iWorks, McPhee, motorcycle rear-brake problem, 'Wholphin'
(posted from home)
(This post covers 8 – 14 December, 2009)

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Monday, 14 December -

I spent the morning on the web. That afternoon I rode the Concours over to the motorcycle shop to drop it off for the rear-brake repair and inspection. But I had forgotten these guys are closed on Monday's so it was a complete waste of time.
Around 1430 I headed out for my six-miler, today on a cloudy and airy 50-degree day. The warm temp is in front of an approaching cold front but it made for a pleasant walk.
One of the things I don't like about winter is having to leave for my walk by 1430-1500 to get home before dark.
That evening we watched more Lost-5 eps.

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Sunday, 13 December-

Today I drove to Cburg and spent the afternoon with Maypo, working on estate-related paperwork. LOTsa fun!
On the drive down and back I enjoyed listening to Bill Moyer podcasts. I'm really going to miss the Journal, whether the visual version on Friday nights or the podcast version from iTunes.
No walk today. Even if I had stayed home, I probably wouldn't have walked given today's sleet and rain and needing to rest my legs a bit after a week of six milers.

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Saturday, 12 December-

After reading a few articles about this week's changes to Facebook security, I reviewed my security settings in detail. I was surprised to learn (from the articles) that Facebook's default setting of 'Everyone' doesn't mean “Everyone on Facebook”, it means “Everyone on the Internet” since this setting opens any info you protect at this level to internet search engines and to anyone with a theory on what I want to buy. No thanks, Facebook.
I also talked with my brothers via Skype and reviewed some estate paperwork.
I walked-six on a very cold and windy afternoon but I was comfy.
That evening we watched four episodes of Lost Season Five on Netflix Instant Movies.

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Friday, 11 December-

After my morning web-patrol the weather seemed too nice to stay home. I rode the Concours to town for a coffee and Times, then ran a few errands. I also found the Concours has a rear-brake problem. The rear brake isn't releasing properly after application. The bike felt sluggish and I noticed at an intersection that I didn't need to apply to brakes to keep the bike from rolling backward on the gentle hill. At my next stop I felt the brake rotors and found the rear rotor extra-hot. The piston in the caliper is apparently hung up. I was able to get the brake to release and then cautiously drove home using only the front brake.
I walked-six that afternoon then we finished the 'Long Way Down' disk (#2) that evening.

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Thursday, 10 December-

I finished up the bills and spent the rest of the morning on the web. After my six-miler we watched three eps of 'Long Way Down', disk two. I had started this series about a motorcycling adventure tour while Labashi was away, figuring I'd have it done before her returen. But it was easy for her to pick up in mid-series given it's a simple premise--- Charley and Ewan are riding their bikes through Africa.

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Wednesday, 9 December -

Today was a bill-paying day. This was mostly just a matter of writing checks for things like vehicle registrations and medical co-pays, etc which had stacked up while Labashi was away for two weeks.
After I finished that I installed iWorks on the Mac. I bought iWorks 09 very cheaply during Cyber Monday sales. This is another of those 'get some experience' things. I don't currently have a heavy-duty need for the word processor, the spreadsheet, or the presentation products but want to have the capabilities available and to explore the capabilities of the products. I was impressed by the sample files I saw for these apps at the Apple Store in Lancaster.
I walked-six late in the day, then we watched most of 'Wholphin, Issue 1' from Netflix. This is a DVD of short films-- the kind that don't make it to commercial distribution. We were a bit put off by this collection. With no explanation of what we're looking at, this collection gives the impression of elitism. You apparently have to be an insider to know what's going on. I can't recommend it.

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Tuesday, 8 December -

I spent much of the day researching motorcycle insurance and long term health care insurance (somehow those two don't seem to go together, do they?). I'm a bit miffed with my motorcycle insurance company for selling a towing benefit which turns out to be just refunding up to $50 of my costs. If I were to break down I'd still have to find someone to respond. I swear they used to also do the dispatch. So, time to look for someone who does.
That afternoon I walked-six. My walks are taking about and hour and forty-five minutes now.
I keep forgetting to write down what book I'm reading but currently it's 'Best Travel Writing of 2004' from my bookshelf. This is one of those books I started but for some reason lost interest (I can tell by where the folded page is). I'm so glad I re-started this one. It has a fantastic piece by John McPhee wherein he travels cross country with a chemical-tank trucker. McPhee is my all-time favorite writer of non-fiction and he doesn't disappoint in this piece.

**************** END OF POST ************

Computer-technology upgrades; Labashi's return

(posted from home)
(This post covers 1 – 7 December, 2009)


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Monday, 7 December-

Today we had an appointment at a local retirement community to tour an apartment Labashi's parents are considering. We spent a few hours measuring, photographing and looking at carpet and paint samples. This is by no means a sure thing but we do have to go through these steps to provide helpful information for the decision-makers.
Later in the day I upgraded the operating system on the little Mac (from Leopard to Snow Leopard). The installation disk ran for an hour but the upgrade went fine. I then had the software update process check for online updates and went through those installations. Again, it all went smoothly (and I can breathe again!). All my applications came up with no issues.
That evening I updated the blog.

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Sunday, 6 December -

I spent the morning cleaning the house in preparation for Labashi's return. I didn't have it too bad-- just your basic vacuuming, dusting, and putting things in their place.
I finished up around 1400 and had to get outside a bit. Today's high was only 36 but it was a pleasantly sunny day so I rode the Concours to the Tollgate Starbucks to read the papers.
Labashi made it home by 1630. After unloading all her stuff we went out to dinner to celebrate her return, then watched the 'Dead Like Me' pilot and most of a Blue Man Group concert that evening.

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Saturday, 5 December -

Today the weather turned bad and we had a light snow. I worked on the web for most of the morning, then felt I had to get out. I drove to the Apple Store in Lancaster and bought a 'Time Capsule'. It's a combination hi-speed wireless router and hard disk. It works in tandem with the Mac operating system to perform automatic backups. It will also give a much-needed upgrade to our wireless network. Now I just need to figure out the best way to go about my series of upgrades.
Labashi was supposed to drive home from Michigan today but had called this morning to say she couldn't leave yet; she still had more to do. That's just as well, I suppose, since the snow has made the roads sloppy and tomorrow is to be a better day for travel.
I watched a few episodes of 'Dead Like Me' that evening. No walk today.

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Friday, 4 December -

I can't believe it. Today I started to send back the 'Long Way Down' disk and realized I had inadvertantly trashed the Netflix mailer envelopes for all three movies. How the heck do you send the movies back without mailers?
I called Netflix Support and they offered to send me the next movie in the queue. I'm to use the mailer to send back two DVDs and then they'll send another and I can again double up and so on...
The temperature today was near 60 so I thought I'd better take advantage and get in a motorcycle ride. I just buzzed in to Starbucks for a cappucino, enjoying the nice day.

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Thursday, 3 December -

My odd sleeping schedule is catching up with me today. I've been going to bed after midnight and waking around 0500 for the last few days. By mid-morning I had a headache and couldn't keep my eyes open. I laid down but twenty minutes later had to get up-- I couldn't sleep. An hour later I again had the overwhelming tiredness and went to bed again. After twenty minutes I thought I'd have to get up again but then did fall into a fitful sleep for a half-hour or so. But at least the headache lightened up and I felt pretty normal for the rest of the day.
I spent the evening researching the Snow Leopard upgrade. No walk today.

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Wednesday, 2 December-

Today I drove to Lancaster and the Apple Store (in the Park City Mall). I had intended just to look around and ask questions but after learning how I might connect up the Mac to our TV (so we can see Netflix Instant movies), I bought two cables plus a screen-cleaner kit and an upgrade to the operating system (to Snow Leopard).
I watched another two 'Dead Like Me' episodes on Netflix Instant and finished the first disk of 'Long Way Down'. The motorcycle adventurers have made the classic mistake of planning a far-too-ambitious schedule and now are complaining endlessly about seeing so little of the countries they zoom through to stay on schedule.

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Tuesday, 1 December -

Today I drove to Chambersburg to take care of estate taxes and interview a property-management firm my brothers and I are thinking of working with.
The trip pretty much blew out the day. On the way home I diverted to take a drive through the Michaux State Forest and stopped at the state park campground to check out the new buildings. It's now possible to get a shower there (in the unheated restroom) but I was surprised to see how much prices have gone up. It now costs over $20 for a PA resident to camp in a basic, no-electricity site (Sunday-Thursday only) and the electricity add-on is $5. Those seem like outrageous prices to me.


************** END OF POST ************

Setting up new TV (our first dealings with HD), 'Star Trek', 'Lake Tahoe', 'Californication', 'Humboldt County', Black Friday patrol, 'Stranded', 'Dead Like Me', 'Long Way Down'

(posted from home)
(This post covers 17 – 30 November, 2009)

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Monday, 30 November-

Today I had some office work to do and calls to make. I also spent time checking out the Cyber Monday deals and did find a good deal on iWork for my MacBook Pro ($55 for the normally-$99 Family Pack). I'm working on the longer-range plan of converting from Windows to Mac in our household and so I'm spending lots of time on the Apple website and in various Mac forums.
No walk today because of my toe. It's going to be a few days.
I started watching Disk One of 'Long Way Down', a motorcycle adventure-touring tv series. Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman ride BMW 1200GS bikes from the north tip of Scotland to Cape Town, South Africa.

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Sunday, 29 November-

Today I did my regular Sunday thing. I rode the motorcycle to the Tollgate Starbucks for a nice, long, leisurely read of the Sunday paper accompanied by a cappucino and an iced passion tea.
I then took a walk-jog at Rocky Ridge Park. My regular route has changed slightly but if anything it's a tad longer given that a trail closure forces me to take a more circuitous (though pleasant enough) route to rejoin the route on the other side of the closed segment.
My strategy for the last several visits has been to walk the uphills and jog the downhills. If I jog the uphills, I end up slowing down to the point where I can walk that fast. Walking gives me a break from the pounding and a bit of variety.
The strategy allowed me to set a new record for my course today--- a 1:18 total. I did have a problem, though. On the last segment of the course I accidently kicked a rock very hard. I didn't break my toe. By the time I got home I had to limp into the house and that evening the toe was throbbing so I had to take Ibuprofen.
I watched two more episodes of 'Dead Like Me'-Season One. Love it!


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Saturday, 28 November-

I spent the morning on the web, still trolling for uber-bargains without luck. Around lunch time I rode the Concours to town to return videos, then drop in to Starbucks to read the Times.
Back home I spent the better part of an hour talking to Labashi (at her Mom's house in Michigan) via Skype. Her Mom's knee replacement went well and recovery seems to be well underway.
I spent the latter part of the day updating the blog. I decided to skip the walk today and push a bit harder tomorrow.

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Friday, 27 November-

I took a quick spin around the Webosphere 'bargain' sites but again saw nothing interesting. I also restarted our Netflix membership and rebuilt our movie queue. I had cancelled last August just before leaving for the Oregon Trail trip. Since returning home we've been picking up movies from our local California Video store and sometimes from Blockbuster but the pickings are getting thin and Blockbuster raised prices. I can get a month of movies from Netflix for the cost of a weekend of movies from Blockbuster.
As part of my Netflix restart I wanted to try Instant Movies on the Mac (looks good!). I think I found a new series for us. I watched the pilot for 'Dead Like Me' and loved its wit.
That afternoon I took along a few Wal-mart bags on my walk and picked up roadside trash. I filled eight bags and dropped them along the road as they filled, then went back later in Mocha Joe and picked them up. I still have more to do.
That evening I watched 'Stranded' on DVD. This is the story of the 1972 plane crash in the Andes where the survivors were forced to resort to cannabalism to live the 72 days to their rescue. The story was told years ago in the book 'Alive'. The documentary-film version relies heavily on recent interviews with survivors.

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Thursday, 26 November -


I spent the morning looking for Black Friday bargains but didn't find anything interesting. Late in the morning I drove to Maypo's home in Chambersburg for a traditional Thanksgiving meal.
No walk today.


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Wednesday, 25 November -

After reading about Black Friday specials, I spent much of today web shopping and researching Netflix-capable devices (like Roku). It soon became apparent that the good stuff isn't making the Black Friday list. You can get a Blu-Ray player on sale but not one that streams Netflix instant movies.
I went in to Blockbuster to return DVDs coming due this weekend (in case I want to stay over) and then walked-six.

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Tuesday, 24 November-

This morning I walked up to the garage to pick up Mocha Joe. Ol' Joe needed brakes, rotors, and front shocks and could use a set of tires. It seems like I just bought that set of tires but come to think of it that was July 2008 and I put 16K on them going to Alaska, 6K to Florida last winter, and 12K to Oregon and Texas since then. Still, it seems early for tires, particularly given the replacements along the way. I might get another 10K if I push it to the wear-bars but I don't think that's wise given some of the conditions I get into on the road.
I spent a few hours on the Web researching tires. I also have been reading about routers since I'm thinking of replacing my ancient g-router which is giving us some hassles.
I walked-six before dark and that evening finished 'Humboldt County' on DVD.


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Monday, 23 November -

Maypo must have over-loaded my head yesterday. I woke in the wee hours and couldn't get back to sleep. I got up shortly after 0300, dressed, and went to the new Giant supermarket to pick up a few items. (I ought to do that more often. There wasn't any problem with crowded roads nor was there a line at the supermarket!)
I stopped in for a cappucino at McDonald's (not bad!) on the way home and felt good. When daylight came I drove Mocha Joe up to my local garage for today's inspection and walked home (it's only about a mile).
I did catch a short nap before lunch and that afternoon did my six-miler. That evening I started 'Humboldt County' on DVD but faded out quickly. I ended up abandoning the movie about a third of the way through.


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Sunday, 22 November -

I spent the day with Maypo today here at my house. We drove in to Panera for lunch and then worked on my electrical problem with the front pole light (looks like I've gotta run a new line out to the pole). We covered a lot of ground in our conversations as we worked. It was great to have him here and get his opinions and tap into his expertise.
No walk today.


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Saturday, 21 November -


This morning I spent a few hours cleaning up the house for my visitor tomorrow, then drove into town to continue researching Blu-Ray players and home-theater systems, trying to find a good mix (not to mention a good price).
The sound on the new TV is tinny. Consumer Reports rated it 'Fair' and it's okay with the sound set to 'Clear Sound' but not when it's set to 'Dynamic'. I don't think I really want a home theater system, just a decent set of stereo speakers. I pulled a set of powered computer speakers out of storage and after running down an RCA-to-1/8”-plug cable at Radio Shack I have at least a temporary solution but if I found the right deal on something fancier I might jump on it.
I also learned this morning that my cheapo Sony DVD player is the source of an edge-lighting problem on the screen of the new TV. Thank goodness. I was afraid I'd have to return it and then what do you do if the new one does the same? In the meantime I had signed up for High Def Forum to start posting questions to others with some experience with these units but that now appears not to be needed.
That afternoon I walked and jogged the five-mile course at Rocky Ridge Park, then dropped in at the nearby Texas Roadhouse for ribs.
That evening I finished the first season of 'Californication. Yep, I like it.

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Friday, 20 November -

I continued researching and adjusting the HD tv today and figured out how to connect-up the other TVs in the house. The trick was to use the component connections rather than the HDMI connections.
After my regular walk I watched 'Lake Tahoe', an interesting little Mexican film. The New York Times reviewer gets it right (IMHO) when she says of it: “So different from the usual fare that it might have arrived from a different galaxy.” Indeed.
I also watched the first disk of 'Californication'- Season One. I don't know yet. I THINK I like it. It's a morality tale in an immorality/amorality wrapper.

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Thursday, 19 November -

This morning I had my somewhat-dreaded appointment with my urologist, Dr. Baselli. The dreaded part is the thought of what it will mean if the latest CT scans show any significant change to the growth on my kidney. But it turned out there's no significant change. I will have to come back in eight months for a follow-up scan but otherwise, there's no reason for concern.
While in town I picked up some DVDs at Blockbuster; 'Californication', 'Lake Tahoe', 'Humboldt County', and the new 'Star Trek'.
Back home, I fired up the new tv for the first time and began the process of finding the right combination of settings to suit me, taking a break late in the day for my six-miler.
That evening I watched 'Star Trek' and was disappointed, both in the movie and in my new tv. The movie plays in a super-wide-screen format which means there's quite a lot of black space above and below the picture.
The movie is too much a JJ Abrams knock-off of 'Lost'. The plotline had some interesting twists but at one point Spock uses the old Sherlock Holmes line: “Eliminate all other possibilities and the one that remains must be the truth, however unlikely”. Do they think nobody reads Sherlock Holmes any more?

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Wednesday, 18 November -

This morning I drove to Mechanisburg for my routine dental checkup and cleaning. Afterwards I went to the Best Buy to look for Apple gear and a Blu-Ray player capable of connecting to Netflix. I left empty-handed, though. Since we're so close to the Black Friday sales, I thought I should wait until next week.
On the way home I stopped in at the Blue Ridge Cable office to swap my set-top cable box of an HD-capable version and to sign up for additional HD channels on a six-month special offer.
I walked my six-mile loop late in the day and that evening picked up some cables for the television installation from the local Radio Shack. I spent the rest of the evening reading about the installation and trying to figure out how to avoid losing any of my existing capabilities while gaining the new HD capabilities.

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Tuesday, 17 November-

I spent much of the morning catching up and posting the blog update. In the afternoon I drove in to Sears to pick up our new television set (a smaller flat-screen) while Labashi prepared for her trip to her Mom's house tomorrow. She helped me unbox and install the television on its stand but we won't be connecting it up until tomorrow.
I walked-six late in the day, just before dark.


*********** END OF POST ***********

Windshield replacement, back into daily walks, 'Sin Nombre', 'Eddie Izzard Live at Wembley'

(posted from home)
(This post covers 7 – 16 November, 2009)

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Monday, 16 November -

This morning I had my CT-scan for my appointment with my urologist later this week. This is a follow-up check on a kidney problem detected last year. My X-ray tech did a great job of making today's procedure a routine one.
Later that day I did my six-miler while Labashi worked in the yard (on this beautiful Indian Summer day) and then we picked up the television stand that evening at Hake's. On the way home we split a good filet mignon at the nearby Logan's Roadhouse restaurant.

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Sunday, 15 November-

Today we pulled out Labashi's 14' orchard ladder and began trimming the Canadian hemlocks which make up the border between us and the neighbors. We had to use both the pruning pole and pruning chainsaw (an 8-inch chainsaw on a 12-foot pole) to top the trees. The idea is to stop their vertical growth at about 16-18 feet.
Labashi also wanted to go buy the TV cart we had seen at Hake's later in the day. I double-checked the TV on the Sears website and found their price for the television we want has gone up $150! And, worse, a search of the internet revealed it's still the cheapest price available. It appears Sony (and everybody else) had kicked up the price and I had missed a great deal.
But I remembered the sale tag at our local store had said the sale is on through 11/28. I called the store and found their sale is still on even though the Sears.com site doesn't show it. And though they don't have any in stock, I could pick up one Tuesday at the store.
We buzzed in to Sears and bought the television, then dropped by Hake's to pick up the TV stand only to learn it's buried in the warehouse and we couldn't get it today.
Back home I walked-six and we finished up '30 Rock' Season Two.

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Saturday, 14 November -

Today we picked up a replacement speaker-phone at Staples ($28) and went looking for a tv stand. We're close to buying a television to replace our old Sony 27” CRT and have been putting off the buy because we've not seen anything acceptable. But I think we found it today at a local furniture store (Hake's on Route 74).
We then drove across town to have the excellent ribs at Texas Roadhouse and then grocery-shopped at the nearby Wal-mart.
I walked my six-mile loop and we tried watching 'Eddie Izzard at Wembley Live' but abandoned it due to boredom and switched to '30 Rock' episodes.

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Friday, 13 November -

Today's a rainy day thanks to Tropical Storm Ida's remnants. We're actually lucky in just getting some light rain while Virginia Beach and the Carolinas were really hit hard.
I spent much of my day on the Web. No walk today.
We watched 'Sin Nombre', an interesting and violent movie about a young immigrant couple trying to travel from Guatemala through gang-infested Mexico to the U.S. This one will make you feel lucky to live the life you're living.

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Thursday, 12 November -

I spent much of today researching a replacement for our antique Linksys router. We're having a lot of unexplained dropouts and lock-ups with our wireless connections and it's time for a technology upgrade anyway.
I also spent hours with SearchTempest, a Craigslist multi-city search engine. It's easy to get caught up in it given how easy it is to find all the ads within hundreds of miles on one search. I like to look for less-than-common things like Rokon two-wheel-drive motorcycles to see what's out there.
That afternoon I rode the Concours to Rocky Ridge park for a walk. I did my five-mile loop in 1:21 with a combination of fast-walking and jogging.
That evening we continued with '30- Rock' Season Two.


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Wednesday, 11 November -


Today I took Mocha Joe in for an oil change at Wal-mart. It seems like I was just in there a few months ago (I had the last one done in August) but on the other hand it's over 12,000 miles later. I'm still happy with the Mobil One oil and the thorough job Wal-mart does.
I also stopped at Tractor Supply, looking for a motorcycle hauler and shopped for a phone at Staples before heading home for my six-miler.



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Tuesday, 10 November -

Today I drove to Chambersburg for a tax appointment. After the meeting I had lunch at the local Fuddruckers and then met with the real-estate agent handling the house my brothers and I have for sale.
I made it back home in time (barely) to walk my six-mile loop before dark. Fie on this early-sunset stuff!

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Monday, 9 November -

I drove Mocha Joe into York for the windshield replacement this morning. While the three-hour installation was going on I walked over to the nearby Starbucks, then on to the Panera. I had my laptop along so the time went quickly. I see Panera is now changing their wi-fi policy to limit sessions to 30 minutes during lunch and supper times. I can't really blame them, given how many people I see using their laptops for extended times in busy Paneras. The 30-minute limit at the busiest times seems like a reasonable balance.
On the walk back to the shop I looked for a replacement telephone at Office Max (our ancient Panasonic wall phone died recently). After picking up the van I shopped for a phone at Wal-mart, then stopped at the local Toyota dealer to look at an FJ Cruiser on the lot. I can't believe they want $27K for a three-year-old FJ when new ones can be had for under $30K. In any case, I don't think I'm really an FJ-guy. I like the vehicle's looks but it wouldn't be all that useful to me. It's not big enough to live in (a la Mocha Joe) so I wouldn't have it where I'd need it, i.e., in the Florida sugar-sand or a Death Valley backcountry 4x4 trail.
I walked-six that afternoon.


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Sunday, 8 November -

After a morning patrolling the web news sites, I rode the Concours to the Tollgate Starbucks to exercise the bike and to read the papers. I like this particular Starbucks because it's not quite so busy and it has comfortable chairs for reading (unlike my regular Starbucks which took out the reading chairs to make room for more tables).
Later in the afternoon I walked my six-mile loop and then we watched several episodes of '30 Rock' Season Two.


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Saturday, 7 November

I spent the morning updating the blog, then made arrangements for a new windshield for Mocha Joe. I believe this is the fourth windshield on this van, all replaced because of cracks caused by flying stones from oncoming cars. My last windshield cost $280 and this one was first quoted at $230 but when I said I needed to make a few more calls before deciding, the guy changed the offer to $175 at the same place I got one last time.
That afternoon I walked my six mile loop.



*********** END OF POST ***********

Back into our home routine; ‘Last Chance Harvey’; ‘Terry Fater: Live from Las Vegas’ ; ‘W’ ; New clothes dryer

(posted from home)
(This post covers 30 October – 6 November, 2009)


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Friday, 6 November-

Today we re-leveled our stove and fridge. The door on the fridge has decided to not fully close so we took it off the hinges, greased the hinge-pins and re-assembled, then played with the leveling legs until it now closes on its own.
Since we had the leveling tools out we also leveled the stove so it no longer tends to pool the melting butter on the frying pan at the front of the pan (apparently a pet peeve of Labashi’s!).
I also took care of a few chores--- starting the KLR motorcycle with a shot of Sta-Bil in the tank; scheduling tax appointments; working on a printing problem for the Mac Book Pro and catching up the blog.
In the afternoon I walked my six-mile loop, then that evening we watched several ‘Pushing Daisies’-Season One episodes.


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Thursday, 5 November-

This morning we returned a dryer exhaust pipe to Sears. One odd thing about their delivery system is we were required to buy an installation kit consisting of an electrical cord and 4” exhaust pipe. If either isn’t needed, it can be returned, but must be available for the installer, just in case. That doesn’t sound too onerous since we could do the return whenever we had occasion to come back into town. But today was the day the computerized cash register chose to freeze up during the return process and caused a half-hour of hassle while they worked through that.
I also started looking for an espresso machine. I’ve taken a liking to cappuccinos (now that I can only have the very-occasional Frappacino) and would like to try making them at home. After finding machines at Wal-mart and Sears I researched them on Amazon, Consumer Reports, and CoffeeGeek.com and found those aren’t likely to give acceptable results.
The better machines are in the $250 range and if I’m to believe CoffeeGeek, I’d have to spend that much again for an acceptable grinder to make espresso worth drinking. Yikes!
I also tried to buy Doubleshot Lights (I can’t have the regular Doubleshots because of high carb content) at my local grocery store and at Wal-mart. I saw them in Nebraska, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and California on our trip. From my winter trips, I know I can get them in Florida and (I believe), the Carolinas. My local Wal-mart says they can’t order them and I’m guessing that’s going to also be the answer from my local Giant.
That evening we were each busy on the web until late, then caught three 30-Rock episodes before turning in. I’m reading ‘Jaguars Ripped My Flesh’ by Tim Cahill, a late-80’s book from my bookshelf. Tim was one of my favorite writers as a columnist for Outside Magazine in its early days.

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Wednesday, 4 November-

Today we worked on the web and did some chores while awaiting our dryer delivery. I had started a round of battery-charging for the motorcycles and boat batteries so had some dis-connecting and re-connecting to do.
The delivery went off without a hitch and only took about 20 minutes total for delivery, installation, haulaway, and paperwork. The delivery guys really had their act together.
I spent an inordinate amount of my afternoon washing our old sailboat. The humid summer weather had caused it to develop a coating of mossy growth which took a long time to fully remove. I’m glad to see the solar ventilation fan is still running. I think that’s two years old now.
No walk or movie today.

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Tuesday, 3 November-

We voted in the judges-and-local-officials election today, then drove on into town to buy a dryer. We chose a Kenmore 800-series model with a heat sensor and moisture sensor. It was rated a Best Buy by Consumer Reports and Labashi’s very happy with the controls, features, and layout (not to mention the 20%-off sale!). We were surprised to learn we could have it delivered tomorrow and both the delivery and haulaway charges would be rebated.
Back home I walked my six-mile loop again and then that evening we watched four episodes of ‘30 Rock’ Season One. I had watched this season online on Netflix Instant Movies but Labashi wasn’t available at the time and I thought she’d like it (and that indeed is the case).

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Monday, 2 November-

Labashi spent the morning researching dryers and then went shopping for groceries. I spent the morning on the web, mostly with Overland Journal and its links. This is a great find for me. Overland Journal tends to concentrate on Land Rovers, Jeeps, and FJ Cruisers but has many articles about foreign travel as well as equipment suitable for traveling in our van.
That afternoon I walked my six-mile loop. I had a close call with a dog at the far end of the loop. I’ve seen this dog once in a while and always walk the far side of the road from it but today it charged across the road at me. Fortunately the owner was outside and yelled at it in the nick of time. However, the owner completely ignored me but yelled at his dog about running out onto the road. He didn’t care about the dog nearly attacking me; he just didn’t want the dog hit by a car! It’s time for me to start taking along my little can of dog-spray. (We bought this dog spray called “Halt!” at the North American Bear Center in Ely, Minnesota. That’s what the bear researchers there use to deter black bears. We also have a stronger pepper spray we bought at Glacier National Park for grizzlies).
That evening we watched the Oliver Stone movie “W” with Josh Brolin. Good movie! I was afraid Mr. Stone might stray far into caricature-land, particularly with the malapropisms in the President’s speeches but I didn’t feel that happened. Josh Brolin’s portrayal of W is noteworthy and Richard Dreyfuss’s Dick Cheney seemed spot-on.
We also watched a ’30 Rock- Season One’ episode.


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Sunday, 1 November-

Today Labashi and I went shopping for a dryer. After a bit of research on the internet, we went to Lowe’s, Home Depot, and Sears. I was interested in a GE but the door fit was inexplicably poor compared to the other brands. We ended up tentatively picking a Sears dryer but Labashi will do some research on Consumer Reports before we actually buy. In the meantime, she’s air-drying our relatively small amount of laundry.
While in town we had an early supper at Texas Roadhouse and agreed they have the very best ribs and rib sauce right here at home.
We returned home in time for me to walk my four-mile course along the creek.
That evening we watched the extras on the ‘Planet Earth’ DVD set.

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Saturday, 31 October-

This morning I finished processing the mail and took care of mailing checks for things like auto registrations. I also updated the MacBook Pro’s software and ran a thorough security scan on the XP laptop (which now takes several hours to wade through a check of its 650,000 files!!!!).
Yesterday evening Labashi had found our dryer no longer tumbles so I pulled it out and tried to find some reason for that. I couldn’t find anything but I’m also not about to turn it over to an appliance shop. Looks like it’s time for a new one.
But I do have to say we’re happy with the service this old Kenmore gave us. We had that dryer in our previous house and we moved here more than twenty-eight years ago! We bought it two to three years before moving here so it has been working fine for over 30 years. Thank you, Mr. Sears and Mr. Roebuck!
That evening we watched ‘Terry Fater: Live from Las Vegas’ on DVD. We had seen billboard after billboard in Las Vegas advertising Terry’s live show but we didn’t know anything about him. But when I saw this DVD in our local video rental store, I thought we’d give him a try.
Terry’s act is largely a puppet act and it’s funny but his singing impressions are amazing. He has his puppets ‘sing’, which of course, he’s doing without moving his lips. Recommended.

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Friday, 30 October-

While we’re away our mail is delivered to a neighbor and he very kindly sends us a weekly summary of the mail as well as any interesting local developments (like updates on the new Wal-mart going in at Etters). If something important comes in, he emails us immediately and if it were really, really hot, he has our cell phone numbers.
Even so, we’re a bit apprehensive when we get our big box of mail when we return home. Who knows what little surprises await?
So I spent today starting to go through the mail looking for ‘gotchas’. And this time it was a new one.
When we’re away for more than a month, I have the cable tv and internet disconnected on a ‘seasonal disconnect’. But to prevent them from deleting my email account, I pay for what the internet provider calls a ‘Mail-Me’ account for $5 a month.
Our cable and internet bills are on auto-pay so I was very surprised to see notices from both the cable and internet companies, one threatening to turn a bill for $2.29 over to a collection agency and the other assessing a late charge of $2 to my bill for $10.
After a few calls I learned that auto-pay is automatically cut off when the subscriber is disconnected, even if it’s a seasonal disconnect. So even though I explained I’d be away for two months, they sent me paper bills and then dunning notices.
Once I explained what had happened, the two companies squared it away. The threat of turning the $2.29 bill over to a collection agency was an empty one (it turns out) and the late charge was dropped.
That evening we watched ‘Last Chance Harvey’ with Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson. Good one!

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Family visit in Austin ; ‘The Turn of the Screw’ ; the drive home to PA

(posted from home!)
(This post covers October 23 – 29, 2009)

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Thursday, 29 October-

We were on the road by 0900 today despite our late start. Our 250-mile drive up I-81 seemed to go quickly, helped along by listening to podcasts of ‘RadioLab’ and ‘This American Life’.
We would have made it home by 1430 or so but diverted at the last moment. I wanted to pick up some candy for tonight (since Halloween in our neighborhood is always the Thursday before) and to pick up a movie since we won’t have television or internet until I get the cable re-connected.
While we were away our grocery store moved so this was also our first time in the new Giant. After seeing dozens of upscale grocery stores on our trip, I can’t say our new one qualifies as an upscale store like the Albertson’s at Jackson, WY, the new Safeways in Canada, or the Von’s in Bishop, CA. There’s no Starbucks counter (no coffee counter at all, in fact), no olive bar, not even a decent selection of foreign cheeses. The aisles are wider and Labashi did find they now carry La Factory low-carb tortillas (our favorite) and now there’s a Giant gas station there so we can more easily use our gas points. And the new store is definitely a visual improvement over the old.
We were very happy to find everything in order with our house. We turned the power on and spent an hour unloading the van and putting things in order.
That evening we only had five trick-or-treaters so we started a movie. We watched ‘State of Play’ with Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck. It’s well done, though the intricate plot almost lost us (thank goodness for the Back button on the remote!).
This one I can recommend.

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Wednesday, 28 October-

Last night was a noisy one. Some fool trucker (it only takes one) decided to park near us and keep his engine idling all night. Around midnight we moved but the other side of the Wal-mart wasn’t much better. The parking lot itself was quiet enough but for some reason there was a constant stream of buzzbombs and muffler-challenged pickups zooming by most of the night.
Today was a MUCH better day for driving. As we neared Knoxville in mid-afternoon, the sun came out and revealed the bright Fall colors around us. Off in the distance we could see the Smokies, colorful down low but a rust-brown up high.
Shortly after Knoxville we hit I-81 north and though we were still many miles from home it seemed like our backyard.
At the I-77 junction we found a steakhouse and took an hour out for a filet mignon and baby-back ribs, then pressed on for a few hours, giving us a 500-mile day.
By 2130 we were nearing the I-64 junction at Lexington, Virginia and there we found a Wal-mart for the night. Since it was at the junction of two interstates I didn’t expect we’d want to stay but it was actually a quiet one—at least for awhile. Around 2300 some kid decided we all wanted to hear his boom-boom music but that only lasted for an hour or so. I was a bit wound from the driving so it took me awhile to drift off but then I slept the sleep of the innocent and we woke late (0830-ish) to beautiful sun.

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Tuesday, 27 October-

Today was another driving day as we head for good old P-A. The rains and wind continued as we left Texarkana and passed by Little Rock on I-30 and turned onto I-40. By late afternoon we had crossed Arkansas and entered Tennessee at Memphis. We continued on through steady rain, sometimes heavy, until dark. For some reason we came upon four car accidents in the last hour of our driving. We don’t know if there had been an especially heavy downpour or what but we first saw a rollover (with emergency crews still there), then three spinouts, i.e., situations where the driver lost control and spun into the medial strip or an embankment along the interstate. And again, emergency crews were still there. And we saw ambulances passing in both directions.
We were pushing to get to a Wal-mart at Dickson, TN for the night and had no problem ourselves other than lower visibility in the harder rains but it was surreal to see all these wrecks along the way.
That evening we watched two episodes from the ‘Planet Earth’ DVD set, ‘Deep Ocean’ and the first part of the ‘The Future’ extras disk.


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Monday, 26 October-

We had thunderstorms in the night and were in no mood to leave our hosts this morning. We had a long, leisurely breakfast of ‘migas’ and tortillas and finally said our fond goodbyes at 1030.
We spent the day driving northeast, now ‘heading for the barn’. We drove through heavy rain for several hours, then light rain the remainder of the day.
We ended up at the Wal-mart at Atlanta, Tx, (near Texarkana and the Arkansas and Louisiana borders). We rented ‘Gran Torino’ with Clint Eastwood from the Redbox. What a terrible movie!

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Sunday, 25 October-

We spent the morning and much of the afternoon continuing our wide-ranging conversations with our hosts. Labashi had mentioned theatre and we soon learned of a play going on this evening—‘The Turn of the Screw’—and bought tickets online.
Around 1530 we loaded up the car and drove to the SoCo district’s Austin Playhouse. ‘The Turn of the Screw’ was great. In this case, it’s a two-actor play of Henry Jame’s late 1800’s novella. It’s the story of a young English governess who tells a ghostly tale and we’re not sure if she’s imagining, telling us the truth, or deliberately misleading us. The male lead plays multiple characters, including a middle-aged female housekeeper and a ten-year-old boy. He also verbally does the sound effects.
The female lead evolves from a shy girl to a screaming madwoman, all in the bounds of a 75-minute-long play where the only prop is a chair.
We loved it! It made us think, it made us marvel at the actors’ skill.
We then had supper at Guero’s Restaurant, an Austin Tex-Mex institution only a few blocks from the theater.
Back home we had a celebratory fire in the back yard fire-ring and drank champagne and had butter pecan ice cream with berries in milk-and-white-chocolate tulips (!!!!) before ending our day.

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Saturday, 24 October-

Today was yet another perfect-weather day and on top of that it’s our 39th anniversary. Our hosts treated us to a wonderful day.
We toured their favorite Austin neighborhoods and it was a treat. They’re real estate agents and have refurbished several houses so it was fascinating to hear their tales of their experiences with properties and with the people buying and selling them.
Our tour also took us to the ritzy side of the city and we walked the bluffs about the lake, looking down on the multi-million dollar estates on the lake.
We also dropped in to Central Market, an upscale produce and grocery market where we pursued and found prickly-pear fruit. The produce guy was a treat here. When asked whether he had any prickly-pear fruit, he not only took us to a basket of the fruit hidden away under a stand but also cut slices for each of us to try. And then it turned out the prickly-pear fruit only cost $1 for five of them. It was hardly a money-making proposition for him to spend some 20 minutes with us for a $1 sale but he certainly made an impression. We took the five fruits along for later.
Late in the afternoon our hosts took us to ‘The Oasis’ overlooking Lake Travis. This is a fabulous restaurant on the hillside some 500 feet above the lake. Terraces overlook the lake and contain tables enough for hundreds of people to watch the sunset while having Mexican food and drinks. Our hosts talked our server into taking the prickly-pear fruit to the head bartender and requesting he make prickly-pear margaritas for us. Surprisingly (to us, anyway) it was no problem. Prickly-pear maragaritas are excellent. Like the taste of the fruit slice we had at Central Market, the taste of the margarita is sweet and soft, toning down the harshness of the tequila. (Labashi and I had four of them, just to be sure!)
We finished up our meal just 20 minutes before sunset and then enjoyed the view over the lake as the sun dove behind the hills in the distance. Magnifico!
We spent the rest of the evening back home on the porch as the gentle evening breezes caressed us.

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Friday, 23 October-

We had a pretty morning this morning and decided not to go back into the city today as we had planned yesterday. Instead, we started off hiking a few of the McKinney Park trails. I had taken a walk last night after supper, touring the campground after dark. I like to see what types of rigs the other campers have but in this case there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. But for some reason I had extra energy to burn off and I enjoyed the walk.
Our walk this morning also originated at our campsite but we walked to the visitor’s center (which, it turns out, is only open on weekends), then along the creek. This trail took us under a rock shelter carved out of limestone over many years. We kept following the creek and the trail brought us out to a massive rock outcropping typical of the Austin area. Where there is soil, it’s relatively thin and lies on a relatively porous rock. It seems odd to us to be walking through what appears to be a woods much like the woods back home but then to come to a meadow sprinkled with prickly-pear cactus.
After our walk we once again changed our minds and drove into the city. Yesterday’s plan was to visit another museum or two but we decided instead to check out the SoCo (South Congress) district of funky shops and restaurants on our way to Labashi’s brother’s neighborhood. We weren’t scheduled to show up to his house until 1500 so once we found the general area, we looked up the nearest library. That library happened to be closed on Fridays but the wi-fi still worked (we learned that latter fact from a fellow parked in the library parking lot and working away on his laptop). We spent the next two hours doing our normal wi-fi stuff, i.e., checking email, posting a blog update, checking weather and news and some favorite hobby forums.
Some 15 minutes before our appointed time, we shut down the laptops but mine popped up a Windows update message. It picked that time to install 18 updates, which meant I couldn’t power down the PC. The updates took more than a half hour and I didn’t want to take a chance on driving around while the disk drive was working so hard. That made us late but then again it had been an ‘around-1500’ time so it didn’t really matter.
We easily found her brother’s house and were warmly greeted. The lady of the house was working but we enjoyed learning about two inventions he’s perfecting and was working on in his backyard shop. He showed us prototypes (which I’ll deliberately keep vague here) and we received a quick course in what it takes to bring a new twist to a familiar object to market.
We toured the house and then spent the evening on the magnificent back porch. We had perfect weather and sat around talking and having a bit of wine (after a steak dinner!) late into the evening.


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Lubbock ; American Wind Power Center ; Silent Wings Air Museum ; ‘The Proposal’ ; Colorado Bend and Ink’s Lake State Parks ; Blanton Museum and Story of Texas Museum (in Austin)

(posted from Austin Library, Millwood Branch)
(This post covers 20 – 22 October, 2009)

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Thursday, 22 October-

WOW, what a night. We had rain as I was writing up my blog entry but after we went to bed the skies really opened up. We had some lightning but it didn’t seem close. But we couldn’t get to sleep for the rain pounding on the roof and blowing against the back door of the van.
Our campsite was right on the lake—within twenty feet of the shoreline--- so I kept an eye on the water level. That was not real easy to do, given I could only see the water level during the lightning flashes, the rain water was streaming down over the van and the windows kept fogging.
By midnight I knew the water had come closer and realized we had better move. Even if the water doesn’t reach the van, I wouldn’t sleep for checking on it.
Fortunately it’s easy to just climb forward to the driver’s seat in the van and start it up. We moved to higher ground at a campsite above the shower house and the campground host’s trailer. If it rose that much, there’d be plenty of commotion to wake us in time to move to yet-higher ground.
We still didn’t sleep for another hour or so as the rain pounded the roof but then it moderated and we dozed off.
After showers and a visit to the dump station this morning, we stopped in at the ranger station for a recommendation for a local breakfast spot. The ranger said he heard the storm dropped between six and nine inches of rain in the region. The park’s rain guage overflowed at six inches so he’s not sure how much more than six we received. The lake rose three feet. After my shower I had walked back to our previous campsite and saw that we wouldn’t have had water on the van but I was still glad to have moved, just for the peace-of-mind.
We took the ranger’s recommendation to have breakfast at the Blue Bonnet Restaurant in Marble Falls. He had praised the biscuits and cream-gravy and they were indeed very good while Labashi satisfied her hankering for a pancake. Neither is on our regular diet but we’ve found we can stray a bit without harm.
We then set the GPS for downtown Austin. We spent the early afternoon in the Blanton Museum at the University of Texas. We happened to arrive just as a lecture was getting underway regarding the reconstruction of a Veronese altar painting which had been cut into pieces in Venice and the pieces sold to collectors or dealers in London, Edinburgh, New York (if memory serves), and Austin. Not all the pieces have been found but it’s now possible to see most of it. Our speaker was quite thorough and interesting in telling us about this painting thought to have been done in the 1560’s.
We spent another hour and a half in the galleries, then took a break at the café before crossing the street to the ‘Story of Texas’, a museum-quality exhibit of dioramas, artifacts, films, and displays, telling the history of Texas.
In looking at the brochure for the ‘Story of Texas’, I wasn’t particularly impressed so thought it would be a walk-through. But it was really, really well done. We had two-and-a-half hours until closing time when we started and found ourselves only a little over half-way done at the 30-minutes-to-go mark.
The exhibit closed at 1800 so when we reached the van we headed to McKinney State Park, our home for the night. We found the park is nearly full and is booked for the weekend but we did manage to snag a good site for tonight.
After Labashi made us a fantastic meal of fajitas (we’re eating like kings out here!), we spent the rest of the evening blogging and researching.

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Wednesday, 21 October-

Our night at the Sweetwater Wal-mart was noisy due to the nearby I-20 traffic but we both managed to sleep well.
We drove through Sweetwater, then on to Abilene. I had thought we might find an interesting museum or two in Abilene but nothing in the Tourbook caught our attention (or perhaps we were ‘museumed-out’). We had not yet passed a Texas welcome center so we tried finding a visitor’s center in Abilene. A sign on the beltway said there was one but we never found it and after driving two miles out of our way, we gave up. Not one sign after turning off the beltway. And the GPS says the nearest visitor’s center is in another town entirely. That was enough of Abilene for me. We did get a brief look as we drove through on Business 20, then down the east side of the beltway so that will do.
We drove southeast down route 84, passing through mile after mile of ranches. The mesquite trees hide the ranch buildings and cattle but for an occasional glimpse, yet we can get a feel for what they are like. We did find it interesting to being seeing lots of goats and then happen on a sign proclaiming Mills County the ‘Meat-Goat Capital of the World!’.
At Bend, we decided to take the late afternoon off by going to the Colorado Bend State Park. The listing in the AAA guide said it was a four-mile gravel road from Bend and we thought it nice that we made it to the entrance to the park without hitting a gravel road. That’s because the TEN mile gravel road to the park OFFICE--- which you must visit to get a permit to do anything in the park --- starts at that point.
But we didn’t really mind. We had been surprised to see how little public land there is in Texas so we were happy to be on a gravel road in the Hill Country, headed for our campground and perhaps a hike of some sort.
After rattling to the park office, we were surprised to learn that Texas State Parks have a per-person fee in addition to the camping fee. So to camp at the primitive campground we’d have to pay $14 to camp and $6 in per-person entry fees for pit toilets and no showers. I asked why the price is so high for a primitive campground and the ranger-lady said it’s because the state government doesn’t want to undercut the local campgrounds, two of which are nearby. So it has nothing to do with value offered, but rather with representing the best interests of business over those of the common folk. Where have I heard that before?
We had intended to take bush-showers in one of the more remote campsites but the rules make it clear that NO greywater (or, of course, blackwater) may be left anywhere in the park and there’s no dump facility. So if you wash your dishes or take a bush-shower, you have to take the soapy water out with you (and if you’re travelling, what do you do then?). Thank you, Texas, but we’ll just move on.
We drove on south to a more modern state park, Ink’s Lake, where we have pay the most we’ve had to pay in overnight fees in the 59 days we’ve been on the road ($22—I hope the local campgrounds approve!!!) but at least we get showers and a dump station.
Ink’s Lake is, according to our check-in person, the second-most popular state park in Texas. It’s within an hour’s drive of Austin and San Antonio so perhaps that explains it. We found our nice spot on the lake and settled in. It’s raining this evening so there won’t be a walk but we do have a very comfortable temperature (70) and we have some blogging and reading to do. And I have some work to do on improving my grumpy attitude.

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Tuesday, 20 October-

We had a most-excellent night at the Lubbock Wal-mart last night. The winds were quite fresh but did not have the turbulence which would cause the van to shake and the heavy traffic on the nearby beltway died down by 2200.
We wanted to go to a museum but it wasn’t to open until 1000 so we found a nearby coffee shop with wi-fi. As we walked toward the door, another customer emerged and mumbled something about ’15 or so’ as she handed Labashi a card. It was a gift card for the coffee shop we were entering. I used the card to pay for my coffee and it did indeed have over $15 of value left on it. We spent an hour or so on the web catching up and on the way out I passed the card on to a Texas Tech student sitting near us.
We then drove to the American Wind Power Center on the other side of town. They took my idea (sort of)! Several times in the past I’ve thought I’d like to have a collection of working windmills (the farm-level watering-tank ones, not the Don Quixote ones) and here it was—a collection far more extensive than I ever could dream of having.
We learned windmills have been found in history as far back as 600 AD on the Afghanistan/Pakistan border. These reportedly were like door-sized panels mounted vertically on a turning pedestal. (I’d love to see a drawing and should have thought to ask whether there might be one in the attached library).
We spent several hours looking at windmills, each with something different than the last. This was the first time I had seen a sectional windmill. This design appears to operate backward from a ‘normal’ one. What we think of as the tail of the windmill is in front of the wheel. The blades appear to be mounted backwards. As the wheel turns faster and faster, a counterweight on the tail causes the wheel to change shape, breaking into segments and forming a partial-cone shape, keeping the wheel from turning too fast. It’s an ingenious design but (we learned) overly complicated. Newer designs added controls to the traditional layout (wheel toward the wind, tail behind) to prevent over-running.
I really liked seeing a Zenith Farm Radio Wincharger windmill and it’s accompanying advertisement. For $15 you could order a windmill with a six-foot blade designed to run a Zenith radio. Prior to the electrification of farms, the family could order one of these and mount it on a granary or barn roof or other handy, out-of-the-way spot to power the family radio via what the ad called ‘Frepower’ (wind!). The best part? For your $15 you also got the Zenith radio!
After our tour inside the building we went outside and approached the Vestas V47 wind-turbine across the parking lot. This is a 660 kilowatt power-generating behemoth, circa 1995. It generates 60-cycle three-phase AC power (and thus no batteries are involved), one-tenth of which is used to power the Center and the remainder is sold to the power company. Another wind-turbine lies in pieces along the other side of the parking lot. I found I could stand up inside the base of one of the giant fiberglass blades. This one is a GE and produces 1.5 Megawatts. The V47 (the 660 kW unit) cost $1 million and the GE now costs about $1.5 million. The Center is planning to also have the GE unit installed and operating as money becomes available.
After lunch we drove to the nearby Silent Wings Air Museum. This one is dedicated to the World-War II glider pilots. This was an amazing story, supported by footage from the War. These clumsy-looking gliders were towed to the battle zone by C-47 (think DC-3) aircraft, carrying payloads of up to 8000 pounds. The payloads might consist of troops, a howitzer, a jeep, a small bulldozer (!!!) or one of many different configurations of pre-loaded jeep trailers containing ammunition, medical supplies, food, mortars, etc.
The gliders could land where no other aircraft could land. The clearings in Holland and Germany, for example, often were only 1000 feet long and surrounded by hedgerows of tall trees. After release, the gliders would enter a steep bank and circle down quickly to make what could only be considered a somewhat-controlled crash.
The front end of the glider could be unlatched and tilted up to allow the jeep or howitzer to be rolled out. And, incredibly, in one of the stories-of-the-war video segments, we learned that a cable could be connected via a pulley arrangement to the back of the jeep which opened the door automatically as the jeep drove forward. Incredible!!!!
We also saw incredible training footage of how a C-47 could pick up a glider using a tailhook. The film described how to lay out the nylon rope and how to hang it between two twelve-foot-high poles for the C-47’s tailhook to catch as well as the preparations by the plane crew. The C-47 slowed to 130 miles per hour to make the pickup. A retrieval mechanism in the C-47 and the stretch of the rope (up to 40 per cent for a new rope) allowed the glider pilot to feel an acceleration of 0-60 miles per hour in 200 feet. One glider pilot described finding his hat in the tail of the glider after such a pickup. The pickups, by the way, were primarily used to evacuate wounded soldiers though of course would have been used for any high-priority need.
It was very sobering to learn of the high fatality rate of the glider missions. The tales of former glider pilots included many stories of flying into heavy flak and taking enemy fire throughout the landings. There are stories of watching the tow plane in front of you lose a wing or catch fire and watching the crew bail out, knowing you need to unhook NOW, whether you can see a place to land or not.
The museum has a full glider to look into. Looking to the tail, you see nothing but a light framework of metal tubing, covered with cloth. In another part of the museum is the front three-quarters of a glider with the nose up and a jeep inside, showing how closely it fit. A howitzer and a mortar sit nearby as does a mini-bulldozer, only as wide as the jeep and with a blade only about 18 inches high.
The video-taped stories of the veteran glider pilots grabbed us. These normal-looking, man-in-the-street guys told incredible stories of their experiences.
After the Silent Wings Air Museum, it was time to say a fond farewell to Lubbock (or book another night at the Wal-mart!).
We drove southeast. At supper time we were near the town of Snyder and stopped at the Wal-mart for a look-see. It really wasn’t time to stop for the night so we shared a burger at the What-a-burger across the street and then pressed on.
As we left Snyder we noticed that the density of wind-turbines in the area had increased dramatically. Where before we were seeing lines of them atop the distant mesas—perhaps 50 to 100 at a time leading off into the distance---- we were now in a full-fledged wind-farm. We drove from Snyder to I-20, a distance of nearly 30 miles, through hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of wind-turbines, on all sides and stretching to the horizon. And these look just like the GE models, the $1.5 million-dollars-each models. Somebody has put a LOT of money in the Panhandle Plains in wind turbines.
As we approached Sweetwater on I-20 the wind-turbines thinned out (though we could still see a line of them on the mesa on the southern horizon).
We found our Wal-mart for the night and rented a Redbox movie. We watched ‘The Proposal’ with Sandra Bullock. It had a great start but then fizzled badly. Sandra plays a powerful editor in a New York publishing firm. She’s demanding, mean, and self-centered. But a big problem turns up. She’s Canadian and her visa has now been denied. On the spur of the moment she tells all that she and her male assistant are about to marry, thus solving the problem. But of course it’s more complicated than that. She and the assistant must go to his parents’ home (in Sitka) and (for us) hilarity is supposed to ensue. But from that point on it was very poorly done. The actors looked like actors bravely trying to make something of the drivel given them. The powerful woman realized what she really needed was a man. And the man (the assistant) who hated his boss, realized (upon seeing her naked) that he actually was in love with her. Give us a break! Give me my $1.06 back!

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