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Posts Tagged ‘university memorabilia’

Epic Road Trip 2 #1

December 2, 2023 Leave a comment

I cleaned out my apartment and dropped off keys and stuff I was donating and dropped off my router at the Spectrum Store in Olathe. I had also packed the van for the trip. I forgot my cooler and cooler food but I don’t normally travel with that and was as much relieved not to have to mess with it as disappointed.

I added some more stuff but that’s my basic set up. Cot with extra padding and one seat folded up for a chair.
Lot of miles on the 2005 Dodge Caravan but it’s gotten me this far.

I set out for my first campsite a little over an hour south. Since it was night and raining I took the interstate. The next morning I put the “avoid highways” option on Google Maps so I’ll probably end up on more gravel roads than interstate like my last Epic Road Trip. It was a municipal fishing lake with dispersed camping. I think I was the only one there.

It was overcast so not really a sunrise

I heated water in my new heated pitcher that runs off the cigarette lighter. It took about 40 minutes but I made some drip coffee. I have some home roasted to get me started. I only slept fair but that will get easier as I’m more tired. I had some leg cramps from the 40 flights of stairs I climbed packing and cleaning out my second floor apartment.

I did a short hike at a Fort Scott municipal park and read about the flood in the 80’s. The big attraction was the fort which is preserved buildings and some recreated. It was really well done with interesting exhibits. One of the better forts I’ve seen and I’ve been to a bunch.

I’d never heard of Charles Jensen. I also was interested to read about the Indian refugees fleeing the Comanche during the Civil War as I had just read about that in the history of the Comanche I’m reading. I took a lot of bakery pics for my friend Jeff Pavlik who is a historian and baker and is writing a book on the subject.

Fort Scott abuts the fort and I had some lunch and walked around downtown.

I also learned Gordon Parks was from Fort Scott. I went to his museum at the local community college. He was a renaissance man as an important photographer, civil rights activist and directed Shaft amongst other things.

I half assed looked for his grave but it was wet and I was tired and I settled for a monument with some quotations on being a Black guy from there that was pretty cool.

I’m tired so I’ll leave it at that for now. I’m hunkered down in a Walmart parking lot a little north of the Texas border. It was cold and drizzly so I made more miles than I planned. I’ll try to get more succinct and share less pics in future posts.

Categories: camping, epic road trip 2, hiking, pictures, travel Tags: , , , , , ,

they don’t make ear muffs anymore

January 21, 2012 1 comment

Its been another interesting day. I slept good last night which I was grateful for having a couple of bad nights previously and really being tired yesterday. I got on stuff early starting the dishes while I was waiting for water for coffee and kept to a pretty good pace all day. Had to do a load of laundry because I needed the shirt I wore yesterday for pictures. The coffee was good, medium/dark Ethiopian I’d roasted yesterday over lunch. The benefits of a little hustle. Coffee really does hit its peak the day after a roast.

I remembered to water plants and ran some errands. Got some more inclement weather gear. Went to the Alpine Shop to try and find ear muffs. Its to cold to do nothing and a stocking cap just doesn’t work for what I’m trying to do these days, though there’s nothing better on a cold day. I have 3 I regularly wear depending on how cold it is. Only the gray one matches my coat but until very recently and only for a bit I haven’t cared a rats ass about such things. Function over fashion as much as I can get away with.

I had gone their last night but arrived shortly after close. I hit Walmart though I am not a fan because they were open and I also needed butter. When you need ear muffs and butter Walmart is your place. But no ear muffs, though I did get BGH free butter, go figure. So back to the Alpine Shop when they’re open and voila no ear muffs. Try the Tiger Store(University memorabilia)  they recommend which seems like a good idea. They did have a rain jacket. I lost mine some time ago and have been looking not finding one I like. More then I wanted to pay but a solid jacket that looks sharp so I got it.

Stopped at another memorabilia store. “Do you sell ear muffs?” “Nope, just stocking caps.” Everyone agrees stocking caps are the shit. At the Tiger store no ear muffs either. “Well we’ve got these” and they’re these little ear caps that pop open slide over your ears and then you pop them closed. Seemed ridiculous but I was thinking that maybe they don’t make ear muffs anymore. Apparently things go out of style and you can’t buy them in stores. Weird. I know the internet has everything all the time, flea markets and such as well. I am shopping for a sieve. They have gone the way of the ear muff, but I’ll find one because there’s no hurry. But it was cold today and the headband I borrowed looked cheesy on my receding hair line.

So I bought the “ear buds” I thought she said, I wore them out of the store and never really looked at the packaging. Didn’t see anything like them on google image search for buds and muffs. They’re kind of cool though, certainly keep your ears warm. Of course there’s a Tiger on them. Could be worse I guess, they could be tiger ears or something. They worked.

I wish I could have worn them when I got my picture taken. When it was 60 a week ago an outside shoot seemed like a fine idea. Less so today at 30. Jane took a lot of shots some outside some inside and we got some nice ones. All head shots, one in an open shirt and cardigan one in a shirt and tie. Should’ve worn the suit coat, it was cold. Between that and being outside I got a little chilled to the bone and tired.

I took Fido to the shoot to play with Jane’s dog Ursual, a 13 month old Pyrenees. The played pretty good together. After Fido got comfortable he started some chase and they had a good time. He’s sacked out at my feet curled up by his Christmas donkey. Its always fun getting your picture taken. Makes you feel special, important. I’ve been lucky enough to be in more then my share of them for being a homely fellow. Glad Fido got some good play in though, it was his day to walk and I didn’t do it. Will tomorrow and a bath too. He’s starting to smell like a dog.

Still went out for dinner with Amy and her friend. Went to La Siesta, always a terrible name for a Mexican restaurant. The nap is not inspiring as far as cuisine goes. Better name for a hotel or something. It was fair. I had the carnitas which wasn’t very spicy. Wasn’t bad and had some Dos Equis on tap. Now I’m ready to crash. Looking forward to finally getting the Christmas tree down tomorrow. No popcorn and cranberries this year.

Categories: community, dogs, friends Tags: , , , , ,