REI, 'Four Little Girls', 'Firefly', trip prep, back on the road...
(posted from Texas Welcome Center, Texarkana, TX)
(This post covers 6 – 17 March, 2010)
----------------------------------------------
Wednesday, 17 March-
We spent the day with the pedal to the metal. We left Marion, VA (just above the Tennessee line) and travelled across Tennessee through Knoxville, Nashville, and Memphis for most of our day. We gassed up and had supper in the parking lot of a Pilot truck stop just across the border into Arkansas, then drove for a few more hours to Little Rock. By 2000 I was more than ready for a stop so we found the nearest Wal-mart, shopped for a few small items, and I read a New York Times I had picked up yesterday. By then it was 2200 and I was very happy for my bed.
This Wal-mart was a bit too close to I-30 and was fairly noisy but I slept right through it.
Temperatures are finally moderating a bit. Tuesday night the overnight temp got down to 35 degrees and tonight looks like it is going to hold steady in the low Forties.
------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, 16 March-
Ahhh, it's great to be back on the road. We still had some things to do this morning so didn't get out of the driveway until 1100.
We had a sunny day and a nice drive down I-81 to the Tennessee border. We listend to a 'This American Life' podcast and just enjoyed looking around. The trees are all still very brown and we saw the occasional patch of snow.
We drove till 1730 and had supper in a rest area, then drove on for another hour to a Wal-mart at Marion, VA. We did a bit of shopping then I spent the remainder of the evening catching up the blog and Labashi read.
-----------------------------------------------
Monday, 15 March-
Today we spent the day packing for our Desert Flowers trip. We're planning to head more-or-less directly to Big Bend National Park in western Texas, then to Arizona and New Mexico to see Spring in the desert. We were just in these states last Fall but, hey, that was Fall, this is Spring, capiche?
-----------------------------------------------
Sunday, 14 March -
Labashi's brother (and wife) and sister joined us for more work at Bethany today. The main accomplishment was cleaning out the storage cages we had rented temporarily for moving. They took home two car loads of extras.
I worked on Dad's PC to speed it up and to install Norton Security Suite and test it out with his favorite applications.
Afterwards Labashi and I had a bite at the nearby Juice and Java, then we went home and watched 'Like Water for Chocolate'. Labashi is studying all-things-Mexican in preparation for a trip next year and had me order it from Netflix.
-----------------------------------------------
Saturday, 13 March-
Labashi's brother (and wife) and sister from the DC area drove up to visit Mom and Dad today. We had a work session to hang paintings and organize some of the kitchen drawers and pantry. That evening we shared a very nice meal at the on-site restaurant, then they came home with us and we sat up late talking and drinking wine. It has been many years since this group has gotten together and we made the most of it.
-----------------------------------------------
Friday, 12 March-
I finalized the auto insurance for Dad and had a contract mailed to him. I also double-checked that he'd be getting a refund on the unused portion of his Michigan insurance.
Late in the day we had a Skype Video call with Labashi's brother and his wife, both to test his Skype installation and to finalize their visit this weekend.
That evening I made a Google map of the homes of my family and sent the link off to my brothers and their kids.
Labashi and I then watched 'The Secret Lives of Pippa Lee' with Robin Wright Penn. I don't know on this one. We liked it as we were watching it but after reading a few reviews afterwards we realized it had several flaws we had been uneasy about but hadn't really been able to put into words.
Still, it's well worth a look.
----------------------------------------------
Thursday, 11 March-
Today I did some research about insurance for Dad's car. He has to cancel his Michigan insurance and buy from a company licensed in PA.
Labashi's sister had another car problem today, this time a low tire. With hubby out of town she's doing things she hasn't done in years and is just looking to confirm how they're done and be sure updates in technology haven't come along in the meantime which would change how you go about those fixes. I admire her jump-in-and-get-it-done approach.
That afternoon I had a trouble-shooting session with one of Labashi's brothers regarding Skype. He's installing Skype to be able to make video-calls with Mom and Dad and ran into an interesting problem. He could see himself via his video camera and I could see myself via my video camera but in our calls, I could see him but he couldn't see me. We believe he had some type of video conflict with another piece of software.
That afternoon I walked the six-mile course and then that evening we watched 'Survivor- Heroes and Villains' and then the last episode of disk 2 of 'Firefly'.
While Survivor ran, I made a Google map of the homes of Labashi's family and sent it to all the family members. The Street View photography on several of the houses is very detailed and amazing to see. One of the family members even happened to be working in front of his garage when the Google camera-car went by!
---------------------------------------------
Wednesday, 10 March-
Today we did some planning for our upcoming trip. Labashi took care of Preening the mulch beds and I did some lawn repairs to edges turned up by the township snow plow. It appears one of the plows had a problem and dumped gallons of diesel fuel in the corner of our lawn. Most of it ran down along the road and caused little immediate damage, however.
I looked into auto registration rules and sent and email to Dad explaining what he will have to do and where to go once he has the paperwork gathered.
Labashi's sister called about a problem with her car battery. She was going to jump the battery and had called to confirm she knew how to do it but when she mentioned she had a battery charger available, I found its manual online and we decided to bring it back to life via the charger.
---------------------------------------------
Tuesday, 9 March-
Today I went in to Bethany while Labashi worked at home. I drove Mom and Dad to the PennDOT driver licensing center in Harrisburg to trade in their Michigan licenses for Pennsylvania ones. And wouldn't you know it, today was the first day for a new procedure and software for naturalization papers. Mom and Dad were naturalized 40-plus years ago and they've never had any problems getting driver's licenses until today. It seems the software expected two identification numbers from the certificate of naturalization and their certificates only had one. The clerks tried everything they could think of but finally had to call in the supervisors. They ended up taking the documents upstairs to the experts. We waited about forty-five minutes for the problem to be resolved and if I understand correctly, the software never did accept the documentation but a manual review and over-ride took care of it.
We then drove to the Lower Allen township offices to have some paperwork done for Dad's pension.
That evening Labashi and I watched two more eps of disk 2 of 'Firefly'. We like this goofy space-cowboy series.
-----------------------------------------------
Monday, 8 March-
Today Labashi went off to town to run some errands while I did some online shopping. I ordered a new Thetford for Mocha Joe and was very happy to find one at a bargain price and with free shipping. Cabela's had just raised the price on this model (The Campa-Potty XG) to $94 (plus shipping) but J.C. Whitney had it for $77 and an ends-today shipping special. The special must have confused the ordering system, though, because the screen showed me one price, but the confirmation email showed a price four dollars higher. I called Customer Service and they figured out that the item was oversized but when I selected free shipping the oversize charge was missed by the online shopping system but caught by the confirmation calculations. In any case, they graciously removed the charge.
By mid-afternoon I had to get out to see the sun so took my six-mile walk. That evening we watched two episodes of 'Firefly'.
----------------------------------------------
Sunday, 7 March-
Today the weather was nicer so I craved a motorcycle ride. I rode the 60-plus miles over to Chambersburg and stopped in to see Maypo but he wasn't home. I returned via Route 30 and Gettysburg and saw many Harleys on the road, particularly around Gettysburg. The parking lot at Battlefield Harley was filled with riders.
I made it back home by mid-afternoon and felt awfully played out for that relatively short ride. I even took a nap.
That evening we watched Spike Lee's movie 'Four Little Girls', a documentary about the bombing of a black church in Birmingham, Alabama in the Sixties. Highly recommended, particularly if you're a Spike Lee fan.
-----------------------------------------------
Saturday, 6 March-
This morning I updated the blog and posted it. I had a few little chores (updating the Netflix queue and buying minutes for our Tracfones) which seem to take much more time than they should for all I accomplished). I then drove down I-83 to Timonium to the REI outdoors store. This used to be a long-anticipated visit to pick up new backpacking or hiking gear but today I was just looking around to see what's new. I was surprised to see that they had no full-suspension mountain bikes, the didn't have the one tent I'd like to have seen and the sleeping bag and backpack selections were very limited. Or maybe I just wasn't in the mood. In any case, I didn't stay long. I hit the local Starbucks and checked out the Trek and Gary Fisher bicycles at an upscale bike shop in Hunt Valley (again not seeing anything special), then headed home up MD45 rather than I-83, just for a change of pace. All in all, I'd have had a lot better time if Labashi had been along.
That evening we watched two episodes of 'The Closer', a favorite for Labashi.
******************* END OF POST *****************
(posted from Texas Welcome Center, Texarkana, TX)
(This post covers 6 – 17 March, 2010)
----------------------------------------------
Wednesday, 17 March-
We spent the day with the pedal to the metal. We left Marion, VA (just above the Tennessee line) and travelled across Tennessee through Knoxville, Nashville, and Memphis for most of our day. We gassed up and had supper in the parking lot of a Pilot truck stop just across the border into Arkansas, then drove for a few more hours to Little Rock. By 2000 I was more than ready for a stop so we found the nearest Wal-mart, shopped for a few small items, and I read a New York Times I had picked up yesterday. By then it was 2200 and I was very happy for my bed.
This Wal-mart was a bit too close to I-30 and was fairly noisy but I slept right through it.
Temperatures are finally moderating a bit. Tuesday night the overnight temp got down to 35 degrees and tonight looks like it is going to hold steady in the low Forties.
------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, 16 March-
Ahhh, it's great to be back on the road. We still had some things to do this morning so didn't get out of the driveway until 1100.
We had a sunny day and a nice drive down I-81 to the Tennessee border. We listend to a 'This American Life' podcast and just enjoyed looking around. The trees are all still very brown and we saw the occasional patch of snow.
We drove till 1730 and had supper in a rest area, then drove on for another hour to a Wal-mart at Marion, VA. We did a bit of shopping then I spent the remainder of the evening catching up the blog and Labashi read.
-----------------------------------------------
Monday, 15 March-
Today we spent the day packing for our Desert Flowers trip. We're planning to head more-or-less directly to Big Bend National Park in western Texas, then to Arizona and New Mexico to see Spring in the desert. We were just in these states last Fall but, hey, that was Fall, this is Spring, capiche?
-----------------------------------------------
Sunday, 14 March -
Labashi's brother (and wife) and sister joined us for more work at Bethany today. The main accomplishment was cleaning out the storage cages we had rented temporarily for moving. They took home two car loads of extras.
I worked on Dad's PC to speed it up and to install Norton Security Suite and test it out with his favorite applications.
Afterwards Labashi and I had a bite at the nearby Juice and Java, then we went home and watched 'Like Water for Chocolate'. Labashi is studying all-things-Mexican in preparation for a trip next year and had me order it from Netflix.
-----------------------------------------------
Saturday, 13 March-
Labashi's brother (and wife) and sister from the DC area drove up to visit Mom and Dad today. We had a work session to hang paintings and organize some of the kitchen drawers and pantry. That evening we shared a very nice meal at the on-site restaurant, then they came home with us and we sat up late talking and drinking wine. It has been many years since this group has gotten together and we made the most of it.
-----------------------------------------------
Friday, 12 March-
I finalized the auto insurance for Dad and had a contract mailed to him. I also double-checked that he'd be getting a refund on the unused portion of his Michigan insurance.
Late in the day we had a Skype Video call with Labashi's brother and his wife, both to test his Skype installation and to finalize their visit this weekend.
That evening I made a Google map of the homes of my family and sent the link off to my brothers and their kids.
Labashi and I then watched 'The Secret Lives of Pippa Lee' with Robin Wright Penn. I don't know on this one. We liked it as we were watching it but after reading a few reviews afterwards we realized it had several flaws we had been uneasy about but hadn't really been able to put into words.
Still, it's well worth a look.
----------------------------------------------
Thursday, 11 March-
Today I did some research about insurance for Dad's car. He has to cancel his Michigan insurance and buy from a company licensed in PA.
Labashi's sister had another car problem today, this time a low tire. With hubby out of town she's doing things she hasn't done in years and is just looking to confirm how they're done and be sure updates in technology haven't come along in the meantime which would change how you go about those fixes. I admire her jump-in-and-get-it-done approach.
That afternoon I had a trouble-shooting session with one of Labashi's brothers regarding Skype. He's installing Skype to be able to make video-calls with Mom and Dad and ran into an interesting problem. He could see himself via his video camera and I could see myself via my video camera but in our calls, I could see him but he couldn't see me. We believe he had some type of video conflict with another piece of software.
That afternoon I walked the six-mile course and then that evening we watched 'Survivor- Heroes and Villains' and then the last episode of disk 2 of 'Firefly'.
While Survivor ran, I made a Google map of the homes of Labashi's family and sent it to all the family members. The Street View photography on several of the houses is very detailed and amazing to see. One of the family members even happened to be working in front of his garage when the Google camera-car went by!
---------------------------------------------
Wednesday, 10 March-
Today we did some planning for our upcoming trip. Labashi took care of Preening the mulch beds and I did some lawn repairs to edges turned up by the township snow plow. It appears one of the plows had a problem and dumped gallons of diesel fuel in the corner of our lawn. Most of it ran down along the road and caused little immediate damage, however.
I looked into auto registration rules and sent and email to Dad explaining what he will have to do and where to go once he has the paperwork gathered.
Labashi's sister called about a problem with her car battery. She was going to jump the battery and had called to confirm she knew how to do it but when she mentioned she had a battery charger available, I found its manual online and we decided to bring it back to life via the charger.
---------------------------------------------
Tuesday, 9 March-
Today I went in to Bethany while Labashi worked at home. I drove Mom and Dad to the PennDOT driver licensing center in Harrisburg to trade in their Michigan licenses for Pennsylvania ones. And wouldn't you know it, today was the first day for a new procedure and software for naturalization papers. Mom and Dad were naturalized 40-plus years ago and they've never had any problems getting driver's licenses until today. It seems the software expected two identification numbers from the certificate of naturalization and their certificates only had one. The clerks tried everything they could think of but finally had to call in the supervisors. They ended up taking the documents upstairs to the experts. We waited about forty-five minutes for the problem to be resolved and if I understand correctly, the software never did accept the documentation but a manual review and over-ride took care of it.
We then drove to the Lower Allen township offices to have some paperwork done for Dad's pension.
That evening Labashi and I watched two more eps of disk 2 of 'Firefly'. We like this goofy space-cowboy series.
-----------------------------------------------
Monday, 8 March-
Today Labashi went off to town to run some errands while I did some online shopping. I ordered a new Thetford for Mocha Joe and was very happy to find one at a bargain price and with free shipping. Cabela's had just raised the price on this model (The Campa-Potty XG) to $94 (plus shipping) but J.C. Whitney had it for $77 and an ends-today shipping special. The special must have confused the ordering system, though, because the screen showed me one price, but the confirmation email showed a price four dollars higher. I called Customer Service and they figured out that the item was oversized but when I selected free shipping the oversize charge was missed by the online shopping system but caught by the confirmation calculations. In any case, they graciously removed the charge.
By mid-afternoon I had to get out to see the sun so took my six-mile walk. That evening we watched two episodes of 'Firefly'.
----------------------------------------------
Sunday, 7 March-
Today the weather was nicer so I craved a motorcycle ride. I rode the 60-plus miles over to Chambersburg and stopped in to see Maypo but he wasn't home. I returned via Route 30 and Gettysburg and saw many Harleys on the road, particularly around Gettysburg. The parking lot at Battlefield Harley was filled with riders.
I made it back home by mid-afternoon and felt awfully played out for that relatively short ride. I even took a nap.
That evening we watched Spike Lee's movie 'Four Little Girls', a documentary about the bombing of a black church in Birmingham, Alabama in the Sixties. Highly recommended, particularly if you're a Spike Lee fan.
-----------------------------------------------
Saturday, 6 March-
This morning I updated the blog and posted it. I had a few little chores (updating the Netflix queue and buying minutes for our Tracfones) which seem to take much more time than they should for all I accomplished). I then drove down I-83 to Timonium to the REI outdoors store. This used to be a long-anticipated visit to pick up new backpacking or hiking gear but today I was just looking around to see what's new. I was surprised to see that they had no full-suspension mountain bikes, the didn't have the one tent I'd like to have seen and the sleeping bag and backpack selections were very limited. Or maybe I just wasn't in the mood. In any case, I didn't stay long. I hit the local Starbucks and checked out the Trek and Gary Fisher bicycles at an upscale bike shop in Hunt Valley (again not seeing anything special), then headed home up MD45 rather than I-83, just for a change of pace. All in all, I'd have had a lot better time if Labashi had been along.
That evening we watched two episodes of 'The Closer', a favorite for Labashi.
******************* END OF POST *****************
posted by Bezabor&Labashi | 23:59
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