The Next Best Thing to a Ham Sandwich (a webpage by Jeff DePree)
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Welcome

With all this talk of this "internet" thing over the last couple of years, it has come to my attention that millions of people are spending hours of their days just reading through random crap that has nothing to do with their lives. And sadly, despite my unparalleled skill for making up random crap, I have thus far made no contribution to this noble cause of crippling the productivity of web surfers around the world. So here it is, my half-witted attempt to befuddle, confuse, confound, and more or less grind your intellectual activity to a halt. If you have any questions, comments, or ads for male impotence drugs, send them to jdepree@ufl.edu. Enjoy and sign the guestbook and/or join the mailing list!


News

  • March 20th - May 7th, 2012: Motorbiking around southern Africa. Find sporadic updates here.
  • April 29th - May 8th, 2011: Led six unsuspecting OARers on an exhausting, whirlwind tour of Nicaragua and Costa Rica (with motorcycles!). Read about it here.
  • December 28th - January 9th, 2010: Tried my best to make Haitians understand the bizarre western concept of "hiking" and kickstart an eco-tourism industry. Read about it here.
  • October 14th-17th, 2010: Took way too many people to the ancient South American city of Cartagena for a dip in a big tub of mud. Read about it here.
  • May 26th - June 13th, 2010: A conference in Crete, reached by the most convoluted route possible. Read about it here.
  • April 23rd-27th, 2010: Four days? Sure, that's plenty of time to see three countries. See the story and pictures here.
  • March 6th-14th, 2010: Spent a way-too-relaxing spring break in the mountains of Colombia. See the story and pictures here.
  • January 22nd-25th, 2010: Gave the Corolla a rest and tackled the wilds of Puerto Rico in a set of highly expendable rental cars. See the story and pictures here.
  • December 27th-January 4th, 09-10: Found new and exciting ways to destroy my car south of the border with one of the most epic UF Outdoors Club trips yet. See the story and pictures here.
  • November 25th-29th, 2009: Celebrated Thanksgiving with rice, peas, and stewed goat on the profoundly misunderstood isle of Haiti. Read all about it here.
  • October 24th-31st, 2009: Flew all the way out to the Pacific Northwest to talk about leveraging the internet for academic collaboration over distance. Read about everything but the conference here.
  • August 29th-31st, 2009: Jumped on a last-minute weekend adventure with cousin Piet in the TAG area. Pictures here.
  • August 8th-24th, 2009: Tackled nearly every adventure sport imaginable in the grand ol' American Southwest. Details and pictures here.
  • July 17th-July 26th, 2009: Spent some of the last weekends of summer on rope in the wilds of Tennessee. Details here.
  • May 17th-July 24th, 2009: Joined a research team of civil engineering undergrads to design a sustainable water retention technology for the arid reaches of the Kenyan countryside. Read about it here.
  • May 1st-16th, 2009: Burrowed through underground rock churches, scaled the heights of medieval castles, climbed the epic Simien mountains, and rode a lot of ridiculously uncomfortable Ethiopian buses. Read about it here.
  • March 6th-17th, 2009: Navigated the labyrinthine souks and hiked the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco, but never managed to eat camel. Read about it here.
  • December 31st 2008: So how can you be a starving college student and still travel every time you get a few days off? Here are some ideas.
  • December 8th - 17th 2008: Headed for the Mayan empire for more tomb raiding, with a bit of cave swimming and sketchy border crossings thrown in. Story and pictures here.
  • August 10th - 23rd 2008: Explored ancient Incan tombs in the heights of the Andes mountains. Story and pictures here.
  • June 21st - July 3rd 2008: Scoured the jungles of Panama in search of the elusive capybara. Story and pictures here.
  • April 26th - May 8th 2008: Improvised a last minute trip to the wonders of the southeast. Read about it here.
  • December 27th (2007) - January 6th (2008): Ventured into the darkest reaches of the Jamaican jungle and lived to write this report.
  • October 4th-7th: 12000 caves, 1500 cavers, and one really big fire at the TAG Fall Cave-in - see pictures here.
  • August 10th-21st: Heading north to Nova Scotia for some cool-weather hiking/biking - get the story here.
  • June 23rd-29th: Visiting the tropical rainforests of Costa Rica in the heart of the rainy season - see all the sodden critters we spotted here.
  • January 8, 2007: UF WINS NATIONAL FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP! GO GATORS!!!
  • December 27, 2006: So oft deprived of a proper Christmas in Florida, Andie and I set out to the west to find snow, reindeer, and adventure! Read about it here.
  • October 10, 2006: Paddling the picturesque waters of Wekiwa Springs with the beautiful and resilient Andrea Sell. Learn what not to bring on a canoe trip here.
  • Jun 25, 2006: Commencing crazy road trip to the remotest ends of the continent. Watch for updates here.
  • May 8, 2006: Descended into the grimiest bowels of the earth and hiked to the frosty heights of the AT with the UF outdoors club; read all about it here
  • December 15, 2005: Returned home alive after travelling to all the darkest corners of the earth. Read all about my crazy year-long trip here
  • November 11-12, 2004: Went sea kayaking out at Cape Canaveral and shared a small island with about 13 million blood-sucking locals
  • November 4, 2004: Discovered how much fun it can be to destroy a perfectly good bike at the San Felasco trails.
  • November 4, 2004: Barely survived UF's clever attempt to kill me at the Lake Wauburg Adventure Race
  • October 22-23, 2004: Experienced the joy of underwater camping while scuba diving the Florida Keys.
  • August 20, 2004: Finished another term at IBM and drove 17 hours back to Gainesville to try the college thing for the first time in 20 months.
  • August 7, 2004: Hung out with the dregs of society to watch Black Sabbath and Judas Priest at Ozzfest.
  • June 21-28, 2004: Skipped work to spend a week diving in the tropical paradise of cozumel. Report and pictures (updated) here.
  • May 30, 2004: Went boating on Lake Travis with several people who had never been on the water before; bought a new propeller for the boat rental place.
  • May 16, 2004: Front and center for a Styx/Peter Frampton concert in San Antonio. "I thought that they were angels but to my surprise they climbed aboard their starship and headed for the skies"
  • May 8, 2004: Came out of retirement to run the Chuy's Hot-to-Trot 5K. Defeated Elvis and a giant fish to get a nearly decent time of 19:30.
  • April 22, 2004: See the world's largest paperweights at the petrified forest. Pictures. (fixed)
  • April 21, 2004: The Grand Canyon - pretty cool place - check out pictures here.
  • April 20, 2004: The Death Car strikes again on the road to Death Valley. Check out these pictures of my once beautiful Corolla.
  • April 17-18, 2004: Starting out on the road to Austin, we run into a couple of fairly impressive rocks and trees; check out the story and pictures here.
  • April 16, 2004: World's most "extreme" internship comes to an end; now it's on to the next adventure.
  • April 9-11, 2004: Attempted to see all of L.A. on foot in 2 days... how big can one city really be? Pictures here. (story forever lost in abnormally bad computer crash - refer to Death Valley link)
  • April 6, 2004: Attempted to rollerblade down mountain. See scars here.
  • 4-4-04 (I'm amused by simple things -- it's going to be a crazy Cinco de Mayo next year): Went back to San Francisco, climbed up a few hills, went sailing at Berkeley; pictures here
  • April 3, 2004: Managed to go through Napa and Sonoma Valleys without drinking a drop of wine (no easy task, it's practically in the tap water), pictures here
  • March 27, 2004: Went to San Francisco today - story, pictures here
Less noteworthy, more random news here. And here are running totals of all the countries and caves I've visited over the years.