Ocala Part 3 Trip Reports

“Wow. Now that's quite a group.

Artex - Thoroughly enjoyed the photos. Thanks for posting 'em.”

“I'm back and all is Well. I'll post pictures tommorrow.
Great Trip!!!!!! Deffinatly one to always remember. TONS of Laughs!!!”

“Trooper and chili make it back to Memphis. Chili promised to post tomorrow after he catches up at the office.

12 hours in a car with a hiker who spent three days on the trail.....am I ever glad to be home.”

“Anyword from Mike?”

“Yeah, Mike said the word "Baconring".”

“Home safe at midnight last night. At work :-(

One more fabulous group of people. Can't wait til the trip reports start rolling in. I'll type mine out at lunch.

Love you ALL! With a special thanks to Tango! What an adventure.”

“Looked like a great trip! Nice pictures Artex.”

“Home safe at midnight last night. At work :-(

One more fabulous group of people. Can't wait til the trip reports start rolling in. I'll type mine out at lunch.

Love you ALL! With a special thanks to Tango! What an adventure.”

“Ooops, how did that happen?”

“So glad to hear it Dhutch1. Adventure, yeah that's the word!!! LOL!”

“very cool pics, artex!”

“Cool Pics!

Looks like an awesome time...

I was truly jealous seeing everyone wearing shorts...”

“Good pics.

Observation, artex sure did take a LOT of pics of yam.”

“"Good pics.

Observation, artex sure did take a LOT of pics of yam."
dayhiker
07:37:45 AM
02/09/04


Thanks and keep up the good work Artex.”

“Sounds like this was a biggie! Glad you are all safe and sound. Will keep up on the TR's...”

“Most excellent adventure!


More to follow but as a teaser...



Overheard at campfire...


Undisclosed Female TT'er: I think the head is in.

Undisclosed Male TT'er: No, really, the head is not in there. Feel, feel right here, do you feel the head?”

“cool, a video!
I'll have to wait until after hours to listen to it - I can't get sound to come out of the speakers like it's suppose to so I can use my headphones.

Looking forward to the trip reports!”

“Wow, What a great trip!

Can\'t stop laughing at Artex (Red Rocket) and all the other things, That I will leave up to you guys to post or not post.

(Mike) Still trying to figure out why they call him Crazy Mike? I do know this, the trail sure wouldn't be the same without him.(Geat guy)

An award should go to gojo for finding the the lost hiker or was it the hikers lost tent? some things are still a blurrrr.

It sure was a pleasure to meet all of you. What a great time!
Thanks!

Hound Dog”

“For the record. I was not lost.
My location of my tarptent was temporarily misplaced in the dark. ;-)”

“More photos Not all the captions are up yet.

I came home to a buster hot water heater hose. I gots some clean up to do.”

“Wow! Eveyone's in shorts and T-shirts- I'm jealous!! looked like a great time!”

“One question; how'd anyone manage to sleep with Cletus around?”

“just got through with my pics. Great trip as usual, thanks to HPM and treebait for putting it together.

Ocala Part 1

Ocala Part 2”

“and even better photos. Glad everyone had a good time...

Crazy Mike. You look like you put on some weight...in other words...your gettin FAT dude. whats up with that...and there are NO photos of Chili...why is that?!?!?! hmmmmmmmmmmmm...”

“I saw a photo of chili. He had that God awful orange jacket on, a mustache, and was smoking a pipe.”

“I think most of the Chili pictures were overexposed due to the glare off of his canary yellow waldies!”

“Haven't seen any mention of MDSHiker yet, did he make it?”

“Yep, I saw a few pics.”

“there are NO photos of Chili...why is that?!?!?! hmmmmmmmmmmmm..."
stikmon
10:21:17 AM
02/09/04

Maybe because I don't strip down to my skivies on the trail.”

“OK here goes. This will in no way be an all encompassing report, others will have to fill in the blanks.

Thursday 10:19 got off the plane in balmy Orlando and went to the baggage claim where I immediately spotted Tango cheerfully waiting. After collecting my duffle we went to her house (where she gave me the coziest guest room) both excited about the upcoming trip.

We won't go into major details but due to navigational errors and too much chatting we arrived at the correct? trailhead at 12:00 and began walking from Buckman locks? in sunny 78 degree weather, not sure if we'd be meeting up with the group or not. An hour into the hike, caught up with Treebait, HPM and Nowslimmer. They had been slowed down due to some heinous blisters. Moved along from there spotting an alligator on a log in the canal. One of the first of many high points of this trip.

Once at camp near Rodham dam (sp?), all relaxed and did the meet and greets as people continued to arrive. How Tango and I were not the last, I'll never figure out. (Must be due to our superior hiking skills, eh Tango?)

Eventually the groups gathered into a massive ring around a well-built fire (Jerbear was tonights fire king) and the roar of various stoves began as everyone cooked dinner. Someone was making hot dogs and passing them around. Mostly it was a cornucopia of cooking gear and the discussion began flowing as quickly as the libations. Many were finding ticks and at one point there was talk of a group tick search. That may have happened back at the fire as some of us made a late evening water run to the dam restrooms. Upon return, the ring once again assembled and the chatting went on until late in the evening. Tango and Walkindude got the fireside award for being last ones standing (sitting).

Weather cooperated by waiting for all to retire and we awoke to cooler weather as a front had come through in the night. After breakfast and coffee for most a plan was put together for a store run, supported by a quick ride for me from Radagast and a very generous Tango who trusted me with her months old new car to go in to town and fill lists gathered for water, booze, lemons and a few other essentials. After the logistics were worked out, I ended up at the exit trailhead with nowslimmer who shuttled the loot towards the campground planned near/but not in Delancy car campground. A quick 4 mile trail/road run later and I was meeting the first hikers as we gathered provisions and carried them to our next campsite. As the hikers arrived, some had lunch, some had naps and some chatted in the sunny, 63 degree comfort. There was a cool wind blowing and most donned a little fleece and long pants before long.

As Gojo and Hounddog entertained the crowd with their charming smiles and raucous senses of humor, Walkindude performed the fire who4e duties and we soon had a good blaze. Artex opened an espresso bar with his super cool trail machine. Some may call him a yuppie hiker, but I for one truly appreciated the steaming nectar of the gods. Wine with dinner and appertifs of good bourbon whiskey had all settled around the fire for an even more entertaining evening than the previous. Before long in the cozy fleece and warm fire, I found myself dozing to hear portions of conversations and roaring laughter. As I may have heard them out of context, I'll let others relay the details.

The low that night was about 35 and I awoke to a continuation of the campfire for breakfast. After group photos and some reluctance, hikers drifted out towards the Grassy Pond trailhead. What a great hike, friends were made and future hikes planned and all 30 made their way back to the 10 states from which they hailed. New friends made and old friends reaquainted and I'm sure many a chuckle in memory for months to come.”

“"I measured a low of 35.2 degrees inside my tarptent this morning.
Pretty dang cold! ;-)"
~StoveStomper

Felt like 36 to me...

Man! I'm still all giddy. I had an absolute HOOT (I just hope I didn't embarass me too much).

Great pics, Mr. Yam!
The captions were halarious...
"Lizweight 2005"? LOL!


"I think most of the Chili pictures were overexposed due to the glare off of his canary yellow waldies!"
~dhutch1

LOL!

I got Liz off from William B. Hartsfield/Maynard Jackson Commercial Aviation Facility Through Which All Southeasterners Must Pass To Reach Heavan Airport just a while ago. I'm enroute back home now - hot shower here I come! LOL!

Liz, the kids, and I stopped by Om's place for a final farewell to Tex and a walk to the river and springs with Om and Jerbear. We reached my house late-ish after an appetizers and beers stop in Macon, GA.

The morning was slightly rushed, but we had time to find a Geocache in my town enroute to WBH/MJCAFTWASMPTRHA.

Okeedokee...
I'm off to peruse the other photos.

More later.”

“Maybe because I don't strip down to my skivies on the trail."
chili36


You just wish you were there thats all!”

“Who is trooper. She looks alot like my cousin that lives in Pensacola. I saw where she road with chili. Is trooper, Moses wife? If so, cottonsocks and Moses share a tent at Savage Gulf and now chili takes a trip with trooper. Talk about progressive!”

“dayhiker, you got it”

“Great pics everyone! :-)”

“I'm full of misspelled words in that last post. Looks like it was still readable though. Thanks Ewker.”

“Looks & sounds like everyone had a great time.”

“By the way.. did anyone else get eaten by chiggers? My calves and feet got destroyed. Hydrocortisone cream is definitely a big help though.”

“No chiggers, but lots of mosquito bites and of course one TICK!”

“I am chigger and tick free thanks to all the live chigger and tick bait I brought with me. That stuff works!
Y'all ought to try....oh, nevermind.”

“Coop, you were missed.”

“I got all of HPM's bug bites for him. It looks like chicken pox on my legs.”

“My formal report:

Thursday -
Lixs landed in ATL at 2:20 pm.
We were on the road 12 minutes later.

I had only two parcel fuel cannisters, so we stopped four times between the airport and suburban Macon, GA - still, no new fuel. What never.

We stopped in FL just shy of the trailhead so's to stock up on brews, ice, and last minute stuff.

We arrived at the trailhead to find Hounddog only. It was to remain just we three until Friday morning. HD and I stayed up until the wee hours. Them was some good beers.

Friday -
Awake at 7:30, up at eight.
People started rolling in. Greetings gave way to new greetings. The reunification had begun. Lizs and I were busy breaking camp and packing, while at the same time we were being swamped with newcomers. It was great.

Shuttle plans were finalized, and everyone began piling into vehicles. Within a few minutes, Lizs and I were the only ones remaining. We finally got underway.

We stopped near the first night's campsite to cache the beer cooler, then decide to cache even more. We slack-packed on Friday... Belle and Gizmeaux were packless, for their gear was among the Rodman Dam cache.

Lizs and I finally reached the trailhead, and got underway at, like, 12:15 p.m.

We followed the Cross Florida Barge Canal for a few miles until we caught up with Nowslimmer. We later caught Tex, Blind Tom, Cyndeeee, and... someone else I think.

We soon reached the NFS Rodman Campground, where we encountered yet more TTers. From there, we finished the last mile or so by crossing the dam via a short roadwalk.

We were soon de-caching our gear and pitching our tent.

Note:
A great advantage to being among the last to pitch ones tent is that one has the opportunity to shop around for the right neighborhood. We ended up pitching in Windy Oaks, a quiet developement filled with modest tents and very friendly folks.

Not far away was Our $#!+ Don't Stink Meadows - a gated community behind which live the movers and shakers of TT. It's closer to the bypass, but farther from the lakeshore, therefore we elected not to live there.

Windy Oaks was juuuuust right:
quiet, but near downtown, and within view of the choppy waters of Lake Scratcheelatchee.

Late that night, I got turned around in the darkness, and found myself smack dab in the middle of Crackhouse Heights! Oh! The humanity!

The night around the fire was great.

Saturday -
Lizs and I were last to leave again - IMAGINE THAT! We done a kewl thing, though. We found two geocaches betwixt the two campsites. Like I said - kewl.

We were literally the last to reach camp. We selected a tent site on the outskirts - kinda in the weeds.

I dropped my pack there, and returned to the beer cooler-I-mean fire ring. I drank a couple brews and visited visited visited.

After an hour or so, we made our camp and returned to the ring with cooking and drinking stuff. I didn't get out of my Thermarest chair for the rest of the night - except to pee and throw peoples things in the fire.

By this time, we were all better aquainted and better able to enjoy one another's company, IMO anyways. I, personally, had a freakin' blast Saturday night.

Sunday -
The usual. Disperse... go home. Having Lizs along was great in combatting the melancholy that so often follows my TT reunions. I've gotten to know some of the most genuinely greatest people to be known. I love my TT family, and do so enjoy our reunions.

I've often commented about the GREAT trip Aero pulled off known as Montanapalooza 2002. But I'll tell ya - Ocala 3 will be hard to top. Cudos HPM and Treebait. Y'all done good!

Se you all reeeeeel soon!”

“If so, cottonsocks and Moses share a tent at Savage Gulf and now chili takes a trip with trooper. Talk about progressive!"
dayhiker
11:29:14 AM
02/09/04

Well, at least the words f* you; f* me; were not used on in the tent on the Ocala trip.”

“But chili, you're an action guy, not a words guy.”

“Dayhiker, think about what you are saying, I am a lawyer,,,,my stock in trade is bull#&%!$.”

“sorry, that's the best I could come up with. I had to minimize the emphasis on words and empasize actions to make it sound like the tent was rockin'. I guess I should lay off, Mamagrrr is giving you enough grief.”

“Hell, if I wanted to go off somewhere for a fling, I would at least have the good sense to arrange for it on the beach in the Virgin Islands. Hell, who wants to have trail sex with a hiker. God, I can't stand myself, much less anyone else, LOL.”

“WFT?!%
Me and my hubsand Gissmaeioux done seks awreddy the nother day at Flowerda! Trale seks is VERRY GOOD!

Aks Crazy Man if you do not be leve me. He done seks with EVER BUDDY at The Cala! BOL!”