Images From My New Favorite Run

Saturday morning I went for a run, and because I rock the Garmin Forerunner 305 I'm able to go wandering and still know exactly how far I go. So wandering I went. There's a park on the edge of town that borders some wetlands. The whole area floods frequently, I assume that's because of Truman Dam a few miles downstream.

Here's the entrance to the park. In the background you can see the local armory. Immediately after entering the park I turn right onto some abandoned roads. Again, I think the roads and the accompanying bridges had to be abandoned once the area started flooding. However, the abandoned roads make great trails on which to run or bike. When I go back there I rarely see anyone else, and that's how I like it.

So on Saturday morning I turned down a path I hadn't noticed before and found a road I'd never seen. I stopped to take several pics. Here they are:


The surface is perfect for your mountain or hybrid bike.



Some (unfortunate) wildlife.



Old bridge.

You can't see them here, but like some guys insist on saying when you're playing softball, there's ducks on the pond. These are the same guys that say things like "that'll play" and "foot wedge" while playing golf.

The flood washed up a telephone pole or the SEALs dropped one.

Yes, that's a dinosaur in the treeline.

3.34 miles out.

This was the end of the line. I decided to turn around and head back at this point. On the pic above there are, again, some birds you can't see. They looked to me like guinea hens, except that they were in a flock of about 15, and they were black. Then they got in the water like ducks. I think I discovered a new species of bird.

It was here that I paused my new third favorite Extreme song on my iPod Nano and took in the silence and just marveled at God's creation. A marshy wetland when everything is still brown from winter may not seem that amazing, but when you're out there all alone it really is quite beautiful. Oh, and then I took a pee. There's nothing like peeing out in the open that makes you feel free and like a drunk all at the same time.

I'm sure when we get to Mars there will be beer bottles lying around. Here we go.

I think the guys that drank those beers made this sign.

My view as I headed back.