All of us after the cleanup


Me at Horseshoe canyon


Lindsey and I at twin falls



John Chiles, the strongest RA on Earth

Well, I've finally decided to write a bit more stuff about my travels , i gotta admit, i've been a bit lazy on the whole writing stuff front but you know what they say, a picture's worth a thousand words or somethin.
Since my last post I've been getting around a bit more, the trip to Arkansas was definently the highlight. Our friend Lindsey was kind enough to guide us on a trip down that way and show us a few sights, the first stop was the Harrison Wal Mart (apparently Arkansas is the home of Walmart, amongst a few other thing such as the Knights of the KKK). At Walmart i bought a dodgy little torch that would come in very handy later on in the journey as well as the usual, fiery habanos Doritos and salsa. Once we were on the road again it wasn't long before we hit our next destination, Horseshoe Canyon. It was poring with rain and on the drive there the lightning flashes were looking rather ominous, but coz were tough, we braved the elements to explore the canyon. Upon arrival to the horseshoe canyon ranch, we were greeted by a bunch of sopping wet horses, Lindsey and Lori i think had the insight to bring a bunch of apples to appease them. The canyon itself was pretty cool but coz of all the rain it made it pretty hard trying to keep dry, the ground was just a mush of horse poo and the occasional blade of grass that saw me more than once almost slip over into the muck. We managed to stumble across a few cool features here such as the dodgy but cool suspension bridge that Leti and i tried to bounce on whilst Kev (civil engineer) watched on with a look of apprehension (i think kev was just scared of heights though). Once we'd hiked ourselves from one side of the canyon to the other and Lori had scored a taste of a sport known as "Frisbee golf" it was time to make tracks.
Our next destination was none other than the mighty Twin Falls (i think they should consider revising the name to triplet falls though). Once we arrived were surprised to see that the rain had finally decided to let up, not that it was going to even matter because once we got to the falls Lindsey climbed behind the falls getting kinda wet, and of coarse Lori and I couldn't let a girl, let alone an American girl show us up so naturally we had to climb that little bit further out and get thoroughly soaked. The rest of our experience at triplet falls can be looked at through the 20 odd photos that I've got so ill go to the next point of interest, Cob Cave. Cob Cave was an extra 10 miles away and would be our camp site for the night, we hiked the 30 min r so that it took to get us there and i was amazed by the grandeur of the place, we were greeted by a massive 400ft limestone cliff that had a huge cavern eaten out of it. There was even a waterfall dripping over the entrance to the cave (cant see it in the photos) and an even better waterfall just to the side of the cave as well, it was this waterfall that concealed the entrance to the cave that Lori and I would later explore. The cavern we slept in was huge to say the least and it was perfect for camping in, there was zero chance of getting wet and the rocks were surprisingly comfortable to lay on. Whilst the girls took a siesta in the cave, Lori and I went exploring and we were well and truly rewarded for our curiosity. We entered the cave behind the waterfall with our trusty walmart torches and bike lights in hand and pushed our way deeper and deeper into the cave, only for the cave to seemingly narrow into a dissapointing dead end. The cave got so small we had to scramble on our hands and feet to continue towards what we though was the sound of an underground stream. Lori was leading the way and when he broke through into the cavern at the end of the cave i knew he'de found somethin really cool coz of the hootin and a hollerin i heard comin from his direction, once i reached the cavern i soon saw the reason behind the commotion, i was awestruck to see this waterfall coming though a hole in the cavern's roof and to think that we'de just stumbled upon it made it feel even better.
After spending the night in the cave and eating smores around the little camp fire it was time to head back to springfield, this time we'de be travelling during the day (not 5am) so this time we could actually see a few of the towns we passed through, Branson was the biggest, we stopped to get gas then we were off again, apparently it's supposed to be Missouri's lame attempt at making a town like Vegas. Anyhow once back home I was quick to change into dry clothes and catch some zeds as were the other peeps i think.


After Arkansas:

Well the only real exciting things that ive done since then are visiting a couple of yankee schools out at Ozark and Marshfield, and from my minimal experince i've concluded they'de beat any public/ even private school back home as far as facilities go, i think we should steal em and take em back home, not sure about excess bagage though. Yesterday our floor and an englishman went out to do some ice storm clean up, we took out a bunch of trees and stuff from peoples yards and had a bit of fun in the process, almost got taken out by a couple of falling branches but by far the highlight was Steve' dive on the shed roof to save the chainsaw from falling (it was quite spectacular really). Yeah, we had a tornedo warning as well, they suck.

I think thats it for now catch yaz next time

-Mark D