Florida!

I'm not a draperies person, nor am I building a house...

2008-07-24T14:20:00.002-04:00

I am trying to save a species from being extinct. This is easier said than done. The days are long and hard but I’m managing. This is definitely what I want to do but maybe with a little more emphasis on the management aspect and not the intern aspect. And with a program that is a bit more organized. I want to be involved in as much as I can but sometimes that is hard. Being an intern doesn’t bring you a lot of respect from your superiors yet when talking to the public they think you are super smart and doing an amazing thing. As an intern, I feel that sometimes I am shunned from my peers because I am not in grad school doing research. They seem to treat you as if you don’t know much because you aren’t at their level. Yet, I am the same age and have a B.S. the same as they do; I’m just not in grad school. Minor technicality, that is in the works. I believe that I know quite a bit about turtles. Although I may come from a land lock state and this is my first hands on experience doing turtle field work, I should not be looked down upon. I hate it when people treat me like a little kid. I am 23 years old and a college graduate, you DO NOT need to hold my hand. The more we work together, the greater the survival rate for these animals will be. I am pursuing this career for the turtles not to make myself look good. Yes I work with endangered sea turtles, yes I live on the coast, and yes I do get to wake up every morning and walk along the beach. My job is not glamorous. I walk two to three miles (if not more) wearing shorts and a cotton t-shirt that isn’t the coolest thing. I carry all my field gear, except a bucket and wooden stakes, in a back pack which can be heavy at times. I work from 6:15am until 12pm (sometimes as late as 2:30pm) on the beach, and then have to enter in data at the office until 3 or sometimes 5pm. There are times when I work the night shift which is from 9:30pm until 4am. Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining one bit, I love my job; I just wish I could get more respect. I want people to see that I really want to work with turtles; I’m not just some intern who is doing this to fluff up her resume. I’m not afraid to get dirty. There are plenty of days when I am covered in sand, fire ant bites, mosquito bites, blisters, and bruises. Yet, I still wake up the next day looking forward to what the day might bring. There are days when I get frustrated and days when I pray my legs won’t fall off. I don’t complain out loud though. I’m tan, mostly in shape, and still have no clue where I’ll be once the season ends. I’m praying that God knows what he wants from me and will lead me that way when it comes. Enough talk now though. I’ve included a few photos of hatchlings. The pure joy of the job is seeing these babies get a chance at life. If only their odds of survival were better….. (only 1 in 1000 hatchlings will make it to maturity)

I'm a poor graduated college girl, who is now in the real world and it SUCKS....

2008-06-17T21:22:00.001-04:00

I am struggling. Hard to say, but easy to feel. I always thought I was a tough person; someone who could handle just about anything. Life has a nice way of showing me that this isn’t true. I realize that we all have struggles and obstacles that get in the way of our goals. I have dealt with a lot of struggles along the way, but right now I feel as if everything is hitting me at once. Being on my own in the so called real world always had a nice ring to it. But this sugar coated, glittery world is starting to lose its appeal. At this point I just want to be 5 again, when the world was innocent and skinning your knee was the worse thing that happened in your life.

I guess the worse thing about this is admitting that this isn’t paradise. I always told people that I wouldn’t miss Kansas, I won’t miss home. This is where I want to be and I can handle it by myself. I don’t want to let people know that they were right, even though I’m not sure if they truly are 100% right. Everyone goes through hard times when they first move to a place that is far from home.

My real problem right now is that I’m in a financial bind. I’ve never been rich and I’ll be the first to admit that. I’m poor! My family has had money, I mean we are not dirt poor living in a one bedroom shack or anything, but we’ve never been rich. I put myself through college, which a lot of help from the government. And now I’m seeing the effects of that. I got online at Sallie Mae to see how much I owe, when my bills are due, etc. It will take me the next 20 years to pay off my loans. By that time I hope to have gotten my Ph.D which will add to the amount of money I have to pay back. This field doesn’t pay much at all and I’ve realized that but my love for animals, turtles especially, triumphs that.

So I owe money to the government for student loans, then I owe money for a hospital bill ($800) that I just found out about and I have no clue how I’m going to scrap up the money for that. My insurance was suppose to pay it but apparently they haven’t. So I have to call them about that, and call Sallie Mae to see if maybe I can get a lower payment because I’m poor (meaning that it will take longer than 20 years to pay off those darn things). I also have rent and utilities to pay which I think I have covered so far. I have gas which is definitely not cheap and I do a lot of driving to and from the beaches. We get reimbursed for gas but it really doesn’t pay for itself. I’m glad we get something back though. Every little bit helps though. Besides all that I have a trip to Scotland that I’ll need money for. The ticket is paid for but I only have $200 saved up for spending money and necessities. With the exchange rates the way they are, I doubt that will be very much at all. There is also getting my tattoo finished. I’ve already made my second appointment and don’t want to have to cancel. I’m not sure how much the rest will be but hopefully not a whole lot more.

I’m sure there are more expenses that I’m forgetting. I’ve come to realize that I will rarely be able to eat out or go out. And when shopping, I will only buy what is necessary. I’ve alright at budgeting my money but I’ve lived on campus for 4 ½ years and everything was included in room and board. Now that I’m on my own, it’s a lot harder than I realized. I’m going to make it through though. I don’t know how yet but I will. I’m going to have the faith and trust that God knows what he’s doing with me. Prayers would be great right now. Wish me luck as I climb this wall.

I am a Floridian, so now what?

2008-06-06T21:18:00.001-04:00

I no longer own a Kansas driver’s license. I guess that makes me now an official Floridian. The only thing I have left to do is change my license plate and then everything will be done. I’m not sure when I’m going to do that though. Hopefully Thursday or Friday of this week I can make it to the court house and do it. That is after I figure out where the court house is. Thank you Google Maps for the many directions you provide me to various places that I still have no clue how to get to. I’m learning though. I’m a little sad to not be considered a Kansan. I know that I still am a true Kansan (born and raised) but now I have the dilemma of what to say to someone who asks “Where are you from?” Do I say Florida or Kansas? Or do I say I’m originally from Kansas but am now living in Florida? Tough choice to make… I guess if that was my toughest choice then life would be easier huh?

I’m happy to report that as of Wednesday June 4, we have had 205 nests. So far we are doing better than last year but that doesn’t mean that the population is increasing. Even with these 200+ nests, only 1 in 1000 hatchlings will make it to adults. Each nest contains approximately 120 eggs. You do the math. So if I seem over-bearing at times with my crusade on saving the sea turtles, you can see why.

I’m starting to come to grasp with the fact that I won’t be starting grad school until at least 2010. Only 1 year behind when I had originally planned to but that’s ok. I really am ready to buckle down and focus on school. I did get decent grades in undergrad, although if I had put forth a little more effort, ok well in some classes a lot more effort, my grades could have been a lot better. Straight A’s perhaps. I was just so ready to be done with school that I was beginning to not care. Now having this break, I’ve realized that I love learning, especially about animals. I’m ready to start researching and making a name for myself in the turtle world. I want to find out new ideas or help perfect old ideas that could potentially be a breaking point for sea turtle survival. I want to be the next Archie Carr. I want people to say “oh that’s Jodie, she is a sea turtle biologist who has had a lot of research published.” I want to be that girl.

I don’t want to be the girl who is picking out the perfect hamster for some little kid who will eventually kill it (due to lack of interest) or bring it back to the store because it doesn’t do anything. Yes I like working at petco and yes it is a cool, fun job. But! The reality is that I’m growing up and I need to branch out and see what else the world has to offer. I don’t want to be 40 years old, living in my parents basement with 10 kids and been divorced 7 times. Many of you would probably love to see this just so you can have a daily dose of entertainment (especially those of you who know that I don’t want kids).

My internship at Mote will come to a close at the end of October. And then what will I do? I have no clue. I will more than likely still be employed at petco and taking college classes such as organic chemistry, physics, and calculus, which happen to be the only classes I’m missing for grad school consideration. I’ll probably apply again for a seasonal summer job and pray that someone wants me this time. Someone wants me and wants to pay me for my experience. But that is in the future and this is now. So now I am going to sign off, brush my teeth and hit the hay. Tomorrow’s another day to help save the world.

I've been put to the test and I have passed

2008-06-02T14:49:00.001-04:00

I have survived my first week of work with the Sea Turtle Research and Conservation Program. It is definitely the hardest job I have ever done. I know I have explained some this to various people but I figure I should just re-explain exactly what I do.

This program monitors approximately 35 miles of coastline which is some of the most prime sea turtle nesting areas in Florida. Loggerheads are the most common found nesting but occasionally there are a few greens that will nest on these beaches as well. My job is to be out at the beach no later than 6:30am. I am given a one to two mile zone to walk looking for sea turtle tracks. Once I find a track, I identify what turtle it is. Each species makes a distinct mark in the sand. Then I decide if she nested or not. If she nested I begin digging where I believe the eggs are. We are not allowed to use anything but our hands to dig with because we do not want to pierce through the eggs. Sometimes this is an easy task but other times, the females lay their eggs really well (which is what they are supposed to do). When I find the eggs, I take a measurement of how far they are from the top of the surface, and then rebury them. We do not count the eggs nor do we relocate them (we have to have the state’s permission to relocate eggs). I also take a few other measurements and gps the nest. After recording all date, I then place stakes around the nest and rope it off. After the nest hatch in 50-70 days, I then go in and count the eggs shells and look for any hatchlings that may have not made it out. These hatchlings, if alive, are then taken to the hospital for rehab and will later be released.

This may not seem like hard work, but under the scorching Florida sun, walking the beach with a backpack carrying all your field gear can be pretty intense. Depending on how many nests you have, you could possibly be out on the beach until 1 or 2 in the afternoon. Lunch doesn’t happen until after all the nests are completed.

So far I am having a blast. This may be hard work but I really enjoy it. I think it is definitely something I want to continue to do. I may even have the chance to go out at night and help with the tagging. There is a section of one beach that is patrolled at night. These people drive up and down the beach on ATV’s looking for nesting turtles. When they see a turtle, they will check to see if she has been previously tagged and if she hasn’t they will tag her (similar to tagging a cow’s ear).

So if you are wondering, I am surviving and having fun here in Florida. Oh and I am getting darker but not to worry, sunscreen and water are my best friends!

Back "home"

2008-05-25T15:41:00.000-04:00

I’m back in Florida after a nice visit to Kansas for graduation and birthday. It’s good to be back here, although the humidity is definitely testing me. So far I’m ok, guess the Kansas humidity has made me tough. My things are mostly unpacked; ok well they are out of the boxes and somewhat put where I want them to go. I’ve learned that I have a lot of clothes, books, and turtle knick knacks. That doesn’t stop me from buying more though. The house I’m living in is really nice. It’s a three bedroom/2bathroom house in a nice, quiet neighborhood. I’m sharing a room with one of the girls (there are 4 girls including me living here). She has a dog who is a lover and one of the girls has two cats that are shy and haven’t warmed up to me yet. I thought about getting me a tortoise but that’ll probably have to wait until after I get back from Scotland in September. Well see though.

I start work Monday; it’s just orientation stuff though. Tuesday is my first beach walk day. I’m really excited and a bit nervous. I’m also working part time at the Petco down here. I’ll start there June 1^st. Since the turtle job isn’t paid, I’ll need some income since I’ll be living here until at least November. It will be interesting to see how they run their store and how everyone works. I think my hardest thing will be taking orders again since I won’t be a manager. It’ll be ok though. Hard to believe I have worked there four years already. Crazy to think about it.

Other than that, life is going good. Just trying to settle in here and get things organized. Hope everyone is doing good back home and feel free to write me if you want. I have a new address but you can email me if you want it. Hope to hear from you sometime….

I can snorkel? Whhhaaattt?

2008-04-27T13:55:00.002-04:00

this video is of my poor attempt to snorkel. This was my first time trying and it was definitely a lot harder than it looks. Hope you guys enjoy!

I will be leaving Florida on May 3rd and should get into Kansas on May 5th. I'll be home until May 21st when I'll leave to come back down to Florida to begin my second internship. I won't be back until December to visit again. I am hoping to make Florida my permanent residence in order to get in-state tuition for grad school. Can't wait to see everyone!

The best weekend EVER!

2008-04-22T12:05:00.002-04:00

This past weekend was AMAZING! We went to the East Coast (Juno Beach to be exact) to do some leatherback nesting and snorkeling. We got there Friday night and once it got dark we went out to the beach. We walked up and down a section of the beach looking for turtles and waiting for any phone calls saying one of the atv people found one. Our first one we saw was just finishing covering her eggs so we watched her do that and then go back out to sea. It was amazing to watch her do that. She was actually a smaller leatherback, maybe weighing in at about 700-800 lbs. The second one we saw was a bit bigger and was laying as we found her. We sat there until she had finished laying and covering, then watched her head back to the ocean. She had such grace about her as she went about her routine. We finally got back to the hotel around 4:30am and then woke up at 11am saturday morning. We went to the Marinelife Center who was having a Turtle Fest. They had lots of stuff for sale and music, games, and other fun stuff. I spent way to much money but it was worth it. We also went to the beach for a bit then out to eat. We headed back out to the beach about 9pm that night and stayed out until 5:30 or 6am. Didn't see any turtles, which was a downer but oh well. Got up at 11:30am and we went to eat and then out to a beach to go snorkeling.

Snorkeling was...lets say..interesting and eventful to say the least. The waves were bad and I had a panic attack. I've never been before so it was very hard to adjust. The waves were knocking me around so bad that I freaked out. I think I scared my boss a bit. We finally left and went to the bay where it was a lot calmer. The water was murky so we couldn't see much. No animals just beer cans. There was a sunken ship but since the water was dirty we couldn't see if there was anything living in it. I felt a lot more comfortable in the bay and was finally getting the hang of it.

We didn't get home until 10:30 sunday night. The trip was fun but very exhausting. Two more weeks and I'll be home for a bit. I should get into town May 5 and then I'll leave again May 21st. Can't wait to see everyone and share my pictures/stories!

Run for the Turtles 5k

2008-04-10T18:35:00.005-04:00

First picture is of me and my bosses at Mote. Kelly is the one in the white shirt and Sarah is the one in the dark shirt. The second pic. is of me after the race with my medal and a FREE beer that they were giving out. The third pic. is of all of us turtle girls, from left to right: Jami, Kelly, me, Sarah, and Jessica. The last pic is of us runners representing Mote and running the 5k. Just thought I'd share these with you guys!

Lost at Sea

2008-04-09T16:05:00.002-04:00

So I didn't get the job in Daytona. I just got a call from them today and they pretty told me I was their third choice but feel free to apply again next year. I'm pretty upset and completely lost at what to do now. I think going back to Kansas would be a step back. If anyone has any thoughts or suggestions, now is the time to speak up. Prayers would also be helpful.

He's gone as my life moves on...

2008-04-06T13:04:00.002-04:00

It’s been crazy around here lately. I still enjoy my job which says a lot. I applied for some summer nesting jobs and got a call back from one of them. I had a phone interview which went really well and am having a second interview on Monday. They want to meet me in person, so I’m driving to Daytona Beach, Florida. It should be fun. Hopefully they will accept me. I’m also looking for apartments while I am there, just in case. If I do get hired on then I’ll be there from May 1^st until the end of October. For those of you who don’t know what a nesting job is let me explain. Female sea turtles emerge from the ocean at night to lay their eggs in the sand. By first light they are gone. At 5:30-6 in the morning, workers/volunteers will gather at their designated beach and proceed to walk up the beach looking for turtle tracks. Once a track is spotted, the turtle is identified and everyone begins to look for where the nest is laid. Each species has its own distinct track and way of laying their nest. When the nest is found it is either marked or dug up and relocated. This is a very tough and exhausting job. You work no matter the weather, temperature, bugs, holiday, weekend; it does not matter. Honestly, I hope I get the job and I can’t wait to start. This internship has definitely shown me that this is exactly what I want to do. I want to make a difference in the world and save the animals along the way. Sorry but the people are on their own.

Just when it seems like everything is going great, the waves begin to rock and the boat is now in the middle of a storm. I got a call a couple of nights ago from a friend that had to be the bearer of bad news. My cross country coach that I had my freshman year of high school had a skiing accident and died. It is still hard for me to comprehend what happened and even now as I sit here and type this my eyes fill with tears. I have only had three great xc/track coaches since I’ve been running (9 years on a team, 10+ years of running total). Two of those were my high school coaches and the other was him. He was an amazing guy who always encouraged you and who cared what was going on. After he left Friends at the end of my freshman year, I was upset but there wasn’t much I could do. I didn’t think I would see him again but I did. Right before I moved into my house I was returning my apartment key and picking up my new house key on campus. I got out of the car and glanced over and there he was. At first I wasn’t sure if that was really him and so I kept staring and he kept staring. Neither of us made a moved to approach each other. I got my new key and then I left, not saying hi or anything. When he left school, there was a big hush hush about what happened and why he was leaving. I don’t think any of us really new the exact story and I didn’t know if approaching him would be a good idea. I didn’t know how upset he was about losing his job or if me saying hi would open up old wounds. Now I can’t help but kick myself…ok maybe punch myself a few times and ask why the heck I never said hi to him. It’s kind of like those stories you hear that tell you to always say I love you to people because you never know when they may leave you. Well I guess I didn’t heed that advice. So please keep the Howe family in your prayers. I know many of you didn’t know him but he left behind three young children who I know where close to their dad.

I guess on a happier note, Saturday I ran in the Run for the Turtles 5k. Mote sponsors this race so I figured I would represent and run in it. The race was ran on sand, which I had never ran on before. It went pretty good, and I almost died about 2 ½ miles in but I found a guy to help pace me and did my best to keep all the negative thoughts out. I kept telling myself that I was going to finish and that I was doing this in honor of Coach. I forgot to stop my watch when I crossed the line but I believe my time was somewhere between 25 and 28 minutes. Not too bad for this being my first 5k in a year and running on sand. I placed 193 out of 600 and 2^nd in my age group. I got a medal and my co-workers where there to cheer me on as I accepted it. I must say that the best part of the race (besides the finish line) was that they were giving away free beer. Yes you read that right, free beer. They were giving it away for a donation that help benefited the American Cancer Society ( I believe). So I threw in a few bucks and got some beer. And it was good name brands too, like Bud, Bud lite, Bud Select, Michelob, and a few others. Yes I did enjoy a post race beer which has never tasted better.

Other than that everything has been pretty much the same. I’ll write more later after I find out how my interview went. Wish me luck!

A totally awesome weekend!

2008-03-18T20:36:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone! Sorry it’s been a while since I’ve posted on here. Nothing has really gone on that is news worthy. Things have been going ok here for me. I’m almost finished building my turtle toy. I’m not sure if I told everyone or not, but I am required to make a toy for the turtles as part of my internship. This may sound easy but trust me it’s not. These turtles can break everything and if they break it they will try to eat it. So my toy is almost complete, I just have to glue everything together. I started to the other day but messed up so now I have to fix it. Today was exhausting day. I literally rubbed Montego’s back with a broom for 30 minutes. That turtle just floated at the surface, not moving at all, not even her flippers moved. I had originally been trying to clean some algae off the side of the tank, but as soon as she heard the broom go in she came over to bother me. Finally, she was snoozing so I tried to go back to cleaning the tanks and Shelley decides it’s her turn. So she sinks to the bottom as I’m scrubbing her and falls asleep. I scrubbed her for at least 20 minutes. My arms were so tired and I was sweating by the time I was finished. That is the best thing in the world to them, besides food.

This past weekend we went to Orlando. My new roommate had some friends come visit for spring break so we went there to go to an NBA basketball game. One of her friends is obsessed with a player so she bought tickets for us. Granted they were $20 tickets and we were in the 2^nd row from the top but it was fun. It went quicker than I imagined it would. Of course it was St. Patty’s Day and I did have some beer but I was very upset it wasn’t green. It was bad enough that it was expensive and domestic but to not even be green! Come On!

Anyways, while we were in Orlando we went to Downtown Disney because it’s free and ate at the Rainforest Café. Our waiter was friendly, and very energetic. He was chit chatting with us, asking us where we were from and what we were doing in Orlando. Then he asked if we were going to the theme parks and we told him no we were poor college students. So he asked if we had been before and of course I was the only one that has never been. He couldn’t believe that we were in Orlando and not even going to Disney. So he tells us that if we buy one multi park pass, he could get 3 of us in for free. He used to work for Disney as an artist and so he gets up to 12 free passes to all the parks, but he is only allowed to get 3 people in the park at one time. We were a little unsure about it but met him at the park the next day and sure enough he got us in for free. We all pitched in to buy the 4^th ticket, so we got to go to Epcot and Hollywood Studios for $30. Not bad. We didn’t get to see all the characters, not even Mickey or Minnie, but we did get out picture taken with Stitch and I did get a picture of Jasmine and the Genie. I did see Snow White and Dopey, and Mary Poppins from a distance. We did get to do Turtle Talks With Crush which was fun and do the living sea’s ride, where you ride in shells and they play parts of the movie with special animations and other cool stuff. They also had dolphins, so we got to watch a training session with them and got to see a huge male loggerhead. The male turtles have really long tails when they are mature and this one’s tail was gigantic. It was really cool to see. I did buy me some Mickey Mouse ears that are green and say St. Patrick’s Day on them. I was hoping it would have the year but it didn’t. I did have a good time, and I would love to go back and take my picture with all the characters and go to Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom.

Well that is really all that is going on as of now. Hope everyone had a great St. Patty’s day and Happy Irish Hangover Day! Today hehe Miss you all!

Life continues here in Florida

2008-02-29T20:24:00.001-05:00

so....... it feels like forever since I've updated this but it really has only been a week. things are good here...for the most part. I won't elaborate on the bad parts though. Those of you who have been in contact with me, already know. Anyways, I almost got bite the other day by Hang Tough. It was pretty scary to say the least. I had just finished feeding him and was scrubbing his tank with a broom. He follows the sound of the broom expecting you to give him a back rub so you have to be careful and always keep your eye on him. Well, he was at the front of the tank so I went to the back and was scrubbing away, then next thing I know he bumps into my leg. Since he can't see he will bite anything he bumps into, in case it might be food. I jumped out of the water and quickly moved out of his way. If he would have bumped into me again he definitely would have bite me. They have serrated jaws so he could have ripped off the skin on my leg if he really wanted to. Lesson learned: always watch a blind turtle no matter where he is in the tank. Today we had to physically lift Edgar out of her tank to get a blood draw. It went well, but could have been better. She is good though, got to be off one of her medicines so good news for her.

Other news, I applied for an internship with our research department for the summer. I am also going to apply for some paid internships in south carolina and georgia. This means I may not be coming back to Kansas for the summer. I probably will be back for 1-3 weeks depending on which one I get accepted to and then I will be back just in time to leave for Scotland sometime in August. I guess I'm a busy girl but I like it that way. Keeps me from getting bored.

I bought a new book the other day which I've been telling everyone about. I highly recommend it and would even be impressed if at least one of you followed some of the advice in it. It is called The Green Book and it gives you tips on how you can cut back on things which helps the environment. Some things I never even thought had an impact on the world. Even simple things like cutting down on the amount of plastic bags you take from the store. Cloth bags are much more friendlier and trust me you can get quite a bit of stuff in those bags.

I'd better stop here for now before I get on my soap box and start preaching to everyone. If anyone is truly interested in the book though, and doesn't want to buy it, let me know and I can share some of the tips with you. Anything I can do to help the earth the better. And for those of you who want to see more pictures on here, well here ya go. The top left picture is Hang Tough playing with "scratch attack" which is his favorite toy; the top right picture is me feeding the girls moon jellies (which they loved!); the bottom left is Edgar on her platform target training; and the bottom right is me feeding Hang Tough some lettuce.

Jellyfish tacos....what?

2008-02-22T18:58:00.000-05:00

Today was another insanely crazy day. We got to work at 7am to get everything ready for Hang Toughs medical exam. I was originally suppose to go out on the fishing boat to help them, but I was needed to help hold Hang Tough down. Before we started they told us how bad he hates to be out of the water, and how he will fight to the death if someone is restraining him. So I have all these bad pictures in my head and am literally scared for me and for him. It's not his fault though, he used to be a wild turtle and that is their natural instinct. You either fight to be free or you die, simple as that. It doesn't help that he can't see, so he really doesn't understand. Joe, the head manatee guy, got in the water and caught him, bringing him over to the stretcher. Kelly and Sarah were also in the water, and they held the stretcher and when Joe put him in there, they (along with the rest of us) put the stretcher on the crane. Once out of the water we weighed him. He weighs about 112 lbs. There are growth marks on his shell so he is growing a little bit. After weighing him we all grabbed the stretcher and moved him to a mat where we had a board propped up in a diagonal angle. we put him on that, with his head facing down. Its hard to find the neck veins for greens so if they are at an angle then when the blood rushes to their head you can find a vein and get a blood sample. Poor guy had to get two viles of blood taken. Then the vet wanted to do a biopsy on some white spots that had formed on his flippers. I was one of the lucky ones that got to hold down his front flippers so I got to watch the blood draw. I was even luckier when the vet decided to take a piece of skin from the flipper I was holding. So I got to watch him take a chunk (it was a small one) out of the poor turtles flipper, then got to apply pressure to the gauze to stop the bleeding. After all of that, we had to do everything over again to put him back in the tank. He was actually a lot better than what everyone expected. Once he was in the stretcher and had flipped himself on his back he was nice and calm for everything else.

In the afternoon, Kelly went across the street to the main aquarium and brought back some moon jellies. Sometimes the aquarium (who breeds them) gets too many to put in their tanks so they give us their extras to feed to the Shelley, Montego, and Edgar. The girls all loved it. I put pictures on Facebook of us feeding them. It was a blast.

Other things that I been doing with Mote is going out on boats or sitting on piers helping the dolphin research team. On the boat we cruise all over the bay and look for dolphins. When we see one we take photos for identifying purposes as well as take down a lot of data. It's fun but can be really cold. The only bad thing is there is no bathroom on the boat and we only stop once for lunch and sometimes its as late as 2 before we stop. If you have to go, then you go over the side. When on the pier, you sit on one side and looking for dolphins. Then when you see one you do the same thing as you would if you were on the boat. Every 30 mins you switch sides and take down some environmental data. Its really fun and relaxing. Plus there are bathrooms close by and there are good restaurants either on or nearby the pier.

Thats pretty much all I have to say for now. Hope everyone is doing good and enjoying your cold crappy weather. I am sure enjoying mine here. Miss you guys lots and will hopefully see you all sometime, I hope. Feel free to write me! (Address is on Facebook)

Finally! Something to write home about...

2008-02-13T20:52:00.000-05:00

Today was a very eventful day. Our vet told us there was a loggerhead turtle in another facitlity that was sick. It’s digestive system was not producing good bacteria. So they needed a fecal sample of a healthy loggerhead. They inject it into the sick turtle so the bacteria can get into the system and hopefully the turtle can get better. So our loggerheads were chosen which meant we had to either get poop off the bottom of the tank or do an enema. Since we had just cleaned the tank the night before we were pretty much left with not choice.

We moved over a small lift and put in a stretcher into the water. Kelly got in the tank and moved Shelley into the stretcher. We hooked up the stretcher to the lift and proceeded to lift her out of the water. Once out, we lowered her to the ground, then about 4 or 5 of us lifted her over to a mat. We had to flip her over onto her back and the vet began. Poor Shelley didn’t like it at all but she was fairly calm as you could expect a turtle to be. After many tries, we couldn’t get a sample but she peed all over the mat and the stretcher. Finally, the vet told us to put her back in and we would try Montego later that morning to see if we could get one from her. Putting her back in was easier. I got to be the lucky one to hold the end that she had peed all over.

In the meantime, a group of kids came in from a day care group or something. They had made ice floats in Dixie cups for the turtles. Kelly told them a little about the turtles then the kids made a line in front of her. She helped each kid drop an ice float into the water for the girls to eat. They had such a fun time, both the turtles and the kids. Once they were gone we assembled ourselves to get Montego out for her go.

This is where the day got a lot more eventful. Getting Montego out wasn’t any more difficult that it was with Shelley. Kelly had no more than said “Montego is a lot easier than Shelley is from what I remember but it could be the other way around,” when Montego started going nuts. It was as if she knew what was going on. We got her on the mat and then positioned ourselves to flip her over. I got to be in the front this time which was a bad mistake. She wiggled her flipper out from my grasp and slapped me across the face. Getting slapped in the face by a 200 lb turtle was not what I was expecting to happen. It didn’t hurt surprisingly but my jaw dropped. All I could think was ‘wow did that really happen.’

So after switching places with one of the other girls I got the back flippers which she was kicking everywhere and I got scratched up all over my arms. We couldn’t get a sample from her either so we had to put her back in the water. As soon as the stretcher was submerged she was gone. She didn’t want anything to do with us after that. Poor girl. Later after a shower and dry clothes I noticed that I had a huge knot on my right arm and it was bruised and scrapped all up. I think she was hitting me repeatedly with her flipper when we were trying to hold her down that it just broke a vessel or something. It doesn’t hurt but it doesn’t look pretty.

All in all it was quite the experience. I can still say though that I do like this job. The more I learn the more I know this is what I want to do. It is fun educating the public, too, especially when we get in the tank to feed Hang Tough. Everyone wants to know how he is blind, how long we’ve had him, and all other information about him. It makes me feel good when I tell people that they should pick up their fishing line when they are done and make sure they recycle and clean up when they are done. Most people don’t realize that the simple act of picking up after ourselves can really make a difference. So all of you guys in Kansas need to remember that even though you are not close to the ocean you can still have an impact on the environment. That’s why you should use canvas bags at the grocery store *hint hint* Anyways enough preaching, hope you guys are having fun back home and miss you all a lot. Happy V-day tomorrow.

Learning things college can't teach you, and what they never told you

2008-02-09T20:27:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I wonder why I never learned half of the things I'm learning now earlier in life. Seriously. If anyone told me I'd be making toys for turtles out of pvc I would have laughed at them. Have I ever used it? No. Do I have any remote clue how to use it? Not really. Do I even know how to make a turtle toy? Heck no. Yertle never played with anything so how would I know. That's the first thing college never told you: learn many different skills. Did college ever tell me to learn how to scrub pools? Nope, but that's basically what I'm doing when I clean out the turtle tanks. It's like a giant pool and I'm scrubbing them with pool brooms. Guess my career choice doesn't work out I can always clean your pools. I don't mind doing these things, just wish I was better at it.

I also wish I would have known that grad school requires you to take classes like calc. and physics. Did anyone tell me this? Nope. Nor did my degree require me to take any foreign language classes. I didn't really care to or think it would be really necessary but the more I think about it I should. So guess who I'm going to con into teaching me spanish this summer! Good thing she is out of the country and doesn't know this yet.

I'm learning that it doesn't matter that I have a degree, its pretty much worthless in my field. If I want to do anything I'll need at least a masters but to conduct research I need a doctorate. Oh and you'll never guess what I want to do for my career....yeah research. So by the time I'm 30 I'll be done with school and maybe by the time I'm 35ish I'll have a good job. More than likely I'll still be paying off student loans when I'm 90.

I do feel like I am learning a lot. Since I have a lot of downtime and my head isn't cloudy from studying for test and quizzes, I am actually submersing myself into sea turtle information. I thought I knew quite a bit already but the more I read the more interesting things I find. Also, I'm learning some research programs that have been done, which gets me thinking about what kind of research I'd like to do or how I would fix the challenges these researchers ran into.

My advice for everyone out there: become friends with lots of people in the field you want to go into, trust me it will help you later if not now. Also, learn as much as you can as often as you can. Even simple things like building things with pvc can help you. If you dont' know how to do something ask someone to show you, or if someone offers to show you how to do something, (even if you have no interest in it) let them. You never know when it might come in handy. Esp. if you are stranded somewhere or you are not close to any towns.

This internship is def. an eye opener and I am really glad I'm here. Thanks to everyone who keeps believing in me.

2008-02-05T20:51:00.000-05:00

This past weekend was eventful. On Sunday we went to Tampa and drove around the campus at USF (I'm looking for grad schools). then we went to one of the malls. It was huge! combine both towne west and towne east and you have just one of their malls. After shopping we drove back home (its only an hours drive although it doesnt feel like it) and went to eat at Lee Roy Selemon's. For all you OU fans out there, he was a popular player back in the 70s or 80s and he also played for the tampa bay bucs. the food was pretty good although our server kinda sucked. I didn't even leave a 15% tip. The other servers seemed to be ok, they were checking back with their tables and what not so I don't know if she was having an off day or if she just sucked.

Anyways... Monday was fun as well. The temp was about 84, sunny, and warm er hot is prolly a better word. Sorry for all you Kansas people having to read this, I know you've been getting nothing but snow for the past week or two. (now would be great time to visit *hint hint*) We laid out for about 2 1/2 hours and i applied sunscreen 3 or 4 times but somehow I forgot to apply it to the back of my legs. And when I applied it to my back I missed some places. When I got home it was apparent that I have a massive sunburn. It hurts a lot and I've been putting aloe on it so hopefully by tomorrow I'm ok.

Today I got in Hang Tough's tank with Sarah (my other boss) to help do platform training. Once he is on the platform, I lift it up (its made of pvc so its not too heavy even with him on it) and he is suppose to stay still while he eats. We have to wear our wetsuits when we get in the tanks and let me tell you, if you have a sunburn putting on a wetsuit is the worse thing EVER!!!!! It hurt so bad and my suit is a shorty. I don't even want to imagine what it would feel like wearing a full suit. After 3 I was by myself to finish up things and close. I got to feed Hang Tough by myself and despite being my first time with noone there watching me, I didn't do too bad. Its hard with him since he can't see his food, he bites at everything that touches his mouth. So if my finger gets too close he can bite it off. After I fed him, I stood around and answered questions that people had. I never realized that I do know quite a bit of turtle information. People seemed to be really interested too which is good.

I think the more I can do to help educate people the better chance this world has. At work there is a recycle room that I am recycling all my cans and bottles. They even have a place for glass bottles which is good, esp for my jones bottles. I also went to the grocery store and bought 2 canvas bags that were $1 each to use instead of plastic bags. I even ordered another one that has a sea turtle on it. Sometimes plastic bags get blown out to sea and sea turtles mistake it for jelly fish so they eat it. Then they suffocate and died. Its really sad and this doesn't help their shrinking numbers. I've been telling myself for a while that I should really use canvas bags at the store instead of plastic (even paper is better) but am just now doing it. I felt pretty proud of myself actually. I think it helps that this grocery store has them right up front on a rack and they have 3 different colors (green, black, and tan) and there are plenty of each color. Wal mart, however, charges like 2 bucks for the same size bag which only comes in black and they sometimes er excuse me rarely have them by the registers.

Anyways, I'd better stop before I get up on my soap box (as lindsay calls it). Another exciting day in store for tomorrow? I sure hope. Miss you guys a lot. Feel free to write me letters, and I'm trying to get you guys wrote as well. ta ta for now....

2008-02-02T19:32:00.000-05:00

Feb. 1

Today was a pretty exciting day. We trained the girls and they weren’t too bad, both were very fidgety. When we went to do Hang Tough training, Kelly (my supervisor) asked if I wanted to get into a wetsuit and help her out. You can bet I said yes! For his training we put in a platform where he sits on while he eats. He is to sit on the platform and be relaxed, calm, and still. This helps when the vets have to do blood work or if we need to weigh him. My job was to hold the platform up (we usually have it hanging at an angle off the side of the tank) while he sat on it. Although I wasn’t doing much it was still fun. After he ate (and was very good) I got to give him a back rub. He has a special spot, just like dogs do, that he loves to be scratched. It’s so funny to watch him. Later on I got to help Kelly medicate Shelley’s flippers. She was actually really good this time. With her, one person has to hold her still (she weighs about 200 lbs) while the other one grabs her back flippers and scrubs the medicine on it. Ususally she squirms around a lot but this time she was pretty still. Other than that everything was pretty much like a typical day at work.

After work my roommate and I went to the beach to run. It was fun except for getting my shoes soaking wet. I ran 1 ½ miles and she ran about a mile. Mote has a fun run that the helps raise money for the turtles. It’s called Run for the turtles 5k and 1 mile. Its in April and I’m definitely going to do it. It’s run on the sand so that will be interesting but fun and challenging. I’m starting now so I can be in good shape since I normally don’t run in sand. Once we got home from running we went to eat at this really nice restaurant. They had really good food, kinda pricy but it was well worth it. I got a steak that came with mashed potatoes, mixed steamed veggies, and a ceaser salad. They also serve you bread too. Oh it was delicious and well worth the money. Our waiter was really nice too and even told us some good clubs to go too. He’s a dj (electronica music) so he was telling us some fun places to go. I don’t know if they are 18 to enter or not but hopefully so because my roommate isn’t 21. If not then I guess I won’t be going. Oh well….

That’s all the fun and excitement I have for now. Until next time…

Feb. 2
So was another amazing day. Training in the morning was really good. Kelly let us target train with Montego, who did really well. She was still and didn't bite very much. It was pretty easy to train her. I'm not sure if I described how we train them or not so I'll take this time to. Shelley and Montego are target trained which means they each have a target that has a certain shape and color on it that is on a plexi glass type circle with a rod in it shaped in the form of a handle. (I'll have to take a picture of it to post on here) Shelley's target is a green square and Montego's is a blue triangle. You can put both targets in the water and they will go to their own every time, even if you switch it up. They are suppose to touch the target, while staying calm and floating at the surface. They can't bite the target, just touch it with their mouth. Telling a turtle they have to stay still and not bite is sometime a huge challenge. Esp for Shelley who likes to bite everything. Kelly trained Shelley since she does bite more and she can be a little harder to keep still.
Since we had a volunteer this morning who fed the other two turtles and do the water testing, we had nothing to do the rest of the morning..so we thought. Kelly told us to put on some wet suits and clean the girls' tank. It really wasn't that dirty but it kept us busy for about two hours. We played a little too with the turtles. We gated them, which means we put up a gate so they could only go in one part of the tank while we cleaned the other part. Kelly told us they wouldn't bite us or anything they would just be in our way the whole time and would try to bite the brushes. We went ahead and gated them so we could get more work done. When we weren't cleaning or messing with the turtles we were yelling at Shelley to not eat the gate, which is heavy plastic. I told you she eats EVERYTHING.
In the afternoon, we fed everyone and did some data entries. Kelly showed us how to feed Hang Tough (the blind one) and then let me feed him. It was harder than it looked. Since he is blind he bites at everything that he bumps into. We stick the food up by his mouth and use a clicker (a Petco dog clicker that is hehe) and click it so he knows that there is food. He bites until he latches on to a piece. It was really fun and challenging since you don't want to get bit. Green sea turtles have a serrated jaw that is used to eat the sea grasses. So if he was to bite it would be like a paper cut only worse. They can actually peel all the skin off your hand. Ouch! If the girls were to bite, they could probably crush all the bones in your hand. They have strong jaws that are used to crush mollusk shells and conch shells which is their main diet.
By then it was time to go home which was good since we were both exhausted. After work we went to steak and shake and oh gosh it was good. It's kind of like Freddy's Frozen Custard. I got a steak burger that was good and cheese fries and a bowl of chili (all their combos come with 2 sides!!) the fries are the same as Freddy's too! Reminded me of home.
This coming Friday I get to go out on a boat and help the dolphin research team. They take out a boat and when they see dolphins they take photos, id them and record data. Apparently this team knows every single dolphin in the bay by name and number (each dolphin is assigned a number to make recording data easier). They even know who is related to who. Then towards the end of the month I get to help another team out doing population surveys. I get to sit on a pier and watch for dolphins. If I see any, I am to count the number and tell the head researcher. Great way to work on my tan and do research.
It's just so amazing how I thought that I would only be working with turtles and I really didn't even know how much stuff they would let us do. Here I am training turtles, hand feeding a blind turtle, feeding manatees, helping with dolphin research, and so much more. It is the best thing ever and I am so lucky to get to do this. Sorry for the extremely long post. These last two days have been great and my internet was being screwy last night so I couldn't post my entry from last night. The picture above is of me this morning cleaning the tank and talking to the turtles, I believe the one in the picture with me is Montego since Shelley was too busy with the gate....

Another exciting experience

2008-01-31T21:06:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was amazing. We did all of our morning stuff by 10am then sat around talking about toys to make for the turtles. After lunch we finished moving the rest of the stuff from our old office into the new one. It was a lot of stuff but with 3 of us it didn't take too long. While we were moving the stuff, the manatee people asked us to help them with training. After they did training they let us feed them. It is so hard to describe what it felt like. Manatees have molars so they can chew their food with is vegetation. The best way to describe it is it felt like rubbery bristles. It was awesome!
Today was a decent day as well. we finished our stuff then went to the beach for lunch. It was a nice day, almost 80. We had a lot of begging sea gulls surrounding us but other than that it was nice. After work we met with another intern and had drinks at the Old Salty Dog. Its a restaurant and a bar that is right by the water. Its a block from work. The cool thing is its an open place and you can literally pull your boat up to the dock and order food and drinks. I've heard mixed feelings about the food but I got a drink and it was good.
We had fun with Edgar today, well at least in the morning. We gave her an ice float and she loved it. It was the most I've seen her move since I've started working there. I posted pictures on facebook and am going to post the link here for those of you who don't have it. Hope you guys are all doing well and I miss you a lot. It's nice here but just wish you guys were here (cos at least most of you are my age) Feel free to visit!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2007215&l=0b450&id=151000131
(just copy and paste it)

Photos from Mote

2008-01-29T20:24:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to put up some pics here for you guys to see. Never in my life did I think I'd be scrubbing a turtles back because she likes it. The photo on the left is of one our volunteers, Virginia. She is feeding Hang Tough some lettuce. Hang Tough is blind and can't see his food so we have to hand feed him. The photo on the right is of me scrubbing Edgar's back. She loves this and will lay at the bottom for hours letting us do this. Sometimes she will even fall asleep!

Another day in the life

2008-01-28T19:03:00.000-05:00

Yesterday and today were my two days off this week. At first I was excited to have some time off but after trying to go shopping yesterday I realized that there isnt much to do here when its too cold to go to the beach. We went to the mall in Bradenton and it really wasn't that good. There are a few shops that are the same as back home but they didn't have anything good. I did find some stuff at Pac Sun but that was it. We also went into Sarasota to a mall there and it didn't have any shops that I go to. Today we went to get wet suits and then picked up our scholarship checks. I opened a new account down here but luckily there is the same bank in Wichita. The rest of the day was just spent veggin out at home. We cooked supper which was nice for a change. Since we don't know many people its hard to find stuff to do. We did go out to eat yesterday at a really cool place. It's called Cody's Roadhouse. We got onion rings for an appitizer and they were HUGE. It was at least 1 inch thick. Oh they were soooooo good. I got a hamburger too and it was good too. I couldn't eat it all which as you all know is unusual for me. Not much else is going on. I start work this week earlier than last week. I'll be going in at 7am and won't get off til either 3 or 5 depending on the day. It'll keep me busy for sure. well that's all I have for now will try to write more later if anything interesting comes up. Feel free to write me letters or send me corny kansas postcards! I love getting mail *hint hint*

beaches and turtles, my two favorite things

2008-01-25T21:48:00.000-05:00

Today had to be the best day ever! During the training session all four turtles did awesomely well. Since it was my new roommates birthday, one of our bosses took us out to lunch which was really nice. We sat and talked for an hour and half. It was so much fun. After work we went to the beach. It was 70 degrees out so it was fairly warm and the water wasn't too chilly. We stayed until the sun had set. I took 140+ pics, some of which were amazing. They are on facebook but I'm working on a way to put them on a public place where everyone can view it, not just facebookers. We also went out to eat at a mexican place tonight. They had really good food and *gasp* there were actually some people my age there. Almost everyone I see is like 65 and older. So don't worry about me finding anyone down here. Maybe a new rich g'pa. Maybe he'd pay off my student loans for me. haha keep dreaming. I just can't believe how great today was. I am just so proud of the turtles for doing so great. Even Edgar who is so moody and depressed lately. She did so good that I took the brush and scratched her back for 15 minutes. She was so relaxed it made me feel like we actually accomplished something. This may or may not last long though, she's very cranky. So to end here, enjoy a lovely pictures of the beach!

Another day

2008-01-22T19:50:00.000-05:00

Today wasn't as eventful as yesterday. They were moving the manatees to a different tank. We didn't get to help but Sarah was helping them so we got to stand back and watch. Most of the morning we just stood around and watch. After lunch we finally got to do more stuff; for a little while at least. I got to scratch Edgar's back today which was fun. I got to prepare diets and do the water quality testing again. Its so weird not having anything to do. When we had a lot of down time I was at a lost of what to do. They haven't shown us everything to do yet so we couldn't do simple things like cleaning or whatnot. I haven't had time to relax and personally I forgot what it feels like to just sit and do nothing. We get an hour lunch break and I'm so used to eating my food fast since at Petco we only get 30 mins. to eat. I think I may start bringing my running clothes or a book. We are right by the beach and the road isn't that busy. Other than that today wasn't too exciting. I posted some pictures on Facebook so those of you who have it go check it out. To those of you who don't I'll try to send them to you guys. For those of you who don't have Facebook, send me an email if you want to see some pics, that way i can send out a mass email. Until next time...

First Day at Mote

2008-01-21T18:55:00.000-05:00

Today was my first day at Mote. We started orientation at 9:30am, going over paperwork and watching safety videos. After that, we had an hour lunch which we ate at a food shack that served some really huge but good hamburgers. There was a boat dock that we sat on to eat; it overlooked the ocean. It was an unbelievable view. At 1, I met with one of the girls I will be working with. Her name is Sarah and she's really nice and knowledgeable. She gave us our manuals and keys, then showed us around. I got to do a water test and record the data, then got to watch her feed one of the resident turtles, Hang Tough. He is a juvenile green sea turtle who is blind, which means he is non-releasable. His afternoon diet consisted of a head of romaine lettuce, 15 spinach leaves, 10 baby carrots, and 3 squids.
I got to help Sarah put some medication on Shelley's back flippers. Shelley is a loggerhead and she shares a tank with Montego, who is also a loggerhead. Apparently Montego had bit Shelley's flippers so we had to doctor them. Sarah held Shelley still while I got to grab her flipper and put the medicine on. It was really awesome. The first time I have touched a real sea turtle!
The last resident turtle is Edar, who is also a loggerhead. His skin is very light which is caused by a lack of pigmentation. He is not an albino though. This means if he is released into the wild he could be at risk for predation and even sunburns. He is in a separate tank at the moment because he was being a bully to Shelley and Montego. Mote is hoping to get money to build a new tank for him. So if anyone knows someone with lots of money that is looking for a place to donate to, please let them know about Mote.
At 4pm they let us go home so my roommate and I visited the gift shops. I bought me a few shirts and a jacket since it is a bit chilly here. Although it is nowhere near as cold as it is in Kansas. I feel for ya guys :P They did give us a shirt and we are getting badges as well. Just my luck the intern badges are pink. Yes pink. We also get 10% off on food and 20% off at the gift shop. Also some businesses will give us a 10% discount as well. If I have any visitors come down, I just tell my supervisor how many and I get tickets for them to get in free. It doesn't matter how many I guest I have. So if you guys want to visit, just let me know. I'd love it if you guys come visit but if you can't thats fine to. My hours that I will be working at Tuesday-Saturday 7am-5pm. I'll have Sunday's and Mondays off.
Well I need to eat and am going to go relax before another exciting day. I did buy some postcards so I will be sending those out soon, feel free to send me stuff too if you wish. Ta ta for now :)

On the road...again....

2008-01-20T00:00:00.000-05:00

4:30pm Eastern Time:

We left a little after 7 this morning from the hotel. It has pretty much rained forever. A little after Tallahassee it let up and has been sprinkling on and off. The drive has been pretty boring. There isn’t much to look at except for trees which line the roadside. They are so thick you can’t see past them. So far the only fun part is going through a tunnel in Alabama and then driving on a bridge for a while looking at the ocean. We did get to see some swamp land in Louisiana but it was raining so hard we couldn’t get a picture. We pasted an exit for Panama City Beach, which brought back some memories.

The time change is kind of throwing me off. It’s Eastern Time instead of Central, which means we’re right on schedule instead of doing better than we thought. None the less we are making good time. Traffic hasn’t been too bad except for going through cities. Haven’t seen any alligators yet, although it is raining so I’m sure they don’t want to be out anymore than we do. I’m ready to be done with the trip. I want to be sitting in the condo relaxing or going around town sightseeing, instead of sitting in this truck. We should arrive around 7ish Eastern Time.

There have been some interesting drivers along the way. Some people just putt along while others fly by completely ignoring the signs that say speed limit strictly enforced. It’s not like we are actually driving the limit either. Five or ten over isn’t hurting anything is it? Once car flew past us then about went off the road. More than likely he/she was on the cell phone, not paying attention to the road. At one point we about got ran off the road (twice actually) by a semi truck. Finally we had the chance to pass him and he was on his cell phone. It was pouring out and he was distracted. I felt real safe. Luckily I have a lead foot and a fast truck. Too bad he didn’t have one of those “How’s my driving” or else I would have had my cousin call since I was driving.

As far as people, we haven’t run into any really creepy people. This gas station lady was a bit odd and we did meet a guy at the hotel who gave us half of his pizza because he and his daughter couldn’t eat it all. He was from Ohio and was visiting family somewhere. Battery is about dead and we are close to our next exit, will finish writing when I get to Sarasota.

11:01pm
Finally made it here. The place is interesting to say the least. It's late and I'm bushed. We drove for 14 hours, rain the whole way. Will write more tomorrow.

Half-way there

2008-01-18T22:22:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone!

It's now almost 9:30pm and I am finally out of the truck! I left at about 8am this morning; now 12 hours later I am outside of Lafayette, La. Twelve more hours to go and I will finally be in Sarasota. It's late and I have to get up at 6am so off to bed for me. Until next time...