Day 26 still near Atlanta, IL

September 18, 2015

There was a little rain around 2:00am, and heavy rain at 4:50am. Other than that, I slept soundly until 6:50am.

It looked like there might be some sunshine, but rain was showing here and there on the weather radar. I'm taking the day off and staying here. (Though, having a whole day to write yesterday's report isn't good - it'll take all day!)

At 9:00am I had breakfast. Then, at 10:00am, I went to the office to see about paying for my second night. A cheerful grade school-aged girl was tending the office. She didn't know how to receive money for camping, but she was able to sell me a PayDay candy bar.

There was a cool breeze mid-morning, but the sun only appeared briefly. I went back to the office at 11:00am. Walter was back, and accepted $10 for tonight, $5 for firewood, and $1 for another can of soda. Then we talked for nearly an hour. Walter told me about some German touring bicyclists who stayed here once for a few days. They sent him a post card after they got back home.

Had lunch at noon, then put things away, since it was getting ready to rain. I'd been working on yesterday's report off and on. I said to myself, "Get the report done, then you may take a nap." It started raining and I just couldn't resist. I took the nap first - from 12:35pm until loud thunder woke me at 2:20pm. More rain.

I kept checking the weather radar, trying to figure out when I could have my campfire. Well, anyway, not until the report is done. I took a break from that to walk around the lake. This is a nice, quiet, peaceful place.

The day was getting away from me, but the report was about done. At 6:00pm I had supper. The lunch bag is nearly empty now. The weather radar looked OK for the moment, so I started my fire at 6:25pm. I got a fairly good photo of the campfire this time with the BlackBerry. I think the trick is to get the picture early, before there are too many flames.

At 6:50pm, I left my campfire for a moment. I wanted to get a picture of Walter, if he was willing. He agreed. I purchased one more soda, and got back to my fire as Walter got ready to check-in a camper.

No sunset picture tonight. There was lightning and thunder as it got dark. At 7:20pm I took cover in the tent during heavy rain and very close lightning. That was over by 8:00pm. There was some awesome lightning to the east after that. Then more heavy rain for about ten minutes, starting at 8:27pm. Then more heavy rain at 10:30pm. In between storms the stars were out.

Got yesterday's report done and sent during the first storm. Started on today's report and got that done. I'm all ready now for tomorrow . . . if it would just stop storming. At least I didn't have to put out the campfire.

Jeff

Spent: $1 (candy bar) + $10 (campsite) + $5 (firewood) + $1 (soda) + $1 (soda) = $18.

+ plus signs indicate pictures added after returning home from the trip +