(written on the 25th from notes taken previously)
Would it be surprising were I to say that I spent most of the day working on my journal catch-up efforts? 🙃
Yurp. Sure did.
Journal, journal, journal.
Spent a good little while texting back and forth with my sister Heather.
And theeeeeeeeeeeen another jumpstart. 😶
Good. Freaking. Gravy.
Looks like I might need to get another battery. 😕 Or find a decent jump box at a less-than-astronomical price. 😅
[sigh]
But once again, another big thank you to the gentleman who was willing to come down and help. 🙏
And gratitude that it couldn’t have been more than few minutes from the time I discovered my van was dead yet again to the time that I found someone to give me a jump. 🥳🙏
And then I was right back at it, pounding away at my journal catch-up work.
I’m making so much progress, but the entries take so long to write, so I feel like I work so hard but see little day-to-day progress.
It’s when I look at where I was that I can see the significant progress over time. 🙏
Getting so close, but I’m definitely burning out. 😅
Somewhere around probably 3ish, I stopped and took a swim/bath in the lake, which was cold, but nice.
I continued texting a bit with Heather and then headed out, having maxed out the number of nights I was able to stay at that spot in a month.
I snapped a few parting pictures on the way back into civilization.
The nearest town was Omarama, their little 4-Square grocery store just a tiny little thing, about the size of a Walmart’s produce section.
But I bought a couple armfuls of things (literally 🙃), including another tub of ice cream. 🙃
Gosh, why is it so hard to lose weight?
😆
As I walked out to my van, both arms completely loaded with groceries, an older couple that was walking in offered to help, which was lovely. 😊🙏
The husband I think grabbed two glass jars of pickles out of my right arm, which enabled me to have enough motion to unlock my door and check everything on my front seat.
Thanks, folks.
I was feeling pretty upbeat and happy, chatting with the grocery store clerk and then having a fun little interaction with the older couple. 😊
Next stop was gas, filling my tank and realizing I’d averaged I think barely over 10 mi to the gallon for the last tank because of how often I was running the engine to keep my battery charged because of my internet use just hanging out in the same spot for days. 😅
Usually, I’m moving around a lot, so I don’t have to run my van extra to keep my battery charged.
Oh well.
My next destination was going up the Ahuriri River Valley. Ben, one of the people who’d given me a jump on my triple jump day had mentioned it as a place he’d liked, and since I was basically trying to drive as far as I could up up every river valley, this one being the next over, was next on the list. 🙃
The first half, or so, of the drive was an easy road, passing a few large stations (ranches), snapping pictures as along the way.
After the first half, after passing the last of the stations, the road was no longer a maintained road, and it definitely showed. 🙃
If I remember correctly, there was a sign saying only 4x4s, but… I’ve got four tires. 🙃
There were definitely some sketchy spots I had to watch out for, including a pretty hairy winding path through a large wash, but TGK did great, no torn off parts this time. 🙃
Despite some bottoming out. 😅
And more beautiful vistas to capture all along the way.
After a fairly long drive, I made it to the end! The end of the line. As far as you’re permitted to drive. 😁
I veged out for a bit, chatted with an older gentleman who was walking back from having fished the river further up, veged some more (I think watching the first two Tom Holland Spider-Man movies), and called it a night.
Lift the world.
Bring it on.
~ stephen
Lift the World 