Light Trail and a Bake Sale

I am happy to report that Gene’s back is still improving; so much so that he was able to go for a short ride in the car and a short hike today.

This is December and all across America non-profit organizations are hoping to raise a little extra cash through craft and bake sales.  The Wildlife Center here at Oak Mountain State Park was doing that very thing this morning.  Since it was only a couple miles over there, Gene thought his back felt strong enough to give it a try.  The walking around and buying stuff was not the problem, the hurdle was getting in and out of the car.  All went well and we supported the effort by purchasing a buttermilk pie.

Let me sidestep a little and answer a question we got yesterday.  Nan wanted to know what type car we have.  We have a Honda Fit.  It’s the smallest of the Hondas and one of the two Hondas that can be towed with 4 wheels down.  The other one is the Honda CRV.  After riding for five years in a Ford F250 diesel, and struggling with parking that monster, we wanted a small car.  We love it.  It is easy to tow and wonderful to drive around in city traffic and back roads to trailheads.  It isn’t so comfortable on a long trip, though.  We drove it up the Dempster Highway in the Yukon when we went to Alaska this past summer.  It got great gas milage, but it was small with camping gear, clothes, food, and the cat for a 3-4 day trip.

It also sits very close to the ground.  That’s the real issue of getting in and out with a bad back.  It’s also an issue on unimproved roads like we often encounter driving to trailheads. We’ll drag on deeply rutted roads.  We just have to be careful. Hope that answers your question.

Okay, back to today.  After the bake sale, I brought Gene home to rest while I headed off to Wal-mart for a few things.  Once I got out of the park and back to the main highway, traffic was crazy.  Wal-mart was busy, too, but nothing like Hobby Lobby. That place was like a zoo.  ‘Tis the season, I guess.

Since the ride in the car worked out so well, after lunch Gene wanted to go for a short hike.  He wasn’t going to push his luck with too many car rides today, so we walked around the campground road to the Light Trail.  One of the local Eagle Scout troops built this trail this summer and it has just opened.  The trail looks like an old road bed, so they weren’t out there moving rock and digging side-hill cut trail, but they did an excellent job of clearing brush and installing water bars and pipes to help drain the wet areas.  They’ve also built and placed three nice benches for resting.  Good job, guys.  Thanks a million.

Light Trail is a really easy woods walk; thus a great trail for this family campground.  It would be a good one even for small children.
The trail is about three-quarters mile in length one way so that was a nice, easy, short hike for Gene.  The 1.5 miles was plenty for today especially after the morning outing to the bake sale.  He thinks tomorrow he’ll be ready for 4 miles.

That’s all for today.  Thanks for tagging along.