Food packing and a snapping turtle

Well, here it is. A little over one week away from the start of the trip. Gear packing is nearly complete and I have started compiling a bunch of food for the start of the trip. Eagerly anticipating the challenges that await, I am spending time packing when not on my Child Psychiatry rotation. Half of the fun of trips like the one I am about to emabrk on is the preparation, and this trip is no exception. After having mother Forrester out for the gear packing, I decided to head to the grocery store.

After picking up a bunch of dry goods from a local food store, Kroger, I set about removing all of the extraneous packaging. It is amazing how many layers of "protection" a simple box of mac and cheese really has. I mean, honestly, do we really need packaging for the cheese powder, macaroni, and then a box to keep them all together? Seems a bit much to me. Nevertheless, I sat down and started tearing into it. Before long I had removed all of the boxe from the food and set aboout transferring the food into compressible plastic baggies for the trip. This will allow the food to be easily packed up in my dry bags.

With most of the food packing done I went out to paddle today on Rivanna reservoir. I had the afternoon "off" on my current rotation and decided to take advantage of the weather and go paddling. Dipping the boat into the res I realized just how ready I was for the trip. I had trained as hard if not harder for this trip than any of my previous climbing trips, and I had been working on my paddling skills just as hard. My training taper has left me feeling well rested and ready to take on the upcoming adventure.

While I was out paddling, I stumbled upon a pretty cool little creature; a small snapping turtle was sunning itself on a log. Now I have become accustomed to seeing tons of painted turtles and red eared sliders while on the water, but this was my first snapping turtle. I am not sure if it was just a young one unaccustomed to the dangers of life above the waters, or if it just wanted to enjoy the sun as I was doing, but it was cool regardless.

Anyway, I am looking forward to seeing my grandparents this weekend, they flew into VA today to celebrate my cousin Dawn's graduation from college. I am going do drive up early Sat. morning for a little breakfast.

Until next time..........