Day hikes and Haikus

So one day a few weeks ago I was giving my son a ride to school, and I saw the same windmills in the distance that I have seen for the last five years or so. Thats when I made the decision.I was going to touch one today. a windmill that is.

I had no idea how to get there, nor any idea of the adventure that was to come. Not a huge epic adventure, not life altering, not faith building, and not awe inspiring. at least not to anyone but me.

After I dropped The Sauce at school,  I headed toward my destiny of windmills and nirvana. As I stopped to put some fuel in my vehicle I asked the person at the pump next to me " Hey, How do I get to the windmills?" as the saying goes, ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer. "that way, go up the mountain" was my answer, so I did. I had a little help from modern technology, namely google earth, but I found my way going uphill, rather quickly. and steeply.

I turned down a road that I thought was the way but it turned out to be a dead end. or so I thought. as I turned around in one of the two structures on this road, a person came out to see what was going on, so, in the interest of not pissing anyone off, I exited my vehicle, and told them I was just turning around, they seemed okay with it, then someone else exited the house and said hello, I in turn said hello, and we began a nice conversation. I asked how to get the windmills, yet again, a stupid question, I just dont learn when it comes to these things." up the mountain", they said.

the one person asked why I was going up there,they said they do a lot of walking, and running up there, and that is was very nice. they then asked if I wanted to see the view from their deck.

STOP. I know what your thinking, IS HE NUTS?

well, yes, I kinda am. But these people seemed real nice and I got a good vibe from them, so what the hell? whats the worst that could happen? well the worst that could happen probably involves duct tape, vaseline, and several years of therapy. I'm not opposed to two of those items, ill let you decide which two. but none of that happened, so cool. right?

now, back to the story. I saw an awesome view from a deck stretching out of the side of a mountain, in the distance there was a helicopter, slowly moving towards us. one of my hosts commented that they wondered who it was. I thought this was a little odd, we are in Wyoming the county, not Wyoming the state. people use cars, and bicycles, and walk to places, not take helicopters. as it turns out one of my hosts was a former pilot, and he said he might know them. RIIIIght, I thought, how wrong I was. So this Brand new helicopter, about the size of a bus came close enough to me where I could see the passengers face, I could feel the wind from the propeller, and could barely hear anything but the roar of the engines. I felt like Hawkeye Pierce on M*A*S*H*. or Frank "Ferret Face" Burns, whatever.

after conversing a little it was discovered that I went to high school with one of them, albeit a few years difference, but we know  alot of the same people. like it is in disney, a small world, after all.(insert song here)

Very, very, very cool, indeed. on the side of a mountain, with a good amount of the county spread out before me.

after that, I thanked my hosts, and took my leave, up the mountain, with some directions and advice.

The only thing I regret, was not having my phone/camera/twitter/facebook machine., but I will forever remember the feeling, which is much more powerful than any picture.

I continued on my journey, up the mountain. From here I am going to let the pictures do the work of a thousand words, maybe more. With some observations and explanations thrown in, because I sometimes have a hard time keeping my mouth shut, or my fingers still.

A side note: I dropped off The Sauce at 8am was back at my car at noon. I did a lot of hiking, thinking, exercising, thinking some more, and sweating. oh yeah, I smiled a lot too. In true shiny things fashion, I just kind of went wherever my feet and my mind took me. Im surprised I didn't get lost. So was my wife, and She knows me better than I know myself.

I came upon this early on, it strikes me as odd that the environmentalist in me is okay with it, It provides clean energy, its not hurting anyone, just don't screw with it. That bitch will f*** you up.

this made me think of Bon Scott, and what his grave site should look like.

I walked up on this, then I remembered it from my high school years. It is called the Forkston Fire Tower.We used to go up there and cause trouble, usually after dark, usually with persons of the opposite gender. when I was younger it was the pretty much the coolest/highest place you could see from a distance. In fact, I used to look at it every morning, while I waited for the bus. There is a fence around it now, I texted a friend of mine who lives far away, in a very flat place, a picture, And I think he thought it was kinda cool too. (insert previous song here, too). I love the internet, and all its proclivity for interconnectedness.

alas, one must put up barriers, to keep one self intact. (insert bass riff here) (Rush reference, more to come on that subject, in a future blog)

as I walked away, pensively, I came upon this. An old stucture, probably one of the first before the windmills, I would like to live there.

this is what looks like the shop that maintains these behemoths. oddly, not a soul in sight, middle of the week 9am or so. not hat I am complaining, I would be suspicious if there were a lot of activity. it was very peaceful up there, only the sound of the windmills, like a train in the distance.

here at the base of one, unbelievably tall, and huge, and solid. about 20 feet around, solid steel and concrete. they give the impression thay go under ground for miles, straight down.

again at the base, this second pic is close up of the warning on it. I laughed out loud at the sparky, mean, electricity demon poking the person with his lightning bolt arm. And it tells you what to do if you find it open. besides run away, because that electric demon is inside.

This is the part of the day when I realized I probably should not be here.

I put my hand on it(the windmill, that is), stood there for a second, celebrated the accomplishment, texted my son, and moved on. wishing he was here with me, next time, Sauce, next time.

so I walked off into the wood, saw a few neat things, an old sign that said Bear Wallow. I picked up the pace a little, I am a little scared of bears.

then I found myself back here, it was like seeing an old friend, that you didn't get the chance to talk to the first time you ran into them, so you decided to spend some "quality time" with them, reminiscing.

I was a little upset with the whole fence thing, so I did something about it, because you only get a second chance once.

a quick look around, and then I became a criminal, seriously, it was the only time I trespassed all day, I couldn't resist, and I am not going to say it didn't feel wrong, and a little scary, Adrenaline took over. I love Adtrenaline, I dont get enough of it these days, something I have to do something about, but responsibly, I do have a life, after all.

when I got near the top, I recalled being a teenager up there one day, and the ranger was there. after he got all official and told us about it, explained its purpose, he took me up to the top, into the box like structure, I barley remember it because I was so scared, but remember the feeling, Thats why I was here today. when I got to the top, it was locked,

 DENIED!

a quick selfie ( man that sounds queer) and I am outta there! my knees are shaking so bad I feel like i'm being electrocuted.

the trip down was scarier than up!

Good bye, old friend. likely you will not be this accessible again, glad I had time to visit with you.

then in the middle of the woods, I saw this stucture, curious, I got closer and went around it.

glad to see somebody, is doing it right.

this is the view from the Captains Chair.

 I found this about a mile away, totally inaccessible, had to be there for 20 years or more. sad, it was probably someones dream getaway, now its just a trashed old meth lab. (probably)

some final pics and thoughts, if you have read this far.

I had a awesome day, met some great new friends, saw some pretty neat stuff, all in all, great day! we should all be this lucky to get out in nature and think, some times about nothing, sometimes about everything. The point is, in my opinion, that you are thinking, and enjoying the thoughts.

now, as promised, a haiku

Haikus are easy

but sometimes they don't make sense

refrigerator

pistolgrip out