Walk down Dry Creek

From the creek at the line between Floyd's place and Combs' place to the slab at the back of Billy Joe's place.

A tree on the ridge between that old house and the creek.  In the distance to the left is about Grandpa Powell's place, as best I can tell.

The creek.  Mostly, I walked on David's side of the creek.  The other side was bluff until I got past Morris and Grandpa Powell's place.  Sometimes I walked at the edge of the bottom  land instead of in the creek.

This is just a few hundred yards after I got to the creek.  I have on my boots and a back pack with some food and water.  I only ate part of a sandwich and an orange and drank  a little water.  By the time I got to the end, I was hungry but decided to wait and have something at home besides peanut butter and jelly, if I could just get a taxi home.

I am going to fix my timer so it will go more than 10 secs. I am too old for 10 secs.

The creek looked mostly like  this.

The old Robertson house from the  creek.  I could see this, David's house, the water tower by Peden's, and finally Peden's place many places along the creek.  It was usually pretty easy to tell where I was.

 

Still Combs place here.

That is Brenda Combs' place.  It is less than a quarter mile from the creek.  David owns the land on the other side, our side, of the creek here.

  

Deer running from me.  There were 4 or 5 of them and one was a big buck with a rack.

On and on and on went the creek, long after I thought I should be coming to a road.

Turn after turn.

Here, I know where I am and the road runs in front of this house.  You can't really see the road in the pic, but I could see it.

After a turn I am at this bluff, going back west towards that house in the last pic.

I am thinking surely the creek connects with that road around here, but it just keeps going and going and going.

Here, I decide to walk out in the bottom land...

and cut across the field to the road.

On the road, going back towards the creek, away from home.

Here is the slab across Dry Creek.  The first road that crosses the creek between us and almost Denver.

The water is sluggish here and the view both  up and down the creek is unremarkable.  After getting back on the road towards home I  call for a ride.  They are all outside so it is about 10 minutes before they call me back. George says he will come pick me up.

A lot of bull.

A coyote crossing the field.

The house where Helen picked me up in the distance.  Around the bend and up that hill is Peden's place.  I am about 3.5 miles from home by the road when I get to that house.  I walked 5 miles by the time I got home.  Helen fed me a really good ham sandwich and another orange for desert.  I was glad I did not have to walk up that hill. 

I think I will try this again in the spring, when things are in bloom.  Next, I am walking down Callen's Branch from the bottom of the big red hill to Smother's crossing and maybe on to Billy Joe's, or maybe not.

A Trip Back in Time

At about 8;15 this morning, Mama's birthday, I took off on a hike up to the top of the hill, over to the water tower right by Peden's house (George says Joe Benny lives there now), and then down David Combs fence a few hundred yards behind his house (he lives in the old Jack Robertson house, but I remember it being a rock house when Jack lived there and David has added on to it so it looks very different and is muh bigger).  Anyway, I followed David's fence line down across his land at the end of the Rock Quarry on my walk down to Dry Creek.  A couple of years ago, I discovered and old house out in the middle of David's field on a hill above Dry Creek.  Until then, I did not know there was ever a house out there. I don't guess I had ever walked that far beyond the Rock Quarry.  I think it was the day I got so very  lost on top the hill when I first say this house, so that would have been 5 or 6 years ago.  Anyway, I have always wondered who had once lived in this old house.  Today, I ate breakfast, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and an orange on the front steps of this old house looking out on the bottom land of Dry Creek.

Then, I walked on down the fence line between David and Frank Marr, Floyd's old place, all the way to the creek. I started walking down the creek with the intention of walking until I came out on a road, then calling for a taxi home.  I had in my head that I would come out by Kenny Smother's house (the old Charlie Shaw house).  As I walked on down the creek and came to the end of David's land, I knew by the fence across the creek, I could  tell I was at the bottom land of the Peden place and there was a hill, the big red hill, between me and Smother's.  That is when I realized that the creek down by Smother's was actually Callen's Branch and not Dry Creek.  All these 67 years I have thought that was Dry Creek.  Anyway, when I finally got past the Peden place, I knew where I was, but I do not know who owns that place.  It was still about a mile down to where the creek comes out on a road, and it is the road that runs along the back of Billy Joe's place where he gave land to all those girls and they have all those trailer houses now.

Also, on my walks over by Peden's I have seen a big white house off down the hill across the creek that I have wondered who it belonged to.  I knew it was over off the Alpena Denver road,but just could not place the house.  I went by the house just a mile or so before coming out on to the road, but did not go up to the house.  So, this evening me and George went looking for that white house.  Together we had decided it was probably Brenda Combs house.  Brenda is David's mother and Carlos Trigg's daughter.  I just never realized her land was just across the creek for the end of David's land partly because you can not get to her house from this side of the Creek.  It is actually sorta behind Grandpa Powell's old place, on down the creek a mile or two.  She lives on a deadend road that ends right at her house.  I have only been there once and did not know it was just a few hundred yards from the creek.

Anyway, to make a short story long, we drove down her road and there was a pickup going down the road right in front of us.  As we got up almost to the house, I told George that was the house, but he was going to have to turn around in her yard.  He decided to back down the road instead.  Well, it was Brenda in the pickup in front of us and she was worried about what we were up to and  chased us down.  We had to tell her who we were, probably because we were in the new truck.  She would likely have recognized the old white truck.

So, we talked in the middle of the road.  She explained who lived here and who lived there and who married who. She is 2 years younger than Patsy.  I asked her who used to live in the old house in David's field. She said Rex and Elveta Robertson.  Anyone recognized  those names?  She also said when your Dad was gone during the War, I can remember your Mom bringing Patsy and Richard and visiting with Mom and Dad very often.  She said I guess she was lonely and I don't think her Mom and Dad treated her very well.  She invited me to come in and visit the next time I  walk by.  I think I will do that.

Here are some pictures.  I will put up more later.

The pictures are the path on top the hill going towards the old Jack Robertson place, the water tower by Peden's, David's house from where I was walking down the fence line, the old house in the field outside and inside, me having breakfast on the steps, and the view from the steps down towards the bottom land and Dry Creek.   I would think that Mama and Daddy visited Rex and Elveta here in this house.  By the time Daddy bought this place, I think Rex and Elveta had moved to California, but I wonder if the place Jack owned was not his Father's place.'

And now you know.  I guess I have no short stores.

New Day .

and I think I will take a walk up on the hill and have a picnic today.  It is supposed to be in the mid 50's.  Should be a beautiful day.  I am thinking I will walk up on the hill and over to the water tower by Peden's and then down across Jack Robinson's old place that is now David Combs down to Dry Creek.  I would like to go without the dogs, but they are both here so I guess that will not happen.  I guess Helen has a new dog and she probably expects me to take care of it while she is gone.  The dog that belongs to the Stone place stays here.  He follows me out on my walks and goes up to his old house, but then comes back here.

I have now walked 84 miles.  I have got out the pedometer I bought a year or so ago and have been trying to wear it on my walks when I remember.  It does not work very well.  Sometimes I wear it on my walk and it says I have walked only a few hundred steps and other times it advances by the thousands.  I would buy a good one if there was a way to tell the good from the sorry.  The ones I looked at all seem to be about the same, unreliable.

Kids are at Helen's.  I am going to eat breakfast and pack a lunch and go.  I have gotten a hiking Arkansas book from the library and have another one coming.  I am looking for hikes to take the kids on and maybe some longer ones just for me.  I am thinking of buying a couple of Tim Ernst's hiking trail books.  After I look at the one I have ordered at the library I will decide.  I tried this am to look at ebooks from Green Forest on hiking Arkansas, but the ebook reader is just spinning  this am.  This computer did an update last week.  It probably  broke the book thingy.

Off to breakfast and a day trek.

Eighty Miles in 2015

I have now logged 80 miles this year.  I plan on walking 100 miles this month.  Only 20 miles to go.

Tomorrow is go home early day.

Greg kept Robert home from school today.  He was not as sick as Hannah was but he does have a cold.

Em and Sam went to Church last night with Helen and the kids.  They all had a good time.  It just made Hannah's day to have Emmy go with her.  Maybe they will start going regularly.

We don't have anything planned for this weekend, except I am not going to work.

Cool and Cloudy

 

 

This was at the bottom of the Meek Hill, home in the middle.  I walked 5 miles, over just past the Molder road and back.  As I took this, I could see the school bus at our house with flashing lights.  It is supposed to be even cooler today.  No really nice days in the 5 day outlook.

I think we are going to take Erin's suggestion and walk to the Kings River falls some weekend, but not this one.  Hopefully, we will have a good weekend in February.  Sometimes February is icy.  Last year at this time, the kids had missed almost a whole month of school.

Hannah was sick Monday and yesterday.  Her fever was down yesterday, so she should be back in school tomorrow.  It was just a month ago that she was sick and missed the Christmas party at school.  Her only real symptom was fever.  Anyway, she is better now.

Today is the day of the Camel.

Almost summer

here today it was close to 70.  I went walking without even a jacket.  I walked over past Peden's to the second fork in the road.  The pedometer says that is 3.15 miles, so I walked 6.3 miles tonight in just a few minutes over 2 hours.  It was just beautiful.

 

This was taken from just past Peden's after you round the curve.

 

 

This was taken just out the road from Helen's on my way home.  The same scene, but the fire has burned down. It is at the Eldridge farm at the top of Morris hill.

 

 

A deer on Dan's place out by the walnut tree that is no more

 

This is where I walked to.