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The Bezabor Log

"The Bezabor Log" is my online diary since retiring in September 2005. My blogging name,'Bezabor', is an archaic term used mostly by canallers in the 1800's and early 1900's. It refers to a rascally, stubborn old mule. In the Log, I refer to my wife as 'Labashi', a name she made up as a little girl. She had decided if ever she had a puppy, she'd call it 'McCulla' or 'Labashi'. I'm not sure how to spell the former so Labashi it is. Emails welcome at bezabor(at)gmail.com.

Monday, October 31, 2011

Snow at Halloween (!!!), iPad research and buy, brick-mold replacement

(posted from home)

(This post covers 26 – 31 October, 2011)


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Monday, 31 October -

Today I brought back another van-load from the storage unit. The basement is in great shape now after the dry-out, repainting of the walls and floor and setup of new shelving units. We're bringing back stuff as the mood (or need) strikes us, working around the jobs we need to get done before cold weather sets in.
The flood damaged two electric baseboard heating units and we had removed them as part of the cleanup. Today I installed the replacement units I bought online a few weeks ago. We tried to find these locally but apparently both Lowes and Home Depot now only offer the color white. Fortunately, we were able to get the almond-color replacements from the Home Depot web site.
That evening we watched 'The Big C' episodes from disk 2 of the first season.

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Sunday, 30 October -

We still didn't have cable-TV or internet service all morning but thank goodness they both came up around 1230 this afternoon. I had tried calling the cable company to get some idea when it might be back up but they had taken the phone off the hook so it just rang busy this morning. I had called around 2300 last night and they had a recording saying there were widespread outages but they had sent their technicians home for the day because of the dangerous roads. I guess I can't blame them but BOY it's quiet around here!
This morning I read a bit of 'The Paperboy' and my last offline copy of 'Leisure Wheels' (a South African 4x4 magazine). I then caught up the blog and helped Labashi hang her new artistic creation on the foyer wall. In this case 'hanging' includes going out to the barn in the snow to get the extension ladder!
We then called Mom and Dad on Skype and used the iPad's rear-facing camera to show off the new creation. Looks good!
The snow is greatly diminished now and the roads are dry and clear, thanks to 50-degree temperatures today.


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Saturday, 29 October -

Snow. Are you kidding? It's only Halloween (ours was two days ago) and we had six inches of snow today. Wunderground shows the airport measured 9.7 inches of snow. I had to shovel snow in October!!! That's so wrong!!!!! I'm normally in Florida by the time we have shovelable snow.
The snow was of course very wet and heavy and caused many power outages (the papers Sunday say 2 million people had outages in the Northeast). In our case we had at least twenty outages. The lights would go off for a second to five seconds, then come back on. Each time the cable box would reboot. After about ten of these I turned off the power bar feeding the electronics and went down to the basement and flipped off the breaker to the refrigerator. After things seemed to settle down that evening, I turned them back on but by then we weren't getting a feed from the cable-- no tv or internet for us tonight!
I had spent up the morning playing with the iPad and downloaded some killer apps. Thedolite HD is a an electronic theodolite-- you know, the surveyor's tool. Start the app and hold the iPad up and and you see a view out the iPad's back camera with multiple scales imposed on it--- GPS position, altitude, direction, azimuth, etc. Press a button and it takes a photo of the scene. Press another and it opens up an email dialogue: put in addresses and send it off lickety-split. Press another and the display changes to a Google map with your position marked.
We lost cable and internet late in the afternoon and we turned to reading. Labashi is working an art project but at this point is only going down a few times today to put on another coat of glaze. Otherwise, she's catching up on back issues of 'The Economist' (we had a trial subscription), 'The Week', and 'Smithsonian Magazine'. I'm reading a novel I picked up in Florida-- 'The Paperboy' by Pete Dexter. Also, I learned a bit more about how Zinio works on the iPad. I had opened two issues of magazines before I lost my wi-fi connection and those were downloaded to me. I could read them offline. The latest issues, though, hadn't been touched yet so I had nothing but pictures of the cover. Lesson learned. Open up the issues when they show up and let them download.
We would normally have been saved by Netflix DVDs but happen to only have one-- Californication Season Three, Disk 2-- and Labashi doesn't care for that. I watched it on the laptop while she read. Like Entourage, this one is getting stale.

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Friday, 28 October -

Yesterday I activated the iPad and spent a few hours playing with it. The more I work with it the more I understand the friendly advice to not think of it as a laptop replacement. The on-screen keyboard functions okay but will never replace a standard keyboard-- in fact now I need a keyboard for it (I think!).
Fortunately, I wasn't thinking of it as a laptop replacement. I wanted something that runs IOS but didn't want to pay the monthly phone bill of an iPhone. The critical decision-maker for me was learning I could turn data service off and on, i.e., pay for it a month at a time. For me that will be when we travel.
Also, I just have never been a fan of the small screen of the iPhone. It's amazing for a phone but I need a lot more 'real-estate' (screen size), particularly when looking at maps and web pages.
I installed 'Zinio for iPad' and immediately liked what I saw. On the MacBook Pro I could either see a full page of the magazine and not be able to read it or zoom in and get lost on the page. Now I can read a full page and if there are areas I want to zoom in on (like a photo), it's very easily done.
In my research on the iPad I had run onto several apps that appealed to me for travel. Backpacker Magazine had recommended 'Campwhere' and 'Maplets', for instance. Campwhere is a Google-map application overlaid with the locations of all the public campgrounds in the US and Canada. Maplets is a collection of localized maps, like the handouts at the National Forests and State Parks. I'm intimately familiar with the maps of Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Reserve so I grabbed them and examined in detail. Yep-- they're the real thing. And there are thousands and thousands of others. There are bike maps, trail maps, bus maps, city maps, etc. and they're actively soliciting others. This is a goldmine of maps!
I also installed the GoSky Watch apps for constellations and satellites. Start the GoSky Watch Planetarium app and hold the iPad up to the sky and it will show you the constellations and the stars you're looking at. It does not sense the stars, but rather your position on the earth and the direction and elevation you are holding the iPad. In other words, it will show you the same thing on a cloudy night. The satellite version (GoSat Watch) shows either a globe with the satellites superimposed on it, or a view of the sky at your location with the passing satellites moving across the view. Very, very cool!
I wish we would have had this in South Africa!
That afternoon I finished the brick-mold installation and caulked it with painter's caulk and used glazer's putty to cover the trim-screw holes. I'll paint next week when the weather's a bit warmer.
That evening we watched a few episodes of Entourage Season 7. I'm kind of bored with these guys and am surprised they don't take more heat for their frat-boy view of women.

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Thursday, 27 October -

This morning Labashi had some things to do with her parents and I had a few errands to run so I took Mocha Joe. I first hit two of my local gun shops, wanting to take a look at Ruger Single Six .22 revolvers. These are cowboy-style revolvers with an excellent reputation for accuracy and simplicity. I'm thinking of doing some squirrel hunting and after reading many recommendations for an appropriate (and legal) squirrel-hunting handgun, the Single Six tops my list. The Convertible model appeals to me because it comes with an extra cylinder for magnum shells (.22 WMR) in case I want to try that. The Hunter appeals to me with its rail for a dot-sight or scope. And the Single Ten model has not only a ten-shot capacity but also fiber-optic sights.
The East York shop had a Single Ten and an older (used) Single Six 3-screw (more a collector's gun). I liked the Single Ten right away. It felt right in the hand. And once I looked through the sights of the Single Six it was clear I'd want the fiber-optic sights. I could hardly find the black front blade in the shop so I know I'd have a tough time in a background of trees.
The Columbia shop had five Single Sixes but each had something wrong.... wrong barrel length, wrong grip, or wrong sights. But this little exercise did indeed help me make decisions on all the things I don't want.
Now I have to decide whether I really want to go ahead with this. I haven't had a hunting license since the mid-Seventies so may have to take a hunter-ed course. I'd have to work on my shooting skills but would look forward to that. I envision driving Mocha Joe to places like the freebie campsites below Dolly Sods (WV) or to PA's Tuscarora State Forest (Fowler's Hollow, perhaps) and camp there the nights before and after a day's hunt. The search for squirrels would slow down my hiking speed and give me plenty of excuse to sit and watch-- my fondest memories of my long-ago hunting trips. I'm guessing I wouldn't be a very successful hunter but I'd enjoy the heck out of being there.
After my visits to the gun shops I continued on to Lancaster's Park City Mall and the Apple Store. My goal today was to buy an iPad2. I've been looking at them and reading about them for a long time and today was the day to do something about it.
But things didn't go well at first. The store was crowded and it wasn't immediately clear how to get the attention of a salesperson. I decided to play with an iPad to reinforce my decision.
Right off the bat I had problems. I picked the YouTube icon as a place to start. I thought I'd look up a few clips I've seen recently and see what they look like on the iPad. I entered the search term “Bushlore” (the name of the outfitter we used in South Africa) and was surprised to not see the clips I was looking for. That's because the iPad had separated 'Bush' from 'lore' and was showing me videos of George Bush and some of various folklore topics. No matter what I did I could not get the videos I wanted. Finally, I figured out how to go into Settings and turn off the auto-correction feature. It had only taken me 20 minutes on the iPad to get what I knew was there but couldn't get to.
The other thing I wanted to see what what my magazine subscriptions look like on Zinio (I subscribe to two magazines about southern Africa travel-- 'Leisure Wheels' and 'Getaway' via Zinio). I used the Safari browser to get to Zinio and sign in but when I selected my magazines, I only got back a screen telling me I needed to install the free Zinio iPad app. But the demo machine wouldn't allow apps to be installed. No luck there.
I finally stopped one of the Apple guys walking by (I had been there a half-hour and never been asked if I needed any help) and he directed me to a guy with an iPad. He put me on the schedule and said it might be as long as a half-hour until someone saw me. I almost walked out. But then again, I could play with the iPad for another half-hour before committing to buy one.
To be fair, my specialist showed up less than ten minutes after I went on the schedule and he was very good. He answered my many questions and I soon was back on track. He quickly processed my order and brought an iPad and accessories to me. He scanned the items and swiped my credit card with an iPhone-like terminal he carried with him and I was soon out the door.
Once I got home

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Wednesday, 26 October -

I spent the morning on the web, mostly researching handguns and iPads.
Late that afternoon I began the long-delayed project to replace the brick-mold around the back door-- the mud-room door. I'm surprised how the wooden brick-mold (the trim around the door) deteriorated so quickly after the last time I replaced it so this time I'm going to use vinyl stock.
I had started this project a few months ago but very quickly abandoned it when I realized the newer-style caulk was much more difficult to remove than before. I had given it a try with utility knife and putty knife and they did very little to the hard-rubber-like material. My downfall at the time, though, was the fact that the right tool for the job was on the job-site in Chambersburg.
So today I had the right tool-- Labashi's Bosch multi-tool. The scraper attachment is just the thing to cut into the hard rubber and work your way under it to the point it can be pulled off. That job still took the better part of an hour and I went through three batteries (fortunately they're rechargeable).
Once I had the old brick-mold off, I still had a lot of work to do. Cleaning up the door frame was easy enough but then the challenge became what to do about the wooden door frame itself. The last inch or so was wet-rotted.
I cut off the lower one-and-a-half inches of each side and cut vinyl stock to fit. The problem, though, was how to attach it-- there was nothing there. On one side I was able to run long screws down at an angle to secure it. On the other, though, I had to dig out wet wood back to the good 2x4 framing and put in blocks to build it out. I finished that job but by that time it was supper-time. After supper I cleaned up the area and covered the frame with duct tape to protect it from the rain due tonight and tomorrow.
That evening we watched “Meek's Cutoff”, a somewhat-odd film about a small group of Oregon-trail travelers in the mid-1840s. They have had the bad luck to have taken a shortcut which turns out to be anything but. Their guide, Stephen Meek, has led them astray and it's not clear why. Is he incompetent? Is he leading them away from the 'main stem' to rob and kill them? Is he right about how vicious and bloodthirsty the Indians are in this area?
If you liked 'Gerry', you'll probably like this movie. If you'd prefer a more traditional movie structure, you'll likely be disappointed in it. I'd have to say I fell more on the 'disappointed' side as the movie ended but have since thought about why it was done as it was and what I learned. In the end, I'm glad I saw it and, in fact, will watch it again sometime down the road.


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Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Researching an off-road touring solution...

(posted from home)

(This post covers 17 – 25 October, 2011)

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Tuesday, 25 October -

This morning I caught up the online blog and spent a bit of time with a new web site for me -- TTORA (Toyota Territory Off-Roader's Association). Lots and lots of reading and photos here.
I helped Labashi a bit with her art project and managed to mess up. A hanger bracket had come loose on the back of it and I shortened the machine screws on some 3/8-inch anchors to resolve the problem. But I didn't shorten them enough and poked them out through the surface of the art. Fortunately it's very early on in the process and can be easily fixed. But if I had done that to a finished piece I would have been in trouble! The mistake came about because I measured at an edge which was thicker than the area where the anchors went. That was dumb!
I spent time this afternoon learning about Wassa diesel stoves and spent way too much time on them once I realized they are
That evening we watched episodes of 'The Big C' with Laura Linney.

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Monday, 24 October -

Today I continued with web research in the morning and then we went to see Mom and Dad in their apartment that afternoon. We went out to dinner at Pizza Grille and had a very nice time talking and enjoying each other's company.
That evening we watched the final two episodes of 'Damages' – Season Three. Not as good as the first two seasons, I thought.
We then finished up the 'Michael Palin: Sahara' series. Pas mal.

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Sunday, 23 October -

More web 'research' today on Expedition Portal and then long searches on SearchTempest, hoping to run into a good deal on a used truck camper or van-- but without luck. And of course my explorations took off on many side tracks-- like looking for a primo example of one of the Class C motorhomes based on a Toyota pickup chassis-- like the mid-Eighties/early Nineties Dolphins. They would be completely impractical for the off-road travel but on a space-per-dollar basis they're pretty interesting. I've talked to several guys who love them, one who lives in New York part of the year, Florida part of the year and Alaska in summer (I ran into him in the Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida). He has driven his to Alaska seven times.
I also spent a good bit of time researching Engel fridges (like the one we used in Botswana) and their new Deep Blue coolers which claim to hold ice for eight days (no way!). I was interested in Yeti coolers for awhile but I think the Engel has more of the features I'd want. But for now my Coleman Extreme Marine will do just fine. If I were able to see the Engle Deep Blue 65 in person I might change my mind but nobody carries them locally as far as I can tell.
That afternoon I rode the GS down to Rocky Ridge County Park and walked my five-mile end-to-end loop. The weather was perfect and the fall colors particularly nice today. I was also surprised how good I felt in the latter stages of the walk. I've not been getting out much and thought I'd struggle a bit but I felt great and even jogged a bit here and there.
LOVE this weather!
We finished 'Dexter', Season 4 tonight. Shocker!

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Saturday, 22 October -

I spent yet another day on the web, still dreaming about a long-distance backcountry trip. I found Vagabundos Del Mar today. They're a California-based RV and boating travel club that offers just what I was looking for-- a wagon-train down into Baja. Check THIS out: http://www.vagabundos.com/advent.htm .
I may have Labashi hooked with the Guatemala trip and it doesn't get any cheaper than to do their wagon train (a small group of Rvs traveling together) to Cabo San Lucas and back-- only $500!
That afternoon I had the gotta-get-outs and rode the GS down to Starbucks. I'm surprised how I can go months at a time without a motorcycle ride when I'm traveling and don't miss it. But when I'm home I have to ride every other day or so. All I need is the quick fix of a trip down to Starbucks or even over to the local grocery store.
We've been watching “Michael Palin: Sahara” episodes as well as “Lost Kingdoms of Africa”, both of them four-part series.

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Friday, 21 October -

I spent the greater part of the day today on Expedition Portal, reading about various expedition vehicles and expeditions and admiring the fantastic photos. Thank goodness for the development of digital photography!
I also took an hour out to paint a coat of rubber paint on the skylight/fan edges on Mocha Joe's roof. I need to do this every other year or so because the rubber dries out and cracks, allowing water in when it rains really hard.
I also took another shot at getting the Concours running. I spent about an hour but can't get it to do anything but idle. I drained two of the fuel bowls and see sediment so I think I have low-speed jets clogged up. I'll have the Cycle Tech guys pick it up and get it running for my winter season. It will soon be time to put the GS in the barn for the winter and I'll want the Concours to start and run reliably.
We watched two 'Damages'- Season Three episodes that evening.

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Thursday, 20 October -

I spent much of this rainy day researching my next travel vehicle and new places to go. I'm going back and forth between a 4x4 high-top van (Quigley conversion) and a Toyota Tacoma pickup with a lightweight pop-up camper, like those made by Four Wheel Campers, All-Terrain Campers, and Alaskan Campers.
I see Alaskan Campers has a new unit called the 'Mini' for the Tacoma. When we did our Oregon Trail trip in 2009 I saw the prototype for this camper at the factory in Chehalis, WA (about 90 minutes north of Portland, OR). I'm a bit put off, though, by its weight being so close to the Tacoma's maximum load capacity. I remember Dad being unhappy with the similar weight of a Sunline pop-up he had on his half-ton Chevy pickup. Perhaps the suspension could be beefed up a bit but I got a feel for an overloaded Tacoma on our Botswana trip and didn't like it. If I'm close to the limit with just the camper and still want to have all the off-road gear (like two spare tires, a high-lift jack, an air compressor, a winch, etc), I'd very quickly have no capacity for carrying me!
On the other hand, I'm not a fan of soft-sided pop-ups. A high-top van is much quieter in a noisy Wal-mart parking lot or near the occasional round-the-campfire folks who don't realize how much their voices carry late at night. If I were doing it today, I'd go with the van. As usual, though, I'm firmly on the fence on a decision like this.

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Wednesday, 19 October -

I drove the van over to our storage unit and brought back a load of full storage boxes today. I spent a few hours going through each, labeling them, and arranging them on the wire shelving units. All our family-history records and artifacts made it through the flood without damage thanks to our having stored them in plastic boxes. But we had made the mistake of stacking the boxes six or seven high and that made them both difficult to access and the lower boxes vulnerable to (minor) damage from the weight of the stack. Placing them on the wire shelving units is much better.
That evening we watched 'National Geographic: Relentless Enemies' on Netflix Instant. This is another special filmed in Botswana's Okavango Delta and had incredible footage of lions and Cape buffalo.

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Tuesday, 18 October -

I rode the F650GS over to the BMW shop in Lititz today for its inspection. I am also trying without much luck to replace my owner's manual. I had foolishly left it in a saddlebag and had stored the saddlebags on the basement floor before our South Africa trip. So of course that means the manual was ruined by our flooding problem. The odd thing about this is the BMW shop can't seem to simply order me a manual. The part number is locked out and the shop has been making calls but hasn't been able to find out why. The parts guy did say it's not unusual for manuals to not be available for awhile on new models but I bought this bike a year and a half ago and they were on the market for the better part of a year before that.
After the inspection I took a look around the sales room but didn't see anything I can't live without. I finally got to see the new K1600GT in person. It's nice but also has a price tag of more than $25,000 (yikes!). If I had that kind of money I think I'd go with the proven Gold Wing rather than take a chance on this brand-new design. I would jump at the opportunity to rent one for a few days, though.


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Monday, 17 October -

I caught up the online blog this morning and then assembled the final two wire shelving units in the basement and replaced the last of the five fluorescent light fixtures in the 'mud room'. We now have lights which are supposed to work down to zero degrees so they should work fine in the low 50's temps we get down there. The old ones worked some of the time-- most, actually--- but were weak, showed an odd, rolling pattern in winter, had a too-cold color temperature and for some reason also began malfunctioning when the summer humidity would be highest.
That evening we watched 'Inside Job', a good documentary about the financial crash of 2008.

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Sunday, October 16, 2011

Return from West Virginia ; back to the basement project

(posted from home)

(This post covers 11 – 16 October, 2011)


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Sunday, 16 October -

This morning I woke very early, again at 0500, and read a few chapters of 'The Harmless People', then fell back asleep. The book is a late-Fifties book about the 'Bushmen' or San people of Bechuanaland (now Botswana) and South-West Africa (now Namibia). I had liked 'The Lost World of the Kalahari' but this is a whole 'nother level of detail and expertise. I love it!
I assembled two more shelving units this morning and this time had a problem with one. I took it back apart and tried again. I improved it but there's still something odd going on.
After lunch I fired up the F650GS and rode down to the Tollgate Starbucks for the Times and a macchiato.
I returned in time to watch a 'Cafe Racer' marathon on tv for a few hours. I've been wanting to see this show and had noticed it was coming up today as I perused the listings yesterday. As it played I trolled the web for local cafe racers. I'm not interested in the made-over Honda 550s and 750s but I do like the looks of the Triumph Thruxton.
I then watched a few episodes of 'Californication', Season 3.

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Saturday, 15 October -

I assembled the two wire shelving units today and then drove into York to pick up a few more of them and another light fixture. I had to go to the west-side Lowe's because I had bought out the stock on the east side. But of course the west-side store didn't have the casters for them so I had to drive back across town for them.
That evening we watched 'The Bang Bang Club', an interesting-but-uneven story about South African news photographers caught up in the fall of Apartheid in the early 90's. Joao Silva (the real one) is AMAZING.

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Friday, 14 October -

I spent the morning installing the three light fixtures (EVERYTHING had to be changed).
That evening we watched the Ethiopia segment of 'Lost Kingdoms of Africa' and then the first episode of “Michael Palin: Sahara”. We are having the most wonderful time watching everything we can find on Africa.

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Thursday, 13 October -

I drove into town this morning and picked up three fluorescent light fixtures and two wire shelving units for the basement. I'm replacing the old lighting fixtures with low-temperature units (we've had trouble with the old ones once the basement temperature drops below 60). The shelving units are our latest attempt at organization, this time on wheels (casters, actually).
That evening we watched the first episode of 'Lost Kingdoms of Africa' (Nubia), then 'Cape of Good Hope', a lightweight-but-interesting South African movie.
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Wednesday, 12 October -

This morning I unloaded Mocha Joe and then joined Labashi in selecting pictures from our Africa trip. We took a break to run to the doctor's office to get our flu shots.
That afternoon we drove to our local Wal-mart to try out their photo-printing service. We printed off 50 photos for our visit with Labashi's parents in a few hours.
We spent a pleasant afternoon with the parents and went out for ribs with them at Texas Roadhouse. As we drove back I noticed we had a bad windshield wiper on their car so I dropped the others off and drove over to the local Autozone and replaced the wipers.
I returned to the parents' apartment just as Labashi and her parents finished up the picture-stories. We then returned home and watched 'Cape of Good Hope', a lightweight-but-interesting South African movie.

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Tuesday, 11 October -

This morning I woke very early – around 0500. I read until daylight (around 0700), had a quick breakfast, and got underway by 0730. I ran into my fellow campers on the nearby bridge. I learned they are an expedition-based class from North Carolina. The adults take the five boys on van-camping expeditions two weeks at a time and then they have classroom work for a week. While on expedition, the boys get four hours a day of classwork. I'd guess their visit to the bridge first-thing this morning was part of their class work today.
On the far (north) side of the river, I followed the gravel road in the upstream direction. The road was good for miles but then I came to a group of houses. Afterwards the road narrowed and I soon came to a large mud puddle and a section of very rough road afterwards. Since the road I was taking would loop back very near to the same place I'd end up if I simply retraced my route, I turned back. I was soon back on US19 and headed south toward Beckley.
As I started through Beckley I checked the GPS for a Starbucks and found there was one only a mile or so ahead. I dropped in there for a coffee and internet connection. I had updated the blog last night so I just needed a wi-fi connection to upload it to the web.
After I updated the blog and checked the weather I noticed Orat was online so called him up via Skype and we talked for a half-hour. While we were talking Labashi called so I called her back after finishing up with Orat.
That took me through lunch and I realized I really didn't have anything left on my must-do list for this trip. Rain is due in for the next couple of days so I may as well head homeward. The GPS told me I'd have a six-hour drive and I realized I could be home this evening if I pushed.
I hadn't fully made up my mind but headed out I-64 toward the next New River Gorge visitor's center. There I decided I'd go on down to Hinton to see their historic district, then follow the Greenbrier River up to Lewisburg and decide there.
As I drove toward Lewisburg the rain started. That made up my mind for me--- time to head for the barn!
I buzzed on across I-64 to I-81 at Lexington, VA after giving Labashi a heads-up that I'd be arriving late-- sometime between 2100 and 2200.
I plugged the iPod in and listened to 'This American Life' episodes along the way. The time passed quickly and I realized I'd even have time for a quick stop at a favorite restaurant in East Berlin, PA (“Sidney”) along the way.
I arrived home shortly after 2100 and quickly unloaded the essentials for the evening-- I'll take care of the rest tomorrow.

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Monday, October 10, 2011

Basement work ; West Virginia Fall Colors trip

(posted from Starbucks parking lot, Beckley, WV)

(This post covers 1 – 10 October, 2011)



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Monday, 10 October – Columbus Day

This morning I woke without the alarm at dawn. I piddled about and had breakfast and didn't get on the road until 0800-- mostly because it was overcast and didn't LOOK like a nice day for touring.
I drove down the mountain to the Cranberry River and followed FR76 upriver. Wow-- what a NICE river. It's ultra-clear, bordered by lots of mountain laurel and of course it's looking great with the colors of Fall all along it.
I picked a favorite campsite-- #8-- and waypointed it on the GPS. I'll definitely be back, hopefully next Fall.
I followed the forest road to Cranberry Campground and was surprised to see so many campers. Then I remembered it's a holiday-- that explains it.
Just after Cranberry Campground there's a gate. The road is gated 'to preserve the backcountry nature of the River' according to a sign. I LOVE it! I wandered around a bit and shortly thereafter two fishermen arrived and unloaded their bikes and fishing gear. They were going to bike in 8 to 10 miles today. One explained that the grade is slightly uphill (heading upstream) so they'll work harder going in than coming back to the truck.
I then set the GPS for Richwood and soon found myself back in civilization. At Cranberry Campground I checked the mileage and time to home and it was just under 350 miles and 6 and a half hours (for future reference).
In Richwood I checked in at the visitor's center and chatted with the ladies running it. I learned there's a major development coming-- a new Scout camp. This is apparently and Eastern version of the Philmont Scout Ranch in north-eastern New Mexico. It's a 10,000 acre site being developed for a first Jamboree in 2013. So far $250 million dollars has been raised for it. It will be called the Bechtel Family Scout Reserve and lies along the New River. It will reportedly also cater to the public and allow non-Scout visitors to camp there --- in Scout tents!
I can't wait to visit. I was a Scout many years ago and though I only achieved First Class, I have fond memories of Scouting days. I was a member of Troop 127.
Last Spring Labashi and I visited the Philmont ranch as we returned from our Desert Flowers trip and I wish I had been able to visit there as a young Scout. (I still have my Scouting books and my official Boy Scout camping gear, by the way).
At the Richwood visitor's center I also asked about wi-fi and was directed to the library beside City Hall. The librarian gave me a one-hour pass just for the asking and I went out into Mocha Joe, set up my wi-fi antenna, and called Labashi on Skype. We talked for a half-hour and I learned I needed to give Maypo a call too-- something about the house.
Maypo and I talked a bit and then called Orat on a three-way to set the asking price for the house (house #2)-- Maypo has someone who may be interested.
I then headed to Summerville and the Lake, stopping along the way for lunch. I was disappointed to find the lake drawn way down and at its seven-year low. Facilities around the lake were mostly closed so I decided to just move on.
I then drove to the New River Gorge visitor's center near Fayetteville. I watched the tourist film and asked a ranger for recommendations for a drive. I followed her directions and took a very nice little drive down into the gorge and under the New River Bridge and back up the other side.
I then drove down US19 to the turnoff to Thurmond, an abandoned coal-mining town. The visitors' center was closed but when I tried the door a very nice gentleman came to the door and said he's working on the accounts and I'd be welcome to look around while he does that. I loved seeing the old pictures of the steam-era town and then walking the ghost town that it is today.
I had noticed a small picnic area and campground nearby so decided I'd try that for the night. I found a launch ramp there with a few camping spots and settled in there for the night.
Tonight is very balmy, apparently because of oncoming rain in the next few days. The full moon is lighting up the clouds and it actually got dark, then lighter after sunset and as the moon rose over the mountains across the river from me.
I spent the evening blogging and starting on camera chip 2 from the Africa trip.

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Sunday, 9 October -

I thought I had turned off the 0600 alarm but I was proven wrong. I couldn't get back to sleep and was on the road within the hour. I drove back Route 39 toward the Cranberry Glades area thinking I'd take my time so the Nature Center would be open. I took a short walk down to the Upper Falls at The Falls of Hill Creek and then went on to the Cranberry Glades Botanical Area.
I chatted with two backpackers-- a father-daughter pair -- from western Pennsylvania who had spent the night camped nearby. We had a long conversation about travel and I listened intently while the young woman described her trip to New Zealand, Australia, and Fiji.
I then walked the boardwalk at the Botanical Area. This is a high mountain glade, which consisted of a mix of open, swampy area and a bog forest, surrounded by hills ablaze with fall colors. The first thing I saw was good old arctic cotton-- called 'grass cotton' here. There were pitcher plants, sundews, and other plants native to far-northern places. I looked for Labrador Tea but didn't see any. The Glade looked like it had been moved here from Newfoundland or Labrador or certain areas of the Yukon and Alaska.
I moved on to the Nature Center and asked about Labrador Tea. The ranger-lady spent quite a bit of time checking and then I looked through 'Flora of West Virginia', all to no avail. I'd like to have seen its pretty, orange, and delicately-veined leaves. I spent the better part of an hour at the very-well-done Nature Center and bought a map of the Monongahela National Forest.
The Nature Center had a relief map of the area and I saw that I could follow the Williams River and then the Cranbery River on a large loop. And along the way are primitive campsites- something I always like to check out but these in particular, since sites range from $5-$10 per night-- my kind of number!
As I was looking for FR216 I saw a trailhead for the High Rock Trail and stopped in to look at the map. I couldn't resist walking the two miles out to the vista point and back.
After my walk, I followed Forest Road 216 down to the river and began winding along it. This is trout territory and I should come back and fish here.
When I came to the first campsite I stopped to check it out and made lunch. I then spent the rest of the afternoon following the Williams River, nearly to its source, then turned up the mountain on FR101. I followed it to Bishop Rock campground. I saw only one campsite in use in this fairly large campground and liked what I saw. I was tired of driving for the day so even though it was only 1600 I stopped for the night.
I walked a tiny bit of the Bishop Peak Trail, gathered firewood (for a fire I never built), and started logging the video clips and stills from card 1 from our Africa trip. That latter took all evening. Then I read a few pages of 'The Paperboy' by Pete Dexter before going to sleep. I picked that one up in Florida last winter at a rural library just outside the Ocala National Forest. It has been biding its time waiting for me to get to it. It's definitely different-- in a good way....

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Saturday, 8 October -

I set my alarm for 0600 this morning but that was too early-- the sun wasn't even close to being up. I arose just before 0700 and drove Mocha Joe to Bear Rocks for the sunrise. The parking area was almost full and there was a lineup of photographers at the sunrise vista. I took a few shots with my little point-and-shoot among the pro-ams with their tripods and yard-long lenses. There was a beautiful white fog in the valley and it changed moment by moment as the sun rose.
After the sun was well up I returned to the van and had breakfast while looking out over the Bear Rocks Trail.
I then drove down FR75, stopping at several vantage points. I've not seen any animals up there and today was no exception. But the colors are worth it anyway.
I then started down the mountain toward Davis and noticed the Forest Road 70 gate was open, apparently because of hunting season.
I drove the three miles of narrow dirt road, hoping I'd not meet oncoming traffic on such a narrow road. I met one guy on the way in but we happened to meet at a wide spot so that was no problem. On the way out I met a large oncoming pickup and we both edged off as far as we could and just barely got by each other.
Back at the main road I talked with a guy driving a pickup with a dog box and he said he was hunting bears. Bowhunting season is also in – for deer.
I drove on to Canaan Valley State Park and stopped in at the Nature Center. The clerk said they had had two inches of snow last week (but it's 70 degrees now!).
The main restaurant in the valley, Big John's, now has Piccolo Paula's Coffee Shop on the side. I had an excellent-plus buttermilk biscuit with sausage gravy (I can't have those at home) and a fresh orange juice for my brunch.
I then drove on through Davis to Thomas and the Mountain-Made Craft Shop. I've stopped here several times in the past and have always been impressed, particularly by the photography.
I drove on to Parsons and tried to hurry on to Elkins to beat the parade. The clerk at Canaan Valley had told me this weekend was 'Forest Days' weekend and the parade started at 1300. and that would surely make a mess of traffic. I managed to arrive in Elkins precisely at 1300 and, yes, traffic was a mess. I was detoured around the parade in about 20 minutes so it wasn't really that bad. Judging by the number of people I saw and the fact that every nook and cranny where a car could be parked was filled, I'd say Forest Days is popular.
I continued down 219 toward Marlinton and turned off on the Highland Scenic Highway-- Route 150-- at 1530 or so.
The scenic highway lived up to its name. The trees are just perfect and with the sun lower in the sky they were lit wonderfully. I stopped at each viewpoint and just soaked in the beauty. Now THIS is why I come to West Virginia in early October.
I drove on to the Cranberry Visitor's Center but just missed it closing by a few minutes. I had seen there were two free campgrounds on the map and wanted to ask about them but couldn't. I drove to the area of the first but couldn't find it but then did find one at Third Bridge. I had my choice of three road-side campsites backing on a creek. I passed the entrance and had to turn around and as I made my turn I saw a black bear scurry across the road.
I made a supper of chicken ala king and sat out in my chair for an hour or so. As I sat there a guy came along in an old Toyota pickup and pulled in to talk. He said his family sometimes comes here to camp and then proceeded to tell me story after story about his childhood, his medical ailments, and, his love for his Toyota pickup! Actually he was a nice guy. It turns out his father recently passed away and he's a bit lost. He was just out driving around today to forget his troubles and happened upon me. I think we both got some good out of our conversation.
I then got on the laptop and caught up the offline blog and read maps and a bit of Michener's 'The Covenant' (South Africa!).

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Friday, 7 October -

This morning I cleared out the van for my little trip to West Virginia this weekend. I had to get the stuff out of the van and back to the back (west) portion of the basement. I then painted the east basement floor, finishing up around noon.
I loaded up Mocha Joe and got on the road by 1330. I drove to Chambersburg and then down I-81 to I-70 and I-68 to Cumberland, MD. Then I followed US 220 through to Keyser, WV. I finished my provisioning at the Keyser Wal-mart and then drove on to Scherr, Jordan Run, and up the dirt road to the north entrance of the Dolly Sods Wilderness.
I checked the freebie campsites at the bottom of the mountain but most of them had someone in them so I thought I'd run up to Red Creek Campground on Forest Road 75. As I topped out at Bear Rocks there were so many cars there that I thought I may as well turn around and take one of the less-than-terrific sites I had passed at the bottom. But by then I was close enough to Red Creek to want to see it anyway.
Imagine my surprise when I found campsite 1 available. For my money this is the best campsite at Red Creek. I couldn't figure out why it wouldn't have been taken and then noticed a no-tenting sign on the grass. Most of the other campers were tenters, leaving the primo site to me. Perfect!
I made a spinach salad and sat out on the full-moon evening until 2100 or so, then retired to read.

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Thursday, 6 October -


This morning I caught up the blog and brought the online version up to the end of September.
I then mowed the grass and cleaned out the rain gutters on the house. I'm amazed how a small handful of pine needles will completely jam up my the gutter on the back of the house. I also washed down the gutters to get rid of the accumulated grit, leaves, and some type of black scummy growth.
While I was working outside Labashi cleaned and scraped the floor on the east side of the basement so I can finish painting it. That evening I painted the block portion of the walls. I wanted to get it done this evening because I paint an inch or so of the floor at the wall-floor joint when I do this and I want that paint to dry overnight.

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Wednesday, 5 October -

We took our malaria pills this morning-- one more to go after this one. We had breakfast at McDonald's and went back to work on House 2. We touched up walls and ceiling and painted the back door. We applied the end-cap to the kitchen counter by carefully trimming the supplied piece to fit and then ironing it on to activate the heat-sensitive glue on the back of it. I mowed the grass and trimmed along the house and brushed down the lower siding to remove dirt splashed up on it and grass trimmings.
We finished up by 1600 and drove home. That evening we watched a very good National Geographic special called 'Eye of the Leopard'. A husband-and-wife team had filmed a young leopard in Botswana's Okavango Delta and had produced incredible footage.

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Tuesday, 4 October -

This morning we loaded up two metal cabinets I'm giving to Maypo onto his trailer and headed for Mechanicsburg and Chambersburg. We had to go to the former to buy heating registers for House 2.
We had an early lunch at the Shippensburg Wendy's and made it to Chambersburg by 1130 or so.
We spent the day installing the nine registers, working on the now-stuck back door (it keeps growing!), setting up the dehumdifier, installing the kitchen stove outlet, and beginning to clean the siding and windows.
We had supper with Maypo et family and spent the evening watching “Dead Poet's Society”
on tv.

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Monday, 3 October -

With the floor now painted in the west half of the basement, we spent this morning emptying and moving the storage cabinets out of the east side. These are plastic storage cabinets which withstood the flooding but we have to get them out to clean under them. In retrospect, we should have selected a solution which didn't trap water underneath.
Labashi had an appointment in the afternoon and I decided I'd get the F650GS out of the barn. That turned out to be a mistake. I didn't have problems getting it out of the barn but the lawn at the northwest side of our house was so soft that I created a deep tire track through it. Everything was fine at first but as I approached a low spot, the rear tire started spinning and cutting into the lawn. I was barely making headway but couldn't stop. I knew if I stopped I'd be stuck. The ground was too wet to support the bike on its kickstand so the only solution would be to keep going or lay the bike down, creating another mess.
Once I got onto higher ground the spinning stopped and I was able to get to the driveway without any damage to the front lawn. Once there I had to hose down the back tire and fender, now encased in gooky-glop. There was even some on the seat (because the spinning tire had thrown it).
After washing down the bike I dug out my riding gear and rode down to York. I visited a bit with my Starbucks buddies and went over to Best Buy to see what I could learn about GSM phones.
I explained to the Best-Buy phones person that I had been in South Africa and Botswana and bought a GSM phone and the SIM cards for each very cheaply. Did the US have a similar solution? It turns out there is--- it's called H2O. This is a SIM card for any GSM phone which provides prepaid service on the AT&T network. The card is $10, then you buy minutes and the per-minute rate is around 14 cents per minute.
Back home I read through the supporting documentation and learned the card may not work in the phone I bought in South Africa. I'll have to research more.

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Sunday, 2 October -

I painted the floor in the west half of the basement today. Labashi did a terrific job of scraping and cleaning the floor so I had a very easy time of it. The scraping was necessary to remove the paint blisters caused by the floor paint sitting in water for so long. Most of the paint is okay but part of the basement had had a red undercoat of old paint and that's the area with the blistering. The Drylok Concrete Paint has been wonderful on this floor and because of our experience with it in our own house, we've used it in the basements of the two houses we re-habbed in Chambersburg. But it can only be expected to withstand so much and submersion in water for two weeks is expecting too much! I'm really surprised it's not more extensive. I'd guess that the blisters came up on less than two percent of the floor area which had the red undercoat and nowhere else.
The dehumidifiers have now taken the basement down to about 40 per cent humidity and the wood is well dried out.

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Saturday, 1 October -

The weather turned colder today but at least it's not raining for a change. I mowed our lawn today, much of it very wet but with more rain coming I really needed to get it done.


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