Shoup Airlines

FLX – Night 2

You thought I was done with those spiders. I’m not. As creepy as it was not trying to run into those things during the day, we had to head out again and complete a shorter land nav course. At night. Four man teams. One flashlight. One red lens.

You know how hard it is to spot those suckers with a red lens? Let’s just say there were a lot of heeby jeeby dances that night. We had to constantly play rock, paper, scissors to see who would take point with the flashlight and a stick. A VERY LARGE STICK!

This is Wiggins, our class photographer, after he had run into too many webs. In the end it wasn’t even the spiders that got us. It would be the branch someone in front of you pushed out of the way and then let go of. Murphy’s law would dictate that said branch ALWAYS whack you right in the face. I guess there was a reason they made us wear the eye protection.

Allow Me to Introduce You…

So in preparation for yesterday’s entry I wanted to go out and get some of my own photos of these not so little creatures. I thought it would be rather easy, knowing what to look for and avoid. As usual, I couldn’t have been more wrong.

I actually went back to the very spot where I started the land nav course and headed off in the same general direction knowing it wouldn’t take long to enter their territory. Apparently, they’ve expanded that territory a little large bit. I think I took about 15 steps before snagging a web around my leg and arm. I wasn’t concerned at first only because it felt like a normal web, invisible and thin. You know when you’ve snagged a weaver’s web, you will actually feel the pull and friggin’ HEAR the “twang” of the strand snapping. So I started searching for the offending non-event spider that I entangled. I found him dangling about 12 inches between my legs and rapidly making a climb for an area he wasn’t invited too. I let him know with the end of my tripod. He didn’t think that was very funny as he crawled away. I kid you not, three rather hefty whacks of the tripod did not deter this little black and white guy. I have no idea what he was, but I digress…

After that little encounter I began to realize I wasn’t properly dressed for this little excursion wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Or that’s the excuse I told myself for not hanging around much longer. I took about 5 more steps and saw her less than 3 feet from me. I would have walked into this one as well had I not stopped. You laugh, but it’s difficult to actually spot them hanging between the trees because your eyes focus further out then right between the trees.

She’s not as big as I would have liked but the heeby jeebies prevented me from trudging deeper into the forest only because I knew the big ones were out there and I couldn’t see them. Plus, as I finished up this one’s photo shoot, which by the way she seemed more than happy to pose for, I noticed another one not 5 feet away on another set of trees. Remembering that sinking feeling of being entrapped by these gals I decided to call it a day.

Call me a wuss all you want, but until you come out for a visit and get your own face to face with one of these vamps I could really care less what you think. If you’re still snickering, on the drive into the base yesterday morning I think they were on a “display of force” mission. Every 10 to 20 yards or so, right along the forest edge, were 5 to 10 foot webs with a black and gold darling sitting right in the middle of each. This continued for a good mile on both sides of the road!  We’ve never seen anything before or since. Very awe inspiring. Very creepy as well.

As usual, the rest of the photo shoot is up in the gallery. There will be more to come just as soon as I can build the gumption back up again or get someone to go with me.

FLX – Day 2

Have you ever run a compass course? Through a dense forest? Or thick, 4 foot high bush? While it was 96°? With 90% humidity? Over a 3 mile course? With a time limit? Me neither, the humidity was only 89%.

I did have something else to deal with on this course. We all did. But I want you to open a new browser window and go to Wikipedia first so you can appreciate this story that. Much. Better. You there? Type in “golden silk orb-weaver” and take a good long look at that bad boy girl. Now spread your hand out and place it about an inch from your face. That is the exact size and location of the first weaver I met today about five minutes into the land navigation course. I stopped to check my azimuth against the map, looked up and she was sitting in her web staring at me eye to eye. I say she because as is often the case with arachnids the male is a sixteenth the size of the female. Anyway, after shaking off the heeby jeebies, I noticed these weavers were EVERYWHERE. You think I’m exaggerating, but I’m not! You would literally take 10 to 15 steps and then have to navigate around another cluster of weavers.

Now you’re asking yourself, “come on, these things can’t be that bad?” Oh, but they are. Somehow they have the ability to span a web across trees anywhere from 3 to 6 feet wide, and then sit in the middle of them which places them roughly 5 to 6 feet in the air. Conveniently right at face level. Have I mentioned that they were EVERYWHERE yet? The best part came when you’d find a web in front of you, turn to the left and find a web there too, turn to the right and find another freakin’ web there as well and be almost afraid to look behind you because you just knew there would be another web impossibly behind you. I’m serious people, these things were EVERYWHERE!

Oh, but I always save the best for last! As I mentioned earlier I didn’t NOTICE the spiders until five minutes into the course and because I’ve subtly mentioned that the weavers were EVERYWHERE, I had apparently already walked through a couple webs. I remember feeling a spiderweb strand across my face at one point but paid it no mind because I didn’t know what I was up against…yet. After receiving that little face to face meet and greet and waiting for my heart to dislodge itself from my throat, I took a step back and began to realize just how many of these spiders were around. Then I remembered the strand across my face. And then I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. Something crawling up my shoulder. Slowly. Methodically. Something black and yellow. Something that made me fling my clipboard at my shoulder while also scattering my M16, my hat, my compass, all my paperwork and my eye protection all while doing that heeby jeeby dance for a couple seconds. You ALL know the dance I’m talking about. IT HAD GIRTH, people!

After I picked up my dignity along with everything else that had been yard saled all over the forest floor, I couldn’t find the weaver I had just flung off my shoulder. Nor could I find any others on me, but that didn’t calm my nerves any. The only thing I can say proudly is that I didn’t scream like a little girl. Nope, the guy about 50 meters to my right took care of that about 2 minutes later. Stupid spiders!

The photo was taken at the end point of the course.  It doesn’t do it justice, but we’re soaked to the bone in sweat. What the photo does get right is the fatigue in my face. One of the other “fun” little challenges with the heat was that because of all the sweat your laminated map would inevitably get wet and smear, if not completely erase, your waypoints. So you were constantly re-plotting points. This all occurred before 9 a.m., that’s how bad the humidity and heat was!