Coffee House Hike 2009
It is the end of the month, and I'm out of fun money. That left me with the choice of trying to find a local hike (that creature does not exist) or trudge on the treadmill. To top things off, a snow storm blew in this morning, dropping snow, sleet and rain all over the place.
Hemingway once wrote about taking an extended ski trip through the Alps. Ski into a little town, stop at the local bar, then ski on to the next town. It as always sounded fun to me, but: I don't ski, and I really don't drink that much anymore. So, a hike between coffee houses sounded fun to me. Of course, I don't drink coffee either.
Just the same, I loaded up my dslr and Colin Fletcher's The Complete Walker into my daypack and headed off to Java City on the north side of Abilene. While it would occur to me later that Ernesto was a crazy old fucker that shot himself in the head, at this point I was looking forward to my adventure.
When I went into Java City to buy a tea and ask permission to leave my car for a couple of hours, the people behind the counter thought my idea novel, and one offered to buy me a coffee when I made it back. Strangely enough, one of them brought up my cousin who just drowned in Lake Sweetwater. Thinking about our swim across Lake Sweetwater years ago was part of what pushed me into this hike, but it was strange for a stranger to bring it up to me. I choked on the event and told him that I had known Gary, but not that we were related. How the bits and pieces of the world connect to each other is a strange thing.
After a quick chat with the barista I opened my trunk to shoulder my pack and found that I had left my lightweight rain shell at home. Knowing that my regular rain jacket would soon have me wetter than the snow from sweat, I left it in the car. I also chose my trail running shoes over my boots, figuring that the extra grip would be nice. Both of these might have proved to be mistakes later. The list of my other gear was a bit different than usual. I left the trekking pole in the car, but took the .38 revolver (in case of bears), my cell phone and .mp3 player Either way, I started walking south through the huge snow flakes, with the temp 32F.
While I did not encounter any bears, this was probably the second most dangerous hike I've ever been on (the first being when I walked across Newark, NJ.) I did nearly get ran over by someone running a red light, and I had to cross streams (okay, maybe gutters) swollen with snow melt. And the abominable snowmen. Demented, half melted, deformed snowmen.
The first leg of my hike took me four miles, from the north side of Abilene to South 7th to the Mezamiz Coffee House. Poor luck got me there right as they were closing due to the weather (which I found funny, since I had just walked about an hour and a half through said weather to get there.) I also got a sad laugh at the skinny guy walking out with a new looking backpack from The North Face. The North Face used to be hard core outdoor gear, but now that it is in fashion for walking around the mall that'll probably change.
Of course I brought the mickey mouse bottle. He is up to 35 miles now.
By this time the snow had turned to rain and after about ten minutes at Mezamiz I moved on down South Leggit. My feet and socks were soaked from walking through grass; the lack of sidewalks in this town will make you jump out into traffic if you are the l'appel du vide sort (or have the "imp of the perverse" if you are Poe fan.) Luckily I wore lyrica liner socks and smartwool hiking socks. The liner socks wicked the water (mostly) away from my feet, and the wool kept them warm even while being wet. For the same reason, I'm glad that Neecy knitted my hat from wool.
I took another less than five minute photo break at what used to be The Bean Counter, yet another coffee house on South 14th. My jacket was starting to soak through, but I was still warm. The camera battery was starting to die as well.
Around 3:45pm some yuppies in the drive-thru of the Starbucks near the mall were surprised to see a wet homeless man trudge up to the store, whip out a Canon DSLR and start snapping photos of himself. The barista's inside were nice and didn't seem to bat an eye at me dripping water while ordering tea; Though, I did get some looks from the yuppies in their sweater vests and slacks. That's okay, I was as uncomfortable sitting there as they were for me being there. I'm sure someone expected me to start panhandling. I love Texas, I really do, but people's amazement that someone would want to walk somewhere bothers me.
Eight miles, less than three hours, and way more fun than I thought I would have. Snow, sleet, and rain fell on me, but I kept pretty warm. It was an adventure just as much as Lincoln National Forest, Caprock Canyon, or even swimming across Lake Sweetwater, twice.
You should have been there.
Hemingway once wrote about taking an extended ski trip through the Alps. Ski into a little town, stop at the local bar, then ski on to the next town. It as always sounded fun to me, but: I don't ski, and I really don't drink that much anymore. So, a hike between coffee houses sounded fun to me. Of course, I don't drink coffee either.
Just the same, I loaded up my dslr and Colin Fletcher's The Complete Walker into my daypack and headed off to Java City on the north side of Abilene. While it would occur to me later that Ernesto was a crazy old fucker that shot himself in the head, at this point I was looking forward to my adventure.
When I went into Java City to buy a tea and ask permission to leave my car for a couple of hours, the people behind the counter thought my idea novel, and one offered to buy me a coffee when I made it back. Strangely enough, one of them brought up my cousin who just drowned in Lake Sweetwater. Thinking about our swim across Lake Sweetwater years ago was part of what pushed me into this hike, but it was strange for a stranger to bring it up to me. I choked on the event and told him that I had known Gary, but not that we were related. How the bits and pieces of the world connect to each other is a strange thing.
After a quick chat with the barista I opened my trunk to shoulder my pack and found that I had left my lightweight rain shell at home. Knowing that my regular rain jacket would soon have me wetter than the snow from sweat, I left it in the car. I also chose my trail running shoes over my boots, figuring that the extra grip would be nice. Both of these might have proved to be mistakes later. The list of my other gear was a bit different than usual. I left the trekking pole in the car, but took the .38 revolver (in case of bears), my cell phone and .mp3 player Either way, I started walking south through the huge snow flakes, with the temp 32F.
While I did not encounter any bears, this was probably the second most dangerous hike I've ever been on (the first being when I walked across Newark, NJ.) I did nearly get ran over by someone running a red light, and I had to cross streams (okay, maybe gutters) swollen with snow melt. And the abominable snowmen. Demented, half melted, deformed snowmen.
The first leg of my hike took me four miles, from the north side of Abilene to South 7th to the Mezamiz Coffee House. Poor luck got me there right as they were closing due to the weather (which I found funny, since I had just walked about an hour and a half through said weather to get there.) I also got a sad laugh at the skinny guy walking out with a new looking backpack from The North Face. The North Face used to be hard core outdoor gear, but now that it is in fashion for walking around the mall that'll probably change.
Of course I brought the mickey mouse bottle. He is up to 35 miles now.
By this time the snow had turned to rain and after about ten minutes at Mezamiz I moved on down South Leggit. My feet and socks were soaked from walking through grass; the lack of sidewalks in this town will make you jump out into traffic if you are the l'appel du vide sort (or have the "imp of the perverse" if you are Poe fan.) Luckily I wore lyrica liner socks and smartwool hiking socks. The liner socks wicked the water (mostly) away from my feet, and the wool kept them warm even while being wet. For the same reason, I'm glad that Neecy knitted my hat from wool.
I took another less than five minute photo break at what used to be The Bean Counter, yet another coffee house on South 14th. My jacket was starting to soak through, but I was still warm. The camera battery was starting to die as well.
Around 3:45pm some yuppies in the drive-thru of the Starbucks near the mall were surprised to see a wet homeless man trudge up to the store, whip out a Canon DSLR and start snapping photos of himself. The barista's inside were nice and didn't seem to bat an eye at me dripping water while ordering tea; Though, I did get some looks from the yuppies in their sweater vests and slacks. That's okay, I was as uncomfortable sitting there as they were for me being there. I'm sure someone expected me to start panhandling. I love Texas, I really do, but people's amazement that someone would want to walk somewhere bothers me.
Eight miles, less than three hours, and way more fun than I thought I would have. Snow, sleet, and rain fell on me, but I kept pretty warm. It was an adventure just as much as Lincoln National Forest, Caprock Canyon, or even swimming across Lake Sweetwater, twice.
You should have been there.
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