Thank Goodness, I Made It

Bloomsday 2015

Rolled in a bit late today because I had difficulties loading my kayak in Spokane this morning. Regardless, the park was nearly empty because of the downpour. There are only two diehard campers.
 
Spent much of the afternoon picking up litter in the empty campsites and learning a bit about what’s expected of me. Melissa, “Missy,” gave me a quick tour of Lake Sylvia State Park and she briefly outlined my responsibilities. She’s off tomorrow. Ranger Hopkins is off today and tomorrow, and then he has class on Wednesday. So I guess I won’t see my supervisor until Thursday.
 
The park is small, but very green and beautiful. Being small only adds to its charm. Although it’s small, there are hiking trails, horseshoe pits, picnic areas, tent and RV sites, a well maintained play area for kids with new gym sets, boating (non-motorized only), fishing and more. Washington State stocks the lake with rainbow trout and I hear there are a few bass lurking in the depths. Missy’s son, Austin, was trying to tease out a large bass for the best part of the afternoon, but failed.
 
This coming Saturday, May 6, Lake Sylvia is hosting a kid’s fishing derby. It starts at 6:00 AM. I’d better get a good night’s sleep before that starts.
 
BTW, the photo above is of me crossing the finish line at Bloomsday 2015. My time wasn’t very good, but considering that I was still recovering from my fifth knee surgery, I’m still proud to have finished. As they say, “No matter how slow you go, you are still lapping everybody on the couch.” In case you didn’t recognize me, I’m the one with a black hat, #29840 and hair.
 
This was my 29th running of the Bloomsday race. I missed the first running because I thought it would be a once-and-done event. Then I missed eight years while we lived in Tucson, AZ and Edinburgh, Scotland. Finally, I skipped one year because it was too cold, windy and raining. I know – I wimped out.

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