The first post-pandemic bus hike for Wanderbirds – A winery hike – The thrilling chase of Dusty Mobley – Lake Mead – Evening statistics
The Wanderbirds completed a bus hike yesterday, the first one some two-and-a-half years since the pandemic began. We hiked in Caledonia State Park in Pennsylvania. In the past, we have generally hiked in this area during the first or second week of July, when the rhododendrons are in bloom. They were somewhat less prolific this year than usual, but there were several in evidence nonetheless. The various club members who attended the hike expressed great pleasure at seeing the bus hikes resumed. Not every seat was taken, but it was reasonably full and there were several new members among the participants. I lost no time in recruiting new hike leaders from this group, for we have had no new members join the club once the pandemic began, and our pool of potential leaders has greatly shrunk as a result. After the hike we snacked and chatted as we waited beside the bus for the hikers to straggle in, and the result was something like the atmosphere of old times.
Today I went with LM and a few others on a winery hike, doing a loop from Ashby Gap that went south on the Appalachian Trail, then turned on the Old Appalachian Trail until it joined the AT again, and returned on the AT. On both this hike and yesterday’s the weather was lovely, sunny and warm but not overly hot for this time of year and not especially humid. Many wineberry and blackberry bushes line the trail in this area. The blackberries are still ripening, but the wineberries are at their peak, and we eagerly sampled many along the way. Afterwards we went to Delaplane Cellars, on Rte. 17 just a couple of miles away from the Sky Meadows entrance. Like many of the Virginia wineries, it is in a wonderful physical location, perched on Lost Mountain and overlooking the Ashby Gap area. As is usual on such hikes, we brought in various provisions for lunch and enjoyed ourselves eating outside, sipping wine (although I am not especially fond of rosé wines, theirs was quite good), and leisurely conversing on various matters, some political and some personal. SW had been among the group with whom I went to Iceland. She and her husband had stayed in that country for several additional days in the Westfjords region, and she shared many lovely photographs from her travels there.
Car chases occur frequently in movies and, happily, somewhat less frequently in real life; but the chase of the Okaloosa police after Dusty Mobley would have made quite a curious cinematic experience had it been captured on film. The deputies had pursued him because earlier in the year he had stolen a boat and, when the police tried to arrest him, dove from the boat into a swamp, after which he eluded capture. He certainly has a predilection for unorthodox methods of escape, but this time, when the police obtained information of his whereabouts, his methods met with less success. Mobley made a somewhat unusual choice of getaway vehicle: a lawn-mower. Despite his valiant attempts to kick his John Deere mower into “high gear,” the chase ended in about 17 seconds, when deputies shot Mobley with stun guns. When taken into custody Mobley had a revolver and a handcuff key in his possession, along with a pipe with methamphetamine residue. He faces more than a dozen potential charges, including resisting an officer, obstructing police, possession of a weapon or ammo by a convicted felon, drug equipment possession, and grand theft of a motor vehicle.
Lake Mead is now 30% below capacity. Its level has dropped 170 feet since reaching a high-water mark in 1983. One episode illustrates how quickly the water is diminishing. Craig Miller was motoring on his houseboat last month when the engine died and he floated to shore. Within days, the knee-deep water where his boat came to a rest was gone. “It’s amazing how fast the water went down,” Miller said. “I was landlocked.” Eventually he was rescued by a sympathetic social media personality< Dave Sparks, who saw a video about Miller’s plight, and showed up with a crew to pull the boat from the shore and to tow it to a marina.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 561,381,360; # of deaths worldwide: 6,374,297; # of cases U.S.: 90,479,793; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,046,196.