Tuesday, March 11, 2008







Sharp Saws and Dull Wit. Last week I competed in Association of Southern Forestry Clubs Conclave in Gainesville,FL. What does that mean? Timber sports! We got to take off a week of class to visit beautiful sunny Florida. The 26 hour drive tried our patience, and tested friendships (and our livers)but we made it to Jacksonville. I know, I know, we over shot Gainesville by a couple hours. But we wanted to see the ocean. Can you blame us? The Atlantic was so much better than when I saw it in New Hampshire (imagine that!).

The waves were warm, and the team did some night swimming. We camped just south of Jacksonville outside of St. Augustine (illegally, I might add). Every camp ground was full, and damn if we were sleeping in a hotel with the best white noise in the world (ocean) to lull us to sleep on the best mattress in the world (sand).

It was possibly the best nights sleep I've ever gotten sober and outside. The on-shore wind blew in our faces just enough to keep us cool. We did have to move the sleeping bags around 4 am. I guess Lake Eufala doesn't have tides, so we were thrown off. Then we drove on to Gainesville for the competition. And then the rain began.

It sprinkled pretty regularly all night Thursday. The downpour began around 10 am. It didn't let up all day. My boyfriend and I had simply been tarp camping, which left all our stufdf soaked. We were both out competing in events, so we couldn't move our bags to higher ground, or to other tents, so they were completely inundated. I didn't see dry shoes for the next 36 hours.

For those outdoorsy types, you know what happens when your feet are that wet for that long. Aside looking like a corpse pulled from the river, they were bruised an swollen for days.

But Saturday was a gorgeous day. The sunshine dried up everything the sandy soils missed, and competition was awesome. And my crosscut partner & I took second place, an amazing feat with saws that cost $10,000 more than our M2 as our competition.

My boyfriend Competed in the Stihl competition. And we went home with some nice hardware. I had fun,FLA. If only I could see you on spring break.

1 comment:

asitevolves said...

dear haley,

i planted a tree for the first time today. have you ever done that? i doubt it, i really doubt it. cottonwoods and sycamores.

also i've been working at an arboretum but all the trees are no taller than my knees. they call it the rock pile.

i miss you tons and i'm glad you and Florida had a great time without me, your favorite Floridian friend.

signed,
your favorite floridian friend