2019 Mini-Vaca2, Eastern Iowa, Pt 6 - Maquoketa Caves,pt III

We're just about to wrap this bad boy up.

After our brief lunch and inhalation of liquids, we set out to further explore the area of the park that we didn't give much respect to on our previous visit.

So let's got take a look.

Starting up the stairs and looking back down towards the road, parking lot, and ranger station.

Me fams up ahead as I was stopping to take pictures.

We didn't go down into this cave, however, we did meet a little boy at the entrance of it who will figure into our story later.  Apparently, his dad and his little sister were down in there at the time and he didn't want to go.

This is roughly where we start losing the path.  We were thinking that with the storm that had recently passed thru,  the path/trail was not so prominent anymore and we were sort of going where we thought it should be.  We hit a few dead ends...

This is looking mostly straight down about 200 ft.

Notice the steep drop on the left side of the pic.

The trail was getting pretty dicey at this point.

We were becoming tree-huggers the further we went!

Toothpicks for all!!

So we reached what we thought was a wicked dead-end.  This is a bit after the boy that we saw at the tiny cave entrance, his dad and little sister caught up to us.  I thought we had to head back up as I saw a fence in the chest high weeds we were walking thru, however, I didn't go close enough to investigate.  The fence went right up to the "path" but then ended.  So the two families hiked together for the next hour or so.  He was in much better shape than I so it required me to step it up a bit to "stay in the game".

On our way up to what turned out to be a pasture...

The best shot of us all together.

Crossing a creek!  These were a bit interesting.

We witnessed a deer doing some major escape move shortly before seeing these prints in the mud.  The deer, to its credit, went up one the steepest hills that I've ever seen an animal ascend.

Recent washout from the storm.

And finally, we reached the end of our hikes.

What a great adventure!  If you have kids, I would HIGHLY recommend Maquoketa Caves State Park as a destination!  It doesn't suck that the Bluff Lake Catfish Farm is 2 minutes away either!

Heartbreaking Football and the Aftermath

Caleb had another Tuesday night football game as a make-up game for Oct. 5th which was cancelled due to passing thunderstorms.

It was COLD AND WINDY!!!  Absolutely painful to sit in the bleachers and watch, but that's what we did.  And for 47:40 of 48 minutes of game play, we weren't disappointed!

But what happened in those other 20 seconds was a roughly 90 play where our defense faltered and allowed the second score of the game with about 1:40 left in the game.  We couldn't come back...  

Turns out that the 20 second gaffe was our fatal blow and the boys were devastated.

The only picture I took.  It was a surprise to us that Caleb was getting to run the ball a LOT!  He's not played a single play on offense thru the first 4 games but our running back was unable to be there so Caleb played every play of the game, except two.  That's him in the white jersey "running".  He did great and was EXHAUSTED after the game, not to mentioned banged up, but he loved it!

What is this, you ask?  Caleb had sore elbows and a large "cherry" on one of his knees.  Mom told him to get in the shower to clean his wounds and then she would dress his knee.  He stripped in our bathroom and showered and these are the little rubber pellets from the football field that he had in places where no man or boy should have them!  LOL!!

TKD, DKT or KDT... It's All Fun.

This is Dave Neff, myself and Kristie Harrold on Dave's last day of work as he's now retired and doing just fine and dandy!  Dave, Kristie and myself, 3 strangers, found ourselves sitting together in a double cube as contractors back in October of 2004.  In fact, Kristie and I started on Monday, Oct. 4th and Dave started back on Oct. 6th.  We worked on the same project and laughed our butts off together!!  So much fun.  Never tire of seeing these two around the office even tho our paths have gone in different directions.

One Man's Trash...

After going thru my in-laws papers to see what we need to keep and what's trash and ready for the burn pile.   Yikes!

Returning those documents to the Earth!

Had to back up as she was HOT!!

2019 Mini-Vaca2, Eastern Iowa, Pt 5 - Maquoketa Caves,pt II

When we were at Maquoketa Caves on Saturday, Robby made it perfectly clear that we needed to come back for a second visit and hit areas that we didn't get to.

That's exactly what parents like/love to hear when you plan, what you hope are, fun visits and family outings.  You got a spot that everyone likes enough to want to come back, then, by God, you come back!!!

So here we are.

A little evidence of a recent storm that had passed thru.  We'll see more of this as the day progresses.

Exhibit B of previously mentioned storm.

The "Rob" who is talking to himself as he strolls along.

Looking straight up the steep bank of stone.  

If you were so inclined, you could go back there and crawl into that hole.  I was NOT so inclined!

He was going to do a pull up until he noticed some bats hanging around the ceiling of the cave.

Pics like this make me want to go back!!

LOVE these two!!!!

Exhibit C of previously, previous mentioned storm.

Epic beauty,  both the Earth and the Chinaman!!!

My fams!  I am blessed beyond what I deserve...

Robby came down this path instead of using the trail.  It took FOREVER and he was sliding all over crap when he finally got down, but to his credit, he never fell.  Which was good because I told him he couldn't get back in my truck and would therefore, have to ride back the 30 minutes to our campsite in the bed of the truck under the tonneau cover.

It's almost impossible to see, but there are 2 baby mice in this pic!  Robby and some other girl were making sure that people wouldn't step on them.  :-)

Not sure where we're at in this pic...

Caleb was the only one who could fold himself up small enough to fit in this one.  I volunteered to stay out of this cave, remain upright and photograph anybody who wished to enter.

This was the funniest part of our day.  Why?

Not because of this...

Or this...

But this!  Robby was up on this ledge and working his way around.  He was singing and dancing, as you can see in the picture, when he came face to face with this lovely fella...

This creature was about 3 inches from leg tip to leg tip and pretty meaty.  Just like sunsets/sunrises,  the picture doesn't do it justice!  It was ugly and we all kept going back to look at it...  for some unknown reason.

Nearly at the end of our first hike,  this guy is still happy with his little handheld fan and life in general.  We sort of like him!

The final climb before lunch.

Lunch in near 100 degree temps before we head out for hiking in the Southern part of the park.  The waters and gatorade's were well deserved and met with much celebration!

More Steve...

Another post about Steve!  It's all Steve all the time around here.  He's a puppy so you have to be on him CONSTANTLY!  He'll go from chewing on something, to peeing, to God knows what next, all within one minute!

Caleb with Steve on the kitchen table in Crystal Lake, Ia this past weekend when we went up to have a small graveside service for my wife's family and do little more work on the house.

Steve on the table with a towel wrapped around him because the furnace wasn't working and it was 54 degrees in the house.

The Couch Creepah!!

Me on Sunday evening watching football.  You'd think the dogs really like me but really it's where the white blanket goes, so goes the dogs!

Juno sleeping on a blanket on top of the office chair where the "rat" Steve, cannot bother her.  LOL!!!

He was sitting like this watching me clean in the kitchen when he started wobbling back and forth while his eyes experienced various states of openness.   He eventually toppled and went straight into a nap.  It was quite cute!

Momma Chaos & Steve.

The old guy & Steve.

My sister Doris & Steve.

STEVE!!

I took the dogs on a walk Monday morning and this was right as we got back inside the truck to head home.  Steve was exhausted and I had to carry him for part of the way back.  Juno was P!$$3D  that we turned around about 1/3 of the way into our regular walk and she made the trek back to the truck miserable by refusing to walk, turning around in attempts to reverse course and walking real slow when she usually likes to be about 8 - 12 inches in front of me.