So this particular episode of "HOW BAD CAN IT HURT!?!" is brought to you by sleep deprivation and creative attempts at polyphasic circadian manipulation. Here was my thinking:
1. I am trying to break out of my comfort zone to prep for the AT.
2. I have never required much sleep.
3. I have too much pride in #2.
4. I often try to see how little I can get by on.
So I figure, if I can travel in the afternoon or over night, I could sleep for a few hours in the morning and a few hours in the afternoon and be good. I have done polyphasic sleep experiments previously and find that I like schedules build around multiples of forty-five minutes, or I also do really well with semiphasic patterns (extended wake schedule, hacker's schedule) off thirty-six to forty-eight up and twelve down. The latter is what I decided to run with on Groundhog Day. I figured I would get in about 2300 and sleep for twelve then be up all night and get to my hotel room around 1400-1500 and pass out for ten to twelve hours and be good to go. Polyphasic has a two to three week adjustment, but a semiphasic I can usually slip into in under a week, espcially if I have something keeping me busy.
What actually happened is more like this. I got to the hotel late on 1/31-2/1 and could not fall asleep. It took me nearly four hours to pass out. Finally, around 0530 local I fell asleep, fitfully. I woke at least twice and it may have been the dream, but I think I woke up at least three to four other times also. I drag myself out at 1030 on about two hours sleep. Day three is dicey at best. I call to the hotel as soon as I get back to town to see how early I can check in, hoping they had a room opened last night that was cleaned so they can take me now. No such luck. The absolute earliest they can do is 1300. It is just after 0930 and I am pretty well exhausted. I figure it would be better to pass out in the parking lot over there for a few rather than passing out on the road for a few. So I put the address into my gps and head that way.
The first first road is a little scenic, but I think nothing of it. The second road is still more twists and turns and I look at the gps. It tells me I have seventeen miles to where I am staying, but it also says over five hours to cover this distance. This is when I remember that the previous night I had been playing with settings to get directions to the post office and had set my gps preference to by foot, shortest path. . . at this poing I going through goat trails and farmland and have no way to turn off the road I am on. . fifteen minutes later I run across the black top again and hang a right since I am pretty sure that was the direction I needed to head in and start looking for somewhere to park so I can unhork my gps. About three to four minutes later, I intersect one of the roads that the gps told me to take on foot most of the way there. So I take it and end up running right past the hotel I am staying at! As it is now only about 1100 I decided to explore a bit and found the Open House Store. We talk crafts, leather, bone, books, local history and beanie babies for about an hour. I let the owner get back to her work and head to he dollar store right next to my hotel. They have blades for cheap so I pick up a pack and slide over to the hotel parking lot and snooze until check-in time, then I go to my room and snooze.
In the morning, I grab a shower and decide to shave. The shave goes eighty-five percent good, but I cannot find my alum so I am itchy all day. Reconstruct Day 1 for the general public, and check out of the hotel. As I drive toward Cleveland, I see signs for main street Clarion with shopping and eating opportunities. I decide to make a go of it and get off the highway. The town is awesome! I took some pictures of the courthouse and jail and then a bunch of random stuff.
I had a sandwich and a cup of corn-crab chowder. Both were amazing. I had stopped off on the other side of the house which carried soaps and fragrance earlier to see if they had any shaving stuff (they did not), and the owner of the joint came over to see how I liked everything and provide direction to the folks behind the counter. We talked for a bit and she went back to the other side.
The prosciutto on the sandwich was slightly different that what I was used to so I asked for a couple of ounces on paper to investigate further. While the gent behind the counter worked, we talked about work, the AT, his college career and plans, and the Fall Festival in September/October.
My next stop was Dan Smith's candies. They were ok, and only had dark chocolate sponge candy (also known as molasses puff candy) no molasses chip or milk chocolate puffs. They were pretty good, and the texture was a bit finer than what I get around town locally, but was it was a little too firm for my tastes.
I found the post drop and went inside to do the needful. Next door was the library and I started up the front door, but as I was taking pictures, saw a sign noting that the entrance was down the hill toward the back. Upon entering, I knew I had found a good library, the right smells, temperature, and humidity greeted me like it does from a real good used bookstore and instantly transported me through time to the many occasions where the library has been a study tool, a companion, or home (I have surreptitiously slept on the floor in the library on many occasions, a few times when they weren't open still). I look to the right and see the children's section, to the left is a used book room that says paperbacks $1 hardbacks $2. Here I met Sue and learned more in our ninety minute clarion county history lesson and picture review session than I had all week.
Sue let me photograph her room, but not her and introduced me to Dan the new director and Kelsey the the workstudy intern on loan from the University, she did let me get a picture.
As I left town, I got to listen to a variety of music on the college station just coming back for the first week following vacation. Found a great multipurpose store and watched a great sunset.
No comments:
Post a Comment