‘The Good Shepherd’, the amazing Stumpknocker, boating prep , ‘Babel’ (posted from home)

(this post covers 8-14 April, 2007)

===================================

Saturday, 14 April—

I spent most of the morning on the web and the afternoon working on the boat. I also installed a ‘transom-saver’ to support the weight of the cantilevered motor in its towing position on the trailer.
That evening we watched ‘Babel’ with Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. RottenTomatoes gives it a 68 per cent but it gets quite mixed reviews, from ‘award-worthy’ to ‘it’s nothing but noise’. We liked it but felt a little cheated by the DVD in that it had no extra features to introduce us to the director.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Friday, 13 April-

The weather report for today said it’s supposed to be 52, partly sunny, and a light wind but it’s overcast, cold, and much windier than predicted. I left the house with the boat in tow at 0900 planning to shop a little at Bass Pro while the wind died down, then go down to Codorus Lake to start the break-in procedure. But the wind never died down so I gave up on taking the boat out. But I did spend the time well. I drove to a PA Fish Commission launch ramp area on the Susquehanna and practiced backing the trailer. This launching area has four different ramps, each with its own challenges. I also spent a half-hour or so making circles in the parking lot both in forward and reverse. I marked the trailer with bright-color tape so I can monitor how tight my turns are and avoid damage to the van or trailer. I relocated the trailer jack because it limited my left-side turns. The most challenging part of the backing exercise was attempting to closely follow the outline of a D-shaped parking lot ‘island’ in reverse….without pulling forward to make corrections. I’ve not made that one the whole way yet.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Thursday, 12 April –

Today I had some little chores to handle. I charged up the boat battery, did the final mailings on taxes, set up appointments for the Miata and for Labashi’s car, and researched and ordered some boat accessories and spares. I’m planning to take the boat along to Florida next winter and want to get it rigged for the long-haul and to secure it. I don’t relish the idea of trailing it all over Florida but can’t wait to get it out on those beautiful lakes, bays, and wilderness waterways.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Wednesday, 11 April-

It was supposed to rain later today so I thought it a good day to drive to my brother’s house to pick up our shared fishing boat. When the weather breaks I’ll run it through the engine break-in procedure and do the first oil change. I timed my arrival to his arrival home from work and it took only a few minutes to hook up, check the lights, and load the boating accessories in the van. We then went out for wings at a local restaurant and had a chance to chat before I pointed Mocha Joe toward home.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Tuesday, 10 April –

It was a little nicer out today so I spent most of the day working on Mocha Joe. I installed the U-Haul tail-light converter and plug I bought last week. This took a little longer than it should have because I had decided the plug should hang outside the van but that meant the converter box would also have to hang outside (or I’d have to make an extra-large hole through the van underbody somewhere). Once I realized it would actually work better (and stay cleaner) if I mounted everything inside and would just put the flat-wired plug out under the rear door when I need it, things went much more smoothly. This is a slick setup. The converter does its job well of matching the three-wire turn/tail/stop lights of the van to the trailer’s two-wire lights. The plug has troubleshooting lights built in and can handle either a standard flat plug or specialized U-haul connectors.
I also thoroughly cleaned away the extra-fine Florida dust which had seeped in past the door seals and coated the door jambs, folding bikes and everything stored in the under-bed storage area. I’m going to have to develop a curtain or shield stop this dust infiltration in the future; it’s a pain to clean out.
I also took Mocha Joe’s spare tire up to the local mechanic for service. After bouncing around on some of the rougher pot-holed dirt roads in Florida I had thought to check the spare and found it very low. I probably could have used the hand pump I carry for the bikes to put enough air in the spare to get me out of a situation but I’d rather not find the spare doesn’t hold air just when I needed it most.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Monday, 9 April –

Today I spent a lot of my web-time googling for this summer’s trip. We’ll be visiting Oscoda, Michigan for a week and then departing from there in Mocha Joe. I’ve long wanted to do the north shore of Lake Superior and that will lead us within easy driving distance of northeastern Minnesota. I’ve read about this area since I was a teenager and have long wanted to see Voyageurs National Park, the Superior-Quetico Wilderness, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, and Ely, Minnesota. I’m hoping to get the old aluminum canoe rigged for my little Honda 2-horsepower dinghy motor (not to mention getting the motor running again) for this trip.
That evening I spent quite a lot of time on TrailJournals.com reading the journal of an extraordinary guy we met last year. His name is Mark Suitor and his trail-name is ‘Stumpknocker’. Mark is an amazing hiker and has completed the Appalachian Trail (four times!), the Florida Trail, and the John Muir Trail. But this year he’s taking on a new challenge. He is going to bicycle across America east-to-west (Virginia to Oregon), turn right and pedal to Washington state, then pedal across America west-to-east to Maine, from where he will walk the AT once more, this time southbound. If you’d like to follow the journey, go to trailjournals.com, search for ‘stumpknocker’, click on Stumpknocker 2007 and start reading. Use the ‘First Previous Next Last’ page controls at the top or bottom of the page to proceed.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Sunday, 8 April –

I spent the morning blogging and on the web on this cold day. That evening we watched ‘The Good Shepherd’ with Matt Damon. I see RottenTomatoes.com gave it a 56% on the critics tomatometer and I’d say that’s about right. One New York critic panned it, saying “If the lives of CIA spies are this dreary, they may as well keep their secrets to themselves.” That’s a little harsh. I would tend to agree with this one: “Director Robert De Niro’s no-frills approach to spying is probably a more realistic one, but not always as interesting.”

==================================