8 Mile Hike Today

          First off earlier this week I had a follow up appointment with my doctor for my wrist. Everything looks good, another month off work. He moved me from a 5 pound restriction to a 20 pound restriction. Just have to work on loosing things up, I've been making really good progress though and every week I can tell I'm getting more strength and flexibility back in it. After the doctor's appointment I took my mom to Zio's for lunch and then we headed home.
           Today I went hiking at Bennett Spring State Park and thought I would tackle the 7.5 mile long Natural Tunnel Trail. Not really sure what I was thinking since I'm fat and out of shape and that's a butt kicking trail for people in good to average shape. Most of it isn't flat, there are some pretty big ups and downs. It's also a lot of creek beds and really rocky surfaces so it's like using a meat tenderizer on your feet. I made it though! I'm currently laying in a bathtub full of hot water soaking my muscles, but I made it!!!
             When I first got to the park I drove around the main parts just to see what was going on. I saw something I had never seen before.... an aquatic lawn mower in action!! It is only seven days away from opening day of trout season and they were clearing out some of the aquatic vegetation in the heavily fished areas.
               I headed to the Natural Tunnel trail and met a man just as he was leaving. He was really nice and we talked for a couple minutes. He was dressed in plain clothes, but the way he talked and the stuff he knew I got the impression he might have been with the Missouri Department of Conservation.
               After that I saw a couple ladies who were pretty nice and we talked for a second. They pulled in just after I did and only hiked maybe a mile or half mile at most before going back.
                The last person I ran into was a guy and things didn't go so well with him. I'm filming some shots of a cliff and I keep hearing him whistle every few seconds. A little annoyed he's making so much noise and I'm filming. I look over and he's about a half mile down the trail and his dog is getting farther and farther ahead of him. He's whistling for his dog, but the dog doesn't care, the dog is focused on me. I know this is not going to be good, because the dog is way to focused on me and getting to me and nothing else. I stand my ground, there is no where to run and I'm not going to outrun a dog, and if I did run the dog is probably going to take it as fear, see me as pray, or a fun thing to bite. He gets up to me and stays about six feet away, but is aggressively barking, pawing the ground and showing his teeth. He finally got up there to where we were and got his dog under control and I was not a nice person. I don't remember exactly what I said because it was all kind of a blur and it was bad Dustin who doesn't like to come out and play. I know I mentioned the dog should be on a leash and probably if he continues to want to have a dog he should keep it on a leash. I think I made my point, he went on down the trail ahead of me a ways and then I saw him walking back to the parking lot through the dry creek bed well away from the trail. You shouldn't have to feel threatened in a public park because some moron won't leash their dog.
                I was really surprised I didn't see anyone else as beautiful of a day as it was. It was in the upper 70's. After that first mile down the trail I didn't see a single person the entire time.
               Drove back to Lebanon and picked my mom up so we could go to Taylor's Dairy Joy. While we were waiting on our food I noticed they had a calendar on the wall. For the month of February the design was snowflakes which I thought was funny. Here all day I had been out hiking in the upper 70s, I saw butterflies, spiders, ants, flowers blooming, the trees had buds on them.... the weather is all out of whack. I just hope it's not 120 degrees in summer! Just the thought of it makes me want to have a swimming pool in my backyard.
                I tried out my new camcorder today, so we'll see how the video looks later. I have no idea when I'll edit the video, but it probably won't be today! I'm uploading photos from today now though and they should be finished by this evening.
                 I got a lot more talkative on camera today, at a certain point I was just so tired I didn't care. Maybe it will stick and I will get more comfortable with it.