Sunday and more: further accounts of my bike trip
On Sunday the 14th of September, I awoke about 9 o'clock. I'd spent a couple nights in the old shelter by that point, so I was sleeping well and past dawn. See, when you're not comfortable in sleep, you'll wake up pretty soon after dawn.
Well, I put a few more hours work into my camp - sprucing it up for the Dad's visit. I added some more leaves to the shelter and put some heavy rocks along one side to support the wooden frame (the shelter was built on a shelf in the hill with one wall on a slope). And I put up a clothes line and hung up my clothes. I didn't bring that many on account of I had to lug everything down there with me. In all, my pack consisted of: a knapsack, a satchel, poncho, wool cloak, wool pants, t-shirt, a small cooking pot, small cast iron skillet, a rusty tin cup, two big Nalgenes, dried tea, cooking herbs, rice, soup mix, rope, wooden backpack frame and some other small items (like knives, cell phone and charger, handkerchief, etc.). I also wore a pair of shorts, a 'wife beater' and a pair of running shoes that I bought before I started college. Take notice: NO UNDERWEAR OR SOCKS!!
I waited patiently outside the Ranger Station right near the sign, and within ten minutes of sitting down, Daddy Jim Tomazic pulled up. We took a ride back to Vesuvius and walked to the camp and back to the parking lot. He had brought some stuff with him he thought I'd like. He gave me a large tarp (good thing because my poncho wasn't big enough to cover my shelter), some Power Bars and a disposable camera.
We went into Ironton for a late lunch (he'd arrived right about noon) and ate at Melini Cucini, an Italian place. I sure ate lots of carbs (just like I wished) and some meat. Dad even ordered fried squid - though he didn't realize it was squid when he ordered! Well, we had a right fine time at lunch, and we stopped at the grocery before I went back. He took off right away because he had to get back to work the next day.
So, there I was at my shelter with a full belly just wondering what to do when I said, "Boy, I'd sure like to take a run around the lake." So, I got all ready and started out. Now, I ran for a little bit and I got past the beach when I stopped in front of a sign. That sign said that it was 6 more miles of trail before the next parking lot. I said, "Hell with it, I'll just run around the whole thing. I got about an hour or two of light left." So, I started off and was doing pretty good. Up and down the hills, flying past juniper stands and spying out rock overhangs and clearings that might make good campsites. I even found a paw paw, Ohio's only native fruit! And it was just lying on the trail begging to be eaten. So, I ate it right up. Now, you might not think it's that big a deal to find a paw paw since paw paw trees are everywhere, but we had an early spring and a late frost, which killed most of the flowers. So this year, not too many paw paws. In fact, I think it was the only paw paw in the entire state this year, and I ate it right up.
Well, I kept going and going on this run. And, I'd look out at the lake and see what looked like the end of it right up ahead. So, I'd be all excited and run up there, and get around the bend and there's the lake stretching off in another direction (this isn't the classic round lake). So that keeps on happening and eventually I turn another bend and see the lake going off into the distance, and I'm feeling just whooped like this lake will never end. Well, I got a bit discouraged and decided to head on back, and all the way back I'm thinking of how this mis-adventure was like a small scale of the larger trip because deep down inside I thought I'd get out to the woods and live there for a bit and get this big revelation - learn some truth - and then I'd be able to just walk away from society and live in the woods in harmony with nature and God and all that. Ridiculous, right? Because if you'd asked me before I left, "Chris, will you get a revelation while you're out there and suddenly know your place in the world?" well I'd say, "Maybe, but probably not." But all the while, deep down inside I was hoping it would happen. And then there I am out in the woods and I actually feel bored. Like I'm sitting at my camp wondering what to do. There was no astounding revelation. No animals to talk to. No foraging my food. No God descending from on high with Truth on his lips. Instead, there I am walking back to camp after I tried to run around a lake on an eight mile trail with not much daylight thinking, "It's just around the bend. It's just around the bend." But, it wasn't, and I never made it around Lake Vesuvius.
I guess all that was a revelation in itself. There really is no other side to that lake. I would've just kept going around the bend until I wound up back where I started. But there is some perspective. There is a here and there and a movement between.
Well, as dusk descended I made my way back to camp and I picked up loads of firewood along the way. And I watched some youngsters swimming off a big rock that pops out across the water from my camp. And I made my fire and sat and watched it listening to the night sounds like I'd done the past couple nights. The run wasn't a total bust. I did get a nice run, metabolized some of that lunch, found a paw paw (the only one in Ohio!) and got some good thinking. And I had tomorrow to look forward to because tomorrow Ryan would be back to the forest and we had plans to meet in the afternoon after his work.
I crawled into my shelter and fell into a deep, dreamy sleep.
Well, I put a few more hours work into my camp - sprucing it up for the Dad's visit. I added some more leaves to the shelter and put some heavy rocks along one side to support the wooden frame (the shelter was built on a shelf in the hill with one wall on a slope). And I put up a clothes line and hung up my clothes. I didn't bring that many on account of I had to lug everything down there with me. In all, my pack consisted of: a knapsack, a satchel, poncho, wool cloak, wool pants, t-shirt, a small cooking pot, small cast iron skillet, a rusty tin cup, two big Nalgenes, dried tea, cooking herbs, rice, soup mix, rope, wooden backpack frame and some other small items (like knives, cell phone and charger, handkerchief, etc.). I also wore a pair of shorts, a 'wife beater' and a pair of running shoes that I bought before I started college. Take notice: NO UNDERWEAR OR SOCKS!!
I waited patiently outside the Ranger Station right near the sign, and within ten minutes of sitting down, Daddy Jim Tomazic pulled up. We took a ride back to Vesuvius and walked to the camp and back to the parking lot. He had brought some stuff with him he thought I'd like. He gave me a large tarp (good thing because my poncho wasn't big enough to cover my shelter), some Power Bars and a disposable camera.
We went into Ironton for a late lunch (he'd arrived right about noon) and ate at Melini Cucini, an Italian place. I sure ate lots of carbs (just like I wished) and some meat. Dad even ordered fried squid - though he didn't realize it was squid when he ordered! Well, we had a right fine time at lunch, and we stopped at the grocery before I went back. He took off right away because he had to get back to work the next day.
So, there I was at my shelter with a full belly just wondering what to do when I said, "Boy, I'd sure like to take a run around the lake." So, I got all ready and started out. Now, I ran for a little bit and I got past the beach when I stopped in front of a sign. That sign said that it was 6 more miles of trail before the next parking lot. I said, "Hell with it, I'll just run around the whole thing. I got about an hour or two of light left." So, I started off and was doing pretty good. Up and down the hills, flying past juniper stands and spying out rock overhangs and clearings that might make good campsites. I even found a paw paw, Ohio's only native fruit! And it was just lying on the trail begging to be eaten. So, I ate it right up. Now, you might not think it's that big a deal to find a paw paw since paw paw trees are everywhere, but we had an early spring and a late frost, which killed most of the flowers. So this year, not too many paw paws. In fact, I think it was the only paw paw in the entire state this year, and I ate it right up.
Well, I kept going and going on this run. And, I'd look out at the lake and see what looked like the end of it right up ahead. So, I'd be all excited and run up there, and get around the bend and there's the lake stretching off in another direction (this isn't the classic round lake). So that keeps on happening and eventually I turn another bend and see the lake going off into the distance, and I'm feeling just whooped like this lake will never end. Well, I got a bit discouraged and decided to head on back, and all the way back I'm thinking of how this mis-adventure was like a small scale of the larger trip because deep down inside I thought I'd get out to the woods and live there for a bit and get this big revelation - learn some truth - and then I'd be able to just walk away from society and live in the woods in harmony with nature and God and all that. Ridiculous, right? Because if you'd asked me before I left, "Chris, will you get a revelation while you're out there and suddenly know your place in the world?" well I'd say, "Maybe, but probably not." But all the while, deep down inside I was hoping it would happen. And then there I am out in the woods and I actually feel bored. Like I'm sitting at my camp wondering what to do. There was no astounding revelation. No animals to talk to. No foraging my food. No God descending from on high with Truth on his lips. Instead, there I am walking back to camp after I tried to run around a lake on an eight mile trail with not much daylight thinking, "It's just around the bend. It's just around the bend." But, it wasn't, and I never made it around Lake Vesuvius.
I guess all that was a revelation in itself. There really is no other side to that lake. I would've just kept going around the bend until I wound up back where I started. But there is some perspective. There is a here and there and a movement between.
Well, as dusk descended I made my way back to camp and I picked up loads of firewood along the way. And I watched some youngsters swimming off a big rock that pops out across the water from my camp. And I made my fire and sat and watched it listening to the night sounds like I'd done the past couple nights. The run wasn't a total bust. I did get a nice run, metabolized some of that lunch, found a paw paw (the only one in Ohio!) and got some good thinking. And I had tomorrow to look forward to because tomorrow Ryan would be back to the forest and we had plans to meet in the afternoon after his work.
I crawled into my shelter and fell into a deep, dreamy sleep.
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