People

Pictures of people, friends, and family.

Eclipse glasses — Ginger and Gary ready for the annular eclipse, in Odessa, Texas. Annular Eclipse Trip Day Four. +7

Faux Stonehenge Odessa, Texas. We stopped here while scoping out potential places to watch the annual eclipse. We decided this might be too twee and too popular. The eclipse photographers were already gathering. +2

Ginger sitting on the edge of the bluff overlooking the Canadian River, south of Logan, New Mexico.

Testing, testing. One, two, three — Two outpatient visits to the hospital today for some tests. Ultrasound in the morning, and my annual cardiology checkup in the afternoon. All my results were good. In a little experiment, I used AI to obfuscate the personal information in the image. It makes a nice change from pixelating it.

Lanie’s been in Europe since December. It’s been my job to give her car a run out every now and then while she’s gone. One has to do these things in style 🙂 +1

Photograph of Gary Allman at the Pineview Trailhead, Piney Creek Wilderness, Missouri, USA. July 2023.

Trip over — Three nights and four days by the lake. I left a day early as I didn’t fancy hiking out in the 90°F+ temps forecast for Monday. +1

Just sitting and watching — That’s pretty much how I spent four days. The cup of tea was optional. +2

Photograph of Gary Allman sitting in a camp chair with a pot of food. Camped in Piney Creek Wilderness, Missouri, USA. July 2023.

Noodles for lunch.

Photograph of Gary Allman sitting at a campfire, Piney Creek Wilderness, Missouri, USA. July 2023.

Campfire — It is very rare for me to have a campfire nowadays. But I’d collected the wood, so I might as well use it and keep the fire ring clean.

Ready for the trail. Or, judging by the reflection in my sunglasses: “Car, dunny (a.k.a. vault toilet), arm and camera.” I’m planning on spending four nights and five days at my favorite camping spot by Table Rock Lake.

Cats need glasses — and Morty agrees (sort of). Anything for a fluffy lap to sit on. +1

Ginger & Morty — Morty has a particularly strong headbutt.

I had just crossed Paddy Creek Road for the second time today.

Lunch in the shade by Paddy Creek.

Gary (and company) at the Paddy Creek scenic overlook. +1

Gary, about to cross Paddy Creek Road — The Big Piney Trail has three road crossings. I’m about to cross Paddy Creek Road, and if things go according to plan, I’ll be crossing it again a few miles further on and after lunch.

Starting Out — Hiking the Big Piney Trail Clockwise. I’ve taken a day off so that I can spend three days on a slow hike of the 16-mile loop of the Big Piney Trail in Paddy Creek Wilderness. Unlike previous trips, it is forecast to rain on the first day, not the last. +1

Day Three – tea in bed at ‘Cab Creek’. Note the sun just rising above the edge of the hollow.

Preparing and eating lunch — time to have some lunch before getting on the trail. And finally the sun has come out! +1

Packing away — It rained quite a lot last night and the drips were still falling from the trees, so I kept the tarp up while I packed everything away.

Lollygagging — it was quite cold early in the morning, I was glad I bought my big puffy jacket and some base layer pants to wear.

This wasn’t my plan for the weekend. Day One — Gary at the Pole Hollow trail Junction. Orange hat because it is turkey hunting season. Two-minute read, +1

Hike over, obligatory end of hike selfie — Trip total, a very modest 10.5 miles and 1,000 ft. of elevation gain.

I’m in no rush … I don’t need to be home until this evening, and it’ll only take around two hours to hike back to the trailhead. I might as well relax for a while.

Ooh look, there are newish blazes on this trail too. Note the buff to keep my ears warm.

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