Team Texarkana

OK, the bets were pretty much I would not attend the Snoot Mountain Trip. So much for the odds-makers…!

January 7th rolls around. I’m in…

I’m packed and ready to go…now, where’s my ride?! It’s dusk, the sun is setting fast. My fear, how the hell am I going to set up my tent and get everything situated in the dark without the rest of Team Jackass (and Jackasses they are) dying from laughter…

Hojo arrives and we’re off…well, sort of…the Honnoll tour of Umpire, Arkansas begins…

Finally, we arrive…the campfire is blazing, the stew is cooked, the tents are pitched…and the Snoot is being passed around…

The Snoot Mountain crew is now fully assembled…Rilo, da Judge, Jonesy, Brady, Keith, Todd, Shawn Simmons (more about Shawn later), Joe Nations, Hojo, and Doc K.

The Snoot…I’m not sure what Snoot is, but I’m pretty sure morticians use it to embalm people…well, there’s plenty of Snoot for everyone…and let’s say, the Captain is superhuman in how much Snoot he can consume…

Back to Shawn Simmons…he’s pretty much the man you want around in a pinch. I’m thinking Chuck Norris consults Shawn when he’s desperate…this is one tough dude…in a race, and on a camping trip…

Well, Shawn starts peeling apples, pulls out his Dutch Oven…45 minutes later…apple pie ala mode…simply amazing…

The night ends with Jonesy and “Archibold Assholebroke”…rumor has it that Archibold Assholebroke is told about once every year…it’s probably one of the funniest jokes I’ve ever heard…

Off to sleep…well, sort of…the cacophony of snoring drowns out the coyotes howling…I’m thinking, there’s something ‘unnatural’ sleeping in nature with this bunch of guys…

The temperature, it drops down to the low 30′s…for this city boy, too damn cold…

The Athens-Big Fork Trail Marathon (26.2 miles, 13.1 miles out and back)…we’re the support team at the turn-around…talk about one sick race…reading about it, hearing descriptions of the race, does it no justice…it’s over 8 mountains, max elevation 2028 feet, climbing elevation gain 4600 feet, climbing distance 7.10 miles…this race is not for the faint hearted…for more info here’s a link to their website

http://www.athensbigforkmarathon.com/readme.aspx

The first ten runners arrive (in all, roughly 61 runners compete)…all…ALL are bleeding from the burrs and over-growth on the trail run…one guy, Stan, describes how he did a face plant on the trail, he has a huge gash on his knee, still hemorrhaging…nothing but a thing for this seasoned trail runner…his only concern, do we have some duct tape to repair his water bottle…

Another guy…from Tulsa…reaches the turn-around…with his dog, Rudy, an Australian Shepherd…Rudy is running the race too (all 26.2 miles)…talk about one tough dog!

The runner’s come and go…we break down camp…and head home…da Judge shares, he’s running this race next year…well, maybe…

Snoot Mountain…well worth the trip…

Doc K