Drive From MN to AR

After we picked up our Scamp last week, we stayed in the Backus, MN area for a couple of days to make sure everything was working correctly. It's a good thing we did that because we had a problem with the hot water heater, which we thought they fixed after our first night and then found the next morning it was still not right. We also found that the outside step had not been installed correctly. The good news is that Scamp has excellent customer service. This is a family owned company and when presenting our concerns, we dealt directly with the son of the owner who personally took care of our needs.

On Friday we drove to the Odessa, MO area where we ran a 5K on Saturday. I have been running/racing for over 40 years and have done hundreds of 5Ks, including one in Leadville, CO (altitude of over 11,000 feet) where I ended up walking about a 100 yards. Saturday's 5K marked the second time I have walked in a 5K. In fact, I walked 3 times, running my slowest time ever for the 5K distance. Yet, I still won my age group. At age 66, there just aren't that many entries and those who do enter are mostly walkers. My time was so slow that I will not be posting it.

After spending 6 weeks running in temperatures in the 40-65 degree range, I simply was not prepared for the heat and humidity. I was so hot after the race that when I went back to the trailer and saw some people out in their yard, I asked them if I could cool off in their water hose. They agreed that I could. Since I had not had a shower in a couple of days, I just got my shampoo and washed my hair and took a cold shower (with my running clothes on) after which I felt so much better.

While on this trip, I have also not been "training" and I was not hydrated and my entire body has not been doing well after all the hours of driving. As you can see, I had lots of excuses. After the race, I said to Hollie that I had all the excuses for my poor performance and his response was, "excuses are for losers" and my response to him was that I wasn't a loser since I had won my age group.

After the race, we drove to Fayetteville, AR where we are now visiting my sister. The temperatures here have been well over a hundred for many days. Yesterday was no different. Knowing that I am going to have get acclimated for the heat and humidity of MS, I headed out for a run. My plan for acclimation is the run as far/long as I can and then run/walk until I've had enough. My sister lives near a bike/hike trail so I headed out on that. First, I walked .75 mile and then I ran 3 miles. I felt fine with that run, but stopped as soon as I felt I was overheating. It's a good thing I did stop and turn around because it took me forever to get back to the start. There was no water available on the trail and I was very near having big-time problems. As soon as I got back to the house, I drank a bunch of water. I then stood/sat under a cold shower until I began to feel somewhat normal. As soon as I got something to eat and started hydrating, I felt OK.

We plan to leave tomorrow to make our way home. We'll stop at least one night. I have a couple of high school classmates who live in the Pine Bluff area. I haven't seen them since 1962 and I may try to meet up with them.

This has been a very good trip and Hollie and I plan to return to Alaska next year. Other travel plans include a couple of weeks in the FL Keys in Nov and Dec and some extended time in TX, NM, and AZ in Jan and Feb.