Dreaming

I went a whole week without swimming and I don't even feel too ad about that. Last week, mostly I ran, lifted weights one time, and did some walking. And dreaming. I did some dreaming. My dreams, daydreams, have been centering around adventure runs as well as possible new locations for marathon swims. Penny and I have chatted about riding over the Columbus and exploring the Tenn-Tom. I have never been in that waterway but almost every time I open up Google Maps, I wind up there. I need to learn where the boat ramps are, and how far it is between the dams, and how much current is in the channel. From my online snooping, there seems to be a fair amount of moving water for at least a couple of miles below the dam that is just north of Columbus, Mississippi. My guess is by the time you get down stream a few miles the current disappears. Any current, however, would be better than none and help out in making some fast miles. 

I suppose what I'm really looking for is adventure. Even if I don't move the Challenge to Columbus, I would love to take a long splash in a new body of water. That just seems exciting. I reckon it seems exciting because it is exciting, which is one reason my day dreams are often a furious search for new roads to run or ride a bicycle on or new lakes to swim in. Last winter, Buddy Bones and I ran several levees I had not shuffled before. That was a bushel basket full of fun. There are a couple of more levees, the end of one road or two, and some adventure runs ending in other towns that can keep me stimulated for about one more year. But before another winter passes, they will all be done and like Alexander the Great, I will sit and weep over no new kingdoms to conquer.

There is lots of water around here, but one of the problems is finding water that's not terrifying, not authentically dangerous. Here in the delta, we have lots of logs, stumps, fish hooks, sunken refrigerators, submerged cars, and alligators, not to mention heavy metals, high levels of bacteria, and pesticides. So there are lots of lakes and bayous that not even martin Strel would swim. 

Sometimes I scoot out of the state when I am on Google Maps and go to places like Arkansas and Oklahoma. I have done some swimming in Arkansas, although it has been a few years. Well, sort of. Chicot is in Arkansas, but just right across the river from Mississippi. But Penny and I used to vacation regularly at Hot Springs and stay in a little condo on Lake Wilson. One could swim for weeks and weeks in Wilson and never touch the same molecule of water. I want to go back. I have also swum DeGray Lake, and although I have not been in Lake Ouachita, I have driven by it and it is a huge thing that could provide a ton of adventure. 

Closer to home, besides Columbus, I have had my eyes on Sardis, one of the flood control lakes built by the Corps of Engineers. I've done some serious swimming in Grenada Lake. It is the closest to Greenwood and Forrest and I went there a couple of years ago and I swam across one of the large branches. But Grenada gets pretty rough sometimes because it is wide and subject to the ravages of wind. Sardis, however, is long and narrow and may be long enough for a Chicot-like effort. And then there is Enid. 

What to do? Time off, a kayak, a GPS watch and a day trip is all it takes to answer some questions and see if these lakes are worthy of a day of endurance. After three more days, my summer class with end and the time will exists.