2008 re-cap & Penny Wood Stove

January 1, 2009

New Year's Day -- a time to look backwards and forwards. In terms of adventures I had hoped to bike 5,000 miles, to do 60 consecutive push-ups, to remaster my trick-skiing routine, to re-explore the waterfalls in the Ozark National Forest, and to pursue countless other adventures.

Well, the water skiing and the waterfalls were stymied by the vagaries of the weather -- including the hundred-year flood of Norfork Lake which made it difficult to put our ski boat in the water. Waterfall hunting should have been great in last year's record spring rains, but I happened to be either in Jonesboro or on the Buffalo River during the opportune moments.

Sue and I did fulfill a number of other adventures. We floated the Norfork River and Bryant's Creek. I rode the MS150 at Petit Jean. My brother Page and I floated the upper 45-miles of the Buffalo River over four days--surviving a flash flood that engulfed our campsite and raise the river by over four feet! And we enjoyed a number of other short and long trips, but I didn't quite achieve my major goals.

Instead of biking 5,000 miles, a cold and rainy December limited me to 4,743. So I came up short, but I did reach 94.9% of my goal, which merits an A in my book! Similarly, the best I could do was 54 consecutive push-ups, but that is also at the 90% level--not too shabby, especially since I am continuing to make progress, having increased my five-set routine to a total of 225 push-ups.

Most recently, I am looking forward to some spring camping trips (river floats or waterfall quests). To that end, yesterday I built a new "Penny Wood Stove" for overnight camping. Penny stoves or Pepsi stoves are the standard in light-weight camping, burning 91% alcohol or "Yellow Heet." Their advantages are small size, light weight, and cheap, readily available fuel. Great as they are, though, the "Penny Wood Stove" might be better. I built mine out of a metal coffee tin, cut down so that it could be stored inside my cooking pot. A single load of broken-up pencil-thick sticks will burn for over fifteen minutes and boil a cup of water in under six minutes. One can easily boil two cups of water for a rice dish in a single load of wood, and the stove can be replenished as it burns to keep the final dish simmering. . . . Perfect! Furthermore, in dry weather the fuel is free, and the stove is nearly as light as a Pepsi stove. The pot supports (made out of 4/0-guage electrical copper wire) double as tent stakes. They were easily bent into the requisite shapes with pliers and vice-grips.