Forestry Internship - week two
Ha! Hotel has free wireless! Sweet!
Anyway, we're down in Indiana once again after a very long day of driving. Not at the same hotel we stayed at last week, but at a much nicer one with free WIFI and a pool and a really nice room with a fridge and microwave. Comfort Suits in Browsburg, Indiana? Extremely nice hotel if anyone is ever in the area. Room prices are a bit steep - double queen cost about 120 with tax for the night - but Carolyn and I figured that after driving for almost 13 hours straight, we deserved a little tender loving care. Also, it's not like it's our money we're spending. ;) Well, it is, but we'll get reimbursed for everything after a few weeks.
Any way, to summarize our day:
Left Point this morning around 8 o'clock. We were all happy and proud of ourselves, thinking that we were going to have all this extra time because we got out earlier (last week we didn't get on the road until after 10) and it was sunny and good driving weather, so all was well with the world! First few hours of the trip were uneventful, but then, of course, within 10 miles or there about of Chicago land, guess what happens? Traffic was backed up for at least 20 miles, and we were stuck right in the thick of it. Ended up taking an hour to transverse a stretch of road that maybe took us twenty minutes last weekend, and then of course we miss one of our turns, so we ended up going straight into the heart of Chicago instead of sticking to the outskirts of it on 34 like we did last weekend. So, yes. Carlyn and I got lost in Down Town Chicago and not *only* did we live to tell about it, but we also managed to find our way back to the second drop site coming from a completely opposite direction! We were very proud of ourselves indeed.
Of course, after getting stuck in traffic for twenty miles or so, and then getting lost, we lost our hour and a half head start. We were able to pick up the leaf samples from the second site at pretty much the same time dropped them off last week, so from that point forward we were in a bit of a rush since we wanted to hit the last sight *before* dark - last week when we did the drop off, the sun had already set, which was something we wanted to avoid since that particular drop site is a bit hard to get too. However, after that Chicago Incident, we made it to the rest of the sites without too much difficulty. We did have to abandon one site because the sample bags were under a foot or so of fast-moving water thanks to the huge mess of storms that the area got over the course of this past week (that was at Wildcat Creek). At another site one of the bags was lost to the Stream Gods because when I pulled up the chain it was supposed to be attached too, there was nothing on the end. Otherwise, all the rest of the pick ups were successful, and we managed to get to the last one just as the sun was setting.
After 12+ hours on the road, we decided we deserved a good meal, so we hit Applebee's down the road from the hotel here. Thankfully they were open until midnight, because we lost an hour when we crossed the Indiana state line. Though as far as I'm concerned and my computer is concerned it's only 10:51 pm, locally it's 11:51, so a lot of the restaurants were closed or soon to be closing by the time we got to the hotel at 9:30ish locally. Alas, I had to sacrifice my swim in order to get to Applebee's in time for dinner (pool closes at 11, we didn't even get our food until 10:30ish), but I figured food was more important. I had a side salad and a chips and cheese sauce appetizer, Carolyn had a steak. Mm, food.
And now I am sprawled out on my bed at our hotel watching the end of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Nice end to a day full of way too much driving. And of course tomorrow we get to drive the 300-500 miles back home again. Not sure if it's better or worse that this time we won't be stopping every 50-100 miles to pick up leaves.
Oy, tired. I might even sleep tonight.
Anyway, we're down in Indiana once again after a very long day of driving. Not at the same hotel we stayed at last week, but at a much nicer one with free WIFI and a pool and a really nice room with a fridge and microwave. Comfort Suits in Browsburg, Indiana? Extremely nice hotel if anyone is ever in the area. Room prices are a bit steep - double queen cost about 120 with tax for the night - but Carolyn and I figured that after driving for almost 13 hours straight, we deserved a little tender loving care. Also, it's not like it's our money we're spending. ;) Well, it is, but we'll get reimbursed for everything after a few weeks.
Any way, to summarize our day:
Left Point this morning around 8 o'clock. We were all happy and proud of ourselves, thinking that we were going to have all this extra time because we got out earlier (last week we didn't get on the road until after 10) and it was sunny and good driving weather, so all was well with the world! First few hours of the trip were uneventful, but then, of course, within 10 miles or there about of Chicago land, guess what happens? Traffic was backed up for at least 20 miles, and we were stuck right in the thick of it. Ended up taking an hour to transverse a stretch of road that maybe took us twenty minutes last weekend, and then of course we miss one of our turns, so we ended up going straight into the heart of Chicago instead of sticking to the outskirts of it on 34 like we did last weekend. So, yes. Carlyn and I got lost in Down Town Chicago and not *only* did we live to tell about it, but we also managed to find our way back to the second drop site coming from a completely opposite direction! We were very proud of ourselves indeed.
Of course, after getting stuck in traffic for twenty miles or so, and then getting lost, we lost our hour and a half head start. We were able to pick up the leaf samples from the second site at pretty much the same time dropped them off last week, so from that point forward we were in a bit of a rush since we wanted to hit the last sight *before* dark - last week when we did the drop off, the sun had already set, which was something we wanted to avoid since that particular drop site is a bit hard to get too. However, after that Chicago Incident, we made it to the rest of the sites without too much difficulty. We did have to abandon one site because the sample bags were under a foot or so of fast-moving water thanks to the huge mess of storms that the area got over the course of this past week (that was at Wildcat Creek). At another site one of the bags was lost to the Stream Gods because when I pulled up the chain it was supposed to be attached too, there was nothing on the end. Otherwise, all the rest of the pick ups were successful, and we managed to get to the last one just as the sun was setting.
After 12+ hours on the road, we decided we deserved a good meal, so we hit Applebee's down the road from the hotel here. Thankfully they were open until midnight, because we lost an hour when we crossed the Indiana state line. Though as far as I'm concerned and my computer is concerned it's only 10:51 pm, locally it's 11:51, so a lot of the restaurants were closed or soon to be closing by the time we got to the hotel at 9:30ish locally. Alas, I had to sacrifice my swim in order to get to Applebee's in time for dinner (pool closes at 11, we didn't even get our food until 10:30ish), but I figured food was more important. I had a side salad and a chips and cheese sauce appetizer, Carolyn had a steak. Mm, food.
And now I am sprawled out on my bed at our hotel watching the end of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Nice end to a day full of way too much driving. And of course tomorrow we get to drive the 300-500 miles back home again. Not sure if it's better or worse that this time we won't be stopping every 50-100 miles to pick up leaves.
Oy, tired. I might even sleep tonight.