Monday February 9, 2009

We didn't get to blog last night so am actually writing this on Tuesday - the internet at our hotel was down. Back to Monday: we got up early and finished our car packing. We got to the lab earlier than expected as there was not as much traffic on the road so we had to wait for 20 minutes for the others to show up. We got the last minute tools and materials into the work van and we added the others, luggage to our car. We finally got off and drove for about an hour and a half before getting off I-10. We were pretty much in the middle of nowhere and it got worse from there. After traveling on dirt roads for about 45 minutes, we found our first site. I wish we could add music to this blog because I would put the soundtrack to Deliverance on. We were on a very desolate spot - while we were looking for our first test site, we passed a sign which said trespassers would be shot and I think they meant it! We will try to take a picture of the sign before we leave this area. Our team consists of Jeff, Carla, Thadra, Dave and I. Jeff and Carla went east from our first shovel test and Dave, Thadra and I went north. The shovel tests have to be dug every 30 meters apart and 100 cm deep. We are testing the boundaries of the plot of land that was bought by the Florida trail system. We stopped for lunch at noon - very hungry, tired and dirty. I feel a bit wimpy as I am not doing any of the digging, but I am doing the screening. Every shovelful of dirt has to be screened to check for artifacts. We continued after lunch until 4PM and found very few things of interest - a few pieces of glass (will have to be checked to determine the age) and some old rusty nails (not modern, but of undetermined age). Every hole has to be flagged and documented. The picture above shows Thadra checking the soil type at each level and I am recording the data on a page particular to that hole. When we were done for the day, we drove on to Lee, FL to our motel. We all showered and then went down to road to a place called The Brown Lantern - very local - for dinner. Carla invited her father-in-law to join us. He was about 70 and a very funny guy. He told us that he was bitten by a rattlesnake last year and had to be flown to Gainesville to get treatment. He says he can see better now than before he was bitten! We all had shrimp for dinner - very good! Came back to the motel and tried to get on the web but no luck so went to bed.