I had been in a bit of a funk. My days in Astoria were numbered (in the tweens) and I was sore about it. It was a Sunday - a day off of work. I had to coax myself out of bed and told myself that the Sunday market would bring my spirits up even though I didn't feel like being around people.
As I walked down the hill, I phoned my grandfather - he always brings a smile to my face and shares his wisdom with me. Toward the end of the call, I told him how badly I wanted a road bike - I was standing in line at a bratwurst stand in the market. When the call ended, a handsome young man in line in front of me turned and excused himself for eavesdropping on my conversation but wanted to know more about road bikes for sale. Byron introduced himself and we ended up sharing lunch at a picnic table in the market. We chatted about how we came to Astoria, he from the US Coast Guard station in Kodiak, AK and you all know my story. We exchanged numbers, well, actually I gave him mine and didn't get his. I didn't expect to hear from him again.
A few (couple?) days later, I ran into him at the theater and invited him to sit with me and my housemates. We went out for a beer afterward and I guess things went alright - we saw each other almost every day after that until I left town. We went for walks on the waterfront, hiked at Young Falls, and hung out at my regular place, the Voodooroom where the pizza is delicious and the beer is cold. He's funny, intelligent, fit, polite and enjoys anything ending in "ing" that you can do outside. My kind of guy!
After I left town we kept in touch via telephone. When I was in Yosemite, I suggested we go hiking somewhere for a week or so. That brings us to the end of September - he spent a week in Texas dodging the sun at Desert Survival Instructor school then he flew into St. Louis to spend a week with me causing trouble in the Missouri Ozarks.
We went to the St. Louis Zoo to play with the penguins and tiger cubs. We also found turtle sculptures and butterflies.
We spent the rest of Saturday in Columbia. That night we had planned to camp at Pine Ridge Campground in Mark Twain National Forest, south of town. It was full. So was the campground at Finger Lakes State Park. So, we ended up in a mowed field at a private campground which turned into a lake after it rained several inches in a few hours overnight. At 04:00ish we dropped the tent and got the heck out of there before we needed a motorboat or at least a couple of paddles to get out. We napped at my place for a bit then went for breakfast at Ernie's. We toured the Mizzou campus and ate Sparky's ice cream - twice! I thought about you, Tom! =)
Later that day we headed south for the Ozarks. We camped that night at Turkey Creek Campground in Mark Twain National Forest near Ironton, MO. We broke down camp early and headed over to Elephant Rocks State Park where we ate breakfast then played on the rocks and the Braille Trail. I caught a lizard, too! Cute little guy. Good Times!
Back in the car, we zipped over to Big Spring in the Ozark National Scenic Riverways. Big Spring dumps 289 million gallons of water per day on average into the Current River. The Big Spring Dining Lodge is a beautiful stone building built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. It overlooks Big Spring as it flows to the Current River. After much coaxing and clucking, Byron finally talked me in to jumping in the spring. It was icy cold and invigorating! I wanted to jump in again, so we did! He recorded this adventure - but I won't be sharing it!
We stayed in a cozy little cabin, which was also built by the CCC in the 1930s. It was nestled in the woods on a quiet little road. We hiked a trail using a very poorly made map. I heard something rustle in the leaves. It was a little lizard. I dove for it and caught it. I also picked up a couple of dozen seed ticks - should have seen Byron freaked out! Ticks give him the eeby jeebys! Hehe. Thanks to him bringing along medical tape, I was rid of the ticks in no time! Back on the road to the cabin, I found a small skink.
The morning in the cabin, Byron made breakfast - scrambled eggs with sausage on bagels. I made the coffee. Delicious! We ate breakfast on the screened porch listening to white-breasted nuthatches calling to one another with their nasally, raspy, "ank ank."
Next up was Blue Spring, it really is blue! A gorgeous spring with an average flow of 85 million gallons per day.
Continuing north along the Ozark National Scenic Riverways, we stopped at a few other springs and mills, then arrived at Pulltite, our destination for the evening. We set up camp and collected firewood from wind thrown trees. I collected twigs for kindling and had a brush with stinging nettle. Boo! We went swimming (wading?) in the Current River that meandered lazily through the campground. I caught a crayfish. Byron named it Helga. =) We let her go and then Byron caught a glimpse of a rope hanging from a tree over the water a hundred meters upriver. I finally talked him out of trying to get to it. The rope was probably rotten from the sun anyway.
Back at camp, Byron made an awesome fire out of the kindling I gathered and the wood he cut up. He's so amazing! We ate tuna and soup and popcorn and chatted until we couldn't keep our eyes open any longer, then went to sleep. The next morning a Katydid had found a resting place on my walking stick.
Our last night and day in the Ozarks was spent driving over to Lake Ozark where we camped at Lake Ozark State Park. It was a full campground. We hiked on Lake Bend trail that, as its name suggests, follows the lake shore. It was a rocky trail that wandered through maples and dogwoods and crumbly, limestone bluffs. I found some fungus to photograph.
Back at camp, we observed a gray squirrel duck into a hole in the tree. We contemplated catching it and having squirrel for supper. The hole in the tree was the perfect place for a snare - but it was a state park in a campground and I had no idea what the rules and regs were for squirrels. We ate breakfast for dinner, chips and salsa, cheese and apples, and drank rum and juice!
The next morning, our squirrel friend was frantically moving her squirrelets from the den in the tree near our tent to another hole in a tree about 50 yards away.
On the way back to Columbia, we detoured to find a cave that was on the map. Turns out the cave was gated so we couldn't enter it. But we did walk across a ricketty old bridge where spiders spun beautiful webs in the spaces between the cables. We also saved a box turtle from certain death on the highway and freed him at the bridge.
Back in Columbia, we went to Rock Bridge State Park to Devil's Icebox trail and Connor's Cave. Devil's Icebox trail is a boardwalk that winds through an oak/hickory forest and ends at Connor's Cave. The end of the boardwalk is elevated quite high; you feel like you're in the canopy of the forest. It's one of my favorite spots near Columbia. I was happy to share it with Byron. We played in the cave for a bit and took pictures.
On Byron's last day, we drove to St. Louis where he would catch his evening flight. We walked around downtown and settled in on the landing near the Mississippi River and the Arch. We ate at a brewery with mediocre beer and service and good food. A handsome draft horse drew a carriage around as we ate and talked.
It was a somber day. I wanted Byron to take me back to Oregon or to not leave at all. At least stay another day. We both knew none of those things were right. After lunch, we headed to the airport. We spent our last hour together talking and wishing time would stand still. Finally, it was near boarding time, so we said our goodbyes and he disappeared down the hall toward security and I out the sliding doors of the airport.
I drove home that night to Des Moines from the St Louis airport. The next day I helped unload a semi full of food from Angel Food Network Ministries. We distributed the food out to the people at our church. It was a day of satisfying hard work; it was fun watching all the food disappear!
I spent the past couple of weekends in Des Moines with family. My car had various issues that needed dealt with and I brought some of my worldly possessions home to store in the barn.
No comments:
Post a Comment