Goethe State Forest
Godspeed in retirement Jeff, may you never trick anyone into venturing into tick infested forests again!
The Goethe Giant and I
When I arrived in Goethe I had already been bumming around central and west Florida for a few days. The day before and the morning of I had just finished up visiting an uncle that I had never really met since becoming a, or rather being considered an adult. It was an amazing visit and we share so much in common... Almost like we're related. All that basically means, watch out Goethe, I'm coming in hot!
Even though I'm still in Florida, it's the first time it started to feel a little less Floridy, if I can coin a term here. I drove in on a dirt road as opposed to the paved one GPS suggested. Dirt roads are long in Ruby Tue. She has a stiff suspension and a lot of ass. Taking this back way in led me past a boardwalk. I'll sometimes ignore these as they are mostly built for the 'round bellies' to quote a man I met in Lone Pine, CA. I stopped to see what this boardwalk rolled out the red carpet to. A giant fuckin tree! Not believing that Florida actually had giant fuckin trees I took the walk. I made the grueling walk in 5 or 6 minutes and there it was! The Goethe Giant! As I messed with my camera I heard a truck pull up. (You know it's a good hike when you can hear vehicles pulling into the parking lot)
This is Jeff w/ his ghostbusting pack
In a few minutes Jeff came walking down the boardwalk ready to bust some ghosts. He said they blow the leaves off the boardwalk once a week, but I know a ghost-buster when I see one. I asked a few questions about the real trail head I was heading to when he let me in on a little secret. There's a natural spring fed pond a little off trail. He gave me verbal directions on how to find it and I committed it to memory. I wasn't convinced that I would find it, but hey, if Jeff says it's worth checking out, I better try. Hell, he's never liked to me before.
So here in the conversation I mentioned that I won't be getting back home until sometime in May, and that's when he said, 'I retire May 1st!' Congrats Jeff! He had been in the area most his life and been working for the state forest for 30 or so years. Good luck with your retirement Jeff.
I found my way to the black prong trail head and paid my couple bucks to the iron ranger. I went over the map a couple times and even looked at satellite images, but couldn't make out where Jeff's spring fed pond might be. Oh well, either I'll find it or I won't. Time to run!
The spring Jeff told me about. It was even more impressive in person.
Minnie and I took off! The trail we started on, as well as the rest of the trails we ran, were double track. Not surprising I guess as they are mainly used as horse trails. I found a turn off quite similar to Jeff's description about four tenths of a mile before Jeff said I'd find it. He said the detour I would take would be a quarter mile or so. I took the trail until it terminated into woods but saw nothing. I was about to start exploring through the woods when my attention was caught by a clearing to my right. Wow! Just wow. In the middle of swampy sandy Florida scrub sat the most magical, out of place pond I have ever seen. Minnie took a couple dips even as I urged her not to. First as an impulse of living in gator country for the past 5 months, and also as I did not want her to muddy up these beautiful waters. A few more moments of basking in this beauty before it was time to move.
We encountered an armadillo that Minnie chased off the trail. I had to holler and she finally gave up chase. I spent the next 10 minutes not being able to remember the name of these damned armored opossums. I had aardvark, which I knew was wrong, and I had amarillo, the Spanish word for yellow in my head. So close, yet so far.
When I finally solved the armadillo mystery I found myself at an obstacle I did not want to cross. The road had a lake in the middle of it with a wide enough inlet and outlet that I would be getting my feet wet to pass. Armed with a map I knew of an alternate route assuming that one wasn't flooded. As I stood there weighing my options I felt a bug on my leg so I swatted at it. It was still there so I took a closer look.
Shit! A tick!
One of many…
An even closer inspection found a white dot in the middle of its back. I know this little fucker from his mugshot on line. He's a lone star tick, and he isn't known to give you Lyme disease. No, he gives you a red meat allergy. What's worse? This guy has friends. Lots of friends! I flick a few more off as I not only curse in my head, but I become vocal. Almost all come off with a hit, but two have already started feasting.
I have a tick key. A key chain attachment that easily removes ticks fully intact. I had become lazy about carrying it on runs and today I pay for it. I remembered a trick of using baby oil to drown the tick so it has to release its bite for survival. I didn't have baby oil, but I made a dam with my hand and spit water in to drown the damn lone star piece of shit. It seemed to work. Ten seconds of drowning and the tick wiped away. I tried the same trick with number two and another success!
We closed out our run and now it was time for a chance to play where does Minnie have ticks! Any guesses?? Yes, correct! Everywhere!!! I started pulling these things out of between toes, behind pads, under collar, by every joint on her legs, and even her armpits! What a nightmare. I can't help but get phantom itches and have to scratch my legs as I type this.
I was pissed at these woods. Goethe State Forest had let me down and I wanted to just get away... But it was going to be a clear night for some after hours photography. Dammit, as much as I wanted to leave in protest, I decided to bum around for the night Goethe... But I'm hiding out in the van as much as possible.
My Goethe campsite
I found a dirt road called Wolf Run and pulled down looking for an out of the way place to set up for the night. With much consideration given to not having to call for a tow the next morning, I landed on just parking in an intersection. I left enough room for vehicles to pass, but kind of went on the assumption this road didn't see much night use. I saw one vehicle before I slept, and the GoPro did not show any headlights throughout the night.
I even hopped out to do some shots with the Nikon. I found either a couple sly ticks that avoided earlier capture, or maybe they came in while I was doing my photography thing. I murdered the ones I could find and left their bodies on the running board for any piece of shit ticks brave enough to enter the 'Van of Tick Death'.
I beelined for a Walmart the next morning to stock up on tick murdering chemicals to add to my arsenal. I'm willing to acquiesce that I caught Goethe State Forest on a bad part of the season, but I kind of feel like that first experience may have been bad enough to convince me to drive on by next time. (Not that I drive by all that often. So even though the ticks were pretty small, they dominated the day. I'm pretty happy with the pictures I captured, and the spring fed pond helped keep the run from feeling like a total failure. Also, as I write this, it is May 1st and Jeff will be leaving work for the last time today. Godspeed in retirement Jeff, may you never trick anyone into venturing into tick infested forests again!
The Great American Eclipse Part Three
I might have been crying, but with all that rain I'd never have to admit it anyway.
I headed north out of Kentucky directly into the Shawnee National Forest in Illinois. It was another late night of pushing through the darkness to reach my destination. I found my way and parked by the Garden of the Gods in anticipation of an early morning tour of the rock formations. As it was a short hike, I brought my pups along for the photo shoot. The garden was amazing, people pet the dogs and I shot the rocks. As I framed up one particular photo I noticed people were in the shot. I put the camera down to wait for the couple to move. Then it dawned on me that I should take the photo and offer it to the couple. They seemed very cautious of me, as can be expected, and it took the guy a few months before he emailed me about sending him the picture. I thought some about the timing of his email request for the photo. I wonder if he forgot about the weirdo guy that approached him saying he took a picture of him and his girlfriend, and only sent the email when he remembered. Or possibly it was coming up to an anniversary and he called this in as part of a surprise for her. I also tossed the idea around that they were going through a rough patch, and he was desperately searching for anything to show his love to her. I've never cared enough to ask him. I guess it’s like Schrödinger's cat, as long as I never ask it can be any, and all, of those possibilities at once. It's far more interesting that it exists in my mind as a question, rather than it having a definite answer.
Sassy ‘n I
Who’s that?
When I left the Garden of the Gods I met Sassy the Bigfoot and took my picture with her. Then as I headed through Herod, IL I spotted a very bizarre ruin and I knew I would regret it if I didn't turn around and check it out. It appeared to be a house built into/against the side of a rock. Next to the chimney I found a very large undercut beneath the enormous rock roomy enough for a picnic table to be dwarfed. I stopped at the same time as a Harley Davidson husband and wife. They were from northern Illinois but like me, made the trip down for the eclipse. They gave me pointers on where to find a good laundromat and stock up on a few supplies. A middle aged lady stopped in awe of the ruins and again an eclipse conversation was struck. It was very unique in that you didn't have to ask 'Did you see the eclipse?' It was a known in that area at that time. She opened with 'Have you seen any of the news footage of the eclipse?' Even though I hadn't, I answered that I had as to not shut down eclipse talk before it had a chance to start. She said 'The color of the corona looked more white on the news than in person right?' I did notice the yellowish quality of the corona so I made a safe assumption and explained white balance on cameras to her. Still to this day I have not been able to find any info on line about those ruins. I like that there are some things the internet doesn't know and visiting local museums might still hold a useful place our technological world.
AllTrails did not disclose all important facts.
A well I found and did not dive into!
This is, of course, official history…
At this point I had taken a couple days off of running and I went to the AllTrails app to find an Illinois trail to run... This is going to be a slight rant about AllTrails. It's useful but it does not give you the entire story. What I found on AllTrails that day was a 7 mile loop trail. That's what I went into the woods expecting. What I was actually running on was a series of interconnected horse trails. I've heard of others having a similar issue with the app. I still use it, it's a good tool, but it's not an on line trail bible. Back to the point, Minnie and I hit the trail for a leg stretching. We found a couple interesting landmarks, and as I was running the trail counterclockwise I took every left... I crossed a road... I shouldn't cross any roads on this route, but onward I went. After a bit I came to a parking lot where I found a wood carved trail directory. I deciphered it the best I could and went the direction I felt I should go... And after a bit of running found myself back at this parking lot... Okay, let's try door 2... Back at the same parking lot! It was right at this time that I realized it was starting to get dark so I thought I need to quit guessing and find the right way back. I do remember processing the thought that it seems weird that it's getting dark at 1 PM but I put that on the back burner in favor of finding Ruby.
I found a full trail map in the parking lot and thought I was saved, but not knowing the area too well I was still unsure of which way to go. Two ladies in their late 40s had just finished up loading their horses into the trailer and so I asked them for a little help. One helped me read the map as the other gave some water to Minnie. I will add here that even though I got lost one more time after these nice ladies helped me, I believe it was my own fault and not because of the direction I received. So Minnie and I said thank you and took off. As I have just mentioned I ended up at this parking lot one more time. #$-#&##+$(!!! By this time I had processed in my head that there was a rain storm rolling in and it was not nightfall coming early that day. With this in mind I decided I would take the road straight north and turn east at the end and I would for sure find my vehicle. A couple minutes up the road I found that first road crossing that had confused me! I had finally found my trail! I quickly debated taking the safe choice of the road back, but felt my pride would benefit from taking the trail I followed in, back out.
I started to feel raindrops shortly after hitting the trail again. This was quickly followed my quite possibly the loudest boom of thunder I have ever heard in my life and sheets of rain! 9 miles into the run at this point Minnie had been starting to slow down and fall behind. I began yelling my loudest at her to COME ON! HURRY UP!!! GO!!!! I could barely hear myself over the storm, but they say dogs have good hearing. GO! GO!!! I slipped a time or 2 and tripped a few, but in my memory adrenaline and fear had me back up and running before I even hit the ground. MINNIE!! GOOOOO!!! I remember thinking that I know plenty about the weather in Western NY... But we are not in Western NY... Is this a tornado? The ladies didn't warn me, is this normal? Would locals be laughing at me freaking out over this storm that to them is regular? Would they say 'What? You were out in that? ARE YOU CRAZY???' I felt like a fish out of water while soaking wet. When I came to the trail head and found Ruby sitting there waiting for me I felt such relief I could have cried. Hell, I might have been crying, but with all that rain I'd never have to admit it anyway. I slid the door open, Minnie and I soaking wet dove into the safety of little ol' Ruby, mud and all. I still get slightly nervous when I think of the end of that run. It definitely taught me to appreciate the weather while traveling, and to be more cautious.
The Great American Eclipse Part Two
I like that we haven't 'progressed' past appreciating the natural wonders of our universe.
The Little Green Men Days in Kelly was a cool experience. It was sort of typical in that they had a bounce house for kids, a hay and train ride, vendors, a stage with bands playing and camping available. It was sort of atypical in the merchandise for sale, the giant UFO in the middle of the grounds, and once the countdown to the eclipse started, all the wild things people were wearing. I would like to say the people were crazy nuts, and even though that's what I expected, I did not find that to be the case. Sure there were eccentrics, but everyone I spoke to seemed to have a grasp on reality… Hopefully this isn’t that look to the left, look to the right thing where I end up being the crazy one. There was a young boy that was going around selling random goods, unless that’s illegal… Then he wasn’t doing that. I swear he was the incarnation of Tom Sawyer. He seemed to have an affinity for economics. While petting Minnie and Lugnut he commented how I could breed them and make good money. I told him that they were both fixed, and I’ll never forget the confused face he turned up toward me asking ‘Why would you do that?’ At first I thought he was being funny, but he was truly perplexed.
Connie Willis, host of Blue Rock Talk and weekend host of Coast to Coast AM, was present at the festival . They brought her on stage where she delivered a short monologue. She had been on my radar since her incredible interview with Les Stroud, Survivorman, and as soon as she came down off the stage I struck up a conversation with her. She introduced me to her friends, the Kentucky Myth Chasers, who became my camping buddies for the night before the eclipse. She has a great outgoing personality, go figure… she's talks for a living, and following her around as we waited in anticipation for the eclipse to begin I got to meet many interesting people. There was a guy who had 2 drones he was shooting the eclipse with, and a couple with a van similar to Ruby that had a solar telescope. We were able to peak through just as the lunar disc was starting to blot out the sun. It was so detailed that you could see sunspots.
I like to make rough plans and let things fall into place or leave wiggle room to adjust on the fly. It usually works out in my favor… KNOCK ON WOOD. I think for eclipse photography though... When you have 2½ minutes to shoot and no second chances, a rock solid plan would've been a lot better. I'm happy with the pictures I got, but I'm not ecstatic. Part of the problem was with the eclipse being at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, the sun was so high in the sky it was difficult to do a good wide angle picture. To get foreground, or a scene, into the picture I had to turn the camera sideways to portrait. I did not even think about that ahead of time. Lesson learned, I'll be ready for 2024 when the eclipse will swoop right up past my hometown... In reality I'll probably make the same mistakes again, but I have 5 more years to believe that I'll make the necessary changes.
Before I even left the Little Green Men Days festival I had heard how bad the traffic was. The radio had reports of the traffic jams that we're happening all over. I have to believe a lot of people on their way to viewing the eclipse had to settle for watching it from the roadside in a traffic jam. I felt bad for these poor souls for a while. I tried to put myself into their shoes though. Here's how my imagination plays out the scene. Traffic backed up for miles, no movement whatsoever, everybody honking, yelling, frustration building and building... Until... A hush falls over the crowd and everyone exits their vehicles, just like that R.E.M. music video. All traffic concerns disappear and awe sweeps the crowd. The guy that just cut you off lends you his cardboard glasses so you can view the eclipse. Of course 2½ minutes later it's back to the blaring horns and cursing, but at least normal life could melt away for a few moments. I'm sure that's me looking through rose tinted glasses, but it's better than imagining those jammed up fools not enjoying the eclipse they no doubt traveled so far to see.
Even if that is a made up scenario, what I'm not making up is the signs on every business I entered before the eclipse that stated that they would be temporarily closing so the employees could take part in viewing the eclipse. Even McDonald's had the sign in their window. I can't think of anything else that would stop the world in its tracks like this. Maybe the O.J. verdict? I don’t know why that was the first thing that popped in my mind, but I’m leaving it. Even if it was only 2½ minutes, I like that we haven't 'progressed' past appreciating the natural wonders of our universe.
I hit the road within an hour of totality ending. I was held up by a butterfly that landed on me and had to wait for Connie to take a video of it. I kinda hoped to beat the traffic... And I did! Even though I drove passed jam after jam, it was always in the opposite direction I was going! I couldn't believe my luck. I headed directly west towards the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area. They had a driving loop through some plains that promised to show me some elk and bison, but to no avail. I saw absolutely nothing. Onward I go!
As I exited the Rec. Area to the west I stopped by Land Between the Lakes Distillery. The sign said they had a museum. A moonshine museum. I thought it’d be a hokey tourist trap, but I was wrong. They had some very interesting history here. I led myself around the museum and as I was preparing to leave I was lucky enough to catch the owner there. Spencer Balentine was and older gentleman with a cowboy hat and sunglasses. He gave me a personal tour of the museum that far exceeded the one I had just given myself. He explained how his father used to run moonshine back when it was illegal. He told me a story of how his father almost got caught by the law one night. The police had the road blocked just past the bridge over the river that brackets the Land Between the Lakes to the east and had him dead to rights. His father whipped the car around and headed back for the bridge. He bailed out of the drivers door and ghost rode the car off the edge of the bridge and plunged the fully loaded car into the the river below. Pretty banged up he climbed over the edge of the bridge and hid below the deck for hours until the heat cooled off. Once he determined the coast was clear he started the long trek back home and made it through the door in time to interrupt breakfast. He said he still remembers his father limping in, clothes torn and dirtied, sitting down at the breakfast table and saying 'I'm done.' No one said a word, he said everyone understood what had happened and what he meant. He also relayed a more recent story of a still blowing up on a couple of his workers. This took place in 2015. Both workers, Jay Rogers and Kyle Rogers, sustained serious burns and one, Kyle, even succumb to the injuries and passed away. He seemed very tore up by this, I can't help but feel the same way when I think of the look on that old man's face. While we ended on the note of that still explosion, I picture him in my mind excitedly explaining to me how his father wore his watch a certain way, sewed extra hems in his pants, and many other tricks he used to be a successful moonshiner. We also touched on a recent sonar search that turned up hits that would be consistent with a car buried under the muck at the bottom of the lake. This search was documented on an episode of “Moonshiners”. When his father launched the car off the bridge it was a river. Now the river has been dammed to form a lake so the car lies in the deepest part of the lake. It would be very cool to see that car ripped from it's watery grace someday, and if that day comes I would love to be present in case some of the cargo is still intact!
Spencer in an ad photo from 2014
An interesting note here. Recent research has shown that while I met Spencer Balentine, he was going through auctioning off his business. Two months before I passed through he was quoted on the local new as saying, "It’s emotional for me every time I go in that museum,". Speaking about the incident that killed one and injured another he said, "It took my desire to put somebody else in front of a still." In hindsight, that makes the personal tour I received seem extra special and for sure much more somber. Also, unfortunately, the museum appears to be permanently closed.
Next stop is the Shawnee National Forest in Illinois.
https://www.bluerocktalk.com - Blue Rock Talk with Connie Willis
http://www.thebeastoflbl.com/the-beast/ - The Beast of Land Between the Lakes
http://www.kellyky.com - Kelly Little Green Men Days Festival