Off the Tracks

After a miraculously productive morning in the field with with Karina, I spent a good chunk of the afternoon driving Marissa to the Delaware Museum of Natural History, to look at some dead birds, and hopefully bring home a dead baby owl. We considered the possibilities of either letting it perch on the dashboard, tying it onto the roof, or letting it roll around in the trunk. In retrospect, what a bizarre reason for a road trip. I'm not sure what single aspect of it could be considered normal.

In any case, turns out no owl was received, the transaction was delayed in order to hammer out further details. But on the way back, we decided to take Smiths Bridge Rd back to the Wilmington Pike, and oh man, what a road. I will attempt to sum things up with the following formula:


Smiths Bridge Rd =



+



And there was even a covered bridge over the Brandywine Creek. In other words, it was just about the greatest road of all-time. Top 5, at least. I had a lot of fun driving on it, and I'm semi-seriously considering making the hour-long one-way trip out to drive it again. The car 10 ft in front of us would consistently drop out of view completely, and suddenly the ground below us would disappear into the abyss, while cornfields camly rolled on to the side. Absolutely perfect geography for the Dukes of Hazzard, if they suddenly became yankees.


Let's hit the links:

• The US Naval Observatory has high-resolution scans of ancient books dealing with astronomy and navigation. Very cool constellation interpretations abound. However, I have to admit that the Sumatran Ground-Cuckoo still rules my wallpaper.
• Ken Jennings of Jeopardy! fame considers the psychological damage he must have caused to his vanquished opponents. Outstanding, one of my personal heroes for sure.
• West African Black Rhino, R.I.P.
• Machu Picchu on Google Maps satellite-view. I really like that road, it certainly has Smiths Bridge Rd potential, but with longer length.
• Lightning strikes around a rainbow in Arkansas.
• And finally, some pranksters turn their friend's room upside-down. This is just completely beyond my realm of comprehension. End blog.