We’ve met a few of our neighbors here at the campground. Bob and Sue are diagonal from us across on Mustang Rd. (we’re on Pinto Ln.) and invited us to join them at the United Methodist Church for a Christmas show. It’s an annual event which they have attended for a number of the 17 years they have been coming to this resort. We hemmed and hawed about going 
but decided, what the heck, it’ll be nice. The show was aptly named The Sights & Sounds of Christmas and was comprised of a complete orchestra, several choir groups; young & old, and Bell Ringers. It was a real menagerie packed into about an hour and a half. It was a beautiful show and I am always awed by the sounds produced by an orchestras. All those people, all those instruments, all in unison creating such wonderful music. The last segment of the show included all the members, along with the audience, singing a medley of holiday songs. We were glad we took Bob and Sue up on their offer and really enjoyed the show.
Mag is working on an top secret art project so she needed to go to Hobby Lobby. While she was combing the aisles I was browsing myself. On a number of occasions Mag has let me know that sometimes I provide too much information. She presents this fact in a simple, short statement; “I ask you what time it is and you tell me how to build a clock.” During my browsing, I spotted a clock kit. It’s all wood and recommended to anyone 14 and older. Well, I figured if I’m going to tell Mag how to build a clock, I better know how to do it so, I bought myself the clock kit. I can’t wait to assemble my clock!!
The first full day here I was fixing stuff in the underneath storage compartment. I implemented the 30 cent rule. What’s the 30 cent rule, you ask? If I see a nickel in the toilet well, I’m not sticking my hand in there to grab a nickel so, I toss in a quarter and go after the thirty cents because now it’s worth it. You probably surmised that it an old rule because with inflation, in today’s dollars, it’s the three dollar rule. Anyway, Mag had accidentally dropped our mini dustpan and brush behind the wall in the through-storage under the trailer. Through-storage is a storage compartment that stretches from one side to the other with access on both sides. The twenty-five cent piece to this is an issue with the TV cables behind the wall. There at two cable TV outlets in the trailer, one in the living room and a second in the bedroom. Neither are working and I have a workaround but I thought I might was well check it since now we have thirty cents in the bowl.
I had to remove a wall inside the storage space to access the wiring and also retrieve the dustpan and brush. Somehow I wrenched my back and haven’t been too active since. Monday I felt almost normal and went for a bike ride down the Fort Fraser Trail. Ten miles out and back was my goal. The first five miles were into a fairly good breeze which makes it feel like I’m riding uphill. At the five mile mark, I turn around and, with the wind at my back, I quicken my pace. The trail runs along Route 98 and at one point is strays for a moment into some trees, as it veers to the right then back to the left before returning to the roadside. By roadside, I don’t mean to say it’s close to the road but maybe it’s about 30-50 feet from the road so, not too close. When I return to the ‘roadside” I suddenly notice a stop sign at the intersection of the trail and County Rd 540A (I think) and it’s a busy little intersection. Folks like to drive fast here and speed limit signs are evidence of that. I slammed on my brakes and stopped in ample time but a jeep driver who obviously was startled by my sudden appearance, slammed on his brakes. I waived him on but he insisted I go first. Well, the guy behind him was forced to slam on his brakes and was none too happy about the situation and let everyone within earshot know.
Tuesday I went out on my mapping expedition across the reserve connected to the resort on my bike. I wasn’t sure how it would go because my bike in not a mountain bike but more of a cross between a street bike and mountain bike. I was able to ride a majority of the trail and capture it in my All Tails App. I imported the GPS info into Google Earth and from there, created a map. Some trails I did not capture, I drew manually but I am happy with the final result. I couldn’t make sense of the map the office provided and I hope this copy will help others as it helped me.
Mag found a hike for our adventure Wednesday not too far away. Loyce Harpe Park has nearly 12 miles of trails but, as we discovered, it more ideal for mountain biking than hiking, Although we only came upon only one mountain biker, we enjoyed our 3.5 miles hike spotting many aquatic birds, a red tailed hawk, turtles and some misquotes at the marshy end of the park. There is also a disk golf course and crossed paths with a number of groups. It’s a large park with many ball fields, a screen enclosed pavilion and picnic areas. It looked like a really nice park.
