Fort King Campground nearly PERISHES in Forest Fire

It started out innocently enough.  Little chicas searching for sticks with their headlamps to add to a perfectly tame fire (from wood we had purchased at a nearby Winn Dixie).  Then....the (mad) scientist came out in Craig!!  He had to know the temperature of the fire.  And, as you will see in the film, his quick and active mind gave him the perfect means to quench the conflagration.

Our standardized results (rounded) gave us 1500 degrees Celsius as the melting point of our glass.  The aluminum cans were added to get a more accurate reading, as glass may have random production additives that may lower its melting point.  If the beer bottles were made of pure Quartz, it melts at approximately 1600 °C forming a tacky liquid that can be shaped into camping souvenirs.  In the course of melting, many silicon-oxygen bonds are broken.    This explains the chanting going on around the fire:  "Break bonds!  Breaks bonds!  BREAK all bonds!!!"  We wanted only pure elements to remain.  Aluminum cans melt at 1200 degrees Celsius.  All observers stated the cans vaporized in this fire.  Roll the film to see why.  We are probably all in jail as this post goes public, so enjoy...as we may never see you again.  It's now up to you to calculate the maximum temperature of this fire from the data presented.

Other possibly illegal activities:  Emptying O'Doul's bottles for the experiments and consuming inordinate amounts of KFC...with no vegetables or fruits to bind to the greasiness.  Dessert was Twinkies, soft licorice and Hostess Chocolate Cupcakes...all clearly forboden activities.



Illegal?  You judge:  Leading Craig-ors astray, Rolling in the Hay, at Ocali Country Days...hijacking a swamp transport vehicle...

....feeding fish Cocoa Puffs (below) in a protected area...

Fish really do jump out of the water after Cocoa Puffs

By popular request...here's the Rolling in the Hay clip.... 

SILVER RIVER State Park it is!

Bob got Site #57 through 11/15/11.  WHAT????!!!!  You'll have to ask him how.  He is the best salesman I've ever met, and he certainly talked the rangers into "the impossible".  HB and Craig escalated themselves to "Favorite Child" status in the family by driving up for the weekend. We were planning on a canoe trip, as we'd seen others having a blast on the clear and fish-filled waters of the Silver River.  We talked to canoeists who said the banks are lined with hilarious rhesus monkeys.  We needed to go communicate with these creatures.  Unknown to us, the new Park Manager had banned all canoe rentals during the festival. 

Family of Four...another soon Popped into view

  

Factoids:  The Rhesus monkey is one of the best known species of Old World monkeys. It is listed as "Least Concern" in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in view of its wide distribution, presumed large population, and its tolerance of a broad range of habitats...  Monkeys were introduced to the park in early 1938 by a tour boat operator, known locally as "Colonel Tooey," to enhance his "Jungle Cruise" ride. A local legend that they are the descendants of monkeys used to enhance the scenery for the Tarzan movies that were shot in the area in the 1930s is not true.

Who needs monkeys for excitement when we have Craig?  Yes, he arrived and took over the forest as no Tarzan could do.  He bought out the stores of Cokes, KFC, O'Doulls, Twinkies, Hostess Chocolate Cupcakes, and every other artery clogging treat he could think of, and packed them in his Prius for us.  I'm sure it cut down on his mileage to haul all of those calories to the park.  As soon as the bottles and cans were empty he placed them (carefully) in the raging fire he was tending to see what their melting point might be.  His dedication to science required him to elevate the temperatures in the fire to their maximum levels.  We had to adjust our calculations to account for the oxygen content of near sea level air and other variables to keep our results within our desired range of statistical error.  We needed to consult our scientists, Newel and Arden, but they were unavailable.  They must have been at a Utes game.