Journey To Remember

1. Journey To Remember Drowned in Drought Volcanic Nightmare Tornado Race

2. Drowned in Drought We’ve been walking in this desert for ages, Hannah, Morgan, Brayden, and I. This past week I have noticed the weather changing, changing ever so slowly. It is getting unusually dry. I told Brayden what I thought but he just said I was hallucinating, whatever that is. Hannah, my cousin, said that when she was traveling, she noticed the same things happening and that was how she learned about droughts. Climate zones…… she said, something about climate zones… “Hey Hannah!” “Yes Brynn, what would you like?” “ Um, do you remember that stuff about climate zones you were talking about…. The droughts..” “Oh ya. Droughts usually occur around the climatic zones.” The wind was starting to pick up and she had to yell. Dust started to blow into our eyes and mouths. Oh dear, I thought. This couldn’t be a sand storm! It just couldn’t! If it was, it would lead to a drought, a major drought. It might even last for years! The rocks that were flying hit us and Morgan and I got a few in the head. Ferociously trying to fight the wind, we got our blankets from the sack and all huddled under one until the worst of it was over. After the storm there was a drought and the characteristics varied from one place we went to, to another. The results all lead to water shortage. Of course, we all knew that the less water and food we had for us and our animals the more likely it would lead to death. Luckily only one stop we rested at had a wild fire. The results not only lead to water shortage but also to mental and physical stress. The last thing I thought to myself before we settled down for a rest on the 5th week of the storm was, Will we ever get out of this, and will we ever survive in this unusually dry weather?

3. Alas, the drought we are going through is not a dry spell and that makes me worry even more. Early on today, Hannah questioned, “Did you know Brynn that a dry spell is a drought that lasts for about 14 days with no precipitation?” “No.” I responded, “But I do know that a severe drought can last for years!” “Morgan. What do you have to say?” said Hannah. Morgan hadn’t talked since we crossed the almost dried up river a few miles back, but she still told us that you can always tell if a dry spell is coming when the green grass turns brown. Uh oh, here we go again, The Information Game. The Information Game was a game that Hannah, Morgan, Brayden and I played when we got bored. The subject, now, is usually on the drought and what it does. The rules are, one person starts, you have a subject and you keep naming little bits of information until you all run out of things to say or someone has a hugely amazing fact that no one can counter. The game, if played right, could last for hours and it was a good way of passing time, learning new things, and an especially good way to keep your mind off thinking about food. The game we played went like this: Hannah said that a dry spell lasts for about 14 days; I said severe droughts can last for years; Morgan said you can always tell if a dry spell is coming when the green grass turns brown; Brayden said the dirt dries up and cracks form in the ground during a severe drought. “Plants die within weeks.” “Dirt blows up and forms clouds.” “The clouds are called dust storms.” The game goes on and on, back and forth. It could go on forever -- definitely not like a short dry spell.

4. Before going to bed we counted our bony, anorexic-like fingers to see how much food we had gone through this past week. One loaf of bitter bread, two dried-up apricots, and one clay bowl full of water. It’s so hard to fall asleep after hardly eating any food and drinking even less water. To help me dream, I have decided, I will go over the facts that I learned in The Information Game. The after effects of most droughts are short term. In the end, most problems are solved. However, some of the after effects last long after most. Hmmm, I’m still not asleep. Wildlife habitats are ruined because of the heat. Wetlands, lakes, and vegetation (or bushes), I reminded myself. Are dried up and destroyed. The dehydration will kill most animals. Some species will even go extinct! Maybe, if we are stuck in the drought too long without food, we will die. I shivered at the thought, then reminded myself that the after affects of droughts may be short term. That was the last thing I remembered before I fell asleep.

5. Traveling today was much more difficult than it was yesterday. Today, talking will waste your breath and an hours worth of walking only took us the length of one mile. It looks like we’re not the only ones suffering greatly from the drought though. The plants are suffering from drought diseases; All the streams, or what was once a stream, is dried up. The dead stinking fish were lying on the bottom and attracting shriveled insects. It smelled so bad we used up the last of our energy and ran. We found another dried up river and walked along it until we lost the ability to navigate any longer. After the walk on the river and when we woke up, a horrific site met our eyes. Ten or maybe even twenty dead Kangaroos and other animals were lying on the ground. Meat, we thought, food, but that might lead to a human infecting disease. The heat probably increased the stress on the species and they died, I thought. The loss of wildlife in the areas we’re going through is depressing. What’s left of the water is probably so poisoned and unclean that it is one of the main reasons so many of the species die. It’s probably why the plants die too.

6. Drought has probably killed more things than any other natural disaster. It’s so extreme in the harm it leaves behind that it’s hard to think of any good that could come from it. The trees dried out in the end and so did many other things. One thing is for certain, in this drought as in all others, there is no fresh water to be found anywhere. I think that next time it will be wise to plan ahead. We would pack water, food and anything else we could fit in our packs. I sure hate being famished and watching the others struggle along beside me. Although, having better knowledge about droughts will help me and the others be prepared for the next time one comes. As we were leaving the desert and arriving at a tiny river, I thought to myself, what will happen next on this adventure? If we’re not struggling to survive through a drought, what other disaster will try to kill us?

7. Volcanic Nightmare On June, 19, 365 A.D. we anchored our boat on a really rocky island filled with several menacing volcanic peaks. We had been walking for a few days and had found a few calderas to refill our water. One day as we were walking through an extremely rocky area, we heard a rumbling sound which we first thought was an earthquake, but it turned out to be a volcanic eruption! There was already lava moving down the sides of the volcano! So we climbed fearfully out of the path of the lava to the edge of an extremely high rock face and started to climb. Around three quarters of the way up the rock Morgan started to slip, so as fast as possible my cousin Brynn and I turned around and pulled Morgan up to our ledge just in the nick of time, because the lava was only a meter or two away from her feet! We continued to climb out of the area and away from the vent that had erupted a fresh flow. The lava was beginning to harden and was turning a darker, black color. We decided to wait for a few days before we started walking again and we avoided the fumes coming out of the volcano.

8. While we were in the area I decided to do some research on the volcano. To my surprise our group found a strangely quiet cottage on a neighboring mountainside. It was deserted; full of dust, and luckily for me we found TONS of records about the volcanoes eruptions and other happenings. The records were quite interesting. They said that a volcano consists of a fissure in the earth’s crust, above which a cone of volcanic materials had slowly grown. At the top of the cone there is a bowl-shape called a crater. The cone is formed by the volcano spewing up lava and volcanic materials from the core of the earth. In successive eruptions, the solid materials fall around the slopes on the cone, while lava oozes from the vent and fissures on the sides of the cone. So, the cone is made up of layers of solid materials and lava all sloping down away from the vent. Some gigantic, crater-like basins, at the peak of most non-active volcanoes, are occupied by deep lakes called calderas. Some calderas are formed by the sudden destruction or a cataclysmic explosion that obliterates the erupting volcano. On the rare occasion some calderas form when the subterranean magma chamber, which is constantly being emptied by repeated eruptions, can no longer support the volcanoes weight. Therefore it collapses. It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t give our volcano a name, so I thought I would name it, Appel Etrait, which is French for close call.

9. The last page of the journal I was reading talked about the eruptions of my volcano and others in the area. The volcanist that did the research had recorded that another of the volcanoes had erupted with giant clouds of ash and rocks. The ash looked like it could be a mile high in the air. It fell on mountainsides over 43 miles away. The dome of this volcano continued to grow at a high rate, and was at least 140 feet tall. The largest eruption had sent ash flying to the west and created an ash cloud soaring to the height of 27,000 feet in the sky. Observations of the summit crater showed that a new vent was active last July. Fumaroles continued to release gas from the crater and lava dome. Some People believed that new magma was being added to an extremely big magma chamber beneath the volcano. On one day the volcano threw ash and steam over one mile high. This activity lasted for around three minutes. On another day the volcano threw ash over 1.5 miles in the air for one of its biggest eruptions in years. Lava was also flung 1500 feet into the air. That was the last entry in the documents. I wondered what had happened that the researcher had stopped writing. We decided that perhaps out group shouldn’t wait around to see what might happen and we wanted to get as far away as possible.

10. Tornado Race David glanced ay the sky and saw a dark and black clouds in the sky he said “It’s to rough we got to hurry to shore i have heard about these violent winds”. They are towering with a black funnel that rotates up to 300 miles per hour. The pressure of these tornadoes is low but then gets huge in pressure. The speed of a primary tornado causes death people get killed in these horrible things or by objects that are going to the funnel and get hit by one they can die. Sarah yells over the noises of the water “Everybody starts paddling we need to get under cover fast!” That dark sky doesn’t look so good we have to hurry.

11. Finally we got though all of that waves and every thing but we still got a dangerous adventurer ahead of us. I have heard that the formation of tornado is still not understood quit yet. It forms to a giant thunderstorm and can cause rain or thunder. They form with cold polar air and warm tropical air, that's how tornados are usually formed. The winds get great and caused by both that warm and cold air mixing together. They have a narrow zone and forms cumulonimbus. Where there is a thunderstorm it flashes lighting or hails. Finally we got to water and the thunderstorm is over. That's the good thing at least.

12. UH OH! I think we better start hurrying again. It looks like there are going to be violent winds and we’ll have another roatating tornado. Those tornados come in many shapes so we better start moving pretty fast. if one still hasn’t formed and were in it. The cloud debris is a lower portion or rain or hail when a tornado is going but when it’s over it rains or hails. The winds can even get up to 110 mph (175km/h) approximately 250 feet, And you don’t want to here about the tornados speed and how long it is (whispering in the back: tell us we need to know) If you say so we need to keep walking. I can’t stop and tell you. I’ll walk and talk. The winds of a tornado can get up to 300mph 1.6km across That is huge! Would any of you like to be in that (no…no…no). Then lets hurry and get under cover a little.

13. Links http://earthscience.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/tornado.jpg http://weatherpix.com/images.htm http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/hottopics/naturaldisasters/ http://www.bt.cdc.gov/disasters/http://www.bt.cdc.gov/disasters/ http://www.foxnews.com/specialsections/naturaldisaster/index.html