Timing!

    The weather forecast for today said it would be mostly cloudy, so I was surprised when I went out for my hike in the early afternoon and the skies were cloudless. In fact, it was a perfectly gorgeous day for the entire hike. This kept up right until I got near my car, when the clouds rolled in. And while we aren't totally overcast, we're darned nearly so now. If only I could find some way to make money from my obvious weather control powers!
    I had set out to return to beloved Congaree Creek Heritage Preserve, but all the mosquitoes that had left Congaree National Park apparently had come here. So I strolled adjacent and largely mosquito free Old State Road, my Congaree Creek substitute of the past few weeks. There I was mobbed by butterflies instead of mosquitoes. I found this much more pleasant and also very funny.
    If you ever get a bug in your ear (figuratively, this time) to stop your car on an Interstate highway overpass to get out to take a picture of the dirt road being passed over, don't do that. Terrifying doesn't quite convey the feeling. I had been shooting so many pictures of I-77 from Old State Road I had the crackpot idea that I should do it the other way around. The picture came out pretty well, though.