Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut. --Ernest Hemingway

The rest of memorial weekend since showing up has been an absolute blast. The trail Saturday was long and mean. We never saw a shred of pavement or civilization as we made our way through literally miles of forest, swamps, and creek crossings. There were many times we were thigh deep in mud and water, and it was great. I do not recommend, however that one do it in a kilt, as I thought might be easier in the heat. Yes, things remain cooler, however the leg shredding one gets in return is not quite so fun. Saturday night were the annual skits where everyone pulled up chairs to the stage and preformed some self written piece of comedy or drama. If you have never been to such event, I cannot really easily describe it herein, just to say most stuff was damn funny, if not entertaining. Thanks for the Mammaries won the evening with her 'Fly the Friendly Thighs Airlines' in-flight service.

Sunday was a day of rest recover and games. For a while a group of us played camp chair bocce ball throughout the camp. No matter where the jack was thrown, we had to play it wither it be through tents, in-play volleyball games, or various gatherings of people. Later in the afternoon there were games of izzy-dizzy (which I am too much of a wimp to play but will gladly watch), frisbee keg, etc. Overall it was a very relaxing weekend made better by friends just wanting to hang out and chill for a while.

A link of some of the pictures I took can be found here, though a lot had to be edited to protect the guilty, but it give you an overall idea of the fun you missed.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=vnlbugz.bjngzj7r&x=0&y=iqc2ey

Before I left my friend Kristin had her friends bring her to Hedon so she could catch a ride home. Since flights were pretty booked and expensive, she flew up to be with her friends for the weekend and asked to ride back with me. I'm not sure if she counted on the long drive, a couple of stops, and listening to my audio books, but that is the way things go sometime. When I was first heading north, I tried to stop by one of the NPS parks in Macon, however I arrived just after 5 o'clock, so I made sure to leave Hedon early enough so I could make it. the last stamp collection for this trip was the Ocmulgee National Monument. This was the site of several old Indian mounds. The visitor center looked to be pretty old, but there were of course exhibits that shared a bit of the history of the area. We had about an hour or so to walk around and covered just about a mile and a half of the park.

I've attached an overlay of the walking track along with some pictures that I would like to have tested, so let me know if it works. http://mblitch.googlepages.com/ocmulgeeoverlay.kmz

Florida natives think the Artic Circle begins somewhere near Atlanta.

I got up relatively early this morning and headed to Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield that is the site of a Civil War battlefield. Besides collecting another stamp for the passport I have a general interest in the Civil War, though not quite as much as WWII however. In the visitor center there was a nice museum of the area along with some exhibits, including one that had been set up to display old uniforms and memorabilia of locals that had been involved in various wars. There some nice hiking trails around, however I elected to take a leisurely drive to the parking area since I didn't want to do another mile hike up the mountain since I need my energy for the upcoming weekend. There were several cannon replicas through the top trail as well as interperative signs along the trails with some nice views of the distant Atlanta skyline.

Here is a second attempt at a Google Earth overlay of my hike along with pictures at various points, so again let me know how it looks. http://mblitch.googlepages.com/Kennsawhike.kmz

After finishing up the battlefield site, I decided to head over to the last of my available NPS (National Park Service) passport sites, the Martin Luther King. Jr National Historic Site. This was near the heart of Atlanta at a location near where the civil rights leader was born, grew up, and is now buried. The visitor center is a nice area that held a lot of exhibits concerning the timeline of the civil rights movement both in the south as well as abroad. Besides the stamp in the visitor center, there was also one to be found across the street a a NPS run restored firehouse. Although a tour was starting, I didn't have time to hang around and took for for the main event of the trip, the Hedon Memorial Weekend Campout.

I got in just as Jason was giving me a call, the impatient lout, so the timing seemed to have worked out fairly well. I spent the next few hours trying to organize things and assist others in getting their tents and such set up. People were filtering in throughout the afternoon and it was nice to see some old faces and even make new acquaintances. Quickly it seemed that the place was building up from a quiet private residence to party central. Everyone had their places pretty pimped out out and customized with screened enclosures, kiddie pools, signed, hanging lanterns, and various other objects getting tossed around.

Over 150 people had signed up for the weekend and with good weather predicted, it certainly looked to be a good weekend.

Birthdays. They're not just for spankings anymore.

Well, it seems somehow I haven't been crushed by a meteorite again this year, so I make it to my 31st birthday. Most of the morning and afternoon was spent heading down towards Atlanta. I did a couple of stops along the way to check out Black Rock State Park as well as a few caches. I didn't hit any caches at Black Rock, but was still able to enjoy the views as well as a hike doen to Ada-Hi falls. I kind of like driving the old country back roads and seeing the old homes and fields nestled in the valleys. The really old homes that appear as if they were hand built in the 40's or even earlier hold an allure for me as well. It can be neat to imagine growing up in the old places where one had to provide nearly everything on their own.

I also quickly stopped by the Tallulah Gorge interperative center in hope of capturing a nearby cache. The hike itself was a little over a mile and it ended at a gorgeous overlook of the area in which I was hiking last year. Although the cache remained elusive, I still enjoyed getting a chance to check out this site. One of the last caches I hit was especially nice. It was named 'Secret Falls' and it took quite a bit of turning through residential roads along a golf course, however the final site was especially nice. There was parking right at the base of the falls and after a little poking around, the cache was located. The rest of the trip down was pretty uneventful. I headed over the the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area to collect another park stamp. I had a lovely talk with the ranger there concerning geocaching, stamps, and the general area and probably kept him 10-15 minutes past normal closing time. I sat out by the camper for a while to relax for a bit and had several people come by to take a look at it. I was fortunate that the person with whom I was couchsurfing actually lived just a couple of miles down the road. Shari used to live in Tampa a couple of years ago and we still kept in touch. She was gracious enough to take me out for a sushi dinner downtown. Somehow without my knowing she informed the staff of my birthday status. After we finished the entrees they came out with a fried ice cream scoop and sang some songs, forcing me to stand on a chair as everyone in the place just watched and laughed. Fortunately they didn't make me do any saki-bombs as I had enough saki during the dinner itself. I was pretty tired from the day, and so after Shari and her sister set up the couch for me, went to sleep as soon as I could get the call that I was expecting fairly late.

Not a bad way to spend the day I think.

Hikers do it naturally.

While the temperature got a little cool in the early morning, i was able to stay warm with the layers and sleeping bag. However around 7 o'clock I woke up colder and usual and realize my back was sold since somehow during the night I must have rolled the pad from under me. the problem this presents is that I also rolled the hammock. Unfortunately the mosquito netting is not designed to hold wait and I found it had ripped along the seam along one side. Not the best way to start a morning by exiting a hammock rolling out through a tear. Oh well, after packing and a quick breakfast I was back on the trail. Yesterday was easy in that it involved a lot of downhill walking, however today was mostly uphill for the first 7 miles for an elevation gain of 2600 feet. I originally planned to stay at campsite #52 for the evening, but I got there early enough in that I figured I would just continue through to the end for a total of 11.6 miles. There were some features that I found interesting along the way such as a cave/rock formation waterfall that I found only after following the sound up a steep hill, etc. It was nice to be able to end up right where I left the truck in the end and not have to worry about getting back. Amanda had told me, while driving me to the top for the hike start, of an the old Lufty Baptist Church right where I had parked that I wasn't even thinking of checking out. Once I learned of the history I took a short walk to check it out and was glad to have been able to visit the rustic looking site.

I headed back into Cherokee so that I could run by the Cherokee Indian Museum so I could collect on of the passport stamps that designated a portion of the 'Trail of Tears'. Since I still figured I had time, I headed to the Blue Ridge Parkway to an information center that was supposed to have a stamp as well, however even though I got there before 5pm, the place looked pretty boarded up. I did take the time to do a nice hike on Waterrock Knob that was a bit tough but offered a great view. I went back to the National Park so I could visit the old mill that has remained intact. I wish the inside had been open as it would have been neat to check out the workings of the system, but still quite enjoyed the view outside and walking along the water trough.

Over the past few days I have been experimenting with geotagging and uploading of a GPS track in order to combine them into a file viewable in Google Earth. This should show you a good bit of what the area around Waterrock Knob looks like, the path I took for the hike, and pictures I took along the way. If you can please download the file and take a look at it (assuming you have the free Google Earth program) and let me know what you think. If this works well enough, I plan to upload daily tracks when on my July trip whenever possible.

Here is the file for the Great Smoky Mountains NP hike:
http://mblitch.googlepages.com/MaySmokiesHike2007.kmz

Here is the file for the Waterrock Knob short hike:
http://mblitch.googlepages.com/waterrockknob.kmz



After the hike I headed into town in order to get some food, a bit cleaned up, and use the internet. I was able to find an open wireless connection to check email and make finally get a chance to call back home. I headed south a while until I found a roadside campground where I could grab a quick shower and then continued on my way until I got too tired to drive and pulled into a shopping area parking lot for a rest.

Hitchhiker's Guide - "Cheaper than the 'Encyclopedia Galactica'."

After a good evening of rest I set the alarm so I could get to the Smokey Mountains Visitor Center when it opened. I had time to self-register for my permit and get my camping gear organized before it was open. I started getting stamps from the National Park system Passport program in February when in the Everglades. All of the parks current 391 units have a stamp designating the location as a means to encourage people to collect them and visit country's resources. I wish I knew about this previously when I was visiting a bunch of parks in California as I would have been able to really get a jump on it, however I guess I must now consider going to to parks again sometime. :)

I drove over to the Smokymount Camping area and parked at the old Baptist Church lot. My plan was to hitch-hike to the top of Clingman's Dome and then hike back down to the truck. It took me about two hours of standing around until I found a kind-hearted soul willing to take the time to give me a lift. Amanda had just finished her own little daily hike near the campground and was about to head back down the mountain to Cherokee, but still asked where I was heading. After explaining my plan, she offered to give me a lift to the top, although it was going 18 miles in the exact opposite direction of her intended route home. There was some construction on the mountain road, so I had a chance to talk to her and learn of some of her own trips and traveling. She was able to share a lot of information concerning the local history, the park, and level events (such as the current local issue of the completion of the highway to nowhere). I was very thankful of her assistance since not even people slowly driving by in pickups (where I would have been glad to ride in the bed) ever stopped. It is a shame hitch hiking has such a stigma in the US since it is a very common method of travel abroad. Often when I travel I am loaded with gear, but I still try to assist people whenever I have the means and would hope some people would pay-it-forward.





After getting to the top parking area and saying goodbye, I stashed my pack and took the paved path to the top of Clingman's Dome. Last time I was here 4-5 years ago with Chasity and some friends, we didn't have time to make it to the top since we had to get started on the hike down. It was a solid .5 mile steep descent that wouldn't be considered easy, although it wasn't quite enough to warrant all the whining I heard from such out of shape people constantly saying that there should be a tram. It is a half mile folks! Oh well, I guess it would take 264 trips between the couch and the fridge for most of these people to walk a mile anyway. It was a nice view since it was decently clear day. As I was waiting to leave I was talking to another hiker that had camped further down the mountain who came up to the top as a day hike. We were going going to descend the same trail that was a little over a mile and a half from the parking area, however he didn't want to hang around and soon took of. I was able to talk a father and son that were getting back into their pickup to head back to give me a ride to the trailhead. I sheepishly waved to the hiker as we passed him a few minutes later. I hopped out, thanked the driver and his son for their assistance and got started.

The first couple of miles were difficult since the trail was blocked in several places from fallen trees assumably felled during winter storms. There were a couple of teams of trailblazers that were working on clearing the trails so the public could enjoy them. My plan was to hike the Noland Divide trail, to the Pole Rd Creek trail, and then over to the Deep Creek trail for a stay at campsite #54 with an overall length of 6.7 miles. Since it was mostly downhill, it wasn't too difficult, however still had the previous mile loop hike of the Dome top itself and waiting around for a ride, so I had to keep a decent pace so I could make it before dark.

It was a nice stroll throughout the day with even a lovely stream crossing over Deep Creek. The camp site was right on the creek, so water was in plentiful supply. It was nice to get a chance to sleep with the sounds of the water rushing over the rocks.

Edisto Beach Property - For Sale

Yes, I am very aware that my blogs have been very out of date. I'm hoping to work on it a bit this weekend. For now, I just needed to add a link to the website I had for Edisto Beach Property that I'm selling. If you read my blogs and have your own, it'd be great if you were willing to add a post that links to the website (the idea being that Google sets rankings based in part by the number of links that point to that site). The site is: http://www.EdistoBeachLot.com or http://EdistoBeachProperty.com

You don't have to make a top level post your own blog as you can just as easily pre-date the blog a month or so back so it doesn't necessarily show up on the first few entries. I'd appreciate the help since all that is needed to to make a couple of links.

Thanks.

A foot is a device for finding furniture in the dark.

After driving several hours, I finally decided to crash a a know spot just outside of Gainesville. I just need to pull in for a few hours of rest and parked next to Alachua Sink just off the High Springs exit. The teardrop makes such stops quite easy. I just pulled into a wooded area, pulled a few items from the camper, crawled in, and fell asleep.

After waking up I was pretty much on the road within 5 minutes. I did have one setback this day in that whenever I would get up to speed, I would feel the truck shake until I slowed to 60mph. I stopped a couple of times looking for damage but could not find anything. I kept going until finally one of the tires decided to spit off the tread while heading full speed down the interstate while scrapping the hell out of the truck's right rear quarter panel. It was a tad scary as the truck, having a sudden loss of a quarter of its traction started to swerve (the trailer fishtailing didn't help), but I finally got it under control. I was quite thankful for the GPS in that I merely had to have it search for the nearest tire service centers and it generated turn by turn directions for me automatically. Fortunately the tire remained intact (minus the tread) so I was able to limp the 4.5 miles to the service center. After $60 and an addition hour and a half of waiting, I was able to get on my way.

Since it had been a while since I had done it, I thought I would meander my way up and do some geocaching while heading to North Carolina. After a long time, the organization found a way to allow one to find caches along a route whereas previously one could only find points in an area radiating from a particular point. This made it quite easy to find sites that are just a mile or so off of a planned route. I decided to hit a bunch of sites that had travel bugs since for some reason that aspect appeals to me. I've mentioned it to others before, but one of the main things I enjoy about the hobby is that it brings one to places they never would have otherwise been made aware. I found a couple of really neat caches that were down long dirt roads and along a riverbank that had really lovely views. One cache was at a river overlook that was home to an extremely old cemetery that houses some of the original families to inhabit the Florida area. Not only were there some neat items in it, but the area itself was really rustic and photographic. I really enjoyed checking out some of the old headstones and markers. Another cache was on the Suwanee River and was found at the end of a long road. It was nice in that the cache owner had left a travel bug that could be adopted by the finder, so once I figure out the mission and release it into the wild, I'll have my very own trackable item.

Though it was dark when I arrive, I retraced some of the steps take last year at Tallulah Gorge in north Georgia. This was where I had a great trip last year and also had spent my birthday traveling to visit. I finally made it into Cherokee late in the evening and was able to find a parking lot of an abandoned hotel in which to park, make my dinner, and get some rest so I could get an early start in the morning.

I'm packing it in - it depresses me.

After a week of running around, I finally get to take off for my trip. As seems to be tradition, I didn't do anything to pre-pack and spent all of Sunday trying to get things organized and figure out what clothes and such would bee need for the week long trip. I was set back quite a bit when I found the pick-up truck wiring wasn't set for a 4-plug trailer wiring. I decided not to take my Xterra since dad was planning on using it for just own camping trip and since I preferred the better gas mileage of the 4 cylinder small truck. this would be my longest road trip yet with the teardrop that I got last year. The size and mobility make it perfect for a trip like this.

Dad came by from work a bit early to help me troubleshoot the system. there were still a few bugs and a perplexing loss of voltage in one section, but I figured I had to fixed enough to be mostly-legal. I still had to pack at home and make sure that I had all of my equipment, so I was considerably later in leaving than I had hoped, in other words it was about my normal pace. I'll be driving up to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to do some hiking before meandering my way down to Atlanta for the annual Hedon Memorial Weekend Campout.

It should be fun.

I am not a glutton - I am an explorer of food.

I had originally intended to have the Sloth Hash today which would have entailed tubing down the Alafia river. I was there three weeks prior for a river-cleanup, however in that time the water levels had dropped considerably, to the point where a majority of the tubing would have involved walking and tube dragging. I was able to quickly switch gears and subsequently organize the Glutton Hash of my '7 Deadly Sins series'. I wanted to fist use Weedon Island due to the great area, but since no open flame was allowed and I hear they were militant on beer, picnics, and such, finally settled on Picnic Island in south Tampa.

Angie was instrumental in helping me get stuff organized as I began to get a tad stressed with everything I had to pull together. I had food on order from the Honeybaked Ham company, kegs and supplies to get, coolers to fill, shelters and materials to grab, etc. Everyone was encouraged to bring something to share with the group, after all one could not be a glutton without mounds of food being around. All the shelters had been reserved for the day, however I found a nice spot towards the end of the park where we wouldn't be bothered and had some shade and place to lay out.

I was still busy much of the day, but a lot of people really stepped up and gave a hand throughout the day. I brought the canoe out so people could paddle around if they wanted, however the winds were pretty strong throughout the day, so it didn't get a lot of use. The trail was pretty short and just went around the park. We hung around until it was really starting to get dark with the best part of the day just being able to sit around and laugh, tell stories, and simply relax for a little while.

Pics from the event can be found here: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=vnlbugz.5a38ssyv&x=0&y=gyoqbe

If OCT 31 = DEC 25 is Halloween equal to Christmas?

One of the local krewes held a 'Halfway to Halloween' party tonight at one of the clubs in Ybor. Wanting to get a bit more mileage out of it, I wore my 'Steve Erwin' costume, though figured it would not have quite as much impact as it did last year. Angie was an corrupted school girl, Gina was selling (herself) girlscout cookies while Jay was Lt. Dangle. There was a costume contest, but of course Dangle took the first price and received a pretty decent prize package for it.

Pics of the party can be found here: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=vnlbugz.8qfy67uv&x=1&y=262b67

Stats prove those who have more birthdays live longer.

Today I hared my annual birthday trail. I had a lot to get ready this week and was running around ragged (didn't even get to hang out with a couple of couch surfers that crashed at my place for a few days), so I didn't bother to really scout trail since I know the area relatively well. Besides having done trail here the previous two years, I attended USF for many years so figured that I know the area pretty well. I had intended to take the pack up to the top of MOSI and even scouted everything to be sure it was open. I got a decent head start from the pack, ran through the museum to the top, placed all the sticky notes, and got out as quickly as possible, only to find that the ENTIRE pack bypassed that bit when some rangers found where the trail resumed and merely whistled everyone along. The start of the trail also went straight through the Renaissance Festival fairgrounds as well, so I think people enjoyed that a bit. I laid a bunch of bad trails marks and count-backs throughout and even had a beer stop in one of the buildings on the top floor with a pre-stashed cooler, however I later learned that most of the runners even missed that bit. Grrrr.

I got to the end just as the runners were tearing up the street behind me. I was in for a surprise during circle when Angie had set up a lovely series of surprises such as a special t-shirt, cupcakes, gift bag, etc. Awwww, isn't she awesome? We had a virgin hasher join us for the trail that said she would do a pole dance but alas there was no pole to be found. She must have thought she would get off the hook quite easily, however the pack quickly suggest that I take the place of a pole since it was my birthday run. She preformed her act, and it was good. The on-after was CDB's Pizza where we hung around for dinner and a few more drinks. We gave some of the staff cupcakes and in return the bartender gave me a birthday tequila shot.

Some of the pictures and cuch suncerning the trail can be found here: http://www.jollyrogerh3.com/2007_05_17.htm

Instruments come in many sizes, shapes and orchestras.

Last night I went to a Florida Orchestra performance at Al Lopez park as part of their free 'Pops in the Park' series. The blanket of smoke covering Florida and the Tampa area for wildfires up north almost canceled the concert, however it was decided to just eliminate the intermission in order to reduce exposure. We took out chairs and some picnic items and really enjoyed the music. It had a very Spanish theme with the guest Angel Romero conducting. Unfortunately this is nearly the last of the outdoor series for the season.

On-out

At about 6:15PM on Friday May 11, 2007, Jim Sheffer, better known as Stroke, died of cancer. He was 42.

Stroke was well known in a lot of hashing circles with his main haunts at the Tide Water Hash (Virginia Beach), Humping Hash (San Diego), and TBH3 (Tampa). He was among the first people that I met when I started with the running club. He's been doing this a long time and had great stories and a generally good demeanor. I got to first know him a bit at Bike Week 2005 when I drove his truck to Daytona Beach so he could ride his Harley. Even though I was very new and they didn't know me, I was invited to share in a hotel room.

He'll be missed by some I am sure.

In a mad world, only greater madness succeeds.

Upon invitation I went to a concert at The State Theater in St. Pete headlining the Greyboy Allstars. I was not previously familiar with their work, but am always interested in being exposed to something new. the music consisted mostly of soul/acid jazz that had the feel of an overall jam session with few lyrics spoken throughout the evening. a highlight for me was an unexpected opening guest, Gary Jules. I was first exposed, as I assume a lot of people might have been, to his music when his cover of Tears for Fears 'Mad World' was used on an XBox commercial (previously having been used in the 'Donnie Darko' movie soundtrack). I have the 'Mad World' song playing on my MySpace profile. Overall, it was a very enjoyable evening and I'm glad to have had a chance to check out something new.