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Saturday, 5 April -
Day 8 of my ordeal with this latest sinus infection. I’m learning that it should run its course in 10 days if its viral in nature but can last for three weeks or more if bacterial. I’m guessing mine started with a cold and then became a bacterial infection and will need antibiotics.
As part of my day I watched two episodes of ‘The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’ extended trilogy.
That evening we watched ‘Gravity’ and an ‘Emily Owen’s MD’ episode. I was very disappointed in ‘Gravity’. The effects were cool but it didn’t seem realistic at all and was in fact downright stupid. Are there no good movies any more?
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Friday, 4 April -
I slept in late trying to catch up for being awake almost all night. At mid-morning I drove up to the family med center to have blood taken for a blood test prescribed during my physical yesterday.
That evening we watched a ‘Shameless UK’ episode and two ‘Emily Owens MD’ eps.
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Thursday, 3 April -
I had a doctor’s appointment today for a routine physical exam. Other than the sinus infection, I’m doing well. After the appointment I picked up a prescription, then spent the rest of the day in my chair, still miserable with my leaky nose and sinus headache.
That evening we watched an ‘Endeavour’ episode and an ‘Emily Owens, MD’ ep.
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Wednesday, 2 April -
Another miserable day. I did start feeling a bit better in the afternoon so jumped on the GS and rode in to Starbucks. I couldn’t resist the nice day. However, I didn’t dress warmly enough and got myself a bit chilled on the ride. I don’t think I was home more than an hour before I noticed I was getting a bit of fever. It measured 99.6-100.1 through the evening and my symptoms have worsened. I guess that ride wasn’t such a good idea.
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Tuesday, 1 April -
Still have my cold/sinus infection and I’m not worth anything. I’m just spending all day in my chair with the laptop or watching TV. I watched ‘The Summit’, a very good documentary about climber deaths on K2 and ‘A Girl and a Gun’, a poor documentary about women and guns. I thought the latter poor because it seemed more intent on shock value than truth-telling.
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Monday, 31 March -
Uff-dah. I was sick again today, still just fatigued and coughing from the post-nasal drip of draining sinuses. It’s nothing serious but is frustrating given it comes when weather is finally decent. We had mid-Sixties temperatures today though it’s still a bit windy.
I napped every few hours most of the day and started feeling stronger late in the day. Hopefully this is almost done.
That evening we watched the pilot episodes of ‘Endeavour’ and ‘Emily Owens, MD’.
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Sunday, 30 March -
Well, looks like I’m down. I had a terrible night. I’m pretty sure I recognize these symptoms. It’s a sinus infection. I feel fatigued and have a persistent and very irritating post-nasal drip.
I tried taking a nap mid-day but that didn’t work. As soon as I lay down the flow starts and I’m soon coughing.
That evening we watched a Mad Men Season 6 episode only to realize we had seen it before. We had watched it on DVD and were fooled by the Netflix announcement that it was now available. It was newly available on streaming but had been out for months on DVD.
We also watched ‘Secret Yellowstone’ from National Geographic.
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Saturday, 29 March -
Hmmm. I’m a bit under the weather today. Nothing major, just lethargic. I think I’ve been over-doing at the gym and I may have gotten chilled yesterday riding the motorcycle. Good thing it’s a rest day from the gym.
That evening we watched ‘Secret Yosemite’, a National Geographic special on Netflix and an Imax nature special, ‘The Greatest Places’.
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Friday, 28 March -
Today I researched a kayak trailer build. I’m thinking of buying a Harbor Freight trailer kit and adding on racks for our old sea kayaks and even older Grumman canoe. I have them stored on some old sawhorses and getting them out and up onto the roof-top rack is a pain. I’m thinking I could put them on a trailer and solve several problems. I could just keep them permanently on the trailer and roll it by hand in and out of the storage area in the woods. When I’m ready to go out, I’d just uncover the trailer and kayaks and roll it out to the van and hook up and be off. I found some interesting designs and realized I need to include a gear box in the design.
At the gym I had another good session of weights, rowing, bike, and strider. This time I used the strider for 10 minutes and then switched over to the elliptical for another 10.
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Thursday, 27 March -
Still more cold weather keeping me inside today. I spent a long time composing an email to a guy I met at Gator Head campground in the Bear Island Backcountry of Big Cypress.
That afternoon we went over to see Mom and Dad and had a light supper with them there at the apartment. On the way home, though, we decided to stop by the What If West for a drink and an appetizer and had a wonderful time.
No gym, no movie today.
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Wednesday, 26 March -
I spent much of the morning online and had a long Skype video chat with Orat. At the gym, I rowed a L10:94 for 15 minutes, 90 rpm on the bike for 15 minutes (10th gear) and 20 minutes of heavy push in the strider. Again, I ended up feeling really good.
That evening we watched ‘Mud’ with Matthew McConaughey. Not bad. I liked the story line up to the point where the kid falls into the snake pit-- then it just seemed contrived.
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Tuesday, 25 March -
It’s still exceptionally cold today. I spent most of it online and then went to the gym. There I rowed for 15 minutes on Level 8/pace 90, 15 minutes on the bike at 80 rpm, and 15 minutes on the strider.
That evening we watched ‘Side Effects’ with Catherine Zeta-Jones. It was kind of slick at first but ultimately disappointing.
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Monday, 24 March -
Another cold day today. While Labashi went to her phycial therapy appointment, I wrote an email to one of the gun-shop guys we met at Backwoods Outfitters. I had promised I’d forward my panther photo and a link to the video clip but I also wanted to provide additional background info.
I then went over to the gym though I wasn’t feeling great. I did my regular weights warmup then 15 minutes of rowing at 80, 15 minutes of spinning at 80 rpm, and 20 minutes on the strider. As I wound up the strider session I felt great!
That evening we watched the Australian movie ‘Mad Bastards’.
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Sunday, 23 March -
This morning we wanted to go out for a breakfast/brunch but I couldn’t find anything interesting in the online listings of restaurants. We had a simple breakfast and a bit later I rode the GS in to Starbucks to work on the blog while sipping my coffee.
Late in the day we decided to go to Bistro 19 for supper. But we had a surprise coming--- they’ve changed their Sunday hours. We had to go to a backup plan and ended up at Chili’s.
That evening we watched the second part of ‘The Great Plains: America’s Lingering Wilderness’ on PBS.
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Saturday, 22 March -
I drove Labashi down to Stouffer’s of Kissel Hill (a garden center) this morning for her appointment with a landscaping specialist. We then drove on to Wrightsville and Weavings, Ink to see the drawings. I bought a comic book and a cartoon-style illustration of the burning of the Wrightsville-Columbia bridge during the Civil War.
I then took her to Backwoods Outfitters for a look around this iconic little gun shop. Unfortunately, most of the guns weren’t there because of the big gun show this weekend in Harrisburg. We still had fun talking to the guys running the shop, though.
After lunch at Isaacs in East York, I took Labashi home and then rode the Thruxton down to Starbucks. I talked a bit with Crystal (the shop manager) but then decided I wasn’t feeling up to a walk in this windy weather and just went on home.
That evening we watched a ‘Justified’ episode and then ‘Great Plains: America’s Lingering Wild’ on PBS on-demand on the Apple TV box.
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Friday, 21 March -
Today I was feeling better and drove the van down to York. I was headed to Wrightsville to check out a bike shop I’ve been meaning to visit. On the way, though, I stopped in at the gun shop in East York to look around. I saw a pistol I’ve been interested in but it turned out to be a previous-generation model.
At Wrightsville I checked out the Jamis and Felt brands of bicycles and chatted with the shop guy. I need to figure out how to evaluate components on mountain bikes.
I then stepped in to the next-door art shop called Weavings, Ink and chatted with Bob Hammer about his drawings.
At Rudy Park I set up the mountain bike and rode in the cold wind. My primary purpose was testing the Thudbuster seat suspension mechanism. I came away impressed and confident I had selected the right combination of elastomers on it. The wind was very cold, though, so I only lasted about five miles.
That evening we watched ‘Shun Li and the Poet’, a nicely-done little movie. It’s about a Chinese girl and an older Yugoslav man, both immigrants to a small fishing village in Italy.
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Thursday, 20 March -
Yep, something’s definitely up. I’ve been taking vitamin C to ward off a cold and that kinda works but stretches out the pre-cold symptoms. Today I was very tired and had to take a nap from lunch time until 1430.
That evening I felt much better and we watched the end of season 2 of ‘House of Cards’ (congratulations, Frank) and a ‘Justified’ ep.
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Wednesday, 19 March -
Today I needed to stop at Walmart for something so had lunch at the next-door pizza shop. I felt okay but soon found I WASN’T okay once I got on the elliptical machine. I did fine with the warm-up exercises and weights but had to stop half-way through the aerobics. As I approached the mile-and-a-half mark on the elliptical machine, I started getting light-headed and felt weak. I could have pushed myself to continue but would just have exhausted myself that much more.
I cut my session short and went home. Not long after, I felt overwhelmingly tired and took a nap for an hour. Something’s up.
That evening we watched a ‘House of Cards’ and ‘Justified’ episodes. I’m about tired of the latter’s hillbilly-mafia-rap theme song, though.
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Tuesday, 18 March -
Uh-oh. I must have overdone yesterday. I feel like I have a cold coming on. I spent much of the day researching some options for heating the house and for water purification when the power’s out. I think I’m going to go with a Big Buddy heater on a 20-pound propane tank and a GravityWorks filter system.
That evening we watched three episodes of ‘House of Cards’. We just can’t get enough of it.
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Monday, 17 March -
Three inches of snow had been predicted for last night but we awoke to just a light covering and by noon time it was gone from the driveway and road. By evening it was also gone from the grass and the field across from us.
I zipped up to Walmart and to the hardware store, the latter to buy nylon screws to remount the windshield on the Concours motorcycle.
At the gym I did a blistering 24:42 on Level 10 and that was quite a push.
That evening we watched three episodes of ‘House of Cards’-season 2 and the first episode of the new ‘Justified’ from Netflix.
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Sunday, 16 March -
Labashi and I had brunch at Accomac Inn today. I was really looking forward to the eggs benedict but was disappointed-- they were served on the cool side of lukewarm. It was one of those situations where you take a bite and think it’s not so bad and will be warmer further in toward the center of the plate. But that was not the case today. We enjoyed being out and about, though.
Back home we spent the latter part of the day and the evening watching the last five episodes of the final season of ‘Breaking Bad’. I remember being bored with the series part-way through but the last season was very well done.
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Saturday, 15 March -
This morning Labashi and I cleaned up the fallen branches in the yard. I had to get the electric chain saw out to make any progress. We had four large branches to deal with but thankfully none of them had hit the house or cars. One did smash a chair but that was a very minor loss. The cleanup took a few hours and resulted in a dozen-or-so bundles to include in our weekly trash pick-up.
After lunch I rode the GS in to Starbucks and then on to Rudy Park for a long walk. With the yard work and walk, my Fitbit recorded over seven miles of walking today.
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Friday, 14 March -
Today I spent a good bit of time researching mountain biking trails in the area. I printed off a map of the Rocky Ridge trails and then used colored pens to color-code the beginner, intermediate, and advanced trails. I think I know the trails there well enough to know which are which but noted that even the regular bikers there have some disagreements over the trail ratings.
In mid-afternoon we drove over to Mom and Dad’s apartment to fix the uprights on their Herman Miller shelving units. These are floor-to-ceiling uprights that tend to tilt a bit if we don’t keep a close eye on the tension.
We had a dinner of baby-back ribs as takeout from Texas Roadhouse and they were just perfectly done.
That evening Labashi and I watched a ‘House of Cards’ - Season Two episode on Netflix and the end of the season for ‘Gold Rush’ on the on-demand channel on our cable TV system.
Poor Todd. Guyana kicked his butt.
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Thursday, 13 March -
This morning I drove Mocha Joe to Adventure Cycling in York, hoping to see a Thudbuster suspension seatpost. I had blundered on to the Thudbuster in their online catalog while looking for a conventional spring-loaded seatpost.
The shop didn’t have a Thudbuster but I did enjoy talking with the bike mechanic. The shop owner was busy but did say he had tried a Thudbuster on someone else’s bike and it worked well. He also confirmed my suspicion that the spring-loaded seatposts don’t work very well.
I then drove on to Flying Feet, the runner’s shop, to pick up some running shoes. I’ve found the only shoes that really fit me are Asics extra-wide models and I seem to only be able to find them in stock in my size at Flying Feet. I bought two pair from them last year around this time and splurged for three pair this year.
That afternoon Labashi said she’d like to try some of the gym equipment so we went together. I did a Level 8 time of 24:52-- a very nice push and she spent most of her time on the treadmill. I also took her around to each piece of equipment for a quick intro.
That evening I went ahead and ordered the Thudbuster LT (‘long travel’) and the necessary shim for it from Amazon. We watched the last episodes of ‘Breaking Bad’s final season plus Chapters 14 and 15 of ‘House of Cards’.
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Wednesday, 12 March -
Today was a recovery day from my long drive. I spent much of it writing a summary email of my Florida 2014 trip for my brothers and making some blog notes.
That afternoon I went to the gym and managed a 25:46 at Level 8 on the LifeTime elliptical machine-- not bad!
That evening we watched the extras on the Homeland Season Two disc and then an episode of ‘Gold Rush’ (416).
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Tuesday, 11 March -
Today I finished the drive home from Dublin, VA. I had accidently left the alarm clock on when I reset its time forward for Spring last night so it woke me at 0530. When that happened I thought it a sign that I may as well get started.
That put me at home shortly after noon. I happened to arrive just five minutes before Labashi had to leave for an appointment but it was great to see her and realize she’d be back in a few hours.
I unloaded the van on this uncharacteristically nice day (it was in the Sixties!) and then decided I’d better start and run the motorcycles and ATV while I can. I took each of the three cycles for a quick ride around a six-mile loop to get them good and warm and the oil circulating well. I also started up the ATV and let it run for 20 minutes or so but didn’t take it out of the trailer.
That evening we drove over to Restaurant Sidney for drinks and appetizers. Then we watched three episodes of ‘Homeland’- Season Two to end the season.
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Monday, 10 March -
I had thought I’d go over to ride the Chuck Lennon Trails complex today but it was not to be. First, it was further away than I had thought but then again, what else do I have to do?
No, today turned out to be this years ‘barn day’..... the day I realize it’s time to head for the barn (i.e., home). I had been looking around the map to plan the next couple of days and had some ideas but it was when I checked the weather that ‘barn day‘ struck me.
Today and perhaps tomorrow would be nice but then we were due for a couple of days of rain. I’m not much of a fan of rainy days in the Ocala National Forest or, for that matter, anywhere in Florida.
Another factor was the thought that I’ve been away from home for the better part of six weeks. But I think a stronger push came from the realization that the time had now changed and days back home would be longer. And the weather back home had taken a turn for the better.
It was just time to go.
But I didn’t want to just bust on home. I wanted to see the burned-over area near Hopkins Prairie first. I heard a trash fire had gotten out of control because of unexpected winds after last year’s Rainbow Gathering and jumped the road and burned twenty-some buildings.
I drove up US19 and stopped at the Juniper Wilderness canoe takeout and then on to Hopkins Prairie. There I chatted with a couple from Indiana who had just arrived in Florida and needed some ideas of what to do for a few days here in the forest. I then talked with a couple walking the entrance road and somehow got to talking about southern Africa. I ended up showing them pictures from our Botswana trip.
I liked seeing some water in the prairies at Hopkins Prairie for a change but it wasn’t as dramatic a change as I had expected. As far as the fire, I couldn’t see anything at all having been burned over right there at Hopkins Prairie.
By that time it was noon and I decided I did indeed want to just head home with all deliberate speed. I drove up through Salt Springs and on to Palatka and then got on I-95 North at Jacksonville.
Twelve hours later I hit I-81 (after taking I-26 and then I-77) at Dublin, Virginia and stopped at the Walmart for the night. I hit the SPOT messenger to give Labashi some warning I’d be home the next day and turned in. I was surprised to see it was still in the mid-Forties at night here but also saw the temperature here tomorrow night was predicted to be 19 degrees.
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Sunday, 9 March -
Today I drove over to Daytona for a day of Bike Week 2014. I’ve been here four or five times and don’t normally last long. I’m not really into the races or other events; I just like to look at the new bikes and see what the vendors are offering.
I pretty much covered the main venue at the raceway by mid-afternoon. I did try one thing new--- a shot of Jack Daniels Single Barrel for lunch. Nothing special there. I don’t get it.
But I did enjoy sitting there at the Jack Daniels bar afterwards, people watching. Bikers kept coming up to the bar and asking for a Crown-and-Coke or some other non-Jack-Daniels drink and the girl would patiently explain the fact that they serve only Jack Daniels products at the Jack Daniels venue. One guy seemed quite mystified by that. After he left, she turned to me and told me she can’t believe how often that happens and it became our little joke. Each time it would happen she’d turn to me and give a little twisted smile..... kind of a “holy crap, here’s another one” look.
One of the disappointments this year was that neither BMW nor Triumph had venues and of course no rides. Back at the truck I used the iPad to look up the nearest dealer and think I saw why. The Daytona BMW/Triumph dealership is right on Main Street at the end of the north end of the vendor booths. I parked nearby and wandered through the shop for an hour or so. The best thing I learned is that a low-suspension R1200GS fits me.
I left Daytona via the road to Deland so I could check out the bike trails at De Leon Springs. The Chuck Lennon Trails get very good reviews so I wanted to ride there. Unfortunately, I had spent much of my day walking and hadn’t made it to the trail complex until about 1730. I decided I’d just walk in to get a sense of the trails and come back tomorrow after camping at Lake Dorr.
As I neared Lake Dorr I decided to see sunset at Farles Prairie, one of our favorite places the first year or so we came down here. It was a great camping spot at the time and was since closed to camping and turned into a day-use area.
I then went back to Lake Dorr and paid my $6 for the night. I LOVE my senior pass!
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Saturday, 8 March-
Today I rode the mountain bike on the Paisley Woods Bike Trail. I parked at the hiker/biker lot on the entrance road to Clearwater Lake campground and rode the trail in a counter-clockwise direction. The trail makes a large loop up to the Alexander Springs Recreation Area but I didn’t think it a good idea to take on the entire ride. I took the cut-off which breaks the 23-mile-plus trail into a South Loop of 9.5 miles and a North Loop of 12.75 miles. I had read there’s less sugar-sand on the South Loop.
The trail was a great ride through open forest of very pretty long-leaf pines. I did have some problems with sugar-sand. Where a section headed upslope or downslope there would tend to be stretches where the trail covering of long pine needles would be washed away. In these areas sand would be deeper, quickly turning into ‘sugar sand’. I first noticed what a problem these could be when ascending. I’d be working hard but making good progress, then hit a patch of sand that would nearly stop my forward progress. It didn’t take much of that to turn me into a walker rather than a rider on the longer uphill sections.
Fortunately, the going got much better. Also, I was learning. With more experience in the deeper sand I learned what the bike was going to do. The front end would start to wash out a bit, throwing the rear end the opposite direction. And I learned I could see it coming, sometimes enabling me to dodge a bit to avoid the worst of it or to get my weight back and power up to get on through it. I did come VERY close, though, to being thrown hard into a tree. My confidence was up and I was buzzing along fast and dodging among trees when I hit a patch of deep sand. The front washed out, the rear was thrown hard to the side. Thank goodness the rear caught and launched me out of danger.
At the crossover I met a husband-and-wife team coming down from Alexander Springs. They were from Flagler Beach area and we had a long chat as we rested up. We then finished off the loop back to the van.
That ride pretty much did me in for the day. I scanned the map to decide what to do next and remembered Gator Joe’s. When I had asked the woman at the visitor center about some interesting places to eat, she had mentioned Gator Joe’s on Lake Weir at Oklawaha. Why not?
I found Gator Joe’s easily enough (though it was a longer drive than I had anticipated) and it was just what I was looking for-- a Florida beach bar. After my ride I wanted a good, stiff drink... and Joe’s delivered. I ordered a basket of corn fritters, unaware it’s a giant basket and would turn out to be my meal. I had a VooDoo Juice and, later, as I worked my way slowly through the deliciouser-and-deliciouser corn fritters, I also had a Gator Juice. Normally I’m not much for the specialty drinks offered by a touristy place like this but these really did a job on me. As I finished off my corn fritters, I realized I was getting too drunk to drive. And I was sleepy.
So I went out to the van and slept it off for a couple of hours! I LOVE having a van in a situation like that.
After my nap I thought briefly about going back in to Gator Joe’s for supper but decided that might just turn into another nap in the parking lot and I wasn’t actually hungry. Move on!
I drove back to Lake Dorr Campground in the beautiful evening light, enjoying the views of the horse ranches in this area as I drove.
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Friday, 7 March-
My lonely campsite at Lake Jackson in the Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area was almost TOO quiet last night. I kept expecting to have a visitor-- a wildlife officer on patrol or something. I did hear a brief but forceful rain shower and was happy to find that my fix to the rear door leak seems to have worked very well. No leak at all.... not a solitary drop.
This morning I started planning where to go and then thought I should get a better look around here at Three Lakes. I had come here because of Orville’s recommendation for the free camping but it’s an interesting place. With the lakes, the Florida Trail, and a different look to the landscape, I need to look around.
Much of the wooded area in Three Lakes consists of large live-oak trees with great masses of epiphytes hanging from the wide-spread branches. The understory is a very attractive mix of dense patches of spiky palmettos and open space with a few cabbage palms here and there. Underfoot the ground is dug up quite badly by feral pigs.... or was some time in the past. The digging doesn’t look very fresh-- as if there was a problem with wild pigs that hunters largely resolved. Lake Jackson has massive areas of marsh and intricate passages through the marsh while Lake Marian is wide open. The former has birds everywhere, the latter a few flying over and not much to see.
While driving about I happened upon a bald eagle’s nest and the eagle was proudly watching over it. After a while I noticed there’s a little one in the nest. I used the window-mount for the camera and got some good footage of the adult and just a glimpse of the little one.
I took a few short walks. One was along Lake Jackson at the end of Road 18, where I saw many birds. The other was a half-mile walk in to an observation platform overlooking Lake Marian.
I then decided it was time to move on and headed toward Orlando. I set the GPS for Altoona, Florida but also set a waypoint for the nearest Five Guys burger place for my lunch along the way.
At Kissimmee I shopped a bit at Walmart to replenish supplies.
I arrived at Altoona around 1530 and first went to the Ocala National Park visitor center at Pittman before they closed. I chatted with the volunteer there and bought yet another Ocala National Forest hat and picked up the maps and info I need for the next few days.
At Lake Dorr campground I selected a spot and paid my $6 for my site (I LOVE my senior pass!). As it happens, I selected a spot across from a guy from Maryland who is returning from several months guiding in the Everglades. He’s Joel from Catonsville and has led a very interesting life kayak-and-canoe guiding in Maine and the Wilderness Waterway in the Everglades and will shortly be heading to Utah and Arizona to guide out West. What a job!
For supper I ran to the nearby Old Crow Bar-be-Que restaurant--- one of my obligatory stops. I love-love-love their mustard-based hot sauce and haven’t seen it anywhere else in my travels. And I can’t believe how cheap a meal is there--- under $10 for a largish portion of sliced pork plus two tasty sides. Back at the van, I spent the coldish evening (mid-50’s) catching up the blog and reading.
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Thursday, 6 March-
It was a weird evening last night. I pushed pretty hard on the bike but had extra energy and couldn’t stand still. I took three rides after dark, presumably to see the sky at this dark-sky area but the clouds took care of that. Even though I could see from my campsite that there were no stars, I STILL went out on the bike to look.
After my last run I saw David-from-Winnipeg next door had a fire going. I walked over and he invited me to sit. We chatted and had a beer while talking about retirement, travel, his work as a museum administrator. Very, very interesting.
Even though it was after midnight, I couldn’t sleep. I decided I may as well take my shower now rather than deal with the line in the morning.
When morning came, everything seemed extra quiet. It turns out we’re supposed to have heavy thunderstorms today.
I cleaned up the van and visited the dump station, then drove to the south end of the park to get out the maps and decide where to go next. While there, the herpetologist from last night dropped by for another look at the panther video. He was also interested in more detail about the OK Slough and the Bear Island unit of the Big Cypress.
I then headed for a spot on the map--- Blue Cypress Lake. I saw only that it’s a county park on the edge of the lake. It turns out to be a fish camp and county launch ramps for the lake. But get this--- you can camp there five days for free. And they have free hot showers!
I drove through the tenting area and met Tim Hauser from Kansas. He had a tent and had rigged a blue plastic tarp to the side of his car against the oncoming storm. But he was remarkably cheerful. We somehow got to talking about River Ranch Acres and it turns out his Dad had also bought land there--- just like the guy in ‘Redneck Riviera’. His Dad died years ago but Tim still keeps paying the taxes since it’s only about $20 a year. He says his sister wants him to go check out the lot--- it’s only about 25 miles west of here-- but Tim says he’s not interested. He was very interested, however, in the ‘Redneck Riviera’ book. He’s going to send the info to his sister so she understands what they would be dealing with if they attempted to claim or occupy the land their Dad bought many years ago.
I found River Ranch on the map and decided to go visit. I drove west from Blue Cypress to the Kissimmee Canal and turned onto River Ranch Boulevard. I didn’t expect what I found. It now leads to a Westgate Resorts dude ranch. At the end of the road is a largish resort with a western theme. I stopped at the lodge and the girls at the desk are wearing cowboy hats. Horses are prominently figured and there’s a mechanical bull, a saloon, and a western-wear store. With today’s rain there’s hardly anybody around so it was a ghost town today. I saw cars from all over the east coast so I suppose something’s going on there but the activities are all out-of-doors activities and today’s rain nixed that.
I then set the GPS for Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area. Orville at Picayune Strand had given me a GPS position for a free campground at the WMA. I eventually made my way there and found a a few dozen camping units of various conditions parked in the field. It didn’t seem attractive to me so I drove on in to the Wildlife Managment Area. I found several designated campsites but they are hunter sites and are only to be used during hunting season. I did find one, though, along the Florida Trail which, according to the rules, is open all year. I paid my $3 daily use fee and set up camp at Lake Jackson site 3. We’ll see how that goes.
I took a short walk southbound on the Florida Trail but only for 20 minutes or so since darkness was coming on. I returned to the van and made supper and sat our for an hour or so, then opened up the laptop and caught up the blog before turning my attention to ‘Shadow Country’.
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Wednesday 5 March-
This morning I showered in luxury and then drove over to the Alva Country Diner for breakfast. Alas, there was a long waiting line. I wasn’t all that intent on breakfast--- some biscuits and gravy would have been nice--- so just moved on. I drove back to Labelle and sat at the dock and called Labashi on Skype.
I then looked the map over and decided to drive up the west side of Lake Okeechobee. I’ve been down the east side but wanted to see what was out in the country west of Big O. Well, neighbor-- it’s sugar cane, citrus, and cattle ranch country. It’s flat as a pancake but pretty because of the many palms. I loved seeing the cattle egrets and even saw two cowboys-- just like out west but with palm trees!
I stopped at the Walmart near Okeechobee and bought a ThermaCell. The wildlife officer I had met at the Sabal Palm trailhead in the Picayune State Forest had highly recommended it so I’ll give it a try. I’d like to be able to sit out in the evening and I’ve been having trouble with mosquitos at dusk.
I then headed west toward Sebring, thinking I’d go over and up the familiar way. But then I passed a sign to Kissimmee Prairie State Park. I thought I had been there but now realized I had been to Lake Kissimmee State Park and this was completely different.
I booked a campsite at the office and set up the mountain bike. I biked to the a road leading to a slough and checked out the wildlife but there was nothing new, particularly compared to the places I’ve been further south.
I then road the prairie trail out to the primitive campsite, a bit over two miles out and a pretty, though bumpy, ride through a wild-feeling area. At the campsite I met a herpetologist from North Florida and his daughter. They were out camping just to get away and had quite an amazing amount of gear. They brought it in with backpacks as well as a trailer behind one of the bikes. They really liked the panther video and the guy showed me a video of him handling a big indigo snake.
I peddled back to the van before dark and walked over to talk to my neighbors. They are from Winnipeg and noticed my Northland Ford sign on Mocha Joe. We talked a LONG time about Winnipeg, Regina, The Pas, Flin Flon, Thompson, Churchill, Corner Gas, Newfoundland, the Trans-Labrador highway, and on and on. Very, very nice folks. He works at the Manitoba Museum, one of our favorites.
After dark I took several bike rides, having a great time on the moonlit shell roads. This park is known for its dark skies but tonight the moon is about quarter full and its mostly cloudy. Rats.
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Tuesday, 4 March-
After such a brilliant day yesterday, it’s time to move on! I took my time and drove the long way out to the main road. I noticed some cars at the ranger office so stopped in. I chatted with a forester and one of the staff guys. I of course showed them the panther video and then we talked about other OK Slough questions I had. I was curious why I didn’t see nearly so much evidence of wild boars this year. The forester guy says its because of hunting, not to an eradication program or anything else. I’m not quite sure what would have changed. Hunting the pigs was allowed back when we were seeing much more evidence of rooting, an occasional piece of pig skin along the road, and partial carcasses along the main road where a pig had been hit by a car.
I also asked about new openings I was seeing all over. The forester says they are for fire protection, i.e., access for vehicles to get close to a fire as soon as possible. The ground in all of these access roads-- actually more like paths--- is plowed, I assume so a ranger can see whether someone has gone back into one of these pathways open only to the fire vehicles.
I then drove on to the nearby town of Labelle, where I thought I might find a library. And indeed it’s a nice little library. And its internet connection is pretty good. I was able to upload my panther video to YouTube in about 15 minutes and with no hassle at all. After checking it thoroughly, I sent out an email to friends to provide the link.
I then went looking for lunch and found Honest John’s Log Cabin Inn. This one had great Yelp reviews so I gave it a chance. I had a pulled pork plate with baked beans and black-eyed peas and two bar-be-que sauces, a free half-cup of chicken rice soup, and a dip of ice cream, all for under $8. And the tastes were great. What a bargain!
I then headed west to the little town of Alva where I knew there was a regional park with mountain-biking trails and a campground. I rode the mountain-biking trail for about five miles and it was a bit challenging. The trail itself was smooth but much of it was built on spoils piles from some project. The local mountain biking club had made them into a series of steep climbs and descents.... too steep for my experience level. But it wasn’t really a problem--- I’d either go around or dismount the bike and walk. I started riding the smaller ones but was probably a bit more intimidated than I should have been. I’d come up on a steep uphill and think I could make that but don’t know what’s on the other side and don’t want a sudden drop-off. Most of the time it turned out to be within my skill level but once in a while I’d find one with big roots or rocks just on the other side. In any case, it was a good learning experience and I’m sure I could do better on subsequent rounds.
The ride tired me out so I put the bike away and looked up the campground info. I had missed the fact that the campground here is a primitive campground which does not allow you to stay in your vehicle-- you MUST stay in a tent. I looked up nearby campgrounds and found an Army Corps of Engineers site just a few miles down the road. I tried it but it was full. The lady at the gate, though, said I could probably get in at the River Retreat, a Methodist camp a few miles away. She made a call for me a secured me a spot.
The Retreat was great-- even better than I had hoped. I had a beautiful campsite to myself under oak trees for only $5. And I had the run of the place. I walked the grounds and went to the river (the Caloosahatchee) and walked the trails until nearly dark. Nice!
That evening I read some more ‘Shadow Country’, the Peter Mathiesson novel about the E. J. Watson murder in the Ten Thousand Islands.
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Monday, 3 March -
This morning I arose around 0800 and took my time getting on with my day. Everything is covered in a heavy dew each morning so there’s no rush to get out in it. It pretty much dries up in an hour or so but that’s my excuse for my late starts.
I planned to move on today so walked over and chatted with Orville to say goodbye. That of course lasted a while.
I then headed north to Immokalee and beyond, enjoying the sublime scent of orange blossoms. By mid-day I was at the Okaloacoochee Slough State Forest, a favorite stop. The OK Slough was at one time a massive cattle ranch and there are ranches all around it. It’s part of the Everglades water system and has a distinctive character. Here’s where Labashi and I saw our first panther tracks back in 2006. Also, our first encounter with wild boars. I don’t know if they are still such a problem but back then they had the grass torn up quite badly and there were wreaking havoc with night-time traffic. There always seemed to be a boar carcass along the highway.
I stopped in at the office but it was locked up. I picked up a map from the welcome board and then headed up one of the few roads I’ve not been on-- the Twin Mills Road. I was almost immediately surprised by the birds along this road. There’s a canal running alongside and I was seeing egrets, herons, ibises, wood storks, a caracara, crows, black buzzards, roseate spoonbills, kingfishers, red-shouldered hawks and many smaller species as well as a few alligators. The road is more than four miles long and I took my good old time and made many stops.
I then drove down the Patterson Road and across to the Wildcow Grade. I idled down the Wildcow Island Grade to the primitive campground, which I found in perfect shape. The hand pump even works now--- that’s a first!
I then checked out the Mustang Grade and went to the end of the Four Sections Road and took a break. On the way back, I saw my first for-sure Florida panther in the wild. I only saw it for a few seconds but I saw it quite clearly. It was a young one (judging by its body mass), had a spectacular tawny coat and white and black on its face, and no tracking collar. As soon as it saw me it burst for the heavy bushes and was gone long before I could get my camera up.
I then drove to the Sic Island Road. I’ve been there but it was very short at the time. Now it ends at a walking trail-- the Tram Loop Hiking Trail. I walked in for about a mile and a half and decided at that point to turn back. The trail was turning toward the gravel road I had come in on and I didn’t want a road walk.
Shortly after turning back, I saw an amazing sight ahead. Three panthers were crossing the very wide tramway trail ahead of me. Two of them got across before I had my camera up and working but the third one noticed me and paused in the middle of the clearing. I had time to take a quick snapshot and then zoom in with video. I have about a minute of the big cat staring my way, trying to figure out what I am.... and then it ambles off into the bush. What a rush!
The crossing point was between me and the truck so I walked to that spot and got out the GPS and made a waypoint of this momentous occasion. I then headed for the van, very careful to keep a close eye behind me. As I walked, though, I remembered how close this side of the forest is to the cell tower serving the area. I checked the phone and had service so I called Labashi with the news.... I not only saw a panther--- I have it on video! What a day!
By that time it was nearly dark so I drove on back to the campsite at Panther Pond on Wildcow Grade. This is basically a hunters campground and we’re in hunting season but there’s not much going on during the week. Sites are $10 and today that seems quite the bargain.
After a bit of supper I sent an email to family about the panther sightings and then worked on catching up the blog before reading a bit.
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Sunday, 2 March -
This morning I talked with Orville about wanting to hike the Sabal Palms trails on the west side of the Picayune Strand. I thought I had to drive way out around to get there because of really bad roads but Orville thought I should be able to make it through. I did indeed make it but it took quite a while to negotiate the potholes. Time-wise it would have been about the same but I got to see some really interesting backcountry.
At the Sabal Palm trailhead I saw a wildlife officer and chatted with him quite a while. He was there checking permits and watching for illegal ATV riders. It turns out his dream is to ride a motorcycle to Alaska so he was very interested to hear of my experiences in Alaska and hear about the various motorcycle rigs I saw there.
I also asked the officer, who introduced himself as Felix, about driving straight through on Sabal Palm road. I had taken a wide detour as I followed the most logical route and had avoided a small road which looked like it could be trouble. Felix said that road was indeed trouble. He had sunk his first patrol vehicle in a mud-hole there--- up to the roof! He and his K9 partner had had to swim out through the window!
I also learned from Felix that Thermacell mosquito repellant gear really works. He says in the summer he rolls down his windows when sitting somewhere like he is today and the Thermacell will keep the mosquitoes at bay. I’ve gotta try that!
At the trailhead, I walked both Loop A and Loop B of the Sabal Palm Trail, also known as the Trailwalker Trail. That added up to 3.4 miles.
About a mile from the trailhead there’s a picnic table and there I met a fat-tire biker who regaled me with tales of riding a fat-tire single-speed bike..... kind of a once-you-go-fat-you’ll-never-go-back kind of thing. They cross section of his tires must have been close to four inches. He said it takes about a year to work up to preferring the fat-tire single-speed over a regular mountain bike. He said something like ‘you begin to understand that your legs are your engine and you can burn off tremendous amounts of fat riding this bike.’ Interesting.
After my walk I stayed in the parking lot with the van doors wide open and read. I finished my Gladesmen book and started ‘Shadow Country’.
I then drove on out the Sabal Palm road to Collins Blvd and up to the Five Guys on Livingston for a late lunch. I then headed back to the horse campground, where I walked two and a half miles on the blue trail.
I then called Labashi on Skype and gave her a remote tour of sunset at the campground. I then spent the rest of the evening catching up the blog.
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Saturday, 1 March -
This morning I met the campground host at Belle Meade (the equestrian campground where I’m staying). I greeted him with ‘we’ve met before’, as I recognized him but didn’t know his name. As we talked I realized I had not only met him here before but when he said his name’s Orville, I instantly saw a picture in my mind of meeting him at the old T-canal campground. Labashi and I at the bottom of the Picayune Strand State Forest. I met him on our first trip into the Picayune in 2006 and I remembered the ham radio antenna on his truck.
Orville invited me over and we pored over maps and the GPS to exchange some info on freebie and low-cost camping spots. Good old, Orville... what a nice guy.
I then drove in to the local Anytime Fitness for a shower then to Five Guys for a burger.
I then went to the Naples library to read and ended up reading two books-- ‘Redneck Riviera’ and a history of Cape Coral.
As the library neared closing time, I walked to the restaurant I couldn’t get into last night, Bistro 817, for appetizers and drinks. I had an excellent sangria and a fancy old-fashioned while I ate brie and had a plate of prawns in Thai peanut sauce. I then drove to the beach for sunset and called Labashi from there on Skype, showing her the sunset before returning for the night to my campground.
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Friday, 28 February -
This morning I did my laundry with the High Efficiency detergent and everything went just fine. I then drove in to Naples to the Baker Art Museum, arriving just in time to have a nice lunch at the cafe. I then took my time going through the Rediscovering Egypt, Duchamps Family, and Contemporary Florida exhibits. I was greatly impressed, both by the facility and the quality of the exhibits.
Afterwards, I took time to write to Labashi about what I had seen and provided links to the works. Really, really good works.
I then drove to the central library but arrived only 15 minutes before closing. I realized I was parked only a few blocks north of the restaurant district so walked in to Fifth Avenue and walked the length of it, looking for something good. As it turned out, I couldn’t get in to the one place that had interesting things on the menu so I ended up just having a gelato.
I then walked back to the van and called Labashi after seeing she liked the links I had sent her.
On the way back out to the horse-camp, I stopped at Five Guys for a burger. For some reason they seem extra good this trip.
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Thursday, 27 February -
I was ready to head out this morning but first wanted to ride to the Turner Road to look around for animals. I didn’t see much, though I did hear a barred owl. After packing away the bike I drove south and stopped for a short walk at the Fire Prairie Trail, hoping to see an otter there I’ve seen before. No luck.
After finally making it to the hard road I zoomed to the Oasis Visitor Center for a copy of their map of ATV trails in the Turner River Unit but learned they’re too wet or soft for a bicycle.
I then drove to Chokoloskee to make the Havana Cafe before closing and just made it. I had a media noche sandwich, a cafe con leche drink and a piece of their excellent key lime pie.
I then drove to the cell tower and chatted with Labashi for 45 minutes. The snow back home is driving her crazy.
I then checked in at Collier-Seminole State Park. I asked if I could stay in the overflow area but had to take a tent site (at $24 versus $16 for the overflow). The good news is I talked with the owner of a Hallmark truck camper and a Sportsmobile-Sprinter camper. Very interesting rigs.
I had planned to do my laundry but was surprised to see the washing machines only operate on High Efficiency detergent.... and they don’t have any! I had planned to go to the Walmart the next day anyway so I drove there tonight. I couldn’t find the High Efficiency detergent. I went on to the Publix and there found the right detergent and returned to camp.
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Wednesday, 26 February -
This morning I rode the bike back the Cypress Camp Trail but only for a mile. There’s a sign back there saying the trail is closed for stabilization. I wasn’t sure if that applied to bicycle travel but I had other plans anyway so turned back.
I then rode the Ridge Trail to Gator Head campground. This was a very different ride. The road/trail was a series of mudholes, mostly dried up but still too muddy to walk or ride through. I was able to get around most of them without getting into the mud but did fail at that on several occasions.
At Gator Head I talked with Bob from Ocean City, also known as OCFotoGuy. He had wonderful photos of panthers and other wildlife and told me of a good place to stay in Key West for free (rather than pay $65 for a commercial camp site).
I rode back to the van by 1530, having done 13 miles. I chatted briefly with Amy’s husband/boyfriend, also a photographer, and then I rode to the wildlife check station, hoping to see something. I chatted a bit there with two turkey hunters from Atlanta-- they were just arriving for this weekend’s hunting season opener. Riding back to the van, I was flagged down by the five year old son of other campers I’d met. He and his parents were watching a cottonmouth cross the road and the parents were trying to keep the kid from stoning the snake.
That evening trip added five miles to my total for the day.
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Tuesday, 25 February -
This morning I drove to the Big Cypress administrative office to put in my complaint about not being permitted to camp at Bear Island. The Chief Ranger, Dave Fireman, and his second, Renee (something), were great. They listened and took notes and explained some of the challenges they’ve had in implementing the new reservations policy. As I explained, I was there to tell them what happened in the hopes that other campers wouldn’t have the same confusing experience. I left convinced that would be the case.
I then drove on to the gas station at US41 and US29, looking for some means to fix my broken exhaust hanger. After finding some worm-clamps I decided the wire-job I had done would last so merely put the clamps in my emergencies kit. I then went across the street to park at the visitor center beneath the cell tower and connect to Labashi via Skype. That worked great..
I then drove in to Bear Island, arriving about noon. I talked with fellow camper and bicycler Amy who had seen a panther two days ago. I set up my bike and rode up the Perrocchi Grade and Bear Island Grade roads to Pink Jeep campground. After a look around I stopped in at the government compound and talked with Dana, one of the campground hosts about my problems getting in to Bear Island. He assured me that all I had to do was show up and I’d be taken care of.
I then rode on through to Gator Head campground, amazed at how nice the road is in this backcountry area. But my butt was still starting to hurt from all the riding!
I rode back to the van and put in a total of 20 miles. After a couple hours of break, I rode again as darkness neared, this time about four miles. I had a light supper and went to bed around 2100. Long day!
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Monday, 24 February -
This morning I showered and left Lazy Lakes by 0900, headed north. I drove the three hours to Florida City and hit the local Wal-mart for ice and a few supplies. I then drove on up SR997 to the Tamiami Trail and on to the Loop Road. At Mitchell Landing campground I learned I’d have to go to one of the campgrounds on the Tamiami Trail to get an envelope in order to stay the night at my goal-- Bear Island campground. I therefore drove the Loop Road nice and slow, knowing I’d be able to eventually get a site a Bear Island. But when I asked for an envelope at Monument Lake, the volunteer refused to give me one, as did the volunteer at Midway Campground. Since it was late, I decided I’d just go ahead and spend the night at Midway.
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Sunday, 23 February -
This morning I drove in to Key West and parked at Reynolds Street School for shade. I set up the bike and rode in to Duval Street and down to Bagatelle restaurant. There I had crab benedict and a very nice mango mimosa. I then rode the bike slowly up the west side of Key West and out to the docks, just looking around at boats. I then tried to return to the van and got a bit overheated as I tried to find the van. I then drove to a small park at the international airport and parked there with the doors open to the wonderful breeze. I had a long Skype call with Labashi as I cooled off.
As evening approached I drove to South Street a few blocks above Duval and parked. I went looking for tapas and cocktails and found ‘915‘ restaurant. I had a fantastic manhattan there but the ceviche was so-so. I then walked across the street to Blackfin restaurant for its Andalusion Gazpacho and had a glass of a very nice ‘Four Graces‘ Pinot Gris.
I continued to walk the streets and even had a key lime pie on a stick (not as bad as it sounds!) before returning to the van and campground for the night, this time by 2200.
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Saturday, 22 February -
This morning I drove to Rowdy Bend trailhead and assembled the bike. I rode the 2.4 miles of narrow, overhung trail to its intersection with the nice, wide Snake Bight Trail. I turned right there and rode to the dock where I met ‘Cramer’, a young guy in charge of a checkpoint for a kayak-fishing event. I chatted with Cramer while event participants paddled up to check in a get a token to show they had been there. It was a great fishing-kayak show. I not only got to see many kayaks, I saw how they were paddled, poled, and, in some cases, pedaled.
I then biked the three or so miles to the van and drove to the main parking lot for ice and to recover from my riding. I felt great after a bit, so I rode through the campground to the other end and walked the Bowman Loop of the Coastal Prairie Trail... about two miles in the hot sun.
I then returned to the van and went to the showers, then decided to drive to Key West yet today. I’ve driven that route in morning and noon light but wanted to drive it today in evening light.
I arrived at the Lazy Lakes campground around 1930 and then went on into town. I parked at Fort Taylor and walked to Duval Street. I had a home-made sangria at Vino and walked down to Mallory Square where I had, of all things, a caipirinha and a flan custard for supper. I then walked back up Duval Street and circled around to the van before returning to the campground at 2300. What a day!
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Friday, 21 February -
This morning I had a long chat with some folks from Syracuse who had been on the same wet-walk as me. I then drove the van to the old Ingraham Highway access gate and assembled the mountain bike. I spent the next several hours biking about four miles to and from the first remote campsite. At the far end I activated the Spot but it didn’t work, apparently because I didn’t give it a clear view of the sky as it hung down my back.
Back at the van I checked my mail and then headed south to Flamingo. I first bought ice and then took it easy in the shaded parking lot, reading. I was still very tired from the bike ride this morning.
I recovered after having lunch at the restaurant and rode the bike through the campground and talked with a Missouri guy who had built his own truck camper from plywood and a couple from Colorado who had a Tacoma and a Four Wheel Campers ‘Eagle’ camper, much like the one I’d like to have.
I then showered in the tent-campground showers (very nice!) and decided to stay here at Flamingo even though I had heard there were many bugs. After dark I did have a good many no-see-ums and mosquitoes in the van but by 2100 I had them pretty much killed off and could go to sleep.
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Thursday, 20 February -
This morning I drove to the main visitor center and slowly went over the whole place, looking at displays in detail. It’s amazing how much you miss on short visits. I also bought two books, ‘Gladesmen’ and ‘Shadow Country’, both from the list from last night’s ranger presentation.
I then drove to the Royal Palm visitor center and walked the Anhinga Trail in daylight. Birds and gators and not nearly so numerous this year and it’s because the water is higher throughout the Glades.
This morning I also signed up for the 1400 wet walk so after Royal Palm, I hung out at the first pulloff in the park, mainly because it has the best connectivity for my iPad.
At 1400, I joined three other people and the ranger for a wet-walk at Pa-Hay-Oki. That one was quite the slog through knee-deep water. We worked our way to a cypress dome and returned.
I then drove to Mahogany Hammock and walked the boardwalk, though without seeing the barred owls I’ve seen there before. I drove on to Paurotis Pond but was disappointed there--- the sun was right in my eyes and there were few birds on the far trees.
I returned to the campground and claimed a site but it was too hot to stay there. I drove to Royal Palm and hung out for a bit, the tried the more open Pulloff 1. I ended up returning to the campground for a humid and not very comfortable night in the van. I had to use my little battery-operated fan to cool off enough to sleep.
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Wednesday, 19 February -
We arose at 0530 this morning and were on our way before 0600. As predicted by Rick, the security guy, we had an easy half-hour ride to the airport by leaving so early. After dropping off Orat, though, I returned back the same way and saw the northbound lanes clogged with heavy traffic. My southbound trip only took a half hour but I could see that even by then the northbound ride would now be a two-hour one instead of a half-hour one. Orat was way early for his flight but could have a leisurely breakfast and not have to worry about making his flight.
At the campground I showered and cleaned and re-orged the ice box and van. I then drove to a nearby Publix and re-stocked before driving on to Everglades National Park.
I once again stopped at ‘Here Is Robert’ roadside stand for a fruit milkshake and another half-gallon of fresh orange juice. At the Long Pine Key campground I rode my mountain bike from Pine Glade Lake to the campground gate and back, a total of 12 miles. That evening I went to the evening ranger program and saw a good one on the Everglades as presented in movies, TV, and books. The presenter gave me a list of the best books and movies about the Everglades... something to start collecting!
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Tuesday, 18 February -
Today Orat and I drove to Biscayne National Park. The highlight of our visit was a film about ‘Stiltsville’, a small community built on scows and later pilings a few miles off Miami Beach. Stiltsville was both a family place and a notorious place, depending on which ‘house’ you visited. Some were private cabins on the water, others were private ‘clubs’ catering to the wild crowd.
We then drove up Route 1 toward Miami and on to Bill Baggs State Park. We walked around to the lighthouse and along the way watched the Coast Guard tow in a vessel. It was called the ‘Senora Maria’ and appeared to have dozens of people aboard. Two patrol boats followed, apparently to discourage anyone from swimming for the shore, and a helicopter hovered overhead. We also saw a helicopter filming several sequences of approaching the shore but believe those were unrelated to the Coast Guard events.
We then drove back into South Beach and took a Starbucks break. We were about to leave for lack of seeing anything when we noticed sidewalk restaurants beginning to open on Ocean Blvd. We walked up through the many restaurants offering happy hour drinks and fantastic meals, including some kind of margarita with two upturned beers in it.
We had to go back to feed the meter so took that opportunity to look up some local restaurants on the iPad and chose a Columbian one called ‘Bolivar’. We walked to the restaurant and had caipirinhas and tapas plates.
We then continued our walking tour up Washington Street to 16th and back to the van, our heads on swivels. I then drove the van to the airport (Miami International) where I’d be dropping off Orat tomorrow and then on to our campground, arriving well after operating hours. We were happy to find we could get in the gate and to talk to the security guy, Rick, who checked us in. We learned from Rick that we’d have to get up early to beat traffic so had our showers and retired early.
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Monday, 17 February -
Today we drove south toward Flamingo, stopping at Pa-Hay-Oki for a walk. At Flamingo we rented a canoe and drove back up to Nine-Mile Pond for the canoe trail. The trail took us a couple of hours and we lost the trail several times but not enough to be concerned.
Since we had stayed at Long Pine Key campground we were permitted to shower at Flamingo (Long Pine Key doesn’t have showers) and that felt great after our sweaty paddle.
We then returned to Long Pine Key in time for us to ride the mountain bike. Orat got lucky and saw a bobcat out on the Long Pine Key Nature Trail. After he was done riding I zoomed out there also but didn’t see the bobcat.
That evening we went to the ranger program for a show on snakes. Afterwards we weren’t ready for bed so went back to the Anhinga Trail for another night-walk among the alligators.
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Sunday, 16 February -
Today we toured Key West by van. We had a late breakfast at Le Petit Paris Cafe-- mimosas and lobster benedict, oh yeah!
After brunch we decided to go ahead and drive up the Keys on this pleasant afternoon. We took it slow and stopped at John Pennekamp State Park for a walk and a look at the SCUBA shop and campground.
We then drove back to Florida City and on to the Everglades, stopping for the obligatory fruit milkshake at Here Is Robert fruitstand. I also picked up a half-gallon of fresh-squeezed orange juice.
We stayed at Long Pine Key campground that night. Around 2000 we drove to the Royal Palm area and walked the Anhinga Trail boardwalk looking for gators. Not much happening tonight.
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Saturday, 15 February -
Today we headed for Key West. The drive is only supposed to take something like four hours from where we were but took most of the day. Traffic was heavy on this holiday weekend.
We called to reserve a spot at our normal place-- Boyd’s Campground, but all 280 sites were taken. Orat found an alternative 15 miles out called Lazy Lakes. We checked in there about 1500 and paid the $50 for our spot, then drove on in to Fort Taylor in Key West. We walked the few blocks to Mallory Square as sunset neared but didn’t wait it out. We were hungry so went ahead and ate at Meson de Pepe Cuban restaurant. We loved their caipirinhas.
We then walked the length of Duval Street and back before returning to the van and to our campground. We made it back by about 2200 and thought we had a problem--- there was loud music coming from a bar across the highway. But it stopped about 1030 and we had a very quiet night.
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Friday, 14 February -
We explored the Picayune Strand State Forest this morning. We saw a couple of deer but no turkeys, bears, or snakes. Everglades Boulevard is now closed while they work on a lifting station. Miller Boulevard is open the whole way to the end but then the road is blocked within a few hundred yards of turning east. We had to retreat the whole way up to Stewart to get across. All the roads off Stewart were blocked off until you get to the end at Patterson. It’s now just a rutted dirt road but we took it the whole way down to the canal. I had hoped to see where the old campground was but couldn’t get to it.
We then drove back to Stewart and on to the Fakahatchee Strand State Reserve and Jane’s Scenic Road. It was nearly impassable today. The grader has been working in the area and has large rows of vegetation and gravel in the road. It was okay going slow but occasionally we hit a wet spot and not be sure we would be able to get through. But by the time we got to the private camp, the road improved dramatically and we breathed a sigh of relief.
We stopped at the Fakahatchee Ranger Station but there was no one around. I like to talk to those guys about what’s going on in the area but no luck today.
At the hard road we turned toward Everglades City and went to the airport. The scenic-flights pilot, Chuck, returned from a flight about 20 minutes later. He was supposed to have a charter that afternoon but they cancelled so we got to go. We took the half-hour Ten Thousand Islands flight. It was great in that it was a little of everything--- Everglades, Wilderness Waterway, Big Cypress, Fakahatchee Strand, the Ten Thousand Islands, and a bit of Marco Island. Perfect.
We then drove to the Havana Cafe at Chokoloskee and had a media-noche sandwich and conch bisque.... and then split a key lime pie slice. Great food!
We then drove to Clyde Butcher’s Big Cypress Gallery as it neared closing. We had plenty of time and even got to see Clyde himself hanging about the gallery His work is so impressive. I wish I had the talent and drive for excellence that he has.
I had been thinking we’d then go to Bear Island for the night but we decided showers were a priority tonight and therefore went to Collier-Seminole State Park. The campground was full but they’ve now implemented an overflow policy and we were able to stay at the launch ramp.... which is far superior to the crowded and noisy campground and is a third cheaper. Once we had our place assured, we drove in to Marco Island to look around. We drove through some of the expensive neighborhoods and then circled back up to US41 and back to the campground for our showers and a quiet night.
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Thursday, 13 February -
This morning we drove through a development called ‘Rotonda’ just to see what this interesting place on the map might be. It turns out to be a development around an infrastructure of roads and canals in a distinctive circular shape (from the air).
We then drove on to Sanibel Island and on to Captiva. At the latter, we found Doc Ford’s Rum Bar and Grille, where we had a flight of expensive rums (four for $25) plus a a half-pound of peel-and-eat shrimp and a black-bean dip. We couldn’t eat any more though we’d have liked to try other plates.
We then toured the Ding Darling Preserve before driving on to the Naples area and on to the Picayune Strand State Forest’s equestrian campground. I’ve stayed here many times as a base for exploring the Picayune as well as going in to Naples itself.
That evening Orat and I took a short wildlife drive and I believe we may have glimpsed a Florida panther. The glimpse was so brief I can’t be sure but I had the distinct impression of a big cat (rather than a deer or bear).
I used the iPad to call home and talked with Labashi about the snow---- nine inches today but our neighbor helped out using his snow-blower. I then worked on the blog while Orat read.
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Wednesday, 12 February -
I normally head south from Orlando down through the middle of the state. But this time we re-routed the plan to circle the region counter-clockwise. We headed for the Rainbow River. Our trip was planned for two hours but we diverted to Spanish Village at The Villages where we had a big meal of fish and chips at Spanish Village and shopped at Walmart. That meant we didn’t get to Rainbow River until 1530. We first checked out Blue Run Park, where we learned a storm was due within the hour. We rushed to KP Hole County Park and then Rainbow River State Park, where we walked until the rain started. The rain came down heavily so we headed south, hoping to outrun it. We drove through heavy rain down I-75 to the town of North Port where we were denied at the loval Wal-mart--- a rare occurrence. At the recommendation of the manager, we drove on to Port Charlotte but at first were denited there too. But the manager had a change of heart and left it up to us to defy the local ordinance against overnight parking. We ha spent much of the day traveling and were happy to have a sandwich and crash in the Wal-mart parking lot around 2200.
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Tuesday, 11 February -
Frank brought the bikes, a 2008 Thruxton and a 2010 Scrambler, to our campground at 0900. We checked them over closely and signed the paperwork, then were on our way by 1000. We rode south to 192 then east to Holopaw and to Holopaw Ural, where we chatted at lenghth with owner Gene. After admiring the motorcycles, we had lunch at the Holopaw Restaurant. We then rode east to the cross-roads of Deer Park and from there circled north through Mormon cattle ranches to Nova Road and on back to 192. We then took 192 west across south of Orlando to Seminole Gliderport. Orat had gotten his glider signoff here years ago so it was an interesting place to visit and watch the gliders coming in.
We then rode up SR 33 to Alachua and the route 561 to its end, before heading back through the middle of Orlando to get back to our campground. We arrived back at Moss Park at 1930 after putting in 200 miles for the day. Frank then picked the bikes up at 2000 and we declared the day a rousing success.
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Monday, 10 February-
I drove to Orlando today and checked in at Moss Park, our staging area for our motorcycle ride. I cleaned up the van in anticipation of Orat joining me and called the motorcycle guy, Frank, to let him know we were ready for tomorrow.
I drove to the Orlando airport and picked up Orat at 1830. On the way back to Moss Park we had appetizers at the Nona Blue Tavern, an upscale place that was hoppin’ tonight.
We say up until about 2300 talking (back at the campground).
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Sunday, 9 February -
I overslept this morning. I was supposed to he out of the parking spot by 0800 and didn’t wake until 0830. I had been up till after midnight and, it turns out, set the seldom-used alarm clock incorrectly.
I quickly dressed and moved the van and went into the Walmart to pick up a gallon of water. I hit the nearby Starbucks for a breakfast coffee and then thought I’d head over to the Santos trailhead. But on the way I passed a sign indicating there’s a military vehicles show this weekend at the Market in Marion.... a large outdoor flea market venue.
I drove to the market and walked among the military vehicles, booths, and re-enactors. I liked seeing a few vehicles up close but the flea-market goods were boring. Nothing new here.
At the Santos Trailhead (mountain-bike trails), I first tried the Pine Tree Loop. After a break, I did ‘Dr. Ruth’ and ‘Bunny’ intermediate trails before returning via west side of the Pine Tree Loop. The Fitbit credited me with 14,500 steps. I’d say it was about a 12,000-step day.
I stayed there in the parking lot at the van and made a nice spinach salad for supper. I worked on the blog a bit but nearly fell asleep and it was just now dark.
I had planned to return to Ocala for the night and then drive to Orlando tomorrow but noticed I wasn’t far from the Summerfield Wal-mart near Lady Lake. It made more sense to just go there rather than back to Ocala only to back-track tomorrow.
I stopped at the Wal-mart to ask for the okay to stay overnight and then drove to the nearby Starbucks for a wi-fi connection and a long Skype call with Labashi. After, I noticed a Five Guys in the same shopping center and had a quick burger before returning to Walmart for the night.
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Saturday, 8 February -
I slept in until 0930 this morning because of the rain. I talked to Labashi as she was preparing to leave for the York Home Show. I then decided to go south to try to get out of the rain and get closer to Orlando for Monday.
I stopped at the downtown Starbucks for coffee and banana breakfast in Gainesville and realized I had missed this entire area. I had no idea there was a central restaurant district. It looks like fun and explains why yesterday evening I was seeing so many people out walking on a rainy night along the main street (about a block north of here).
I then headed for Micanopy and just drove in and stopped a bit as I listened to Car Talk. Again, a steady rain was putting a damper on things.
I continued to Ocala, stopping at a Honda/Yamaha motorcycle shop to look around. There were lots and lots of bikes but nothing interesting. I went into Ocala and then east to public lands visitor center and learned it’s closing in March for good. I hate to see that happen. I’ve always enjoyed stopping there to look around and chat with the volunteers staffing it.
I drove on to the ranger station for Ocala National Forest but it was closed due to the weekend.
I then looked up the local Anytime gym and took a quick look around. I didn’t want to exercise right now because I wanted to get to the bike shop before it closed. This one was better than the Gainesville one but still has the awful StarTrac equipment.
I drove on to the Greenway Bike Shop and there bought toe clips for the bike pedals and learned that singletracks.com would be the place to search for mountain bike trails.
I took a quick look at the nearby Santos mountain bike trailhead in the rain and then went back to the Anytime gym to exercise for an hour. I did a few weights then 30 minutes on the elliptical.
I drove back across Ocala to the SR200 shopping strip and had a burger at Five Guys and then a coffee at the Starbucks across the street. I skyped with Labashi for a half-hour about her day.
I then drove on to Walmart and walked around for a 1/2 hour and then back to the van to blog.
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Friday, 7 February -
This morning I was awakened by Labashi with a report on how our house is doing without heat. Temperatures in the house suggest we’re still okay to wait at least another day until we’d have to start winterization procedures. I have to say I’m surprised at how slowly the temperature in the basement is going down.
About 20 minutes after we hung up, Labashi called me back to tell me the electricity had just come back on! Of course we don’t know if it’s going to stay on but in any case this is great news---- we can get the house warmed up!
We went through the startup procedures, turned on the water, set the times on the water treatment gear, reset the cable TV box, set the thermostat, etc. The only problem was the cable TV box didn’t come up correctly. That was resolved by rebooting it-- no biggie.
I then drove Mocha Joe over to the Archer Street Starbucks to pick up a wi-fi signal and have a coffee/banana breakfast. The Starbucks down here have fresh bananas on the checkout counter and I now take one every time!
I spent the next few hours writing up details and lessons learned from our power outage and sent off the email to family.
I then drove over to the local mall for a walk on this rainy day. After, I looked for a restaurant and found a nice little Cuban cafe. I tried a medianoche and loved it. I then went to a 16-movie theater complex and couldn’t find a movie (!!).
I drove on to the east-side Wal-mart and walked some more to get 8k steps for the day. I went to bed tired without doing anything.
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Thursday, 6 February -
Well, it was a good thing Labashi stayed where she was. The power only stayed on for an hour last evening. I called her about 0900, just as she was leaving for our house. I had her stop along the way at the Walmart and get some RV antifreeze in case we need it to winterize the toilets.
It turns out the temperatures were surprisingly good. The upstairs was 53 and the downstairs 45. We decided to monitor for another day before doing any winterization we’d only have to back off once the power came up. She did, however, empty the fridge like we do when we travel. She also put items packed in glass jars (pickles, olives, etc) in the sink so if they freeze, they won’t make a mess in the cupboards. I also had her pull the plugs on the water treatment gear so it doesn’t run with the water turned off.
The temperature today was supposed to only reach 28 but I saw 35 on the weather report mid-afternoon. The radiant heat from the sun should help the house a good bit.
I tried to find a Buddy heater but couldn’t find any in stock in the region at Lowe’s and Walmart. I wasn’t far from a Lowe’s here in Florida so drove to it and looked for one. Florida had had its own cold wave so there were no propane heaters of any type in stock. I talked to the section manager and he said there were none in the region and he believes his orders are being ignored in favor of stores in the hard-hit northern states.
With things settled down, I went to the west-side Walmart and bought a replacement iPod. My good buddy iPod finally gave up and will not retain a charge. It was dead when I tried to listen to a podcast as I drove down from PA. It wouldn’t charge but I got it going by connecting to the laptop. But the next day it was dead again.
After lunch, I moved to the nearest Starbucks and connected up, then started up the new iPod (7th gen). I had a few problems getting it registered and getting content to synch to it but finally prevailed.
Around 1600 I drove over to the Anytime gym and did a few stretches and weights until an elliptical opened up, then did 30 minutes at 140-150 bpm heart rate. After my shower I found the nearby Texas Roadhouse and had a filet and a salad, then went back to the Walmart for the night.
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Wednesday, 5 February -
This morning I was awakened in my van (in the Gainesville North Walmart parking lot) at 0630 by a phone call from our Homesitter device. It was warning me we had had a power failure that had lasted an hour thus far (the Homesitter is set to wait an hour so it doesn’t make calls for a short outage).
I called Labashi and was surprised that I woke her up. I had assumed the Homesitter would make an audible alarm in the house while it was also alerting by phone. I passed along the info I had in the meantime gathered from tweets and from the York County Incidents web site. There were tree limbs down everywhere and many car accidents. We decided it’s better for her to stay where she is until at least noon and the day warms up and road-treatment crews get a chance to do their thing.
I was having my own weather event here in Gainesville in the form of rain. I wasn’t going to be able to ride today so I drove to the Starbucks and connected up with Labashi via Skype video to decide what to do. By that time we realized it was a serious event for the county and the state. Some 75 thousand people were affected in York County and over 400,000 in Pennsylvania. We weren’t going to see power for a few days at best. Also, the roads were still very icy and authorities were telling residents not to travel without good reason.
By 1630 we decided it was going to get too cold in the house for Labashi to stay and the roads had improved enough for her to venture out. With the overnight temperature going down to the low teens, it made sense for her to move now rather than wait. She drove to her parent’s apartment to sleep on an inflatable mattress we keep there for unplanned events like this.
I had spent much of the day on the phone but still had time to do a few things in between. I took the bike to Bike Works to see if they could adjust the derailleur so it would shift properly. The bike mechanic fixed it right up and didn’t charge me, apparently because I had bought a few small items from them the day before.
I had lunch at Five Guys and then drove to the Hann Art Museum on the campus of the University of Florida for a few hours.
I then went on to the local Anytime Fitness gym and took advantage of my portable membership. I fast-walked on the treadmill for 15 minutes and did a few reps on the abdominal machine until an elliptical came free. This is a different machine from mine back home but Level 8 felt about right and I did 15 minutes at that. My ulterior motive in going to the fitness center was to get a shower and I took care of that too.
I went on to a local park to make supper outside the van and catch up a bit with the laptop. I had a very pleasant evening there doing my thing while local kids practiced soccer under the lights.
At the park I also called Maypo to let him know we had an issue going on and to talk over some of my thoughts about my alternatives. He offered use of his propane heater but I’d rather not have to go get it if we don’t have to. Shortly after that call I received a call from our neighbor telling us the power was back on. I called Labashi and we decided she’d continue with the plan and stay the night at her parents’ apartment.
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Tuesday, 4 February -
This morning I woke to a very foggy morning so hung around reading my twitter feed to catch up on what’s happening. When the fog lifted mid-morning I headed back to San Felasco. I rode the Meadow View loop (about 2.5 miles) and rested up and had lunch.
The day was very warm-- about 83 degrees--- so I waited until 1530 so the sun would be losing intensity as I rode. This time I took the Cellon Creek Trail, a 4.5 mile loop with more elevation changes and a bit rougher in places. After another break I rode the Cottontail Trail again and then made supper outside the van.
After supper I moved the van to the equestrian area since by now it was in shade and that allowed me to park away from the trees. I had seen a lot of no-see-ums the day before and once dusk came in the mosquitoes drove me into the van. Parking more out in the open avoided these problems and I sat outside enjoying the pleasant evening. Again, I was in no rush to return to the Walmart but about an hour after dark I began hearing automatic gunfire. I guessed it to be about a mile away and I couldn’t see any lights anywhere around me. The shooting didn’t seem to be getting closer but I again decided I was smarter to move on.
I found the nearest Starbucks and caught up on the news while enjoying my coffee. Labashi reported she had six inches of snow and a large tree limb had fallen, nearly hitting our house. It narrowly missed our yard light in the front yard.
I’m not quite sure how the Fitbit counts bike-riding ‘steps’ but I see I accumulated 11,500 steps today. That seems about right for the way I feel.
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Monday, 3 February-
I had a mostly quiet night until 0500 when several trucks began work nearby-- the gas station tanker and some kind of Walmart delivery that had to be unloaded in the lot caused a lot of noise for a couple of hours.
I shopped at the Walmart for ice and what I call salad fixings... the baby spinach and all the extras I add on when I’m traveling alone. I then drove to the local library and set up the BearExtender to pick up the signal from the van. The BearExtender allows us to have a Skype Video call without bothering anyone or asking to use a special room or something in the library.
We talked for 45 minutes catching up.
I then went into the library and read the Palatka Times and the Florida Times papers. I then returned to the van and looked up bike shops, Starbucks locations, and Walmart locations in Gainesville. Normally I head south into the Ocala National Forest but I wanted to mix it up a bit and Gainesville isn’t far. As a college town Gainesville has a slew of bike shops so I plotted out a tour of them. I pretty quickly learned I needed to find the upscale shops rather than the little guys competing with Walmart... the latter shops just don’t have much selection. I found marker lights, a kickstand to match the flat-black bike, a rear fender that clamps on the seat post and a seat-locking cable. My favorite of the shops was Bike Works.
After a Starbucks break (and use of their wi-fi), I stopped at the north-side Walmart to be sure I had a place to stay tonight. That was on the way to San Felasco Hammock State Park and its mountain bike trails.
At San Felasco I rigged the bike with its new accessories and then rode the Cottontail Trail, my first off-road riding on my new bike. I took a break and then rode it again and rode about a mile of the Meadow View Trail and returned. That was plenty for Day One.
I had supper out of the van and had a very nice view across the fields as sunset came on. I worked on the laptop a bit but then thought I’d better head on back to Walmart so the park’s ranger doesn’t think I’m trying to stay overnight in an area that doesn’t allow it.
I spent an hour or so on the laptop back at Wally World.
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Sunday, 2 February -
After my strong drink at supper, I fell asleep before 2100 but woke this morning at 0130, thinking it must be close to dawn. Wrong!
I wanted a restaurant breakfast this morning but found the local Huddle House completely packed and nearby Lori’s breakfast place not open on Sundays. I instead drove to the riverside park in the historic district and took a walk. I had almonds and a banana from my on-board supplies so I was fine.
I worked on the blog until 1500, mostly because it was a foggy, wet day until about 1400. Once the sky cleared and the sun came out, I drove back to Ravine Gardens State Park and this time walked four miles on the trails to give me a total step count today of 11750. Good enough!
After dark I drove to the local Zaxby’s restaurant to give it my first try. I ordered the grilled chicken sandwich... and hated it! I could only finish half of the sandwich. It just wasn’t my thing, I guess.
I drove back to the Walmart for the night and again walked over to Chili’s to see what’s going on tonight--- Super Bowl Sunday! I had a margarita and a cup of chili and hated the chili. The texture of the meat was icky. So I had another margarita and watched the game.
Actually, I only saw about two minutes at the end of the first half, the half-time show, and then a minute of the second half. That’s enough. I’m not much of a football fan and this one was a blowout.
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Saturday, 1 February -
I left Walterboro this morning around 0830 and was soon in Georgia and then across into Florida. I had rain in Georgia but it cleared up in Florida. I stopped at the visitor center north of Jacksonville and loaded up on maps and brochures about state parks, bicycle trails, etc, and was surprised to find myself at the Palatka Wal-mart at 1430. I usually don’t drive as far the first day so normally end up in Palatka at the end of the second day.
I shopped for a few essentials at the Palatka Walmart, then looked up the local bike shop to buy a seat-post rack--- no luck there. I went on to Ravine Gardens State Park and rode the mountain bike for the first time. Ravine Gardens has a 2-mile scenic drive around it so I did that loop twice, changing the bars and seating position a bit between laps.
Afterward, I parked at the Walmart and walked over to the Chili’s restaurant I go to each time I come down here. My server, Sarah, must have been trying to impress me or something because she served me the strongest margarita I’ve ever had. I had asked for a tequila sidekick to an El Presidente margarita. Sarah brought an extra-large sidekick and whispered that the bartender had put the sidekick in the drink so she made her add another on the side as I had asked. That was far and away the strongest margarita I’ve ever had. It was great! Thank goodness I only had to walk across the parking lot to my van and sleep it off.
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Friday, 31 January -
I left for Florida at 0900 this morning. I decided this year this year that I’d go down I-81 rather than I-95 until South Carolina. That was great! The scenery is better along I-81, particularly in southern Virginia.
I was concerned the work on the van might affect its gas mileage but I was okay when on the first tank I got over 15 mpg. The second was a bit less, though, and I really should be getting closer to 16 on these trips where I can keep the gas pedal steady.
Traffic was light-to-moderate the whole way down to Lake Norman, North Carolina (on the I-77 cutover to I-95). It came to a stop and then barely moved for a half hour. That seemed interminable and I could hear the truckers on the CB saying it happens here every Friday evening and there’s no alternate route.
Traffic cleared and I was doing well until I had an odd GPS occurrence. As I drove south the GPS told me to get off not long after I had taken a break at a rest stop. The GPS not only took me off, it ran me back north parallel to the interstate and put me on above the rest area I had already seen! I suspected something like this was happening but couldn’t confirm it. At the rest stop I had noticed an older blue van parked out away from everyone else and with covered-up windows. I had figured the driver was staying the night there even though it’s generally against rest-area policies. The second time I saw that blue van I knew for sure I had be re-routed back above the rest area I had already been to.
That raises the question as to what the GPS will do now. If it took me off a few miles below the rest stop, shouldn’t it do the same this time? It did not. I believe the difference is the GPS had recalculated when I missed a turn and had to turn around and go back.
I drove on to Waltersboro, South Carolina where I knew I could stay overnight at their Walmart. I arrived shortly after 2200 and wasted no time retiring for the night.
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Thursday, 30 January -
I finished packing everything but the freezable stuff for my Florida departure tomorrow. Even airing up the tires was a hassle in such cold weather. Three air gauges failed to work and the gas station has to use a hose they keep indoors because moisture in the air line just freezes up. But time is short to departure!
At the gym, I set a new low for Level 10... FAR better.... 26:20! I need to get out of town.. I’ll never beat that!
That evening we watched a foreign movie but I can’t remember the title....
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Wednesday, 29 January-
I packed more into the van today. I loaded the folding mountain bike into the new bag and it fits!
It’s better than the using the shipping box and gives me more space around it to store accessories and other travel stuff.
I drove over to the storage unit to pay the rent and pick up my backpacking stuff for Florida, then went on to the gym. I did a 27:47 today on L10.
That evening we watched ‘Homeland’ 2:3:3 and the last two episodes of ‘Wild China’.
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Tuesday, 28 January-
I had some follow-up work to do on the Orlando reservations. I then had Labashi take me to Cycle Tech so I could pay for and pick up the Concours after it’s brake work and ride it home.
It was only 20 degrees out so the ride home was a good test of my repair to the heated jacket liner.
Back home I spent the rest of the day doing electrical work. I added two work lights at the far end of the basement, rewired the circuit to make it a switch-controlled receptacle (so I could plug in the work lights to it) and repaired the polarity problem with the near-end circuit. It’s all working now and I’m done with changes.
That evening we watched two ‘Homeland’ Season 2, disk 3 episodes plus President Obama’s State of the Union address.
No gym today-- I needed to finish the electrical work so I can leave for Florida in the next few days.
The storage bag for the folding mountain bike came today.
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Monday, 27 January-
This morning we had our initial 2013 tax-prep appointment with our tax specialist. We had an issue with estimated payments so I needed to do some more research when we got home for our next visit once we get the rest of the 1099 reports.
I went on to the hardware store and bought another set of parts for the second location (the lights over the back section of the rec-room).
I called Orlando and reserved the Thruxton and Scrambler for Orat and I to rent for the day in a few weeks. I also started loading the van with stuff that won’t mind the below-freezing weather until the trip.
At the gym I did a 27:45 on Level 10. That evening we watched ‘Wild China’ episodes.
Labashi really, really likes those.
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Sunday, 26 January-
This morning we continued talking with our guests then went out to brunch at Bistro 19 in downtown York. The highlight of my brunch was a drink called ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s Manhattan’ which featured Knob Creek whiskey and three pieces of well-done bacon.
After brunch our guests headed out and we went home. I had to take a nap--- wow that drink was strong!
That evening we watched the last two episodes of ‘Chasing Shackleton’ on PBS online (on Apple TV). I also had a long Skype call with Orat about our trip.
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Saturday, 25 January -
This morning we cleaned up the house for Labashi’s eldest brother and wife to visit. They arrived shortly after noon and we then drove on over to Mom and Dad’s apartment and then out to a very, very good meal at ‘What If West’--- my absolute favorite bowling alley/pinball emporium/fine dining establishment. (Actually they’re just in the same building).
Later on, we spent the evening with our guests, chatting late into the night and enjoying their company.
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Friday, 24 January -
Today I worked on flights for Orat’s visit with me in Orlando in a few weeks. I then called him and we settled in on dates for him to join me--- February 10-19.
At the gym today I felt fatigued but it turned out I did my fastest time yet on the Level 10 setting. I was just feeling the burn!
That evening we watched two ‘Gold Rush’ episodes and ‘Homeland’ S2:6. This episode purports to show action in Gettysburg but it’s not any part of Gettysburg I’ve ever seen. Must be Charlotte doubled for Gburg.
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Thursday, 23 January-
Today I worked on the circuit for the nearest overhead light receptacles. I changed from a direct-wire of a suspended-ceiling-hung fixture to a receptacle box with four outlets. I still have to keep the receptacle controlled by the wall switch but something’s wrong according to my tester. The tester shows hot and neutral are reversed and I can’t understand why.
At the light in the far section of the room I took down the old fixture and at first couldn’t understand why there were so many wires going into the box. Also, this was the shoddiest electrical work I’ve seen. The previous homeowner nailed a bare electrical box to the joist and didn’t even bother to use hold-downs or a cover nor to even put most of the junctures into the box at all. They were just hanging outside the box. I marked and undid the wires and traced them and tested them with a continuity buzzer to figure out which went where. I then re-wired in the receptacle with test-jumpers and tested successfully with the tester this time.
At the gym I did a 27:50 on Level 10-- a good time for all the more energy I seemed to have today. Overall I’ve been doing well but have to be careful of overdoing.
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Wednesday, 22 January-
We had five inches of snow overnight. I was up early for some reason so went out to shovel at 0630 to be sure Labashi would be able to go to her physical therapy appointment at 0815.
I then went back to the rec-room wiring problem with the overhead lights and nearly gave up.
I also ordered a carry bag for the folding mountain bike today. I had planned to do without it but the bike doesn’t fit into its shipping box well enough to I’m going to need the bag. Without the bag, I’d have to find somewhere else to put the front wheel and that’s just silly. I don’t need a bicycle front wheel cluttering up the already-small interior of the van’s living space. If the reviews of the bag can be believed, the entire bike fits in the bag and it’s thickness is only 12 inches. If that’s the case, it will fit under the bed.
That evening we watched ‘Chasing Shackleton’ on PBS-- a re-creation of Ernest Shackleton’s amazing survival story.
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Tuesday, 21 January -
I went back to see my dentist today--- again in snow--- to take care of a small problem-- didn’t even need novocaine.
I then began work on the rec-room overhead lights. I had problems figuring out how to make this work with the metal box requiring components to be so close together. When I finally remembered to wire it with pigtails, I solved the problem. The pigtails allowed me to wire out away from the box and then fold the wires into the back of the box.
We had about five inches of snow today.
That evening we watched episode 3 of ‘Wild China’ and episode one of Micheal Palin’s ‘Himalaya’.
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Monday, 20 January -
This morning I took down the first basement light fixture on our plan to replace them with low-temperature, high-efficiency units. I then spent an awfully-long time staring at the wiring, trying to understand it. I had to trace wires back and do some tests with my continuity tester to decode it.
I ran to the hardware store and after some searching and deciding, bought the electrical box, receptacles, and covers.
I didn’t make the gym today.
That evening i installed the light fixture but didn’t get into the wiring yet.
We then watched a ‘Gold Rush’ episode and episode 2 of ‘Wild China’
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Sunday, 19 January -
I continued Florida planning today and looked for a few accessories for the mountain bike. I also spent quite a lot of time reading up on the ceramic-coating process for my Thruxton headers and finally found good removal and installation procedures online.
No gym today.
I watched a Top Gear episode from 2003. Labashi’s so far into SketchUp she can’t take a break for a movie!
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Saturday, 18 January -
I spent most of the day on the web today, continuing with Florida trip prep. Among other things I’m checking Florida hunting laws. I want to do a bit of squirrel-scaring down there this year with my .22.
I also contacted a motorcycle rental guy about renting a Thruxton in Orlando. Seems like a good guy and the price is very comparable to the Bonneville I rented last summer back here.
No gym today-- rest day.
That evening we watched ‘Homeland’ s2:ep3 and the movie ‘Salinger’ on PBS. Good one!
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Friday, 17 January -
Today Labashi and I had another ‘date’ in town. We had lunch at Fuddrucker’s then hit the nearby Lowe’s and Home Depot for the lights I need for the basement and for Labashi to look at samples of stone facing for her project.
At the gym I did a 27:46 on Level 10. I’m surprised I could knock off that much time from yesterday’s initial run at that setting.
That evening we watched ‘Homeland’ season two-- first two episodes.
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Thursday, 16 January -
Today I installed a fluorescent work light above one of our worktables in the basement to see if we like it. We need to switch to T8 lights and I can’t find the same type of suspended-ceiling fixtures. So I’m thinking I’ll just suspend a garage-light-style fixture on the ceiling above rather than try to deal with the bulky and ugly new style drop-ceiling fixtures. The test went fine and Labashi gave me the okay to switch out the other ones.
Today I switched to Level 10 on the elliptical machine at the gym. I established a baseline of 29:13 for this new level.
That evening we drove in to York to try ‘Mission BBQ’. We tried the baby-back ribs and they were okay but not as good as Texas Roadhouse (MOST times). The decor at Mission BBQ was odd, I thought. It’s a mix of military, football, firefighting, and police displays and bumper-stickers. The food (our half-slabs of baby-back ribs) was served on a plain piece of paper on a cafeteria-style tray. Where are we? Boot camp?
installed light above work table to test the idea of replacing old lights
That eveing we watched a ‘Wild China’ episode.
--------------------------
Wednesday, 15 January-
Today I worked on getting the folding mountain bike back into it’s box. It turns out the bike is shipped partially dis-assembled (the pedals aren’t on it, for example) so it’s not quite so easy as I had envisioned.
I also painted the bad spot on the bike’s frame. I tried de-glossing the too-glossy paint with denatured alcohol (nothing) and then sanded it very lightly with 1000-grit sandpaper (looked good at first but just touching it made it shiny again). I finally went through several practice sprays from a distance onto a paper plate with some satin-black Rustoleum. Once I had the technique down, it only took a few quick shots of the paint onto the frame to look much, much better. If you look carefully, you can see something was done there but it no longer screams for attention.
At the gym I did a 23:14 today.
That evening we watched a new series-- ‘Wild China’-- episode 1.
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Tuesday, 14 January -
Labashi was off to town for some maintenance work (at the hairdresser’s) and then to Mom and Dad’s apartment.
I spent most of the day getting our replacement credit card into our auto-pay accounts. I had some minor problems but by mid-afternoon had it done.
At the gym I did a 22:46. I need to start thinking about a Level change. There’s only so fast that machine can go!
That evening we finally finished off Season 4 of ‘Parenthood’. Time for a break from all the drama.
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Monday, 13 January -
Today the carpet-stretch guys did their thing. Labashi and I moved furniture for them to keep things moving so the process only took a few hours and we had everything back in place by early afternoon.
I then rode the GS in to Sears to pick up sets of metric and standard hex-bit sockets. I’ll need them to install the Predators this Spring.
I didn’t go to the gym but did walk four miles at Rudy Park on this fine day. It was warm enough I only needed a light jacket.... nice!
That evening we watched ‘Now You See Me’, a silly movie about magicians robbing banks.
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Sunday, 12 January-
We have a guy coming in to stretch the carpet in three rooms tomorrow. We have a few little waves we want to get out.
I spent an hour today marking the cables on my entertainment complex so I can just unplug them tomorrow to move the cabinet out of the way.
I did manage to get in a ride on the GS to Starbucks today.
No gym.
That evening we watched two ‘Parenthood’ episodes’
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Saturday, 11 January -
Today I dashed off a photo and description of the Airhawk motorcycle cushion I bought cheap off eBay. My luck hasn’t been running all that great but this seems to be the exception. The cushion is in like-new condition and I got it for about 25 per cent of the cost of a new one.
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while, eh?
It rained all day today. Good for Labashi’s trees, not for motorcycling.
No gym today.
We watched a ‘Parenthood’ episode that evening. Funny how much I like a sappy show like Parenthood when we never had kids.
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Friday, 10 January -
Today I picked up Mocha Joe from its appointment for new leaf springs. I was shocked to see the difference between the estimate and final price and resolved never again to go without a written estimate and commitment. The guy did give me $75 off the labor charge so that help ease the sting a bit.
I don’t know quite what to make of the new springs. Where the van was sagging about two inches, it’s now raised two inches above level. It’s supposed to level out a bit in the first 1000 miles and it seems to drive fine. I’ll get a better idea on the Florida trip.
I did a 23:13 at the gym today on Level 4.
That evening we watched Rachel Maddow’s show on the New Jersey bridge scandal.
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Thursday, 9 January -
Today Labashi and I drove to Baltimore and Johns Hopkins for my CT scan and interpretation. I was amazed how well it went. One of the things I like about their Outpatient Center is they’ll take you before your appointment if they can. Today I finished both my blood test and CT scan an hour before I was scheduled for them. We did have to wait out the time for the urologist but the appointment was great.
On the way home we wanted to celebrate so stopped in south York at a new restaurant--the Front Porch Cafe. It’s showing a lot of promise. Everything wasn’t quite right but they’re so new the small problems are easy to overlook.
------------------------------
Wednesday, 8 January -
I slept very badly for some reason and never got to sleep until 0200, then woke for another hour at 0430.
I chatted with our guest about Reddit a bit before she left... she seemed genuinely interested.
I drove up to the bike shop and picked up the new mountain bike the hit the gym and did a 23:43.
That evening we watched the end of the season for ‘Mad Men’.
-----------------------------
Tuesday, 7 January -
I started prepping for my upcoming Florida trip today, starting with browsing through a guide to Florida’s paved bike trails. The mountain bike isn’t going to be great at paved bike trails but I want to sample some of the lesser-known ones.
Labashi’s high-school buddy arrived at 1430 on this ultra-cold day (high around 10 degrees). While they caught up I went to the gym and did a 23:14.
That evening I received a phone call from the bicycle shop owner and settled on a $75 refund for the poorly-done paint repair.
We spent the evening chatting away with Labashi’s buddy.
-------------------------------
Monday, 6 January -
This morning we cleaned the house for a visit from Labashi’s high-school buddy tomorrow. I also talked to our heat-pump guy to confirm that the freezing rain of the last day or so did not affect the heat pump. I’m ready to declare the new logic board a success.
I hit the gym that afternoon and hit a new low-- 22:53. Back home, I finished another of the ‘Dragon Tattoo’ series.
------------------------------
Sunday, 5 January -
This morning I ran an errand to the Walmart and then spent the rest of the day on the web. Labashi, as predicted, is glued to SketchUp day after day.
I had a long phone call with Maypo and noticed my Airhawk motorcycle cushion had finally shipped.... three weeks late.
I’ve started re-watching the ‘Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’ trilogy again. It’s available on Netflix as a six-part series with something like two hours of footage that didn’t make the US versions. We also watched a ‘Parenthood’. I’m surprised to see how they are dealing with the breast-cancer issue.
No gym today.
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Saturday, 4 January -
Today I finally repaired my Gerbing heated jacket liner. I took longer than I should have to determine which way to wire the plug but once it was done a test on the bike showed it was working correctly. The bad plug only controlled one glove so I was still using the jacket, albeit with one cold hand!
No gym today.
That evening we watched ‘La Camioneta’, a documentary about a US school bus getting a new life in Guatemala. We also watched a ‘Parenthood’ episode.
-----------------------------
Friday, 3 January -
Today was yet another snowy day. I shoveled snow for two hours and then took a nap (!) before going to the gym. I did a 23:54 this time.
That evening we watched three episodes of ‘Mad Men’.
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Thursday, 2 January -
This morning I drove up in snow to my dentist for a routine appointment. Labashi’s car did well overall but did have trouble accelerating away from a red-light in the icy conditions.
That afternoon I did a 23:20 at the gym. That evening I watched an old ‘Top Gear’ episode and then Labashi and I watched a ‘Parenthood’ episode.
----------------------------
Wednesday, 1 January 2014
It’s New Year’s day!
Since weather wasn’t bad today (mid-40’s), I rode the GS down to Starbucks for a coffee, then to Rudy Park and Rocky Ridge Park... just had to be out!
That afternoon Labashi and I joined Mom and Dad and a neighbor for cheesecake at their apartment. We had dinner with them later on before returning home.
That evening Labashi and I watched two episodes of ‘Chuck’ and three of ‘Parenthood’. I don’t think we’re going to be going any further with ‘Chuck’.
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Tuesday, 31 December -
I again spent much of the day online but did take time out to go get some light bulbs for Labashi. She’s convinced we’ll need some of the old incandescent bulbs and today’s the last time they’re available so I bought a couple of packs. I’ll be surprised if we use them.
At the gym I set a new low at 23:00 for the 3-miles on Level 4 of the elliptical machine.
That really took it out of me.
-----------------------------
Monday, 30 December -
I picked up my new mountain bike today but immediately regretted it and took it back. I didn’t look it over closely before leaving the shop but I didn’t go far. I stopped for a break at the nearby Starbucks and as I was sitting there enjoying my coffee I decided I’d better take a closer look rather than run all the way home first. I drove to a bank parking lot and pulled the bike out for a look-see. Sure enough, there was a bad paint blemish on the frame. Apparently something scratched the frame and someone tried to cover it up by spraying it with flat-black paint (the finish is a matte-black powder coat). But the paint didn’t dry uniformly-- there were gloss-black sections which were very obvious. I took the bike back and said I wanted a replacement or some type of adjustment on the price (and I’d fix it myself). The owner, to his credit, said he’d contact the factory and let me know what they’re offering to do about it.
That afternoon I did a 24:17 at the gym on the elliptical. My total visit is still an hour so that just gives me a bit more time on the weight machines.
That evening we watched the movie ‘C.O.G’.
----------------------------
Sunday, 29 December-
I again spent most of the day online but since it was a warmer-than-average day I rode the GS to the West York Lowe’s and bought the 15-foot electric cord for the van. I want to re-arrange the shore-power hookup.
No gym today (rest day). We watched two ‘Mad Men’ episodes that evening.
----------------------------
Saturday, 28 December -
I spent all day online today. And it’s a rest day, so no gym today.
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Friday, 27 December -
This morning I looked into SketchUp after being introduced to it by Maypo on our Christmas visit. He’s planning on building a garage this Spring and created an impressive 3D model of it in SketchUp. As soon as I saw it I knew Labashi would love it for her front-entrance project.
I helped Labashi get by some uploading problems with her Christmas video and spent and spent some browsing time on Expedition Portal.
At the gym, I drove the Level 4 time down to 23:14... almost a minute faster.
That evening we watched the movie “Angel’s Share”.
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Thursday, 26 December -
After breakfast with our hosts, we headed home with a stop at Lowe’s in Shippensburg. Labashi worked on editing her video footage the rest of the day and I went to the gym--- another goodie--- 24:21. No movie today--- we were busy on our laptops.
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Wednesday, 25 December -
Today we drove to Chambersburg for Christmas with my brother Maypo. We had a great time and Labashi kept the little ones busy making a video trailer. After dinner we talked well into the evening and then crashed in Mocha Joe in the driveway. What a pleasant family day.
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Tuesday, 24 December -
I emailed British Customs today about my long-overdue order. I imagine the Black Friday sale must have backlogged them. I joined TriumpRat, a rider’s forum for Triumph motorcycles and posted my first question. Once I receive the Predators I’ll have to have the program for the electronic fuel injection changed. I asked what problems I might encounter having my dealer do this work.
I also sent an email to my brothers recommending metareddit.com as a good place to start to see what Reddit groups are all about.
I set a blistering pace at the gym today on the elliptical machine--- 24:14! That evening we chatted with our grand-nephew and grand-niece on their new laptops via Skype. Labashi and I then watched a movie-- ‘Comes A Bright Day’.
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Monday, 23 December -
I drove to our local Giant today on an errand but the store was so crowded I left. That’s never happened before! It was perhaps a combination of not really needing the item I went for and having to wait in a long line to pay.
I went to the nearby state store and bought booze for our Christmas visit to Maypo’s house.
At the gym, I talked with the owner about a new Gold’s gym opening up in our area and learned she actually had three territories. She’s considering an aqua-massage table for one of the new ones. I’d like to try that.
I did a 25:13 at the gym today, tying a low.
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Sunday, 22 December -
Today I received an email from Ebay which had been sent on Friday from the seller of an Airhawk seat. I had won the auction but the seller was going out of town and told me if I paid right away (on Friday), she could mail it before she went away. But Ebay never forwarded me the email until today. Now I’ll have to wait until after New Year’s.
Labashi and I went to Lowe’s on a ‘date’ and I looked for an electrical cord for the van but without success. We also looked at windows and posts for Labashi’s new house projects.
No gym today--- weekend rest day.
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Saturday, 21 December -
I spent more research time on lightweight campers today. I then went out to the van and removed an old-technology light and then repaired a problem with the Fantastic Fan. It turns out the fuse had been blown and it took me way too long to determine that.
No gym today--- rest day.
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Friday, 20 December -
I took Labashi’s car to Mechanicsburg for its appointment today and walked next door to talk Tacomas. The deal from these guys is in the ball park and if I pull the trigger it will probably be with them. But still, I’m frustrated that I can’t get what I want.
As I headed home I decided to drop in on the bike shop to see if my mountain bike had come in yet. It was indeed here but the folding pedals haven’t arrived yet. I took a quick look at it in the warehouse.
Also, late in the day I called the All Terrain Campers guy and asked a few questions about their ‘Bobcat’ model. But if I want one, I’m going to have to drive to Reno to pick it up.
At the gym I did a 28:40... much slower than recent times.
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Thursday, 19 December -
Today I worked an email photo resizing problem for Labashi. I then unloaded the ATV and Thruxton from the enclosed utility trailer and loaded up the Concours. I had tried riding the Concours this morning and found the brakes locked up. Apparently the calipers will not retract sufficiently.
I also did some research on lightweight truck campers but I’m not yet sold on the idea.
At the gym I did a 26:10 on the elliptical machine.
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Wednesday, 18 December -
Today I called Eric at Hoak’s to confirm the plan for replacing the springs in Mocha Joe. I then researched Toyota Tundra pickups a bit to determine if it makes sense to go Tundra rather than Tacoma.
I received and tested my new Bear Extender wi-fi antenna today and had problems with it. The old version of the software conflicted with the new version so that took some sorting out with the staff engineer at Bear Extender. Good thing I tested now rather than after I leave for Florida.
Another new record today at the gym... 25:13.
We watched two episodes of the series ‘White Collar’ but were not impressed.
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Tuesday, 17 December -
I called British Customs for an update on my Predators order today. I was told they have just returned from the powder coater and should go out in the next day or so.
I ran an errand to the post office for Labashi and then shoveled out the driveway again. I also talked to Chris, the heat pump guy about the success with the heat pump logic board.
I scheduled Labashi’s car for an oil changes of both the engine and transmission.
I set a new low at the gym today... 25:23.
We watched two episodes of ‘Gold Rush’ to catch up.
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Monday, 16 December -
I spent a good bit of time searching for a Gerbing extension cord so I can repair my heated jacket. I finally found I can order the extension from Revzilla and not only get a discount but also get it shipped for free. Yes!
I also searched for an Airhawk cushion for my motorcycles and a new helmet but didn’t buy either. I received a call from Hoak’s today telling me the air-bags won’t work. The mounting instructions call for seven to eight inches of clearance between the frame and leaf spring and due to spring sag I only have about five inches. Labashi and I picked up the van and I told Eric to schedule another appointment, this time to replace the sagging springs with new, heavy duty ones. I posted a message on Ford-Trucks forum describing the situation to see if anyone else has experienced this too-much-sag problem.
That evening we watched ‘Mad Men’ and ‘Gold Rush’ episodes.
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Sunday, 15 December -
I shoveled snow and cleaned off the van for my appointment at Hoak’s tomorrow. I spent much of the day on the web. Late in the day we dropped the van off and then went out to eat at the Blue Heron restaurant in East York. Good place!
shoveled snow and cleaned off van for
No gym today--- it’s a recovery day.
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Saturday, 14 December -
We were supposed to have snow today but it didn’t start until 1400. I spent the day online, mostly on Expedition Portal. I saw three episodes of Xpedition Overland, a webisode series about travelling to Yukon.
With the right-at-freezing weather I had a close eye on the heat pump and it seems to have come through unscathed. The new logic board seems to be doing its job.
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Friday, 13 December -
I made a run to town for earbuds for the ipod today. My old ones have given up the ghost. I also tried to find a menu frame at Target. I bought an old advertisement for the Dynavan I used to own off Ebay and am looking to display it. No luck at Target, though.
Labashi gave me a coupon for Panera Bread so I had lunch there today and bought baguettes.
At the gym I did a 26:54--- my first time under 27 minutes for Level 4 on the elliptical.
That evening I watched an Xpedition Overland episode and two eps of ‘Damages’.
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Thursday, 12 December --
I finished charging up the micro-jump starter battery today and put it in the saddlebags of the GS, just in case. I have to remember to move it to the van for my trip.
I called my credit union today about the rewards I don’t seem to be getting. It turns out I just have to tell them to transfer the amount whenever I’m ready. With the old system I didn’t get a transfer until November but with the new one I can tell them to transfer anytime I have at least $25 in rewards.
I washed the van in preparation for its appointment for air-bags. It still has a lot of mud from the ATV trip to New York but today’s wash cleared that off.
Labashi was in town all day and I did a 27:43 at the gym.
That evening we watched ‘Mad Men’ and ‘Damages’ episodes.
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Wednesday, 11 December -
I email James Maund at Maundspeed today to say thanks for shipping my fender-elimination kit for free in thanks for my writeup on the web site problems I saw. I also called the bike shop about the mountain bike order but of course it’s way too early.
Labashi and I did some grocery shopping at Wal-mart and then she drove up to see Dad and I went to the gym (27:40 today).
That evening we continued with ‘Damages’ Season Five.
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Tuesday, 10 December -
We had four inches of snow today so I shoveled that first thing. I then called up Hoak’s Four Wheel Drive and told Eric to go ahead and order in the air-bags for the van. These are Firestone Sport-Rites.
I did a 27:23 at the gym today and then we watched an episode of ‘Damages’ season 5 that evening.
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Monday, 9 December -
Today I researched the Octagon adjustable stem for new mountain bike. I called the shop to ask about including one on the order and was surprised to hear the tech say they refuse to install them but he will install a different brand. I called the Octagon customer number to ask whether they’ve had any problems reported but the girl said everyone’s in a meeting so someone will call back. They never called.
I contacted Johns Hopkins once again and finally made some real progress. Now I have a CT scan and follow-ups scheduled.
I also tried to research a Skamper 060 mini-camper today. Orat sent me a link to an Ebay sale of one and it looks like a very interesting alternative for the Tacoma. If I could get it that cheap I could gut the camper and set it up just like I want. Unfortunately, there’s not much about Skamper 060s on the web.
At the gym I did a 28:40 on level 4 today.
That evening we watched two episodes of ‘Damages’- S5.
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Sunday, 8 December-
I spent much of today on Expedition Portal, researching the Tacoma. That site led to other research, including a micro-jump starter a lightweight come-along, a high-lift jack, travel in Baja, and Tacoma suspension mods. I ordered the micro jump starter kit from AntiGravity Batteries.
I skipped gym today because of the icy roads. I was wondering whether to go out and checked the county incident reports web site. There were wrecks everywhere--- and two of them along my travel path to the gym! No thank you!
That evening we watched the first two episodes of ‘Damages’ - Season 5.
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Saturday, 7 December-
I dug in once again on the Tacoma SR5 with a FWC Eagle model camper versus a TRD Off-Road with an FWC Finch today. I think the Finch is just too small, dang it.
At the gym I did a 28:22 on the elliptical machine and made my weight circuits as usual.
That evening we watched the end of season one of ‘Homeland’. Well done!
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Friday, 6 December -
I spent the day researching the Tacoma, digging deep into specs and option charts. It turns out I can’t get what I want. There’s no long bed available on the Off-Road version and no differential-lock on any model BUT the Off-Road one.
I drove down to Hoak’s Four Wheel Drive and talked to Eric about airbags for the van and about an air-locker differential for a Tacoma SR5. I came home and compared prices on the air bags but decided to go with Hoak’s anyway since they do require some expertise to install and I didn’t trust other shops I’ve talked to about them (for lack of experience).
We watched the next to last episiode of Season One of ‘Homeland’ that evening. No gym today.
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Thursday, 5 December -
I called my local Toyota dealer and asked about the long-bed option for the Tacoma Off-Road version. That led to my taking a drive in to the dealership and meeting salesman Elroy. And that led to me driving a brand new Tacoma Off-Road home for the night. When Labashi came home we took it for a quick drive and then drove back to the dealer. We hated it. This one had the optional high-performance cat-back exhaust and it buzzed like crazy. It didn’t sound good at all-- just buzzy.
After dropping off the Off-Road Elroy gave us a demo drive in an SR5 and that was much better. I absolutely do not want the cat-back exhaust.
No gym today.
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Wednesday, 4 December -
Today I drove up the the bike shop in Camp Hill and ordered my mountain bike for Florida. It’s a Montague Paratrooper Pro and will take two weeks or so to come in. The shop is a dealer for these but not a stocking dealer so everything is an order from the west coast.
Since it was warmer than normal I rode the GS to Rudy Park and walked today, totalling 13K steps for the day.
Back home, I called Maundspeed and ordered the fender elimination kit for the Thruxton.
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Tuesday, 3 December-
Today I researched a fender elimination kit for the Thruxton. I came close to buying but didn’t trust the web site. It had a few too many errors and I wasn’t clear on the ordering process.
Labashi’s tree guy from Bartlett came to survey her trees. We always seem to learn something from these sessions and Labashi’s good at keeping the cost down by doing most of the work herself. Where we need specialized spraying or something like that, the pros get the job but even then she’s good at figuring out what things we can defer and which are important to get done now.
I contacted my urologist at Johns Hopkins today, again in an effort to get back on track with my annual CT scans. This call seemed to get things moving again.
I also contacted two powder coaters about ceramic-coating the Thruxton’s header pipes once I get the Predators. The headers are discolored and costing them with a black ceramic to match the Predators should really look good.
I ran an errand for Labashi and saw there’s a 2009 Tacoma pickup at the nearby car dealer’s lot. I met with a sales guy but decided not to take a ride since the bed is a short-bed and I’ll want a long-bed. Still, it’s good to see how tough it is to get into a raised-three-inches Tacoma. That’s what I was thinking of doing if I get one and that’s too high for comfortable entry. Perhaps a side-step or rock-sliders would help.
At the gym I felt tired and did a 27:40 on level 4. Back home, we did two ‘Homeland’ episodes to finish disk 3.
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Monday, 2 December -
This morning I ran over to mail some gifts and get cash from the ATM and hit Wendy’s on the way back. Our Wendy’s really, really needs to learn about the concept of hot burgers.
That afternoon I ordered the Predators from British Customs.
At the gym I set a new low at 25:38 for level 4 and put in my regular weights time.
That evening we watched two episodes of ‘Homeland’ season one, disk 3.
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Sunday, 1 December -
I spent way too much time looking for deals today but did find a good one. British Customs had Predator exhaust silencers on sale with 10 per cent off and free shipping. Now that’s the kind of deal I was looking for.
I hit the gym late in the afternoon and did a 27:04 on the Level 4 setting.
That evening we finished the season on ‘Parenthood’.
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Saturday, 30 November -
I found a deal on wire shelving units at Lowe’s so Labashi and I drove in and bought six of them. We’ll be using these next spring when we re-organize (and re-side) the barn. I also checked out deals on ethernet-over-electrical-wires and Garmin deals for GPSs and topo maps but again came to the conclusion I don’t need them. I emailed Maypo in response to his seeking some info on electronics for his travel trailer (i.e., how to manage them when you’re not connected to 110-volt power).
I rode the GS to the gym today and did a 26:48 on Level 4 (plus my regular weights circuits).
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Friday, 29 November-
I spent much of today looking for Good Friday deals but without much success. I could find what looked like good deals but not on stuff I need.... in which case it isn’t a good deal!
At the gym I did a 27:23 for Level 4 on the elliptical and did my regular half-hour of weight machines.
I called Maypo by phone that evening and chatted for 45 minutes or so. We then watched the end of season 2 of ‘Scandal’. I’m ready for a break from that.
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Thursday, 28 November -
I email my brothers about the second SpaceX Falcon launch attempt I watched and then Skyped with Orat for an hour or so. That afternoon I installed another LED panel in the van, this one in the cargo light at the rear (inside) of the van.
We went over to Mom and Dad’s for dinner and I walked 5K steps to somewhat make up for missing the gym today.
That evening we watched the third-in-a-row SpaceX Falcon launch failure. Back to the drawing board.
That evening we also watched 2 episodes of ‘Parenthood’ and the end-of-season ep of ‘Call the Midwife’.
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Wednesday, 27 November-
I called our heat-pump installer today and learned others have the problem too. There’s a fix for it that involves changing the logic board on the heat pump to change the defrost pattern and to spin-up the fan blades if the defrost cycle hasn’t run during some low-temp conditions.
I called Vagabundos Del Mar today to get more info on a Mexico tour trip they have listed on their web site. Labashi and I have been getting excited about this one. It’s a 60-day ‘wagon train’-style RV tour for five to a dozen RVs. This tour goes down the east coast of Mexico, crosses over after the Yucatan peninsula to the west coast and returns up to California.
That would be perfect. There’s emphasis on history and culture and wildlife. Unfortunately, it has just been cancelled due to lack of participants. Rats! I left my contact info in case there’s talk of another try next year. We then spent a few hours searching for a similar trip but the few available seem to be short and concentrating on hanging out at the beaches.
At the gym today I did a 27:23 on Level 4. That evening we watched the movie ‘Kon-Tiki’.
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Tuesday, 26 November-
Today I installed LED lights in the van’s dome/map lights fixtures. These are slick little 20-LED panels, warm-white in color, which replace the torpedo-shaped bulb. An adapter fits into place where the bulb had been but contains only a spring, connectors, and wiring to the LED panel. These are brighter, draw far less wattage, and do not put off any appreciable heat. They were super-simple to install but depended on a double-sided tape to mount the panel to the adapter. That won’t last long so I ran a zip tie around it for security. I love them!
We’ve noted some action in the corn field across from our house for the last few days. We see trucks and tractors and a small loader (Bobcat). But the equipment is just on the far side of a small hill so binoculars don’t help us see any details. I did see, however, that several of the trucks say Springettsbury Township on the side. I think I know what’s going on...
I called the Springettsbury Township waste officer and talked to him for 20 minutes or so. As we suspected, the preparation is for an application of biosolids from the sewage plant onto the farmer’s fields. The guy was great at answering and even anticipating questions I might have. As I told him. we’ve not had any reason to object to the program; we just wanted to know what’s going on. I then wrote up a memo-for-the-record about it and forwarded that to my brothers.
I also sent an email to my brothers today about the red fox I saw this morning. It came out of the eastern fenceline of the corn field and gave me a spectacular side view as it crossed. I believe this one was only the third or fourth fox we’ve seen in the 30-plus years we’ve lived here.
At the gym I did a 28:09 for 3 miles on Level 4. I’ve learned the Fitbit doesn’t give me credit for my steps on the elliptical. I tried moving the Fitbit to my sneaker laces and that did better but still only captured about half the steps.
That evening we watched two episodes of ‘Homeland’ (on disc 2). We had been having freezing rain through the day today and sure enough our heat pump started making noise this evening. I took the video camera out and made a short video of it and then turned the unit off. I can use warm water to get the ice off but then would just have to worry about it through the night. I turned down the thermostat for the heat pump so it won’t come on and turned up the electric baseboard heat thermostats. I’ll deal with it tomorrow.
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Monday, 25 November-
When Labashi’s brother and wife visit, we go out to breakfast the next day. Today we tried Tapenade at the Tollgate shopping plaza south of York. Good choice!
After seeing our guests off I turned to researching folding mountain bikes. I’ll be going to Florida again this winter and was thinking I’d perhaps take a dual-sport motorcycle on a carrier on the back of the van. But there are lots of problems with that. I already have three motorcycles and limited space for them. Even if I have a great time with a new one in Florida, I still have a long-term commitment for license, insurance, maintenance, and storage space. Also, hauling a motorcycle on a carrier rack means it will get covered in dirt and dust and rain.
A folding mountain bike serves multiple purposes and, when folded, fits under the bed in the van. I can explore forest roads, mountain bike trails, paved bike paths, and just use it around the campground. I contacted the local dealer for the brand I’m interested in and confirmed what the deal would be. Essentially I’d pay list price but there’s no additional shipping or assembly fees and I’d get free tuneups for a year.
That afternoon I did a 28:01 on Level 4. That evening I watched a Breaking Bad episode (Labashi doesn’t care to watch these). I also watched a live web event for the launch of the Space-X Falcon rocket but it was scrubbed.
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Sunday, 24 November-
Today we cleaned house for visitors in the morning and then greeted Labashi’s eldest brother and his wife at 1300. We drove over to Mom and Dad’s apartment and had dinner at a new restaurant for our group-- the ‘What If West’ in Camp Hill. We were very happy with our meals and drinks and very much overdid it on the appetizers. Good place!
We spent the evening chatting. No gym today.
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Saturday, 23 November -
Today I decided I’d repair my Gerbing heated jacket. I had damaged it on the New York ATV trip when I packed it in a sharp-edged trunk and accidently cut off one of the plugs for my gloves.
I got out my soldering tools before realizing the plug was nowhere to be found. I probably stuck it in a pocket and lost it while pulling out my keys or phone or something. So much for that!
I looked into buy a plug but was chagrined to learn I’d have to buy an extension cable for $11 and pay another $10 to have it shipped to me. I think I’ll see what Radio Shack has.
I took the Thruxton for a ride and then put it in the ATV trailer for the winter. If we have some nice weather or I want to take the ATV somewhere, I can run out the bike for the day and put it back in that night.
Earlier this Fall I decided to quit messing with ethanol-doctored fuels for the bikes once Fall hits. I bought 15 gallons of ethanol-free (‘E0’) fuel and mixed in Sta-bil. Since I don’t put all that many miles on at a time in colder weather it’s easy to just decide to avoid gas stations and fill up at home. Fifteen gallons doesn’t sound like much but I get 62 mpg on the GS and 42 each for the Concours and Thruxton so it’s fine.
That afternoon I cleaned the rain gutters yet again and found the front ones jammed full of pine needles.
I did a 30:30 on Level 4 on the elliptical at the gym and then watched the first ep of the latest season for Breaking Bad that evening.
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Friday, 22 November -
On my return from the ATV trip in western New York last week, I noticed the Skyline Drive at Williamsport, PA was open. I suppose this is because of hunting season access. I called the tourist bureau and they didn’t know but gave me a number for the state forest district. I talked to a ranger there and learned it’s indeed opened for hunting access. The road is supposedly good at least to the antenna towers atop the mountain but she wasn’t sure whether you can do the entire loop back down to the city. I remember doing it years ago, probably in the 70’s. I sent off an email to my brothers about it.
I also researched portable air solutions.... specifically 12V air pumps with a continuous duty cycle. The trade-off here is to find something small and light enough to fit somethere convenient in the van. In the end I didn’t find anything that seemed to fit the bill so I’ll continue to rely on my old hand pump for now.
I also swapped in a new cafeteria tray on the side door of the van. I had mounted one using brackets from an RV place years ago. It’s a great place to put our little butane stove for cooking outside (when conditions permit). The old tray was made of melamine and had cracked a long time ago. I tried gluing it back together and that worked until the first time I bumped it again. The new one is polystyrene and is tough enough. We’ll see what it does in hot weather, i.e., whether it warps or sags or whatever.
At the gym I did a Level 4 time of 29:10, a massive reduction in time. That evening we watched two episodes of ‘Scandal’.
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Thursday, 21 November -
I rode over to Radio Shack looking for a switch for Mocha Joe’s map lights but didn’t find anything useful. Back home, I remembered I had bought a manual on CD for my old Aerostar and it had the manual for Mocha Joe on it. I had to use Labashi’s old Windows machine to read the CD but was very happy to find removal instructions for the map lights on it. As soon as I saw the diagram, I realized I have an answer. In order to remove the lights, you rotate them past the stop for normal operations. This disconnects them from power entirely. All I have to do is rotate them past the stops and when I want light, rotate them to the normal operating position. Good one! I wrote this up on the Ford-Trucks forum, complete with photos.
Today I did a 30:30 for the 3 miles at the gym on Level 4. Heart rate was 147.
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Wednesday, 20 November-
I went to the gym this morning. I established a baseline of 31:37 for 3 miles on the elliptical machine set at Level 4. That’s a place to start, anyway.
We spent the afternoon at Mom and Dad’s. My job was to try to get the fax function working on Dad’s multi-function printer. I got it to work but it’s so complicated that I don’t think this is going to be useful. In the end we decided it’s better for Dad to use the fax machine at the front desk and pay a couple of bucks for it rather than become frustrated trying to make his work.
We started the ‘Homeland’ series tonight by watching episodes 1 and 2. Looks like a good one!
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Tuesday, 19 November -
Today we cleaned up and did a bit of shopping for vistors this afternoon. Our friends are headed to Australia and New Zealand in January 2014. We gave them maps and guide books and lent them an Australia/New Zealand maps chip. We had a great evening catching up and telling stories.
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Monday, 18 November -
Today I installed a new stainless steel hitch ball (from Pep Boys) on the hitch. I then posted questions about the overhead lights in my van’s cab to the Ford-Trucks.com forum. I”m trying to figure out how to avoid killing the battery. The lights rotate and if you leave them between settings, they can turn on when I close a door. If I don’t notice, the battery dies.
At the gym I did a bit under 3 miles on the elliptical machine. I’m starting to like this thing. It’s a lot easier on the feet and legs than the treadmill and monitors my heart rate. I’ve got to figure out how to measure improvement.
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Sunday, 17 November -
It’s mid-November and I’m painting! Today was around 50 in temperature and we have colder weather coming so I needed to get that receiver hitch done. I brushed on a coat of gloss black and it looks like new. The cleanup of the rust and the painting was quite easy. I should have done this a long time ago.
I then mowed the ‘lower 40’ of our lawn and again skipped the gym.
That evening we watched an episode of ‘Call the Midwife’ and one of ‘Scandal’.
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Saturday, 16 November -
Today I drove over to Mount Zion Off-Road in Dover to get a quote on air-bags for the van. The kid seemed enthusiastic but not real knowledgeable, at least about this subject.
On the way home I stopped at a car-dealer to look at a Tacoma and a Ford Ranger. I think I’m more of a Tacoma guy but the Ranger did seem to be the better deal. It was an FX4 model but had a manual transmission. I think I’m going to need the auto so Labashi can drive it.
Back home I got under the back of the van with a drill and wire wheel and cleaned off the rust and chipping paint from the receiver hitch. I then painted it with rust primer.
That afternoon I mowed the upper area and decided I didn’t need to go to the gym today.
That evening we watched two eps of ‘Parenthood’.
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Friday, 15 November -
This morning I called Johns Hopkins to try to get back on track with my annual CT scan. That didn’t go well. I’m surprised how difficult it has been to communicate with the staff running a trial I was inquiring about. The coordinator didn’t seem receptive to my questions as soon as they got more complex than the basics of how do I sign up. I tried calling the doctor in charge of the trial but he (of course) wasn’t available. At the backup number for him, a lady told me I wasn’t allowed to call there.
I disassembled Labashi’s old drill just to see if I could and saw it was indeed burned up and beyond repair. I spent an hour or so trying to clean up the ATV from it’s weekend mud bath. I don’t think I’ll ever get it back to new-looking.
I oiled the Thruxton’s chain (at 1500 miles) and then rode to the gym for an hour.
That evening we watched the end of season four of ‘The Good Wife’. That’s still the most consistenly-good series on TV.
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Thursday, 14 November-
Today I wrote up an email for my brothers on the various travel wallets and safes I’ve tried. Turns out the simplest is the best. Orat called on Skype for an hour or so and then I researched topographic maps chips for my Garmin as well as new GPS units. I was surprised to learn Garmin limits which units the map chips work in, I assume to encourage you to buy multiple GPSs. In this case, it made me realize I’m better off to keep my old 255W than to go with a newer model which won’t support my Australia/New Zealand chip or any topo map chips I want to get.
That afternoon I rode the Thruxton to the gym for an hour there. That evening we watched two ‘Good Wife’ episodes.
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Wednesday, 13 November-
I was up early today-- just couldn’t sleep any more at 0630. After writing emails to Orat and Maypo I rode in to the gun shop to check on availability of a rifle and a pistol I have my eye on. No luck. Both were over-priced and not readily available.
I had lunch at Fuddruckers and bought a few items at Harbor Freight-- a cargo net for the back of the van, some extra drill bits, and a push-stick for the saw. I also picked up some water softener salt at Lowe’s on the way home.
At the gym I put in an hour including 30 minutes on the elliptical machine at a 137 heart rate.
That evening we watched a Parenthood episode and a documentary on JFK.
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Tuesday, 12 November-
Today, Labashi spent all day working with her Mom and doctors on a health issue. I spent most of the day on the laptop. I researched a new drill for her tree-fertilization project. She’s drilling two-inch holes near the tree roots of her beloved hemlocks to insert fertilizer well down the root system. Our old JC Penney’s drill lasted quite a while doing this but finally burned up. I found a heavy-duty half-inch Bosch unit which both had good reviews and is currently on sale. I also responded to an email from Optima batteries about some bad info on their web site. I had alerted them to a problem but the customer service rep clearly is only there to provide canned answers and tell me how valued I am as a customer. I also wrote a thank-you note to Jan, a New York state forest service rep who suggested some interesting places to go for Orat and I on our recent trip. Late in the day we drove in to Lowe’s to pick up the drill and had supper at Chili’s. We then watched two Scandals episodes.
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Monday, 11 November-
This morning Orat and I took our time with breakfast and breaking camp. We had the morning available but he had to head home by noon to make a work shift later today.
We headed out of the state forest and headed north to Belfast, then on to Moss Lake. This is a Nature Conservancy property and I’m sure it’s very pretty in nice weather but today we had a bitter wind. We did see a dozen Canada geese there.
We then drove back the 30 miles or so to the ATV park where we had left Mocha Joe and the ATV trailer while we explored the state forests in Orat’s truck and camper.
We split up and headed home. I heard from Orat about two hours later. He had taken his truck and camper to the car wash and had bumped the roof-top vent bubble on the overhead door. He’s going to need a new one.
My trip home was uneventful, other than the fact that I had a strong headwind. The van with trailer didn’t like that. When I stopped for gas at Mansfield, I found I was only getting a bit over 10 miles per gallon today (I normally get 15 mpg without the trailer-- and headwind). The van struggled to maintain 45 miles per hour on the long uphills.
I made it home by 1600, giving me enough time to unload the van before supper.
That evening we watched a Discovery Channel documentary on moose-human encounters on Netflix. We then watched three ‘Parenthood’ episodes.
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Sunday, 10 November -
Last night we had rain all night.... well, not really rain but rain, sleet, and a few snow flurries. And wind.... lots of wind. The night seemed very long but that’s mostly because of the early sunset and sitting around for the long evening. But we did go to bed shortly after 2100 and were happy for it.
After breakfast this morning we began our day-long tour of state forests of Allegany County, New York. I had printed off maps of eight or nine state forests at home but we didn’t have a Delorme Gazetteer for New York. We used Orat’s smartphone to plan each leg to a state forest, then the paper maps once we reached the forests.
The forests here are kind of unique. The land is more rolling than steep and the state forests tend to be high up the ridge. When there are openings and on much of the private land between state forests, we had magnificent views. The forests this time of year are pretty open, of course, now that the leaves are down. The main roads through the forest are very well maintained gravel roads. The roads marked as ‘Forest Road’ tend to be two-track (i.e., only one lane wide) but with wide berms. The width is deceptive, though, as evidenced by the deep, muddy tracks left by vehicles wandering off a bit too far when meeting another.
There are something on the order of 45,000 acres in state forests in this county. But most individual state forests are less than 4000 acres, making for many state forests. The histories typically speak of wide-spread logging in the late 1800s and early 1900s, then CCC projects in the 1930s. Today they seem more about tree farming and hunting than other forms of recreation. There are some nordic skiing, hiking, and horse trails but not that many for as much forest as there is.
By mid-afternoon we wanted a change so drove to the little town of Cuba to go to the Cuba Cheese store. It had been recommended to me by the permits lady at Hanging Bog Wildlife Refuge. We loaded up with several cheeses, crackers, and olives.
We then drove up to Hanging Bog and toured its campsites, then moved on to Coyle State Forest for the night.
We found a designated campsite at a trailhead just before dark. We set up and had our ‘foursies’, i.e., our cheeses and olives and some good screwdrivers made with Tito’s.
After supper we chatted for a while, then Orat caught up on the smartphone and I caught up the blog.
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Saturday, 9 November -
This morning I arose at 0600 for my trip north. I drove for about four hours to get to Andover, New York and the Tall Pines ATV Park by noon. Orat joined me there at noon and we signed up for our permits.
Since we only had the one ATV, I suggested Orat go first while I take a nap. He rode for about an hour and covered about nine miles of the very rough and muddy course.
I then gave it a try and very quickly found I didn’t like it. I was fine in the open fields and mud but in the trees the trail was very bad and downright dangerous. I cut my ride short and was back at the van in about a half hour.
By that time we were close to the end of the riding day (given that we didn’t start until after lunch) and made arrangements to camp on the property. We moved to an open area in the middle of a field of Christmas trees. Nice!
By that time the sleet and snow was flying. But we were snug in Orat’s camper. The Buddy heater worked great and we had some of Labashi’s excellent chili for supper.
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Friday, 8 November -
Today I thought I was finishing up with my prep for this weekend’s trip to New York.
But when I turned the key in Mocha Joe, I had nothing at all. It appears the overhead light had been left on. These lights are very touchy and I’ve seen one come on just from closing the door.
I have an Optima battery in the van and know there’s a problem trying to charge them if battery voltage gets too low. The web site said an AGM-specific charger should do fine, though I have one of those and hooked it up. But when I checked voltage, it was only charging at seven volts. By the end of the day I felt confident the battery had been saved-- but only time will tell.
I called Optima tech support and the guy confirmed it would not work. He had me connect another battery in parallel in order to fool the charger into thinking it had more than 10.5 volts.
With the batteries in parallel, the charger started charging at 11.5, then 12.1 volts for an hour or so. Over the next few hours, voltage climbed up as high as 15.4 volts. The Optima web site warned not to exceed 15.6 volts in any condition so I quit at that point even though the charger didn’t say the battery was fully charged.
I took the GS to the gym and did a hard 30 minutes on the elliptical plus my rounds of the weight-lifting equipment.
That evening we watched ‘Call the Midwife’ and ‘Scandal’ episodes.
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Thursday, 7 November -
Today I researched New York state forests and printed off maps for this weekend. Since it was raining, I took Labashi’s car to the gym. I tried another elliptical and found it much better.
That evening we watched a ‘Good Wife’ and a ‘Parenthood’ episode.
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Wednesday, 6 November-
I had inquired of a local powder-coater about ceramic-coating the headers of my Thruxton with black ceramic. He responded yesterday with a quote. The quote is too high, though so I replied as much and said I’d have to look at other options. I can buy the coated pipes for the low end of his quote but would have to ship the pipes cross country. I’ll have to keep looking.
I reviewed election results from yesterday’s election and was fairly happy with them.
I also called both Orat and Maypo today.
At the gym today I tried out the elliptical and pushed more on the weight machines.
That evening I went looking for noise-cancelling headphones to use in the gym. I also did some research on exer-gaming, wondering if I can find some other options to keep me interested in workouts.
That evening we watched two episodes of ‘The Good Wife’, Season 4.
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Tuesday, 5 November -
Today was another pleasant one with temperatures above 50. After we voted this morning, I worked on the GS to resolve a problem with the starting switch. Lately when I press the Start switch, the bike doesn’t do anything for a second or two, then catches. After reading about possible causes on the web, I realized I probably caused the problem to develop when I installed the Gerbing harness last month. And sure enough, the battery terminals weren’t completely tightened down. The first attempt after tightening the cables didn’t seem any better but since that one, the problem has evaporated.
I went to the gym for two hours this afternoon and then came home and took a short nap-- I’m not used to it!
Today I also found an interesting device on the web. It’s a PackWheel. A unicycle to carry your backpack. Look it up. The videos are very interesting. Want to take a 70-pound pack into the wilderness? PackWheel. Need to carry out 150 pounds of elk meat? PackWheel.
That evening we watched a very interesting public television documentary on Jimi Hendrix.
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Monday, 4 November -
This morning I set all the clocks in the vehicles to Standard Time and then went online and signed up for the health club membership deal. I also sent an email to my brothers about the deal, in case they can get something similar. I also composed and sent them emails on my experiences with the gasoline pumps I use to keep my gasoline supply fresh and my vehicles all ready for winter.
That afternoon I rode the GS over to the gym and got my key fob. The fob allows me access to the gym at any time. I also went through my first workout there, walking 45 minutes and working 30 minutes with weights.
That evening we watched ‘Scandal’, and ‘Parenthood’-Season three episodes.
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Sunday, 3 November -
This morning we watched ‘Sunday Morning’ and then I headed to town. I did my normal Sunday morning run to Starbucks, this time on the Concours. Back home I heeded the reminder from local emergency services to check fire alarm batteries on the same weekend when we switch back to Standard Time. I also went through the new-month checks of our water-treatment equipment and heat pump.
That afternoon I wrote up a reminder email to my brothers on all the things I’m checking and maintaining. From running and storing away the generator to refreshing gasoline supplies to preparing the motorcycles for winter, it all went into the email to get them thinking about what tasks they need to do before winter.
That evening we watched two ‘Good Wife’ and two ‘Parenthood’ episodes... we’re at the end of Season Two on the latter.
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Saturday, 2 November -
This morning I installed the repaired cafeteria tray in Mocha Joe. Earlier this week I had removed it and glued it using TiteBond glue and the repair seems very good. The actual drilling of the rivets to remove the tray from its mount (yesterday) and the installation of new rivets (after the repair and overnight set-up) took only 20 minutes or so each.
We had very nice weather today so I rode the Thruxton into York and one of my favorite gun shops. I’ve been considering a couple of guns and wanted to see what’s available. Unfortunately that shop was closed. I buzzed on over to another shop I like in Columbia but they didn’t have either of the guns I wanted to see in stock.
On the way home I stopped by Dick’s to look around but saw nothing even remotely of interest.
That evening we watched a ‘Call The Midwife’ episode and a ‘Parenthood’.
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Friday, 1 November -
Today Labashi and I took a tour of a local health club. We were impressed with the facility and staff. But when I read the contract I was pretty well convinced I didn’t want to go forward with it. There were just too many rights you had to sign away.
Later that day, though, I went through the details of the health club membership through my health insurance company rather than directly with the facility. That is a completely different thing. There’s an initiation fee of half the price of the club ... and it happens even that fee is waived right now. The monthly fee is also much smaller and I don’t have to sign such a restrictive contract. I pay the healthcare company and they, in turn, pay the provider for each of my visits. The biggest bennie for me at this point is there’s only a three-month minimum for the membership. I can drop it and restart it when and if I like. The other bennie is I can go to any club in the system. If I want a steam bath or sauna or swimming pool, I can go to a club with those at no extra cost. I need only show my membership card.
I’m considering this membership but want to spend the weekend looking for reviews for the facilities and this plan.
That evening we watched three episodes of ‘Scandal’- Season 2.
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posted by Bezabor&Labashi | 23:59
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