Today I leave for the Davis Mountains to continue my second (and last) field season of thesis research. Last year my adviser was gracious and allowed me the use of his vehicle. This year however, he wasn’t feeling so altruistic. And who can blame him? I had a whole year to arrange for another vehicle.

The problem of course is that I drive a Corolla. She’s light and nimble on her feet and gets a near miraculous amount of miles to the gallon, but she aint exactly renowned for her off road abilities. Her name is Betsy.

I needed more of a bastion of transportation to handle the mountainous terrain. I needed Bertha.

Bertha has a long and storied history. A 1988 GMC suburban that belongs to my parents, she’s like that relative that everyone respects for all they’ve seen and been through, yet no one wants to sit next to at the dinner table because of the smell…

A few years ago in what was expected to be her last hurrah, Bertha embarked with five young gents on a trip deep in the southern bowels of Mexico. She made it all the way to Oaxaca and back. True, she got her gas cap stolen and there were four flat tires in the first six days, but Bertha can hardly be faulted for Mexico’s hooligan youth, shoddy road conditions, and below standard spare tires.

No, Bertha will do quite well for me this summer. She’d better. I just spent $250 to get one of her four windows working (she has no air conditioner) and glue the fabric ceiling back on. She’s just got the right constitution for field work.

I’m really looking forward to these next few weeks. In addition to the research, I’m going to be pulling out the camera in my spare time, catching up on processing all my pictures, and reading lots of books. If my internet connection cooperates, you can expect to see plenty of pictures.

Oh, and by the way, if you’re in the market for a 1988 GMC Suburban with one working window and a glued on ceiling lots of character, I’ll have one for sale in about five weeks.

Having a blog is great, but occasionally it does bring out the internet weirdos. Like this morning, when someone contacted me not once, but twice.

At 4:08 am (CST):

hi.. was goin thro ur website n got intrested in it.. m also a christian n am a research student. my thesis is on vespa mandarinia( asian giant hornet) n i desperately need information on its physiology,habitation n behaviour..Well i m from India.. n m a Naga..UR PLACE IS D ONLY Christian state in INDIA..I SHALL B VERY GRATEFUL if ull give me information on d above said topics.. Thanking you ..

And then at 5:38 am (CST):

hi…ope u got ma msg..eagerly waitin 4 ur reply n ur help

Now there’s this incredibly small place in my heart that worries I’m unfairly making fun of someone… But that place shrinks by the minute when I consider than any real grad student should have no problem going to the primary literature to search for what they need. Also, a quick perusal of the site should show that I’m no entomologist. It’s my guess that Google led the poor fellow here, and after that didn’t turn up enough information, it was a quick plea for help.

If you ask me, I detect a high school student with a research paper due in a few days.