04-15-11 - Howl like the wind

04-15-11
Who can I turn to
Tell me where to begin
When you cry like a rainstorm
And you howl like the wind
44 miles
I wake up around 7 am in the car after being lulled to sleep by the Thunderstorm. The sun is coming out and I finish posting some things on the web. I’m also aware that its’ Tax day (usually) so I go online and do my taxes in real time one hour and twenty minutes later I have an accepted tax return!
I’m feeling my civic duty is complete and decide to say goodbye to Loves Batesville Truckstop for the last time. It’s given Mischa & I shelter 3 times this week and each time it was dearly needed. I am deeply grateful to not only the different shift workers who didn’t send us away, but also all the law enforecment personnel that could have, but didn’t hassle us about the “No Loitering” signs posted about the site. They all gave me the same courtesy that Truckers received and that was welcomed.
We head off to the main drag of Batesville and I decide to do some laundry. We get some other good news in the form of a new Patron, (Rocker Danny McGough) and the potential offer at that same level from an old HS friend who is one a remarkable journey of his own.
I’m getting ready to launch a fundraising project to complete the journey via a site called Kickstarter. This could help me fund the whole rest of the Journey in about 30 days. I have to create a video about my project and post that and then launch the funding project. Iwas asking for $20,000 but am sizing it down because it’s an all of nothing venture. You can get more than your goal, but if you fail to reach the funding goal before the time runs out - you get nothing. Sort of like “Brewster’s Millions” but on a smaller scale.
I’m now heading out to camp for the night, the local NPR sataion out of Oxford is giving severe weather announcements frequently as the storm dander that has passed over is not completely gone. While the sun is out and warm, the wind is quite active. When I go back to Plum Point at Lake Enid the winds have roughed up the lake waters and the lake has been disturbed into a chocolate brown color rather than it’s normal azure hue.. Putting up the tent is like trying to cover a table top with saran wrap while holding a helium weather baloon in the other (or tethered flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz - take you choice of image). I have to put the tarp on the ground before I can put the tent over it. I put pebbles on the tarp to weigh it down and then try to maneuver the tent into place (while it’s lifting like a kite) into the correct place so I can spike in one corner and start making it fit over the tarp. (The tarp is for a moisture shield.) I finally get it in place, put the foam pads down (a heat barrier), then the Futon (still not completely dry - like, when has it had the chance…) and then anything else that will help keep parts of the tent from lifting into the air like they’ve had “Fizzy Lifton; drinks.
We’re in the wind is howling ,flapping the tent fly, pushing in the sides…but Mischa and I are relaxing in luxury. We can sleep…in a horizontal posion…and not in a car. Bliss. And sleep follows.