My Page 2.0

Did you know, when I first developed Atlas Quest, there was no My Page at all? It didn't take long before I wanted a page to summarize what was going on on the site, mostly for my own. Were there new posts on the message boards? Did anyone add any new letterboxes? Who signed up today? Who updated their profiles? And I started collecting the summaries into what is now known as My Page. I figured if I found it useful, so would everyone else!

The dirty little secret, though, is that the feature was largely a hack. I added and tweaked it over the years, but they were minor things. For a long time, I've wanted to update it so people could customize the page to their own needs. Even I found myself wishing some of the sections weren't in my way, and wishing there was additional information that I felt most people wouldn't be interested in.

Even the information that was displayed, I'd often get request for changes that I would resist for various reasons. Such as listing *all* of one's favorite boards rather than just those that have new messages. (I resisted that one because for those who have hundreds of boards marked as favorites, the list would get quite lengthy and incredibly unhelpful.)

And for years, I've wanted to fix all that and do a proper job of things. And at long last, I have. Premium members have been able to follow its development almost from the day I first started working on it, numerous suggestions from them making it into this final form.

Each section on My Page is a box I call a "widget." It's a technical term that means, "that thing over there." I like the term better than "box," which on a letterboxing website can get especially confusing anyhow. So each of those sections on My Page are called widgets for our purposes.

You can drag them around and put them in whatever order best suits your needs. Internet Explorer, annoyingly, forces you to drag widgets from the name at the top of the widget, but Firefox properly lets you drag from anywhere in the title bar (minus the buttons, of course, which are used for other purposes). If there's a little picture of a pencil in the title bar, that's the edit button to edit the preferences for that widget. If there's a little question mark in a circle, clicking that will open a help page about the widget. You can also minimize and maximize widgets, or close them completely if you don't want to see it anymore at all.

One of the widgets is the My Page Options widget, which allows you to set preferences for all of My Page including the number of columns to use. By default, you have three columns to play with. If you have small screens or large text, you might find that two columns work better. For those of you with very wide screens, you might try a larger number. When you like your settings, you can close that box and get it out of your way.

You'll also want to take a gander at the widgets that can be added to My Page. I put the "main" widgets on by default, but a lot of those "non-core" widgets (such as newest members, non-traditional boxes, etc.) are opt-in widgets.

Numerous things to add to My Page have been suggested over the years, but I largely avoided them under the protective flag that I felt most people would find such specific information more annoying than annoying. Now that My Page can be customized, I don't feel anywhere near so constrained. =) So I added a couple of widgets that are there for no other reason than I can, such as the This Day In History widget and the Weather widget.

One common request has been a place to write notes to oneself. There's a widget for that now!

I'll probably add additional widgets in the upcoming months, so check for new ones on occasion.

Anyhow, the best way to get familiar with the feature is just to dig in and start using it. It should work properly with all modern browsers. Older browsers could have problems. The page itself should *display* fine, but you might not be able to edit preferences, drag widgets around, and such.

Happy trails!

Premium Member Rates

Just one last warning--if you're thinking about becoming a premium member on Atlas Quest soon, rates will be going up $3/year next month. If you're already a premium member, you won't see any change--as long as you continue to renew your membership, you'll still get the same rate you've always been paying. But for those of you who are thinking about it or planned to sign up soon, you'll save a few bucks if you join before the end of the month! =)

If you prefer to send a personal check--not to worry, just mail it before the end of the month. Even if it arrives late, I'll still honor the old price so long as it's postmarked by the end of the month.

Happy trails!

-- Ryan

No More Abandoned Boxes! =)

I'm rather surprised at the number of people who complain about the abandoned status. Seems like it could be useful information, but people complain that they can't adopt such boxes. They complain that boxes that have been found recently and confirmed to still be in play aren't listed as active. They complain that boxes that are known to be gone and missing don't have a status of retired. Strangely, it seems like few people at all actually *like* the abandoned status--everyone prefers to complain about what the status "should" be.

And I realized--that abandoned status really isn't actually necessary. If you all want recently found boxes to be listed as active, fine. I'll make them active. If you want boxes that are known to be missing, fine. I'll list them as retired. And if the boxes may or may not be there but we aren't sure, I'll list them as unknown.

There are over 2,000 abandoned listings on Atlas Quest, and I have no intention of maintaining them all manually, so I've developed a new nightly task for Atlas Quest. It does some number crunching, checking the list of finds and attempts, and makes a best guess for the status of an abandoned listing, setting the status to either active, unknown, or retired. If there's an abandoned box that you want to make sure the status is active, record a find. If there's an abandoned box that you want to make sure the status is retired, record an attempt on it.

No guarantees that you can force the status to active a specific state, however. AQ considers a number of factors, which I'd rather not make public for three reasons:

One, nobody would ever agree on what factors should be used to determine the status of abandoned box listings.

Two, I'll likely be tweaking the calculations used to improve the results over time. Even if I told you what factors were used, it probably won't stay the same!

And three, the more one knows about how it works, the easier it is to "beat the system"--which I'd rather not have people trying to do to force a specific status.

The abandoned status was a fun to try, but seeing as it never seemed especially popular, I'm going to Plan B and having Atlas Quest auto-set the status for abandoned listings.

Happy trails!

Tempest in a Teapot

Some people feel that finds and attempts are terrible things to share. Mostly due to the fact that I lost my temper, I left it up to a vote to determine whether people could opt out of sharing such details about their boxes, and the idea went down in flames.

Time has passed, and I'm feeling much more rational than during those heated moments. A number of months ago, I finally decided that the option should be there. It likely won't be a popular option seeing as how soundly it had been voted down before, but it's the right thing to do. If it bothers you that you may not be able to see recent attempts or finds on a box, or possibly not even be able to see the last found date of a box, don't look for it.

You can even ignore all of the boxes by people who won't provide such information. Go to their profile, click the "Ignore Member" button in the upper-right corner of the page, and tell Atlas Quest to ignore their boxes in your searches in the future.

You can set this option in your Miscellaneous Preferences. The bottom of the first big box of options. You can hide just the attempts on your box, both the attempts and finds on your boxes, or the most draconian option available--hiding attempts, finds, and the last found date on your boxes.

I also have a challenge for you. =) Trying to hide this information from people who don't want others to see it is a tricky little business. It oozes. It leaks. People will still record finds, and they'll want it to show up in their logbooks as finds.

So I've tried to hide the pertinent information about your own boxes that you don't want shared, but I'm not entirely convinced I found every single possible place where it might have oozed out. So I've currently set my own boxes to hide everything--finds, attempts, and the last found date. I'd like to challenge some of you find some of that information. If I did a good job, you won't be able to find any of that information.

Admins--this challenge does not apply to you. There are certain places were restrictions are relaxed for admins, so you might be able to find data that others can't. =) Also, when it comes to showing finds and attempts, anyone who can edit a box can see the entire list of data, so it doesn't count if you find data on a box that I share with you. Carvers, planters, authors, owners, and listers of my boxes don't get fully restricted from the information, so if you want to participate, you need to find data on a box we don't have in common.

Let me know if you find any leaks anywhere so I can plug them up properly. =)

After a week or so, I'll return my box settings so you can see the attempts, finds, and last found dates. (I don't have a problem with that! I'm only changing my settings for testing purposes!)

Happy trails!

Premium Member Rates

Just as an FYI, I'm planning to raise the premium member rates from $35/year to $38/year at the end of the month. This is for NEW premium members--those who are already premium members, so long as you continue to renew, you'll continue getting the same rate you're currently getting. At this point, I plan to raise rates more-or-less at the rate of inflation every year or two. If I have to pay inflated costs for everything, so does everyone else. ;o) It's now been two years since the last increase, so I figure it's about due for another minor increase--and even then, it only applies to new premium members. All ya' old timers keep your old rates. =)

But I did want to give everyone who's not a premium member fair warning about the upcoming increase so you can lock in the current rates while they last. (Truth be told, however, I'd just as soon prefer y'all sign up next month! *wink*)

The 100-year membership is based on your current price for premium membership if you're already a premium member. If you're a premium member, AQ charges your current yearly rate multiplied by 5, so someone paying $30/year, the 100-year membership would cost 30 x 5 = $150. That won't change. You'd still be paying $30/year, and a 100-year membership would still cost $150.

If, however, you aren't a premium member already, AQ basically charges one year for an annual premium membership, then applies your current rate times five so the rates are applied fairly. Right now, that amounts to $210, but with the rate increase, it becomes $38 + ($38 x 5) = $228. If you want to get the 100-year membership can't afford it now, you can "game the system" sort of speak. Sign up for one year now at $35. Then you'll have a year to pay $35 * 5 = $175 for the hundred year membership. (The total cost being $210, or $18 less than waiting until next month to sign up.)

Clear as mud? =) Long story short--if you want to pay the lower rates, you'll want to become a premium THIS MONTH if you aren't a premium member already. If you buy the one-year premium membership, the cost of it will be applied to the 100 year membership if you choose to do that option later--but at the lower rate you've locked in.

And like I've said already, if you're already a premium member, this message does not apply to you. Just ignore me. =)

Happy trails!

This public service announcement has been brought to you by Atlas Quest

I was looking through some old photos, and couldn't help myself.... I added a few new PSA's to the lineup. =) Enjoy!

The person doing the hanging, in case you're wondering, is Chadams. Thanks for being a sport and modeling for me, Chadams!

Start Your Logging!

Many moons ago, there was a person who could not afford a premium membership on Atlas Quest. It was pointed out that even those without premium memberships can often be valuable members of our little community, however, helping answer questions, listing boxes for others to find, and so forth.

So I started periodically setting up "Free Listing Day," where every member on Atlas Quest, regardless of their premium membership, can have a whole day to list their finds for boxes that are not listed on Atlas Quest. Essentially, a premium member perk for a day as a thank you for your contributions to Atlas Quest and the letterboxing community.

I mix up the dates a bit and don't give a lot of advanced warning for "Free Listing Days" since it's meant for people who use and contribute to Atlas Quest on a regular basis. The last couple of years, I used Boxing Day as a Free Listing Day, but this year decided it had to move so I wouldn't become TOO predictable. =)

I originally moved it to Thanksgiving, but I ended up out in the proverbial woods and didn't have a chance to post the announcement in time! So as far as I can tell, not one single person took advantage of Free Listing Day, because I was the only person who even knew about. =)

So I moved it to Christmas this year instead. If you want a complete logbook of all your finds online, start recording your finds! You'll first see a list of boxes listed on AQ that match the box name you're looking for. Don't bother to search based on the author--unlisted boxes have no author listed. Assuming the box you're looking for really isn't listed on Atlas Quest, scroll down past those entries until you get to the list of "unlisted boxes."

Other people have been listing unlisted boxes, and to save yourselves a few keystrokes, you can see if someone else may have already recorded a find on the same box and use their data about the box. Or just click the "Create" button and add a find directly. The list of 'unlisted boxes' is just a convenience--don't get too wrapped up in finding your box in that list. If you do see the box you found and you don't like how it was entered, make your own with that Create button.

You'll have all of Christmas Day to use this premium member perk. Atlas Quest runs on Pacific Time, and the party ends at midnight. =)

Oh, and Merry Christmas! Post a comment and let us know what your favorite gift this year was! =)

You too, can become a Master Carver

Actually, my carvings I consider okay. There are those who truly are Master Carvers. I am a mere apprentice of these folks, but willing to do my part to help get new carvers started. =)

Way back when, I create a small little page with some carving tips I picked up along the way. When I slapped Atlas Quest together, I felt a more "professional-looking" tutorial was in order, and upgraded it. I included photos, expanded the prose, and added a whole new section for mounting the finished carving.

I've tweaked it a number of times since then. Added Mark's information about how he transfers images. Added Pungent Bob's tutorial about turning a photo into an image that can be carved. Fixed spelling and grammar errors.

Then, several months ago, someone told me that Speedy-Stamp no longer existed. It was renamed to Speedy-Carve. WHAT?! Another tweak was in order.... Updated the glossary, updated the Stampeaz page, and I would need to update the carving tutorial.

I headed out to Michaels to check out this "new" carving kit that's "ideal for letterboxing." They really did change the packaging! Look at that! =) I needed to update some of the photos in my tutorial, starting with the materials.

I went ahead and bought the kit (figured those pesky employees probably didn't want me taking pictures of it right there in their store). Anyhow, it would be nice to have carving tools at my mom's place here in SLO all the time. Then I wouldn't have to carry it from Seattle all the time.

And low and behold--even the directions for how to carve a stamp were updated. That acorn I used as a carving example was no longer there! The horror!

Well, heck, why not? I'd just redo all those pictures of my carving a stamp while I was at it. The existing photos were pretty lousy. Too small, and I squeezed the life out of them with the JPG compression. It needed to be updated.

So I chose to carve the ladybug from the directions. I needed a place for a photo shoot, however. I couldn't find anywhere in my mom's house that had a background I felt was satisfactory, so I started searching around the city for places. The catch is--most businesses really don't seem to like it when people go into their stores taking pictures. Even if it's just my hand carving a stamp. But there is one type of business that is unusually strange allowing me to do weird stuff and never saying boo about it: fast food. I can sit around for hours, and they just ignore me, even when I'm hunched over carving stamps.

I checked out the Carl's Jr, but their tables were white with black spots. Rather ugly. It wouldn't do for a background. The taco bell has these two-tone blues on their tables, and I didn't much care for a distracting multi-colored background. Jack in the Box, however.... A nice, solid, dark red color. Yes, I like that color. That will do for a background. *nodding*

I picked a seat by the window, with the sun low on the horizon making the table positively glow. Perfect.

Now, while the employees at these places will let me sit around for hours carving stamps, there is a catch. They kind of expect me to buy food. Go figure. *shrug* So I ordered a Sourdough Jack combo, filled up with soda, and ate a late lunch. Then I set the tray aside and prepared to carve.

I transferred the image to the carving block. It's not perfect--alas, my precious pencil sharpener is still in Seattle, so I made do with a much duller pencil than I would have preferred. But it'll get the job done.

Then I carved the stamp. It's kind of hard to take a picture with your left hand (I'm right-handed) while carving with your right hand at the same time. Actually, the pictures of my hand--I'm not even carving in those pictures. I'd stop carving, get the camera where I wanted it, pick up the carving tool and move it into a position that kind of looked like I was carving, and take the photo. Then I'd put down the camera, carve a bit more, and repeat.

I have little doubt the other customers and employees in the store thought I was crazy. =)

All-in-all, I really liked the results. The pictures are much bigger than before, and look a lot better. I went back home and started putting all the pictures together into a coherent tutorial. I updated the text, laid out the main steps in a table, and got something almost entirely new slapped together.

Since I was making all these changes anyhow, I figured I'd update the carving tutorial's navigation system. Before, you could only change from one page in the tutorial to another from links at the bottom of the page. I wanted links available at the top of the pages too.

Then I got to thinking.... Maybe I should try carving another stamp? Why limit the example to just one stamp? Or maybe that leaf would look better for the tutorial?

This time I decided to try the tables at Carl's Jr. I didn't much like the white tables with black spots--seems like they did that deliberately to hide dirt on their tables--but I'll give it a try. So the next day, off to Carl's Jr. I went, where I proceeded to carve the leaf.

The photos turned out, but I can't say I liked them much. As I expected, I hated the background. And the leaf seemed almost too easy to carve. I wanted something at least somewhat more intriguing than the leaf.

The sun design looked intriguing. Perhaps too sophisticated for someone's first carving, but it could be inspiration for people to challenge themselves too. But the background had to go. The back page of this weeks New Times (a free, local weekly paper) had a lot of clouds on the back which seemed like a nice, neutral background to use. Ideally, I'd have liked to go back to the Jack In the Box for their table, but I was itching to carve right then and there, so I figured I'd give the clouds a go.

And then there was sun.

I went back to my mom's house, and added both carvings to the bottom of the transferring and carving pages. No text--just more examples of carving stamps. I'm still half-tempted to take out the leaf since I don't think it really adds anything. It's even easier to carve than the ladybug was, and I hate the background on it. I liked the sun, though. The background still wasn't as nice as the tables at Jack's place, but it was a bit more complex to carve than the simple ladybug.

But what I wanted was a much more intricate carving. Something new carvers could really strive for, and I looked at the instructions that came with the kit again--and noticed that they had these wonderful line drawings explaining how to carve a stamp. They weren't meant to carve like the other images, but they were still perfect for tracing being bold, line drawings. I'd carve one of those!

The next day, I headed back to the Jack In the Box, ordered another Sourdough Jack combo meal (the things I do for you folks!), and carved another stamp--far more intricate than the previous stamps I had carved for the tutorial. I rather liked the final result--can't say I've ever seen anyone ever carve a stamp of someone putting a nib on a carving handle!

The tiny images I used for the leaf and sun wouldn't do for such an intricate image, so I made these a bit larger, and even added a small bit of commentary.

I still want to tweak the tutorials a bit more, but most of my letterboxing supplies are still up in Seattle so additional tweaks will have to wait. I want to use something other than black ink for stamping the ladybug and sun, but all I have with me is green and black. (Green = signature stamp, black = goes with everything!) And I also want to get a picture of the last stamp after coloring it with colored pencils. Throw a bit of color into the stamp, and a nice segway into the Art of Stamping tutorial. Details! Details!

Anyhow, the "minor" update of the tutorial has turned into quite the project for me! =) I've now carved four stamps for them, which I'm thinking about hiding as a series "How to carve a stamp in four easy steps?"--perhaps making that the basis of a Creating Great Letterboxes tutorial. (I bet most of you didn't even know about that page, did you? It's been there since the day AQ went up, but I've never publicized the link since I felt it needed photos and real-life examples which I never seemed to get around to doing.)

So that's what this last update has been about. =)

Oh, and if you click the column name in search results, the results will be sorted by the information in that column. That's the tweak I did that would have broken lots of things. =) (It looks simple, I know, but that 'little' feature took me the better part of a week to get working!)

Oh, yes, and one other thing.... Last Thanksgiving was a Free Listing Day--you know, the day that everyone can list finds on unlisted boxes. I didn't get to a pay phone to post an announcement until about 3:00 that afternoon, however, at which point I figured it was too late. I had hoped to post an announcement the previous day, but a pay phone did not make itself available to me. So I never bothered to make an announcement, and I suspect nobody even realized that anyone and everyone was able to record unlisted finds that day.

So I'm rescheduling it for Christmas Day. Merry Christmas! =)

Day 5: I Pull Ahead of the Pack

I last left you, camped in a bug-infested site just south of Indian Prairie Canal. By morning, the temperatures had dropped dramatically--a welcome relief from the bugs. I also woke particularly early since it wasn't more than 6:30 in the morning when the rest of the hikers marched past my camp. Previously I had hiked out three miles or so beyond the day's starting point so it would take them an hour just to catch up to me. With the nice backpacker campsite where it was, however, I stopped a mere 0.8 miles ahead of this day's starting point, so it didn't take them more than about ten minutes to catch up.

The last of the group passed me by before I even finished eating breakfast, but that's okay--I'd catch up. I knew I could. At least to the slower hikers, I would. =)

My tarp was absolutely sopping wet--you'd have thought it rained overnight by looking at it! Not a big deal, but wow, the condensation was astounding.

I packed up camp, then headed off to catch up with the rest, which took me about an hour to catch up to the slowest of the slow. I fell a bit behind again when the trail skirted around Harney Pond Canal--there was a convenience store there which I felt I must stop at and splurg. I bought a sandwich, donuts, and grape juice for lunch. Most others also stopped briefly at the store, but for me, it was civilization. Everyone else was just on a day hike. I lingered longer than the rest.

The one other noteworthy point of reference was the "hikers' graveyard"--an area covered with stones used to reinforce the dike, but they are set upright sticking out of the ground looking much like tombstones. I caught up with a few more hikers resting here--it's a nice "resting" spot. I also planted a letterbox here, but I haven't posted the clues yet. (I'm bad, I know!)

Then it was foward and onward, the last couple of miles to a boat launch where everyone else would end the day of the hiking. I however, wasn't anywhere near done.

There were two issues I had to deal with. The first was the fact that the next three miles of hiking was road walk--the one section around Lake Okeechobee not protected by a dike. Camping alongside this road I did not consider an option, and I definitely needed to get past it before setting up camp. Additionally, the three miles immediately after the road walk did take me back on the dike, but it was also immediately alongside Highway 78 and all of its traffic. I could have camped up there, but it wouldn't have been fun or nice.

Secondly, there was the official Thanksgiving dinner the next evening at the Clewiston Inn. The other hikers who'd done the hike in previous years raved about how wonderful it was, and I wanted to join the festivities. However, the hiking schedule would have taken me into Clewiston the day after Thanksgiving. I'd need to hike ahead and get there a day ahead of schedule or get a ride to Clewiston at the end of the day tomorrow.

You can probably guess what route I decided to take--I would hike in a day early. But to do that, I needed to get in as many miles as I could today, the day before Thanksgiving. Seeing as the next six miles of hiking would largely be terrible places to camp anyhow, I decided to push on to another backpacker campsite nearly six miles away.

The hike was uneventful. I walked the shoulder of the road as cars sped up and down the road. I was happy to leave the road and get on the dike, though I still had to listen to the traffic speeding up and down the road.

When I knew the backpacker campsite was coming up, I kept my eyes open for it--and it's a good thing I did because I nearly missed it entirely. All of the other backpacker campsites were immediately off on the side of the dike, clearly visible. This one was tucked a good ways off the dike, barely visible in the distance. The only reason I noticed it at all was because I saw what looked like someone tromping through the tall grass off the dike and I wondered where the heck they were trying to get to. Then I saw the small glint of the metal shelter tucked within a group of palm trees. Was that the campsite? I pulled out my monocular for a better view. Indeed, it appeared to be the campsite.

I tromped through the tall grass, already dreading having to come through it again in the morning. I knew it would be wet with condensation, and the grasses came up past my waist. I would be getting very wet in the morning.

As it turned out, the campsite was absolutely wonderful! I didn't even realized it existed on my thru-hike last January. I walked right past it never even seeing it--but being so far off the trail, I could see how I missed it. The camp was situated on the lake side, away from the traffic on the road, and even away from the people traffic on the dike, right alongside a canal at the lake's edge. Very scenic and tranquil!

I set up my tarp and started preparing dinner when I heard the sound of a tracker. It confused me at first, then I realized--they were cutting the tall grass on the dike! Yes! I hoped they would cut a path all the way to the campsite, and I could see the machine on the dike doing its thing.

Alas, the tractor stopped just before reaching the dike where I was at. It stopped at the edge of the canal where the dike passes over, but on the other side of the canal. Had they cut 50 feet beyond the canal, I could have walked back to the dike without getting so much as my ankles wet from consensation in the morning, but no..... they have to take the day off just before it would have done me any good. *sigh*

Of all the camps I stayed at, this one turned out to be the busiest. A few times during the afternoon and evening boats cruised by along the lake. And shortly before sunset, two men walked into camp with their fishing gear and started trying to catch some fish. They tried for about an hour or so while we chatted, but they didn't catch anything and eventually left back the way they came. They seemed startled when they found my campsite--I guess they fish there quite regularly but had never seen anyone actually camp at the site before.

The bugs, I was grateful, seemed to take the evening off. It was much cooler this evening than the previous one which might have been a contributing factor. All the local Floridians kept complaining about how cold the weather was, but I was grateful. I considered the weather absolutely ideal. The lows overnight typically matched the highs in Seattle during the day. Cold? I don't think so.... And cold enough to keep the bugs away? You bet! I'll take it in a heartbeat! =) I was in my element!

I'd now completed almost six miles of the official hiking schedule for the next day, six miles out of 9.4. The next day, I figured, I'd probably be on the trail hiking before even the quickest of hikers caught up with me again in the morning, and I'd hoof it in all the Clewiston one full day before the official schedule would have gotten me there.

Day 4: Out of Okeechobee!

As I swore to do the night before, I slept in until I felt good and ready to wake up in the morning. I woke up at about 7:00 in the morning, noting that the last people who needed shuttle rides back at the end of the day were expected to have gotten on the trail at least a half hour before. Rumor had it that some early birds started at 4:30 in the morning. Losers. =)

I flipped on the TV to the Weather Channel--some thru-hiking habits are hard to break!--then ate breakfast, packed up my gear, and hit the trail at about 7:45. The frame on my sunglasses, I was sad to note, had cracked at some point since I got into town and one of the lenses wanted to keep falling out. After an hour of hiking, I passed by one of our vans that were waiting to pick up some hikers part way, and borrowed a small piece of duct tape to hold my glasses together. At least long enough to finish the hike. Hiking in Florida without sunglasses would be suicidal!

Today's day of hiking was the longest--14.7 miles. That the official count, at least. Because of my camping on the levy, I didn't always do the same number of official miles each day as everyone else. For me, 14.7 miles was just the minimum distance to hike to keep up with the pack.

At this point, a growing number of hikers had been dropping off the trail or doing partial days of hiking due to blisters, sores, and pains. I had no blisters, and nothing more than the dullest of pains. Leaving Okeechobee, my pack was filled with extra food and water that I hadn't carried on my way in, but overall, I only expected it to take me three days to reach Moore Haven--the next good place to resupply--so my pack wasn't as heavy as it could have been.

After an hour or two of hiking, I caught with with the slowest of slow who left Okeechobee over an hour before I did, eventually passing eight of "our" hikers before reaching Indian Prairie Canal and the official end of the day's hike. I hiked in another 0.8 miles to a small backpacking campsite on the dike--the site of the infamous summer sausage caper. I was in familiar territory now. I had memories here--not always good ones, but they were mine. =)

I set up camp, cooked burritos for dinner, but at dusk, the bugs came out in force. My other two nights on the dike had a few bugs, but in limited numbers that quickly dropped off after the sun set and the temperatures started to cool. Not this night. The temperatures stayed miserably warm, but I wrapped myself in my sleeping bag to escape the onslaught anyhow. I tried to read my book with my headlamp inside the sleeping bag, but it was a mummy bag and not especially suited for reading in. (I brought a Carl Haasen book--Lucky You--a Florida author which seemed like the type of thing I should read while I was in Florida.)

I finally gave up trying to read, and just laid in the sleeping bag bored stiff and sweating bullets wishing the bugs would just go away. Well after midnight, the temperatures finally plunged and the bugs quit for the night. I put on additional layers of clothing for warmth, and finally got a good night's sleep. =)