jungle boots this time
Posted by Zonie on January 02, 2024 at 05:08:39
Contrary to the old Irish song, all was not quiet on New Year's Day. Apart from the other noises that were going on before I went to bed, I was awakened a couple times after midnight by low-flying police helicopters. It's been a while since that happened.
I resolved to go to the state trust land and play in the mud and to go early so that I would be back long enough before sunset to pre-wash my overalls with the garden hose. My damaged Chinese Tony Lamas were drying and awaiting the opening of the cobbler's shop, so today's choice of footwear was jungle boots. For some reason they take quite a while to put on, and the laces come undone often. They do let water in and out with ease. I was a bit surprised at the getting cold feet. It's interesting that the cowboy boots keep my feet warm even when they're soaking wet. Still I wasn't getting cold feet in the figurative sense, and was enthusiastic about the trek.
I approached Coyote Central from the shorter route on Tatum Boulevard. There was traffic as soon as I arrived, I saw three ATV riders and heard one of them saying that if they tried to go through the puddles at the "landfill," they'd get stuck. There are no authorized landfills on state trust land, but people do dump rubbish at Coyote Central, so I suppose that's what he meant.
They took off, and I headed east as well. I noticed there were fewer mud puddles than Friday and that they were much shallower. Some of it was doubtless evaporation, but I was gratified by the thought that the ATV riders were splashing through. Some mud puddles should be loved to death that way.
As I turned to the north power line trail about a mile east of Tatum I saw some dirt bikers, including a little boy who wiped out and was being encouraged by the adults to get back on and try again. I expect this was his training ride. That group didn't go in the puddles though.
I then turned east to Coyote Central and had the place to myself. I trudged through the deep mud pits, and this time my boots showed no tendency to try to come off, and I could easily churn up the mud.
I then headed towards the power plant, and the mud puddles in that direction were in better shape. I expect the ATVs hadn't ridden as much through there. Eventually I turned around and splashed back. I then paid another visit to Coyote Central and churned the mud up some more and then headed back west towards Tatum Boulevard.
I decided to be adventurous, leave the trail and make my way through the barbed wire, and I got to my car just after 4 PM. I got home with plenty of daylight left to strip off my overalls, socks and boots and hose them down. Then I did laundry, had something to eat, did the vacuuming and took a shower. My mud clothes and my civilized clothes are clean, and my work clothes for tomorrow are arranged. It's been a nice vacation, and I'm ready to go back.
NWS say we may have some rain Wednesday night, but they're expecting less than a tenth of an inch. Next Sunday they're expecting more rain, but it's hard to tell that far in advance. They are predicting much cooler weather, so maybe I'll be able to justify wearing my oilskin drover coat for hiking in the rain. The advertising claim that it's fully waterproof is a lot of nonsense, but it's a fun coat to wear hiking in a cold rain.