Restoring the Americas: Strip Mine Reforestation Part 2

On my second day GPSing the Flint Gap restoration site for the Nature Conservancy, the ominous clouds foreshadowed the day that was to come. Started out alright: I arrived at the site, parked my car, and began the easy work of walking around the boundary of each restoration site and pinging my location every few seconds. Assured by the easyness of the work, I decided to drive to the end of the property and work my way down, thinking I could probably finish in one day.

It had rained the night before, and the puddles that had formed in the many pot holes threatened to swallow my little Hyundai Accent whole. Then one of them did. I made the incredibly reckless decision to take a dirt side road off the gravel trail, and before I knew it, I was floor deep in water with no hope of getting out. After a few miserable attempts, such as putting rocks around the tires to give them grip, I was ready to give in and call a tow truck. Then my phone died. It tends to do that in rural areas where I guess it has to work harder to get a signal.

After a few minutes of mental anguish and some more failiure, I see a savior in the distance. The restoration site still has several active natural gas wells, and a gas company truck comes over the hill. I wave frantically and yell "HEY!"

The two middle aged workers come over t0 help, with a look on their faces that says "What are you doing here?" They pull me out easily, and chat with me about the work I'm doing (one of the guys has a daughter in Florida doing GPS research) and the pitfalls of having an Obama bumper sticker.