It’s a busy time for turtles. Mothers are laying eggs, hatchlings from the previous season are breaking free of their shells, digging themselves to the surface, and making the perilous journey from nest to the shelter of water or thick vegetation. As we all know, many turtles don’t make it. Natural predators take their toll, but no threat is as great as that of our motor vehicles. When turtles need to cross our roads, chances are they’ll be crushed outright or maimed to suffer an agonizing, lingering death. That’s why I’m determined to spread the word and encourage everyone to become a Turtle Taxi. I’m happy to say that the word is getting out.

Lisa Hammersla of South Carolina remembered what she’d read here at Outside Up North about giving turtles a lift when she recently saved this terrapin from an almost certain death on a busy Beaufort highway:

 
Lisa stopped her car and gave the terrapin a lift to the safety of a marsh on the side, taking she in the direction she wanted to go. As it happened, a beautiful rainbow glistened over the wetland as the terrapin attempted her crossing under a “Terrapin Crossing” sign. Thanks, Lisa, for saving the terrapin’s life and for sending us her portrait!

 
I’m pleased to report a turtle save on a bike ride I took earlier in the week. As I cruised down an unusually busy country road I saw what appeared to be a pebble in my path. I adjusted my line, and as I got close realized it wasn’t a pebble. It was a hatchling snapping turtle:

 
He was a feisty little fellow, kicking at my fingers with his sharp little claws and opening his mouth to hiss at me. A hatchling snapper like this one can safely be lifted as shown in the photo above. Larger snappers require a special technique when lifting them—read how in “Help Turtles Cross Roads.”

The traffic was picking up and the place where the snapper was heading was unsafe because of aggressive dogs and sterile lawns. I zipped him securely into my rack trunk, where he wandered around exploring for the half-mile I carried him to the edge of a wetland.

 
He’s already eager to get onto the ground and on his way. I placed him in the tall grasses and wildflowers, and he quickly scooted to safety in the shadows of overhanging vegetation.

 
Then news came to me from Japan expert, Bob Angel, who’s a keen saver of turtles in his own right. He found an article in a Japanese newspaper which astonished me. Go to the article entitled “Turtle Gets Prosthetic Legs” in The Asahi Shumbun for the full (though brief) story, and if you want to see a photo, check out the Japanese language version of the article. A Ridley’s sea turtle who had badly injured front legs because of a shark attack has been fitted with prosthetics. So far tests appear to indicate that the turtle will be able to cope in the wild in a year or two. Let’s hope so! Thanks to Bob for this pointer. Incidentally, Bob’s blog, Mobile Studio Travels of the Japan Considered Project, is always a good read as he describes his kayak and hiking explorations in South Carolina and points distant.

 
Sea turtles found their way into another publication this week. Barney Ward writes Old Fat Man Adventures most days, chronicling what’s going on wherever his explorations have found him. While fishing and exploring Flour Bluff, Texas, this week, he caught sight of sea turtles not far offshore. Barney patiently shot frame after frame before catching a terrific photo of a turtle surfacing for air. Read about it and see his excellent picture in “The Critter Home.”

 
Turtles are remarkably well equipped to survive in a hostile world. But however smart, alert, and strong a turtle is, she or he is no match against a cruel human or a motor vehicle. Even dogs can do harm to turtles. That’s why it’s so important to learn how to “Help Turtles Cross Roads.”

 
Have you saved a turtle from being hit by cars? Do you have a story or pictures to share? Just send us an email and we’ll publish your comments and turtle pictures in our “Turtle Portrait Gallery.”

 
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A drizzly hike along The River offered perfect conditions for shooting slow-motion photos of moving water. See more such pictures in our “A River Runs…” gallery.

 
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One month ago I received my new Louis Garneau RR-16 rack trunk from Performance Bike and shortly thereafter I wrote an evaluation of it’s build quality and capability on the bike as a camera-carrying bag. Now that I’ve put a couple hundred miles on the trunk, I can say I’m satisfied with how I’ve outfitted it to safely carry my Pentax digital SLR. If you’re unsure how to carry your camera gear aboard your bike, maybe my modifications will help you decide how to it with your bag and bike.

While the RR-16 is generously padded, I wanted additional protection for my camera and lenses. The solution came in the form of a lunch-sized soft cooler found at the local Dollar Store. It fits perfectly inside the trunk:

 
The cooler is padded and has a simple zip-closure lid. Its shoulder strap folds underneath when inside the trunk, but is handy if I want to remove the camera kit and sling it over my shoulder while leaving the trunk in place. There’s plenty of room left over in the trunk for food, clothes, tools, or a jacket and hat.

The DSLR fits inside the lunch cooler with a bit of elbow room, and being a belts-and-suspenders kind of gal, I wasn’t satisfied until I added more padding to prevent the camera and lenses from being jostled on rough roads. I also wanted to immobilize the kit in case of a crash, so I cut up an old closed-cell sleeping pad and added separators which I can slip between camera and extra lens, and around the sides to snug the fit:

 
I rest the camera back against the side closest to the bike saddle, with the lens facing aft. The spare lens (in a plastic freezer bag) goes face-down next to the lens mounted on the camera, and is held snugly in place with strips of foam. There’s room for a few odds and ends if I want them inside the camera bag. With the camera kit packed, I pull the top edges of the foam over the kit and zip the cooler lid closed.

 
While the hook-and-loop tabs on the rack trunk are substantial and have good grip, I couldn’t stop thinking about how awful I’d feel if the trunk was knocked free of its moorings when riding a rough road, so I used a length of heavy-duty cord to form a lanyard that lets me securely tie the bag to the bike rack without impairing my ability to get inside pockets or the main compartment:

 
I looped the cord through the aft D-ring on the trunk lid, ran the ends through the near D-ring, then down around the rack before bringing the ends up through the near D-ring once more before securely tying the knot. The loose ends are tucked under the mesh flap. I can unzip the lid or expand the trunk without the lanyard getting in the way, but the trunk won’t go flying into a ditch if all four flaps fail at once (not likely, but you never know!). Here’s a photo of the trunk in use, with the top flap pulled back with the lanyard in place:

 
When I want to stop and shoot pictures, I park, unzip the top flap of the RR-16, unzip the cooler, remove the camera, put the camera strap over my head, and shoot away. The trunk rack makes a nice platform, and if I’m going to be away from the bike’s side, I zip the top trunk flap shut to keep out dust and drizzle. It takes a bit of time to extract my camera from the trunk, but it’s worth knowing the camera kit is safe and protected as I ride, while still being accessible. If I want to take quick shots without the bother of dismounting, I pull my point-and-shoot Canon from my handlebar bag. By and large, I’m very satisfied with the LG RR-16 rack trunk, and I expect to put in many hundreds of miles with it as my camera bag.

 
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