Saturday, January 28, 2012

The Base Bathed In Sunshine - Part 1

The day was unbelievably, wonderfully, absolutely blue.
Warm but also cool and windy.
With LC scheduled to run errands in town I got geared up in bike clothes, grabbed my mountain bike and eagerly headed to the base.
The recreational areas of the Air Force Base are always excellent, but on days such as this they are outstanding.
As I headed down the two lane Wattendorf Highway (that extends from Tullahoma through Arnolds AFB, crosses over Interstate 24 and circles around to the very small town of Hillsboro) I debated where exactly I wanted to bike.
The mountain bike trails were muddy but rideable.
There were old roads and trails near the golf course, more old roads and trails across the highway that still hold the remnants of many old buildings from the time when this area was huge and known as Camp Forrest during WW2.
On a day that was so beautiful - so clear - and so radiant - I decided that I wanted and needed to be close to water.
I drove past the turnoff for the mountain bike trails and instead headed towards the UTSI Campus where I spent so much time many years ago, while I was in training for triathlons.
In back of the campus is student housing and then beyond that is a small paved parking lot for those using the boat dock and beach area.
After pulling into the parking lot (which was empty except for one blue sailboat that has been hibernating in the lot for the winter) I climbed out of the truck and stood looking out over the water.
Woods Reservoir was completely blue and completely quiet.
I was alone in this place, even on such an outstanding day, and I smiled to myself in that knowledge.
Heading down towards this picnic shelter I heard the crunch of my bike cleats against the pavement and cringed.
That wasn't good for my cleats and as I walked I searched for a route in the dirt.
I stood for a moment looking down at my pitiful old bike shoes.
They are very old and very worn and have holes in them.
In fact, ever since I got caught up in undergrowth while bushwhacking around old buildings on base a month or so ago the entire front half of my right shoe has separated from the soul of the shoe.
Listening to the crunch of my bike cleats on the pavement as I walked reminded me of how dead these shoes really were and as I looked down at these old friends that have served me so well for so long, I made the instant (albeit belated) decision that today was the last day I would wear them.
I have other bike shoes.
Girlie light blue ones that are in good shape.
Black ones exactly like the ones I wore today that are brand new and still black and without holes, and that have been sitting in their box for the past few years.
Yup.  It was time for them to go.
Goodbye old friends.................
Cleats grinding and then digging into the grass that is very soft from all the rain we have had, I finally headed down to the shelter.................
Standing beside the shelter I looked to my right, enjoying the quiet and relaxing view of the top of the boat dock and the calm lake that was blue and glistening in the sun.
I took a deep breathe and smiled to myself, knowing already that I was going to be riding and walking and picture taking for a long time today...................
A view of the lake and boat dock - taken from underneath the picnic shelter.............
I cannot look at this little wooden boat dock without remembering all of the times I swam from this boat dock while I was training for triathlons.
Always with my training partner.
Always heading first to the right, turning back at a cove, swimming back the way we had come, passing the boat dock, and then turning back again when we reached the first cove to the left of the dock.
It was a mile in total.
And then we would sit on the dock catching our breath before getting geared up to either run or ride.
This boat dock holds a lot of memories.................
Benches surrounding three sides of the roof of the boat house.................
Standing on the roof of the boat house I again looked at the view in front of me.
A lot of sailboats and power boats use this lake in the summer, but today the water was only quiet.
I looked across three or four coves and could see the sailboats that hibernate there for the winter.
In only a few months there will be many more boats.
In a few months this water will not be so quiet.
Today I relished in endless beauty and forever quiet................
The little blue sailboat that has been parked in the corner of the lot throughout the winter..............
And two other small sailboats that have also been parked in the same place for months now..............
After spending far too much time wandering close to the parking lot behind the campus I was eager to ride.
As I slowly rode away from my truck, slowly rode along the back and then the side of the main UTSI building, and then turned left off campus I suddenly realized how windy it really was.
The wind was cold and so was I, and I really hoped that once I warmed up and headed into various coves that the wind would calm down.
First stop was a girl scout camp that predictably was quiet for the winter.
The last time I had visited this campground a base police office pulled in right behind me, smiling and friendly but curious who I was and what I was doing.
Thankfully I looked and sounded non-threatening and he encouraged me to ride down to the water to take pictures.
Thankfully no such encounters today.
I pulled off the gravel driveway and onto the brown grass and stood straddling my bike, drinking water from the bladder that was nestled in the back of my pack, and looked over the scene in front of me.
I thought briefly of the boy scout beach in Juneau, which is a place of unparalleled beauty.
Nothing will ever be able to compete with that.
But this was no slouch either, and I was content to be in this beautiful place.
A place that is welcoming of me.
I headed down towards the beach................
There is a short trail to the right of the dock and the cabins and (after parking my bike underneath one more picnic shelter) I walked it, curious to see where it led.
Eventually it leads to a rough and rugged and unkempt wide open trail, circles back towards the road and eventually dead-ends just before the road.
As I was heading back towards the campground I saw this sign.
LC and I had seen it from the water the last time we boated this way.............
Climbing down the embankment I snapped this picture.
From this sign all the way to Tims Ford Dam is closed until the end of the month so as to protect water birds..............
After retrieving my bike I road across the grass close to the water and picked up a small and easy-to-ride trail that I knew would eventually take me to LC's favorite fishing cove.
At least it was his favorite fishing cove until we got the boat a few months ago.............
After taking pictures of geese and mountains and water and trails I noticed this bobber stuck in the branches of a tree.
They are a common sight in this area and I smiled when I saw it, imaging yet one more fisherman getting his line tangled in the tree, fighting to get it out and then reluctantly cutting his line.
It was a welcome and colorful sight and I snapped a few pictures of it, trying without much luck to get the bobber centered in a picture while it happily swayed in the wind...............
I had been so focused on the bobber that I was surprised when I realized that I had completely missed the fact that the bobber was attached to a lure that was caught further up in the tree.
After snapping one more picture I made the quick decision that I would retrieve both items for LC.
The question was how.
The lure was a good 10 feet above me.
The bobber was lower down in the tree but was tied into a branch that extended out into the water................
It took a few tries and a long branch, but one partially wet foot later I had them, and happily stuffed them into a compartment of my pack.................
Today the world was an endless and beautiful place................
I had been out for 90 minutes or so and had very happily not run into even one more person.
I did not want to run into anyone.
Instead, I wanted to continue to be alone with myself and my thoughts and a day so beautiful it took my breath away.
I would be out for another couple of hours as it turns out.............

This grand show is eternal. It is always sunrise somewhere; the dew is never all dried at once; a shower is forever falling; vapor ever rising. Eternal sunrise, eternal sunset, eternal dawn and gloaming, on seas and continents and islands, each in its turn, as the round earth rolls...........John Muir

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