Wow - that's quite a story about the lightning. Glad you got out of it alive.
-- Cheers, Bob > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > Behalf Of Joseph Tainter > Sent: 14 July 2006 04:40 > To: pdml@pdml.net > Subject: Photography Travel: The Great Pluvial of '06 > > My wife and I are just back from a week of camping in the > Four Corners. > We got a late start last Wednesday, so we camped that night at Chaco > Canyon National Monument in the San Juan Basin of northwestern New > Mexico. The next morning it rained for several hours. It > rained during > the day too. Even when not raining, the weather was overcast and poor > for landscape photography. The next day there were intermittent rains. > > So on Friday we headed to Hovenweep National Monument in southeastern > Utah. The next morning it rained for several hours. This is very > unusual, even during the summer monsoon season. > > Next we headed for lower elevation -- a campground along the San Juan > River near Bluff, Utah. This gave my wife the opportunity to > spend the > equivalent of a new lens on a piece of Navajo jewelry at a > trading post. > (Actually I was happy to buy it for her. She had seen a nice piece in > this store four years ago and not bought it then. She never > forgot the > piece, though, and there it was, still awaiting her. That's > one of the > great things about trading posts in places out of the way.) > > On Sunday we headed north to Moab. Monday afternoon we stood at Dead > Horse Point overlooking Canyonlands and the Colorado River, > and watched > a storm to the east deluge Moab. Moab got two inches in an hour, and > several main roads (including the main highways) had to be > closed. Then, > stupid us, standing out on Dead Horse Point, my wife and I > both managed > nearly to get struck by lightning. (The nearest threatening-looking > clouds were several miles away, but lightning can get you from that > distance.) Dead Horse Point has an observation deck, below > which are the > rocks of the mesa. Bonnie was on the observation deck and I was a few > feet below her on the rocks. Suddenly I felt/heard a crackling in my > hat. At the same time she heard static in her ears. It took a split > second for both of us to get past saying silently to ourselves "Wow, > that's weird," recognize what it was, simultaneously yell to > each other, > and drop to the ground. Apparently it was a horizontal bolt > that never > connected with the ground -- cloud to cloud. Whew. I've been close to > lightning strikes before (30-40 yards), but this was too > much. We gave > up on Dead Horse Point for that day. Bonnie's ears hurt for > several hours. > > On Tuesday we took a boat down the river into Canyonlands. There was > only a little rain. On Wednesday we came home -- and not a > drop all day. > > Because of the weather the photo opportunities weren't what I > had hoped > for. But I did exercise the DA 14, DA 10-17, and D FA 50, all > of which > had been getting flabby. My time permitting, look for some posts. > > It's good to be back with the list again. > > Joe > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > PDML@pdml.net > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > > > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
