Is there a light at the end of the tunnel

Today was a scheduled rest day, but I don’t know how to rest when I’m in a new place. I pulled one of my travel adventures cards which were a gift from the ServiceNow MVPS when I retired. It said find something off the beaten path.

After I had breakfast and language study, I asked the woman at the camp store finding a hidden gem., something off the beaten path. Well, you found us!” she said. Then she told me about the quilt tour and gave me a brochure. A fabric quilt hanging in the shop shows all 12 patterns, but each is also on the side of a barn or building throughout the area. I took that for maybe my afternoon adventure.

For this morning, I was preparing to take my bike on the North Bend Trail, a local rail to trail that I could pick up nearby. In order to do that, I needed to change the hitch on the car to put on my cheap bike rack purchased just for this purpose. I got the bike off the trailer rack and onto the car much quicker than I expected I could.

I drove a few miles to the town of West Union, where I happened upon one of the quilt squares and an amazing city hall building. I set off easterly on the trail because I wanted to ride the bridge over the river, but it was paralleling the highway so I turned back to the west for a quieter ride.

Dogwood trees just blooming wild in the woods. Fragrant wildflowers. And then a tunnel. Ever intrepid, I just started riding into it focusing on the light at the other end. Soon I realized it was longer than I thought and I could not see anything except the light at the end of the tunnel. I thought about turning back, but i told myself I must be about halfway, so I kept going. I was not halfway. It was not only very dark but cold and I’m sure slimy. At one point, I veered off center and my mirror scraped the wall. I screamed.

I still had a long way to go. I started thinking about what or who might live in the tunnel. The opening I was headed towards seemed like an opening in an aura or something ethereal and strange. I didn’t stop to take a photo. I was really creeped out. I thought at least I have location sharing on with my daughter so maybe they will be able to find my body.

And finally I was out and I was free. I didn’t even stop to take a photo of the tunnel in the opposite direction. I wanted to put some distance between me and that tunnel. I pedaled until I got to one of the trail side picnic tables. It was hot and sunny. I was glad to be hot again. I started my MerlinApp to record all the birds I was hearing. It was then I realized I was hugging myself and rocking back and forth.

Nope. I’m not going back through that tunnel. But what if I use the flashlight in my phone? No, I don’t want to know what is in there. Fortunately, I had enough cell reception to see that there was a road that would cross by the trail after the tunnel No doubt that would mean a hill, but that was not the point!

After I calmed, I started back and found the road. I could ride a very short distance before it became way too steep for me. I’m not Tour de France material. It was straight up. I kept going after the sign that said no salt, no pavement going forward because the “road” to the right looked like a gravel trail for ATVs. And then the road went to a private entrance to a plant but had a split that I kept following only to get to a point where it again was a private entrance. That trail WAS the road.

Thank goodness, my friend Caitlyn invited me to join a running club this winter. I had some stamina for this. Now, I’m riding my bike back down to the trail and then pushing it up another hill because the rocks were too coarse even for my hybrid tires. To give you an idea of altitude, one path split to a cell tower, and my tracker said I gained almost 700 feet.

There was no respite on the way down because now I was dodging large rocks held fast by red clay soil. I was walking the bike down most of the way. Sweet relief when I found pavement and the trail. But…where I reconnected with the trail, it was on a bridge over the road. Faced with trying to pull my bike up a steep, wooded embankment, I explored all angles. On the far side of the bridge, there was a driveway. It said private and clearly people were trespassing because they had a stick across a little trail between the bike path and the driveway. I said I was sorry three or four times to the air and put the stick back in place.

It wasn’t far back to my car and of course, now I am hungry. But I had forgotten to bring my purse, so back to the campsite I go. There is not much of an eating out scene in this area and I wanted something more substantial than I had in my pantry. I found Lil Mel’s diner eight miles away. It was an odd place with many doors and just Tables and chairs around. I opted for the counter and was disappointed but not surprised that there was not gonna be a nice ice cold beer to go with this lunch.

There were three wait staff and none of them were very communicative. Of course, they probably don’t see too many strangers. One of the girls took my order. I went off my pescatarian diet because I needed something substantial. A cheeseburger basket it was with a side of sweet tea. Damn that stuff is addictive. What the burger lacked in appearance it made up for in flavor when it finally arrived. They refilled my sweet tea and I perused the quilt tour brochure to plot my next stop with trucker rescue playing in the background in the huge TV.

They offered me a sweet tea to go which I took, and said they hoped I’d come back.

I found the first quit at a train depot and then I set off to find a few clustered together. I saw something in the road and I was pretty sure it was a turtle, so I turned around and went back. Sure enough, it was small but colorful box turtle. As I was carrying it to safety, a semi was coming around the bend and had to stop and wait for me to move my car because it was too narrow for him to pass. Just my luck. I hadn’t even seen a car on this road. I waved to him and pulled out of the way into the first driveway I could find. I wanted to go back to the turtle and put it further into the woods.

I follow Garden State Tortoise on Facebook, and they have a really outgoing box turtle named Otis. Box turtles are I believe the only turtles that can completely close themselves into their shells. And the more colorful, the more likely they are to be males. I’m guessing this one was a male.

Moving on, I found some more of the quilts and two cool old wooden churches. But I’m ready to get back to my trailer. Unfortunately, I have no signal, which is quite common with the terrain and this region that ia very poor. I’m trying to head west to get back to Rt 18, but the road keeps changing direction. Mind you,it’s really only one lane and no shoulder, so I don’t know what happens if I meet another car.

I finally got back to a two lane road and headed back to camp. I found three more of the quilts on the way.

I had a snack and some downtime before I decided to hitch up the trailer so I could pull out quickly in the morning. I was having issues again, and another camper asked me if I needed help. After a few moments, he could understand my frustration with having to line up everything perfectly or the ball won’t go down. But we got it done and I had a nice chat with him. He was on his way to Pennsylvania for a niece’s wedding and then hoping to find work somewhere he could stay awhile. He was leaving everything to Kesus to work out for him.

And that my friends is a rest day.