Multiconstruct

Hello faithful reader. My deepest apologies for the long pause in content generation. The events of last spring were nothing less then momentous and managing the fallout and restoring myself to sanity where about as much as I wanted to do.

Being elected to the Columbia City Council was not a good thing for the blog. Hidden for 6 1/2 years or something and very episodic content generation after that. As I feared when I decided not to unhide the blog 3 months after first being elected having someone sift through my sacred things and attack me with out of context material from across the ages was more then I was willing to take. Or at least adding more potential wood to the fire.

Speaking of which I need to add little wood and TLC to my formerly jaunty little fire I am writing by.

So to catch you up, I handed off my City Council seat to Andrea Waner on Monday. I finished wrapping up a few things, packed my 2005 Dodge Caravan and am taking on van life to celebrate, regroup and recalibrate after being in the harness for 14 years straight, 3.5 times longer then I’d ever have before, and that only once.

Yesterday I finished packing had a cup of coffee with my friend Harry and caught a recovery story/rap performance on his Zoom training. I climbed a rock bluff and looked for morels at the Wagon Wheel trailhead to set a baseline. I had forgotten a few things from the fridge so I went home and cooked dinner and set off.

I stopped at the park on the Missouri River at Jeff City and caught the sunrise. My plan was to crash at the Camdenton WalMart parking lot and then drive to HaHa Tonka and maybe catch some Perseids just before sunrise. There was no overnight parking so I pushed on to Lebanon which was as chill as these things ever are.

I got up at 4:00ish and drove Northeast, breaking my plans to meander southeast until I hit the southwestern edge but not prohibitively so. Paddy Creek Wilderness area and camp ground was the closest Mark Twain National Forest area worth visiting. It was more pleasant then the drive to Lebanon and I grabbed a little more shut eye at a day use area so as not to be crushing into the campground at 5:30 in the morning.

I’ve been hiking and kicked off a new routine. Listening to my body; eating when I’m hungry: sleeping when I’m tired, meditatjng and some super simple yoga. The dogwoods are floating clouds, Little Paddy Creek is tumbling inexorably to the sea and all is right with the world. I’ve started the Deaths Bed Edition of Leaves of Grass and am bracing for the daily godsmack.

There is no signal here so I’m going to drive out and find one to lost. I’ll camp here through the weekend or dispersed camping nearby if it fills up while I’m excursioning tomorrow. There’s a spring I want to see and a short loop to recharge the battery. Until then faithful reader I will be cooking some potatoes and canned chicken over the fire and snuggle up in my cold weather bag as we have another record low. I’m packed for 4 seasons and excited to be underway.