Monthly Archives: October 2015

Having reviewed the race track a bit, let’s test it out!

You can see the blur of racing Big Green Swirl successfully navigating the first curve…

… and then all the others to reach…

… The End, where Catcher catches. Good Catcher!

Smelting plant again and the surrounding track.

Here are the marbles I tested this day, with Big Green Swirl center stage. The marbles to its left in the below photo were too big to make it down the track (all flew off); the marbles to the right were too small and stopped somewhere along the way. Only Big Green Swirl made it down the whole track without hitches. Thus its new name of Greenilocks. Not too small, not too big, but just right. The prize for winning the contest was its marriage to Diamondia, the most perfect of the marble’s female species seen in front of it below, transmuted by George Washington Carver himself out of a peanut.

Many other marbles made the trip into Bigfoot this day, but the great majority remained in this metal container, clearly unfit to participate.

Empty Promises reminds Taum Sauk that there’s more left to Bigfoot than just a completed and tested marble race track. Later we would follow Taum on an exploring trip of the swamp and surrounding roads.

Taum Sauk also graciously lent a corner of his brick home to prop up a part of the track running around his plant. It had to be moved several inches to effect this. And below it in the photo is Taum’s atv, which he will employ for the exploring trip. Can’t wait!

Unholey Book.

Details of the track now. As I counted today upon a revisit after work, Bigfoot’s marble race contains 42 1/2 pieces of O-27 gauge model railroad track, which takes it beyond Billfork’s 37. And I had a lot more 0-27 stuff to work with, actually. The thought crossed my mind to even enlarge upon the track here, perhaps extending it toward Mina Pool. But I probably won’t, even though I have tomorrow afternoon and then all day Thursday off now for more hiking fun and possibilities.

Each object holding up the track has its own small story to tell. Most came from the old high school football stadium once more. The 1st big curve of the track after the start is supported here by the rusty metal skeleton of an old chair, turned on its back.

As I’ve mentioned before, the race setup begins on top of Bigfoot’s very central spool table and ends on the bottom of same. In the below photo, you can also see some detail of the track beyond the first curve more in the background…

… as it passes the spool table to its west to proceed…

… toward Taum Sauk’s iron smelting plant, which it loops around to quickly reach…

… the bottom of the spool table.

This higher brick structure is another new one in town, and helps to prop up a northern portion of the track. I found it at the Plateau of Raw Art’s upper baseball field.

The rusty chair skeleton again looking east.

This past Sunday was another beautiful day here in Blue Mountain. Memories of late September rain, rain, rain seem almost like a bad dream now. And it will continue like this for another 4 or 5 days. I will return!

Below we have pictured yet another Bigfoot mystery: What are these decaying sports bags full of white rocks, numbering not just one but three? The wife thinks they may be stones brought to the old school for decorative landscaping purposes. Makes sense I suppose. But I believe I’m going to haul them and their contents down to Bigfoot the next time I get the chance. The bags are found in a field next to the skateboard park (note to self: take own bag to Bigfoot for the rocks).

Since there are 3 bags of white rocks here, I also think back to the triangle of “White towns” in eastern Grayson County, Texas, as elucidated in this 2014 post.

Nearby metal circle. Purpose?

Track, bench, goal post.

Then it’s down, down, down through the tiny pine forest and its traversing roads again to the site of the Bigfoot art happening. Today’s stage 3 didn’t come without casualties, I’m sorry to say. I stepped on poor little Barbie Head while wandering around and around the site, setting up my marble race track. But the other toy avatars didn’t seem too upset. For some reason, they called her not Barbie Head (isn’t this a Barbie?), not even *Brain* Head, but *Brian* Head during the brief wake, and perhaps that *is* her name, since they should know better than me. Is the seeming she actually a *he*? They also seem to think it fate that she/he was crushed in this manner during the happening, and at this stage even. “Three’s the charm”, they echoed several times during the wake. Taum Sauk never budged from his sitting chair, but perhaps that’s because he was the most upset of all of ’em. Spaceman James Franco instead presided over the wake.

A new toy avatar came to Bigfoot this day, specifically for the purpose of catching marbles at the end of the brand new race track seemingly. Marble Catcher is his official title. I do not know his proper name; all the other avatars just called him Catcher or just Catch. Blonde Star Girl seems to give tips about the task at hand. “Arms out, arms out!” she appears to say in coaching him. But the larger toy avatar pretty much did what he came to Bigfoot to do this day, with most racing marbles “caught” at the end. Well, there was really only one marble to catch, since only one successfully made it all the way around the track. We’ll get to him soon enough. *Greenilocks* is his name. Congrats Greenilocks!

Many other avatars chipped in to make this a successful stage 3. At-At Imperial Trooper moves in to prop up an important ending turn of the track, where Greenilocks had flown off one or two times because of too much speed. Problem solved. Thanks At-At Imperial Trooper! You truly are a trooper now in the sense of, a) “somebody who does something strenuous, or tedious for a long period of time without complaining, and, b) somebody who overcomes a tough situation.

I’m not sure what muscular, hook handed pirate man did this day, but thanks anyway! Just being there showed your support. (Note: the pirate is perhaps strangely obscured by At-At Imperial Trooper in the above picture.)

This is the whole, completed race track. Hard to take a good picture of it, so I’ll just move to the various parts in the next post. Suffice to say here that it begins on top of the spool table and ends at the bottom of same. This is what it was all leading up to. So far.

Race track looking from the opposite direction (west to east).

“Skyscrapers” on the edge of town, removed from most of the hustle and bustle so far.

The “art” of the city, once more. The railroad track is not complete and functional yet. That may come today when I go back for more Bigfoot art happening fun.

Spool Table and Smelting Plant.

Smelting Plant and Spool Table (opposite direction).

Smelting Plant.

Spool Table.

Lighted interior: blue mushroom and blue ring inside. Dinosaurs seem especially interested.

There are many stories to be found here, but only a handful worthy of telling.

The taller red-orange suit bedecked toy avatar here appears to be James Franco, mentioned earlier in this blog in association with Woodrow Wilson College. Looks like Miss Orange Mmm has taken a liking to him. Va va va voom! Blonde Star Girl throws her hands up in frustration. Perhaps she’s had enough of all this toy avatar nonsense.

Taum Suak toy avatar and his nice brick home just on the other side of the railroad track from his iron smelting plant. He has a smiley paddleball! His home might be the first one of the town, or built on the same site as an early cabin.

And there’s the original iron of the town again just behind it. The base!

Meanwhile, Taum’s wife Mina sits by her pool, wishing she could float in a boat.

The Spool Table.

Pulling back: the Bigfoot Toy/Junk Happening. We’re at stage 02 now. More objects have been retrieved from the Plateau of Raw Art to the immediate west. Toys have moved in. Model train tracks have arrived. We are in the meat of the event.

The below objects appears to be the top of a pressure cooker? Unsure, but I found it on the other side of the fence from the stadium track and thought: this belongs in the art happening. And now it is. It has also entered the lore of Bigfoot past, perhaps as an iron smelting plant or factory.

The railroad track circling this iron smelting plant does the same with the bottom of the spool table. A good number of toy avatars surround each.

Here they seem to be lining up, as in a queue. We’ll get back to that soon.

Bigfoot art sculpture. Art for the art, as it were, hehe. Perhaps it is comparable to, say, the ArcelorMittal Orbit erected for London’s 2012 Summer Olympics. Yes, that’s a good parallel.

On the other side of the tulip tree comes this red tower thingie, perhaps another piece of art for the art. Or maybe it has a functional role in the city, such as office space.

*My* metal chair…

… is now balanced by much smaller chair supporting the toy avatar formerly known as Lazy Sideburns Man, or LBM for short. But in his new incarnation he is probably known as Taum Sauk. Working theory. He is not the same as LBM, then, but a twin, purchased in the same Dollar Store though not the same exact toy, you see. Another theory: he owns or runs the iron smeltery that exists just to the back of him.

Back to that Spool Table queue: it seems to focus on this entrance into the table’s interior, where a blue mushroom and matching blue ring is found. It’s also at the end of the railroad line in this direction.

The track around the Spool Table’s bottom…

… and the track similarly encircling the iron smelting plant appear to act as counterbalances, much like the two halves of the ancient Chinese tajitu symbol. But what does it mean?