I'm pretty excited

Back in late October -- I think it was the weekend before "The Half" -- I went with several REI folks on a camping trip to Arkansas, where we did the "Eagle Rock Loop" again. I've done that hike several times. It's a fun and challenging walk. According to the book, it's the longest loop hike in Arkansas. Not a surprise, because it's about 27 miles. When we've done it before, it's always been as a 3-day hike. That's about how I like to do things -- not planning too much distance any day.

This time was different. We went up on Friday, camped at Albert Pike that night, got up a couple of hours before daybreak on Saturday and hiked the whole thing in one day. It was a pretty hard day. Fun, though. We called it the "Eagle Rock Marathon." So actually last Sunday was not my first marathon. It was my first running marathon.

Anyway, on Saturday night after the hike and after dinner and a couple of beers, everyone was feeling pretty mellow. I was walking down the road to the little general's room (we were back at Albert Pike Recreation Area, where they have real bathrooms and showers) and there was this oldish guy sitting alone in his campsite playing the banjo. I stopped to listen. Soon John walked up (I was just standing there in the road), and we walked over and sat down -- having asked if he minded, of course -- to listen for a while. He was a pretty cool old guy, and a great banjo player. He was very rural, as you might expect. It was almost a little spooky when he played Dueling Banjos. He played and we chatted and of course he knew and played every bluegrass tune I could remember the name of. When the evening broke up I asked him if I could send him a blank CD on which he could record his CD (it had been established that he had recorded a couple of CDs) for me. He said he had blanks and just took my address.

Well, today I went to work at REI and what was there but 3 CDs!! Will (that was his name) had sent 3 CDs, wrapped in toilet tissue, with a very nice note in a Christmas card apologizing for its having taken so long to send them. Very excited! It's now after 10:30 and I'm sitting here listening. Really fun. Very unpolished. Completely authentic.

Gotta sleep now, though. I think after "Old Country Church" I'm gonna turn it off for the night. Hope to get grades submitted tomorrow. Probably won't happen till Monday, though. Got one student taking his final in the Testing Center tomorrow.

Later....