Expedition 600-1

This week my family from Pennsylvania came in, and we decided to go camping yesterday. The weather channel was forecasting rain, but we said that we are tough enough to survive a little water.
We had the doors off the Jeeps, but left the roofs on. We loaded up the two Jeeps with more gear than we needed, and headed off to the south.

 Our target was a ridgetop road numbered 600-1, which I recalled was somewhat rough. As we drove towards Talladega, we saw ahead of us a sizable storm stretching across our field of view. We didn't think much of it at first. Soon, we caught up with the southward moving storm, and began to think more of it. While we were moving, it wasn't too wet, but as soon as we reached the dirt and slowed down, it got moist. The rain had slowed down some, but the road was fairly well flooded.

Now that mine has four wheel drive again, neither Jeep had any issue with the soft, damp roads. We followed this very long stretch of rough road for a good ways, as the water flowing on the road increased and the puddles got deeper. Some views opened up off the ridge.

After a while, we topped a ridge and found a place where the Pinhoti meets the road, and a great view stretched out beyond.

We considered camping there, but the ridgetop seemed like a risky place to sleep with the lightning. Not to mention the wind.
As we stood there, we noticed a wall of rain approaching from the south, and realized it was coming rather swiftly. Michael was still standing a good ways away from the Jeep, and he yelled "Oh, its coming!" Before sprinting back to where I was. It almost looked like a tsunami hit before he made it back, as the storm obscured vision and thoroughly soaked everything. The small trickle of water on the road became a rushing stream, and a large volume of water came in through the door and filled the floorboard. We couldn't see enough to drive until the rain slowed down a bit. When it did slow down, the road was quite waterlogged.
We drove on, through what looked like a tropical rainforest. The rain had brought mists with it, making the forest look mystical.

   We eventually arrived at Guinn Hunter's camp and decided to stay there for the night, despite a large volume of trash. We lit a somewhat small and wet fire, and set up the tent and tarp.

We slept the night, I heard a few distant coyotes and a Barred Owl's distinctive cry.
The following morning the sun came out and dried out the fog. It was a lovely day.

The road home was pleasant and dry.
It was a great trip, the inclement weather served to make it more of an adventure.