A New Dawn

Good morning! After several years in the Midwest, and several intermittent mass emails to family and friends, I have decided to try a new way to keep everyone up to date with the life that is mine here on the other side of the Mississippi. Updates will still be as entertaining as ever (I hope), but they will come far more frequently, and you can check them at your leisure. How wonderful is that?!
Since I have been thinking about doing this since September, I thought I would wait until the first of October to start the new format. Of course, the first of October came and went before I realized that it actually was the first of October! So, we'll just get down to it today and try not to concern ourselves with temporal shortcomings.
Yesterday was a great day. Monkey and I drove down south of Rolla, to a section of the Mark Twain National Forest, for a hike through Kaintuck Hollow. We left in the dark of the morning, arriving at our destination (after only missing one turn) at about 8:30 am. The day was cool, the sky was clear, the trail was dry, the pack was full of PB & J, and off we went.
Our first site destination was Wilkins Spring and Pond. Wilkins Pond, a beautiful, shallow little pond in a valley that collects water from the amazingly clear and cold spring, was a great place to munch an apple and take a little break. We spent about a half hour there, walking the shoreline and inspecting the old foundations of the mill that used to stand on the property. Then, it was off to the natural bridge.
Which we walked right past, or over.
We thought, "Gee, shouldn't we have been there by now?"
We came to a confusing mass of trail intersections which were not on the map. This was puzzling and frustrating. After determining which of the tracks was the main trail, we made a joint decision to turn left. Yet, something about turning right seemed to draw both of us away from our firm decision of seconds ago.
"Maybe," said Monkey, "I'll just go up there and check it out for a few yards."
And off she went. I followed, and within a hundred feet, we came to a cave.
"This is it," I said.
"No, it's a cave, not a bridge."
We entered the cave, which appeared to be just that. It was pretty dark only a few yards in. The cave took a right, and the turn revealed the other side of the natural bridge. It was, indeed, totally cool. We had walked right over it, and hadn't any idea.
The trek back to the car was a small, "we missed the main trail" kind of adventure. But we managed to get back safe and sound and right on schedule. Noon found us munching on our sandwiches as we contemplated a wonderful little hike. The only question: where shall we walk next?
Of course, there is much more to tell everyone about, but I think, since we're in for the long haul, I'll save it for the next time. Tomorrow? Maybe, baby.