not so hot

According to Weather.com, it's only about 95 in Arlington right now, which is the reason why it almost feels cool here in the shade.

I checked out at 11AM, walked down to the campground, and set up camp by noon. It's "dry camping" here, whatever that means. What it means for my wallet is $9 for tonight, but that's a pittance; I'm happy to pay it. This isn't one of those state park campgrounds that let you pay by credit card, though, so I'm about to walk back into town, have some lunch, pay in cash, and come back to the campground with $9 even.

Meantime, I'm a bit worried about the possibility that I've set up camp next to a sprinkler. I'm about four feet away from it, which means the items inside my tent have nothing to fear, but all the same I'd rather not deal with soggy soil and an unnecessarily drenched tent fly.

I'm camped at this spot because none of the dry camping spots are clearly marked out. There's a large area by the river's edge that offers plenty of room (and pebbly ground) for tents; I avoided all that in favor of this very soft patch of grass, which comes with its own picnic table and shade trees (so no, I haven't set up the poncho). The only problem is that sprinkler. Is it a sprinkler? Oy.

Right-- off to lunchie. Meantime, congrats to Michael Phelps for making history. Eight gold medals in a single Olympics! I imagine the Chinese don't particularly care (living in foreign countries gives you a true taste of how parochial the news coverage can be), but it's a proud moment for us Yanks.


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