Up before dawn and short walk around campground. Talked with neighbor, coffee and headed out to the Enchanted Rock State Natural Area as I have been told the park closes for the day as soon as the small parking lot fills up. The ride there was great on twisty, hilly roads. The Enchanted Rock was amazing. It is a granite dome rising 450 feet above the surround ground. It is open and there is a path to the summit. I asked about taking Sunny and was told it’s a pretty rough climb, especially at the beginning from a roughness perspective then the remainder is smooth, sloped rock. We started out on the trails and went along the path until we had gained probably 50’ in elevation before I made the call to abandon the summit and take the path along the base which loosely follows a stream. It was a great walk and there were no other people on the trails we followed. Saw many small birds and walked right up on a white tail deer which stopped and stared us down for a minute or so before trotting off.
Early when I was checking in I had talked with an organizer (who has a ’31 model A Ford) of a weeklong classic car rally which was on its way to the Enchanted Rock. Knowing this and seeing some of the cars arriving when we started out, I arranged our walk to take us to the parking area where the 90 or so cars were and wandered through. Very nice cars from the late 20’s through the 60’s.
Just like at home, needing to be the center of attention, Sunny laid down right in parking lot road while I was talking to some folks. There was not enough traffic for it to be a problem but it was pretty funny as noted by a few passer-bys.
Needing to take care of some business, I tried to find an ATM which I could deposit some checks. The one I came across near the campground did not allow deposits at all. So we returned the camp.
At a trailer near the entrance were two ambulances and a fire truck. Shortly thereafter I saw a helicopter circling. Initially this seem unusual since we’re adjacent to an airport and I’m pretty used to the ghetto birds circling my neighborhood in Tampa, however there were very strong winds and then the helicopter landed about 500 feet from my trailer, in the park. Unfortunately, it was a life flight chopper and they brought one of the ambulances over, loaded up a patient and took off. I have not found out what happened.
About 1 pm, I discovered my cell phone was showing “extended network” and quit working. Since I’ve been using the cell phone tethered to my computer for internet access, I grabbed the laptop and headed into to town in search of an ATM and WIFI.
The campground host had told me during check in of a small coffee shop downtown with great breakfast and WIFI so I found a parking spot near there and fired up the computer. I was able to access their network and got the license renewed. My phone still won’t work so I Googled Verizon stores and got an address a few blocks away and drover there figuring they may have shut off my account because of the tethering. I arrived at the store and went in to find that Google failed me because the store was strictly a Sprint store, not Verizon. And they were busy. Realizing they were not going to be of any help and not wanting to wait to hear them tell me that I took off in search of and ATM.
I went to a drive through and it said out of service. Headed down the street to a walk up unit and it also was out of service. This one was next to a bank entrance so I went inside and discovered everyone’s cell phones and many land lines were out of service. This apparently effected the teller machines connections as well.
So being a little defeated on my plans but with no recourse I decided to hit the local visitors center and investigate the War of the Pacific Museum. Knowing it was already 2:30 and the museum closes at 5 I did not plan on making it there today any longer. I did pick up a bunch of pamphlets and guidebooks.
Went for a late lunch/early dinner since last night I discovered the town closes early. Found a place with an outdoor patio so Sunny got to sit with me. The server brought out a dog bowl and filled it with ice water while we were sitting down. I enjoyed a big slab of mahi mahi with mango salsa and fresh avocado on a bed of rice and asparagus.
Walked a few blocks downtown looking at the old buildings, shops and galleries. While walking we came across a vacant lot with a little grass Sunny seemed very interested in (hint hint) so we hung around there for a couple minutes in hopes of maybe discreetly taking care of business. Nothing but sniffin' going on so we kept walking.
The old buildings are mostly narrow so the first door was maybe 50 feet down into our advancing walk when right in the middle of the sidewalk, in front of the store door, Sunny suddenly half squats and pushes a turd out, followed by another, and finally a third all sitting tall right on the bricks. Thankfully they were firm, well formed and for the fact I’m in the habit of carrying a bag so we swooped them up with only three or four people laughing!
Talked with a neighbor back at the campground who’s from western Michigan and a rock hound.
No comments:
Post a Comment