Thanksgiving on the Prairie (2009)

For some reason it's difficult to find campsites in Florida from November to March, but we were able to secure the last site in Florida for the Thanksgiving weekend. The site was in Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park. Kellisa and I tent camped several nights in Paynes Prairie back in October 2005.

Paynes Prairie is a 21,000 acre savanna just south of Gainesville. The prairie is home to alligators, wild bison, horses, cattle and more than 270 kinds of birds. While at the park we went for several hikes and a couple of bike rides. We spotted a few horses in the distance, but never saw the bison or cattle herds.

Paynes Prairie:


Lisa cooked a traditional Thanksgiving feast in the camper that we enjoyed for 3 days:

Kellisa and Lisa on the edge of the prairie:

On the scenic outlook ramp:

Birds:

Lake at the edge of the prairie (alligators bottom left):

Alligator just off the trail:

Modern camping with the Internet:

Kellisa in her Wike (bike trailer and off-road stroller):

Home for 4 nights:

Enjoying a Sunday morning trail across the prairie:

Lisa and a large pine tree:

Lisa's picture of the above tree's split and canopy:

Lisa climbed this rocking chair on the way home:

2 Highpoints and the Blizzard of 2009

December 18-22, 2009

The plan was simple: fly to Philadelphia, reach the summits of Delaware, New Jersey, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, visit Shenandoah National Park, then fly home from Columbus. I was also hoping to add the highest point in Washington DC and a visit to the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial as bonuses. The trip started out very cold, but as planned.
At 448ft., the top of Delaware is the second lowest of the highpoints:

The New Jersey Highpoint Monument:


On top of New Jersey with temperatures in the 20's and 45mph wind gusts:

While driving through the Poconos in Pennsylvania, we decided to stop at the Pocono Snake & Animal Farm. The sign in front of the building reads: "People Friendly" Animals! Interesting, since the farm includes: cobras, mambas, alligators, bears, mountain lions and rattlesnakes.

http://poconosnakeandanimalfarm.com/index.html

Kellisa enjoying the lemurs:

The monkeys and Kellisa interacting:

Kellisa looking for a snake:

The snake is an Egyptian Cobra (the kind that Cleopatra used to commit suicide) showing off it's hood:

A few records from the blizzard:

1. The most snow (2ft.) in any 24hr. period in Washington DC.

2. In Philadelphia, a 100 year old record was broken for the most snow (23.2 inches) from a single storm in December.

3. The storm was 500 miles wide over 14 states.

For hundreds of miles in every direction, we were surrounded by 2-3 feet of snow. Shenandoah National Park was closed. The West Virginia Highpoint required driving on mountainous backroads that didn't get plowed and the Maryland Highpoint is a hike of 2 miles and has an elevation gain of 700ft. We canceled those plans, but still held out hope for Pennsylvania's Highpoint.

The beginning of the blizzard when you could still see:

On our way to the Highpoint of Pennsylvania, we stopped at the Flight 93 National Memorial. This is where the 4th hijacked plane from 9.11.01 crashed into a field. As soon as you approach the area, there is a definite sense of what happened at this spot. We talked to a site ambassador who explained in great detail the events of Flight 93. She also shared pictures and stories about the the passengers and crew that prevented this plane from crashing in Washington D.C. Even though she has probably told the same stories thousands of times, she had tears in her eyes.

Here's a few ways the government spends your tax dollars as part of their omnibus spending bill:

1. Almost $2,000,000 to study swine odor in Iowa.

2. $15,000,000 to improve a border crossing in Montana that averages less than two cars per day.

3. $2,192,000 to study the genetics of grapes in New York.

4. $0,000,000 or ZERO on the Flight 93 Memorial. It's up to the families to raise the money for the yet to be built memorial wall with the victims names. They are hoping to have the project completed by the 10th anniversary of September 11th.

http://www.nps.gov/flni/index.htm

Looking at the Memorial with the impact site in the field beyond:

The plane hit the ground at 580 miles per hour. The black box was found 30ft. deep in the earth. Some objects were found as deep as 45ft.

The American Flag marks the spot of the impact:

Already heavy-hearted and teary eyed, I look over at Kellisa and she has wheeled through the snow to a memorial rock with an American Flag and she has her hand over her heart:

I was hoping to take Kellisa tubing at a ski resort, but the blizzard made that impossible. Instead, we bought a sled. This was Kellisa's first time sledding and she loved it from the beginning.

Kellisa sledding in Somerset, PA:

Being a Florida kid, Kellisa doesn't quite understand snow:

We made it to within one mile of the PA Highpoint. It was the middle of nowhere and the snow was still falling. We were the only people out in the storm and I just did not feel comfortable continuing on the unplowed road that was still gaining in elevation. I could have left the car and pulled Kellisa in the sled to the highpoint, but decided against this idea. I was not comfortable leaving the car in the middle of the road for safety reasons. Also, I was afraid I would get stuck or if a snow plow came through, the car would be buried and I didn't have a shovel. In the end, I decided to save PA for when we return to the region to get Maryland and West Virginia.

The road to the PA Highpoint from where we turned around:

Kellisa sledding in West Virginia at the New River Gorge National River Visitor Center:

After getting one, Kellisa learned the phrase "face full of snow" to tell mom about sledding when we got home:

We were suppose to fly home on 12.23.09 from Columbus, OH. The forecast had another storm approaching from the west and thousands of flights had already been canceled. I was worried about getting stuck at an airport with only one extra day of Kellisa's medicines. However, I was more worried about not getting Kellisa back home with mom in time for Christmas. I was sure that would use all my current and immediate future good will with Lisa and I would be limited to the Jacksonville city limits for all of 2010. I made the decision to drive home in between the two storms. It was a long, brutal, but uneventful drive home. We returned the evening of 12.22.09 with plenty of time to spare.

Kellisa resting on a backpack filled with winter clothes on the drive back to Jax:

Hoosier Hill, Indiana (05.06)

Hoosier Hill, Indiania
1,257ft.

May 2006

Britton Hill, Florida (11.04)

Lakewood Park (Britton Hill), Florida
345ft.

November 2004

Visiting Family in Colorado (09.04)

The week before Labor Day, I was in Colorado for business. Lisa and Kellisa flew out for a long weekend at the end of my trip. We visited with Lisa's sister Donna and her family. Lisa's other sister, Cindy was also visiting the same weekend. With half the siblings in one place, it felt like a small reunion. This trip comes with two stories: one about the law at high altitude and the other a hurricane.

..............................................Beverly and Kellisa

........................................Andrew, Beverly and Kellisa

The ladies wanted to go shopping and the guys wanted to go target shooting. I didn't want to do either and I had a BMW SUV rental, so I asked for directions to the nearest mountain dirt road. The shooting range was high in the mountains on a dirt road, so I followed a pick-up driven by a family member (name omitted to protect their privacy).

After dropping the guys at the shooting range, Kellisa and I headed deeper into the mountains. Kellisa loved every minute as we tore up the rental car. The BMW really isn't made for off-roading, but we didn't let that stop us from having fun. We eventually returned to the shooting range. The vote was to do some off-roading together before returning to Donna's house.

This is when things got a little out of control. We were racing and changing leads on the narrow mountain roads. Kellisa was laughing uncontrollably in the back seat as we got a little airborne several times. At least one of my brother-in-laws was getting sick in the back seat.

I slowed down as we came upon a tight turn on the mountain's edge and lost the lead to the pick-up. Even slowing down, we were going way too fast. Coming around from the other side was a sheriff and he barely missed both of our vehicles. The sheriff immediately made a u-turn and hit the lights and sirens. Who would have thought there would be a sheriff in the middle of the mountains?

Besides being a little reckless, the back of my SUV was filled with guns and ammunition and I didn't know the gun laws in Colorado. My heart sinks as I pull over. To my amazement, the sheriff passes me and pulls over the pick-up. I assume he will flag me over as I approach, but the sheriff allows us to proceed as we act like we don't know the two guys in the pick-up. I drive under control all the way back to Donna's house without incident.

The incident was awaiting us as we drove up to Donna's house and all the women were outside. You could not tell the SUV was white anymore, it was missing 3 out of 4 hubcaps and it still smelled like smoke and burning rubber from the afternoon's activities. They couldn't help but wonder why we returned without the pick-up and it's occupants. Someone explained what had happened and that we didn't know what was going on since we just left them on the side of the road. Let's just say, every man was in some sort of trouble the rest of the evening.

Lisa, Cindy, Donna and Beverly watching someone climbing up a rock and Kellisa smiling for the camera.

.......................................................Hiking

......................... "I don't want Kellisa getting wet," said Lisa.

.................................................Cindy and Bob

.........................................................Family

While we were in Colorado, Hurricane Frances was churning in the Atlantic. It was expected to miss Jacksonville, which it did, however, tropical storm force winds and rain battered Jacksonville. It was hard to watch the updates from so far away, not knowing how our property made out. We returned home to a neighborhood with many trees and limbs down. Our driveway was blocked by limbs and we lost some of our gutters, but all in all, we were very fortunate.

.......................................Track of Hurricane Frances

Pyramid Lake, Nevada (11.06)

Pyramid Lake is a natural body of water fed by the Truckee River, which flows from Lake Tahoe. The lake covers 188 square miles and has a surface elevation of 3,817 ft. There is no outlet, with water leaving only by evaporation, or sub-surface seepage. The lake has about 10% of the area of the Great Salt Lake, but it has about 25% more volume. The salinity is approximately 1/6th that of sea water.

Lake Tahoe:

I will warn anyone who might want to visit Pyramid Lake about a speed trap. Leaving Reno, one route to the lake is 447 north from I80. After a short drive, you will enter the Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation. The drive will take you over and around a small hill. On the other side of the hill, the town of Nixon appears suddenly at the same time the speed limit drops by 20MPH to a school zone.

You don't have time to slow down if you don't know the speed limit drops after the curve. This fact is not lost on the reservation policeman who was waiting for me. I was told I was in serious trouble for going over 20MPH in a school zone on an Indian Reservation. I looked around, didn't see any kids or even a school. I asked, "where's the school"? The policeman pointed to a shack off in the distance. Not sure how Indian law works, I decided to keep quiet.

After running my information, I was told I would receive a brake, he would write the ticket for only going 19MPH over the speed limit. This dropped the ticket price in half to $375. The time on my ticket was 4:42pm, which was correct. I was upset at losing daylight as I had very limited time to visit Pyramid Lake, so I signed the ticket and went on my way. I did go back to look for any kind of school zone sign. It was there, but it was from 2pm to 4:30pm. Unable to keep quiet, I mentioned this fact to the cop who was waiting for the next unsuspecting driver. I was advised that I could plead my case before an Indian judge in three months. The $375 ticket was a lot cheaper than a trip back to Reno, so I paid the ticket by mail.

Pyramid Lake:

Giving the lake its name is Anaho Island: