jumpingfish

Here is a snippet from the third day of my drive from Michigan to Austin. 

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Much of Wednesday morning was spent driving thru the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri. I was focused on taking scenic backroads, and today I got it.

US-160 from Poplar Bluff to Alton starts out innocently enough: a generously well paved two-lane road running west, connecting two scenic routes with an east-west path running thru the national forest. 

Even though the atlas (yes, an old-school paper atlas) doesn’t explicitly mark it as scenic, I figured its route thru the national forest would be a joy. In the beginning, US-160 was a generously wide and nicely paved two-lane road. But with Poplar Bluff receding into the distance, as the road became narrow and the trees leaned over to blot out the sky, the road became a punctuated sequence of sharp turns left and then right that were posted at 35, 40 and 45mph. “You would have been carsick,” I later reported to Trudy. 

Still, in spite of the lack of a scenic designation, in my opinion that stretch of US-160 qualifies. Perhaps it is because the forest is so close at hand. Perhaps it is the trailers and homesteads along the road. Or perhaps it is the individual trees — tall Oaks with glossy, dark green leaves that throw down generous shade.

Slow down. Turn left. Slow down. Turn right. So it went all the way to Alton, which I reached at 11:21, signaling Trudy upon my arrival. An hour later after crossing into Arkansas, I pulled off the road into the Salem City Park for lunch. There was shade. There were picnic tables. At the bottom of a hill there was a lake. And there were clean restrooms.

“Yay!” Trudy celebrated when I told her I was stopping and then added, “Google says four hours to go.”

But here’s the thing of it. Google doesn’t understand this kind of trip. Google assumes you want to go fast. Or Google assumes you want the shortest distance. I wanted neither and so didn’t consult the Google. So despite the algorithm’s estimate, I arrived six hours later at the Corps of Engineers Aux Arc Park on the shores of the Arkansas River near Ozark, Arkansas

where I backed the trailer into site #2 in the shade of a Sweetgum Tree.

Here is a snippet from the first day of my five-day drive from Michigan to Austin pulling the trailer, with four campgrounds along the way.

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Driving thru northern Indiana was a joy for so many reasons. The slow, two-lane road. Blue sky and sunshine. Expanses of corn and soybeans. Cool air blowing in the open windows. Really, sheer joy. Here’s one detail.

Northern Indiana is Amish country. I did not know this, but the yellow horse-and-buggy “Share the Road” signs along the side of were an obvious hint, quickly followed by a black, square buggy ahead of me. And then another one. And then an open buggy with a neatly dressed boy and girl sitting close but not close to each other as they rolled up a dirt road into a field.

And finally there was another black, square buggy driving towards me. I pulled over and slowed down.

A girl was at the reins, and several other children sat next to and behind her. As we got close, she looked straight at me, smiled, took the reins in her left hand, and waved with her right. Maybe because I had slowed down? Or because I too was pulling a trailer? Or maybe smiling and waving is a thing for them, just as is dressing smartly for the day or planting flowers in front of their houses. 

Goodbye Red Oak. Goodbye Pine.

Goodbye Michigan summertime.

1. 

There was barely a breeze, and the lake was glassy-still when a young couple came trolling by. He was shirtless and wore long swimming trunks. She had long hair and was bikini clad. He was standing on the bow of his boat casting. She was sitting in the back reading. They looked quite comfortable.  

As I looked up, the guy got a bite on his line. He turned and said something to her, and she came to the front where he gave her the pole and began taking pictures of her reeling in the line. She stood pole in hand as the fish slowly pulled their boat thru the water. After a few minutes, I saw her holding a very large fish as he took more pictures.

With that, the big jumping fish by Janet’s dock was caught. 

2.

He must have thrown the fish back, because a few moments later, he was trolling the same spot again.

As soon as he cast his line into the water, it went taught and his pole bent over. He turned to the woman and said something. He reeled the line in. The woman picked up a net and held it over the side. He reeled some more and then some more, and then she bent over and scooped up a very large fish. 

And with that, the big jumping fish by Janet’s dock was once more caught. 

3.

This time he held up the fish, and she took the pictures. He turned away, and I couldn’t see what he was doing. He bent over for a moment, stood up, and then threw the fish back. The two of them sat down, pulled the trolling motor up, and drove their boat away from the shore.

I guess the fish will live to jump by Janet’s dock another day.

Much to the chagrin of the girls I am sure although they were far too polite to say anything, I sat in the cottage for a long time before finally walking out to our teardrop trailer.

It was late, and the woods was dark for eyes accustomed to being indoors. Still, there was a slight glow from inside the trailer, so I managed to find my way without tripping over the various minor hazards along the way. Once inside, I arranged the blankets and sleeping bag (yes, even in summertime), shut the door, and turned out the light.

When I had laid my head on my pillow, I heard some loud voices. Distant but not distant, it sounded like two people arguing. I opened the door, stepped out, peered into the darkness and listened. There was indeed some sort of argument — two or more agitated people yelling very loudly.

Then there was a loud Bang! 

I peered in the direction of the shot (for a gun shot it clearly had been). There were lights at a cottage that I had never noticed you could see thru the woods. And the yelling got very loud and very, very frantic.

“Get into the car,” a woman shouted. “GET INTO THE CAR!” 

I heard a door slam shut, and then there was another Bang! 

I could see red tail lights light up thru the trees and hear a motor revving and tires spinning. The revving and spinning would stop and the then restart. I heard the sound of kicked up gravel. This went on for a few moments, and tail lights moved forward and back a few times and then finally disappeared into the woods. The sound of the engine roared down what I knew to be a long driveway to the road. 

Just then there was another Bang!

I could see a second set tail lights and hear another engine which also raced down the driveway. And I could clearly hear first car turn onto the road and speed towards 16 Mile Road, where it must have spun as it turned northward, tires squealing loudly. The second car went in the same direction. A few minutes later I heard sirens, but they never got close. And then there was silence.

Back in the trailer, I rearranged the blankets and sleeping bag, shut the door, turned out the light, laid my head back on my pillow, and fell fast asleep.