Thursday, September 20
While en route from Colorado to Farmington, MO, I stopped off in Jefferson City. Despite spending the majority of my adult life in Missouri, I had never visited the capital of our fair state.
It was a slow day - evidently nothing much was in session. I almost had the downtown strip to myself as I strolled along, seeking a place for a late lunch.
After visiting a small organic market, I decided on Yanis Coffee Zone, a cafe with Middle Eastern food. Their menu is posted on the wall and the young man working there noticed I was reading the section where all the hot food is listed. He politely interrupted me to let me know that, unfortunately, the kitchen closed at 2 (it was 2:30). However, all of the cold food and coffee drinks were still available. He was very helpful and accommodating. In the end, I ordered the hummus. I told him to keep the pita. I would use the peppers I'd just bought at the market.
The hummus, beautifully presented, tasted delicious. The friendly and personable waiter apologized again for the limited choices and wanted to make certain I was well taken care of. As I was the only customer as the time, he was free to chat. I asked him a bunch of questions about living and working in a place like Jeff City, with its fluctuating and seasonal population.
Shortly before I left, he said, "since you like peppers, would like some more?" Somebody had given him a bunch from their garden. He had more than he could eat and they couldn't use them in the restaurant. I graciously accepted and left feeling like that was one of the best random stops in my travels so far.
Thursday, September 27
This happened my first evening in the Land Between the Lakes.
I parked my car at a vacant campsite alongside Kentucky Lake. Nearby was a man, perhaps late 50s or early 60s, blasting classic rock and fidgeting with tarps. He had quite the setup; practically a tent city.
Meanwhile, I switched the contents of my car over to sleep-mode and pulled out food for dinner. As I was eating, the man came over to greet me and my friend. He'd assumed I had traveling companion and was quite surprised to learn I travel alone. Upon realizing this, he wanted to reassure me that he and rest of his group would do me no harm. As if in evidence of their safety, he explained that he was a local who visits LBL often. I wanted to say, "If that's the case, you must know the area really well. The means it'll be harder for me to escape!"
Instead I smiled politely and bit my tongue.
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He next told me the rest of the group would be coming later and that they would be squirrel hunting in the morning. He didn't want me to be afraid when I saw the shotguns. I told him I wasn't worried.
He smiled at this and said, "Oh, you carry, too?"
Puzzled, I replied, "No, unless you count bear spray."
"Hair spray?"
It was here I realized that he was a touch hard of hearing.
I clarified about the bear spray. Intrigued, he asked, "So you travel out west? Are you an artist or something?"
He was not expecting me to say I was a science teacher. The poor man didn't quite know how to respond. I didn't fit any of his preconceived notions.
We chatted a little while longer before he left. He came back a few minutes later to offer me some ribs he'd been smoking all day. I graciously accepted, thrilled that back-to-back Thursdays had brought me amusing conversation and free food.
(As an added bonus, this day was the birthday of one of my favorite people. It's hard not to feel fortunate on September 27).
Thursday, October 4
On this day I parted ways with the Old Dogs and headed to Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. About halfway between Nashville and my sister's place in Lexington, it was the perfect place to stop.
A cave tour being a must, and I had my eyes set on the Violet City Lantern Tour. Three hours long, it is lit only by kerosene lanterns in order to give it a historical authenticity.
Unfortunately, when I go there, Thursday's tour was sold out. I'd tried to reserve a spot ahead of time, but reservations.gov was down that week for maintenance. Taking it in stride, I asked the ranger at the ticket desk about Friday's availability. Unfortunately, since the site was down, she had no way to see how many tickets were left until the next morning.
As we talked about how early I would need to get there the next morning she suddenly stop. "Wait. Is it just you? There's still one ticket left for today! We marked it sold out because it's rare to sell a single ticket."
Woohoo! I jumped all over that. After the free food of the previous two Thursdays, I'd been on the lookout for something. While not edible, I decided this fit the theme.
Also, the tour was a fun time. I highly recommend checking it out, especially as pictures aren't possible.
During the tour, I met a two brothers and the girlfriend of one. All three were kayak instructors. The couple came from Alaska, the brother from Michigan, and the entire trio were headed to Florida for the winter. As we exchanged travel stories, one brother recommend the website freecampsites.net, which has proved quite helpful.
They were definitely a good meet.
Thursday, October 11
Thought the Fortunate Thursday trend was broken when I received a parking ticket for parking my car someplace I've parked countless time. Apparently a permit is now required.
But later, I reconnected with a good friend I hadn't seen in six or seven months. Yay! Also, I drank a really yummy hard cider made with hops.
All-in-all, the day was a win. (c:
Thursday, October 18
This ENTIRE week was incredibly freakin' fortunate because I was lucky enough to spend it with my dear friend Michelle and her family at Dauphin Island, AL. The whole trip is worthy of it's own blog entry, but I'm going to tell this story now because it happened on a Thursday. Also, it is hilarious.
The day before, Michelle's parents learned of a shallow sandbar that leads well out into the area where Mobile Bay meets the Gulf of Mexico. Being up for adventure, Michelle, her brother Tim, and I decided to check it out.
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| The sandbar as seen from our condo. We walked well out of the range of this photo. |
For most of the way, the sandbar was above water. Since few people were around, we came across some large colonies of birds. Some of the gulls were creepy and Hitchcock-esque. Others, like the group of small sandpipers hoping on one foot, apparently just for fun, were a lot more enjoyable. Eventually we reached the end of the sand. Tim elected to stay on shore while Michelle and I waded out into the water.
For the most part, the water was quite calm. However, in certain areas, waves splashed up out of nowhere. This was evidently where the Gulf and Bay came together, forming sandbars like the one we were on. Behind us, the birds were still active, while off in the distance we could see several drilling rigs, tankers, and shrimping boats.
Silent, we paused to take it all in. After several minutes, Michelle pointed out how remarkable it was to be so far out and have the water still below our hips. As I expressed my agreement, I looked in the water to my left. I saw something very large and very close.
"Big fish!" I sputtered as it veered away. Michelle saw it too and we took off running. As we ran, I asked myself, "Was that a shark? I think that was a shark!"
The race back to the beach was long enough for the initial adrenaline to wear off and for us to start laughing. I imagine we looked something like this cat:
After we calmed down and explained what the hell was going to Tim, we were able to do a little research. We determined that what we likely saw an adult Atlantic Sharpnose Shark. Despite our "flight response", it didn't have much interest in us.
(Although, as an alternative interpretation, a friend suggested the shark swam by to make friends. It only turned away because the yells hurt its feelings. We were shark-shaming).
I don't know how "fortunate" this story is, but like I said before, it happened on a Thursday!
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So there you have it! I've been delayed on this entry several times and I'm glad to be done before another Thursday comes and I'm compelled to think of something else. (c;
Edit - Free Food Thursday struck again on 10/25 in the form of dinner at Drunken Fish!!!!
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