February 22. Dead Willow Tree.

 

February 22. Dead Willow Tree.

February 22. Bird & Broken Window.

 

February Twenty Second. Bird & Broken Window. There is a sparrow nesting inside the shop where I work. She uses a missing window pane to come and go.

3486.6 Miles. Texas-Florida-Illinois-Texas.

 

A long drive. Short version. Leave Texas and drive 1038 miles to Jacksonville, Florida to visit my dad, my brother and his family. Mostly just visited, but managed to squeeze in two hours or so of shooting with my brother. Some wonderful wildlife shots had me wishing for faster and better quality long glass.Good visit, then I left for Illinois, 1052 miles. The weather radar showed I was headed for a wall of severe storms in Georgia. The storms did not disappoint. I missed running into a tornado in Adairville, Georgia by fifteen or twenty minutes. I was just east of Adairville on Interstate 75 when high winds forced me and three semis to leave the highway. The trucks drove on away down the side road but I stopped just off of the interstate at a small group of buildings. The tornado sirens went off while I waited but I never did see a funnel cloud. http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/tornado-hits-adairsville-ga-31612245.html#crsl=%252Fvideo%252Fus-15749625%252Ftornado-hits-adairsville-ga-31612245.html. I drove into Adairville from the north side of town until I could see the road was blocked by emergency crews. The storm delayed me by over two hours as I repeatedly tried to find a way through storm damaged towns only to be turned back by blocked roads. I could have driven around the damage but did not want to hinder rescue crews in any way. Then on to Bloomington, Illinois to visit my sister and her family. A short busy visit allowed me to watch my niece Mia compete in two games for her high school basketball team and also catch my nephew Mitch compete at hurdles and high jump for his college team. My sister and I managed to take a half day photo drive which included a visit to a closed insane asylum and it's graveyard. I had a good visit, then it was off to Texas 1000+ miles. I dropped my nephew off at Washington University in St. Lousis on my way. This trip was about family but it also had a little adventure and I grabbed a few pictures along the way. All in all, a great trip. Thank you to my family for opening your homes and making time for me. Total mileage for trip including photo drives and detours for storm. 3486.6 miles.