Since my 1st tunneling posting, so much has happened I don't even know where to start, so ill just include a days or so worth of fun.

CLIFF DIVING:

I guess it starts with going cliff diving a couple times in Baraboo and The Wisconsin Dells with my friends Alex, Zach, and Steve.

Both of these places are secret, and for good reason. They are tucked away in hard to find areas away from prying eyes. The first place called Pewits Cove and is in a little forest in the middle of farm land where a small stream has carved out this narrow cavern in the limestone. You can jump from various heights into what looks like a puddle. You have to land directly in the middle to avoid hitting the rock walls that lay hidden just below the surface on all sides.

The second place is near the tourist destination known as The Wisconsin Dells (a hotspot for vacationers from Milwaukee, Madison, and Chicago, home to the world's largest water parks). After climbing over a restricted bridge and some spiky things, you can scramble through the woods to a gorgeous secluded beach surrounded by cliffs of various proportions.

FISHING

I had never been fishing before. My dear friend Alex Applegate happens to be a very talented and experienced fisher, and when he offered to take me trout fishing, I asked him if we could go right away. We hopped into his 88' Honda Civic WagoVan and drove into the middle of nowhere to find a little stream. We walked upstream as Alex taught me how to fish; directly under the nest of a bald eagle and its eaglet. Alex caught a whole bunch of fish, and I caught 4, 1 of which was the largest trout Alex said he had even seen in a stream of this size. Alex put the 2 biggest fish (still flopping) directly in his pocket as usual and we continued upstream.

After gutting them, we wrapped them in grass and newspaper and drove directly home to cook em up. And boy were they delicious!!

TUNNELING

After our initial first couple of tunneling adventures, Alex and I decided to meet up with my friends Byron, Steve, and Zach to adventure into the tunnels some more on our own to explore (check my precious blog entry for more details), this time without Tunnel Bob. This was one of several times we have been down this week, and on this perticular night the outside air was about 90 degrees, with sections of the steam tunnels reaching a scorching 140 degrees. Of course none of us brought water, and after getting lost somewhere underground we finally found an unlocked exit point to catch our breaths and escape the unbearable heat. We went back down and as we crawled out of the tunnels for the last time that night, a cop happened to drive by leaving us scrambling back into the tunnels to hide.

HOLY COWS

Oh yeah, I also have been showing my buddy Steve around Madison and on one of our adventures we snuck into a University Lab where they have cows with holes in their stomaches. The purpose of these holes is to allow the researchers to see how what they are fed is digested, so you can literally stick your whole arm inside a living, breathing cow!!

So long for now...

-Lesh