Way Out Float Trip

Well it about that time again: float trip.

The first step in any good float trip is going to Walmart and buying the trashiest clothes you can find. I went with a couple of sleeveless shirts. As Confucius once said: "sun's out, guns out".

Stuart insisted on driving which was awesome because he has a jeep with no windows, so I got feel the wind in my face and loss of hearing for the 3 hour drive out to NRO Canoe Rental & Campground in Lebanon, Missouri.

It was dark by the time we arrived.

Trevor was about to mess with my freedom but then he saw my other sleeveless shirt.

Things got sensual.

So sensual.

I had fun capturing some crayfish.

The Niangua River never had it so good.

Viry told me that I looked like a smashed cake while taking a nap. Thank you?

I had so much fun learning about crayfish that I had the Missouri Department of Conservation send me some riveting reading material.

My Old Schwinn

My dad's bicycle has been sitting in the garage collecting dust essentially my entire life. I think it's cool to have a couple meaningful artifacts in my life. Plus I will get to look like a cool kid hipster riding around an ancient bicycle.

Well I wasn't going to be able to ride it in its current condition.

Everything rubber had turned into brittle cardboard.

It even had a leather seat.

We brought it over to our local bike shop, Big Shark, to get it a makeover.

One decision I needed to make was what kind of tires to put on it. I wanted to stick as close to the original as possible.

Surprisingly they had the exact same tire in stock! It even had an identical tread pattern. 

A couple of days later we returned and it was ready to ride. Got new... brake wires? And it generally looked shiny and new.

There are Schwinn nerd websites that you can look up your bike its serial number. I was surprised at how old the thing was! I guess the Schwinn company used to build its bikes in Chicago but eventually got bought and the brand floated around. I think now it's just a label they slap on Chinese crap. Anyway mine was from Chicago!

I had some fun poking around the Schwinn catalogs from the time period.

I turned it upside down to mess with it and noticed my dad had put a label on the bottom. Pretty cool relic that I will treasure.

While looking through some old pictures that I took in 2009, I reread this little snip and realized it was the same bike! It's great for so many reasons: the misspelled last name, the fact that it's from a time of such innocence that a stolen bike made the newspaper, and the fact that they went so far as to include the serial numbers! And they must have actually recovered the stolen property because here it sits! Crazy.

Natalie in the Lou

Natalie, my friend since high school days, was in town and wanted to tourist so Brandon and I carted her around town to see the sights.

This was the first time I've been to the brewery since the "big quit" so it was a little weird for me. A couple of my old coworkers expressed surprise that I was allowed back on campus. I agree.

I had not realized they shave the clydesdale's beards.

They were torturing a tank of Bud Light with non stop "Gloria" in honor of the St. Louis Blues. Every bottle is going to taste like tears.

Natalie feared the beechwood. Sad.

I had a couple of these wooden nickels left lying around and I figured I would cash them in. The bartender told me they'd discontinued the program and don't accept them anymore. This was officially the worst day of my life.

We went to the arch.

Strolled around a bit of Citygarden Sculpture Park. I even took this chick to Gooey Louie. Best friend or bestest friend? You decide.