259) Riding Out the Storm

Once before I found myself riding out a severe storm in my tent. That was on my first solo backpacking trip in Utah's Canyonlands National Park. Once the first freight train of wind almost breaks the poles on the tent, you know you are in trouble and it is just about too late to do anything about it.



Last night I camped on the beach. It was beautiful when I set up and went to bed, but I prepared the stakes for my rain fly just in case it did rain. I did not, however, go through the process of securing my tent in the case of severe weather. I knew there were storms well to the south of me, which I figured were moving west. What I didn't know was that there were storms brewing to the east of me, moving strait towards me.

Around 1am I thought I felt a few light drops of rain so I put on the rain fly, sacrificing the perfect breeze I had. I quickly fell back to sleep, and it barely sprinkled. At about 3am a gust of rain came through tested the strength of my tent poles. By the time that initial blast ended the rain and lightening were in full strength right above me. There is almost no time to make a decision to stay or bail out after that wind has hit. I probably could have just bolted to my car, but my tent and sleeping pad would have almost surely been somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico a few minutes later.

So I decided to ride it out in the tent, hoping the stakes on the rain fly held (just by chance the angle of the wind to the tent were ideal. The point when I began to second guess that decision was when a flash of lightning was proceeded so closely by thunder they were indistinguishable, and I felt a concussion (if that is even possible). After that happened once more about 15 or 20 minutes later I knew I was going to have to get out of there as soon as the next "lull" came. I put that in quotations because I just mean there was no lightening directly over me- I could hear it just to the west and east, which to me meant I had a small window of opportunity to take down my tent and not get struck while holding the aluminum poles. It turned out I was right, and by the time I started running to my car the lightening was back on me.



I rode it out for an hour, and by that time a lot of the roads in Key West were completely flooded. When I got home I checked out the radar and saw a lot of red.

258) A Good Night For Photos

Last night had a great sunset followed by a lightning storm a few miles off.

257) After a Long Pause

It has been a pretty long pause since I have posted anything. I try to keep this page photo driven, and I guess I just wasn't taking too many photos. The lack of home internet has certainly played a role in lapse, as well.




But since the last post there have been plenty of things going on. I moved to Key West and started a new job as an official park ranger for the Florida Park Service. So far so good. Key west is a pretty good place to find yourself living and working. Although I live a few miles out of Key West proper, I will still call it Key West.


The first three pictures are from around my area, I do a lot of kayaking to try to find interesting areas otherwise not accessible. The photo below is of an orchid my neighbor gave me, it just so happens she is an orchid breeder/gardener.


I have probably the best case living scenario- I share a house with three other guys. I have my own deck that is right over the water, and there are large decks that go all the way to the roof level, everything faces west, so every evening is a great view of the sunset over the water.


Above is my bedroom, and below are a few from the the decks. It is pretty nice to have the view out of my bedroom window look like a painting.

256) The Past Month (or so)

This is a mix of photos from the past month or so. The first ones are from a trip to the keys with my parents, and the second group is from Bradenton on the west coast with my friend Susan. The keys photos end with the butterfly and the Bradenton photos begin with the sunset.

255) From the Everglades

It was between the Keys and the Glades- circumstances (spring break) drove us to the Everglades, which turned out to be fantastic. We later found out one of the bridges in the keys was blocked off in both directions delaying traffic for hours, this just confirmed our decision not to have gone down.


The picture just above is of a hiking trail through Big Cypress.



With the most perfect weather I have ever felt my friend Susan and I went kayaking on a beautiful canoe trail that I have done once before. It leads through mangrove tunnels and out into the classic everglades type ecosystem. On our way back we were confronted by a huge gator (12 feet long?) that swam to within a few feet of us then just watched us go by. It was the kind of thing you hope for before you are out there, then when it actually happens you are about to crap your kayak.

254) Music in Miami

The Winter Music Conference just rolled through Miami. It is basically a huge electronic music event that took over South Beach for a week. Some of the best DJ's in the world were here, and too many parties to choose from.




I was fortunate enough to get a press pass to a pool party that featured number ten ranked DJ Sander Van Doorn as a surprise guest.




The whole concept of the conference and everything was really cool. It was also nice to be able to get the free passes and meet some big names in the music scene and experience things like that. But overall I think I am starting to get away from this kind of scene- just not what it used to be to me.






Having said that, I was still happy to get down and take some pictures. This was one of the things I have been looking forward to doing since I got to Miami, and even before.