It seems like a very long time ago when I headed my pick’em truck carrying my nest (a Capri Rodeo slide-in  camper) south out of Ocean City on that predawn Jan 2nd foggy morning and began my Adventure 2011. My goal once again was to find the sun and be warm and, of course, limit any risk, so I’d avoid a crisis. Now after 101 nights sleeping in 11 states across our south and western states, and driving almost 9,000 miles, that includes a bunch of other states where I didn’t spend a night, I’m back in Ocean City. Actually, I’m a little early because I escaped 12” of snow forecast for north of the Grand Canyon, where I was going to spend another couple weeks, but I’m not dealing with snow, so I didn’t get to the nowherelands of southern Utah or Bullfrog, but some other April when the weather cooperates I will.  Speaking of snow, I heard you OCer’s got very familiar with that white frigid stuff, so it probably feels like an even longer time since New Years to you. I know there’s some of you who like skiing and all that other cold weather stuff, but I’m not one of them. Give me 100 degrees in the sun every day, thank you, and I’m at my happiest.
    I spent the month of January in the Keys. A couple weeks in Key West enjoying the sunsets, and acoustic music (this year including John LaMere & Kevin Poole - outstanding!!!) with several days in Islamorada kayaking before and after my stint in the capitol of the Conch Republic; then I parked my nest at a more isolated place and deeper in the everglades at Big Cypress National Preserve (www.nps.gov/bicy/) than any of the past twelve Februaries. Then I was off to Texas for spring break in Padre Island and Kayaking in the St. Elena Canyon on the Rio Grande, bird watching and great walks (I’m much too slow and relaxed to call them hiking!) at Big Bend N.P. (www.nps.gov/bibe/) for two weeks in March, with the last several days of that month in Cibola NWR (www.fws.gov/southwest/refuges/CibolaNWR<http://www.fws.gov/southwest/refuges/CibolaNWR> ) on the Az./Ca. border, a real unknown gem, with a river, lake, wetlands, desert, and mountains.
    I began April at Kelso Dunes (http://www.blm.gov/ca/pa/wilderness/wa/areas/kelso_dunes.html) in the Mojave Desert, where I was shown outstanding sand dune vistas including a stunning sunrise, then moved on to Fremont Street in Las Vegas to watch the NCCA basketball March Madness Finals in the top of the pint in Hennessy’s Mickey Finzz Brass Lounge and feasting on the buffets, followed by a short eventful stay at Toroweap, that has the most gorgeous panoramic view of the Grand Canyon on the north rim that I know of.
    The incidents that make my meanderings an adventure continued through that last stop as I escaped the snow and storms. I felt my truck pitch violently back and forth from side to side as I descended a steep rocky, hole-pitted hill, fearing my nest and all would tip and then having to change a flat tire 30 miles from there in the wilds with the wind howling and the rain pelting me.
    Other years when I returned I tried to fit back into the normal OC/eastern shore lifestyle, but this year - not. I want the lei’d backness to continue. Why convert to normal!?! Here’s a thumbnail sketch of my Best of….  Memories that this page can hold. All of them are examples of what nature shows me every day on my adventure that most people never see in a lifetime.  
    The most amazing find was a shell, or really both of them, that I found in the Florida Bay near Islamorada on the west side of Legumvitae Island State Park. The experts that know told me they are common horse cowries. How common can they be? I’ve paddled my kayak around there many times in January for ten years and never saw one before and any local I asked had never seen one either. The most impressive sighting had to be the 400-lb. bear (my mind keeps making it bigger) I saw one morning at sunrise on Perocchi Grade dirt road in Big Cypress N. Preserve. When it turned sideways on all fours it completely blocked the road! My brain questioned whether I should get closer, as my feet took quicker steps to get me a better closer photo.  I got photos, but it ambled off into saw grass before I could get there.  As I got to where it was and looked for it, I found fresh panther feces. It had probably watched me watch the bear! The best nature photo was a mother alligator with dozens of babies using her as a perch in the Turner River, also in Big Cypress.
    The most tolerant fuzznics were in Key West who allowed me to park my nest in a little parking lot between the Truman Annex and Fort Zachary Taylor State Park right down Southard Street from the Green Parrot and the Chief that I talked to on the beach in Padre Island during Spring Break while sipping an ACB amongst thousands of other partiers! The tastiest camping food was the tacos I made with oysters from Shired Island (south east of Tallahassee), Fla., that I made in my nest in the MegaMart lot where I parked during Panama City’s Spring Break Extravaganza.
    Oh! I can’t forget Marco Island's bouillabaisse, all those collectible shells, and Seacrets Jim Long singing Sinatra, the Shirell’s and anything requested on the beach all by himself!!! The Wow Photo of the Adventure had to be one of sunrise at Kelso Dunes that immersed me as I opened the door of my camper to go to the comfort station that changed my needs from that to getting the photo. Wow! The most phenomenal Action Pic was the two territorialistic dueling Vermillion FlyCatchers at Cottonwood Campsites in Big Bend N.P.  For more, go to my galleries 3@ http://picasaweb.google.com/o.c.fotoguy2009 and if you and yours want to do a family photo on the beach here in OC, give me a call (410-289-733), send me an email (ocfotoguy@aol.com, or go to PhotosAsYouWantThem.biz.