‘Breathless’, trip prep, “The Nazis: A Warning from History”, Alaska trip departure, “Four Months, Three Weeks and Two Days”, projects at Mom and Dad’s
(posted from Biggby’s Coffee, Southfield, MI)
(This post covers 7-18 June)
-----------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, 18 June-
Today I spent the morning installing the new printer/scanner and then trying to get Dad’s digital camera to talk to Vista and to the camera’s viewing software. I couldn’t find Vista drivers or info on the Fuji web site but did find a query on a Fuji UK web site which indicated this circa 2002 camera should work. Our install was fairly normal but the camera wouldn’t connect. I called Tech Support and after a long wait learned it SHOULD work so we kept looking. Eventually we found the USB cable we were using had an extension. Dad was checking one end, I was checking the other and all the time the plugs were pulled apart slightly in the middle. Once we re-connected the camera came alive and we were able to move pictures—except into viewing software. We eventually found a workaround and now Dad’s back in business with his photos.
That afternoon I bought and installed an amplified indoor antenna for the main TV and a second Insignia digital-to-analog converter box, this for the TV in the kitchen. The amplified antenna resolved the low-signal pixilation and, interestingly enough, the old antenna worked fine with the kitchen TV— and without pixilation.
All in all the converter installations were a great success. The picture quality is a quantum leap forward and we gained channels. Where before they had five or six channels, they now have 14 (two of them the HD signal of the regular broadcast so they shouldn’t really count and two of the channels are weather-all-the-time channels but on the other hand we gained two more PBS broadcasts). The converter boxes cost $23.59 each (with two $40 government voucher cards) and the RCA amplified antenna was $35. The bad news? Well, it’s getting awfully complicated to just watch TV. Both the TV and the converter must be on (of course) and channels changed with the converter remote only. The converter remote only controls audio so much and it depends on the audio being set properly on the TV. If the converter audio is way down, you can turn the TV audio all the way up and still not hear anything. And now you have an extra remote to misplace and eventually fail. The converter box and amplified antenna both take power you didn’t have to use before and they will eventually fail (and the government won’t be giving out $40 coupons for that). Of course by that time the regular TV may have failed and we won’t need a converter on an all-digital TV.
Late in the day I also completed two small electrical projects. I installed an electrical junction box to cover two exposed wires by the front porch and I disassembled and re-installed the porch light fixture to stiffen up its mount and I replaced the burnt-out bulb with a rough-service bulb.
That evening I updated the blog while everybody else watched the spiffy newly-converted TV signal.
------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, 17 June-
This morning I called the Korky troubleshooting line and learned I was on the right track. The tech agreed it was impossible to crush the seal into place using hand-turning alone (Why would it not be a good idea to say that in the instructions??). Within an hour I completed the installation and turned on the water. Hooray! It works!
I then began working with Dad on his new PC. One of the problems turned out to be lack of Windows Vista support for the printer and scanner. After the shock of finding his expensive peripherals were now virtually worthless, Dad checked out the new all-in-one printer/scanner/fax Mom had been given for Christmas and decided one of those would be okay. I checked the web and found one but thought I’d also look around locally.
I went to the local Best Buy and Radio Shack to look at the printer/scanners and also to research digital-to-analog TV converters. Mom and Dad use off-the-air reception exclusively so will need converters by next February. After seeing what was available locally I came back and spent an hour on the web to see what reviews had to say. I found the Best Buy one (an Insignia model) was rated higher by Consumer Reports as was the current model of Mom’s printer/scanner/copier. I bought one converter that afternoon and installed it.
After the converter installation I was very impressed by the clear picture but then started noticing some pixilation, i.e., breakup of the picture, on some channels. That turned out to be an indication of insufficient signal. We did notice, though, that the pixilation disappeared in the evening. Apparently the signals transmit more easily at night.
I was also impressed by the easy setup. Plug it up, tell it to scan for channels, and start watching the channels it finds. Couldn’t be easier.
Late in the day we drove to Best Buy to pick up the new all-in-one printer/scanner/copier.
That evening we watched a PBS special on the lives of a half-dozen people in the new China. Well done, PBS!
------------------------------------------------------
Monday, 16 June-
Today was a work day for Mom and Dad. Things didn’t start off well. We had decided my top priorities were to fix a leaky toilet and start figuring out what’s wrong with Dad’s new computer. But the van’s brakes weren’t right so first I found a local garage to check them out and dropped the van there and walked back to the house. I soon found myself working two completely different projects than I had intended—re-mounting a medicine cabinet and replacing the spigot handles on the utility tub. Nothing went well. Labashi had started on the medicine cabinet but soon needed help just because it was too much for one person. The top mounting screws had come out because the cabinet wasn’t mounted flat to the wall and the screws too short. The contractor had put in a splash panel and its trim to a height of about four feet. But when he mounted the medicine cabinet he didn’t cut away the splash panel where the cabinet would go, he merely put the cabinet up and bolted it tight, leaving a ¼ inch gap behind the top half of the cabinet. Mom had noticed the cabinet seemed to be falling off the wall and indeed the top was barely attached. The top screws had been installed at studs but they were too short; they barely made it through the drywall. We first tried replacing the 1-3/4” screws with 2-1/2” lag bolts but they still weren’t long enough. But then we used 3-1/2” lag bolts (and plywood to fill in behind the cabinet) and that really did the job.
The utility sink handles also required multiple trips to the local Lowe’s. A local plumber had installed new faucets and used handles that Mom can’t grip (and don’t fit the stems properly) so we’re replacing them. It’s incredible how the manufacturers each try to corner the business by using a slightly different design—different splines, different screw threads, etc. We bought handles made by five different manufacturers and not one of them fit. We eventually had to use a universal-mount design which mounts via multiple allen-screws, almost guaranteeing a less-than-perfect fit. They do solve the gripping problem, though, and Mom’s happy with them.
On the way back from Lowe’s I saw the van was out of the garage so we stopped in to pick it up. Two new calipers, machining of the rotors, and a cleaning and adjustment of the rear brakes added up to $250 more I won’t be have to spend on gas for our trip. So after $500 for tires, $750 for a tuneup, $250 for a brake repair, I should probably turn around and go home. But then again, what fun would THAT be?
I finally got around to the toilet late in the afternoon. This one is a 1967 two-piece design and it’s blue—meaning that if I break it I’ll have no chance whatsoever of matching the blue tub and sink. I bought a Korky kit and replaced everything in the tank, plus the tank-to-seat seal, and the tank-to-seat bolts. I’ve not done one of these before so I was surprised to find the instructions didn’t work. The instructions say to crush the seal down by hand-tightening the bolts. But hand-tightening cannot possibly work—it leaves the tank so wobbly it seems it will fall over. I ended up using wrenches and alternating sides, tightening until it seemed dangerous to go further. Then I’d wait an hour or two while the seal crushed down. Afterwards, I could get another half-turn. I did this four or five times and then left it for morning; I’d better call the factory.
------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, 15 June-
Today we did a few chores in the morning and then drove to nearby Canton for a graduation party and Father’s Day celebration. This turned into a mini-reunion for the family and we had a great day.
That evening we watched “Four Months, Three Weeks and Two Days”, a very good Romanian movie about a young woman and her room-mate as they go through the former’s abortion. The subject is a tough one but the movie is very well done. Highly recommended. I see RT Top Critics gave it a 100%-- that’s the first of those I’ve seen. But be fore-warned—it’s a story for adults.
-------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, 14 June-
Today was an all-day travel day as we head to the Detroit area to see Labashi’s Mom and Dad before heading for Canada and then on to Alaska. We started a bit late and soon ran into a persistent light rain across Pennsylvania but the sky cleared very nicely once we crossed the Ohio line. We made Toledo in good time but then were detoured onto I-275 as we approached Detroit. We made it to the house about 1815 and soon were happily chatting around the dinner table.
The gas fill-up below Toledo said we had done 15.7 mpg to that point and we had a slight head-wind. Gas was $3.91 at the I-80 interchange and about $4.15 in suburban Detroit.
Oh, yeah. We had a little surprise as we neared Mom and Dad’s. The brakes started pulling to the right… not violently but definitely a hard pull and one that requires a firm grip on the wheel to counteract. Now what?
-------------------------------------------------------
Friday, 13 June-
This morning we carried all the various storage containers down to the van and reviewed their placement and contents, looking to lighten the load or make small efficiency improvements. (Yes, we’ve even managed to clutter up the 40-square-feet of living space that is our travel van.)
The new shelf is turning out to be a great idea—no more gear-pile-in-the-corner. And we soon had everything stowed and a small mountain (okay, a hillock) of unnecessary extras to take back into the house.
And (surprise!) the shotgun came in that afternoon. I was able to pick it up just as the shop was closing for the day.
That evening we finished “The Nazis: A Warning from History”. The color footage of the early days of the Nazis is an eye-opener. And finally, I see how it was possible for Hitler to come to power and sustain that power. Highly recommended.
-------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, 12 June-
I picked up the van in late morning and swallowed hard at the $750 bill-- $400 of it parts. But I have no regrets. After seeing the plug gaps and learning that the coil primary post had ‘evaporated’, I see the tuneup was badly needed and may well have averted a breakdown. The noise turned out to be the idler pulley and that was replaced. The tuneup replaced the plugs, hi-tension wires, cap, rotor, coil, air filter, fuel filter, serpentine belt and PCV filter. I also elected to go ahead with replacing the front brake pads. They had an estimated 5-7K left but I’d rather replace now than later. Of course we could still have a breakdown from any one of a hundred possibilities but the tuneup should not only give us better gas mileage and better reliability for the backcountry.
I spent the afternoon carefully loading the rear of the van… tools, bikes, portable shower, etc. I called the gun shop at noon to see if I could pick up my new shotgun yet. The owner said ‘Oh, yeah, I wonder what happened?” He said he’d call the distributor to check and I knew there was a problem and when he didn’t call right back I knew something was up. They lost the order entirely. They say they’ll overnight it but then again they said they’d ship it the same day on the original order.
Late in the day I spent a couple of hours installing hardware cloth (steel mesh) behind the grill. Hopefully that’ll keep the rocks out of the radiator and transmission cooler.
That evening we watched another two episodes of ‘The Nazis: A Warning from History’.
-------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, 11 June-
I was hoping to have the van back today but at noon I drove by and saw they hadn’t started working on it yet. I stopped in and learned they’d get on it later in the day and hoped to have it done by the end of the day or first thing in the morning. I really couldn’t complain. By asking them to not only do the original work but also do a tuneup and a detailed inspection, I had added a lot of work.
At home we spent our day with more travel preparations. We cut each other’s hair (Labashi zapped mine entirely and I just took off a couple of inches from the ends of her long hair) and I began packing clothes. We took more time in the selection process than in the actual packing. (“Do I REALLY need this?”) The plan is to pack clothes for a couple of weeks and use a Laundromat or campground laundry as needed.
That evening we watched the first episode of “The Nazis: A Warning From History”, a two-disk BBC mini-series.
------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, 10 June-
Today we took Mocha Joe to the garage to fix a noise coming from either the power steering pump or idler pulley and to check brakes, fluids, belts, etc. And though I had not scheduled one, I said I’d spring for a tuneup if they could fit it in.
We spent the day with various forms of trip prep—from gathering together the maps and tour books to reviewing the contents of all the storage bins and hidden corners of the van.
I also spent quite a bit of time on the web, printing off the latest lists of free wi-fi spots from wififreespot.com, lists of free (or under $10) campgrounds from freecampgrounds.com, and various forms we’d need for border crossings.
That evening we watched the final episode of ‘The Alaska Experiment’. We were a little disappointed in this series. It seemed too simplistic. We saw the same footage time and again. The finale was doubly disappointing in that we simply saw the same old footage yet again—and without any new insights. It seems such a shame that the production staff would go to such lengths in planning and execution to set up and run the experiment yet end up with a less-than-compelling product. When you end up with you most-often-repeated scene being an argument over arranging shoes, you have a problem.
------------------------------------------------------
Monday, 9 June-
This morning we got up early (0630) to work on the van before the heat of the day. After unloading everything we swept and vacuumed, cleaned the windows and washed the window screens, fixed the window-screen attachment velcros, and fixed a problem with the bed platform. By mid-day the high humidity was taking its toll but I just took my time building in a new shelf to better protect the laptop and electronics storage and organization bags.
By mid-afternoon I was ready for a break. Labashi and I took Mocha Joe’s spare in to Wal-Mart for a new tire. The old spare still had some tread but I don’t want to take a chance on it for our trip to the backcountry.
That evening we watched the rest of ‘Breathless’. Recommended if you’re a fan of 60’s film history. Otherwise, it seemed awfully self-indulgent. Some creativity, lots of showing off.
------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, 8 June-
A lazy day today in all the heat. I made the mistake of taking yesterday’s walk in my sandals and have the blisters to prove it. They’re not really bad, though, and make a great excuse for spending the day on the ever-entertaining web. Today I read the national and local news sites, several shooting forums, a few articles on Slate and Huffington Post and the various provincial sections of cbc.ca.
Late in the day I began a letter to the Johnstown cycle shop on the bike’s thermostat problem.
That evening we watched ‘Breathless’, Jean-Luc Godard’s 1960 French ‘new wave’ film. We started late so we only watched about two-thirds of it tonight and will pick it up tomorrow. I like the late-Fifties footage of Paris and enjoy looking for the characteristics which made it unique in its time. It brings back strong memories of 60’s independent films… the days when the director showed a gun, abruptly cut just before the gun fired, then showed the actor falling or reacting.
------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, 7 June-
This morning I looked at the weather report on Wunderground and saw a string of 90+ temperatures coming at us. We decided to install one of our two window air conditioners and last as long as we can without it. Surprisingly, we made it to evening. The temperature went into the low 90’s. We spent much of the day on the web and I managed to take my four-mile walk along the creek in the heat of the afternoon. But by 6 pm the house seemed like an oven and the a/c was wonderful.
============= END OF POST ==========
(posted from Biggby’s Coffee, Southfield, MI)
(This post covers 7-18 June)
-----------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, 18 June-
Today I spent the morning installing the new printer/scanner and then trying to get Dad’s digital camera to talk to Vista and to the camera’s viewing software. I couldn’t find Vista drivers or info on the Fuji web site but did find a query on a Fuji UK web site which indicated this circa 2002 camera should work. Our install was fairly normal but the camera wouldn’t connect. I called Tech Support and after a long wait learned it SHOULD work so we kept looking. Eventually we found the USB cable we were using had an extension. Dad was checking one end, I was checking the other and all the time the plugs were pulled apart slightly in the middle. Once we re-connected the camera came alive and we were able to move pictures—except into viewing software. We eventually found a workaround and now Dad’s back in business with his photos.
That afternoon I bought and installed an amplified indoor antenna for the main TV and a second Insignia digital-to-analog converter box, this for the TV in the kitchen. The amplified antenna resolved the low-signal pixilation and, interestingly enough, the old antenna worked fine with the kitchen TV— and without pixilation.
All in all the converter installations were a great success. The picture quality is a quantum leap forward and we gained channels. Where before they had five or six channels, they now have 14 (two of them the HD signal of the regular broadcast so they shouldn’t really count and two of the channels are weather-all-the-time channels but on the other hand we gained two more PBS broadcasts). The converter boxes cost $23.59 each (with two $40 government voucher cards) and the RCA amplified antenna was $35. The bad news? Well, it’s getting awfully complicated to just watch TV. Both the TV and the converter must be on (of course) and channels changed with the converter remote only. The converter remote only controls audio so much and it depends on the audio being set properly on the TV. If the converter audio is way down, you can turn the TV audio all the way up and still not hear anything. And now you have an extra remote to misplace and eventually fail. The converter box and amplified antenna both take power you didn’t have to use before and they will eventually fail (and the government won’t be giving out $40 coupons for that). Of course by that time the regular TV may have failed and we won’t need a converter on an all-digital TV.
Late in the day I also completed two small electrical projects. I installed an electrical junction box to cover two exposed wires by the front porch and I disassembled and re-installed the porch light fixture to stiffen up its mount and I replaced the burnt-out bulb with a rough-service bulb.
That evening I updated the blog while everybody else watched the spiffy newly-converted TV signal.
------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, 17 June-
This morning I called the Korky troubleshooting line and learned I was on the right track. The tech agreed it was impossible to crush the seal into place using hand-turning alone (Why would it not be a good idea to say that in the instructions??). Within an hour I completed the installation and turned on the water. Hooray! It works!
I then began working with Dad on his new PC. One of the problems turned out to be lack of Windows Vista support for the printer and scanner. After the shock of finding his expensive peripherals were now virtually worthless, Dad checked out the new all-in-one printer/scanner/fax Mom had been given for Christmas and decided one of those would be okay. I checked the web and found one but thought I’d also look around locally.
I went to the local Best Buy and Radio Shack to look at the printer/scanners and also to research digital-to-analog TV converters. Mom and Dad use off-the-air reception exclusively so will need converters by next February. After seeing what was available locally I came back and spent an hour on the web to see what reviews had to say. I found the Best Buy one (an Insignia model) was rated higher by Consumer Reports as was the current model of Mom’s printer/scanner/copier. I bought one converter that afternoon and installed it.
After the converter installation I was very impressed by the clear picture but then started noticing some pixilation, i.e., breakup of the picture, on some channels. That turned out to be an indication of insufficient signal. We did notice, though, that the pixilation disappeared in the evening. Apparently the signals transmit more easily at night.
I was also impressed by the easy setup. Plug it up, tell it to scan for channels, and start watching the channels it finds. Couldn’t be easier.
Late in the day we drove to Best Buy to pick up the new all-in-one printer/scanner/copier.
That evening we watched a PBS special on the lives of a half-dozen people in the new China. Well done, PBS!
------------------------------------------------------
Monday, 16 June-
Today was a work day for Mom and Dad. Things didn’t start off well. We had decided my top priorities were to fix a leaky toilet and start figuring out what’s wrong with Dad’s new computer. But the van’s brakes weren’t right so first I found a local garage to check them out and dropped the van there and walked back to the house. I soon found myself working two completely different projects than I had intended—re-mounting a medicine cabinet and replacing the spigot handles on the utility tub. Nothing went well. Labashi had started on the medicine cabinet but soon needed help just because it was too much for one person. The top mounting screws had come out because the cabinet wasn’t mounted flat to the wall and the screws too short. The contractor had put in a splash panel and its trim to a height of about four feet. But when he mounted the medicine cabinet he didn’t cut away the splash panel where the cabinet would go, he merely put the cabinet up and bolted it tight, leaving a ¼ inch gap behind the top half of the cabinet. Mom had noticed the cabinet seemed to be falling off the wall and indeed the top was barely attached. The top screws had been installed at studs but they were too short; they barely made it through the drywall. We first tried replacing the 1-3/4” screws with 2-1/2” lag bolts but they still weren’t long enough. But then we used 3-1/2” lag bolts (and plywood to fill in behind the cabinet) and that really did the job.
The utility sink handles also required multiple trips to the local Lowe’s. A local plumber had installed new faucets and used handles that Mom can’t grip (and don’t fit the stems properly) so we’re replacing them. It’s incredible how the manufacturers each try to corner the business by using a slightly different design—different splines, different screw threads, etc. We bought handles made by five different manufacturers and not one of them fit. We eventually had to use a universal-mount design which mounts via multiple allen-screws, almost guaranteeing a less-than-perfect fit. They do solve the gripping problem, though, and Mom’s happy with them.
On the way back from Lowe’s I saw the van was out of the garage so we stopped in to pick it up. Two new calipers, machining of the rotors, and a cleaning and adjustment of the rear brakes added up to $250 more I won’t be have to spend on gas for our trip. So after $500 for tires, $750 for a tuneup, $250 for a brake repair, I should probably turn around and go home. But then again, what fun would THAT be?
I finally got around to the toilet late in the afternoon. This one is a 1967 two-piece design and it’s blue—meaning that if I break it I’ll have no chance whatsoever of matching the blue tub and sink. I bought a Korky kit and replaced everything in the tank, plus the tank-to-seat seal, and the tank-to-seat bolts. I’ve not done one of these before so I was surprised to find the instructions didn’t work. The instructions say to crush the seal down by hand-tightening the bolts. But hand-tightening cannot possibly work—it leaves the tank so wobbly it seems it will fall over. I ended up using wrenches and alternating sides, tightening until it seemed dangerous to go further. Then I’d wait an hour or two while the seal crushed down. Afterwards, I could get another half-turn. I did this four or five times and then left it for morning; I’d better call the factory.
------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, 15 June-
Today we did a few chores in the morning and then drove to nearby Canton for a graduation party and Father’s Day celebration. This turned into a mini-reunion for the family and we had a great day.
That evening we watched “Four Months, Three Weeks and Two Days”, a very good Romanian movie about a young woman and her room-mate as they go through the former’s abortion. The subject is a tough one but the movie is very well done. Highly recommended. I see RT Top Critics gave it a 100%-- that’s the first of those I’ve seen. But be fore-warned—it’s a story for adults.
-------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, 14 June-
Today was an all-day travel day as we head to the Detroit area to see Labashi’s Mom and Dad before heading for Canada and then on to Alaska. We started a bit late and soon ran into a persistent light rain across Pennsylvania but the sky cleared very nicely once we crossed the Ohio line. We made Toledo in good time but then were detoured onto I-275 as we approached Detroit. We made it to the house about 1815 and soon were happily chatting around the dinner table.
The gas fill-up below Toledo said we had done 15.7 mpg to that point and we had a slight head-wind. Gas was $3.91 at the I-80 interchange and about $4.15 in suburban Detroit.
Oh, yeah. We had a little surprise as we neared Mom and Dad’s. The brakes started pulling to the right… not violently but definitely a hard pull and one that requires a firm grip on the wheel to counteract. Now what?
-------------------------------------------------------
Friday, 13 June-
This morning we carried all the various storage containers down to the van and reviewed their placement and contents, looking to lighten the load or make small efficiency improvements. (Yes, we’ve even managed to clutter up the 40-square-feet of living space that is our travel van.)
The new shelf is turning out to be a great idea—no more gear-pile-in-the-corner. And we soon had everything stowed and a small mountain (okay, a hillock) of unnecessary extras to take back into the house.
And (surprise!) the shotgun came in that afternoon. I was able to pick it up just as the shop was closing for the day.
That evening we finished “The Nazis: A Warning from History”. The color footage of the early days of the Nazis is an eye-opener. And finally, I see how it was possible for Hitler to come to power and sustain that power. Highly recommended.
-------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, 12 June-
I picked up the van in late morning and swallowed hard at the $750 bill-- $400 of it parts. But I have no regrets. After seeing the plug gaps and learning that the coil primary post had ‘evaporated’, I see the tuneup was badly needed and may well have averted a breakdown. The noise turned out to be the idler pulley and that was replaced. The tuneup replaced the plugs, hi-tension wires, cap, rotor, coil, air filter, fuel filter, serpentine belt and PCV filter. I also elected to go ahead with replacing the front brake pads. They had an estimated 5-7K left but I’d rather replace now than later. Of course we could still have a breakdown from any one of a hundred possibilities but the tuneup should not only give us better gas mileage and better reliability for the backcountry.
I spent the afternoon carefully loading the rear of the van… tools, bikes, portable shower, etc. I called the gun shop at noon to see if I could pick up my new shotgun yet. The owner said ‘Oh, yeah, I wonder what happened?” He said he’d call the distributor to check and I knew there was a problem and when he didn’t call right back I knew something was up. They lost the order entirely. They say they’ll overnight it but then again they said they’d ship it the same day on the original order.
Late in the day I spent a couple of hours installing hardware cloth (steel mesh) behind the grill. Hopefully that’ll keep the rocks out of the radiator and transmission cooler.
That evening we watched another two episodes of ‘The Nazis: A Warning from History’.
-------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, 11 June-
I was hoping to have the van back today but at noon I drove by and saw they hadn’t started working on it yet. I stopped in and learned they’d get on it later in the day and hoped to have it done by the end of the day or first thing in the morning. I really couldn’t complain. By asking them to not only do the original work but also do a tuneup and a detailed inspection, I had added a lot of work.
At home we spent our day with more travel preparations. We cut each other’s hair (Labashi zapped mine entirely and I just took off a couple of inches from the ends of her long hair) and I began packing clothes. We took more time in the selection process than in the actual packing. (“Do I REALLY need this?”) The plan is to pack clothes for a couple of weeks and use a Laundromat or campground laundry as needed.
That evening we watched the first episode of “The Nazis: A Warning From History”, a two-disk BBC mini-series.
------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, 10 June-
Today we took Mocha Joe to the garage to fix a noise coming from either the power steering pump or idler pulley and to check brakes, fluids, belts, etc. And though I had not scheduled one, I said I’d spring for a tuneup if they could fit it in.
We spent the day with various forms of trip prep—from gathering together the maps and tour books to reviewing the contents of all the storage bins and hidden corners of the van.
I also spent quite a bit of time on the web, printing off the latest lists of free wi-fi spots from wififreespot.com, lists of free (or under $10) campgrounds from freecampgrounds.com, and various forms we’d need for border crossings.
That evening we watched the final episode of ‘The Alaska Experiment’. We were a little disappointed in this series. It seemed too simplistic. We saw the same footage time and again. The finale was doubly disappointing in that we simply saw the same old footage yet again—and without any new insights. It seems such a shame that the production staff would go to such lengths in planning and execution to set up and run the experiment yet end up with a less-than-compelling product. When you end up with you most-often-repeated scene being an argument over arranging shoes, you have a problem.
------------------------------------------------------
Monday, 9 June-
This morning we got up early (0630) to work on the van before the heat of the day. After unloading everything we swept and vacuumed, cleaned the windows and washed the window screens, fixed the window-screen attachment velcros, and fixed a problem with the bed platform. By mid-day the high humidity was taking its toll but I just took my time building in a new shelf to better protect the laptop and electronics storage and organization bags.
By mid-afternoon I was ready for a break. Labashi and I took Mocha Joe’s spare in to Wal-Mart for a new tire. The old spare still had some tread but I don’t want to take a chance on it for our trip to the backcountry.
That evening we watched the rest of ‘Breathless’. Recommended if you’re a fan of 60’s film history. Otherwise, it seemed awfully self-indulgent. Some creativity, lots of showing off.
------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, 8 June-
A lazy day today in all the heat. I made the mistake of taking yesterday’s walk in my sandals and have the blisters to prove it. They’re not really bad, though, and make a great excuse for spending the day on the ever-entertaining web. Today I read the national and local news sites, several shooting forums, a few articles on Slate and Huffington Post and the various provincial sections of cbc.ca.
Late in the day I began a letter to the Johnstown cycle shop on the bike’s thermostat problem.
That evening we watched ‘Breathless’, Jean-Luc Godard’s 1960 French ‘new wave’ film. We started late so we only watched about two-thirds of it tonight and will pick it up tomorrow. I like the late-Fifties footage of Paris and enjoy looking for the characteristics which made it unique in its time. It brings back strong memories of 60’s independent films… the days when the director showed a gun, abruptly cut just before the gun fired, then showed the actor falling or reacting.
------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, 7 June-
This morning I looked at the weather report on Wunderground and saw a string of 90+ temperatures coming at us. We decided to install one of our two window air conditioners and last as long as we can without it. Surprisingly, we made it to evening. The temperature went into the low 90’s. We spent much of the day on the web and I managed to take my four-mile walk along the creek in the heat of the afternoon. But by 6 pm the house seemed like an oven and the a/c was wonderful.
============= END OF POST ==========
posted by Bezabor&Labashi | 16:38
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