Incarceration Tour Day 4

Home!
Total mileage for the trip:  1068.7

On the previous two mornings of the trip, we had a lot of lollygagging around since the Rotary Prison didn't open until 10:00AM and our Prison Tour in Jefferson City didn't start until 9:00 AM CT.  This final day of the trip was more typical of a motorcycle vacation as we were on the road by sunrise.
Light rain had moved through the area very early in the morning, but mercifully, there was little rain as we packed up and the morning temperature was quite tolerable, if still a little humid.

Once on the road, I was really glad we stopped the previous night when we did.  Early morning is the best time to ride and this day was no exception.  Temperature was really quite nice and there were almost no other cars on the road.  I think it was nearly an hour before I even had to pass a slow moving Sunday driver.
The clouds in the area painted a subdued sunrise as we motored toward home.

The motorcycle ride through Southern Indiana hill country is very pleasant.  Lots of hills, beautiful green trees and enough straight stretches that we can still make good time.
In a predictable amount of time we were getting fuel at a gas station not too far from home.  Home by 10:00 AM, we had plenty of time to unpack and get settled before getting the dogs back from the kennel.

I prefer week(s)-long trips across country on the motorcycle, but these long weekends definitely do make a few days feel like a real adventure.
As far as trips go, this June quest on the Goldwing has to be one of the hottest and stickiest motorcycle tours ever, especially given the trip length.  June is usually cooler with a bit more rain expected, so I'll count myself as lucky that we only had at most 2 hours of rain.  Areas around us got deluged and much of Southern Illinois smelled like a marsh from all the rain.

As a bit of an aside, shortly before leaving on this trip, I replaced the windshield on my Goldwing with a Klockwerks Flare.  The stock windshield had cracked and I always hated how the top of the windshield could sometimes be right at the sight line.  The 14" Flare at the lowest setting is perfect.  There probably isn't quite as much wind protection when ambient wind was high, a little more during calm winds and it works quite well during heavy rain.  Baptism by storm.  Being firmly of the belief that looking through a motorcycle windshield is very, very wrong, I really like the Flare windshield.

Overall, what a great trip.  We rode through some really nice parts of the Midwest and saw some amazing, if somewhat tragic, historical aspects of the United States.  The tours were both interesting and the time away from the daily issues of life was a nice break.

Incarceration Tour Day 3

Total mileage for the trip so far:  886.0 Miles

June 13 was the scheduled day for the Missouri State Penitentiary Tour - the reason for the motorcycle tour to Missouri.  The tour didn't start until 9:00 AM, but I was up early as usual so I took advantage of the time to do some walking and to see the State Capital.  Jefferson City was almost scary quiet on an early Saturday morning which gave me time to walk around the Capital grounds some.  The only other person I saw was the woman in the guard shack who appeared to be doing laps inside the shack as exercise or something.
The Capital building itself is impressive, but I could not get inside at this early hour.  There are many statues around the building, most commemorating the territorial acquisition.

The Capital sits right on the Missouri River.  Unfortunately, a set of train tracks separates the city from the river so it is not possible to enjoy it.  It did look like it might be more accessible farther down the river.  The sunrise over the river was still very pretty.

After the nice morning walk, it was back to the hotel for more hotel waffles saturated in syrup before heading out for the very short drive to the Missouri State Penitentiary.
The building itself is imposing and looks like several other prisons.  The tour group was already congregating when we got there.

Once inside, our tour guide Ray gave some stories on the history and mayhemic background of the prison.  Gretchen, the other tour guide, was nice enough to allow our motorcycle coats to be put up in the Guard Control Room for the bulk of the tour.
The Missouri State Penitentiary was built in 1836.  It was added to multiple times after opening, typically using inmate labor.  Interestingly, inmate labor was also used to build prestigious houses in the area.
The prison grew over the decades to, at one time, become one of the largest prisons in the US, if not the largest.  It seemed to ebb and flow from being progressive to regressive in treatment of inmates, but like many prisons of the times, inmates were often seen as a lesser form of human.
One of the most notable inmates was "Pretty Boy" Floyd.  It was also notable for female inmates and being the site of Missouri executions.  Since for a time, the US government did not have its own facilities suitable for executions, the Missouri State Penitentiary was used for federal executions.  It is noted as the only site where a woman was executed by lethal gas - any personal feelings on the death penalty aside, I'm not sure there is any reason to treat males and females differently with respect to punishment for  similar crimes.  Women's Lib?  Take your medicine...
James Earl Ray was housed in the Missouri State Penitentiary.  After numerous escape attempts, he finally made it out about a year before assassinating MLK.  If there were "numerous" escape attempts, one wonders why he wasn't watched closer ... conspiracy theorists, have your say!

Like other prisons I've previously visited, the structure is an imposing stone building which I'm sure is designed to serve as a mental imposition to the imprisoned.  It was in use from being built in 1836 through 2004 (seriously? - yes, only about 10 years ago - yikes!).  It was the site of a major prisoner riot in 1954 and was labeled as the "bloodiest 47 acres in America" by Time Magazine in 1967 - an achievement noted on the tourism web site for the prison.

Rather than give a stone by stone account of the prison, below are some pictures from the tour:

One of the cell blocks.

A prison cell.  Can you imagine spending years in this?

Another prison building off of "the yard."  All these stone and metal buildings are so metaphorically cold, even on the hot and humid day that we were there.

The Honor Building.  This is the oldest prison structure and served various purposes over its life.  In the last incarnation, it was used to house inmates who had proven themselves to not be troublemakers.  This building is different from previous tours I've been on in that the cell blocks are on the outside wall, not free standing.

Inmates were even allowed to decorate their cells to some degree.  There were many murals painted, some of which remain.  Apparently, some decorations that no longer exist were very ornate.

This is "The Hole" which is also known as the Dungeon.  Much mistreatment of inmates went on down here.  It was dark, dank and hard to imagine staying a few days down in it, let alone years.

Death Row.  It was actually not as unpleasant as some of the other cells, but the reality is, it was probably the worst - mentally if nothing else.

The death chamber.  They said they needed a two seat chamber since they had four double executions, but I still think it is odd in a scary sort of way.

Overall the tour was well done.  I thought it was longer than it had to be since we didn't see that much.  Much of the time was spent with Ray telling stories of the prison which did help bring the tour alive and bring some perspective to the event.  There were some times when the talking did get to be a bit verbose.  And some of the "ghost" stories were somewhere in the silly realm.  It actually felt a bit rushed at the end, where we all drove to the Death House - which is where the tour ended.

Overall the tour was enjoyable.  Having toured three prisons (and a jail the previous day), these prison structures are probably in the best shape of the ones that I've seen.  There were 33 people on the tour which was a bit too many.  I guess I would have liked it to be shorter, with not quite as much talking and a few less people.  As it was though, hanging back when the group walked on allowed some really great pictures without a lot of other people in them.

The three prisons I have toured; Mansfield, Ohio; Rawlins, Wyoming; Jefferson City, Missouri do paint an interesting historic picture of incarceration.  My plan is to only see these things as a free, motorcycle-riding tourist.

Once the tour was over we hit the road.  The plan was to ride down 2-lane roads except for right around St. Louis.  We hit some really heavy rain before St. Louis, but muscled through it.  There wasn't any thunder and traffic was light.  The rain only lasted about a half an hour until we were back into the heat.

We continued on through Illinois for the afternoon.  I didn't hit "the wall" during the ride, but I did find myself wondering where the Indiana border was.  

Eventually we did find the border.  We were chasing rain through much of the second half of Illinois and into Indiana.  Rain could be seen in the distance, and in some places the road was not dry yet.  We stopped a little way into Indiana in the town of Washington.  We didn't make reservations, but found a very nice reasonably priced independent hotel with a pizza and wing place next door.

Now that we are out of prison, it is time to head home.

Incarceration Tour Day 2

Total mileage for the trip 566.0 miles (I think)

The day started out normal enough for a vacation day with an early rise.  Since we left the previous night, we were less than an hour from our first stop of the day and they didn't open until 10:00AM.  So there was some putzing around the hotel room before leisurely leaving and taking the slow roads up to Crawfordsville, Indiana to see the Rotary Jail there.

The rotary jail in Crawfordsville, Indiana was the first of many rotary jails built.  It is estimated there were in the low double digits of them built in the US with several still standing.  The rotary jail being visited is reported to be the only one that still works (ie it still rotates).

The "innovative" design was patented by William H. Brown of Indianapolis.  The primary feature of the jail was that it increased safety and strict Victorian hierarchy by only allowing one inmate in or out at at time.

I really see two issues with the rotary jail.  First, if there is ever a fire or any other kind of structural or natural disaster, getting inmates out to safety will be slow at best.  Perhaps in the 1880's, when this first rotary jail was built, this was not seen as an important aspect; people in jail were a lesser version of human.  The other main issue was that inmates may get limbs, or other body parts stuck in the rotary aspect of the jail, causing mangling (or worse).  Similarly, I do wonder if an inmate bent on malfeasance could stop the jail from rotating by wedging something in place to prevent rotating.  Now throw in a drunk inmate and things can really get interesting.

Despite the innovative nature, the concept of the rotary jail did not last too long and by 1939, all rotary jails were either no longer in service or modified to no longer being rotary - making them just a pie shaped jail.  The Rotary Jail in Crawfordsville stayed in operation as a non-rotating jail until 1973 (seriously).  Apparently, it was in dire condition by then and required extensive restoration to turn into a museum.

The tour started with the Sheriff's house.  The Sheriff lived on site and his wife did most of the cooking for the inmates.  The house itself is pretty typical for Edwardian/Victorian architecture.  What was nice about this structure is that it was turned into a museum very shortly after it was closed as an active jail so it didn't fall into more disrepair or vandalism.

From there, we went into the jail.  As expected, the jail is a cylinder shape with two stories.  Each story has 8 wedges.  Each pie wedge could hold two inmates for a total of 32.  

In addition to the rotating part of the jail, there was also a woman's cell (could hold four), plus an infirmary which was also sometimes used for juveniles and/or a high security cell.

Throughout the tour, Dillon, our tour guide, gave lots of information and history of the rotary jail.  I will say that the $5.00 admission with personal tour was very well worth it.  Not only was the information great, but it also allowed the tour to move at a pace that was appropriate for us.

While the jail is restored, there is still evidence of its history.  In the picture below, the deteriorated floor can be seen below where the toilet used to be.  I guess inmates were not necessarily good at aiming?

There were 2 people executed by hanging at the Rotary Jail, but one required three tries.  If there was ever a case for cruel and unusual, that must be it.

As the only rotary jail that still rotates, I was glad they still do rotate it as part of the tour.  The effort it takes to spin the jail is considerable and didn't look like fun in the day's early heat and humidity.  I was surprised at the spinning rate of the jail as I had previously pictured something with much more gear reduction.

From there, we went down into the basement of the jail to see the actual workings of it.  The mechanism juts out of the wall.  The brick wall supports the bars of the jail.

The jail "pie" is actually supported entirely on this large metal post.  The post goes all the way up through the cylinder that is the rotary part of the jail.  Surprisingly, the support also holds the waste plumbing for the cells.  The incoming water for the jail was a cistern on the roof.  And this means that during a drought...

While we were down there, someone else started turning the jail as part of an inspection being done.  Seeing the actual mechanism working was very fascinating.

After looking around a few more minutes at the jail, we left to head to prison.  Normal course would be court first, but such is vacation.

We headed out through the flat land of Indiana and Illinois.  We stayed mostly to two lane roads through the day.  While we saw rain in the area several times, the only time we actually hit rain was around the Indiana/Illinois border for about 45 minutes.  It was moderately hard at times, but was almost refreshing in the days relenting humid heat.

We crossed the Illinois River near Hardin by a bridge, before heading south between the Illinois and Mississippi rivers to the Golden Eagle Ferry.  I've crossed rivers on the motorcycle before on Ferries, but never the Mississippi.  The water was up and moving so the ferry almost had to come in at a 45 degree angle.  Actual docking was very gentle though.

Once in Missouri, we headed west again towards Jefferson City.  There was significant traffic, but only for a short time as we got on the Interstate.  We skirted a very large thunderstorm that I was glad we didn't have to ride through on the motorcycle.  We did get to take advantage of the shade and cooling from the clouds.  After about a half an hour on I-70, we got off to take 2-lane roads the rest of the way.  I was really glad we did as the ride from that point was fantastic.  We headed down to near the Missouri River and followed it along all the way to Jefferson City.  The ride was hilly, curvy and with very little traffic was just plain fun.  I actually felt sorry for all those people on I-70 gritting their teeth with a death grip on the steering wheel.

As we approached Jefferson City, I was struck how close to the Capital of Missouri the rural landscape remained.  Jefferson City is a bit odd in that it is presumably close to the flood plain and there are no interstates running into it.

We got turned around a bit as we got into Jefferson City, but found our hotel soon enough.  Dinner that night was at Hoxton's Tarvern and Grill.  Other than one VERY loud patron it was nice and the food was pretty good.

Heavy rain was just moving in as we got back to the hotel to call it a night.

Incarceration Tour Day 1

Incarceration tour?  Yep.  Heading to jail tomorrow and prison on Saturday.

June 11, 2015 127.9 Miles

The day started out normal enough.  Up early, watch part of The Office on TV while getting ready for work and making my lunch.  Head to work...
By early afternoon, I was at a point where I wasn't going to start anything new.  I wrapped up a few final things, sent off a couple emails (immediately shutting down after that), cleaned up the lab and headed out.
I got home and dropped the dogs off in beagle jail.
Back at home, I get the bike packed up and ready to go.  SO got home a short time later, we did final packing and getting ready and headed out on the Goldwing.  I got about a mile and a half away, and then realized I had forgotten my laptop.  I'm not sure how far I would have gotten and still turned around, but at a mile and a half it was a no brainer.  I would have been irritated (and likely whiny and annoying) if I wouldn't have had my laptop.

Back on the road ten minutes later, we went down to the interstate before staying on it all through Indiana.  Traffic was relatively light, but it was very hot.  It was tolerable when the sun was behind a cloud, but I was glad we were only going a couple hours.  The crazy Garmin wanted to get me off the interstate around Indianapolis, and I was going to follow it, but I missed the exit it was telling me to take.  I don't think this is the first time I did that - I don't understand why Garmin routes me off the interstate so much.
So, we stayed on I-74 straight to Brownsburg for the night.
Dinner was Steak-n-Shake and even though I got a birthday cake shake, I still got Zingers for the room.

Tomorrow ... I go to jail.

US Flight 93 Memorial and Centralia PA (Page 2)

My hotel room was not the quietest ever, but after riding most of the day with ear plugs in, I was able to sleep very well that night with them in.  It helped that I was somewhat tired after a full day of riding.

In the morning, I had a quick bagel and a cup of coffee before hitting the road.  I rerouted my return trip overnight (that seems to happen more often than not) which took me through Centralia one more time on my way.  As expected, there were no cars, other than the residents, parked in the area.  I strongly suspect a Monday morning visit would have been a totally different animal.  I'm not sure my overall impression would have been different, and the voyeuristic component would have been much more pronounced.

When I go somewhere on one of my adventures, realistic expectations mean I almost always really enjoy it.  In retrospect, I'm glad I went to Centralia since it is one of the few modern-day (post WWII) US ghost towns that can actually be visited.  And there in lies the issue I guess.  Most of the handful of other modern-day ghost towns can't be visited due to the danger or private-property restrictions (I won't try to go to Gilman, Colorado).  If they can be easily visited, they are probably somewhat anticlimactic, rife with destructive vandalism, or they would have been turned into tourist attractions.  Reading more online showed me that when I was looking at the main epicenter of the fire, I didn't even know it.  The fire is still burning (maybe smoldering is the right term for 2015), but evidence is rare and short lived at best and can probably only be seen on the coldest of days; looking at online images and other movies, it is hard to find credible above-ground evidence of recent fire that also shows the massive amount of graffiti on the rerouted PA-61 highway (see complete lack of graffiti in This Movie, made in 2002).  The most recent evidence of anything other than trivial levels of steam or smoke seems to be around 2010.

My trip home took me around 10 hours of riding, which gives much time for further thought.  What is so insane is the true amount of danger is known, and has obviously been for some time.  The authorities had to do something in 1980 when a child almost died in a fiery sink-hole, but the role of money and pounding-on-the-table rhetoric in the decision can be illustrated in this Google satellite image.  The main "fire" is marked with an asterisk; the whole image represents less than 15-square miles.  PA-61 was rerouted only 10s of feet.  The distance to active coal mines, or communities that weren't forced into abandonment is less than a mile.

The decision was made long ago and there is no compelling reason to resurrect Centralia at this point.  While I don't understand the idea that Centralia must be the home of the remaining residents, I hope they happily live on Commonwealth-owned land forever.  At this point, the risk of sinkholes may be the strongest reason to restrict access and/or rebuilding, but by that logic, large swaths of Florida are far more dangerous and should be off limits as well; the role of money in these decisions is obvious.

I stayed on 2-lane roads for a while in Pennsylvania while making my way to the interstate.  The area is very picturesque, and likely would be more so if the trees were green.  Shortly after leaving Centralia, I saw a sign at a coal mine that sells "bagged coal" for $4.95 a bag.  I was not aware that people still bought coal to heat with, but anthracite coal, found only in NE Pennsylvania is still used as a heat source and is probably no worse than using wood (and burns much hotter).
Work-day and commuting traffic picked up on the 2-lane Pennsylvania roads and once on I-80, I moved much quicker.  Road traffic was almost non-existent, but picked up slowly through the day.  I was struck by the thought that over 20 years ago at the same time I was headed east on this same interstate to my internship at American Cyanamide.  That trip was made in a white 1977 MGB with everything I could carry stuffed in the car.  Life has changed a lot since then.

In Western Pennsylvania, temperatures dropped, the sky clouded up and rain spit at me, moderately heavy at times.  Temperatures ranged from the upper 30s to upper 40s.  At periods of lower temperature and more precipitation, it approached crappy motorcycling - but still better than being at work.

Once headed south, it dried out and warmed up quickly.  I likely would have made it home by 3:00, but for some heinous construction traffic between Columbus and Cincinnati.  It is very unclear why this one construction zone was so much worse than all the previous ones I had been through on the trip.

My whole trip to the US Flight 93 National Memorial and Centralia, PA was 1140 miles.  I was gone about 36 hours and am better for the trip.
I'm not sure if I'll ever return to Centralia to re-experience that modern-day ghost town.  While Centralia was somewhat anticlimactic, I am not disappointed by the decision to go there.  And, if I happen to be have a desperate need to be in Ashville or Shamokin, I'll definitely stop by again.  As it was with any of my adventures, the cost and experience were 100% worth it.

US Flight 93 Memorial and Centralia PA

With several days of 2014 vacation that must be used before the end of April, I knew I needed to "do something" with the time rather than just sit around the house - even though I almost always find things to do and there are several things that need to be done.

On my Google Keep list of places I'd like to see was Centralia, Pennsylvania.  I don't remember where I heard about it originally, but Centralia is an almost-ghost town.  In 1962, the town dump was burned (environmental challenges were treated differently then), which likely ignited a coal vein that burned underground.  The coal continued to burn, causing issues like super-heated gasoline in an underground tank, buckling of roads, and sink-holes - one of which almost swallowed and burned a child.
In the 1980's, the town was abandoned and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania now owns the town, even though there are still a handful of residents.
Wikipedia has a pretty good synopsis of the events.  There is an excellent documentary which gives much more information as well as putting a human face on the town.

While planning the trip, I noticed my planned route would put me through Shanksville, Pennsylvania where US Flight 93 was crashed on September 11, 2001 and the Flight 93 National Memorial now is.

I left dark and early on Sunday morning, hoping to miss most of the work-day traffic.  Traffic was indeed light, but it felt cold.  It was in the lower 40s, which is usually fairly easy to be reasonably comfortable, but for whatever reason, I was absolutely frigid.  There was a fairly stunning sunrise, which was also short lived, as I got into the Columbus, OH area.  The cloud line continued to stay just out of reach, preventing a significant warm-up.  Luckily, the Triumph Trophy has heated grips as it made all the difference.

Finally, somewhere in Eastern Ohio, the sun came out and things started to warm up much more.  I spent most of the morning on the interstate, but got off for a short time which was much more pleasant and allowed me to get a real Whoopie Pie at a gas stop.
Near the panhandle of West Virginia, I got back on the interstate and stayed on it until the Pennsylvania Turnpike.  It may be different now, but I vividly remember taking the turnpike when I had an internship in New Jersey in college, and I recall it was very expensive and painful with slow construction.

I got to the US Flight 93 National Memorial around noon.  The road there was pretty, even if the trees are still stark without leaves.  The Memorial is still under construction and on this April day, there were not many people there.

The Memorial is well done, if incomplete.  I'm curious what it will look like when it is done and may have to return one day.  There is a massive visiting center which is just walls, the beginnings of a group of planted trees and a wetlands area with a bridge.
It is possible to get quite close to the actual impact spot, which is marked with a boulder and small flags.

There is a wall with passenger names on it, although the many sections without names makes it look like it isn't finished.  There are nooks in the wall bordering the walkway where tributes can be left.
Overall, I found the Memorial quite sobering.  It brought back memories of that September day, with everyone at work staring at TV screens, hearing some information that turned out not to be true and other information we hoped wasn't true.

Back on the road, I stayed on 2-lane roads through most of Pennsylvania.  This area has some absolutely fantastic motorcycle roads.  However, many of them are marked at a ridiculously slow speed for trucks.  I didn't get behind any slow vehicles, and I absolutely would not want to either...

I made good time and got to Frackville in the late afternoon.  I didn't feel like sitting around the hotel room all evening, so I thought I'd head to Centralia and then go back on Monday morning - Monday morning being the plan to see what the almost-ghost town had to offer.
Frackville to Centralia takes about 10 minutes.  I had read that some people have had a hard time while looking around, but I'm not sure I believe it.  There were many cars parked all over, especially at the main interest points.  There were also people running all over in ATVs and off-road vehicles.  I talked with several people in the area, all of whom said that any smoke is rare and short-lived now.  There is a slight sulfur smell of burning coal, but it is almost in the background.
The most notable feature of Centralia is the graffiti highway.

Yep, that is a lot of vulgar graffiti.  The buckled highway looks pretty bad, but the ground is ambient temperature.  No more heat or smoke, at least not on this day.

Overall, my Centralia visit felt a bit voyeuristic and anticlimactic.  It felt voyeuristic since there are still a handful of people who live there.  I tried to be sensitive to the fact that people's homes were still there and felt bad that some treat it like it was a zoo.
It was a bit anticlimactic since there was no real evidence of the fire burning.  It was a bit like when I was in Wyoming after a forest fire had been in the area, except forest fires often initiate life and regrowth.  A dead town seems just like a dead town.  It reminded me of the suburban community that a family member moved into before the developer lost all his money.  In both situations, streets sit eerily empty.  Individual housing lots could still be made out.  There were still telephone poles and walkways, just no houses and no people.  I didn't even see much in the way of squirrels or the like running around.

I actually found the town more compelling than the graffiti highway or the vent tubes near the cemetery.  What was really sad was all the trash all over.  This isn't unique to Centralia, just more pronounced.  Trash all over really isn't unique to this part of Pennsylvania or Pennsylvania in genral; people are pigs.
Saint Ignatius looks down on the remnants of Centralia and the remaining denizens.  The view of the town and the area looks like it could have come right out of the movie The Deer Hunter.

Most coal that is mined is still used for electrical generation.  The irony of a town destroyed by coal, that now lies in the shadow of windmills should be noted.

After seeing Centralia, I decided there was no reason to go back in the morning.  I do believe that the experience would have been much different first thing on a Monday morning as I doubt there would be many other people there.  As expected, it really isn't a tourist destination, but I wouldn't want to go there on a busy June weekend.

Back at the hotel I had a great meal at the Dutch Kitchen before finishing the day with ice cream.

While resting at night, I couldn't help but wonder where Frackville got its name?  Fracking is a relatively recent phenomenon, but the town was founded in the 1860s.  I was also struck at how busy Frackville and nearby Ashville were.  Both of these towns are a picture of what Centralia might have become had Federal Government bureaucracy and Local Government ineptitude not been so prevalent in 1962.
Belated Edit:  According to Wikipedia and other sources, Frackville is named after Daniel Frack, an early setller.  Now that is quite a coincidence.  

2015 Hog Hunt day 6 and 7 (Drive Day)

The last day or hunting started with work to do.  Rob, Cody and I went with Rick to pick up some bagged corn that Rick got a deal on (nearly half price).  Joe went shooting with Rick's neighbor Chad and then left.  The forecast was for rain, potentially heavy and Joe was not interested in sitting out during inclimate weather.

After getting the corn, we went back to the lodge for the rest of the morning and afternoon.  It started to rain in the very early afternoon so we just hung out in the lodge.

Later in the afternoon Rick dropped us all off for our last afternoon of hunting.  Jessie was dropped off at "the swamp" which gave her the best chance of seeing hogs.  I was on NG's farm in a ground blind.  Thankfully it was a box blind with a roof.  Rob and Cody were on Will's farm in another box blind.
As far as ground blinds go, I really like the box blinds since I think the give the best protection from the wind and scent moving.  The darkness also allows for a little more movement possible, although this shouldn't be seen as a substitute for sitting still.  In this case, protection from the weather, even if limited is nice.

Rain during the afternoon was a mist to a moderate rain at times.  It wouldn't have been too bad, but since hog movement was somewhat down this year the protection form rain was nice.
The box blind had a very comfortable chair in it, but it still took some time to get situated to sit still.
At one point at around 4:00 I was rearranging things in my hunting bag when I looked up and caught sight of something running across the corn pile.  I'm not 100% sure what it was, but I think it was a really big coyote.  Supporting this, later that evening I heard coyotes very near the stand.  Part of me is afraid to believe I may have missed a chance at a big hog.

Not much else moved until just before dark when several deer came out.  I watched the deer for a while, but it got darker much earlier with the rain and clouds coupled with the heavy pine trees.  After dark, I quietly made my way back to the clearing to get picked up.  Standing in the mist waiting for Rick, a few coyotes howled in the distance.  This was followed very quickly by lots of howling and yipping very near by.  It sounded like the close coyotes were very close to the blind.  That howling sound of a pack of coyotes is both eerie and magical.

Nobody else had seen any hogs which means Jessie's 11 year run of getting at least one hog is broken.  She wasn't happy and neither was Rick; I felt bad for Jessie (but I've been there).

Back at the lodge, we quartered up my boar and put it on ice in my cooler for the trip home.
We ate food that was left over from the week.  I packed up most of my stuff to be able to leave quickly and quietly in the morning.  We all booked for the same time next year.  Without the plantation, this year was tougher than most, but hopefully things will get worked out in a positive direction before 2016.
Everyone turned in early since everyone was going home the next day.

I woke up a few minutes before my phone alarm went off Saturday morning.  A quick shower, my last few things packed up and I was on the road by about 4:00AM - a little paranoid that I forgot something (as always).
Rain in the morning was very heavy at times but let up through the day.  The mountains near the Tennessee/North Carolina border were somewhat snowy with more snow on the ground through Tennessee and most of Kentucky.
I listened tot he book Skyjack, The Hunt for D.B. Cooper by Geoffrey Gray.  I've always had an interest in the Dan Cooper hijacking case.  The book morphed form an interesting investigation of the November, 1971 events into his interactions with increasingly bizarre and conspiracy-oriented people.  It was hard to tell from the book if his interactions with the crazies were somewhat tongue in cheek, especially since the book was read by the author.  The conspiracy theories got pretty outlandish; the biggest problem with conspiracy theories is they kind of have to be all right or all wrong, there isn't much room for partial truth.

Back at home I unpacked before resting for the evening.  I was able to weigh my recovered bullet form the hog at 113 grains, meaning almost 70% weight retention after an aggressive path through the animal.  Fairly impressive!
A good part of Sunday was spent processing my hog into loins, steaks and burgers, ending this year's wild boar hunt.