Tag: adventure

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Screamin’ Good Times

I got up early with Summer to go to Dardanelle for a run. Muad’Dib and I ran a couple miles with the Onewheel, and after stopping for a moment, I turned around to see him lying in a puddle to cool down. Summer made first in her age division, so she was super happy with her progress. Afterward, we went to Waffle House for some breakfast before heading back home.

We cleaned up and had a bit of a break before Eaddie left to get her friends. Then Summer and I drove separately to drop Muad’Dib off with Mom, and headed to Hot Springs. I had been belting out songs in the shower earlier, and we continued on rocking out while we were driving, so I didn’t notice how much the car was speeding. I got pulled over, and I think it was the same guy that got me when I was working at Two Rivers. He gave me another warning, and we were on our way.

We stopped at Clampit’s Country Kitchen for a late lunch on the way. We had never been, but they had 4.7 stars and the pictures looked pretty good. It was a large building with cases of meats and some other little grocery items. The deli had plate lunches, so Summer got some brisket nachos and I got half a rack of ribs to add to that. I could not have been more disappointed. I didn’t detect any smoke on the meats at all. The hot sauce wasn’t hot at all. The nachos were just yellow corn chips with Velveeta cheese dip, cole slaw, baked beans, and a bit of brisket. The ribs weren’t sauced, smoked, or tender. It was edible, but the most stereotypical “white people” lack of flavor I could possibly describe. I think the only way the meat could have been worse is if they boiled it.

The kids caught up to us and stopped there, and then we continued to Magic Springs. The parking lot was fairly empty, so we were excited to enter with basically no lines for anything. Eaddie brought Eli, Ceci, and Jenny along, and we rode some rides and had a good time. Early on, I found an abandoned refillable cup, so we ended up cleaning it out to use for the day. We got stuck on Brain Drain the second time we went up, because the guy accidentally slipped off the button to lift the ride. They had to bring it down and run a test before it could be unlocked, but Summer really wanted to do a haunted house and it was getting dark. We wandered through a couple small ones, but by the time we made it back to the larger ones, the lines had formed. I was already burned out from yelling so much and running around, and we decided to leave the kids and head home.

I let the car drive the entire way, and it did great. We picked up Muad’Dib and made it home. Summer went straight to bed and I stayed up late just catching up. The kids ended up going to Conway for some reason, so I didn’t wait up for them. They had just taken a trip to Tulsa, so a bit of extra driving in-state must not have seemed much to them. I’m just glad I’m not paying for their gas.

Poppa’s is better somehow.

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Hi Bixby

I could barely sleep all night, between the uncomfortable bed, differences in my travel CPAP, the hot room, and the bright lights coming through the windows. I laid in bed for a long while, unable to go to sleep, so I think I only got a couple hours of actual sleep. I got up and showered, then went downstairs with Summer to let Muad’Dib relieve himself. Then we took him back up to the kids before going down for breakfast. I was really pleased with their selection, but frustrated that the kids just wanted to sleep instead of coming down to eat, and then just complained about hunger later.

We checked out and headed to 181 Ranch in Bixby for the Conquer the Gauntlet. It was pretty overcast, but I couldn’t tell if it was actually going to rain or not. Summer wanted me to pay to be a spectator, so after waiting for them to finally start, Muad’Dib and I wandered into the field between obstacles and waited for them to come around. I took a few pictures, but there wasn’t just a whole lot of interest. It wasn’t terribly hot, but it was humid and gross feeling. We waited for a while, then went back to the car for a bit while they went out farther than I cared to go.

Muad’Dib did great, and got lots of attention from strangers. We eventually went back out and found our crew as they finished up the last few obstacles. I actually thought they had another loop, but they were actually on the home stretch, so we didn’t get to see them finish. It actually started to rain pretty hard, so we ran back to the car and just waited for them to get back.

The kids wanted nothing but Red Lobster after that, which I hated, because there were so many more exotic things we could have tried. There wasn’t really much around us either, so I drove us through Muskogee on the way home to find the Red Lobster there. We missed a turn out in the farmlands, but got headed back in the right direction. We charged just as we got into town, then made our way to Red Lobster. As we got close, it looked completely dark and there were zero cars around the place, so I continued on toward home. The kids had been chanting “Red Lobster” repeatedly, intentionally annoyingly, and I didn’t have self-driving and had to actually pay attention to what we were doing, so I shut them down and continued driving toward home.

After some back and forth, I agreed to drive them way out of the way to get to the Red Lobster in Fort Smith. Our server was incredible, so at least I had a full plate of shrimp in front of me at all times. We ate, then stopped in Ozark for one last charge before making it home.

I had been communicating with a lady about a Onewheel Pint X she had on Facebook Marketplace, and agreed to meet her once we got back into town to buy it. Then Summer informed me that her debit card had been compromised, and she hadn’t gone to get a new one yet. I started worrying about figuring out my own ATM situation since I no longer do any local banking, but the lady said Cash App would be fine.

As soon as we got home, the others unloaded and I took Muad’Dib to meet the family at Kroger. I had previously offered $700 out of the $750 she asked for, but after I paid her, I learned that her son was trying to save up for a dirt bike. With a heart full of approval and knowing what it’s like to want a motorcycle, I sent her $20 more for the cause. I let their son ride my GT-S around the parking lot to see how it felt, then loaded up and headed back home with our new Pint X in “Honda Grom Blue.”

Muad’Dib had been telling me the entire time that he really wanted to go for a run, so we did a short loop to my parents’ house, then back home before dark. Summer had wound down for bed while Eaddie was out and back, presumably fetching cars with Eli or something. I had a bunch of inefficiently packaged Vine products to unbox, but I also finally got my new Pixel 11 Pro. I got the screen protector installed, but didn’t bother going any further than that before bed.

Don’t fight it!

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A Lot for a Little Run

I got up early so I could go to Fort Smith with Summer for her run this morning. I had an anxiety attack as I was getting ready, but it didn’t seem to affect me long. I was still pretty exhausted as we left, but it was a smooth ride. We made it to Ben Geren park only to discover a disappointing number of runners, running anything from a 5k to a marathon, depending on how many times they looped back around the track. It didn’t really seem like many people knew each other, but it was a seriously tiny group of maybe 20 people. One of them was Hot Springs native, multi-title world champion, professional arm wrestler, “Monster” Michael Todd, who arrived in a giant motorhome wrapped with giant pictures of his face. There appeared to be no fanfare. We arrived early, because Summer anticipated it would take her some time to get her packet, but we spent all that extra time wandering around in the hot sun.

I had forgotten to load my Onewheel, so when the race finally started, Muad’Dib and I walked over to a pavilion with some picnic tables and sat in the shade. We had a surprisingly strong breeze over there, which I hadn’t felt at all when we were walking around. It felt really great over there as we waited, expecting to see Summer come around the bend. I took a picture of a couple cheering on their son, then shared it with them. Summer never showed up though. Evidently her run took her on another path, and we found her back at the finish after less than half the time it took us to drive to the race in the first place.

We didn’t stick around, and instead drove to a place called Digs in The Bakery District. I guess it was a little grouping of places in one spot. We found parking across the street and walked up to the patio where they were doing yoga. A server greeted us, had us pick a seat, and then the food service was quite quick. Muad’Dib did well with some passers-by, and we had a really tasty, elevated, expensive brunch. We had a couple cocktails and shared a bagel board with a couple fancy cream cheeses and peanut butter. Then Summer had a sandwich, and I had a burrito. Everything was really tasty, but definitely priced as an upscale establishment in a rich part of town.

Lastly, we swung by Truong Son on the way home to browse for some Asian foods. We didn’t get much, but I picked up a smallish can of Café du Monde coffee and chicory blend to add to my collection. I made a cup when we finally made it home, but found it mostly bitter. Summer and I lounged around the house the rest of the day, both exhausted from the morning adventure. I eventually had some leftover chicken salad for an early dinner, and cleaned a bunch of moth-filled boxes of cereal out of the pantry. We played a Netflix miniature golf game on the TV, and then Summer watched the worst of the Ghostbusters movies.

I did a bit of cleaning, but it was overall a very quiet evening until bed.

It’s a vibe.

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The Dolittles

I was surprised how late Summer slept in this morning. I was up and around for a little while before she finally got out of bed. I was feeling pretty hungry, but I waited on her to get up and we made cold sandwiches for lunch. Then we started picking at some stuff around the house, but didn’t get too wild with it. Eaddie eventually came out of her room and chatted a bit. I spent some time fighting the home theater setup, because ever since Eaddie and Eli dug out the PlayStation 3, the CEC controls haven’t been working to turn the TV off with the rest of the equipment.

I eventually took a shower, and then Summer and I took Muad’Dib out. Our first stop was the quarter wash to clean up my car a bit before we drop it off for body work. I would have finished for a buck, but I accidentally slipped a quarter into the machine between the metal facia and the actual receptacle, so I lost an extra 25%. After that, we went by Splash to vacuum out the inside. Then it was to Lowe’s for some bird seed. We took Muad’Dib inside since they have a published pet policy, and he did fine. I completely forgot to pick up air filters for the house, so we’ll have to go back again later.

By the time we made it back home, I was feeling pretty hungry again. Mom had eggplant soup, so I ran Muad’Dib over there to eat. Dad was almost home from Fort Smith, so we waited on him to eat. Then it was back home to clean up for the night. I had messed up the shower head diverter, so I rigged it up to come out both the handheld and top spout until I can get a replacement.

Take Five

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Gross Kids

Summer had to work today, so I slept in for a while before getting up to make a sandwich for breakfast. Then I cleaned the kitchen, and what should have been a simple task of loading the dishwasher turned into a gross food-dumping exercise with extra scrubbing. Not only were dishes left with food stuck to them, but there was just plain foods left in them. Eaddie eventually got out of bed and asked for some gas money, and I remembered that I didn’t pay her back previously because she failed to write her mileage down like I had required of her.

She left to spend the night in Clarksville, and then Summer made it home and took a bath. I had a stomach ache all morning, but it eventually settled down. I did some laundry and other cleanup until Summer was ready to eat. Then we loaded up and took Muad’Dib to Buffalo Wild Wings. The service and food were surprisingly good, and it’s been fairly consistent lately.

We stopped into Walmart after we ate so I could pick up some vitamins and minerals, because I am old and malnourished, apparently. While we were there, some lady and a bunch of kids came down the aisle. One of the older kids started looking for some iron pills, but was concerned about whether or not they were green. While we were standing there, she proceeded to pop open a bottle, break the tamper seal, and then start to put it back when it didn’t meet her criteria. I immediately got onto her for that, but they likely just moved on and put it down somewhere else.

We made it back home and I took Muad’Dib for a run. There were a few distant fireworks that had him on high alert, so I let him cruise on through the neighborhood at his own rapid, and possibly nervous pace. He skipped a different zig-zag through the neighborhood this time, and we went through the basin. We visited my parents while Mom was watering her plants, and then we rushed home. He kept hiding under the bed from the fireworks outside, so I really don’t want to leave him home alone tomorrow. Summer wants to go see them up close, but I hate the crowds, the weather, and leaving Muad’Dib alone. My pick is to watch from Mt. Nebo where it’ll be much more peaceful.

Isn’t pride kind of like, the first big one on the list?

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Supermeh

Summer had a race first thing this morning, so I went with her to the junior high for that. Muad’Dib and I rode around with the Onewheel, making laps around the building while we waited, and then he got some attention from others as we milled around waiting for results. There was another guy there with a small heeler that wanted to run and play so badly, but he didn’t want to let her off the leash, which was probably a good thing.

Summer got her second place medal just as it started to get really gross and humid, and we headed home for a snack and to clean up before our trip to Fayetteville. Eaddie was in bed until we left, and stayed home with Muad’Dib. We made it to Alma for a charge and pit stop, then continued straight to the Arkadia Retrocade.

We talked to Shea briefly after paying him twice the admission fee, just to show support for the work he’s done, and to share our excitement about the place. I think I actually enjoy it more as a walkthrough museum experience than someplace I enjoy going to sit down and play. I’m always a little disappointed in the condition of some of the machines, which I know are hard to service, but the place was also crawling with mostly unsupervised kids. It’s still a blast, and I would recommend it for anyone. It really seems like a passion project, and I love that he’s been successful with it.

After about an hour there, we decided we were hungry enough to eat a little bit, so we drove toward the Malco. I would have preferred to go somewhere uniquely NWA, but we stopped at Buffalo Wild Wings and sat at the bar for a couple drinks and some buffalo chicken dip. Then we headed to the surprisingly empty, but well-maintained theater for our IMAX experience.

Right off the bat, the audio was just too loud. It distorted dialog especially, and made a few scenes completely unintelligible. I enjoy Jason Momoa, but Lobo’s existence added nothing to the film. All of the characters were short-lived and mostly forgettable, and all of the action was depicted too close up and cloudy/dusty/blurry to be entertaining. The animation and physics felt fake, which could have been forgiven for the sake of a better story, but it just wasn’t good. There were certainly emotional bits, but overall we were super disappointed.

After the show, I found a place called House of Taste, which seemed fairly authentic Korean. At least the old lady running the place felt somehow relatable. The food was good, but seemed unnecessarily expensive. There were several signs about a long wait, but we were only bookended by two other tables during our visit. The food was served impressively hot in near-molten bowls that retained the heat well. My soup was scaldingly hot to nearly the last bite.

The drive home was much more relaxed, with a stop in Ozark to charge again. I hate that the trip is long enough to really require charging twice, since there’s not a Supercharger right in Fayetteville. We’d have to drive further north for that, so we just charge twice inbetween instead.

Eaddie had just finished mowing our lawn when we got home. I took Muad’Dib for a run to my parents’ house, but then waited by the pool for them to get home from Kroger. I helped unload groceries, then headed back home to find Eaddie practicing loudly in the bathroom while Summer was passed out in bed two doors down. I wrapped up quickly and joined her.

Who expected Seth Rogen to be the best part???

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Strange Alfred

Summer left early for a race in Danville, but I didn’t sleep in very late. She actually got home earlier than I expected, which happened to be right as I woke up, so we got cleaned up and ready to go to Little Rock. We left a little later than I wanted, but we didn’t have a real timeline to stick to until the concert started at eight. I forgot to grab a pair of earplugs for Summer, so we stopped at Walmart in Conway for an overpriced pair of silicone ones.

We made it to Little Rock and stopped at the Bark Bar & Grille. They had an app I had to download to sign up for a membership, but then I had trouble actually purchasing a day pass. There were only two people working, and they didn’t seem super worried about making sure we were registered/paid/vaccinated. They had a “Shortie Smalls” menu and took our food order, and let Muad’Dib run around and make friends. He actually did really well with the other dogs, and wandered around away from us for a while until food showed up.

We ate and left since I felt a little guilty not being able to pay for a day pass. It was about time to check into the hotel, which wasn’t very far away. We got in and discovered that parking was an extra fee. Both chargers were occupied, and also appeared to require payment. We made it up to the room and then went down to swim in the indoor pool for a bit.

Afterward, Summer took a nap until it was time to go to the lounge for a pre-show dinner. I took Muad’Dib out for a break before we left, and met an old couple that were going to the show because he said he had a cousin in the show, though I never learned who that was. Once I put Muad’Dib back in the room, I ordered a pretty cheap Lyft to drive us the mile over the river, and we arrived early enough to be near the front of the line for the Legends Lounge. It was downstairs in a new room we hadn’t seen before, and it was actually a small dinner buffet instead of just finger foods like we had seen before. They had shrimp, polenta, and a fancy salad, plus other veggies and a couple desserts. They even had free wine and beer, but Summer only had a couple of those before we finished up and went back upstairs.

As we were in the merch line, I spotted Jen and Mike walking in, and waved them down. We already had shirts from the Bigger & Weirder tour, so Summer got a keychain and I got a pack of trading cards. Then we found our seats that just happened to be two rows immediately in front of Jen and Mike. We were a little late for Piddles after seeing him at the amphitheater, but I actually liked him quite a lot more at this venue. It was a good, long show, and I was surprised at how many empty seats were still open in front of us. Nobody was checking, so we could have easily gone down to sit closer, but we didn’t.

Getting out was easy with such a relatively small crowd. We decided to just walk the mile back, but I didn’t realize we would have to climb a bunch of stairs to cross the bridge. We eventually made it back after walking through the teardown of the weekend Juneteenth celebration downtown. It stank everywhere, but we got out alive. I got to move my car to one of the chargers, so we’ll be set by the morning. I ran into the old couple again while I was out with Muad’Dib, and they only seemed mildly entertained, remarking that the show was super long and could have been cut down to about 45 minutes.

Summer didn’t take long to pass out. I showered the sweat off, and dawdled a bit too long before making it to bed.

scritch

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Runabout Rock

I had my wellness appointment this morning, and I really wanted to push the anxiety issue I’ve been having. I spent way more time talking to Irene, the nurse, than Crystal, who just came in for a couple minutes and basically asked how I was from across the room. She said she could refer me to a neurologist and run some extra labs, so I gave a little bit more blood and then left.

Summer, Muad’Dib, and I loaded up and headed to Little Rock after that. We went straight to Southern Tail for some lunch since we could take Muad’Dib out on the patio. They were pretty quiet and it was pretty hot outside, but they had sunshades up, and we got to sit on an outdoor couch to eat.

From there, we went up to my old office to see if we could catch Randy or any of the other guys. Anita had been moved to Transportation, and everyone I wanted to see was at HSTI, but I went back and saw Charles, Jimmy, and Gary all sitting on their computers scrolling social media.

We got to Gwatney Collision about half an hour early, but I filled out my paperwork and they got out pretty quickly to take pictures. I didn’t hear about my estimate again, but hopefully I’ll get an email soon. We left and went by the new Tesla service center to see what it was like. The showroom was surprisingly barren, but I talked to a guy named Vaughn(?) for a while before going back to the service department where I met Phillip.

I went back up front and got Vaughn to sign me up for a test drive of a Cybertruck. He had to take me first, but then he dropped me off and I took Summer for a spin. She was surprised at how well it drove and handled, so I guess that was a win.

We stopped once more for Muad’Dib and then headed to Conway for a charge. Summer said “ice cream” while I was thinking it, so we stopped at Kassi’s Cookies for a couple scoops and then made it home. Dad need to go to Walgreens, so I dropped Summer off and then picked him up. We got his prescriptions, then went to the Neighborhood Market to get my own before dropping him back off.

I did some cleanup back home when I got a call with lab results. They said I was a little low on iron, but not as bad as last year. I was also low on vitamin D3, so I’m adding both of those to my regimen. Then I took Muad’Dib for an evening run when it actually felt really nice out. We stopped to see my parents and I had some mango soup, and then we ran home in the twilight and raced to bed.

I asked you what I owed, so don’t send me a bill later!

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Frog Lick Mornings

We had to get up around my usual worktime alarm so we could get to Conway for Summer’s Toadsuck 10k. I actually felt pretty decent, and we got out of the house just in time. She already had her race packet, so we found a nearby parking space and dropped her off at the starting line, and then Muad’Dib and I rode around on the Onewheel for a little over an hour.

I was hungry enough to find some food, so we rolled a few blocks away to a Chick-fil-A. We were basically able to stay on campus streets for almost all of it, so there was no fear of traffic. I placed a curbside delivery to my black Lamborghini golf cart, and then sat at the tables on the patio to eat, once one of the employees unchained the chairs.

We had just a little bit of time to roll around the nearby trail before making it back to the finish line. Summer couldn’t find the showers because we didn’t read the description well enough, but she got changed and then we headed to the original Stoby’s to meet Randy and Russ for breakfast.

The restaurant was packed, but they had space on the patio to seat us almost immediately. The kitchen was backed up though, so it took us forever to get food. Our waitress gave us a 50% discount for waiting, which was awesome since we were just enjoying our time anyway.

After that, Summer and I went a few blocks away to Toadsuck downtown. She decided she wanted to donate blood, so Muad’Dib and I rolled into the crowd to find Ben and his family. Muad’Dib was a little bit excitable, but overall did great. Something caught his attention hard at one point though, and he took off away from me without turning back. I ended up having to zap him, and then he came right back. We got lots of compliments, so it was a good time. Ben’s family caught up to him and they wondered on while I went back to fetch Summer. We went into the mob, but quickly decided it was too much for Muad’Dib, so we made it back to the car and made one last pass through Sam’s Club before heading home.

Dad was having trouble with the lights at the old house, so Muad’Dib and I left Summer to go check things out. Mom was on another push for me to get everything out of the house, so I looked over some stuff. I think the garage will be the worst of it, because I had so much room to store things without parking two cars inside.

I was exhausted and probably dehydrated, so we made it back home for a bit. I started to get really hungry, and then Eaddie came home from her trip to Little Rock to check out the National Guard band. The three of us decided to go to La Huerta for dinner, but their patio was full. We ended up walking next door to the Gogi BBQ House food truck. I had seen a huge mob of people there earlier, so I figured it must be good.

Eaddie got some tacos and Summer and I had different bowls with chicken, pork, rice, and a couple of fresh sides. The kale I had tasted nutty and was delicious. We really liked everything. Afterward, we went to Las Delicias for some ice cream. It looked like they were training a bunch of employees, but they let us bring Muad’Dib inside and we had some pretty good ice cream before heading back home.

The three of us enjoyed some time on the couch together doing some tone deafness tests. Then Summer went to bed and Eaddie wanted me to watch the first episode of Invincible with her. I knew it looked interesting, but was afraid to start something new with such a big backlog on my watch list, especially leading up to Doomsday. It was a pretty good episode though, and it’ll be nice if she wants to watch more with me.

Puperfect!

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Raise the Roofing!

Summer got up for her run this morning, and I got up for my company picnic. I got out a little later than I intended, but there wasn’t any real rush. We stopped by to get Dad and loaded up all of the bubble stuff he made. The longest bamboo sticks he had wouldn’t fit completely in the car, so I just let them stick out the back window and we made it to Morrilton, stopping at Wendy’s for breakfast before landing at work.

There were quite a few people already there helping out, so my job was relatively simple to get the sound system going. I got it together and started a random 80s rock station just to test, and in spite of my hours of working on a curated playlist, that random station was what played for the rest of the day.

It was a little hard to tell when the party began officially, since everyone that was helping was also there for the event. It was a good turnout though, and it seemed like everyone had a good time. I didn’t get down to the cornhole tournament much, but Dad’s bubbles were a big hit. Summer enjoyed the petting zoo, and Muad’Dib enjoyed running around and getting tons of pets.

Scott gave a great tour of the plant, and it was interesting to hear more about their process out there. All in all, I rolled about three miles on the Onewheel just back and forth in the parking lot. Of all people, David’s wife and Rhonda were the two adults that actually tried riding it, and they both did surprisingly well. Later on, one of the smaller kids tried too. The only issue I had with my sound system was a dead wireless receiver that wouldn’t charge with anything I had out there.

It was a fun and pretty exhausting day, but luckily the cleanup was pretty quick with that many hands. Summer had driven separately after her race, so I took Dad home and then met her back at the house where she had most everything unloaded already. I took a quick shower, and then we crashed on the couch where Muad’Dib passed out at our feet. I eventually got hungry and warmed up the leftover steak for us, and then we watched some TV before bed.

Ten more to go!