The blog will probably be pretty quiet this summer.  Since signing the lease Memorial Day weekend I’ve spent parts of two more weekends at my apartment in Fort Smith.  It’s now equipped with the necessities so I could live and work there if I didn’t still need to get the house in Kansas City on the market, which I hope to accomplish in 2-3 weeks.

I’ve spent about 6 weeks cleaning, packing, and finishing many small remodeling projects started over the years in the KC house.  I’ve also been eliminating: I’ve recycled enough books and magazines to form a 12′ stack, shredded enough old documents to fill 2 55-gallon trash bags, disassembled about 60 videocassettes for recycling, given away two couches, a big TV, and lots and lots of small stuff.  I’m even going to get rid of my beloved 300 pound behemoth of a desk in favor of something smaller and easier to move.  In short, I should be able to fit into a smaller house when it’s time to buy another.

Each time I’ve driven back from Fort Smith I’ve taken a different route.  One time I went through Oklahoma: Salisaw, Stillwell, West Siloam Springs, and across Grand Lake of the Cherokees.  There is some nice looking country in there that will get a return visit, I’m sure.  This weekend I took AR 23 north from Ozark to Eureka Springs and then back roads NW to Jane MO.  I stopped at the scenic overlook near Cherry Bend to get a bad picture of what I think is Hare Mountain for my backpacking buddies.

In my mind, I can see where the Ozark Highlands Trail comes from the left to intersect the ridge and head down to Morgan Fields.  I am eager to get settled down there so places like this are not so many hours away.