Breaking It

For Memorial Day weekend Anthony & I decided we needed to take a little break from our stresses and have some playtime. Anthony had heard of a 4-wheeling club called MIOBI (Make It of Break It) in Southern Iowa that sounded like the mini-vacation we needed. We loaded up Swamp Thing and made our way to the grounds just North of Albia.

I was surprised at how many people filled the campground. This was obviously not the small affair I had imagined.

On our first run through an area aptly named the Playground we discovered that Swamp Thing was not quite as up to the challenge as we had originally thought. We found that her carburetor had a tendency to flood on steep inclines. This was not a convenient problem to have when traipsing through a 400 acre former strip mine full of steep hills and rocks.

After we were pulled to level ground and gave Swamp Thing a chance to recover we attempted to climb the West side of an area called the Rock. Halfway up we encountered the same problem.

The break while Anthony operated on Swamp Thing gave me the chance to play around with my camera.

Once Swamp Thing was up and running again we decided that she would be better suited for running through the mud than climbing rock walls. We set off along a muddy forest trail not paying much attention to the twists and turns that we were taking. That would prove to be our undoing but also the beginning of an interesting adventure.

At the bottom of a steep gully Swamp Thing found a challenge she could not surpass. We were buried up to the bumpers in mud and not able to move more than an inch in any direction. MIOBI requires that every vehicle in the park be equipped with a working CB. Anthony hollered across the air waves for help but we didn't know our location. We tried to talk our would be rescuers through the path we had thought we had taken but it took them nearly two hours to find us. It seems that we had ventured down a seldom used dead end path that many didn't even know existed.

We were pulled out of the mud and backwards up the steep hill by two buggies strapped together.

As it was nearing dark (closing time for the park) we were told to follow the buggies to the campground. They had to go rescue another vehicle on the way so we were taken down a path meant more for buggies and rock crawlers than old, heavy and big 4-wheel drives. The buggies had to hook together again to pull us up another steep rocky incline before we once again entered the muddy forest.

The mud in this part of the forest was deep and that morning's rain had filled the deep ruts to their brim. A little ways down the path we slid in the mud into the wall of one of those ruts. The impact popped the bead off the passenger side tire. It was getting dark and we did not have a spare tire with us. There was nothing we could do to limp Swamp Thing to the campground so we accepted that we were there for the night and hitched a ride back to the Tahoe.

The hospitality back in the campground was amazing. We had people offering to help us in the morning, sharing their dinners and beer with us, and inviting us to enjoy fellowship and warmth by their campfires.

Early Sunday morning Anthony set out with several of his new friends and a borrowed trailer tire to perform their magic and rescue Swamp Thing. I was given the opportunity to sleep in (a rare occurrence) and read my book while snacking on our small supply of Lunchables. It took the boys from 6 am until 2 pm and working through a thunder storm to bring Swamp Thing back to the campground. During this time I watched with amusement as the tent across from me blew over sending several people scrambling out into the cold rain.

When they returned with the disabled truck we had another challenge to confront. How were we supposed to reseed the bead without running water? Anthony adapted with the only liquid we had left.... beer.

I watched with amusement as the beer foamed from the air filling the tire. In all my years around vehicle repairs I have never witnessed anything quite like this.


It worked like a charm though and we had Swamp Thing loaded on the trailer before 4:00.


I played around with my camera for a few more minutes while Anthony said his good-byes and then it was time to hit the road.
Swamp Thing has developed a few more issues since our little weekend jaunt, so it doesn't look like we will be taking her out again anytime soon. It was definitely a different experience that we both enjoyed despite all of our obstacles.

Bittersweet

The beginning a May brought many changes to our quite little abode. Sis decided enough was enough and she left her boyfriend of several years. i won't go into the details of why, as that is not my story to tell.

Sis, Nan Baby, and I had a lovely reunion the day after they came home and spent the afternoon at the park.

It was good & heart-warming to see the girls enjoy a day of giggles and love.

Nan Baby was a slight bit apprehensive when it came to the slide.

She was a trooper though and didn't fuss as the went down.

Sis moved out a few weeks after that but made the loving and mature decision that Nan needed more emotionally and physically at that time than she could provide at this time. Nan Baby has been living with us since and is thriving in her new environment. Sis is working on bettering her situation and we wish her luck and strength.

Restaurant

This week's Random Photo Challenge theme was 'Restaurant'. I have been eating on the go way too much lately with Sis still in the hospital, but somehow most of my meals were never eaten inside a restaurant this week. Save one, Friday Night Supper Club, where I didn't even think about pulling out my camera. In fact, it didn't even occur to me until the next day that Chris was working on his challenge project during our weekly ritual. You can check out his and the several other fun submissions over at Photography139.

At some point during the weekend I mentioned to Anthony that I hadn't given any consideration to this week's project. He had a few ideas that he thought I could be creative with so we set out on a little road trip around Greene County.

Why don't you venture along with us?

As we drove by I realized I had actually eaten breakfast at this little restaurant many sunrises ago. I was surprised that the birds hadn't picked these berries clean.

Most places along this route have been named after the old Lincoln Highway and painted in the familiar red white and blue instead of it's route number of Highway 30. The new highway now by passes the hearts of these small rural towns but reminders are plentiful.

Across the parking lot is an old rail station. Although it's not a restaurant these icicles caught my eye.

Although I am not sure exactly how long the Uptown Cafe has been in existance I know that it has resided in this building for quiet a long time.

Maggie, Sam, and Bug enjoyed the ride as well. When we returned home Maggie was ready to go again.

See Dad? I'm ready! Let's go kick up some snow!

Sam Sam on the other hand was ready to kick back and take it easy the rest of the afternoon.

A walk down that memory filled trail

The weather was absolutely gorgeous today. I was still in a slight bit of a funk, so rather than picking up the house I thought the kids and I should get out and about for a little while.

We had been hearing all week how the river was once again overflowing its banks, reminiscent of the two major floods that I can remember in my lifetime.

We figured our best bet for comparison was to head down to Ledges.

Yep, it sure looks like pre-2008 flood levels, but not up to the 1993 level thankfully.

The one nice thing about flooding is that it forces us to get off the beaten path. There are some areas of the park that I could navigate with my eyes closed, but others I haven't set foot on in years.

Walking through that forgotten timber produced hazy ghosts of memories.

It was July of 1993. I was 18, newly engaged, and barely pregnant. We had just returned from Cheyenne a few weeks before. We traveled from the dry hot winds into oceans where corn fields used to be. It rained terribly for the first two weeks after our return. It was a warm rain though and many nights we could be found walking through the flooded streets of town anyway.

A group of us decided to head down to Ledges on one of the few sunny afternoons to grill out & celebrate our return and engagement. We pulled the picnic tables as close to the water as we could get them and fired up the grills. The guys downed beers while the girls sat at the tables sharing the latest news and admiring my new ring.

At some point one of us declared that the heat and humidity was too much . We kicked off our shoes and ventured into the lagoon the swollen river had made near the shelter houses.

We spent the afternoon swimming in and out of this very shelter house, with an occasional rest seated in a windowsill. It was an afternoon to remember. Sadly it has been so many years now that I can barely remember who was there. I remember my friend Sunny, and of course my fiancee at the time, and possibly his brother and 1 of his sisters. I can assure you that there were a great many more people in attendance, but those are the ones I distinctly remember surrounding me with joy that day.

Towards the end of the day we were still full of horseplay when we should have been exhausted. I had some excuse to get out of the water, but quite what I no longer recall. I swam to the shore and started to trudge through the water covered mud that made up the last few feet of shoreline. Then out of no where he came! My fiancee was still full of 19 year old energy and horseplay. As he tackled me back into the water my stomach lurched in terror as I felt my new ring, which still needed to be sized slip off my finger and vault into the air.

I watched in fly up but never watched it land as my head went under the water. Already in tears I righted myself the instant I could find footing, but it was already too late. It was lost to the river, buried somewhere in feet of soft mud.

The entire group pulled together and searched the entire area. We sifted through handfuls of silt and mud but to no avail.

Every new flood I wander the shoreline there, curious to my ring's fate. Maybe, just maybe that beautiful 1 carat solitaire will resurface. I doubt I will ever be the one to find it, but maybe it will bring as much joy to the person that does as it did to me in the short time it was in my possession.

A break from memory lane, Sis decided to do a little exploring. Much like a young version of me at that age she has a need to feel and experience. The clay at the bottom of this creek bed caught her interest and she felt an intense need to touch it.

Apparently it wasn't quite what she expected as she declared it was slimy and muddy.

Further along the trail we came to this shelter house. I have an elusive memory of a fun night with a bunch of friends here in high school. I seem to recall that it was either after a play or band concert. It seems quite possible that as part of the tech crew we ventured out here after pulling off behind the scenes perfection for the high school drama club's latest production. I recall many other nights where we would venture around town stopping to play on swing sets, attempting to call up spirits with an Ouija board (in the chicken coop if any of you recall), or watching the end outcome of silly bets unravel at McDonald's.

What I do remember of this night is a game of hide and seek. I remember somehow climbing up onto the roof on the backside of this shelter house while the boys ventured off into the woods.

Ah, how I miss those young carefree days.

As I left the memory trail and joined back up with the kids I came across Sis laying on the side of the road. How can I reprimand her when I would have done such a thing at that age, and might even still, if the circumstances called for it.

Of course on the way out of the park we saw plenty of deer that were gracious enough to stop and pose for us.

I took a lot more pictures throughout the evening, but am choosing to hold those back as one of them just may end up being my submission for this week's photo challenge. The subject of which is Motion if any of you are interested in taking part. I know Chris would be excited to have more people participate!