Three Nights, Two Days, One Heck of a Time!

Today is Saturday, July 19th, 2008. Right now it is 9:27pm in Fayetteville, West Virginia. I’m on a laptop in a tent. The tent is in Roger’s Campground, also known as Rocky Top Retreat. Since it’s the 19th, and we left on the 30th of June, simple addition tells me today was Day 20 for The Big Trip. Wow. Two more days brings me to an immediate-family reunion. I can hardly believe it.

I keep thinking now is the time for reflection, but then again, I’m still on The Big Trip and tomorrow is full of even more activities still. The plan is as follows: We’ll hike 10 minutes from the campground to Butcher’s Wall and climb a long, fun 5.9 and then a 5.12c called Kaos for its sequential, bouldery moves. Then, depending on our energy, we’ll either switch walls and hike 20 minutes to get there, or try our hand at some more DWS (Deep Water Soloing) at Summersville Lake, 27 miles from here. Either way, we win!

But first, I’m getting way ahead of myself. This blog, at least thus far, has been one of recaps. And reading this, you’re probably wondering how we managed to get from Horseshoe Lake State Park in Illinois to Fayetteville, WV without doing anything of interest. Well, much to the contrary, we had a blast and a half, now in the past, in Columbus, Ohio with Christina Fuduric.

Here is everything we did, in no particular order, from the night of the 16th until the afternoon (See 1:45pm) of the 19th. Hey, wait a sec – that’s today.

I talked to some random helpful, soft-spoken guy in a manh0le named Kevin who helped Alisa and I stop wasting time in the heat in our search for a good, local grocery store.We had two pizzas and two excellent pastas for one dinner. We saw The Dark Knight and then went nextdoor to the movie theatre to use the patio and free internet service of the past-1:30am-closed Cup O Joe place (See picture below).
We made burritos and they were great. We went out for drinks where I forgot my entire wallet and had to walk all of two blocks back to get it. Below is a picture of us at this bar nearby Christina's house, all happy!We hiked and thoroughly explored much of Old Man’s Cave and rock formations of Conkle’s Hollow in Hills Forest State Park, Ohio, sweating all the while. This also included trying to find climbing on the Horse Trail. There’s no climbing there.Beyond the Horse Trail there are other trails that begin just past the parking lot on the road. If you follow those trails, instead of walking on horse remainders and mud, you get a nice hiking path and can find cool, mossy rock that looks like it's been formed by waterworks, but couldn't have been!
The climbing is supposed to be just beyond the sign that says Rock Climbing (The picture at the very top of this blog entry represents this). The same day I also scared Christina at one point. This was fun because she spilled some water, and the water did not get on me. It would have been less fun if the water had blown me over. Either way, the picture below is taken before I scared Christina, and during the get-sweaty-while-hiking phase.We went to North Market after going to another farmer’s market that just didn’t cut it for us seasoned farmer’s market goers. While there, Christina had a huge piece of pizza that looked good. I, on the other side of the table, had a strawberry lassie and a samosa. Alisa took a sip of my lassie. I took a picture of Alisa. And Christina.When we first arrived at Christina’s house, she wasn’t there. Alisa was perplexed (See below).
Then, Christina arrived with groceries including many juicy fruits and berries that we ate the Hills Forest State Park hiking day. Glad to see each other, the two shared a greeting hug.
In between arrival and departure, we went to an ice cream shoppe that touted some good cream of ice. We tested its strength and it was good. So we took pictures of that, too.After the trip was concluded, the days flown by, Alisa and Christina hugged for the road. Hopefully Christina’s work treats her well and she can get some flight hours in! Good luck, Christina! And thanks so much for lending your time, apartment, and fun company for a few days! It goes appreciated! Hopefully, being the traveler you are, you’ll meet up with us somewhere!
Gone from Columbus, we arrive at RTR (Rocky Top Retreat) in WV (West Virginia). We update our blogs, and then Alisa reads her traveling book, “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” (See picture below), while I go for a run down the trail with shoes and chalk bag and stretch my arms on the first few bolts of a few good routes on the Seven Eleven wall that I haven’t seen for two years now.More to come for sure!

-Your Excited Landescaper, N8