Tuesday, October 09, 2007

What global warming?

When I came home from work yesterday, I realized that it was hot outside, and I decided right then and there that I was gonna drive to the beach today (my day off). If we're gonna have global warming that gives us 90 degree days in October, I'm gonna enjoy it, dammit.

So I got up this morning at around 6 and got on the road, and was down at the bay bridge at around sunrise,

and got down to the beach at around 9. Unfortunately, the beach was L-A-M-E. There were absolutely no waves and I didn't have my grilfriend there with me to have fun with. So I swam around for a little while,

slept for a little while, and then got pretty bored. Then I got to thinking, and I remembered crossing a few rivers and streams on my way down to the beach, and I realized that I had a couple of fishing rods in the trunk of my car, so I decided to drive back and explore some of the rivers on my way home. I'd much rather stand in a river and fish in the shade than hang out on a lonely beach with no waves.

So on my way back I checked out Martinak State Park (which seemed to be all about a lake and campgrounds) and continued on through some small towns looking for good access to the Choptank River. After driving down back roads and gravel roads and little Missouri-looking towns, I eventually found a public access spot in a little town called Goldsboro. Unfortunately, just as I was arriving, a nice little storm whipped up, and I got a little soaked while taking this picture of the Choptank:

I drove around the town a little bit (I only saw one actual person in this town, and I saw her in two different spots: once waiting to pick up her kid from the school bus and once at the recycling containers near the boat-ramp; a fairly large woman in a bright yellow shirt) until the rain stopped, found a different public-access boat ramp, and wanted to attempt some fishing but there were 2 trucks parked there from the Department of Natural Resources, and since I don't have a fishing license (I'm not even sure what the rules are in Maryland, do I need a fishing license?) I figured I'd better not chance it. I did take a leak, though.

So I left Goldsboro and continued on, until I crossed the Tuckahoe River, which looked promising. So I drove around a few roads looking for an access spot, and eventually found the Tuckahoe State Park, where after a little looking around I found a nice, narrow spot that looked like it might be decent for some fly fishing.

So I walked back to the car to get my fly rod, only to discover that my tackle box is not in my trunk. So not only did I not get to fish, but now I need to figure out where the hell my tackle box is. Hopefully in the trunk of the other car.

So anyway, I don't think I made any more stops after Tuckahoe, and drove the rest of the way home, where I arrived at around 3:30. So it was a lot of driving for only about an hour and a half at the beach. I did do some decent exploring, though, and it was a nice day for a drive; singing, whistling, and meowing along to good, loud tunes.

Adventures are more fun with the J-Dog, though. Seriously.