. I was disappointed with my decision but it was for the best because I needed to get back and make arrangements to move and get some things done.
I'm moving tomorrow (Monday) It will be a long process since I never really packed or unpacked from my rushed move a few weeks ago at least everything is in the same place finally. It's just going to be a fair amount of driving. The upside is that I will be much closer to campus and really won't have to worry about commutes much. I hate that I have to pay more rent, the upside is that I can keep beer in the fridge and home brew beer finally! With this move it gets me a little bit closer to the trails at Dauset, which makes the drive 30 minutes to the trail head instead of 50-55 minutes. The other upshot is that at least I'll have a place of my own finally without family looking over my shoulder constantly and clucking when I do something they don't like. The father away and more remote the better.
Well I have a tent to put up to dry out and other smaller tasks to do so I'm going to bail. Thanks for reading.
It's been a tumultuous past few if not several weeks. I won't get too deep into it but I have moved once and will move again here soon. I will be living closer to the college I go to presently because frankly I got tired of dealing with bullshit. So now finally mercifully I will have my own apartment. It's a mixed blessing as some may say. I finally get to live on my own for a little while. I don't know how long that will last because of an ailing parent.
I'll be heading out soon back up to western North Carolina for a wilderness EMT course with SOLO. It's a week long. Because of apartment rental expenses I have decided not to go to "Burning Can" Because I would end up spending money I do not have. I will stay an extra night just to ride Tsali and then head back Saturday afternoonish, maybe.
I spent most of the day today packing for the trip just getting gear into the truck and reorganizing the mess I made when I temporarily moved into my mom's house during this latest round. I'll be in my new apartment by 8/1 with class starting on 8/12. I have to confess it will be nice to be able to brew beer and drink it openly. Then of course the added pleasure of not having family politics to deal with. Pardon me as I quote Bukowski:
I got the Karate monkey all ready to go and that will be my bike for the week. Speaking of the Surly brand and goings on. I loaned the Cross check to an old friend along with a lock that could be mistaken as an anchor. I don't know if he will ride it. I sure as hell hope he does, I even put flat pedals on it hoping he would. I'll check back before the semester starts just to make sure.
So anyways I got another road trip planned destination def known and what I'll be doing. I have picked up extra shifts at work and it looks like I will have to more often because of rental expenses. I figure 1 and 3/4 of a shift every week won't be too rough. I hope not at least. I just want to finish up my silly little associates of science and contemplate my bachelors of the same subject as well. My faith in humanity has slipped some, so I just recently watched this video and it was restored to a degree:
Anyways that's al I got for tonight. Tomorrow is yard work day then work for a shift and 3/4 then off to WNC for a bit. Thanks for reading.
