Kayak and van trip-prep, ‘The Closer-Season One’, On the road again!, Target Sports shooting range (posted from Southfield, MI Public Library)
(This post covers 25 June to 1 July, 2007)
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Sunday, 1 July -
This morning I walked down to Starbucks for a leisurely read of the Sunday paper. The Detroit Free Press is very good and I particularly enjoy the local news. After walking back home I drove to Lowe’s to pick up parts to repair the propane grill. The old regulator had a bad leak and made it too dangerous to light the grill. I replaced the regulator assembly and re-arranged the tank and connectors to route the hose and guage out of the way. That afternoon I wanted to check out a local bar I had seen near the bookstore so drove up there for a friendly drink or two, then perused the bookstore for a shooting skills book and found one I like. After supper I got out the Dahon (folding bike) and went for a ride around the neighborhood to check out and adjust my new seat and get a little exercise in this beautifully-cool weather.
-----------------------------------------------
Saturday, 30 June -
My in-laws typically have a few little projects for our visits but this trip looks like a pretty easy one for me. I had been (let’s say) ‘less than enthusiastic’ about working on a plumbing problem I had heard about which would have required me to crawl into the crawlspace under the house. But when I asked about it, I learned they had brought in a plumber and it was all fixed. Cool! This morning I helped Dad troubleshoot problems with his fax and answering machines and then I was cut loose for the day while Labashi and her Mom worked in the garden. I walked down to the local Starbucks for coffee and news, then drove to a local shooting range to check it out. I LOVE this range (http://www.targetsportshooting.com/shootingrange/ ). It has 14 shooting lanes (no waiting!) and a massive rental rack. I’ve never seen that many guns available for rental—there must have been 50 or 60 handguns alone. Prices are okay ($9 per half hour range time + $10 gun rental fee). I rented a Glock 26 and a Glock 17. I might just spend the whole week going through the rental rack! Afterwards I stopped at a Borders bookstore on the way home and found three Randy Wayne White books I’ve not read yet. I’ve just started ‘Mayflower’ by Nathaniel Philbrick and it’s quite good so it will be awhile until I get back to Mr. White’s Doc Ford series.
-----------------------------------------------
Friday, 29 June -
Finally, we’re on the road again! We left about 0900 and spent the day driving to the Detroit area to Labashi’s parents’ home. We’ll be spending a week there before traveling to the family reunion in Oscoda after the Fourth of July week. The trip out went very smoothly and we arrived shortly after 1800 for a nice dinner and chat with the folks.
-----------------------------------------------
Thursday, 28 June -
This morning I took Labashi’s car in for its early-morning appointment to replace the audio unit. We’ve disappointed that the old one failed with only 15,000 miles on the car but at least it’s all under warranty and will cost us nothing. We spent the rest of the day packing and stowing clothes, blankets, laptop, etc.
That evening we watched ‘Pirate Master’.
-----------------------------------------------
Wednesday, 27 June -
Labashi has finished up re-stowing the contents of Mocha Joe’s main storage bins: Kitchen, Food, Utility, and Library. These are fairly large open-top storage tubs which have wheels. They store very nicely under the bed (folding bikes in the back, storage tubs in the front) and roll out easily with just a tug. I also set up and wiped down the bikes to re-stow them, this time in garbage bags. With the many miles of driving we do on the state and national forest dirt roads, some dust inevitably gets past the rear door seals and covers the bikes, our helmets, seats, etc. with a fine layer of dust. With everything packed in garbage bags, we can avoid this and make it a little nicer to opt for a bike ride.
That evening we finished up the first half of Season One of ‘The Closer’. We won’t get to the second half until we return from our trip but that’s good—something to look forward to.
-----------------------------------------------
Tuesday, 26 June -
This morning I finished up the cleanup of the van interior and did a few more little jobs like putting brackets on the boards under the bed so the boards don’t move around and have to occasionally be put back in place. I then spread all the kayak gear out to ensure we are taking everything and carefully packed each kayak’s gear in dry bags. The dry bags allow me to store the gear inside the kayaks as we travel, preserving what little storage space we have inside the van. We’ve also decided to pack the kayaks individually, i.e., put all the gear (including wearable gear such as booties, wet suits, etc) associated with a kayak inside that kayak, not mixed together. I then put another coat of 303 protectant on the kayaks before we loaded them onto the van and tied and locked them down.
That evening we watched three more episodes of ‘The Closer, Season One’. Good ‘guilty pleasure’ viewing.
-----------------------------------------------
Monday, 25 June –
This morning I spent an hour or two finishing up and posting my blog entry for the week then took Mocha Joe in to the transmission shop for its ten-days-after-rebuild checkup and signoff for the two-year warranty. After lunch I fabricated four pieces of clear Lexan and attached them to the kayak bungies with nylon ties. These provide a good surface for the permit stickers and by placing them atop the bungies I keep them off the surface of the kayaks so I can easily treat the kayaks with protectant. I think this will solve the problem of the stickers lifting off the kayaks because of the wind flow over Mocha Joe as we drive.
I spent the rest of the day cleaning the interior of the van and re-stowing gear. I ran into a new problem, though. While attempting to clean one of the darkened side windows, I found it had strange white powdery gook. I made doubly sure I was using green Windex (the blue one or any product containing ammonia will damage the tinting film). Because the powdery gook acted greasy when wet I tried some Dawn dishwashing soap but that didn’t help. The odd thing was that as the gooky stuff dried, it became powdery again and now some of it could be removed, leaving behind some greasy residue. If I went through this four or five times, I could finally get a more-or-less clean window. Thinking this might be some type of oxidation of the tinting material, I tried finding any reference to it on the internet but came up empty. I tried to find a number for the shop who had installed the product on my windows but apparently they’ve gone out of business. I eventually ran into some info on the web about Plexus being safe for window tinting films and I’m very familiar with Plexus as a good cleaner for my motorcycle fairing and windshield. It still took multiple cleaning passes but the results were much better. I also took a few minutes to clean the battery top and terminals with a new battery cleaner spray I picked up at Wal-mart.
That evening we watched the first three episodes of ‘The Closer, Season One’. We’ve already seen Season Two and enjoyed it so it was a treat to see the pilot and the first few episodes where the writers set up the storyline and introduce the characters.
(This post covers 25 June to 1 July, 2007)
-----------------------------------------------
Sunday, 1 July -
This morning I walked down to Starbucks for a leisurely read of the Sunday paper. The Detroit Free Press is very good and I particularly enjoy the local news. After walking back home I drove to Lowe’s to pick up parts to repair the propane grill. The old regulator had a bad leak and made it too dangerous to light the grill. I replaced the regulator assembly and re-arranged the tank and connectors to route the hose and guage out of the way. That afternoon I wanted to check out a local bar I had seen near the bookstore so drove up there for a friendly drink or two, then perused the bookstore for a shooting skills book and found one I like. After supper I got out the Dahon (folding bike) and went for a ride around the neighborhood to check out and adjust my new seat and get a little exercise in this beautifully-cool weather.
-----------------------------------------------
Saturday, 30 June -
My in-laws typically have a few little projects for our visits but this trip looks like a pretty easy one for me. I had been (let’s say) ‘less than enthusiastic’ about working on a plumbing problem I had heard about which would have required me to crawl into the crawlspace under the house. But when I asked about it, I learned they had brought in a plumber and it was all fixed. Cool! This morning I helped Dad troubleshoot problems with his fax and answering machines and then I was cut loose for the day while Labashi and her Mom worked in the garden. I walked down to the local Starbucks for coffee and news, then drove to a local shooting range to check it out. I LOVE this range (http://www.targetsportshooting.com/shootingrange/ ). It has 14 shooting lanes (no waiting!) and a massive rental rack. I’ve never seen that many guns available for rental—there must have been 50 or 60 handguns alone. Prices are okay ($9 per half hour range time + $10 gun rental fee). I rented a Glock 26 and a Glock 17. I might just spend the whole week going through the rental rack! Afterwards I stopped at a Borders bookstore on the way home and found three Randy Wayne White books I’ve not read yet. I’ve just started ‘Mayflower’ by Nathaniel Philbrick and it’s quite good so it will be awhile until I get back to Mr. White’s Doc Ford series.
-----------------------------------------------
Friday, 29 June -
Finally, we’re on the road again! We left about 0900 and spent the day driving to the Detroit area to Labashi’s parents’ home. We’ll be spending a week there before traveling to the family reunion in Oscoda after the Fourth of July week. The trip out went very smoothly and we arrived shortly after 1800 for a nice dinner and chat with the folks.
-----------------------------------------------
Thursday, 28 June -
This morning I took Labashi’s car in for its early-morning appointment to replace the audio unit. We’ve disappointed that the old one failed with only 15,000 miles on the car but at least it’s all under warranty and will cost us nothing. We spent the rest of the day packing and stowing clothes, blankets, laptop, etc.
That evening we watched ‘Pirate Master’.
-----------------------------------------------
Wednesday, 27 June -
Labashi has finished up re-stowing the contents of Mocha Joe’s main storage bins: Kitchen, Food, Utility, and Library. These are fairly large open-top storage tubs which have wheels. They store very nicely under the bed (folding bikes in the back, storage tubs in the front) and roll out easily with just a tug. I also set up and wiped down the bikes to re-stow them, this time in garbage bags. With the many miles of driving we do on the state and national forest dirt roads, some dust inevitably gets past the rear door seals and covers the bikes, our helmets, seats, etc. with a fine layer of dust. With everything packed in garbage bags, we can avoid this and make it a little nicer to opt for a bike ride.
That evening we finished up the first half of Season One of ‘The Closer’. We won’t get to the second half until we return from our trip but that’s good—something to look forward to.
-----------------------------------------------
Tuesday, 26 June -
This morning I finished up the cleanup of the van interior and did a few more little jobs like putting brackets on the boards under the bed so the boards don’t move around and have to occasionally be put back in place. I then spread all the kayak gear out to ensure we are taking everything and carefully packed each kayak’s gear in dry bags. The dry bags allow me to store the gear inside the kayaks as we travel, preserving what little storage space we have inside the van. We’ve also decided to pack the kayaks individually, i.e., put all the gear (including wearable gear such as booties, wet suits, etc) associated with a kayak inside that kayak, not mixed together. I then put another coat of 303 protectant on the kayaks before we loaded them onto the van and tied and locked them down.
That evening we watched three more episodes of ‘The Closer, Season One’. Good ‘guilty pleasure’ viewing.
-----------------------------------------------
Monday, 25 June –
This morning I spent an hour or two finishing up and posting my blog entry for the week then took Mocha Joe in to the transmission shop for its ten-days-after-rebuild checkup and signoff for the two-year warranty. After lunch I fabricated four pieces of clear Lexan and attached them to the kayak bungies with nylon ties. These provide a good surface for the permit stickers and by placing them atop the bungies I keep them off the surface of the kayaks so I can easily treat the kayaks with protectant. I think this will solve the problem of the stickers lifting off the kayaks because of the wind flow over Mocha Joe as we drive.
I spent the rest of the day cleaning the interior of the van and re-stowing gear. I ran into a new problem, though. While attempting to clean one of the darkened side windows, I found it had strange white powdery gook. I made doubly sure I was using green Windex (the blue one or any product containing ammonia will damage the tinting film). Because the powdery gook acted greasy when wet I tried some Dawn dishwashing soap but that didn’t help. The odd thing was that as the gooky stuff dried, it became powdery again and now some of it could be removed, leaving behind some greasy residue. If I went through this four or five times, I could finally get a more-or-less clean window. Thinking this might be some type of oxidation of the tinting material, I tried finding any reference to it on the internet but came up empty. I tried to find a number for the shop who had installed the product on my windows but apparently they’ve gone out of business. I eventually ran into some info on the web about Plexus being safe for window tinting films and I’m very familiar with Plexus as a good cleaner for my motorcycle fairing and windshield. It still took multiple cleaning passes but the results were much better. I also took a few minutes to clean the battery top and terminals with a new battery cleaner spray I picked up at Wal-mart.
That evening we watched the first three episodes of ‘The Closer, Season One’. We’ve already seen Season Two and enjoyed it so it was a treat to see the pilot and the first few episodes where the writers set up the storyline and introduce the characters.
posted by Bezabor&Labashi | 23:59
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