First day of cleaning Windsong.

Yesterday Jenny and I went to spend the day on Windsong getting as much done as we could. The plans for the day were:

• Clean as much of the interior surfaces as we could,
  
• Take home all of the "stuff" that had been cleaned out of the boat (charts, galley stuff, equipment, spares, manuals, books, etc.) to inventory,
• Inspect the boat further as outlined in Inspecting the Aging Sailboat,
• Begin to survey the engine and electrical system,
• Inspect the running rigging and figure out replacement options
• Absorb being on the boat!

We did just about all of that. We started by cleaning the insides with a mixture of detergent, bleach and TSP. The solution was meant to clean all surfaces including wood. It worked wonderfully on the white bulkheads and interior surfaces and even the wood. What I realized, however, was that the wood had so many layers of dirt and varnish on it, it would need some further cleaning and scraping to unify the color before I can varnish it again. I also began to note all of the wood rot from some of the old leaks that the seller repaired. There will be a lot of wood work done in the future, but the interior is good enough to make that a low priority project. The white surfaces were covered in an incredible amount of dirt, but the cleaning revealed a bright white underneath, except for parts of the vinyl headliner.

We packed up a few boxes of the things that come with the boat, trying to clear the junk from the seller's porch. I will be going through it all this week and begin to inventory my findings. This will be like Christmas because there is a lot of stuff!

I began to inspect the boat further looking for things I didn't know to look for before, namely cracks and issues with the gelcoat on the deck. I noticed many cracks, but nothing serious. I also inspected the engine room and electrical system further, but will focus on those more closely next weekend.

Replacing the running rigging is the first priority to get the boat in condition to take it out of there. With the running rigging replaced, I can rely on the sails and use the engine as a backup instead of the only option (or vice versa). Most of the rigging can be easily replaced by threading new lines through, attached to the old. But aproblem arose which I noticed when I was first inspecting Windsong. The main and jib halyards are wire to rope splice type. They definitely needed to be replaced, as the rope parts are very rotted. I want to replace the halyards with all rope, but there was a possibility that the sheaves at the top of the mast wouldnt accept the rope, or eat it up because they were made for wires. I inspected the rig further and ran the rope ends of the halyards through the sheaves with no resistance or odd chafing. This means I can easily replace them for now, but will make sure to replace the sheaves when I unstep the mast.

Aside from all of that we had a great day, about 10 hours overall on the boat. I am completely sore now from scrubbing overhead and lifting things (we brought a protable a/c unit that was a little too heavy). Here are the pictures:

Figuring out where to plug things in...




Got it!




Me figuring out where to start...


Cap'n at the helm


Inspector Gadget


Clean Clean..




My shoulders hurt


First meal on the boat!



Here is the perfect example of what the white surfaces looked like before and after...

Back in the Country, ready for Windsong

"There aren't many experiences more ripe with promise than buying a boat."

I spent this past week readjusting to life back at home from vacation. Costa Rica was a great adventure with some of the best waves I have ridden in many years. It had its ups and downs, and I'll be sure to post a good story about the whole trip once I have the time. Work didn't pile up too much over the week so this week wasn't all too bad.

I am extremely happy to be back for Windsong though. This weekend I plan on spending a whole day up there with the boat doing inventory, cleaning, and putting together an initial project list. I've been reading diligently all of the books that came in with my last order. I have been soaking up all of the information and enjoying it immensely. My mind is swelling with new developing skills such as diesel engines, electronics, rigging, navigation, fishing. All of the books I had written about have been fantastic so far and I can't wait to start to apply a lot of it this weekend.

Here is my sailing school so to speak. The books on the left are the ones I have read, the ones on the right are those that I am currently studying.


The paperwork isn't all in my name yet. The checks still have to clear and then the title company will do its thing to get it all in my name.

Thanks to everyone who has been commenting on previous posts. A few have asked for contact info for me so feel free to email me at: evanmalssen@gmail.com

Closing on Windsong

I apologize for lack up updates recently, especially as I am in the process of buying Windsong. It has been a very turbulent time in the past few weeks getting everything together to close on the boat and getting ready for vacation. My wanderlust takes me back to Costa Rica tomorrow for a week of beautiful surf, food, countryside and friends. I've been to Costa two times before and each time was amazing, good enough to go back a few times I guess! So if all goes well I'll have a write up of the trip when I come back for your enjoyment.

So let me catch you up on what has happened so far with Windsong. I went to look at the boat a few weekends ago as mentioned in a previous post. I had to drive a little over two hours to the big bend area of Florida to see it in Inglis. I had never seen this area of Florida at all, so it was a treat to do some exploring. It is a very "old" Florida, very nature oriented and not very populated. Little historic towns with a lot of retirees looking for some quiet on the waterways. So anyways...I meet up with the broker, Jim, at the sellers house to check out the boat. He keeps it on a dock at his house which is on a canal a few dozen meters away from the Withlacoochie river, near where it dumps into the Gulf of Mexico.



I had studied the boat intensely on the internet so I knew what to expect when looking around it. My first impressions were neutral, no worse or better than I expected. Coming into it I knew of a few things based on picture observations and discussions with the broker: the running rigging needs replacing, the inside needs cleaning and a little TLC, most electronics are old and either not functioning (radar) or just needs a modern upgrade (gps, vhf, autopilot), the engine runs fine and only has 900 hours on it, and everything else resembles what a well aged 34 year old boat should look like. I confirmed everything listed there and added a few more things to the list of necessary repairs/upgrades. Initially I noticed that the anchor chain is pretty rusted and corroded, warranting replacement. The standing rigging, sails, mast and booms all looked in decent condition. I carefully inspected the rigging for cracks and corrosion. So just from a topside perspective, once the anchor chain/rode and running rigging are replaced, it should be in sailable condition. The deck was very clean, no soft spots, and all hardware was bedded tight.

The only other areas of major concern were inside. I was a little taken aback by the condition of the insides especially because the topsides were quite clean (he had the boat pressure washed). Luckily, most of it is just dirt which can be easily cleaned off the bulkhead (I wiped some away with my thumb and found it to be bright white underneath!). The vinyl headliner is coming off and the foam underneath it is deteriorating, so that will need work. There is some old wall paper in areas that will have to come off too. The insides are made of holly and teak, which will need some cleaning and varnishing. But once the place has a good scrub down, it should look real nice. The insides are massive compared to the 30'-32' boats I have been on! The cabin size of those were just below a good comfort level, this cabin is well beyond.

I of course inspected every nook and cranny. I found a few areas where leaks had happened, but could easily trace them to things like a poorly bedded stanchion, or where some other deck fitting will need rebedding. The bilge was dry, however, and with the many inches of rain that have fallen on the boat, I was confident it wasn't taking on much rain water.

The initial look through left me with no more excitement than I came in with, it actually dampened it all (I was buzzing the previous night). The reality of the project in front of me hit, and it was a lot to think about. The broker began the pressure telling me about the offers has had on the boat, and that there are others waiting in line to look at it and put an offer on it. So if I wanted it, it was now or never. He gave me until Monday to decide before he gave it to the next guy. He liked me, liked my enthusiasm and energy, and wanted to sell it to me. I came to like Jim, he is a legit guy and fun to talk to. I don't know how much of everything he said was just sales talk, but a lot of it seemed to ring true, especially the interest in the boat. If you remember, I had tried to look at it before but someone had already put an offer on it. Things didn't get finished, so I had a second chance. I didn't want it to slip through, because finding a boat this big in my price range would be a miracle that I might not see again in my boat buying time. Here are the pictures from the first trip out there kicking the tires. I wish I got more, but I was so busy just staring at stuff I got distracted:













































So I went home and did some more research on everything I saw that concerned me. After spending the evening on the internet, I decided I would go back the following day to check it out again. I had a few more concerns about what I saw, and needed to clear those out of my head before I decided on anything. When I went back with a little more knowledge on its issues, things started to look better actually! I noticed that the big things that need to be done are actually not that big of a deal, and that a weekend of cleaning will make the inside look spectacular (relatively). I triple checked everything on the boat to make sure I was satisfied. I went home to think about my decision and eventually called the broker with my offer. I won't mention any dollar amounts until it is fully closed on.

My offer was accepted and the very next day we we had a signed contract! Once the contract was signed, I needed to sign the "Acceptance of Vessel", which stated that it is satisfactory to all my requirements. We did a sea trial on it the next weekend to make sure the engine ran well and it is a functioning boat. I didn't anticipate any problems on the trial, and it was actually a fantastic afternoon on the boat. We rode up the river to the inlet and back again, a total of about 10 miles and 2.5 hours on the water with the engine running. It purred like a dream! Along the way I noticed the MASSIVE fish in the water near where the salt and fresh water converged. Redfish and Snook 3 feet long+ were just chilling in the water as we rolled by. I cannot wait to get my fishing rod out there. I had brought my camera to take more pictures of the boat, but as I took the first shot I realized I left my memory card at home, oh well. I a couple from my phone though, here we are on the river:



The sea trial went great, so I accepted the vessel. I needed to scramble to secure financing and eventually got that done through USAA. While they were very easy to get the loan with, but were kind of a pain in the to get the money sent to the right place. Where they could just wire the money into the broker's escrow account, they send a check in the name of the seller to my address...who knows. But I have the check now, and with my paycheck today I have enough to pay the balance, sales tax, and registration fees. The boat is a U.S. Coast Guard registered vessel, which is a great thing to have when traveling internationally. Unfortunately, to renew it it requires a documenting company who charges $450 to get it done, or I could do it myself and save a little money. I decided to just go with the company to get it all done quickly, they handle the title, lien, and registration stuff too. It hurt to pay, but I needed to get all of this done before I left for Costa Rica so the faster the better.

That is where I am right now. I am hesitant to say that I have the boat because it snit fully closed on yet. But it is 90% done, so I can get excited, and excited I am! One of the major influencing factors in buying the boat is the fact that the seller is letting me keep it at his dock for as long as I need to make the boat seaworthy. Keep in mind that you typically pay around $10-15 a foot per month for marina storage, so this is saving me a lot of money each month I have it there. I definitely computed that into the costs. He is even offering me a room and bathroom to stay at while I work on the boat there! He is a really nice guy who lives there alone while his wife is starting a business in Alaska. He is slowly trying to sell everything so he can get up there, but taking his time in this economy. Very chill guy who will be nice to hang around and gain knowledge from as I work on the boat.

I return from Costa Rica next weekend, and the following weekend will be spent at the boat doing inventory and cleaning it as best we can. There are a ton of spare parts, manuals, charts, tools and things I need to inventory to see what it has and what condition everything is in. I'll then come back the next weekend and start to work on things like the running rigging. Hopefully I can get all of the work done by the end of summer and have it ready to cruise down the West coast. I plan on stopping at a DIY boat yard to have it hauled out and to work on it throughout the winter on the hard, bringing it up to safe condition for a long passage. I plan on eventually bringing it around Florida to the East coast, but it will need to be safe to make the journey. Hopefully by this time next year the boat will be close for me to use on weekends!

Once I accepted the vessel I put a big order in to Amazon.com for a bunch of new books. Most of the books I have describe the "whats" in terms of boats and cruising, now I need the "how to's". Such as marine diesel engines, electronics, mechanics, rigging, navigation, etc. I used recommendations from the previous books I read, and they all seemed to converge on a similar set of authors for the definitive books. Most of them have already arrived and I have begun my studies. It feels like I am back in school, but for something I want to study more than anything I have encountered previously. Hopefully I will really be able to plow through the books while in Costa Rica with some relaxation time. Here are the books I just added to my library:

The Cruisers Handbook of Fishing - by Scott and Wendy Bannerot: This book was available to me early online through an option with Amazon, easily one of the best books I have gotten for sailing. I am learning so much about fishing my brain is ready to pop. I can't wait to try it out.

Cruising with your Four-Footed Friends. The Basics of Travel with your Cat or Dog - by Dianna Jesse: Basically I plan on getting a dog in the next few years. I want to be educated on my decision to hopefully pick the right breed for a boat companion.

Coastal Navigation using GPS for Sail and Power - by Frank Larkin: This book goes into detail with easy to understand language to completely cover chart navigation and integrating GPS into the mix. While I learned the basics of navigation through my courses and more by reading the American Practical Navigator (a little tough to read honestly), I could use some more advanced teaching to learn how to use the GPS for course plotting.

Marine Diesel Engines: Maintenance, Troubleshooting, and Repair - by Nigel Calder: I came into this with only basic knowledge of engines. I plan on becoming a pretty good amateur mechanic though this process. This is apparently THE book to get down and dirty with the engine. I've been enjoying the read and really appreciate the knowledge it is giving me.

Adlard Coles' Heavy Weather Sailing, Sixth Edition: Pretty much the definitive book on the subject. Everyone recommended it.

Don Casey's Complete Illustrated Sailboat Maintenance Manual: This will be THE book to help me get this boat in great condition. It contains six of his time honored books:

Don Casey’s Complete Illustrated Sailboat Maintenance Manual combines six core volumes into a single, utterly dependable resource that answers every frequent question, explains every major system, and helps you keep your boat and its components shipshape.

More than 2,500 clear and detailed illustrations guide you step by step through every procedure. Casey’s technical virtuosity, his user-friendly explanations, and Peter Compton's diesel engine expertise make even the more complicated repairs and improvements easy to understand. This must-have guide saves you time, money, and grief as you learn the fastest, easiest, most effective ways to:

• Evaluate the condition of your boat or one you’re about to purchase
• Repair structural damage to your fiberglass sailboat
• Improve or repair your sailboat’s electrical system
• Troubleshoot, maintain, and repair your boat’s diesel engine
• Put a professional-looking finish on your boat’s hull, deck, spars, wood, and trim
• Make and repair sails, sail covers, dodgers, awnings, sailbags, and bimini tops

So I have the money and the signed closing documents that I plan on sending out today. Hopefully when I return from my trip, the boat will be all mine!!! All of this was pretty stressful leading up to this trip, so hopefully I can actually relax once there. I think a few perfect waves will do me just fine.

Check out the waves there today, swell on the rise...






hell yes

Financing Approved

I just got off the phone with the bank and my financing for Windsong has been approved!!! All that's left is to do the sea trial and survey this weekend.

The reality of this is slowly sinking in, but hasn't really hit yet. I'm excited yet nervous.

OMG!

I can't reveal too much yet, and it's not completely final, but Windsong (the Downeaster 38) could be mine in three weeks time! I saw it this weekend, inspected it thoroughly and decided I wanted it. I made an offer on it, submitted my deposit and now I just have to secure financing. This weekend I give it a sea trial, and once the financing is complete, the boat will be mine!

I'll be sure to write up a big post about this whole process with the boat, but I need to focus my time elsewhere right now.

Cross your fingers all goes well!

Saving sucks.

I've been lazily boat shopping for a while now. Just browsing the net for anything new, but not really getting excited about anything. There are plenty of boats that I could potentially buy, but I am in no rush since I am still saving.

As I have been looking through ads, I noticed that the Downeaster 38 is still up on most sites, and has been posted to new ones since I asked about it. I emailed the broker again and asked what was up, sure enough the person who was going to buy it failed to come up with a deposit so its back on the market. I plan on going up to see it this weekend so wish me luck!

This will be my first boat walk through with the owners or a broker so I'm sorta nervous. I have a lot of guidelines on what to look for, but I hope I don't miss anything in the excitement of it.

I have about 1/5 of the cost of the boat saved up, so I would feel fine about putting that down as a deposit and financing the rest. As long as I stick with my budget, I won't be putting any strain on my goal. It is amazing how the habits I developed while getting out of debt have stuck with me. I still think every purchase over many times before buying anything, unlike a few years ago when I bought anything I wanted without a second thought. Since I have this mind set, I have been able to save more than I had anticipated when I put together my budget a few months back. I am happy with the progress, but with this progress comes a lot of sacrifices.

I still sacrifice a lot of discretionary spending in order to keep my savings up. Unfortunately, a lot of the things start to wear on me from time to time. Its hard to see my friends go out to dinner or to a bar week in and week out. I want to go, but eating and drinking out is the easiest spending category for me to save in. Last year when I made the big push to change my spending habits in order to save, I saw that my budget was eaten away each month mostly from nights on the town. The hard reality set in after I gave up going out for a while and then tried to go back. The check at the end of the night hurt like it never had before. But I like that it hurts, it proves that my habits have truly changed, and I have indeed become a more frugal person.

I don't really know how to tell people that I can't go out or do whatever because I'm broke. They know I'm not broke, and could easily call me out on it. But do they understand why I'm not spending money? Do they really believe that I am saving for a sailing journey or do they just see it as an excuse lately? Sometimes I get a cold shoulder when I pass on an activity, and lately I've seen less invites from my friends to do pretty much anything, and that sucks. I understand that I put myself in this position, but do they understand why?

While most of my friends have a vague idea that I'm looking to buy a boat, I don't think many understand that my mind is completely set on making this boat not just a toy, but an avenue to a new life. I'm sure its hard for them to really get behind my cause and support me currently, because its all just a dream right now and to them, me saving money for a big cruise just looks like me being a boring friend who doesn't do much anymore. I have no boat, I have no one pushing me to do this for motivation, I have nothing solid but a blog and some savings. Hell, I have a hard time bringing up this dream to many of my friends, because we have all talked about doing something this outrageous many many times, but only in passing jest. It is always said when we see an island, go on vacation, or see someone traveling more than we are to say "lets say screw our lives and go do that!" Do my friends really realize that I mean business? Will it shock them in a few years when I announce that I am untying the dock lines for good? Will they care? Will it all click with them that while I was being a little reclusive, I was using all of my willpower to fulfill a dream?

Sorry for the rant, not sure where I am going with this. I've just been a little down lately about everything. Hell, I haven't even been able to pursue my personal hobbies such as beer brewing lately due to my savings push. I almost feel like I need to get the boat sooner rather than later, so the motivation is physical, people close to me can see I mean business, and maybe I'll actually get a little support and conversation from those people.

Until then, I'm nothing more than another guy sitting in an office wishing I was doing something better.

"Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so you shall become. Your vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your ideal is the philosophy of what you shall at last unveil." - James Lane Allen

Backpacking and other stuff

Well I contacted the broker who listed the Downeaster 38 from the last post about seeing it this weekend. Turns out someone just put a deposit on it...oh wells. That could have been a really good deal, but I have plenty of time to find the right one.

Lately I haven't been doing much other than continuing to find ways to save my cash and be on the lookout for boats. I've searched around marinas in Cape Canaveral, Titusville, Green Cove Springs and St. Augustine. I've found a few for sale, but nothing really stand-out. If the motivation hits me, I'll post some pix and review some of the boats I saw. But going out and just seeing the boats docked and on the hard has helped me visualize a lot of the things I read about in my studies. It is a lot of fun and I'll continue to explore marinas.

Hopefully over the course of this blog you will get to know me a bit more as a person. As someone who has obvious adventure lust, I do many other things to keep myself occupied and entertained aside from surfing and sailing. One of my many hobbies is backpacking. Before I go further, let me clarify....when I mention backpacking to most people, they seem to visualize someone hauling a backpack through trains and hostels in Europe. Not so my friend...I am talking about backwoods, primitive camping type backpacking. Where you hike many miles carrying your food, water, clothes, cooking supplies and everything you need to survive out there. It is a great thrill to hike deep into the wilderness, find a pristine site to post up camp, have a relaxing evening, and then pack up in the morning to keep hiking.

Backpacking is something I anticipate doing while on my cruise. With my gear and knowledge, I should have a cheap and easy way to explore land wherever I happen to be. Hiking around an island and camping on a secluded beach with a perfect surf break out front....oh yeah.

This previous weekend I went to hike the north loop of the Richloam tract in the Withlacoochee State Forest. Here is the description of the trail from the Florida Trail Association:

The Richloam Tract of Withlacoochee State Forest offers a wide variety of plant and animal life. Of interest here is a state owned herd of longhorn cattle descended from the original Spanish cows, and one of the state’s top fish hatcheries.

Follow the perimeter trail for a 25.6-mile weekend backpacking loop, or take a long day hike using the cross trails, which enable you to configure loops of 10, 12, and 14 miles. The trail passes through cypress floodplains, bayheads, pine-palmetto flatlands, hardwood hammocks and open pine prairies. Ancient live oaks shade the trail in places. There is also a relict experimental eucalyptus plantation from the 1930's that the loop trail passes through. Wildflowers are abundant from March until November.

The trail borders the Withlacoochee River in the southwest and the Little Withlacoochee River in the northern section and crosses numerous streams which drain the tract. Eagles, deer, turkeys, and other wildlife inhabit the area. Fishing is good here.

I figured this trail would be a good overnighter, have plenty of water, and give us something to do when we hit camp (fish). We (me, 2 buddies and a dog) hit the trail Saturday morning and started off at a the Richloam fire tower. The thing was locked, but that didn't stop me from climbing it. The stair well was rotting away making it a very nervy climb and the tower swayed this way and that. But I kept going until I got to the top only to find the last flight locked from passage. Below are pictures from the trailhead

Gear ready to go:



View from the top of the tower:



View from the bottom:



We filled up our water bottles at the tower and started the hike! Our first objective was to take some connector trails to the outer edge of the loop. The hike started off in dense forest and made for great shade and scenery. Otis (the dog) loved being out there and was a joy to watch. He even had his own saddle bags to carry gear.



I had a sugar cane that I dried out about a year ago to use as a hiking stick. It was extremely light, had some flex to it yet was sturdy enough for a hiking pole. Unfortunately at the end of the day, I had to use it to avoid falling down a hole and it bent under my weight.





We saw some interesting plants, if you can identify any of the flowers and plants I have pictures of, please leave a comment! We took pictures to figure out what we saw. This one had a very strange stem that fanned out onto four corners, almost like the stem itself was a leaf.






There were many fallen trees suspended in the air by other trees. Very neat to walk through them.





Here I am as we reached the outer loop from the connector trails. From here we had about 6 miles to go to the area we had planned on camping. Near the campsite is supposedly lakes and the Little Withlacoochee River to do some fishing and get water from.



Some other plant we found that was possibly edible from what we remembered



Here we are crossing Old Hwy 50. We travel the current Hwy 50 so much, this was a bit historical :)



Found some standing dead trees and decided to do the right thing and push them!







More suspended trees:





After a few miles of walking, I began to notice how dry the area was for supposedly the "wettest" hike of the area. All of the cypress swamps were bone dry, and then we came across what looked like where a pond should be...completely dry. We had a look around:







We then came across the portion of the trail that runs along the Little Withlacoochee River. We didn't realize we were on the river, because there was no river there. Only a dried up river bed. Immediately I started to get anxious about the water situation. We only had enough water to hydrate us on the hike to camp and we had anticipated on purifying water from the ponds and river. The map showed a couple of bigger lakes and even a sink hole by the camp so hope remained. The sink hole "Blue Sink" came to us first. It was off a small side trail and when we came to it, we were disappointed to find it so low and murky looking. At least we had found a water source if nothing else showed up. Unfortunately, every animal in the region probably used it for water as well.



From here the camp site was supposed to be less than a mile. We hiked a little bit and noticed all of the ponds were dried up, confirming the dire water situation. We hiked until we reached a dirt road that the map showed as beyond the camping area, but we didn't want to back track. The map showed a large lake and a sectioned off "day recreation area" to the north, and the dirt road we were on would take us there in under a mile. We hiked up to it and found an information kiosk with a hand drawn map of the area. The map looked like it had a big lake in the middle of it and one of the trails was even named "lake trail", so we decided to give it a shot. About 30 yards in, I thought to myself "man, I should have taken a picture of the trail map", but instead of turning around and doing so, I decided to trust my brain. This would have been fine if we had not already hiked 8 miles and were ready to collapse.

We missed our side trial to the lake and ended up hiking about 2 miles in this recreation area until we reached the boundary at a railroad track. We used the compass to orient ourselves towards the lake and kept going grudgingly. About 15 minutes later, spirits diminishing and coming to the conclusion that we had to backtrack all the way to Blue Sink, we finally reached the lake. And sure enough, it was bone dry...



We were all completely defeated at this point. There was absolutely no water in the area except Blue S(t)ink, and we had to backtrack to get there. We sat down in defeat to rest for a bit, just staring at the dry lake wondering how this could happen to us, when one of us looked around the corner and shouted "water!!!"

Turns out only half of the lake was dry, and right around a bend was a full side of the lake! The water was super low, but there was plenty of it:



We were extremely relieved and excited. We dropped our packs and explored around the lake for the best spot to camp. While walking around we noticed a ton of good sized fish in the lake, and I couldn't wait to throw out a line. Eventually we set up camp on the west side of the lake, which had a steep incline to stop gators from creeping up on us. It turned out to be an absolutely beautiful camp site.








After setting up camp and resting a bit, we pumped water into our bottles and fired up dinner. I packed up a small bag full of my dinner, water and fishing gear to enjoy lakeside. I found a spot that looked like it had a lot of fish and enjoyed the sunset with a line out and dinner in my mouth. Everyone else came down eventually, Otis was chained at camp to keep guard. As the sun was setting we noticed many gator heads poking out of the water, so we knew we weren't alone. Some Sandhill Cranes were gathering on the banks as well coming in 2 at a time from the air. As the pairs would float down, the others would call out to them with a shriek. You can see them in the background:













We only had cheap lures and weren't catching anything, but did have a few tugs. We found another lake with even more fish around the bend, giving us a laugh at the abundance of water where we thought we would have none! We fished in the dark for a bit at the new lake until we gave up and decided to hit the sack.

After sleeping soundly for a few hours, I was woken up by a terrifying shriek. It sounded like a crazy lady making a very long scream, until a chorus of screams answered the first one. It sounded otherwordly and sent shivers down my spine. Then as all of the screams let up, they started barking clueing us in that they were wild dogs. These things were definitely close, most likely down by the water. They wouldn't constantly howl, but it would happen every hour or so after I would dose off, just to wake me up again. It is difficult to describe the sound they made, but it was very spooky. We had Otis as protection, but I feared a pack of wild dogs would overwhelm him if we went to explore.

Since I was scared awake, I started to hear gators in the water splashing around while hunting, and many other critters in the woods behind us. About 2 hours before sunrise Otis began to bark a lot at something that was getting uncomfortably close. Sleep was an afterthought at this point, I just held close to my big knife, and was ready to pounce on whatever beast came into our camp alongside Otis. It was definitely the spookiest night of camping I have ever had. It may not be a good idea to camp at one of the only watering holes in many many square miles, too many animals lurking at night.

The morning was pleasant, but we were all sore and I lacked sleep. We had an 8 mile hike around the rest of the trial loop to do in the heat of the day. And as luck would have it, both of our water purifiers failed at the same time, leaving us with only a few bottles of water (I was the odd man out with practically none). How ironic that our water pumps would fail after we went through so much just to find the water source. But we kept positive and figured that we had enough water to finish the hike.

On we go!



Here are some gnarly looking flowers that caught our eye:



We reached the entrance to the area we camped in, and found that map I should have taken a picture of. So, I did so. Even though it was too late, it was a funny memory to keep.



The rest of the hike was much like the previous day, but a bit hotter. We rationed our water and took it easy for most of the way. Stopping a few times for a snack and a breather. My feet were beginning to feel very sore, and I had a tight muscle behind my left knee bothering me. These are all relics of playing soccer all week, I definitely made a mental note to take it easy before I do these hikes.

Near the end of the trail we ran into a tortoise!







We reached the end of the hike shortly after and packed up to go home. All in all, a great trip with a few problems, nothing catastrophic though. My estimate is that we hiked 18 miles total. It should have been about 15-16, but all of the extra hiking in the day use area upped our total. I would like to check this area out after the rainy season to see how different it is.



Thanks for reading!