Spent the weekend in Louisville, KY to visit friends Mark and Elke and attend Mark's birthday party. They are great hosts and obviously very experienced in this custom of opening your house to various friends and colleagues. The party was great and went very late. I very much enjoyed meeting Mark's co workers and friends, and the additional company of their visiting friends from England. We ate out at a couple fo great local restaurants, and polished off the weekend with a grand buffet brunch on the riverside this morning before they dropped me back at the airport.
Thanks again for the party guys.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Tubing the Rainbow
As many times as I've kayaked this river, I've never just floated down it on a tube. Until today.
Had a great lazy day out on the river. Nice and hot and sunny, and a great group of Florida Trail'ers, led by Rodney.
The river was as clear as always, and even easier to enjoy from the comfort of a rubber tube. It was warm enough to want to be in the water a couple of times an hour, and lay out in the sun the remainder. We saw the usual wildlife, birds, fish, and a couple of otters, one of which swam by us for a while while he worked on cracking open an oyster on his belly. Of course, I didn't have the camera becasue I'd been concerned about keeping it dry. That figures.
I'll have to remember to add this to the list of things to do with out of town guests in the summer.
Had a great lazy day out on the river. Nice and hot and sunny, and a great group of Florida Trail'ers, led by Rodney.
The river was as clear as always, and even easier to enjoy from the comfort of a rubber tube. It was warm enough to want to be in the water a couple of times an hour, and lay out in the sun the remainder. We saw the usual wildlife, birds, fish, and a couple of otters, one of which swam by us for a while while he worked on cracking open an oyster on his belly. Of course, I didn't have the camera becasue I'd been concerned about keeping it dry. That figures.
I'll have to remember to add this to the list of things to do with out of town guests in the summer.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Little Econ Flood
When it rains, it pours.
The central florida area has received some torrential rainfall in the past couple of weeks, and the rivers are all in high flood. Ian called on Thursday with an invite to join the gang on an impromptu kayak tripon the very flooded Little Big Econ River. Usually the river is about a foot or so deep and you have to worry about sandbars, so the idea of paddling high water seemed like fun.
It was. The water was high and swift. We were up in the trees at the tops of the banks, and in a couple of places the banks were breached with water flowing both into and out of the river. All the beaches we usually pull up on for breaks were non existant. We actually ended up stopping for lunch at the Florida Trail bridge, which was impassable by water or land. By water it was a mere inch or two from the bottom of the bridge, but only in the humped center of the span. That inch or so was pulling swift and hard, and straining debris that was sucked into the flow. The trail at the ends of the bridge were several feet under water. After lunch in our boats anchored to the bridge we had to paddle quite far inland and through the old railroad bridge posts to get around and downstream.
Had a bit of excitement with a friend of Rodnay's on her first kayak trip. For some reason she wasn't wearing her life vest, but had it snapped to her boat. She flipped once, whihc for me would be more than enough incentive to put the jacket on, but still it stayed on the boat. On her second flip we were in very deep and fast water on a bend in the river with lots of overhanging branches straining the water. It was quite an effort by the entire group to get her, and her boat, out of the water,the right way up, and back on the river. Amazingly, she still didn't put the jacket on! We werealmost to the takeout point by then, so I just figured the best idea was to pull ahead and get off the water. If she had no concern or respect for the water,I no longer wanted any part of it.
As a result of grounding my boat and wading round in the high brush on the last rescue I must have upset some displaced ants. Shortly after putting back in the water I realised my boat was full of them. The first sign waswhen they swarmed around my legs and ass and started biting. Ants in the pants, and in a kayak in deep, swift water too. That was fun!
The central florida area has received some torrential rainfall in the past couple of weeks, and the rivers are all in high flood. Ian called on Thursday with an invite to join the gang on an impromptu kayak tripon the very flooded Little Big Econ River. Usually the river is about a foot or so deep and you have to worry about sandbars, so the idea of paddling high water seemed like fun.
It was. The water was high and swift. We were up in the trees at the tops of the banks, and in a couple of places the banks were breached with water flowing both into and out of the river. All the beaches we usually pull up on for breaks were non existant. We actually ended up stopping for lunch at the Florida Trail bridge, which was impassable by water or land. By water it was a mere inch or two from the bottom of the bridge, but only in the humped center of the span. That inch or so was pulling swift and hard, and straining debris that was sucked into the flow. The trail at the ends of the bridge were several feet under water. After lunch in our boats anchored to the bridge we had to paddle quite far inland and through the old railroad bridge posts to get around and downstream.
Had a bit of excitement with a friend of Rodnay's on her first kayak trip. For some reason she wasn't wearing her life vest, but had it snapped to her boat. She flipped once, whihc for me would be more than enough incentive to put the jacket on, but still it stayed on the boat. On her second flip we were in very deep and fast water on a bend in the river with lots of overhanging branches straining the water. It was quite an effort by the entire group to get her, and her boat, out of the water,the right way up, and back on the river. Amazingly, she still didn't put the jacket on! We werealmost to the takeout point by then, so I just figured the best idea was to pull ahead and get off the water. If she had no concern or respect for the water,I no longer wanted any part of it.
As a result of grounding my boat and wading round in the high brush on the last rescue I must have upset some displaced ants. Shortly after putting back in the water I realised my boat was full of them. The first sign waswhen they swarmed around my legs and ass and started biting. Ants in the pants, and in a kayak in deep, swift water too. That was fun!
Saturday, July 28, 2007
New Toy
Well, new toy, vehicle, home, storage shed, etc.Today I bacame the new owner of a used RV. It's 25' and though it officially sleeps 6 I think it's just about big enough for me to live in. It has a tiny bathroom with shower and toilet, a seperate sink, queen bed in the rear, small kitchen with microwave, 3 burners, fridge/freezer, dinette that seats 4, and an oversize king cabover bed. The cabover is soon to become my storage closet,the bed will stay made up as a bed, and the dinette as a table. That was a basic requirement for me in the selection process. I wanted to be able to live in the RV without having to collapse a bed into table and vice versa.
I still have a couple of months to wrok, but shortly after that will set off to start seeing some of the US. The RV will literally be my mobile home.
Saturday, July 7, 2007
The sun finally came out!
...on the day I flew home!
It hadn't occurred to me when I booked the flight, but today is 07/07/07. As well as the symmetry in the digits, it is also the anniversary of the London Underground bombings, the first day of the Tour de France, and there have been several car bomb and airport car attacks in the weeks I have been in England. Needless to say, once I realised all this, I expected airport security to be a little tight. It was, but knowing what to expect I made sure I was very early arriving at the airport, and carried the smallest carryon I could with as little in as possible. It was pretty smooth going through, all things considered.
Waiting outside the terminal after dropping off my rental car I felt something very strange. The sun! It'sthe first time I'd felt it during my trip I think.
But aside from the rain it was a great vacation. Spent equal time with Mum and Dad and Kathy. Really enjoyed seiing the kids again, but didn't get any photos due to the whole "busted the camera" thing. Stupid!
Whenever I spend time at home I wish I had more time to spend, but it's hard to sacrifice hiking and rafting trips to spend time in the cold and rain, even if it is with my family. I've got to figure out a way to do more of both.
It hadn't occurred to me when I booked the flight, but today is 07/07/07. As well as the symmetry in the digits, it is also the anniversary of the London Underground bombings, the first day of the Tour de France, and there have been several car bomb and airport car attacks in the weeks I have been in England. Needless to say, once I realised all this, I expected airport security to be a little tight. It was, but knowing what to expect I made sure I was very early arriving at the airport, and carried the smallest carryon I could with as little in as possible. It was pretty smooth going through, all things considered.
Waiting outside the terminal after dropping off my rental car I felt something very strange. The sun! It'sthe first time I'd felt it during my trip I think.
But aside from the rain it was a great vacation. Spent equal time with Mum and Dad and Kathy. Really enjoyed seiing the kids again, but didn't get any photos due to the whole "busted the camera" thing. Stupid!
Whenever I spend time at home I wish I had more time to spend, but it's hard to sacrifice hiking and rafting trips to spend time in the cold and rain, even if it is with my family. I've got to figure out a way to do more of both.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Wettest June on Record
Of course it is!
I'm home in England visiting with my family. I never expect great weather for my UK trips, it's not like I come here for the weather, I come here to see my family.
But it would be nice to sometime have both!
I'm home in England visiting with my family. I never expect great weather for my UK trips, it's not like I come here for the weather, I come here to see my family.
But it would be nice to sometime have both!
Sunday, June 3, 2007
National Trails Day
Started off the weekend at Withlacoochee River Park for the local FL Trail chapter's National Trails day event. There was a reasonable turnout, but mainlymembers. I just don't think that expecting the non hiking public to turn up for such events is realistic unless there is some other massive draw, like the bicycle trail opening I went to recently in Blountstown. Free barbeque dinner seems to pull in a crowd!
The event was OK though, we took a little hike, and the dignitaries were almost through with the speeches before the tornado sirens started wailing an oncoming storm. It rained hard and the wind whipped around for a while, but no major damage.
After the Trails event I continued on up to Lake Norris to join the gang for a car camping weekend. It was almost dinner time by the time I found them. The kayak plans for the day had basically been abandonned due to the wind and rain all day, but a couple of people had gone out anyway. Ian, Charles, Mary and MichaelAnn had just just hung out all day at the campsite, cooked out, and had a few adult beverages by all accounts. They were in good spirits and we had a great evening in the old barn.
This morning, when everyone else cleared out, Mary and I took a nice long walk on the blazed FL Trail. This trail isn't in any of my maps or books, but is obviously maintained, and possibly a future piece of off road trail waiting to be connected into the main contiguous trail.
View more photos in my Picasa album
The event was OK though, we took a little hike, and the dignitaries were almost through with the speeches before the tornado sirens started wailing an oncoming storm. It rained hard and the wind whipped around for a while, but no major damage.
After the Trails event I continued on up to Lake Norris to join the gang for a car camping weekend. It was almost dinner time by the time I found them. The kayak plans for the day had basically been abandonned due to the wind and rain all day, but a couple of people had gone out anyway. Ian, Charles, Mary and MichaelAnn had just just hung out all day at the campsite, cooked out, and had a few adult beverages by all accounts. They were in good spirits and we had a great evening in the old barn.
This morning, when everyone else cleared out, Mary and I took a nice long walk on the blazed FL Trail. This trail isn't in any of my maps or books, but is obviously maintained, and possibly a future piece of off road trail waiting to be connected into the main contiguous trail.
View more photos in my Picasa album
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