Fun with Movable Type and Park Showers

Ever since I upgraded Movable Type, I've been having plug-in troubles and template problems. It has been quite an adventure repairing pages, fixing the "repairs" and then trying to repair what was broken in the first place. If something doesn't appear right (beyond the usual nonsense I write), please let me know. I'll try my best to "work the problem" or, if that fails, simply delete it.

I spent this weekend camping and hiking in Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks. It was my third visit to the jointly operated parks in four years. Three years ago, we stayed at Grant Grove. Two years ago, we camped at Cedar Grove. To change things up this year, B and I camped at Lodgepole in the Sequoia half of the park.

Since B had to work Friday morning, we left for the park in the afternoon and reached Lodgepole around 5:30 pm. The late arrival was fine except for the fact that the village showers close early in the fall. For whatever reason, they're only open from 9:00 am to 5:45 pm during the off-season.

Why they keep such short hours is a mystery to me. My guess is the rangers have a secret arrangement with the local black bears. In exchange for not eating visitors, the bears receive hot showers every night. Everybody wins. Campers don't get eaten, rangers don't get bad publicity for eaten campers and bears get hot showers on cold nights. And really, isn't it better to have dirty campers than devoured campers?

I suppose the only ones who really lose are the maintenance workers who have to spend the wee hours of the morning cleaning bear hair from the drains. So, to be more accurate, 98% of everybody wins, which isn't bad if you think about it (and you aren't a maintenance worker).

Considering the cost of a hot shower (minimum three dollars for eight minutes), the tight time constraint turned out to be less of an issue than how to obtain three dollars worth of quarters and not accidentally drop one down the drain (with all the bear hair) when trying to feed the shower meter.

After all that fun, we set up camp, ate hot meals around the campfire and went over the game plan for Saturday's big hike before retiring for the night.