Miscellaneous ramblings:
- Recycling doesn’t seem to be a concept in the deep south. Headings south, the last recycling container that we saw of any sort was in TN, and despite stopping in rest areas, restaurants, etc., in practically every state we went through, we sought but never found a single recycling option. Eventually had to destine our recyclables for the landfill. Shame.
- I generally try to leave religion (and politics) out of this blog, but just an observation that it seemed odd to see so many car license plates with “In God We Trust” or some varying reference to God as part of their official state license plate. Of course, we are in the “Bible Belt” in the south and all of these were southern states, but still seems a conflict to me with the separation of church and state clause.
- I finally found something Brady doesn’t like. It wasn’t food, as I found he eats lettuce and even wedges of lemon whole. Glass elevators! At the Park Vista hotel we stayed in TN, the elevators had a glass interior view of the hotel as you ascended, and Brady just about freaked out on the first ascent. After that, Mark or I just about had to pull him to get into the elevator for the short ride, and unless we had luggage to bring, it worked out much better to take the stairs.
- Any idea what “boudins and cracklins” are? Well, I certainly didn’t, but after seeing multiple billboards for them in the Louisiana, I resorted to looking them up. They apparently are, respectively, some sort of meat and rice cajun sausage, and fried pork rinds. OK.
- There is an “elevated highway” section of I-10 in western Louisiana that goes on for eighteen miles through swamps and bayous. I had never seen anything like it, but it really reminded me of the boat chase scenes in the bayous of Louisiana in “Live and Let Die”.
Just an evening check on the Stonington course for Tuesday. The Stonington Department of Public Works really did an amazing job clearing the trails, including weed-whacking the entire trail sections we'll use and chainsaws on 2-3 blowdowns.
Tuesday: 5
Hampton Beach State Park, Hampton Beach, NH. Second annual solo run on the beach and roads
here, after dropping Matthew off at school.
It was warm and high Noon, but I just took it easy. Very busy at the beach today. Of course, I jumped in the ocean immediately
at end of run, before getting Thai for lunch and heading back to RI.
Wednesday: 7
Stonington XC 5K.
Our 3rd annual collaboration with the Town of Stonington Recreation
Department, and our largest field to date, with 115 finishers total, comprised
of 96 5K runners, and 19 in the children’s ½ mile race. From an RD perspective, it all went well with
no one going off course so far as I know.
Several runners came up to me post race to say what a fun time they had
and that they were looking to run Pumpkins and/or Rhody. I received the following unsolicited e-mail
from the Director of Stonington Recreation, and it’s sentiments like this that
make the efforts all worthwhile for me:
"Jeff, thank YOU!
As I said last night I could not have been any more pleased with how
things went. Your effort, along with
everyone from WTAC was Herculean. Please
pass along our appreciation to your Members & Board. See you next year!"
 |
| Crowded start. I'm in green singlet. |
 |
| Plenty of room one lap in and before going off onto the field and woods. |
From a runner perspective, I’m pretty happy with my
performance. One or two high schoolers
went out fast, but most intentionally held back and ran easy as part of their
coach’s plans. This put me about 6th in
the pack. The race is unique in that it
starts (and ends) at the 50-yard line of the football field, and you run 1 ¼
laps on the track before exiting to the fields and woods. One lap in, I was just about to pass the
person I was breathing down, when I saw the digital race clock, calculated a
5:40 pace I was running, and decided I didn’t need to pick it up any
faster. He turned out to be John from
Newport (a good drive for a weekday 5K!) and he said he came because he really
enjoyed our Wahaneeta Trail 5K the weekend before. I kept John in my sights for the entire race,
and I think that kept me going relatively strong. Unlike the course setup and breakdown, no
deerflies at all bothered me when racing through the woods. The race all went by quickly for me, and
after initial settling, was neither passed by nor passed anyone (excluding
passing 85-year old Colburn on the trails, who started early). Exiting the fields onto the track, I did my
best to pick up the pace, but so did the three folks ahead of me, and we all
finished within 14 seconds of each other.
I was also just 14 seconds off last year’s race.
I’ll take it. Full results
 |
| Finishing up the race. |
Thursday: 0
Road trip leg 1 of 3:
Westerly, RI to Gatlinburg, TN.
Left about 6am, didn’t arrive Gatlinburg until 11:30pm. Long, long day. Mark helped out greatly with the driving, but
after 9pm I was just uncomfortable and restless. Not Brady; he’s just an awesome traveler.
 |
| Today's new state (i.e., first ever visit for me) |
Friday: 3 run, 5
hike
Road trip leg 2 of 3:
Gatlinburg, TN to Meridian, MS.
Run: Great Smoky
Mountains National Park, TN.
I got up at 6am and it was both dark and raining. Seemed odd to be dark at 6am in August, but
then again, we are still in EDT time zone but yet way west of Westerly. I found a short trail near the hotel called
“Twin Creeks Trail”. Brady and I ran on that for a little
while, but it was a tad overgrown and after about the 3rd spider web in my
face, I abandoned the trails and ran the rest on roads. Very hilly, especially the steep hotel road /
driveway.
 |
| Nice creek. Trail/bridge crossing in background. |
Mark and I had a really nice breakfast in “downtown”
Gatlinburg, in a place appropriately named Log Cabin Pancake House. Wooden floor, benches, tables, and exposed
beam rafters. Beautiful. In fact, most of Gatlinburg, or at least the
little we saw, seemed nice and blended in with the nearby natural surroundings
of the national park. I could see myself
coming back here. I would even go for the local moonshine tour and sampling.
 |
| Wow, I can actually order a SENIOR meal! Went with blueberry pancakes instead, though. |
Unfortunately, the adjoining town, Pigeon Forge, was just
tourist kitsch, a little bit Las Vegas and a little bit of the hokey stuff that
ruins Niagara Falls for me (garish flashing lights, Ripley’s Believe it or Not
museums, wax museums, giant fake replicas of Titantics, crocodiles, pyramids,
etc. No offense to those that actually
like Vegas, but it’s just my cup of tea.
Give me a log cabin and some quiet mountain trails …
 |
| Stopped in town to get snacks for the hike. Spicy bacon fried pork skins? Yeah, I'll pass, but thanks. |
Hike. Get me back
on track here. Did some research on
popular hiking trails in Great Smoky Mountains National Park that were not too
far from Gatlinburg, and also meeting our time constraints. Decided upon the Alum Bluffs Cave Trail, a
4.4 mile roundtrip (5 on my GPS), 1,076’ elevation gain with some
viewpoints. For a Friday in late summer,
I was surprised on just how popular this trail was. The overflowing parking lot should have been
a hint, and I remember at one point descending when we had to hold up to let a
single-file group of at least 50 hikers ascend past us. Crowds aside, this was a really neat trail
with nice views near the top and cool bluff formations.
 |
| This part of the hike was neat (Mark and Brady ahead) |
 |
| Views were decent, although cloudy / hazy |
 |
| Dinner that evening in Alabama. So is it a sushi bar OR a burger joint? |
 |
| I tried to keep an open mind, but in the end I settled that it was a burger joint with some weird sushi dishes and went with a cranberry/apple/brie turkey burger with fries. |
 |
| ... and today's new state of the day for me is: |
Saturday: 5
Road trip leg 3 of 3:
Meridian, MS to Galveston, TX
Run: Bonita Lakes
Park, Meridian, MS. With an overnight low
in the upper 70s and humidity of 93%, this was not a comfortable breathing
run. Even at sunrise, there were a
number of people out walking on the 1.2 mile asphalt path around the lake, and
all were friendly and said “Good morning” in their southern drawl. Like yesterday, it was only after running on
this path that I noticed the “No Dogs Allowed” sign on the path. Oops!
Is the south less pet-friendly or just a coincidence? Anyway, it only seemed to apply to the
asphalt path, so we quickly got off that and ran the trails, where we only saw
one person the whole time. There were
some fun, twisty, switchback, hilly trails in there, and while I got myself a
bit lost, I was able to orienteer with the Google Maps app on my phone. Unfortunately, by the final mile, Brady’s
bounding was gone and he was just dragging, reminding me of the 87-degree run
at Key West in the spring and concerning me.
Back at the hotel in the A/C and after a lot of water, he quickly came
back to his normal energetic self.
 |
| Bonita Park trail run with Brady |
 |
| Ever heard of this Hilton brand? I hadn't, but it was clean, light, airy, modern, took dogs up to 150 lbs (who has dogs heavier than that?!), and very reasonable at ~$100. |
 |
| Today's new state. |
 |
| Sign at a Texas rest area. |
Arrived Galveston late afternoon. Unpacked the Volvo wagon, and then took Mark
shopping for some major items for his empty, unfurnished apartment. It’s been decades since I’ve rented (1980s)
or bought my first house (1991), and I’ve forgotten just how many things you
need to buy. Since he’ll need to put
everything in storage when his lease ends at the end of his school year in May
2020, and then dispose of same a year later when he graduates, we don’t want to
buy too much or pay too much, but he still needs some basics. Fortunately, Jana had taken him shopping in RI for
toiletries, shower curtains, etc., but I was tasked with the bigger stuff. We got him a basic mattress at the local
mattress store (he’ll have it Monday), and a TV, TV stand, and cheap futon from
a big box store. I tire quickly of
shopping and quickly lose my patience, but Mark eventually finished up his
research and choices, and we got the goods loaded and uploaded. I knew I wouldn’t be getting much sleep at
all regardless, so I told him Mark I’d take him out to a nice dinner of his
choice, the last one on Dad for a while.
Downtown Galveston was hopping, and we had a nice dinner eating at the
Shark Shack Grill & Bar.
 |
| Arrived Galveston. Mark's residence for the next two years. Sigh... |
 |
| Brady checking out his new residence as well. Double sigh... |
 |
| His apartment complex does have a pool |
Brady was the only one with a bed, so he slept on his dog
bed in Mark’s room, while Mark slept in a sleeping bag in his
room, and I slept in a sleeping bag in Mark’s living room. When I got up in the middle of the night to
use the bathroom, Brady got up to see me, followed me back to my sleeping bag,
and laid down up against me, part on the carpet, part on top of my sleeping
bag, with his head on my pillow next to mine. I
wonder if he sensed I was leaving. He
was still there when my alarm went off at 2:30am (5:30am flight out of Houston,
with just over an hour of driving in the rental car I secured to avoid having
Mark drive 2+ plus hours at that ungodly hour and avoid relying on Uber in the middle of the
night). Of course, even at 2:30am, Brady
got up with me right away, and stuck real close to me as I packed up and made
my way to the door, which did not make my departure any easier.
 |
| I hate goodbyes. Always have. Until December, my furry friend ... |
Weekly mileage: 21
Weekly synopsis: Third consecutive week of 21 miles run. I did not game it in any fashion. Now that I'm back in RI and need to adjust to a different family route, it's high time to carefully and gradually ramp up the miles.
Weekly highlight:
The southern road trip in general. 1,800+ miles, 3 days, 14 states (in order:
RI, CT, NY, NJ, PA, MD, WV, VA, TN, GA, AL, MS, LA, TX), 3 new states
for me (bringing my tally of US states visited to 40 out of 50). Sure, there were parts that were either
boring or “can we please just get there already?!”, but overall it was a pretty
unique experience for me, a bonding time with a son I don't see that often, and definitely by far my most expansive road
trip. If time and money were not
constraints (regrettably they both are), I would have spent more time and slowed down more to
smell the coffee.
Weekly lowlight:
Having the “kids” (adult sons) and Brady being gone for a while
again. Much easier for me than the quiet
empty adjustment to “empty nesters” a year ago, but still I miss the daily
hubbub of activity, conversations, and family meals when they’re here. Don’t get me wrong; I’m happy for them and
their growing up, expanding their horizons, and am proud of their academic successes. I also fully understand that empty nesting is
inevitable, natural, and part of the circle of life, but so is death and it
doesn’t mean I have to like it, but rather just accept it and deal with it.
