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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