On Tue, 29 Dec 2009 08:29:25 -0500, Tom Francis
wrote:


28 this morning in West Columbia, SC. Yesterday was warm enough, but
the wind was awful out on Lake Murray - 15/25 mph gusting to 30 for a
while in the morning. Very cool I'd say when we started off - about
36, but with that wind - ewwww...

It was just about this time in 1864 that Sherman was marching to
Columbia.
Le Conte was in your parts and southwards, dodging Yankees.
On horseback and afoot. Often wading through waist deep water
as that was all swampy then.
Seldom got near a fire.
And yet he never complains of the shivers, of which he must have had
many.
Different people than we are. Death all about them.
I saw written once, can't remember where, of a bird sitting on a tree
limb, freezing to death, yet never for a second feeling self-pity.
Sums it up nicely.
You might read the pages starting from page 185 for some historical
perspective of where you're at in relation to Le Conte's scrambling.
http://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/leconte/...e.html#lcon204

I really like doing that when I'm on the road.
Had a nice trip out west 35 years ago and camped at the fort on the
Missouri river from where Custer and the 7th Calvary marched to the
Little Big Horn.
I was driving a capped Ford pickup with the wife and our 2 babies.
Took me 3 days to get to the Custer battle field on the interstate,
and I was tired out. Sure, I like short daily drives, but thinking
how quickly the 7th got there over rough terrain, on horseback, is
still a marvel to me.
When I get cold I often think about these guys of that era, and
somehow it makes me stronger, and warms me up.

--Vic