Chicot State Park. Trip report.

Chicot State Park, Louisiana

24Feb2012  to 01Mar2012

24Feb2012

18:31                  

Temp 61degrees F.
Day #2 of my back pack trip in Chicot State Park. I'm settled in my hammock for the night at campsite #6. I'm feeling much better after yesterday's ordeal to get here. I left the south trail head at 13:01 with my pack weighing in between 40-45 lbs. I barely made it past ~ 7 miles when I gave in at 18:00 and pitched a temp camp just north of mile marker 13. I was exhausted; my poor physical conditioning getting the best of me yet again. My hips/buttocks/thighs seem to be my weak link in addition to my lousy cardiovascular condition. I slept off and on at my temp camp until this morning at 09:00. I reached campsite #6 at 09:35. Last night would've taken me much longer as I was having to stop every 15 minutes or so.

I was disappointed because my planned first camp meal of 2 rib eye steaks didn't happen. I froze them at home with the intent of them thawing out during the hike and throwing them over the fire on night #1.  As I didn't make it to the campsite until the morning of day #2 they were not even cool anymore.  I didn't feel safe eating them so I put them out well away from the camp for what ever wants them. My loss is Mother Earth's gain.

The camp stool (new) is a definite keeper!!!! I can't sit comfortably on the ground anymore so it is well worth the cost ($16) and the weight. The slingshot idea of getting my food bag rope into the tree also worked well.

I can now get a cell signal from the campsite which is wonderful. I can check in with M. so I don't have to worry about her worrying about me. I'll keep my cellphone off to conserve battery life and check for messages at 12:00 and call to talk to her at 18:00 daily. 

I lost my stainless steel kleen-kanteen yesterday trying to filter some water out of lake Chicot on the long south end bridge. The wind was gusting at times and I lost  my balance knocking the canteen into the water. The wind blew it out of reach before I could retrieve it. Fortunately, I have a one-liter Platypus bottle as a backup.---- cjd.

They've added emergency exits!! They obviously knew I was coming!

A near sighted moccasin probably getting ready to shed it's skin as it was striking in the opposite direction from where I was standing.

25Feb2012

18:20

Saturday. Temp 60 degrees F.

Chicot State Park, Louisiana. Campsite #6.

Weather - Cool and breezy though less so than yesterday. Partly cloudy with a gorgeous red sunset from between the cypress trees.

A little out of focus but still pretty.

I slept well last night until about 09:00 this morning. My back getting cold  on the hammock surface only a couple of times when my sleeping bag shifted.

Walked down to the pond about 10 minutes south of the campsite to refill my water bottles. I'm surrounded by water here at the campsite but the duck weed is too much of a hassle to deal with while filtering the water.

What water I was surrounded by.

Where I got my water from. I made a little "landing/deck" so that I  wasn't sitting  in the mud while I pumped my water.

The dehydrated scrambled eggs (Mountain House brand) were pretty good especially once I added a little Tony Chachere's to them

I love my hobo stove!!!! A handful of twigs and pine cones and supper's ready! Can even use my alcohol beer can stove in it when needed.

I spent tome time sewing a repair on my LL Bean Polar Tec coat to fix the drawstring on the hood. I've slept with my coat on while the temps got down to the 40's F and was comfortable.

My only worry right now is the bout of diarrhea that popped up this afternoon. I've take some Imodium and it seems to have let up. I've drank the water (after filtering it of course) before and haven't had any problems. We shall see. ---cjd

26Feb2012 Sunday

11:20

Current temp 60degrees F.

Chicot State Park, Louisiana. Campsite #6.

Weather: Overcast and cool.

I'm still not feeling well. Still having left lower quadrant abdominal pain to palpation but the diarrhea has stopped since last night. That combined with my headache I woke up with and every muscle in my body stiff and sore makes this a lay in the hammock day---cjd

27Feb2012 Monday

18:20

Chicot State Park, Louisiana . Campsite #6

Weather - Current temp 72 degrees F. Partly cloudy with what sounds like an intermittent light drizzle. I haven't seen a drop of rain so far today but M. just told it has been drizzling off and on in Baton Rouge today.

After breakfast (3 Fiber One bars) this morning and hiking down to the pond to refill my water bottles, I set out to hike north to the east trail head ~four miles one way.  I'm exhausted and very happy. It was a good hike. Saw some deer, hogs, and a gorgeous snake. I don't know what kind it was other than a little over three feet (maybe four) long and non-poisonous.

 I did drop by camera (Sony Cyber shot) in a creek while refilling my water bottle. I've got the battery out and cameral open to try and dry it out. We'll see how it does in the morning. I started out my hike slow and steady keeping a pace of left foot each second ("one Mississippi, two Mississippi,…") That was a good slow pace as I tend to rush and wear myself out quickly.  The lyrics from John Denver's Rocky Mountain High kept coming to mind "he walks in quiet solitude, the forests and the streams, seeking Grace with every step he takes". That about sums it up; being mindful each step, the feel/sound of the light crunch of leaves each step. It was easy to keep that pace (one mile every 35 to 40 minutes) initially, but true to form I start rushing as fatigue sets I (and the mosquitoes start getting bad toward dusk). I was getting a bad case of "get-thereitis".

I've decided that my original plan to hike out to the sound trail head (8 miles) Thursday and move my car to the closer east trailhead, then hike the 4 miles back to camp so I won't have to carry my full pack 8 miles on Friday is a really dumb idea!!  I'm going to bite the bullet and go ahead and haul the full gear (minus some food) the eight miles Friday.  I'll just have to plenty of time for frequent rst breaks. I really need to get off my ass and get in better physical condition.  I weighed in at 201 pounds before this trip. ---cjd

Nature recycling herself.

Have no Earthly idea what these are. They were cool to look at though.

A suspension bridge at mile marker 8 / East Landing- Trailhead.

28Feb2012 Tuesday

18:10

Chicot State Park, Louisiana. Campsite #6.

Weather : Currently 75degrees F. Partly cloudy and windy. It rained off and on last night and some brief spotty showers today while I was hiking. I just spoke with M. on the phone and she checked  the forecast through the week and it's pretty much the same with 20% thunderstorms.

I hiked a little more than two miles down  the trail south to the mile marker 14 and back. It rained a little off/ on, but I had my umbrella which worked beautifully since my rain jacked doesn't breath.

I'm disappointed with our old RINO GPS. I was trying to use the coordinates I've marked to place the mile markers, etc.  on the quad map and the "northing" (using UTM coordinates) is way off.  I've checked  and double -checked to make sure I wasn't reading it wrong. That GPS has never been the easiest thing to use over the years. I think we've had it about 12 years.

The head net is a definite winner!! The mosquitoes are getting a little dense now that it's warming up.

After breakfast this morning, heading down to the pond for water and my 2+ hour hike today, I lay down in my hammock to rest. By the time I was hungry again, it was about 16:30. I've learned that I need to be done with supper and ready to turn in by 17:00 or I will get eaten alive by mosquitoes; DEET or no DEET.  So I'm in the hammock for the night and hungry. I'll survive. I've got more than enough fat-stores to tap into. It's funny how little I really need to eat when eating involves hauling the food bag out of the tree. That and dealing with the mosquitoes often makes easier to just go hungry.

29Feb2012 Wednesday

12:02

Chicot State Park, Louisiana. Campsite #6

Weather; Currently 80degrees F. Partly cloudy and breezy.

I've decided to return home tomorrow instead of Friday as originally planned.  I miss M. , I'm tired (hiked a total of twenty miles so far) and the mosquitoes are starting to take things personally. Tomorrow will be day #7. I've packed way too much food and now I've got to carry it out. I've kept a log my notepad to keep track of what gear I've actually used and what I've eaten. This will prove useful for the next trip.

This morning I noticed some sediment in my large Platypus water bottle. This was water that I filtered so if the sediment made it through, what else (bacteria) did? I dropped a couple of Micropur tabs in (almost two liters) and stuck the bottle in my pack to shield it from the sunlight. It may be too late because I've been drinking the "filtered" water for almost a week now. We'll see what turns up as time passes. The filter itself is six years old  so it is past time to change out the filter element. Should've thought about that before hand. Nothing like 20/20 hindsight.

12Mar2012 Monday

14:24

Home, Baton Rouge Louisiana

End of trip synopsis.

On 01Mar2012-Thursday, I climbed out of my hammock at 06:00 with a light rain falling and mosquitoes swarming. Thank goodness for my head net.  Finished breaking camp (started much of it yesterday) and left campsite #6 at 07:00.  Made if finally to the car at 14:30 after tediously slow going.  For the last  two/three miles is was stopping every 15 minutes or so to stop and rest.  Keeping my  camp stool clipped on the side of my pack with a carribeaner was a good idea. I could pull it of and sit down without pulling my pack off though was necessary to do so at times Once home and after some online research , I went to Academy and bought at fish scale that went up to 50 pounds (I never knew there was such a thing).  I had to know what my pack was REALLY weighing.  My pack at the end of the trip weighed in at 43 pounds. Adding in my 3 liters of water for the return trip (6 pounds) plus what ever I ate over the trip put my pack weight at over 50 pounds. I'm embarrassed and disappointed. I've been putting off getting a digital postal scale for some time  trying to save some money but it's causing me problems.

The hike back was excruciating, and I'm not going to let this happen again. My lack of physical conditioning and too heavy a pack weight is costing me joy in my life; keeping me from what I love.

I had only one tick attached when I returned and I pried it loose. I was afraid I didn't get all the mouthparts out but the wound has healed quickly without problem. There was no "bulls eye" pattern around it that would indicate Lyme Disease, but  I've developed flu symptoms and nausea /vomiting starting last Thursday 08Mar2012. I'm feeling better now. That will teach me to put off getting my flu vaccine again. Glad it waited until I got back home. If it had hit me in the woods I would've been in big trouble. 

----------------------------------- c. joseph ducote, III.

For Next time	Rationale
Get a scale that works	Pack was WAY too heavy. Bathroom scale LIES!!!  40 lbs my ass!!
More bug spray.                                 Spray (bug) all clothing, underwear and hammock itself)	Got eaten alive. Especially ankles while sleeping in hammock as they touched the sides.
Limit cooking food to supper only. Use eat in bag meals.	Cooking too much of a hassle and unrealistic. Use snack bars instead.
Exercise, Exercise, Exercise!!!	Again, my poor physical shape affected the whole trip.
Bring a book	Rainy days one can only sleep so much.
Try a different GPS	Trouble getting accurate UTM readings on the fly.
Research nomex flight gloves	Gorilla grips good but leaves wrists exposed and can't handle hot stuff.
Put athlete's foot cream in clothes bag	So I can use it at night when I take my socks off.
Change socks more frequently
Change filter element	Getting debris in water bottles after filtering

Winners	Losers
crocs	Weather Radio  (couldn't get a station).
Bug proof socks	gps (old rino , took forever to get sat signal and Northing way off)
seal skinz	Sony  Cyber shot (not good focus for nature photo and not water proof)
Head net	bathroom scale (lies about pack weight)
Hobo stove	Nutrigrain bars (too heavy).
Stanley Mug (can measure water with it)	My physical conditioning.
Mora Knife	Magellan Rain jacket (doesn't breath).
Back up platypus
Murphy Pouch
Gaiters

My Murphy Pouch

Hi, my name is Joe and I'm a preparedness junkie... 

Some folks tend to laugh at me and suggest that I may carry too much stuff... silly people.

They've obviously never been introduced to Mr. Murphy. 
Murphy's Law states that "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong".

If I had a dime for every time I've been asked by a female coworker for feminine hygiene goodies, I wouldn't necessarily be rich, but I could afford a nice meal at McDonald's! (yes, I do carry some feminine hygiene goodies in my first aid kit... they're a lot cheaper than trauma pads...and there's an intimidation factor as well... If I'm crazy enough to carry tampons, I'm crazy enough to be left alone...).

A dear friend asked me for the list of contents of my Murphy Pouch. This seemed like a perfect opportunity to impress everyone with my picture posting skills (as well as stand as photographic documentation of how really weird I am...).

This is my Murphy Pouch.  There are many like it, but this one is mine....

 

It's a 4x5 inch zipper pouch that I picked up at Academy Sports.  It could, of course,  go in what ever different container someone wanted to use.

I put blaze orange duct tape on it to make it stand out.  While camping, I've dropped stuff in the dark and couldn't find it... didn't like it very much.



             The contents laid out in order:

                       Left
Super Glue,
Diamond Knife Sharpening Rod
Replacement Batteries for both my headlamp, and my INOVA light that lives in my pocket.

                   Middle
Match case with duct tape (I prefer Gorilla Tape) wrapped around the outside.
Little tool kit in mid-sized Altoids tin (contents to be shown later),
Sewing Kit in small Altoids tin. (contents to be shown later).
Small piece of tin foil (hey, one never knows when one might want a baked potato, or to light a candle and keep the wax from getting on expensive furniture, or improve reception on a radio antenna...).

                            Right
Length of paracord (great stuff!)
Length of mason's line.
One small elastic strap (got from Academy Sports).



                                    "Tool Kit"

Eyeglass repair kit,
Length of florists wire (actually had to repair the car's bumper road-side with this once).
Small pocket knife (never can have too many knives).
Twist ties (for when the florist's wire is too much).
Safety pins.




                                        Sewing Kit

I glued a piece of a refrigerator magnet in the top of the small Altoids tin to hold the needles in place.

A "borrowed" bobbin for the heavy outdoor nylon thread along with the simple black and white thread completes the thread assortment.

I am going to add a length of dental floss at a later date.  Dental floss is handy stuff. I use it to sew Elizabeth's point shoes.
I've included a heavy gauge tapestry needle for repairs on packs, shoes, etc.

I used to have a Bic Lighter in my MP but I pulled it out to replace the one I usually keep in my pocket and haven't gotten around to replacing the replacement.  Probably going to go with a "mini" Bic for space reasons.


These are the innards of my MP.  Other folks will probably want different stuff in theirs depending on their environment/conditions/experiences/etc.   One can never go wrong with duct tape.  Most of Murphy's tricks can be fixed with a creative application of duct tape.

I carry much more than this (Leatherman multi tool, whistle, little compass, fire making goodies, etc)  that live in my pockets.

The MP and first aid kit live in my Maxpedition Fatboy (man bag). It's so much easier to keep things compartmentalized.

I will admit that I tend to stray to the "over kill" end of the spectrum, but I've never regretted it. I've often regretted getting caught unprepared. 

I love this!!!!

Barney Frank has balls!!!


Finally!  Someone has the cahones to stand up and tell these people the way it is.

They're morons....

I find it an ironic commentary that in our largely homophobic culture, it's a gay man that shows he has the moxy to stand his ground and fight. 

The heterosexual congressmen that were getting raked over the coals just rolled over.

Nicely done, Mr Frank.
Nicely done.

Health Scare....

If you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth.
------------- often attributed to Joseph Goebbels:


"Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship. ...voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."
---------- Herman Goering.

Seems to be working pretty good here.


This is 9-11 all over again...

No, not the planes flying into the Trade Center towers. I mean how we conducted ourselves during the aftermath...

My biggest fear after 9-11 was realized; that we as a nation would be driven to act based out of fear and that fear was manipulated by Machiavellian groups/individuals toward their own goals.

Afghanistan; That was and is justified. That's where the bad-guys were.

Iraq; We were lied to. Pure and simple. And our going there has created more damage and bigger problems. Now we're there and have a job to finish. A nation to repair.

And "We the People" (not the crusty individualists we like to imagine ourselves as) followed blindly along with whomever is screaming the loudest and angriest.

When you react to a problem with fear and anger, you end up making a bigger mess than what you started off with in the first place (see Iraq above).

I'm a nurse. I can tell you from the bedside that our (the US) system, isn't working. The waste is incredible, the fragmentation and redundancy is incredible, the opposition to fixing it... incredible.

I'm not a government mouthpiece. I'm not trying to save my job. If Health Care Reform shuts down my unit... so be it. My options of maintaining health insurance for my family while I find a new job would be better if I had a public option like Medicare to buy into. Who knows, if I had cheaper health care I could afford to work less and spend more time with my family. How's that for family values?

I support Obama and not unconditionally or blindly. I will happily point out what I disagree with him on.

I want there to be a serious attempt at tort reform. I spend more of my time as a nurse charting "in case of lawsuits" than I do taking care of my patients. I could give a lot better care if I didn't have to spend time writing everything down.

I've long said, "I'm not a nurse anymore,...I'm a pill-pushing scribe".



There are several points of stupidity that I would like to address;

The president's plan is socialized medicine.

First, Socialism is defined by Merriam-Webster as:

1 : any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods

2 a : a system of society or group living in which there is no private property and
means of production are owned and controlled by the state

The plan(s) being considered do not consolidate health care into a single entity that distributes health care to everyone. There may be some individuals that want a “single payer” system, but even the most die-hard liberal likes to be able to shop around the competition for their hemp socks, and solar panels. Competition is good, it keeps prices down and quality up.


Obama's plan creates FOR THE UNINSURED a National Health Insurance Exchange "...a market where Americans can one-stop shop for a health care plan, compare benefits and prices, and choose the plan that's best for them, in the same way that Members of Congress and their families can".

“First of all, if you’ve got health insurance, you like your doctors, you like your plan, you can keep your doctor, you can keep your plan. Nobody is talking about taking that away from you.”
-------------- Barack Obama

What part of "market....shop... compare...choose..." falls under the definition of socialism?

Crying "socialism" is just like McCarthy crying "communist" during the 1950's. Get people scared and convince them that you have the solution to what you scared them about.

(see Goering's quote above).


The plan would establish the creation of "Death Panels";

1. Rule of thumb to remember: the scarier the image, the less accurate the argument. If someone paints a picture of what something is and you find yourself feeling afraid...that's a big red flag that they're trying to spook you into something that reason wouldn't.

2. I've read over the propositions. There is no "Death Panels" in there. It says Medicare will pay the doctor's fee for discussing end of life care. You want to make an appointment with your physician to talk about what you want done/not done. If it isn't a appointment addressing a current ailment, Medicare isn't going to pay for it. You will.

Some folks think this is morbid. I'm a nurse. I'll tell you about morbid.

Morbid is having to do CPR on an 87 year old with terminal cancer and feeling the ribs break and grind with each compression because the family and patient didn't want to discuss what care the patient wanted at the end of life.

Morbid is watching the in-fighting because one estranged adult child comes in from out of town and demands under the threat of lawsuit EVERYTHING be done, and since the patient didn't fill out a living will. There's nothing for the more reasonable children to fall back on except "mama said once she wanted.....".

Discussing living wills is not a death panel. It is a wonderful gift to give your loved ones. This removes all doubt what you want done and relieves your grief-stricken loved ones from having to make gut-wrenching decisions based on guessing what you would want.

Living wills are not restricted to the terminally ill or elderly. They are for people like me (at 45 and can die or become brain damaged in a car crash), they are for people in their 20's and just getting married who can save their new spouse from having to make decisions based on their short history together.

I consider not having a living will as being delusional (I'll never die or be injured), and selfish.

3. If it comes from Sarah Palin, it's got to be BS. Granted that is an ad hominem argument, and her track record on being well informed is not that impressive. Not that she invented it, this fear card has been played before


Medicare/Medicaid fraud is huge and more of my tax money will be going into the pockets of thieves and bureaucrats.

The U.S. spends more than $2 trillion on health care annually. At least 3 percent of that spending — or $68 billion — is lost to fraud each year.
------- (National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association, 2008)

More than $2.4 billion in recoveries for fraud, waste and abuse in federal health care programs are expected for the first half of FY 2009 (October 2008 through March 2009). Some 1,415 individuals and organizations also were excluded from federal programs for fraud abuse; 293 criminal actions were brought, as were 243 civil actions.
-------- (Semiannual Report to Congress, Office of Inspector General, Department
of Health and Human Services, Office, 2009)
------------ Collalition Against Insurance Fraud

Excessive administrative complexity and bureacracy can be cut to drive down health care costs. Health care through the government will only be a money-pit.

"In 1999, health administration costs totaled at least $294.3 billion in the United States, or $1,059 per capita, as compared with $307 per capita in Canada. After exclusions, administration accounted for 31.0 percent of health care expenditures in the United States and 16.7 percent of health care expenditures in Canada. Canada's national health insurance program had overhead of 1.3 percent; the overhead among Canada's private insurers was higher than that in the United States (13.2 percent vs.11.7 percent). Providers' administrative costs were far lower in Canada.

Between 1969 and 1999, the share of the U.S. health care labor force accounted for by administrative workers grew from 18.2percent to 27.3 percent. In Canada, it grew from 16.0 percent in 1971 to 19.1 percent in 1996. (Both nations' figures exclude insurance-industry personnel.)

Conclusions The gap between U.S. and Canadian spending on health care administration has grown to $752 per capita. A large sum might be saved in the United States if administrative costs could be trimmed by implementing a Canadian-style health care system."
------------------ New England Journal of Medicine


"Administrative costs are lower under Medicare than for private health insurance, although Medicare costs are higher than reported in the Federal budget and private costs are not dramatically higher than Medicare once non-comparable costs (commissions, premium tax and profit) are removed. Our best estimates indicate Medicare at slightly above 5% of total Medicare cost in 2003, whereas the government currently reports about 2%.
Medicare administrative costs decrease because Medicare benefit costs increase at a higher rate than administrative cost increases. Benefit costs have typically been about double normal inflation (CPI increases) whereas administrative costs typically increase near the CPI rate."
----------------- Mark E. Litow, FSA Administrative cost study

In dealing with fraud and administrative costs. Electronic Medical Record (EMR) would be an effective tool in identifying fraud, and streamlining administrative efforts. As a nurse for almost 16 years, I've seen redundant orders, tests, etc because physicians at hospital B are unable to see what tests were ordered at hospital A. Some of my patients are very adept at doctor shopping, looking for pain meds, etc. They come through the ER (whose costs are higher), get admitted under a different on call physician and sit in the hospital sucking up Dilaudid until someone recognizes them from a previous admission...

My elderly patients can't remember which doctor prescribed which medicine for what, I get a lot of drug/drug interaction problems on my unit because docs can't easily talk to each other. Admittedly, these are anecdotal examples.

An EMR is a component of health care reform.

As far as administrative costs go, the data (remember data? those are facts that can be verified) suggests that Medicare is more efficient than private insurance companies (those are the ones whose CEO's make a helluva lot more than you do).


Obama is a Nazi and this is his final solution;

For crying out loud. Are these people serious? I know, stupid question. Of course they are. But, are people taking them seriously? Ok, ok, I know. Also a stupid question.

Ok, lets look at this objectively (radical idea, I know).

1. Nazi? Not even close. Democrats don't have anything to do with Nazi's.

Now don't get me wrong. The Democrats aren't blushing virgins in all of this. And, as the old adage goes power corrupts.

There's a rule on the web called Godwin's Law. It was intially put forth humorously, but as with all good humor it bears some truth. Once someone brings up a Nazi or Hitler analogy, the discussion or thread is no longer productive and whoever brought up the analogy "loses".

Brings to mind of "doing the dozens" when we were kids. Insulting the other guy or his mother and the first one that swings (a fist) loses, because he couldn't control himself.

2. Final Solution
In this context, they are referring to Action T4 where individuals considered genetically inferior were euthanized. This is what Sarah Palin was referring to in regards to her son Trigg. There is nothing in the proposals that even hint at this. Lets be real, this is nothing more than another scare tactic. (See rule of thumb above).

Anyone really wanting to confirm this can easily read the proposals online. I love the web!

Health Care Plan

However, given the preponderance of angry people saying stupid things, it doesn't look like many folks want to be informed. They would appear to be content with Rush and friends telling them what to think.

That is a whole lot easier.

Race in America

I've been watching the controversy surrounding the arrest of professor Gates in the news with a mix of disgust and hope.

Having not been there at the time, there is no way I can even presume to accurately comment on the events that happened. Though I can speak to my experiences and history as they relate to the subject.

Someone asked me once a long time ago if I was a racist. In all intellectual honesty I would have to say "yes". I am a white male raised in the south. Growing up (initially in the rural south), the use of the "N" word was as routine as saying "good morning".

Paradoxically, I was always told to speak to older African-Americans with respect "Mr. James" or "Miss Mary". Something I still catch myself doing to this day, using first names instead of last.

I echoed what I heard in and around my family. Once we moved to the city in the early 1970's, my interaction with African-Americans became more frequent and I discovered that the nonchalant derogatory racial terms were not as nonchalant or harmless as I had grown up being accustomed to. Folks with brown skin changed from "those N's down the road" to kids I played with. Teachers that cared about me.

Being dropped off a school once in 5th grade, I had asked my father to drop me off at the corner because I wanted to talk to a friend of mine who was the crossing guard. I was puzzled and hurt by my father's chastising me saying "yeah, that's right, go ahead and hang around your little black friend". I didn't see anything wrong with my wanting to hang around him. He was a cool kid. I'm 45 and I still haven't figured out what the old man's problem was.

The worst beating I ever got was at the hands of a young girl (African-American) in elementary school. I, trying to be cute, repeated a racial joke I had heard at home, and she chased me down and beat the hell out of me. Now, I had been hit harder before and since with greater injuries, but what made this the worst beating was that I deserved every hit; the fact that I had injured a playmate with my words is a guilt that I still carry with me. She was my friend and the image of her with tears in her eyes as she chased me down still linger in my memory. I had hurt my friend and that made the blows sting that much more. (Sorry Roxanne if you're still alive and around).

As a result, much of my response to African-Americans since then has been constant re-evaluation of everything that I do and think. I don't trust my initial response or thoughts. Everyday I practice mental exercises of "what would I do if this person was (different race than what they were)". If someone says we have a consult for new doctor so-and-so, I make it an exercise to picture that individual as a mirage of different race/genders, just to get my mind out of that habit. I've been doing this for decades now, and am getting better at it. But the image of Roxanne's tears keep me vigilant.

When deciding if I was going to vote for Obama, I asked myself. Would I vote for him if he were white? The answer based on what I heard from his was "yes". That's what Dr. King taught me.
To judge another man based on his character and not the color of his skin.

Now, on the other side of the coin.

I haven't been Christian for over 30 years. I've been sitting in my wife's Methodist church for going on 19 years and only now have I started actually talking to anyone. Still have my shields up and ready for a fight, but I've relaxed a little.

Just as my not being Christian, and having a history of being hassled by Evangelicals (once physically with the threat of violence) has caused me to keep my shields up and claws out, the legitimate hurt and anger that some African-Americans feel at both the historical and current discrimination that they experience do affect their perceptions just as my perceptions are affected by the predatory wack-jobs.

For example, my fifth grade teacher(African-American), yanking me out of the lunch line for cutting up and putting me in the back of the line (Yes, I was cutting up. Yes, I deserved it). As she had grabbed me pretty firmly but without injury, I was rubbing my arm because it hurt. Her sharp response was "don't worry, it (her color) didn't rub off". It took me about a week to figure out what she was talking about. Her past painful experiences, caused her to misinterpret my rubbing my arm as racially motivated rather that the physical response to pain that it was. I had done the same many times before and since when the old white principal grabbed me (that woman had a bony grip like a vise and don't ask me about that paddle!).

As a nurse, missing narcotics ended up summoning all the nurses on the shift down for drug screening. This was just standard operating procedure. A young African-American nurse very angrily commented "yeah, we're back in plantation time,.. drag all of us in..." Her past experiences and the resulting anger caused her to miss the fact that the old white guy (me) was first in line and heading down to the lab without complaint.

I have had to reprimand coworkers before for inappropriate behavior, unsafe care of patients (a CNA disconnecting the hub of a central line and leaving it off is a massive no-no regardless of race), only to be accused of picking on them because of race. No, I didn't write the individual up because the individual was African-American, I wrote the individual up because they almost killed my patient.

I suspect something similar was operating in professor Gates' house. The police coming on strong as they often do because they don't know what they're walking in to.

Professor Gates, given the hell he has seen in his life, responding defensively and things escalating from there.

I voted for and support President Obama and am disappointed in his response to the issue. I suspect his life experiences and friendship with professor Gates colored his judgment. Natural response, but as president, he doesn't have the luxury of letting his natural responses/feelings enter into the job.

Who was at fault in the Gates' house? Everyone. You, me, the cops, professor Gates.

Who can fix it? Everyone.

What affects one of us, affects all of us.

Practice, Practice, Practice...

I've been pretty burned out at work as of late (no surprise to anyone really).

My wife has lamented "I remember when you loved your job", and there was a time when I felt that I was really doing something worthwhile in nursing.

For a very long time, I felt frustrated with the amount of patient care I got to do versus the amount of time doing paperwork I had to do. I joked that I had stopped being a nurse a long time ago and now I was just a scribe.

This had been the status quo for a long time, and I had made peace with it rationalizing that it was a price I had to pay in order to have those precious moments of actually being able to "do nursing"; to actually be able to care for, connect with, and make a difference with a patient.

Recently, however, those moments have been getting fewer and farther between. The space between taken up by individuals that were using the hospital for a hotel (3 hots and a cot) by uttering those magic words "I'm going to kill myself", or those using the hospital to get their fix of what ever they were addicted to and had no intention of seeking treatment.

The most consistent cure I've seen for suicidal ideation and command hallucinations is "check day". When the SSI checks come out.

It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't that those individuals are so disruptive to the unit that I spend more time being the "policeman" for their game playing and limit testing that I can't take care of the really ill people.

Given the economy I've chosen to sit put for the time being. Now is not a time to be venturing out and making wholesale changes. The grass may be greener on the other side of the fence but I know it's because of all the bullsh*t over there that makes the grass so lush (compost joke).

I am using each day as an opportunity for "Buddha practice"; being mindful of the act of doing an action, not being invested in the outcome. The feel of keys under my fingers as I endlessly type, the feel of the floor against my sneakers as I walked up and down the hall.

Some days it's easier than others.

Chicot Trip Report 04.2009

Monday April 13, 2009

Elizabeth and I headed out for what was going to be her first backpacking trip. She's been camping with Marty and me before (they call it camping, I call it "Yogi-Bearing" Sleeping in a tent on a graded campsite with a toilet and shower less than 100 meters away). Elizabeth is going to on a canoeing / backpacking trip in June on the Minnesota / Ontario border with her youth group and though she is an experienced (and damned tough) day hiker, the logistics of sleeping/eating/cooking/ "doing your business" over the length of several days is new to her.

I had planned for about 4 days and 3 nights but gave her the option of pulling the plug during the trip if she wanted to. I'm not going to force her into doing something she doesn't want to do just because I live for it.

06:45 We leave the house for Chicot State Park , north of Ville Platte, LA. We stopped off at the McDonald's on the way out for the obligatory breakfast on the road.

09:00 We arrived at the Chicot check-in office. I had planned to aim for Campsite number 1 (closest to the South Trailhead), but as usual is was not available.


There were campsites (3,4,5) available but they were way over on the Northeast side of the the lake. I feel a little uneasy parking at the East Trail Head because last year when I hiked to it to check it out, it seemed a tad unprotected and there were a couple of guys from Deliverence hanging around. I'm not too thrilled with the prospect of being unarmed around some guys that think I have a pretty mouth.....

I chose (probably unwisely) to take us to Campsite #6 where I usually go. It's an 8 mile hike (not the best choice for Elizabeth's first backpack trip), but it was familiar to me.

09:50 We leave off from the South Trailhead. My pack weighs in at 18kg (40lbs) and Elizabeth's was 10kg (22 lbs). We stopped a couple of times to shift her weight and play with her straps to get the load to ride more comfortabley. It started off fairly cool (low 70's) and eventually warmed up to the low 80's. Not bad. Fairly early on as we were hiking, taking it slow I heard a "yelp" from Elizabeth behind me. I looked around expecting to see her ducking from a bumble-bee (the usual "yelp" culprit) and was suprised to see her tap-dancing away from a beautiful little (about 1 foot long) copperhead. The poor thing was moving very slowly in its attempt to get away from Elizabeth. In fact, despite her being startled and rattled, it elicted a chuckle from her as it attempted to slither up a very shallow grade on the trail only to slide back down. It made three attempts to make it over the little obstacle before succeeding.

What rattled Elizabeth the most is neither of us saw it. I all but stepped on it or over it because Elizabeth stayed locked in about 1 1/2 steps behind me the whole way. I'm usually pretty good about spotting stuff that might startle her, but this little bugger got right by me.

Of course for the rest of the trip, every root poking out of the trail looked serpentine (both to E and me).

We stopped frequently for E to collect herself and me to hydrate myself.

Ever mindful of the poison ivy that created the lovely green border along the trail.

Though we were both hyper-vigilant about stepping on any more snakes. This didn't stop me from literally putting my right hand staff down on a small (12") Cottonmouth. Where as the Copperhead was sluggish and in avoidance mode, the Cottonmouth was a bit of a grump. It's been a long time since I've seen one's trade-mark white mouth as I've been pretty good about giving them a wide berth. But this one caught me off guard as we were both on a small bridge (about 4 feet wide). Being there wasn't enough room for both of us on that bridge and Elizabeth was literally on my back, one of us had to go. During our discussion in our discussion the snake struck at my staff a couple of times before I convinced it (shoved it off) to leave the bridge to Elizabeth and me (and they say snakes are stoopid).

Elizabeth, ever the trooper, wanted to continue on though she was very rattled by now( the warming day bringing more large bugs buzzing in her face, two snakes trying to share the trail with us, unfamilar woods).

What made it a lot more bearable was the ability to get our UTM coordinates and find ourselves on the topo map. Being able to point on a map and visualize where we were in the lush, green mass helped Elizabeth overcome the feeling of clostriphobia she was surprised to find herself experiencing.

She always enjoys our trips to Tunica Hills and the closed-in nature of the creek bottom never has caused her any problems. This was just unfamilar forest. Tunica for she and me is "home".




13:10 (1:10 p.m.) We arrived at my favorite spot at the east end of the long bridge that crosses the south part of Lake Chicot. At that point it is more swamp than lake which I love.












This bridge, less than a meter above the water, stretches for about 300 meters through cypress swamp. It is beautiful.

If you're very quiet (which we were not as I weigh a bit more than I would like and huff and puff too much to be stealthy), you can spot numerous Herons, Wood Ducks, etc.







We rested, re-filled my water bottle, snacked here for about 45 minutes before resuming our trip.

Elizabeth, ever the trooper, turned down my repeated offers to turn back.

I had not told her this prior to our trip, but I had been looking forward to this day since she was born, and I was very fearful of putting pressure on her
to "enjoy" something she really didn't want. She has no obligation to live according to what I value and enjoy. Her life is her own.


I've told her this since we have returned and she assures me that she never felt pressured. I'm still leary of that though.

We were both getting pretty tired and I was falling prey to "get there-itis" so we decided to abandon our attempt to make it to campsite #6, and return home the next day. I'm not going to force her to stay out in the woods if she doesn't want to.

I chose to stop at a open area I knew about, actually an old road that the trail piggy-backs at one point for our overnight stay.

(UTM coord 0569716, 3403676)

Elizabeth did a super job of clearing out the tent site (especially since this was the first time she did it) and set up the tent with some guidance and the occasional daddy-muscle to make some pole connections.

She even made sure that I was setting up the campsite with distance between the tent, food storage, and cooking areas. "Don't forget the triangle daddy" (Refering to the "Bear-muda Triangle"). Even though bears are not a frequent issue here in Louisiana, I still hang my food up to keep the raccoons, ants, and the occasional bobcat from messing with it. I sleep better not having to listen for something messing with our food.




After setting up the tent, Elizabeth took a well deserved break while I searched for water and fixed dinner.

We were in the tent and I was well on my way to sleep before it got dark.

In South Louisiana, the mosquitoes dictate when and what we do much of the time, and out in the woods, there is less room for negotiation.

You're in their home, they win, period.

I pushed her to drink more fluids when I discovered that her water bottle was still mostly full. I was on my 3rd liter. For her, the previous night's lack of sleep and dehydration just aggravated her fatigue and decreased her ability to cope with the snake-induced nerves. I blame myself for not being aware of her not drinking enough and should have checked her water bottle and intervened much earlier.

While I dozed off and on, being the protective daddy that I am, Elizabeth did a little journaling and reading. We were visited shortly after dusk by the usual oblivious armadillo.

I reminded her that "if you can hear it, it most likely is not a threat".

I was worried that she wasn't going to get much sleep being that this was the first time she's been out in a small tent.

Very shortly after this picture of the giggles, I heard the reassuring sound of snoring.

She slept very well and woke up bounding the next morning, even though it was a little nippy.
A quick breakfast, breaking down camp, and we were on our way home.

Elizabeth did briefly play with the idea of staying a bit longer, but we both decided we had accomplished what we had set out to do, and it was wise to come on home.

The hike back to the car was less eventful (no snakes), and a bit cooler which kept the bugs down.

We even took a detour to check out campsite #1 to see what is it about that site that makes it so popular (other than being the closest to the trailhead).

We couldn't get to it conveniently because of all the hurricane Gustav debris, and I didn't want to invest valuable energy trying to work our way through the brush.



The trip I consider a success as I got to spend time with my daughter out in the woods and didn't scare her off from the outdoors. I'm much more comfortable with the idea of her going off into the forests and lakes of Minnesota without me. She showed excellent judgment, whenever we stopped for a break, she always checked around to make sure we weren't leaving anything behind. She even successfully used one of her P-Mates although she was less than impressed.

The next time we go, I'll wait until it's cooler and the snakes and bugs go dormant, or are at least, slower and less cranky.