Bean’s Bike Adventure

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Heath and Pumpkin are in Wichita hanging out with Jendra so me and Bean have been on our own. Friday after work I picked her up, changed, grabbed some snacks and the stroller and drove over to the lake at the end of Indian creek.

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She stuffed her face and I pushed and jogged. We went just over 4 miles, it’s the longest I’ve pushed the stroller in a long time and it was tough I was really red and hot at the end. We went right to Walmart from there and got a fishing license and smores supplies. Then we headed home.

Heath and Pumpkin had gotten a late start and were still packing up for their trip. They left shortly later.

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I cooked up some pasta for Bean and me and we started doing some packing and getting stuff ready. I was really tired and after she was in bed I got the last few things I needed ready and then went to bed early. Since we got to bed so early we got up pretty early and still had a nice full night of sleep. We ate cereal, packed up our lunches and then loaded up the truck.

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We drove about 2 hours east just before Columbia to McBaine. We pulled into the trailhead parking lot and guess what.

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chicken butt and the rest of the chicken too. She was just walking around watching us get ready.

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We got the trailer all loaded up. I had 1 sleeping bag in the back of the trailer w/ 1 ground pad. The tent, books, and snacks next to Bean in the trailer. In my bag was the other sleeping bag, cooking gear, food, water, etc. I would guess my pack was 40lbs and the trailer fully loaded was 60lbs. Bean didn’t mind at all.

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She laughed a lot and was really excited to get going.

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At about 10:40 we got going.

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The trail was pretty firm and we got going along pretty well. At no time we were a couple miles in and stopping to check things out.

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like caves

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and the river

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Just before noon we found a nice bench and stopped for lunch.

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We were in a really nice section of trail with big bluffs on one side and the river on the other.

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Bean spend the whole trip snacking so she mostly just ate cantaloupe for lunch and nibbled at the bean and chicken burrito. I engulfed mine and then was ready to get back on the trail. I was really unsure how long it would take us and preferred to get to the campsite too early.

Shortly later we got to Rocheport.

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Bean was sleepy and I thought would fall asleep so I quietly peddled past the playground, restaurant and alpaca farm and right through the tunnel out of town.

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I was thinking our campsite was just past the bridge so kept peddling but by this point I was pretty hot and my butt hurt from the bike seat. I tried to be as disruptive as possible so Bean would nap but I had to stop for a break. It turned out the site was about 3 miles past the tunnel. I really started recognizing the area from a trip with Peanut once we entered the Davisdale Conservation area.

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Bean never fell asleep and once I saw the sign we went off trail and to the campsite.

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after that little grass hill we went over a bridge and the site was right around the corner.

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We setup in a big grass area that already had a nice firepit. Right away we got the tent up and tried again to get a nap going.

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I was more tied then Bean though so no nap. I was kind of glad afterwords. We took sevearl little hikes, back to the bridge to look at the turtles sunning on logs.

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or back to the trail to look for other bikers, or up the hill to look for ponds or by the tick areas to scare up deer and rabits or any other places we wanted to check out.

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At the end of each mini hike we got a load of firewood for our fire and brought it back.

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And once back we had a bite of trail mix and a cup of Gatorade. Once I was hydrated I switched to little cups of scotch.

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On one little hike we saw 1 turtle on the bank that didn’t jump in with the rest. I went over and found it was a box turtle not a painted turtle like the rest.

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We looked him over good and then put him back. We went to camp and lit our fire.

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We got it going good and went back and our turtle was still there. We scooped out a big pot of water and got it boiling.

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First we made hot coco and cedar needle tea. I had no idea if the tea would be good or deadly or what. It was just okay. I had left the lid off the scotch and someone dumped it all out so it was the best I could find. The hot coco was a success though. After that we made some tuna noodle dish.

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Our work was done for the day so we kicked back and ate and fed the fire.

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Once dinner was cleaned up we made smores.

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they were good

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even though I forgot to grab chocolate.

Then we got in the tent. Actually on our way to the tent we saw a bat flying circles around our site and we watched him eat bugs for a bit. It was not dark yet but getting there and we had just enough light to get in warm pajamas and get snuggled down in our bags. I read some really boring info from the side of the map and then Bean was asleep. Then I read my book until 9 and I went to sleep. I was on a bit of a lumpy spot and Bean had most of the shared ground pad and there was an unfortunate rock and I was a bit hot so I got up and rolled around quite a bit. Then early in the morning it really got cold. I had to put my socks and pants back on and tried to make sure Bean was all snuggled in good. I don’t think she moved from 8pm until 7am. She woke up warm and happy.

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We got out of our bags and the tent and ground were covered in a layer of frost. I got water boiling for oatmeal and coffee and tried to warm my toes up.

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While waiting for oatmeal and eating oatmeal Bean got cold and crabby and wanted to go. As quick as I could I got her ready, unpacked the tent and packed up the trailer.

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She was really bundled up good and I left her in the sleeping bag and even got out Cheetos. She was better in no time. I think it was like 9am when we got back on the trail. It was a cold morning but we both got warmed up in the sun. We went back through the tunnel and stopped at the park.

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We had a peanut butter bar since she didn’t eat much oatmeal and then got ready to ride.

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I really peddled hard on the way out. She sang songs and talked to geese and we only stopped for a few breaks.

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In no time we were back to McBaine and the truck.

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Bean was pretty worried because the chicken was nowhere to be seen. We packed up and headed into Boonevlle for lunch. All morning she said she wanted noodles for lunch and I wanted a beer and a cheeseburger. We found just the place.

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She only ate the saltines that came with my salad since she had been snacking all day. We drove 2 hours home and she slept for about 30 minutes.

Once home we unpacked a bit, hung up the slightly damp tent and then showered and bathed. Once I was clean I did some hair trimming and then got back in to rinse off. Once we were all clean we headed to Nana K’s house. She took us out for some really good BBQ. Then we went to my grandparents house and got a new mattress for the girls and an old machete for me. It was Bean’s bedtime when we went home so we got on pajamas and got to bed. Once she was down I did some dishes and laundry then put her new bike together and got to bed myself.

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