Nice place to read:
Thought I would try something new today - rest. I liked it. Got a chance to explore Manzanita and I found it to be a cool town. Perfect place to rent a beach house for a week or 2.
Nice little market in town has everything you need, and there are miles of beach to explore.
Stopped for coffee at a natural foods store and they find me a little spot to charge my phone while I enjoy the coffee - thanks guys!
My sleep was interrupted twice last night. The first was when a big, fat raccoon tried to help himself to my food. Ok, Here we go...... There are bound to be more of these encounters, so let's just call this one "round 1". Here's a recap of the round:
The raccoon (let's call him "Fat Bastard") comes out swinging and drags Ron's tightly sealed food pannier off to a neutral corner and begins to systematically work at it with his crafty little Fat Bastard paws. Ron (groggy from last night's merriment) bumbles out of his tent and launches a counter attack to retrieve the pannier and then pulls all food bags into tent vestibule. Fat Bastard waits for Ron to doze and then snatches and drags the (unprotected) handlebar bag (which had an apple) back to his corner and starts to work. Ron wakes up and spews some incoherent blather at FB, then hurls a fist sized rock at the easy target..... Missing by an embarrassingly huge amount. Ron finally wizes up and hangs ALL panniers in the trees. FB concedes defeat and moves onto the next camp where he easily scores some blueberries and Fritos.
Score at end of round 1:
Ron: 1
Fat Bastard: 0
The second time I woke up it was to the sound of rain on my tent. Probably got a good 2 hr shower.
Got a chance to log some reading time too. Reading "Endurance - Shackleton's Incredible Voyage ". Great read! Makes me mighty glad I don't have to deal with Antarctic ice pack on this trip.
I also repaired the zipper to the tent screen which failed a few days ago (not good in bug country!). I figured it was a goner - been a good tent for 15 years....but nothing lasts forever. on a whim I googled "zipper repair" and discovered that you can just pinch down the closer to solve the problem. Voilà!! It worked!
My new favorite tool :)
Great post. I bet you felt pretty vulnerable standing there in your skivvies and head lamp preparing to do battle with FB. Hope you enjoyed your rest day.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jeff! It was a wake up call as the coons are supposed to get more prevalent as I head south. I'll try not to be such as easy target!
DeleteHa ha! Great post!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on beating the Fat Lil' Motha' F*#ka' Bastard. I can't wait to read about the battles once you start camping in wild pig territory!
Hmmm, and I'm impressed by the Shackleton read. Might you be developing an interest in combining sailing with touring??? :)
Sailing sounds fun- just as long as it doesn't end up like Shackleton's trip! Wild pigs sound scary.... They can have my food!
ReplyDeleteGood to hear you won the battle with FB! Not sure how we scored in our last battle with his cousins in Pleasant Valley, that might have been a draw!
ReplyDelete