Picking up controls after Phil's meet at Mt. Tom. He suggested a group of 8 in the northeast kingdom, which seemed to me quite a bit more ambitious than I was expecting. But, on reflection, it seemed manageable. He suggested it might take an hour and half, seemed reasonable, and the storm wasn't due for two and a half.
Forgot my compass at home, but my phone had a compass if really needed. Forgot my Garmin at home, but the birding app on my phone has a GPS tracker, so turned that on. And off I went. Nice loop, and it was only the first 5 or 10 minutes that I didn't know where I was. Felt like I was back at Willard Brook. But after a while I got it together and things went rather smoothly.
The only excitement, if you can call it that, was my one fall, which happened to be right at the end, within a couple hundred yards of the car, and happened to coincide with a small stream. Very small stream. But not so small that, after slipping and then slipping again and not quite be able to stay upright, patly due to a load of control stands over my right shoulder, I very slowly fell, and rolled, and bounced, and ended up on my back in the middle of the stream, just wide enough for me but without much to spare.
So my back and my butt and my feet were wet, and the controls were all wet (but fortunately not floating off downstream). On the other hand, the hand carry the map, and the map itself, were high and dry. Still got my priorities right.
Got myself extracted and finished off my task. Back a bit sore, a sore spot on my ribs where I must have landed on a rock, but nothing that seems at all serious.
Other than, of course, the lack of a photo, and if there ever was a time for a photo, where it would be worth well more than a thousand words, this was it. PG, in upside-down turtle mode. You've seen me look quite dapper in a suit; this was the other end of the spectrum. I had my phone with me, but it was only afterwards that I thought about what a fine selfie it would have been.
And this is where Siri, if she was any good, should be able to help.
All it should take is, "Hey, Siri. Take a selfie." And Siri would be so together that the phone wouldn't even have to come out of my pocket, or be turned on and unlocked, or even be aimed. Siri would just do it.
All the other stuff that the phone can do, you'd think this would be pretty simple. Maybe someday....
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