Ocala and a few lost days at Juniper Springs ; Maypo and Orat arrive

(posted from home)
(This post covers 21 – 29 February, 2012)

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Wednesday, 29 February -

This morning as I walked back from the bathroom a woman at a nearby campsite stopped me and asked if I'd like a dozen eggs. It seemed an odd request but she and her husband had been shopping yesterday and had bought white eggs rather than the brown eggs they like (!!). Now all we need is some bacon!
I'm still feeling quite weak today so decided I'd not go canoeing with the guys. I took them down to the rental shop and helped launch them. I then drove in to Silver Springs and bought some pre-cooked bacon and got ice and fresh salad fixin's.
The trip was supposed to take three to five hours so I began looking for them about 1330 at the take-out. As it turned out I missed them by twenty minutes and I went on to Salt Springs since the pickup shuttle only ran hourly. That turned out to be a mistake; the shuttle was running late and took them back to the rental shop while I was in Salt Springs.
When they didn't show at the next pickup time I returned to the rental shop and found them patiently waiting. The trip had been a fairly strenuous one and they were happy to just have some time to recover.
That evening we drove down to Old Crow Bar-Be-Que for some good eats.

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Tuesday, 28 February -

This morning I drove down to Orlando for my brothers' evening arrival. As I passed through Eustis I saw an Advance Auto and checked out their battery selection. I ended up buying an Optima deep-cell battery for $230.
As I neared Orlando I realized I had quite a lot of time so I looked up a local Apple Store at Altamonte Springs. I took the iPad in for another look. It again has developed a habit of unexpectedly rebooting.
I got lucky and only had to wait a few minutes for an appointment with a technician. She determined the hardware was okay but recommended I close out background applications more often to avoid the unexpected reboots. We'll see. Something sounds fishy about an operating system which is so easily confused.
I then drove on to the cell-phone-call lot at Orlando International and awaited a call. I had been using the iPad and FlightTrack to watch my brothers flights in near-realtime and knew when they landed. I also have FlightBoard which shows the overhead flight boards at most airports so I even knew the baggage carousel.
I picked up Orat first and we had about an hour's wait back at the cell-lot until Maypo came in. Pickup couldn't have been easier.
We then drove north, back to Juniper Springs. We arrived about 2300 and only needed about a half hour to finish setup. I had unloaded the ATV and set up sleeping cots this morning so it was only a matter of settling in.

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Monday, 27 February -

Today I was feeling better and began planning for picking up my brothers. I was still very slow but at least seemed to be slowly working my way out of the problem.

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Sunday, 26 February -

This is getting ridiculous. I need to be ready to pick up my brothers in Orlando on Tuesday and I can barely function. I seem to be worse in the mornings and by mid-afternoon feel somewhat better. This afternoon I decided I had to have some comfort food so drove east to a small family restaurant and had a hamburger and fries. That didn't seem to help, though. I couldn't finish them and the tastes didn't seem right.

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Saturday, 25 February -

And another lost day. Again I couldn't stay up at all until noon and then only long enough to drive up for ice and to re-book my spot for the night. When I'm not sleeping, though, I'm buzzing through 'The Covenant'.

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Friday, 24 February -

Another lost day. I slept better overnight but still remained very tired and could only sleep and read through the day.

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Thursday, 23 February -

I had a rough night last night. I became nauseous and had oddly-disturbing dreams and runaway thoughts which woke me time after time. I've somehow contracted a 'bug'.
I felt very, very sleepy and after dawn slept almost straight through to noon. I dragged myself out of bed to drive up to the check-in station to book another night but then returned immediately to bed for the rest of the day.

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Wednesday, 22 February -

This morning I took a few minutes to shop for supplies at Walmart and returned my rental DVD to the Redbox, then headed out battery shopping.
I need a battery to run my clay target thrower. I checked at a battery specialty store, at Pep Boys, and at Northern Tool but didn't see anything which seemed like a good answer. I don't need that much of a battery for the thrower but it occurred to me that we also need to replace the deep-cycle battery for our fishing boat's trolling motor, so I might as well do that. But good ones are awfully expensive.
On the other hand, I saw a fishing trip more or less ruined because of the old trolling battery failing at an inopportune time so I don't want that to happen again. The battery was a cheapie and I had tried to keep it topped up but didn't use a float charger. I'd think of charging it every few months and thought I was doing pretty well at it.
But last summer we hosted a family reunion at Pinchot Park and I brought the fishing boat for the more avid fishermen to take the kids out. I had topped off the battery but once on the water it lasted only twenty minutes.... and this on a lake that does not allow outboards. Fortunately it lasted just long enough for the fishermen and kids to make it to the other side of the lake at another launch ramp. The adults took the kids bank-fishing the rest of the day and they didn't seem to mind but I was very unhappy with the battery's quick demise and the fact that I couldn't tell it was near the end of its useful life. But as of this morning I wasn't quite ready to spend $200+ on a high-quality battery.
As I drove east on US40 I hit a few of the familiar stops--- The Ocala Boat Club launch ramp on the Oklawaha River (near where I had seen monkeys a few years ago), the Public Lands Information Center, the Ocala National Forest office, and the shooting range.
As the afternoon wore on I thought I'd take an abbreviated ride on the Centennial ATV Trail and then find a home for the night. I found the trailhead but the parking area was actively under construction so I followed a posted sign to a temporary trailhead a mile or so away.
As I unloaded the ATV I noticed the sky was darkening but I had seen this before--- clouds threaten and we'd get a very light sprinkle and then the sky would clear up. And since I was only riding for an hour, I should be fine.
My ride went well for the first half hour but as I turned for home the rain started. It did indeed start slow but continued to build. I stopped and put on my rain jacket but by the time I got back to the van my pants and riding gloves and sneakers were soaked. I didn't think much of it and quickly dried off and changed clothes.
I then drove to the nearby Juniper Springs State Park campground for the night. Rain was steady now but I felt snug in the van for the night.

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Tuesday, 21 February -

This morning I decided to give the ATV riding a break and drive into Ocala. On the way out of the campground I saw Ted at the water pump so stopped to catch up on the news on his truck. He had had it towed and fixed yesterday. The problem with leaking fuel came from a squirrel chewing through the hoses going into the tank-mounted fuel pump. I had seen a squirrel under the truck yesterday so that was probably the one. Ted says he's going to pick up a sling shot on his next trip to Wal-mart. The repair only cost $65 and the tow was covered by his auto-club subscription so he got of lucky. One thing I learned from this, though, is the go-to guy for mechanical problems is Larry's Garage in Fort McCoy.
I set the GPS for the Honda powersports dealer in Ocala and was there within the hour. I bought an oil filter and o-ring, a gallon of oil, and a largish bottle of S100 motorcycle cleaner.
I then drove on into the South College Street area of Ocala I've frequented a good bit. I had a burger at the Five Guys, bought mosquito nets at the Sports Authority, hit the federal credit union for its ATM, and drove to the Starbucks west of 75. There I caught up email, posted the blog update, and had a Skype video chat with Labashi.
Afterwards I drove north an exit to Northern Tool Supply and Gander Mountain (both on the same lot). I went through my tool bag and found I had left a few small items at home so replaced those. I looked for a good battery setup for the clay-bird thrower but didn't settle on anything yet. I then went next door to the Gander Mountain and bought a case of clay targets and a few boxes of shotgun shells.
By that time it was nearly dark so I elected to try the nearby Wal-mart. I've stayed at this one before so thought it worth a try. I was surprised to find the end lot empty. Usually there's an RV or two there and sometimes an 18-wheeler. I checked with security and learned it's still okay to stay overnight so long as the lot is cleared by 0800. This is the only Wal-mart I know of with an 0800 rule but I'm not about to complain.
After chatting with the security patrol lady I rented a movie from the Redbox.... 'The Ides of March' with Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Marisa Tomei, and Evan Rachel Wood. I'm not a big fan of political stories but this one was very well done.


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Good ol' Florida.... this time with an ATV

(posted from Starbucks Coffee, Ocala, FL)
(This post covers 12 – 20 February, 2012)

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Monday, 20 February -

President's Day.
Weather looked better this morning. Yesterday's winds brought in a colder night-- in the high 40's--- but the sun this morning felt very good and the lower humidity was nice. I initially thought I'd need to wear my electric-heat jacket liner on this morning's ride but decided things were warming quickly enough that I'd not need it.
This morning's goal was the Route 316 trailhead where I had begun last year's ride on the ATV tour that started this whole ATV thing. Last year I had booked a tour with ATV Adventure Tours and had done a two and a half-hour tour that included a lunch stop here at Delancey ATV campground.
I've gotten used to the map now and can reliably find my way around. I do notice there are some misses with the map but basically you can be assured you'll eventually find your way back if you follow the trail colors. There are posts at most intersections which show the type of trail (motorcycle, jeep, ATV, UTV, or licensed vehicle), and white trail-direction arrows on a color background. The Longleaf Trail, for instance, is yellow, the Pipeline Trail brown, etc. It is of course possible to turn the wrong direction but if you can read the map at all, you'll realize the mistake.
I've been stopping at many intersections and marking the positions on the GPS but that's probably overkill.
After a quick break at the 316 trailhead, I took the 88 Connector just inside the gate. This trail isn't on the map but it's an out-and-back trail to The 88 Store and Pub. I parked in their 'corral' (which prevents ATVs from getting to the hard road but also prevents them from getting to the gas pumps at the store). I had a beer for lunch and rested my throttle thumb.
After lunch I took the connector back to the trailhead, then took the Pipeline Trail west and made a very large loop back to the yellow trail. I noticed the western portion of the Pipeline Trail was in wonderful condition and thought it must be used very little. Eventually I came upon the reason why--- a trail maintenance crew. This was a husband-wife team of older volunteers (in their sixties, i'd say) on two ATVs. The front one was pulling a trail-width rake which was knocking down the washboard bumps and pulling all manner of branches and roots from the trail. The other ATV pulled a drag made up of four or five truck tires-- a trail-smoother. When the couple noticed me behind they pulled off in a wide spot and we chatted a bit. They live at the OHV Operations Center nearby on FR11.
I wound my way back to the campsite and checked the GPS track. I had ridden 32 miles today. And I was completely spent. I parked the ATV and got into the van and took an hour's nap.
After my nap I drove over to the 88 Store for ice (they have hard-frozen 10-pound bags that seem to last extra-long), then drove on to Salt Springs. The plaza there was uncharacteristically empty but Salty's Country Store was open so I knew I could get a burger and use their wi-fi. I had supper while responding to an email from Labashi.
Afterwards I drove back to camp and caught up the blog and my ATV log book then turned my attention to 'The Covenant'.

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Sunday, 19 February -

I didn't feel very well today and weather didn't seem to be co-operating. I walked over to the Delancey East campground to talk to a fellow I met yesterday-- Ted. He has a problem with his pickup and was making arrangements to have it towed to a garage. I thought I'd check if he needs anything from town or needs a ride. It turns out his truck won't be towed until tomorrow and he and his wife need nothing. As I chatted with Ted (DuBois) and his wife Jo, it started raining lightly. I ended up spending the whole morning there talking away while we had alternating periods of light rain and sun.
After lunch I drove over to Davenport Landing for a walk around. Ted had told me there's an Indian mound there with kiosks documenting the site and life in the early 1800's along the Oklawaha River. After checking out the site, I drove on to Fort McCoy to hopefully buy a book or two at the library's annual book sale. But I had mis-read the flyer and it wasn't open today. On the way back I hit the 88 Store to see what was up with their grand-opening party (it had recently changed hands) but didn't stay--- I'd rather be ridin'.
Late in the day I rode the ATV north on Longleaf loop to the cutoff below Rodman Dam trailhead then down past the Delancey Loops. I spent the evening with Ted and Jo, looking at my Botswana pictures on the iPad.

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Saturday, 18 February -

Last night's temperature was wonderful for sleeping-- mid-Sixties. I woke 0730-ish and wondered how long it would be until I heard the first ATV start up. That happened 15 minutes later.
I had a leisurely start to the day and fired up my ATV around 0900. This time I rode north on the Longleaf Trail to its multiple intersections with the Delancey Loops. These turned out to be very narrow trails with many very tight turns. All the blind turns made me keep down my speed and I was happy for that when I encountered three guys buzzing all-out on their sport ATVs. I was able to get off to the side both times (once with them coming up behind, the other head-on). I also realized I have pretty good stopping power as do the other guys. I also encountered two motorcycles. Those guys must be crazy. I can't imagine riding a motorcycle in sand that deep. After they passed I watched for their tracks and could see they spend a lot of time with the rear-end rooster-tailing.
I rode to the Route 19 trailhead and then back to the van, a trip of about an hour and a half. I had failed to fill my spare gas tank so decided I'd not only take a break from riding but would also drop the trailer and drive Mocha Joe over to the 88 Store. The campground host had told me the store has free wi-fi so I had a beer and sat on the porch using the wi-fi connection to have a Skype-video call with Labashi. I had planned to call her daily since we have contractor proposals coming in soon but I could not get a signal with either the cell phone (Cingular/AT&T) or iPad (Verizon). I therefore sent a SPOT OK signal last night.
After Labashi and I wrapped up and I got my gas and ice, I drove on over to Salt Springs. I was looking for some type of small log book for the ATV and found a small notebook at the grocery store.
I also stopped at the National Forest Visitor's Center and found more detailed maps of the roads and trails in their 'Multiple Use Vehicle Map Book'. It's not easy to read but does have the forest trail numbers and that should help.
Back at the campground I rolled Uru (the ATV) off the trailer and took off in a southerly direction this time. I rode for about an hour to the Salt Springs Connector and then the five miles to Salt Springs. I had just been there at lunch time so I merely marked the location on the GPS and turned back.
I rode from 1500 to 1700, then made supper. As I finished supper I decided I should take an evening drive up to Davenport Landing, a dispersed camping site I had found last year. It had been deserted last year and I spent a pleasant hour watching the creek and I saw several otters. But tonight there were five or six campsites in use and one extended family had a massive campsite. I wasn't going to see otters this evening! I did walk down to the creek but some fisherman had set up there and had his radio playing loud (playing 'Macho Man' of all things). I'll check back later in the week.
I drove across FR77 and then down 11 to the 88 Store. I had another beer and surfed the web, again from the front porch. I had met two Forest Service interns at the campground today and they were both there searching the web for job opportunities with the park service and forest service.
Around 2000 I drove back to camp and blogged a bit, then read. I'm back into Michener's 'The Covenant' after finishing up 'The Girl Who Played With Fire' and 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo'.

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Friday, 17 February -

This morning I woke to a light rain at the Palatka Wal-mart. I did a bit of shopping, then drove south down US19. I took a brief tour of the Rodman Dam campground (my nearest showers for the next couple of days) and checked out the ATV trailhead nearby. With rain threatening I decided it best to move on-- I'll do this later in the week when I come back for a shower.
I drove to Salt Springs and talked at some length with the volunteer at the National Forest Visitor's Center about my ATV plans. At first he said I'd need a 'title sticker' but once we reviewed the rules in detail, that turned out not to be the case-- those are for Florida residents only. Since I already had my vehicle registered in PA, I was okay and would just need a day pass for riding.
I had lunch at the little pizza shop in the strip mall and used their wi-fi to catch up on the news as I ate.
I then drove back north and west to Lake Delancey ATV campground. I talked with several guys for the short version of how it works. There are 13 campsites but in these sites you can't unload your ATV at those sites. You have to unload at a common area, then drive your ATV to a 'corral' area-- small, railed-off parking spots behind each campsite. But it's also possible to simply camp in what must at one time have been a day-use area. There you don't have campsite numbers but you can have your ATV right there and can run it in and out of the trailer as you wish. I chose the latter.
As I was figuring this out I met a guy from Jacksonville. He came in in a long toy-hauler-style trailer. The front is living quarters and the rear a garage for ATVs. Nice setup!
We spoke for a half-hour or so. He runs up to West Virginia (a nine-to-ten hour run) two or three times each year to ride the Hatfield-McCoy trails. He suggested I check out atvresort.com for a good place to stay that's near three trail systems. He's a good-ole-boy and a very pleasant fella. He's driving a Polaris UTV and says he loves the design but has had lots of trouble with his unit-- it's a maintenance nightmare and has had over $5000-worth of warranty work.
We were supposed to have a rain shower this afternoon but it seemed to have passed south of us so I went ahead with preparations on the ATV. I installed my GPS mount and the set my old reliable 60CSx GPS. I checked though all the permits and registrations paperwork to be sure I had everything along and made sure I had the SPOT satellite messenger, just in case.
I loaded up and took a short ride-- perhaps half an hour. I quickly learned that the maps for the trails are poor-- far too general. There are WAY too many decision-points not shown on the map. I'll have to be a bit careful and will probably have to use the GPS's track-back function.
As I took a break back at the van I noticed another camper had come in and parked nearby. This guy had a very familiar-looking truck camper. This one looked very much like a Four Wheel truck camper but it's built by a different California company-- All-Terrain Campers. I walked over and introduced myself and spent the next hour getting a detailed tour of the camper and its very happy owner. He had bought an empty shell and had built in most of the furnishings and had asked the factory to make a few small changes for him. Now this was a MUCH better layout to my way of thinking. The owner's choices were perfect. He had put a bed across the camper at the front, had built a lower-than normal seat (so he could sit comfortably with the roof in its down position) and had built in a shelf for a standard el-cheapo air conditioner (he does live in Florida, after all). This one is based on All-Terrain's 'Ocelot' model and that should also work on the Tacoma I have my eye on (this guy had his on a Chevy half-ton Silverado and was very happy with that choice).
I then took a longer ATV ride and once again found I could have used a better map. But I looped back toward the trail I had been on earlier and did recognize it when I ran onto it. That was a good thing. Darkness was only a half-hour away and I was happy to be on a familiar trail in that circumstance.
I made supper and then took a walk over to the Lake Delancey West (the non-ATV) campground. It's practically deserted over there but that made for a nice evening walk. Cost there is $10 this year and $6 in the ATV campground I'm in (but you need a $10 permit for up to 3 days of riding).
After supper I sat in my camp chair and enjoyed the evening with a glass of wine. The temperature this evening is 72 and it's very, very pleasant even if it is cloudy.
Around 2000 I hopped in Mocha Joe's front seat and caught up the blog, then returned to the back for the night. This was a GOOD day.

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Thursday, 16 February -

This morning I drove on to High Point and Xtreme Campers. I was given a tour of the Eagle and Hawk models of the Four Wheel truck campers by the owner of the dealership. This turned out to be an excellent idea. I've been considering one of these campers and wanted some hands-on time with one. They're built in California and there's only one dealer on the East Coast so this was it.
I'm very glad I visited. I learned the small door is no big deal at all. Because you are entering from behind-and-below, it's a natural movement to duck inside and stand up. If the unit were sitting on a tailgate, though, that would be a different matter.
I was surprised to find the roll-over seat/couch is impractical. This seems like a good idea. It has a regular bench seat but the back is on a bracket that can be rolled over to form a bed. Unfortunately, it takes up so much room that you can't roll it over while you are inside the camper. You have to step outside. And once it rolls over, it blocks most of the door and you have to crawl through a small opening to get back into the camper. And when the two portions line up, there's a 3/8-inch difference in height--- for your mattress. It's a terrible design for any regular use. It's okay as a backup, I suppose, because we would normally use the queen-size upper bunk. But I wanted to have a way to stay in the camper without raising the roof and this wouldn't really work. I also wasn't fond of the slide-out bed extension up top. It does make up to a massive bed but it takes up too much room in the already-smallish camper.
After my hour-long visit at Xtreme Campers I got back on the road for Florida. I reached the Florida border after supper and took advantage of the visitor center wi-fi connection to call Labashi. We spoke for 45 minutes or so, catching up on email and calls from the contractors.
I drove on to Palatka, arriving at the Wal-mart at 2030. I walked over to the nearby Chili's and had a maragarita and guacamole and salsa dip to celebrate. This Chili's now has a 'max-o-rita' option that allowed me to add a shot of tequila to my drink for $2.50. Now THAT's a margarita. Excellent!
Back in the van I read a bit and then fell heavily asleep.

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Wednesday, 15 February -

I left for Florida this morning after a last-minute packing rush. Perhaps I should have taken a bit more time because I left without the longer barrel for my shotgun (it's a 'convertible' model with a self-defense 18” barrel and a field barrel of 28”). I'm planning on shooting clay birds from my new auto trap so turned back for it. I had left at 1000 and had gotten to US 30 when I realized my mistake. By the time I returned for the other barrel it was 1100 until I left again.
I drove down I-83 to Baltimore and around the Washington Beltway to join I-95 for Richmond. By supper time I turned onto I-85 and drove southwest toward my objective, High Point, North Carolina. I had made an appointment to look at a Four Wheel truck camper for tomorrow at 0900 and realized I didn't have to drive the whole way to High Point tonight. I first followed the GPS to the Walmart at Durham but that one turned out to be closed. I moved on to Hillsborough, where I found a very pleasant little Wal-mart with a gigantic and very quiet parking lot.... perfect.
I shopped for groceries and rented a movie from the Redbox. This one was 'Cowboys and Aliens', a very forgettable movie starring Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford. Ouch.
After the movie I fell into a deep sleep and barely even heard the 0300 parking lot sweeper.

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Tuesday, 14 February -

This morning I made a quick run to Walmart for more locks for my trip. It's amazing how many locks I need. I've decided to take along several guns to exercise at the shooting range and that means even more locks since I have to store and lock guns and ammunition separately to comply with federal regulations in transporting them.
I also picked up a dozen roses for Labashi for Valentine's Day.
Back home I hooked the cargo trailer up to Mocha Joe and finished packing the various footlockers with ATV and camping gear.
Late in the afternoon I drove to Chambersburg to pick up Maypo's gear. He'll be flying down to Orlando to join me and will need camping gear and a helmet. Better I take those things along in the trailer than he attempt to fly with them.
I made it back home in time to watch 'Top Shot' with Labashi. She likes it a lot more than I would have expected.

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Monday, 13 February -

Today our main goal was to host two contracting teams who will be bidding on work in our basement. Labashi wants to add a basement bathroom for guests and that somehow turned into adding central air, resolving our basement flooding problem, and adding a water softener and UV light.
Our day was spent with the contracting teams but I spent in-between times starting to load up Mocha Joe for the Florida trip.
That evening we went out to dinner at Hillside. It has been a long time since we've been there.
Afterwards we watched a French film-- 'Army of Shadows', a devastating portrait of the French Resistance. This one pulls no punches and is amazingly frank about the reality of the risks the Resistance took, often without reward.

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Sunday, 12 February -

This morning I wanted to run down to the new Starbucks on US30 but couldn't quite get away. First, I got up late--- eightish--- then did a few chores around home waiting for the day to warm up a bit. I caught up the blog and posted it.
Around noon was tempted to get away but decided to put it off. Before I knew it time had come to go visit Mom and Dad. We picked up baby-back ribs from Texas Roadhouse on the way to their apartment and had a feast with them. I had a few chores to attend to on Dad's PC, mostly clearing up a problem with Comcast software which didn't fully delete.
That evening we returned home to finish 'Justified'- Season Two.

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ATV initial ride ; prep for Florida trip ; starting to talk to contractors for basement-bath project ; iPad problem

(posted from home)

(This post covers 1 – 11, February, 2012)

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Saturday, 11 February -

Today I checked the local Gander Mountain store and found they didn't have the clay-bird launcher I'm looking for in stock-- I guess the sale cleared them out. I found the Harrisburg store had one left and Labashi needed a break today so we drove up to take a look. It didn't take long to confirm that this one was really the only choice and it's a rugged unit. I'm looking forward to this! I've got a lot of learnin' to do!
I also took a look through the ATV-accessories section and found just the thing. I hadn't considered a handle-bar bag but this was perfect.... a simple bag to hold maps, goggles, gloves, dust mask, permits, my SPOT, cell phone, etc--- and all for $10. I've been looking at ridiculously-expensive rack bags but haven't seen anything that seems right. I will probably come upon the right waterproof rack-bag eventually but this will be perfect for now and will remain useful later.
Late in the afternoon I watched an interesting documentary called 'The Parking Lot Movie' on Netflix. It's about employees of a parking lot in Charlottesville, VA. It's surprisingly interesting to hear the employees talking about--- well ---- life as a parking-lot attendant.
That evening we watched a documentary explaining the Boer Wars in South Africa. Good one!

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Friday, 10 February -

Last evening as I was using the iPad it rebooted unexpectedly. I've had four or five of these since the new year began and two in the last two days. I researched it a bit on the web and decided it's time to take the iPad in for warranty service. Late last night I used the Apple web site to schedule an appointment with a tech at the Apple Store in Lancaster.
I had scheduled the appointment for this afternoon since we had another contractor coming this morning. This one turned out to be the best we've met so far. We could both sense that he 'got it' as we spoke. He has a similar sense of what we're looking for in our basement bathroom and a good solution for preventing a recurrence of our flooded basement should another Lee-like tropical storm happen.
On the way over to the Apple Store I dropped off the water-test samples and paid the $100 analysis fee. I could have gotten water-softener-specific tests free from a water softener company but I wouldn't be able to trust the results and it wouldn't include the bacteria tests-- the most important ones.
My Apple tech this afternoon was Jill, a very bright young woman with what looked like fish hook wires in her lower lip. I enjoyed our interaction as she ran diagnostics on the iPad and then restored its operating system and firmware. Somehow the operating system had gotten corrupted, perhaps from a static-electricity hit or perhaps from my connecting it to various HDTVs to show our Africa photos or perhaps from the Bluetooth keyboard / Evernote combination that seems to act a bit oddly and was in use on the first unexpected reboot.
Late in the day I again looked up the info I had saved from earlier research on an automatic clay-bird thrower for trap shooting. I've been thinking of taking one along to Florida. There's a perfect place for one at the shooting range in Ocala National Forest. With the Florida trip coming up shortly I needed to make a decision one way or the other today if I was going to have time to get one. I was considering driving up to Cabela's today for one. But when I found Gander Mountain has a 25%-off deal on them for the next few days, that made the decision for me.

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Thursday, 9 February -

We had a bit more snow overnight but by mid-morning I noticed the roads were clear. Apparently the warmer-than-normal weather we've had this year has meant the roads retain heat more and therefore clear snow more quickly. After a few days stuck in the house I was ready to get out. I took the Concours to York to pick up a water test kit at Associated Laboratories. We've decided to do another water test before we spend money on a water softener and possibly a UV light.
After picking up the kit I rode on to Starbucks for a cappuccino then home. I'd like to have walked but the trails would be too sloppy so I rode on home. There I worked on the cargo trailer and ATV. I replaced the bad battery harness (the connection for my electric jacket liner) I had installed a few days ago. I also came up with a solution for the tie-downs at the rear of the trailer. I had installed removable tie-downs but I had installed them directly behind the rear tires. If I installed them further toward the sides of the trailer I'd have to step awkwardly past tie-down straps when entering and exiting the trailer. And if I installed them inside the tire line they wouldn't be as effective at preventing the ATV from rolling sideways or forward. The position is the best compromise but the eyebolts stick up too high to simply roll over them without risk to the tires. Unscrewing them and replacing them each time I unload/reload isn't a big deal but shouldn't be necessary.
I cut two 12” lengths of 2x4 and cut a large hole in the center of each (using a hole-saw). I can leave them in place over the eyebolts and of course they're easily removed if I need to have a flat floor for other cargo. When I tested them with the ATV I barely noticed the bump as I unloaded and reloaded it.
That evening I researched the web for the 'right' GPS mount for the ATV and ordered it and some wiring accessories (Battery Tender harness, power outlet, etc) as well as a specialized battery float-charger (a CanBus-compatible one) for the F650GS.

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Wednesday, 8 February -

A bit of snow today-- only an inch or so. I woke with a headache but some Excedrin soon took care of it. I'm still under the weather a bit but feeling much better than yesterday.
We had an appointment with a contractor this afternoon. The guy seemed nice enough but we didn't really click. I don't imagine we'll be using him.

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Tuesday, 7 February -

We had contractors in today. I felt awful much of last night and it's even worse today. I have nausea, a bit of fever, and am very tired and can barely stay up. Labashi talked with the contractors for most of their sessions, then I'd come in to ask/answer a few questions at the end and get a feel for the company. At this point I think we're going to have problems coming up with an acceptable contractor. I predict we cut back plans to just having the work roughed in and then finish it ourselves.
After the contractor sessions I went back to bed and slept for a few hours each time. That evening we watched a Boardwalk Empire episode and then I went to bed early. What a miserable day.

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Monday, 6 February -

Today was another nice one, sunny and 50. I thought I might want to take the ATV out today but we have contractors coming to the house tomorrow to look at Labashi's latest projects so we had to talk through a few things.
That afternoon I rode the GS down to Starbucks, then to Rocky Ridge Park for my 5-miler. I finished in 1:43 today, walking part of it in short sleeves.

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Sunday, 5 February -

We drove to Chambersburg today to see our friends Hardy-Har-Har and wife. We spent the afternoon reminiscing and catching up.
On the way home we stopped at Lulu's Grill in the Altland House in Abbottstown for supper. We've passed this way many times but never given this restaurant a try. I was happy to find they had conch chowder, turtle soup, and fish tacos on the menu and tried the latter two.
We made it back home by the second half of the Super Bowl so I turned it on to see what was happening. That happened to coincide with a drive by the Patriots so we ended up watching to the end... something we hardly ever do. This one stayed interesting to the end.

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Saturday, 4 February -

Labashi and I drove to Messiah College today to see the Oakes Museum of Natural History. This nice little museum has some very interesting dioramas and taxidermy. The African savannah animals and North American bears are particularly impressive.
We then went looking for a new place to eat. I had taken a look at Yelp this morning and came up with Cedars Lebanese Restaurant in Camp Hill as one of the possibilities. We decided to drive by and check it out. We ended up having one of the five-mezza deals. 'Mezzas' are appetizers, sort of like having tapas. Ours featured things like pickled eggplant, aged cheese with onions and peppers, spiced ground beef, and others. Not bad at all! We'll be happy to go back and try other dishes.
That evening we watched 'Justified'-Season Two episodes.

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Friday, 3 February -

This morning I installed the bed-bolt tie downs in the cargo trailer. Since we again had nice weather I couldn't stand it to stay home any longer. I loaded up the ATV gear and drove Mocha Joe over to the Michaux State Forest ATV trailhead above Pine Grove Furnace.
At the trailhead I met a guy who lived in the area and was just out for a bit of a walk. He said a ranger had just been through on an ATV and warned me to be sure I had all the paperwork I needed for the ranger. We talked for few minutes about ATVs and traveling. He said he visits a friend in Montana and talked about riding forever-and-ever out there. Sounds good!
When I left the house I had planned to stop at the state forest office for a map of the ATV trails but as I drove it seemed that would take me well out of the way and put me late in the day by the time I reached the trails. I decided I'd go ahead without the maps and would carry along the GPS if I needed any assistance finding my way back out.
I spent the next hour and a half riding the ATV, exploring trails. The guy I had spoken with had given me some directions but those turned out to be wrong. But I didn't really have any problems getting lost.
The main trails were more jeep roads or logging roads with a lot of whoop-de-dos, puddles, and rocks. When I found myself atop a ridge at a good resting point, I stopped a walked about a bit and then ventured back a secondary 'trail'. The trail was very narrow-- barely wide enough for the Rancher-- and was more a series of marks on trees than a trail on the ground... at least with so many leaves down.
I was pleasantly surprised how well the Rancher handled the roughness of the trail, easily bounding over (small) downed trees and football-sized rocks and dealing with puddles. I did get myself into a couple of precarious-feeling situations. When side-hilling I had to be careful to counter-balance and felt vulnerable when I came to downhill-tilted dips. I felt I should have brought along the satellite-messenger. And when I came to a steep, rough off-camber downhill section, I backed out and turned back.
I was pleasantly surprised how well the two-wheel drive did. For the most part, that's all I needed. With four-wheel drive engaged I had more noise and more steering effort so I expect to use it sparingly. All in all, though, I was quite pleased for a first time out.

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Thursday, 2 February -

I made a grocery-shopping run this morning. Later in the day I rode the GS down to Rocky Ridge and walked the five-mile end-to-end circuit.
We're still having unseasonably-mild weather with highs in the Sixties. It's certainly odd to be walking in short sleeves in February..... but nice!
Late in the day we learned the prospective buyers had rescinded their offer on House 2. Our agent didn't know the reason but thought they had had second thoughts on the whole idea of buying a house as they saw reconsidered the financial commitment. He said they had been talking of another offer but he later received a phone call saying they had decided to pull out entirely.

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Wednesday, 1 February -

I spent much of today considering an offer that came in on House 2 and preparing a counter after speaking with my brothers.
I also took time out to install a Gerbing battery harness on the ATV. However, it turns out the harness is bad and will have to be replaced. I contacted Gerbing and talked it through with tech support and they've put one in the mail. This particular installation was a bit of a pain because the screws in the battery post aren't quite long enough to accommodate additional thickness of the harness connectors and I had to wedge the nuts in place to get them to connect. I'll have to go through that again on the new harness.


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