Griswold Conservation Area / Lightning / Misc.

Sunday was the picture perfect spring day so I took Ava down to the Griswold Conservation Area located outside of Blue Mound Illinois. It is park built around a glacial kame that was deposited during the last ice age. I figured she would enjoy the steep walk to the top. Upon reaching the observation overlook, I noticed a family of distant dust devils to the WSW. They were easily over 1 mile away but the zoom lens at 300mm plus our elevated vantage made for an interesting composition. Later, as we explored a wooded area at the bottom, she spotted a bat just "hanging out".









A weak line of showers and storms came through early this morning.




and finally, on Friday it was decided to scrap my 94' GMC Jimmy. It had sat idle all winter with the intent of being fixed once the weather warmed up. What was thought to be a electrical issue after extensive tinkering was determined to be a fuel system problem. For what it would cost to fix this along with everything else that was wrong did not justify the investment. Parting ways when I wanted to get a few more months out of it so as to save up on a down payment was not in the plan for this season. In the short term I have transportation for work but not sure what I will do long term. Ten years and over 200k miles, I definitely got my money out of it though. It was the most reliable vehicle I have ever owned and I am certainly going to miss "The James".