Thursday, November 25, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving to all from west of Gibsland, LA. I can assure you I didn't overeat this year! I slept so well last evening, and was awake around 550.....waiting for my wake up call. Still not sure where I am, but do know I'm headed in the right direction. Everything was packed and I was on the road around 645. Goal for today is just more miles toward Monroe.
Happy Thanksgiving to all from west of Gibsland, LA. I can assure you I didn't overeat this year! I slept so well last evening, and was awake around 550.....waiting for my wake up call. Still not sure where I am, but do know I'm headed in the right direction. Everything was packed and I was on the road around 645. Goal for today is just more miles toward Monroe.
I hadn't walked more than a mile or two and came to a small town called Dixie Inn. It's close to I-20, so has a truck stop, restaurant, store, casino, etc, I stopped in the Huddle House for breakfast.......the normal stuff. The place was packed, maybe people traveling. By the time I had finished eating, it was raining outside, so I walked over to the driver's lounge and did some computer stuff. While I was sitting there a guy came in with a Cowboy's shirt on. He was headed to the game, riding in a car load of Saint's fans. Tough game today, so it might be a long ride back home. I sat there about an hour, it had stopped raining, so I bought some ice and a few things and headed toward Minden.
Minden was only a couple of miles up the road. It has one of those divided streets downtown, and I stayed to the left, facing traffic. That turned out both good and bad. The good....Minden has a great downtown, and the street I took is the better of the two sides. The bad: Hwy 80 took a turn to the south, and there were no signs on the street I took....only the street going with traffic. So, this cost me about a mile or so of re tracking my steps. But, it's a great little downtown. even have a "Jelvis" Christmas concert coming up in early December.
Hwy 80 is at it's worse leaving Minden. Two lane, no shoulder (above). The good news, almost no traffic. It started raining again, so I ducked under the overhang of a church and rested there until it stopped. A nice woman named Cathy stopped, offered me a Thanksgiving meal, but I declined. I was wet, and just not up to doing that....but a nice gesture on her part. I walked on, and passed through Ada and Taylor, two very small communities. A man was sitting on his porch, wished me Happy Thanksgiving, and walked out to the road and handed me a little money for the trip. I large hen turkey crossed the road, saw me, and flew off over the trees.
It was only a little after 4, but getting dark quickly. Then it started raining again. Gently at first, so I decided to find a camp site. Found a place between the road and railroad track, among some pines. It was about 6-8 feet above the road, so I had to unload the cart and carry the stuff up the hill. About the time I had the tent up, it started raining harder, which made a mess getting things inside. But finally everything was in, including me. It's hard to keep water from coming in the bottom of a tent.....at least for me. So I had to deal with that and try to keep things reasonably dry. It poured for several hours, the wind blew, and it became colder. Sometimes it's hard to tell if something is wet or cold.....or both.
Several trains passed through the evening, and the track is so close the ground shook. When I heard one coming, would put my hands over my ears to shut out part of the noise. But, I was glad to be reasonably dry and warm, and was soon asleep.
It was only a little after 4, but getting dark quickly. Then it started raining again. Gently at first, so I decided to find a camp site. Found a place between the road and railroad track, among some pines. It was about 6-8 feet above the road, so I had to unload the cart and carry the stuff up the hill. About the time I had the tent up, it started raining harder, which made a mess getting things inside. But finally everything was in, including me. It's hard to keep water from coming in the bottom of a tent.....at least for me. So I had to deal with that and try to keep things reasonably dry. It poured for several hours, the wind blew, and it became colder. Sometimes it's hard to tell if something is wet or cold.....or both.
Several trains passed through the evening, and the track is so close the ground shook. When I heard one coming, would put my hands over my ears to shut out part of the noise. But, I was glad to be reasonably dry and warm, and was soon asleep.
Hi Jeff. Not sure why you are having water coming in the bottom of your tent. Are you using a ground cloth underneath the tent floor? If so, make sure that it fits slightly smaller than your tent floor, so that water does not collect on the ground cloth and then flow under your tent and through it. Typically a 3mm sheet of plastic (like a painters plastic sold at Home Depot) is all you need for a groundcloth. You could also try spraying a water repellent on the outside bottom of your tent (after cleaning it first). Unless you have pitched the tent in a slight depression or poorly drained soil, you should not be having that issue. Hope you get the issue resolved! Marcy
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