Once More Unto the Breach, Dear Friends

“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to….”

J.R.R. Tolkien

After a very long dry spell, and the cancellation of several adventures, we are setting out again on the road.

The spring and summer have been spent more or less quietly at home base, Henry building and tinkering, and me reading and tending garden, both of us getting vaccinated and dreaming about the end of the pandemic quagmire.

Henry replaced the roof on the house (with only a little help from a local crew)….

Raider got to go shopping for building supplies at Lowe’s.

We also laid out an ambitious vegetable garden.

The harvest was pretty good, especially early on…… favorite crops were tomatoes (nothing better than home-grown), eggplant (a small but perfect size), gorgeous watermelon radishes (most delicious pickled) and zucchini (easily grown to outrageous size).

The round-the-world happy trip we were scheduled to take in October was cancelled, so we have decided to venture out for further exploration of our very own continent.

The target is Lake Superior….. called Gitche Gumee in some native American languages, also known as the shining Big Sea Water in Longfellow’s poem “Song of Hiawatha”. The ostensible purpose is to explore the lake’s north shore and do some rock-hounding – seeking out agates, a stone for which Henry has a great fondness.

Our last road trip was in 2019, so many preparations were required. Travel bedding had to be aired out (when was the last time you used a clothesline?)

Equipment, including the canoe, ATV, trailer and powered parachute, had to be tuned up.

Customized arrangements had to be made for Raider. Here he is enjoying his new sleeping compartment in the trailer, and aboard the wonderful side car that Henry built so he can join us on ATV rides.

Quite a fortunate canine!

We finally got everything together for a September 22 departure, a magnificent first day of fall…….. celebrated with a firecracker sendoff!

We headed north, stopping in Longview, TX, for lunch with Henry’s daughter Holly, who was lucky enough to receive a generous supply of okra and one of the outsized zucchini gourds, just in time for her autumn decor.

Henry also made a special platform for Raider so he can ride comfortably in the truck, with a fine view of the passing countryside.

Weary from the last few days’ preparations, we did not make it too far….. pressing into Arkansas and stopping for the night in Arkadelphia.

It is always astonishing what you can see and experience in some of the most apparently unlikely places as you travel across the country. Afraid that we were too late to find a suitable dining establishment, we stumbled across Harvey’s fairy-light-festooned food trailer next to the freeway exit. We enjoyed excellent fried catfish along with a spirited conversation with Harvey himself.

Arkadelphia was hosting participants in the venerable Cannonball antique motorcycle rally that night, and we had an interesting visit with one of the participants. (Strangely, the next overnight stop on their route is our own Nacogdoches!)

Will press on north, invigorated at the prospect of adventures to come. Please stay tuned!