New intersection, crown molding, ‘Sicko’, ‘Manufactured Dissent’, Kill-a-Watt,
‘La Vie En Rose’, ‘Trudell’, ‘Paris, J’Taime’ ‘Angela’
(posted from home)

(This post covers 14-21 November, 2007)

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Wednesday, 21 November-

Today I spent the morning on the web and then had a medical appointment in the afternoon, a follow-up on my physical of several weeks ago. And I received the bill for my tick bite earlier this month ($450) with a note from the hospital: “we don’t know if you have insurance so please let us know if you do—and if you don’t please pay the full amount within 10 days”.
That evening we watched ‘Angela’, a Luc Besson film set in Paris and about a man who finds himself ready to commit suicide by jumping into the Seine and meets a woman about to jump from the same bridge. The film seems predictable but does have a few surprises which make it quite worthwhile.

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Tuesday, 20 November-

Today I spent most of the day helping Labashi cut and install crown molding in our vestibule. The challenge here is doing everything at the top of two ladders in the vestibule and a stepladder on the main level. While we had our challenges, we did manage to finish the basic installation—i.e., we now have a continuous crown molding around the living/dining room, around the hallway to the bedrooms and back, and then around the double-high entry way. Thank goodness for Maypo’s compound miter saw.
Late in the day I again walked the four-mile course along the creek nearby home.
That evening we watched ‘Paris, J’Taime’, an interesting experimental piece. Here’s the formula: take famous directors and challenge them to make a five-minute film set in a specific, recognizable section of Paris and make a statement about some aspect of love in Paris. The experiment succeeds. Roeper calls it one of the best films of the year. I’m not sure I’d go that far but do recommend it.

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Monday, 19 November-

I continued with planning for the Everglades trip today and did some research on flights in case my brothers want to join me. Labashi and I also spent a few hours on some financial planning as we near the end of this tax year.
And though it was cold and wet today, I had to get out so I walked four miles along the roads near home.
That evening we watched ‘La Vie En Rose’, the bio-pic of Edith Piaf’s life. I’d say this one’s probably a gem for fans of Edith but for those of us who don’t know her music well, I had the feeling we missed many references made by the film.
Because we got an early start on ‘La Vie En Rose’ and the movies were due back the next day, we also watched ‘Trudell’, a documentary about AIM (American Indian Movement) icon John Trudell. For anyone interested in the background of the American Indian Movement, this is a treasure-trove of footage of that time.

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Sunday, 18 November-

I spent much of the day on the web planning part of my trip this winter. I’m hoping to take our fishing boat and perhaps later my kayak into the Wilderness Waterway in the Everglades. I read a most of the planning materials and found a web site with some good info about the campsites—including accurate GPS fixes. Labashi and I were on the south end of the Waterway in a rental boat and it took us several passes to locate the South Joe River chickee so I’ll be glad to have the fixes. Want to see where South Joe River chickee is? Go to Google maps and zoom in on south Florida, specifically that big green area—the Everglades. Now zoom in on the southwest portion of the Everglades, you will see Whitewater Bay appear. Zoom in on the river to the south and west of Whitewater Bay to the 2000-foot scale. You should see the words ‘Campground- South Joe River Chickee- Backcountry Campground’. Now, in the upper right corner of the page, click on ‘Hybrid’ for a satellite photo. Continue zooming in to the 200-foot scale. See that odd-looking white item at the top of the little bay above the campground label? That’s the South Joe River chickee, i.e., a dock-like platform which has two roofed pavilions for campers to pitch their tents. At full zoom you can see the two roofs over the tent platforms. They are connected by a wooden walkway, the porta-jon at the turn in the walkway (a shadow appears to cut off the walkway from the lower platform). The satellite photo happened to catch a boat nearby (I wonder if that was Labashi and me!!). Note that the chickee is not where the sign is. THAT’s why you need a good GPS position when you are out there — maps may not be accurate enough.
That evening Labashi and I watched ‘Manufactured Dissent’, a documentary purporting to expose Michael Moore’s lies and unfair tactics. We liked seeing the background info on Michael Moore but the expose’ didn’t convince. We all know he’s bending the truth to make his points. Does anyone believe he really thought he’d get treatment for 9/11 workers at Gitmo? Sometimes I forgive Michael his excesses, sometimes I don’t. But I’m glad he’s out there. And I’m glad the ‘Manufactured Dissent’ folks are doing their thing too—I just don’t think it achieves what the Moore-haters think it does.

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Saturday, 17 November-

Today I drove the hour-plus to my brother’s house to visit the indoor shooting range nearby. I wanted to rent two pistols I’ve not tried yet, just to give them a try and I was hoping my brother would like to come along. I stopped by his house only to learn he and a friend were installing a water line. Silly me, I thought I’d drive by and say ‘howdy’ on the way to the range. But before I knew it I had a shovel in hand and spent the next couple of hours backfilling the waterline. (Maypo can be very persuasive when he wants to!). Afterwards we cleaned up and headed to the range, arriving at 1610 to be greeted by a sign saying they closed early today—at 1600. ARGGG!!!!!
But we took those lemons and made some nice, tasty lemonade. We drove to the public range in the Michaux State Forest and had the place to ourselves for about an hour as the sun set and darkness came in. This turned out to be a good lesson for both of us in sighting targets in lowering light.
On the way out to the hard road our headlights picked up a man and two boys walking the dirt road in our direction. They seemed a little reticent so we asked if everything was okay. Dad had apparently misjudged the return distance for their afternoon hike so we gave them a ride to the campground.
Maypo and I had a fine repast of wings and a beer or two before I headed home.
Back home, Labashi and I watched ‘Sicko’, Michael Moore’s indictment of the US health care industry.

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Friday, 16 November-

Today the UPS man brought a recent purchase—a Kill-a-Watt meter. This electrical meter provides an easy way to assess electrical loads around the house and determine which equipment may need to be updated or used minimally. I want to know, for instance, what my antique dehumidifier is costing me. Do I stick with this works-OK one or is it time to spring for a high-efficiency model? I’ve wanted something like this for quite a while but only now found one for around $20 (on Amazon) to avoid the $50 list price. This will also help me assess draw on the inverter I use in Mocha Joe.


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Thursday, 15 November-

Today I had an early appointment with the cardiologist to review the results of my recent stress test. While the EKG portion of the test was normal, the graphic portion shows two areas of concern, i.e., two areas of the heart where blood profusion through the heart muscle appears to be lower than normal. The cardiologist offered two alternatives: a catheterization procedure or a second stress test, this one with echocardiogram. I decided to go with the latter and that’s now scheduled for late December.
That evening I went to my local indoor shooting range for a special event: ‘Glock night’. This event provides the opportunity to try out different models of Glock pistols at a reasonable cost. For $5 per gun and $3-6 for a ten-pack of cartridges (depending on caliber) you could try any model. I tried three models, a full-size, compact, and sub-compact and found the full-size models a better fit to my hand.

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Wednesday, 14 November-

Today the township fixed the intersection at the front corner of our property. I had called the roads supervisor in early September to ask him to put this intersection on his list to be reviewed for re-engineering and repair. The corner of the intersection next to our yard has sunk down a few inches over the years and we’ve historically had problems with trucks cutting the corner and leaving deep tracks in our yard. As we did our new lawn this Fall a low-boy truck took the turn and went a good foot into our yard—right through newly-planted grass. The problem really stems from the intersection being poorly designed— a longish truck-trailer unit just can’t make the turn even after swinging as wide as possible. The roads supervisor came by after my call, agreed it needed work and said he should be able to get to it the following week. That didn’t happen and several weeks went by but he did call to say he hadn’t forgotten about us. This morning the trucks showed up about 0800 and by mid-afternoon the job was done. We now have a more-gently-curved corner on the intersection, new asphalt correcting the sunken area, and a new curb in place to protect our lawn from water run-off. Thanks, guys!
While the road guys were doing that, Labashi and I continued work on the crown molding, this time in the hallway. Since I’m only needed for those portions of the project where two sets of hands are needed, I spent my spare time updating the blog.

======== end of 21 November post ====

Crown molding work, ‘Russian Ark’, ‘Andy Goldsworthy: Rivers and Tides’, ‘Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus’, Lawn vandal 2, ‘Tibet- Cry of the Snow Lion’, ‘Control Room’; ‘Judgement Day…’(posted from home)

(this post covers 6 – 13 November, 2007)

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Tuesday, 13 November-

Today I helped Labashi with the crown molding for a few hours and then rode the Concours in to Starbucks. What a wonderfully warm day. It’s the second week of November and I’m riding very comfortably without electrics (my electrically-heated liner jacket). I zoomed over to Rudy Park and walked for an hour (in short sleeves!) before heading home. I walked the mile up to the garage (to pick up the van) in a spectacular sunset. The golden-hour feeling only lasted a half-hour or so but it was terrific and I could feel the relaxation seeping through me as I walked along.
That evening we watched ‘Judgement Day: Intelligent Design on Trial’ on PBS. This excellent documentary exposed the attempt of some members of the Dover, PA school board to inject creationism into the science curriculum at Dover High. Very well done, indeed.

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Monday, 12 November-

Today I worked on the web for a bit then took Mocha Joe in for a new windshield. The current one isn’t yet a year old. The original one was cracked by a flying stone kicked up by a double-long tractor-trailer rig in Saskatchewan last summer (summer 2006, that is)— barely an hour after we entered Canada. I had it replaced on November 14th of last year in preparation for annual inspection. This past summer (2007) that one was hit by flying stones three different times in Ontario and Manitoba. At one point we were in Thompson, Manitoba and trying to decide whether we should take the gravel road to the aboriginal community of Nelson House. Someone warned us against it, saying windshields often get cracked by trucks kicking up gravel on that road. But it didn’t matter now; we already had a cracked windshield so on to Nelson House we went. We weren’t yet halfway there when we were overtaken by some yuppie SUV and his spraying gravel put a spawl right in my vision line. Yes, Virginia, there ARE turkeys in Manitoba.
After the $280 windshield replacement I drove to Rudy Park and walked for an hour. I see they are hard at work on the new off-leash dog area. That will be fun. I’m glad to see the York County Parks folks doing things like this for us—that’s classy.
Back home I dropped off the van for tomorrow’s inspection and walked the mile home in a light drizzle.
That evening we watched ‘Control Room’, a documentary about the Al-Jezeera network. The film was very well done and shows us some of the conflicted feelings these folks have about seeing an Arab country occupied by the U.S. Very well done.

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Sunday, 11 November-

We spent the morning working with the protractor and making sample cuts with the borrowed miter saw to figure out how to resolve our crown molding challenges. With the newly-borrowed saw we can make the cuts and angles we need but we’re not happy with how the joints are coming out (yet!). The Home Depot carpentry expert tells us installation of crown molding ranks about 8 out of 10 on the carpentry difficulty scale and we’re starting to see why. Even a tiny mis-match in an angle or in the length of a piece can make a big difference in the quality of the joint. Now add in the fact that walls or walls and ceilings seldom meet in an exact 90-degree angle and it starts getting interesting. Today the trick is to come up with a means to make acceptable joints and to make the process repeatable. We’re playing with two methods of making the cuts--- the ‘leaning’ method and the ‘flat’ method. The leaning method is supposed to be easier (according to the all-knowing Internet). For this one, we lean the upside-down crown molding against the saw’s cutting fence, leave the blade straight up, and make a miter cut of approximately 45 degrees. I say ‘approximately’ because you set the miter angle according to measurements using the protractor and a table which tells you how to translate the measurements into the correct miter setting. Essentially you adjust the miter a half-degree for every degree out of square. The flat method allows you to simply lay the molding on its back on the saw table but the complexity comes in setting the saw perfectly each time for both miter and blade-lean. As we were working with this method we noticed our borrowed saw has detents and special markings at these points. After a few test cuts and fittings of the samples on our walls we decided we’ll go with the flat method and put up a few pieces.
That evening we watched ‘Tibet- Cry of the Snow Lion’, a documentary about the Chinese takeover of Tibet. This one is much like a good PBS documentary and does a very thorough job of explaining the history of Tibet prior to the takeover, the events of the takeover, and the reasons the Chinese want to subdue Tibet. RT says 88 per cent. Yep.

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Saturday, 10 November-

Well, well, well. We had a problem with our lawn vandal again last night. This time I had gotten up to get some water after being awakened by faint music at about 0230. Labashi was awake too and we wondered briefly whether it was one of our neighbors; that would be out of character for them but it’s the weekend, who knows? When I walked into our kitchen the music had stopped but I saw car lights on the side street through our dining room windows. At that instant (and I think because he saw me) the driver revved the engine a couple of times and I saw the lights bounce as the car drove one wheel up over the curb and into the new lawn before roaring off to the intersection, then down the main street. This one was a small, older car with square headlights and a buzzy-muffler problem; perhaps an obstructed exhaust, perhaps a leaky muffler. I dialed 911 as soon as the lights indicated the car was up over the curb but of course he was long gone before the police car arrived a few minutes later. In the morning I saw the damage wasn’t as bad as before and I also noticed a second place in our front yard where a spinning tire had gone through, apparently as he roared off. What a coward.
That evening we watched ‘Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus’, one of the most interesting films I’ve seen in a while. It purports to follow alternative-country singer Jim White as he drives around the Deep South in his beat-up old Chevy, encountering people strange and wild. Some reviewers panned it as ‘choked with White trash Dixie stereotypes’ and ‘According to this there are only three types of people in the South: the sinners on the road to hell, the religious fanatics praying for them, and the people who sing about both’ but I loved it. The best part is the music. But this music can be dark: here are the opening lyrics from a brooding piece by the Handsome Family:

“It’s gonna rain champagne and the hills are gonna dance.
There will be power in the blood when that helicopter comes.
The sky will swim in lightning fire and the trees will shake and scream.
There will be power in the blood when that helicopter comes…”

Fantastic!

After the movie we watched the commentary and loved it. Then I got on iTunes and downloaded music from the soundtrack. I particularly like ‘When That Helicopter Comes’ and ‘Stalled’ by The Handsome Family, ‘Christmas Day’ by Jim White, ‘Wayfaring Stranger’ by David Eugene Edwards, and ‘Little Maggie’ and ‘Rye Whiskey’ by Lee Sexton.

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Friday, 9 November-

While Labashi continues with the crown-molding project I headed for town to do some errands (in other words she kicked me out so she could create in peace!). I did my standard Starbucks thing and hit Lowes, Home Depot, Giant, and checked out the new Cold Stone Creamery in East York. The latter just opened Friday and I’d say it’s still having some growing pains. I bought a ‘Love-it’ portion (there’s Like-It, Love-It, and Gotta-Have-It sizes which I’d call ‘Ridiculously-small’, ‘OK-that’s-about-right’ and ‘Ooh-that’s-too-much) but the guy gave me a Ridiculously-small portion in an OK-that’s-about-right cup—for $4.85! Well good, that will help me stay away, won’t it?
That evening we watched the documentary DVD ‘Andy Goldsworthy: Rivers and Tides’. Very cool. Andy does amazing sculptures in nature. This one is a 99 per center on RT. I don’t know that I’d go quite that high but that’s getting picky. Good movie about art and the artist. I see YouTube has some samples of this but they aren’t the good parts of the movie.

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Thursday, 8 November-

During my physical last week my doctor and I decided I should get a stress test (mostly because of family medical history) and today was the day. I couldn’t eat anything all day and wondered why the heck I didn’t take one of the early appointments rather than my late-afternoon appointment but I really wasn’t all that hungry through the day. Things didn’t start off well. I arrived early for my appointment and was told to have a seat, they’d be right with me. A half-hour later (and 15 minutes after my ‘please arrive 15 minutes early’ time) I asked the receptionist if she had forgotten me—and she did! It seems the older I get the more I disappear. But once things got underway the test went fine.
Back home that evening we watched Survivor-China and then a ‘Nip/Tuck’ episode. I’m starting to wonder about Nip/Tuck though. I’m feeling a little more manipulated than I like—too much gratuitous shock-value stuff. Plotlines appear and then fade out quickly once the shocking scene or idea is revealed. ‘Desperate Housewives’ does this too but it’s classier.

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Wednesday, 7 November-

That evening we watched ‘Russian Ark’, an interesting and amazingly ambitious experimental film. The ‘experimental’ part is that the movie is done in a single, 87-minute take. The movie uses a cast of 867 actors and hundreds of extras to portray (or, more accurately, ‘reference’) 300 years of Russian history as the Steadicam operator carries our all-seeing eyes (and ears) through rooms, corridors, and stairways of the Hermitage Museum, each hosting a scene from Russian history or transitioning us to the next scene. I wish I knew more Russian history in order to appreciate it in a deeper sense but it’s nevertheless an incredible undertaking. This movie is another one which grows on you after viewing the extras. I’d even go so far as to suggest you first watch the ‘Making of’ feature before watching the movie itself. RT gives this one an 88 on the critics’ tomatometer (I say TOH-ma-TOM-e-ter, you say TOMATO-meter) and I agree.

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Tuesday, 6 November-

I spent the morning blogging. In the afternoon Labashi and I worked on the crown molding project for the living/dining room and were still having problems. My old radial-arm saw can cut left-miter angles with no problem but on right-miter angles the tall crown molding (5 -1/4”) conflicts with the saw motor. I believe I’d have enough clearance if I replaced the 10-inch blade with a 12-inch blade but I’d have to remove the saw’s safety shield. Late in the day I drove the hour to my brother’s house to borrow his fancy compound miter saw to enable us to cut the molding from either side.

======= end of 13 November post ==========

Appalachian Trail backpacking trip, ‘The Fast Runner’, ‘My Architect’ (posted from home)

(This post covers 27 September to 5 November, 2007)

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Monday, 5 November-

Today Labashi and I worked on crown molding for the living/dining room update. Unfortunately, my old radial arm saw isn’t a great tool for this. We can cut fine in one direction but the new crown molding is wider than the old and the saw motor conflicts with the wood stock on certain cuts. Labashi has done some amazing work using her little plastic miter box but that one doesn’t work either— again the wider molding is a problem. We spent an hour on the flat-cut method but the joints weren’t good enough—they all made a joint of less than 90 degrees—something like 87 degrees. We could probably get away with that by using a little filler upon assembly but Labashi wants it right on 90 degrees. We came up with a solution for most cuts but may run into problems if we happen to need the right (‘wrong’, that is) set of cuts.
That evening we watched a very interesting documentary, ‘My Architect: A Son’s Journey’. This film by Nathaniel Kahn tells the story of architect Louis Kahn from his illegitimate son’s point of view. Mr. Kahn was a world-famous architect and workaholic but had significant personal shortcomings. He was emotionally stunted and had a secret life in which he fathered two out-of-marriage children to two different women, both working in his office.
Nathaniel did a magnificent job of collecting footage of his father and crafting a compelling story of his search for the ‘truth’ about his Dad and what he learned along the way. Highly recommended!

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Sunday, 4 November-

After sleeping in a bit we took JustJ for a big breakfast at the local diner and then sent him on his way to visit his other uncle’s family and the new baby for a day before heading home. We declared our trip a great success. We had done 24 miles of very rocky trail and our feet were a little worse for wear but overall it had gone very well. We had good weather, learned a few things, hadn’t gotten hurt, and had met some very interesting people—what more could you ask for?
That afternoon I was changing shirts when Labashi noticed a bright red mark with a dark center on my side. It was a tick! I’ve picked off a tick or two before after hiking but this one was different. Its head was buried deep into my side and it was surrounded by a very red patch of blood under the skin. I’ve had success with the liquid-soap method of detaching a tick but it didn’t work on this one. Putting a big dab of liquid soap on the back of the tick blocks off the tick’s breathing and generally you only need wait a few minutes and then you can pick off the tick with a cotton ball or tweezers. But this one didn’t release. The tick’s body would raise up in reaction to the liquid soap but it wouldn’t let go. Labashi then tried the old hot-needle method but that also failed and in the meantime we had squeezed too far back on the body of the tick, possibly making things worse by pushing bodily fluids into the wound. We called the insurance hot line and the nurse had us pull firmly-but-gently and the tick finally came out but it wasn’t clear whether we had it all—we could see a small black mark under the skin. So that did it— I decided I’d better (and the nurse recommended) going to an emergency room. I drove in to York Hospital and after a short wait was seen by the doctor. Incredibly, York Hospital turns out to have a tick expert. He’s a recognized expert on ticks and even has a collection of them, apparently ones he has removed from patients. He instantly identified mine as a deer tick but noted it was not engorged and had not been on me long enough (most likely) to infect me with Lyme Disease. I’ve since found these very interesting links on this subject: http://www.aldf.com/deerTickEcology.shtml and http://www.aldf.com/news.shtml#SpirochetePoster . In my case they gave me a tetanus shot and a 200 mg single dose of Doxycycline and sent me on my way.
That evening we watched ‘The Fast Runner’, a truly remarkable movie from the Foreign section at our local Blockbuster. This 2002 film is an Inuit production and retells an ancient legend of a small community cursed by the visit of an evil shaman. The photography is fantastic and carried us through a few slower spots in the story-telling. The intimate view of Inuit life is unparalleled and deeply humanizing. I see RottenTomatoes ranks it in the 90’s and I heartily agree. Highly, highly recommended.
How can I find more movies like this?

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Saturday, 3 November-

Last night the temperatures were again in the low thirties. I had gotten shivery-cold in the middle of the night Thursday night in my lightweight sleeping bag so this time I donned my spare shirt, vest, gloves, and extra socks before climbing into the bag and that worked out well. We awoke around 0730 and had finished breakfast and packing when three Boy Scouts and three leaders walked into camp. They were from Troop 1 at Elizabethtown and were headed for Peter’s Mountain Shelter. We chatted awhile before we left them to their break. We had been on the protected side of the mountain at the shelter and I left in shirtsleeves but as the trail wound to the top the wind picked up quite a bit and I had to don a jacket. By lunch time we had reached the new AT bridge across 225 on Peter’s Mountain. As we continued hiking in to the shelter I saw a familiar face approaching. It seemed too great a coincidence to run into someone I know on the trail so I took a second look, and then a third— yep, it was Rabbit! This was great! Rabbit and I had hiked and camped on the further reaches of the AT-in-PA along with our buddy rar some five years ago. Today Rabbit and wifey were dayhiking and enjoying the views on this sunny day. We talked with big smiles on our faces for a few minutes and then had to move on. JustJ and I plodded on to Peter’s Mountain Shelter, reaching there in mid-afternoon. We had a late lunch and talked with two somewhat-odd thru-hikers. This was a father-son pair from Old Forge, New York who had hiked down to Valley Forge, PA and then hiked the Horseshoe Trail from there to its intersection with the AT in St. Anthony’s Wilderness. The father, now in his mid-Forties I’d say, noted he had done a similar long distance hike 20 years ago and wanted his son to see what it was like and he himself needed a break from his factory-worker/couch-potato life. His son was a recent high-school grad not sure what he wanted to do next so the time was right for a hike. They had left home in early August and were hoping to make it to Georgia. But there were some odd things about their story. Dad claimed they had hiked 60 miles on their first day so they were only able to do 9 or 10 the next day. Sixty miles? No way. On the other hand, maybe that was a mistake or I misunderstood. Maybe that was a combination of hitch-hiking and walking. These guys are not your typical thru-hikers. They are very like the hikers from the early days of the AT — dressed in everyday jeans and sweatshirts, practical, thrifty, unimpressed by technology, physically tough, a little naïve in some ways. I found it interesting that the father rolled and lit up a cigarette and spoke of the brand of rolling tobacco that lasted best on the trail (and no, it wasn’t a wacky-tobacky).
But today they were paying a penalty for their lack of technology. They were supposed to meet up with a guy bringing them supplies but have no idea where he is or when he might show. He’s already a day late and they’ve been hanging around the shelter hoping he’ll show. And there the story is a little weird too. They’re expecting him to come in from the north. That would mean a six-and-a-half mile walk including a steep climb. If he came from the south he’d be able to drive to the top and walk less than half the distance and he’d be intercepting their southward course rather than chasing behind them. Then again, maybe we didn’t understand the story or we just have the advantage of local knowledge. Their stories about the Horseshoe Trail led me to believe they really did hike it and I was happy to hear about conditions along the trial. The eastern portion of the Horseshoe has seen development to the point where they often walked between suburban homes and felt they were under the watchful and suspicious eyes of the residents. They had been checked by police a few times. The dad said he had been able to find work washing dishes or doing odd jobs on his trip 20 years ago but now everyone needed background checks and long-term commitments so they weren’t able to find work. Now that’s interesting. How many people do you run into today who are trying to do a long distance trail by picking up drudge work along the way to finance the trip?
JustJ and I were glad to be moving on and away from those guys because of the little things that didn’t add up. But the more I think about it the more I believe we were seeing back in time to an alternate way of ‘doing’ a long-distance hike. They had no freeze-dried food, no Gore-Tex, no phones or PDA-based topo maps. They are just out there enjoying life on the trail the best way they know. I wish them well.
I had talked with Labashi by cell early in the day to arrange a pickup for late this afternoon and had confirmed those arrangements before we left the shelter. JustJ and I hiked another mile to the intersection with the Victoria Trail and then a mile down to the road where we met up with Labashi at 1700. As we drove back across the Susquehanna at Duncannon toward our departure parking lot we talked about stopping somewhere for supper and it occurred to me we could introduce Labashi to the famous Doyle Hotel. Pat and Vicki were happy to see us and we had a wonderful evening in their friendly little bar telling Labashi about our adventures on the trail then picked up the cars and headed home for nice, hot showers.

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Friday, 2 November-

Today we awoke late —0830— at Cove Mountain shelter and enjoyed the sun warming us as we cooked breakfast. The night had been a good one. I woke around three and wondered who had left the lights on—the moon was so bright I didn’t need a light for my trip out to water the posies. After breakfast we filled our water bottles at the spring, packed up, and headed out. We had taken our good old time lounging around and didn’t get underway until 1100 and once again had shirt-sleeve weather. We took a break at the informal campsite above Hawk Rock and there heard hikers coming at us from both directions. Two section hikers were coming in from the south and two SOBOs (southbound thru-hikers) came up from the rock. The SOBOs were Allgood and Odysseus. They got on the trail in Maine on the first of August and are headed for Springer Mountain (Georgia) but I’d think that would be a tough schedule to keep. I didn’t catch the dayhiker’s names but they’re from the Cleveland area and are doing the trail in sections. They’ve done Maryland, West Virginia, much of Virginia, and most of Pennsylvania, as well as sections in New York, and Connecticut. They’re looking forward to Massachusetts and then the White Mountains next year. That’s incredible. It’s very impressive that people thru-hike the AT but the multi-state section hikers are also amazing.
After our break we descended to Hawk Rock and enjoyed the view before descending to Duncannon. As we walked through town we decided to have lunch at the Doyle Hotel, one of the landmarks of the AT. The Doyle is renowned and you see log entry after log entry by thru-hikers anxious to get to the Doyle or extolling their visit. Historically it has been characterized as a fleabag hotel whose claim to fame is cheap beer and hiker-sized burgers. We were welcomed by owners Pat and Vicki who really know how to welcome us. Vicki astutely pegged us as section hikers while serving drinks and Pat patiently explained the entire menu to us. We didn’t get to see a room but the bar area was nice—certainly not in the ‘fleabag’ category—and the food was plentiful and good. What a great little place!
That afternoon we plodded through Duncannon and across the Clark’s Ferry Bridge to the base of Peter’s Mountain. We made it up to Clark’s Ferry Shelter by 1700 and were happy to find we had it to ourselves. A very fit and energetic lone-wolf backpacker had passed us on the way up the mountain and we thought we’d find him at the shelter but apparently he went on to the next shelter. We only did ten miles today but was just about right for us tenderfeet. Somehow my pack worked its way up to 40 pounds and I felt every ounce of it climbing the switchbacks. After a short rest we gathered and cut firewood for the evening and decided to forego supper because of our big lunch at the Doyle. That evening we heard a screech owl, two barred owls talking back and forth, and a deer snorted very loudly nearby… apparently not impressed by the smell of the fire (or perhaps the hikers).

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Thursday, 1 November-

I spent the morning finishing up with trip prep. I met my nephew (JustJ…) in Marysville around noon and we drove west on 850 to the Appalachian Trail crossing. We had picked up subs in Marysville so ate there in the parking lot as we went over the trail map before heading out. We had a spectacular sunny day and hiked very comfortably in short sleeves (in November)! At four miles we checked in on one of my geocaches along the trail before moving on another mile to the Cove Mountain shelter for the night. We gathered firewood and had a nice fire going by dark. In preparing supper, JustJ…’s cool Jetboil stove made my little Superfly stove look silly. I was still waiting for my water to boil as he began eating. In other words, he had boiled water in the Jetboil, added it to the freeze-dried meal, waited for it to reconstitute, and was starting to eat while I was still looking at tiny little bubbles and willing them to turn into a rolling boil. Impressive!
We had an ultra-clear evening and I could see six of the Seven Sisters overhead (JustJ could see all seven). We stared into the fire, caught up on family news, and solved most of the problems of the known world—if only they’d listen to us.

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Wednesday, 30 September-

Today I buzzed over to the local Giant to pick up food supplies and then spent much of the day preparing freezer-bag meals for my backpacking trip. Several years ago I had found and book-marked a web site which describes the freezer-bag technique and has interesting recipes ( www.freezerbagcooking.com/index.htm ). In short, you pre-package meals in 1-quart freezer bags and then at your campsite you merely boil water, pour it in the bag, place it in a cozy (or wrap it in spare clothing) and wait 5-10 minutes for it to re-constitute, then open and eat directly from the bag. After eating, you need only clean your spork and throw the bag into the fire or into your pack-it-out bag. The recipes are pretty simple; just add the ingredients in their proper volumes. After reading through all the recipes, I selected four breakfasts and four dinners and decided I’d just have gorp and/or power bars for lunch. I also decided to switch packs. I had loaded the ultra-light adventure pack I was hoping to use but it’s limited to 30 pounds and I was pushing that and had the pack overstuffed. I’d better go with my old tried-and-true (but heavy) backpack instead.

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Tuesday, 29 September-

Today I began preparing for a backpacking trip—gathering gear and checking it over, packing it in various combinations, and planning and preparing food. This trip was initiated in early September when my nephew called and said he and a buddy have been talking about a trip on the Appalachian Trail for the last five years but life kept intervening. But now his buddy was finishing up his Master’s degree and would finally have time to get away by the end of October. I laid out a plan for a three to four day trip to give them a taste of different aspects of the trail. I would drop them off at Wertzville Road where the AT leaves the Cumberland Valley and they would hike across Blue and Cove Mountains. While they were doing that I would drive Mocha Joe around to Duncannon and hike south to meet them somewhere on Cove Mountain and we’d spend that night at the shelter. Then we’d repeat the process—the young guys hiking the whole way, the old guy leap-frogging and hiking south to meet them here and there. That would give us lots of flexibility. If everything went well, they could just keep hiking until they ran out of time. Or if they found that section boring, they could bail out and we’d move to another area. But that all changed late this evening when I learned that life had once again intervened--- the buddy was in too much of a time crunch with the latter stages of his Master’s thesis to get away quite yet. We talked briefly about rescheduling but this week’s weather is good and my nephew had already made arrangements for time off. So we decided to go ahead but now I’d be hiking along and we’d depend on Labashi to pick us up, wherever that might be.


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Monday, 28 September-

Today I drove to our ‘local’ Cabela’s Outfitters store in Hamburg, PA and spent a few hours wandering the store. Last Spring, I bit on an offer to save $100 on boat equipment by signing up for the Cabela’s Club credit card so I get a never-ending stream of ‘special deals’. That deal was a good one and today I had a 30-percent-off-anything Club coupon burning a hole in my pocket. I bought a few items for a backpacking trip coming up this week and some gear for a camping and boating trip next Spring. On the way home I stopped in at Wildware in Harrisburg to look around and to pick up the latest section map for the Appalachian Trail section we’ll be hiking this week.


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Sunday, 27 September-

I updated the blog this morning before we went to see my brothers’ families and our new grand-niece. As you may have guessed, she’s a beauty! We spent much of the afternoon cooing over her and celebrating the miracle of a brand-new little one among us.
Eventually we had to turn the baby back over to Mom and Dad and give her some peace. We then celebrated our Mom’s 89th birthday in her room at the assisted-living home before returning to my brother’s house. Then late in the day Grampa Orat, Grand-Uncle Maypo (my little brothers!), and I went shooting at the local indoor range.
Visiting this range could become a habit. Their prices are much better than my home indoor range and the rangemaster/desk clerk is a very knowledgeable and friendly retired police officer who ‘gets it’, i.e., knows how to make us feel at home. We rented a Glock 23 with a laser sight and we had our own guns along to switch around so we managed to keep our three lanes busy. The laser sight was interesting to try but I don’t think I’d like this particular style (a Crimson Trace model) for my use. A pressure switch is built into the grip and that switch is depressed by the web area between your thumb and forefinger as you grip the weapon. That’s great if you want to use it all the time but I’d want to sometimes practice with open sights and I’m not fond of the idea of the grip add-on changing the shape and feel of the stock grip. I did like having the red dot on the target as a tool for improving sight picture and trigger control. It’s also an eye-opener to see how much the dot dances around the target and to notice the dot twitch at the critical point in the trigger pull (I’ve gotta work on that!). As far as our own equipment, we had no problems today, i.e., no jams or failures and declared the session a great success.
After our range session we rejoined the family for supper and more talk before Labashi and I headed for home late that evening.

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