Rain, snow, cold and even 100+ degrees, I don’t care if I’m outdoors.
One of my hard to forget Army training memories was in the Ocala National Forest. What an amazing place. Cyprus swamps chest deep and mosquitoes as big as Chinooks. There are locks for an aborted cross Florida canal that we practiced surveilling, assaulting, and wrecking.
Every time we were there the storms were crazy! Always with more lightning strikes than you could count. When I’d get home, my wife would tell me how quickly the weather radar climbed through the severity colors to black there would be so many strikes in an hour.
As a special forces radioman, this was pre-satcom, I often had a long wire up using HF to communicate with Ft Bragg NC and Group Headquarters in Birmingham Alabama.
One time with some SAS guys from Scotland we were cross-training, a storm whipped up and we could hear the lightning walking our way. The Scots turned toward the storm and marveled at its ferocity. “We get lightning, but not like this.”
I unhooked my antenna and tossed it away, then covered my radio gear with my poncho. I joined the Scots, and we stood out in the open like knuckle heads watching and listening to the lightning.
While it continued, I got them to pack up and we assaulted the defense, it felt like cheating…
Another example: I’m about to head up towards the upper peninsula of Michigan to go hunting. The snow isn’t too deep in mid-November, but it gets really cold. So cold, I bought a pair of insulated coveralls with built in insulated boots to wear on top of all my cold weather gear.
It sucks, but the deer I harvest goes to a family that is grateful for the meat.
Last time I was up there, two years ago, I was the only one that stayed out until dark. The deer I harvested ten minutes before the last shooting light dropped immediately. When I got to it, I was shaking so bad I had to call a friend to process it for fear of cutting myself more than the deer.
Call it a love of the outdoors, grit, stupidity… I’ll stay until I’m forced to leave.
How about you? Do you like camping in the snow? Hiking to the top of peaks for the view? Enjoy the fresh air or stillness of a sunset?
Best Steve