A Date with Hunky Jackson

Before leaving for vacay tomorrow, I pawed Mom to arrange a date with Jackson again! Woo hoo... my heart pounds just to think about him!

Here he is (above) displaying his gorgeous smile - yummy! Since he was headed toward my house, I decided to show him Miller Creek in nearby Marinwood. Avalon and I were just there, but Jackson had never seen it and he loves water as much or more than we do!

Although I refer to Avalon as my sis, she really isn't. Actually, she is Jackson's half-sis from a different litter. Jackson's Mom thinks she looks like Jackson a lot - what do you think? (I'd take that as a ginormous complement, of course... but I'm blinded by love...)
Here is some of the fun we had in the water, which is a year-round springfed running creek - rare in these parts!
If you can believe it, all three of us got our toofies around that blue cloth baby bumper! Our pawrents thought that was pretty funny! We'll leave you with a little movie - Avalon mostly wins... Have a good August! We are going to try to do a couple of posts on the way, if Mom can figgur out the technology heheh! And we want to thank Corinna, Jackson's Mom, for taking all the pictures on this post! Silly Mom only brought her little movie cam. See you soon!

Sunset Amphitheater

The Headwall Couloir...

A team of five climbers made a strong attempt on this remote and difficult route a few weeks ago. Here are a few images from one member's website; I'll attempt to sumarize the trip. They decided not to post a report, but did share a few details with me.

The team first noticed that a major section of the Tahoma Creek Trail was destroyed below the suspension bridge/Wonderland Trail. Last fall, glacier outbursts from a heavy rain storm took out some of the westside road and Tahoma Creek Trail. The trail washout, in particular, was rather amazing. The original trail abruptly disappears into a creek bed of gravel, rock and boulders. What was once an old growth forest, moss, downed trees, dense vegatation, is now a creek bed with gigantic trees. The forest floor is buried. In all, about 1/2 mile of the trail is wiped out.
As for the climbing route... The team reported a few problem, the first significant one being a dropped set of tent poles. This would make things difficult later on. Also, and maybe more importantly, they selected a route up St. Andrews Rock that cost them a day of travel... This exposure left them more vulnerable to the changing weather. And that's what happened, wind, snow, /12 a tent, and a snow shelter... It made for an interesting night.

After losing the effectiveness of one tent, and a day of travel, the team reluctantly retreated with plans of returning. Despite not summiting, they felt the route was a go! Here is a closer picture of the Amphitheater and upper Puyallup Glacier.

For more information, see: a listing of climbs here. These photos are courtesy of Alexandre Mineev

Welcome home

Having tried various ways of dealing with the condition known as Post Tour Depression in the past, I have concluded that the only thing a person can do about it is to simply get straight on their bike when returning home and just ride a lot of kilometres. With that in mind, the organised 200km ride through the Tweed Valley with Audax was just what I needed. The drama started before the ride did, however. Running late meant that I had to ride the 12km to the Currumbin start like a time trial rather than the relaxed warm-up I was hoping for.

The practical upshot of this meant that I was already struggling just 20km into the ride. At least the surroundings through the John Hogan rainforest were pleasant. They did not, however, provide an indication of what was to come. I have been living on the Gold Coast since 1995, and regularly riding through the Tweed Valley since 1997, and one of the constant descriptions that applies to that part of the world is "green". Evidently that is no longer the case. While the rolling hills are still pleasant, the green has been replaced by yellow in many places. One hopes that some rain will arrive in the near future to rectify this, but for now it's just the way it is.

While there was a sense of tiredness about my own ride for virtually the entire duration, the Tweed Valley is an area with which I am familiar, and my experience in these situations gave me an advantage. I maintained a consistent rhythm across the hills to Tyalgum, back to Uki and across to Stokers Siding. At this point the enjoyment returned, and I really felt good crossing the Burringbar Range to the second checkpoint at Mooball. I knew then it was just a matter of finishing off what could still be a reasonable time for a 200k.

It was at the southern end of the Tweed Coast, after negotiating the first magpie of the season, that the first problem started. A slow-leaking flat tyre, and a pump that wasn't effective. Fortunately I tested the pump before deflating the tyre, and knowing it wasn't going to work gave me the opportunity to limp to a service station and change the tyre there. That cost me time, but didn't hinder me in any other way. I rode north from Pottsville to Cabarita, turning inland and taking a slightly more complex route back to Murwillumbah for the final climb of Tomewin.

The southern climb of Tomewin is always a challenge, today it was done at the end of 200km and my legs were less than enthusiastic about it. The great thing about riding the extended tour of Scotland was developing the ability to maintain a constant (if not necessarily fast) rhythm. I just sat and grounded out the climb, occasionally checking the altimeter to guage how much longer I would need to sustain it. Looking back it doesn't really feel like it took all that long, and I was soon over the other side, preparing for the final descent back to Currumbin.
The reminder of the event itself was relatively uneventful. I finished with an elapsed time of around 10 hours, which is basically what I was aiming for. Take away the flat tyre and I can be more than satisfied with it. The ride home from the event gave me the opportunity to get hit by a car (as discussed in a previous post) and late on I picked up another flat tyre. I just let the air leak out as I pedalled the last two kilometres or so. I could fix it later. A long ride with two flat tyres, a magpie attack and getting hit by a car. Welcome home.

Odd anole

I met this jaunty little anole outside a restaurant recently.

I tried not to stare, but something was definitely odd about the skin on his head.

Has the skin had actually been scraped off? Eww. Or is that just discoloration? An infection? Problem with molting?
He disappeared around a corner before I could probe further.
-----
Green anole (Anolis carolinensis).
Friday Ark.

Big Dam Bridge

Cool day today, and a little windy. But today is my last day to ride in Little Rock, so I headed out for a ride. I had the wind in my face heading out.
Was not sure how far I would make. Ended riding to the Big Dam Bridge. Stopped for a rest. Started riding up the bridge (thinking maybe I would ride to the middle). I turned back - was not sure I had the legs to ride up the bridge and still ride back to the house. Decided to fore go riding the bridge and headed back. After all, I still have to climb the Main St. Bridge.
Flew back on the trail. Sure was nice having the wind to my back.
Weather was perfect on the way back. Sure was happy I made the ride.

Happy New Year from White Sands, New Mexico!

Above left: New Year's Eve moonrise. Above Right: My friend Roger photographing the dunes under the New Year's Eve full moon.
Well, my trip is nearly over... almost 6 weeks ago I left Grand Portage on a quest to explore the West, focusing mostly on the Pacific coastal areas of Washington and Oregon. Its been a great trip, but some of the best experiences were at the end of the trip! My friend Roger and I arrived at White Sands National Monument in New Mexico the afternoon of December 31, . We were planning on camping overnight in the dunes and arrived at the park just in time to get our orientation and register for our campsite before the daily deadline. After we registered, we had just enough time to scope out a place to shoot sunset and the moonrise. Watching the moon come up over the white sand dunes was incredible.

Above: Our campsite. We placed our headlamps inside the tent to illuminate it for this shot.
After shooting the sunset and the moonrise we decided to set up camp before doing some moonlight shooting. Our campsite was about a mile from the parking area and after finally locating our site (which was a little difficult to find, since the trail markers through the dunes are VERY difficult to locate in the moonlight!), we set out for a few hours of moonlight shooting.

Above: Our campsite, nestled against a dune with the San Andres Mountains in the background.
White Sands is an awesome landscape during the day, but switch to night and throw in the light from a full moon and its downright magical! We had a blast hiking around the dunes and taking pictures. It was a lovely night, the air was crisp but not too cold and there wasn't a lick of wind. Its pretty amazing when its so still and you can't hear anything except for your own breathing. Thule (Roger's dog) even seemed to really enjoy the night as he was friskier than usual, running laps around us and jumping up and down.

Above and below: Roger photographing the White Sands landscape.

Below: A wider view of our campsite amongst the dunes. This view is looking south towards Mexico.

We were out shooting until about 1:30 a.m., so we rang in the new year while walking around on the dunes :-) We settled into our sleeping bags, hoping to get at least 5 hours of sleep before sunrise.

My alarm woke me at 6:30, and when I crawled out of the tent I noticed right away that it was much colder than it was when we went to sleep. In fact, our tent was even covered in a thin layer of frost! I don't know what the temperature actually was, but it felt like it was in the mid 20's. As I crawled out of the tent I turned my eyes skyward and the first thing I saw was the full moon just above the dunes directly out in front of the tent. What a sight to wake up to! I quickly forgot about how cold I was and went back into the tent to wake Roger and retrieve my camera gear.

As the sun got closer and closer to breaking the horizon, the sky to the West took on this amazing pink glow. The pink sky with the moon and the white sand made a view that was to die for. Definitely one of the prettiest New Year's Day mornings I have ever seen!

Crystal Cavern

This is another image from yesterday morning's amazing time spent photographing the Lake Superior shoreline at Hollow Rock Resort in Grand Portage, MN. There were a couple of small ice caves in the area which were very beautiful but difficult to photograph because of their location and their small size. To get this image I had to crawl down along the rocks, lay on my side on the rocks and configure my tripod so it was as low to the ground as possible, then look sideways through the viewfinder to compose the image (remember, I was laying on my side to compose this image!). The distance from the ground to the top of this little ice cave was two feet at the very most. It was probably more likely about a foot and a half tall. I was only on the edge of the cave, I didn't want to risk crawling into it in case it chose that moment to collapse. The result was worth the effort!

Chickens love watermelon

Chickens love watermelon, with a passion. These were just our leftover rinds, with only a bit of red. Last year we bought an over-mushy melon by mistake, and they ate the whole thing: chicken heaven.
I had figured that the black and white chickens were Dominiques, but now I'm not so sure. Dominiques (or Domineckers, as they are called here) have a rose comb, and these don't appear to be headed in that direction. The female on the right as a lot of whitish feathers on her front, but the others don't. The feathers on the back of their necks seem to be changing from black-and-white to brown-and-white.
My husband says they're probably all just mutt chickens. The three remaining excess cockerels haven't made it to the stew pot yet. They're not fighting, or even crowing, so far, but it's just a matter of time. For now though, they are helping decrease the insect population in the yard. This little flock roams further afield than others we've had.
I hate the fact that after the cockerels are culled, we'll have one tiny flock of two chickens and another tiny flock of three. "Can't we all just get along" is not a sentiment that's shared by chickens, apparently. The older birds just won't have anything to do with the younger ones. They treat them as if they were another species entirely. I wonder, if one of the older ones dies... will the remaining one prefer to spend her time alone, or will she try to join the younger flock? I'm guessing the latter.
The one on the right is lowest in the pecking order. The other chickens chase her from the food at times. But I've taken a tip from some people and started offering bugs that I find in the garden to the chickens. This gal is the one who comes running the fastest, for her caterpillar treat. Now she runs to me, expecting bugs, every time she sees me. I'm tempted to buy mealworms to keep in my pocket, so I won't be such a continual disappointment to her.

Sorry, did I say something wrong?

On the left of this page you will find a few links. I'm intending to add more when I get around to it. One of those links is to www.bikeforums.net, which is an online forum I've been participating in since April 2000. I have also been a moderator for over 18 months. It is this that has been the source of most of the angst in an otherwise pleasant weekend (even if I was a little slack getting the housework done).

The situation concerns, strangely enough, the section devoted to Women's cycling. While this has been an area where women could ask questions that pertain to them specifically, males have been permitted to post there (not that you can tell anyone's gender over the 'net anyway) pretty much since it's inception. Both male and female members have contributed advice to members with questions. In fact, on occasions males have used this forum to ask questions on behalf of female friends relating to cycling issues they were having.

About 12 months ago, someone posted a question in that forum about whether it should be for "women only" (as I said, good luck enforcing that one). At the time the thread died pretty quickly, and was largely forgotten, until last week when someone decided to dredge it up from somewhere. One of the subsequent replies was something along the lines of "it should be women only because right now I hate men so they might be offended by things that I post here". Evidently the person responsible for this post had recently had an unsuccessful relationship -- or so they claim.

The response of myself (and a few others) was to suggest that a forum devoted to cycling was hardly the place to complain about unsuccessful relationships, or make sweeping generalisations about one gender (particularly as they probably apply to both genders equally), and point out a blatant contradiction between two of this person's posts.

One of the other moderators decided to admonish me off the list for a "back and forth diatribe with this person" when I had, in fact, only replied once. I also note the attempt to close the thread was timed so that this person could complain about my reply, but attempted to prevent me from a second reply (not that I would have bothered, as the situation was 169% obvious to any intelligent observers).

Now it seems a decision has been taken to provide for (or at least attempt to provide for) gender-specific forums on that website. The connection here appears to be 169% transparent as f*ck. Apparently the person whom I replied to (and referred only to things they had actually posted on the forum, with no attack on their person whatsoever), didn't like being taken to task for what they had posted, so now we have the farcical situation where a basic structure of a forum that has been in place for over four years (and has worked successfully up until this point) has been changed simply to protect one forum member and give them a place to vent.

Interestingly, this wasn't done last year when the subject was first broached by another member. We also have the 19th century situation of gender-specific forums, which is extremely childish and gives the entire site a somewhat tacky appearance. I've suspected this was in the pipeline for a couple of days, but it was only on the announcement that I realised just how pathetic the whole situation was. In anycase, I wasn't consulted, so it's doubtful they would have listened to my input.

I have to say that it's not the first time this particular moderator (who shall remain nameless (or is that handleless on a discussion board?), pending my request for an explanation), has shown tendencies to coddle certain members and certain issues at the expense of others. Indeed, in the time this person has been there, three other long term well-respected mods have left the forum or at least ceased assisting with moderation in this time. I have to say that there have been times over the last 24 hours when I have seriously considered joining them, and I never expected that to happen.

It is, of course, possible that there is more to this issue than I am aware of, and in a way I'm hoping that's the case, because I'd really hate to walk away from either the forum or the voluntary position of moderator. However, everytime I log in and see that situation, it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth that takes a while to go away. It was with this issue in my mind that I set off for this morning's ride.

The Numinbah Valley ride is one of my old favourites, and this was probably the last winter Sunday of the year. At one stage the temperature dropped to just 3 degrees (although it rose to 25 later in the day). If only I'd had the camera for this one -- the sight of the mist rising up off Advancetown lake on the way across the foothills of the Beechmont Range was really a sight to behold. Wildflowers were out everywhere today, really lighting up the landscape in tones of red, white and a couple of pinks and purples along the way. Below is a shot I took last time I was down in that valley -- just to give the vibe.



The return from Murwillumbah was again via the dirt Urliup Road, which I can't seem to get enough of at the moment. The Tweed Shire council seem to have thrown another layer of gravel on it, so it was loose in places. They also seem to be actively trying to encourage traffic down there, which is a shame. It's still pretty quiet, but I know how these things generally turn out (saw it with Hogan's Road, which is no longer dirt), and it's rarely for the better. Just once can they leave something alone? It's not as is there aren't a number of other options between Murwillumbah and Bilambil/Tweed Heads.

Either way, after returning from Urliup I rode home with the accompaniment of the deep blue Pacific Ocean, which looked very enticing. I might have dived in for a swim on another day. The only downside was the apparent lethargy I felt today. With a three-day tour next weekend, and Glorious Mee two weeks after that, as well as the issue I've expanded on above, perhaps it's understandable.

I also had to contend with rubbing brakes on the way back from Austinville with Martin yesterday, which I fixed in the afternoon (that's more than a little fiddly), maybe that was a factor. As far as Austinville is concerned, no allergies down there this time, perhaps I've just adjusted to Spring after all. We sought out some other tracks running off the main road, but only the one to the East appeared rideable. Something to check out next time we're down there. Don't know when that might be, I'll be away next weekend!

More Zinnias

A mixture of Persian Carpet and
Old Mexico Zinnias (Zinnia haageana).
The catalog says that these make good cut flowers. And they do... but you'd better have a short vase. Most of the stems are only 3 - 4 inches long (8 - 10 cm).
I like these two types together. I had both last year, but made the mistake of planting them too close to something taller. They ended up in the shade half the day, and didn't produce well.
The catalog says 2" flowers (5 cm) and 2' plants (61 cm), but so far mine are about half of that.

Being Ordinary

This quote is from the book The Gift of an Ordinary Day by Katrina Kenison. "But as all the identities I worked so hard to construct over the years begin to slough away, I feel myself reconnecting with my own quiet center. It is as if I am, at last, catching a glimpse of myself not as I might wish to be, but as I am. I see a woman who is less ambitious than she once was. Someone less self-conscious, less invested in appearances, but also less "special" than the person I always thought I was meant to be. I see my own ordinariness. And I see that to be ordinary is okay after all."
This is what I'm becoming now in my mid-fifties. I'm not completely accepting the part about being ordinary though. I don't want to be ordinary, but I know that it's an okay place to be, I guess.

Goo to you

Big spring rains = orange goo.

This year we had an overabundance of the Cedar-quince rust (gooey bits seen here) and not so much Cedar-apple rust (noodly orange meatballs).

Sporulation, my new favorite word.
-----
These photos are really from about 3 weeks ago - I forgot to post them earlier. I have been forgetting a lot of things lately.

LAZY SUNDAY...

... back to blogging tomorrow.

Pottering around

I spent most of the weekend just pottering around, covering a little under 200km on my bike (I did 458km last weekend). Saturday morning I took an early ride out to Austinville in some light rain. It had been a while since I did that ride in daylight, but it was pleasant nonetheless. After last weekend I still don't have a great deal of motivation to attempt any land speed records at present, so I just took my time and soaked up the scenery, and the experience of just being in such a place. I think this is where riding is at for me at the moment, it's basically a chance to get out of the city and live a bit of life for a while.





In the afternoon I restored an old computer game called Speedball 2. It's about the only computer game that I ever play anymore (I don't spend a lot of time on that pursuit). Just at the moment I figure it has to be more entertaining than wasting my time on internet message boards.

This morning I met up with a couple of other riders for a quick ride down the coast. It took until about Coolangatta to realise this really wasn't for me anymore. Touring and long distance riding seem to have changed my outlook in this area recently. Short fast rides of 40-80km don't appeal to me all that much anymore (it takes me 40km to warm up properly these days).

As it was, I peeled off at Coolangatta and headed for Urliup, en route to a return to the Garden of Eden at Tomewin, on the Macpherson Range.



The views up here today were very different from my last visit -- largely because it wasn't actually raining this time. The track was still wet in places, due to last night's rain, it made for slippery going at times, especially as I wasn't actually riding the MTB today. That was purely a function of having no plans to come up here today, but finding myself here nonetheless. Some of the views were spectacular.







It's always astonishing to find an area of such beauty so close to the coast, and to suburbia. In some ways it's proximity keeps me away, as I always seem to be looking for more kilometres most days. On the other hand, perhaps the fact that I seldom visit adds to it's appeal. The thing about Tomewin seems to be that I can visit as often as I like, and always find something different.

For all that, I didn't appreciate a flat tyre on the final descent into Bilambil. It did seem to be a day for flats, however. I saw two cars on the side of the road with flat tyres today, and a cyclist this morning with one in Burleigh. The flat tyre itself may have provided an unexpected blessing. I was able to patch the tube on the spot -- encouraged to in fact by the location at the time of the flat. Had it happened somewhere less scenic, I may well have just put the spare in without bothering to patch it, meaning that I probably would have forgotten/procrastinated to do it when I got home.

More Grandboys

Two more reasons I love being Nana.

Maiden Voyage: Day 1 on the Road

Thursday, July 1

The year was 1985.  We were living in Utah.  That fall, we flew to NYC, rented a car, and went touring.  Our trip looped through DC, Niagara Falls, and New England.  Somewhere along the way, we stopped to visit Old Fort Erie.  As we waited for the National Park Service Ranger to begin a presentation that would bring the War of 1812 alive, we chatted with a couple seated on the grass next to us.  It turns out that they had taken a sabbatical from work, bought an RV, and were touring the US and Canada for the next year.

That was it … that was when our dream to wheel around North America was born.  Twenty five years later, we’re starting to realize that dream.  We bought the coach; now it’s time to take it back to Virginia so we can enjoy having a “condo on wheels” to explore all the wondrous sights we’ve yet to see.

Let the cross-country drive begin …

Our route from Portland, Oregon to Boise, Idaho is on I-84.

Too excited to sleep in, we were up before the alarm went off at 6:30a.  We didn’t waste time getting ready for the day ahead, yet we seemed to be moving in slow motion.  A three hour time zone change will do that to you!  It was 8:00a by the time we got around to having breakfast at the Pacific Grill (adjacent to the Red Lion).  It turns out that this was another “we don’t have single eggs” place (see this blog post for the inside joke).  At least it wasn’t a dive; the patrons didn’t look at us like we’d just landed from outer space; and the food was good.  So, no real complaints.

Mui had stocked the Phaeton’s kitchen with dry goods in May, but we needed to get some fresh groceries and stuff.  To make the most of our time, we devised a plan to divide and conquer.  I went grocery shopping at the Trader’s Joe near the storage facility; Mui went to prepare the motorhome for the road.  Our timing was perfect — I was waiting for him curbside with the shopping cart when he turned onto the side street near the shopping strip.  A few minutes to load up the groceries and we were on our way out of Portland.  It was 9:45a and we were about an hour behind schedule, but so be it for our first day.  Soon we were on I-84E, driving through the beautiful Columbia Gorge.

(Apologies in advance for any spots on the photos; most were taken through the bug-spattered windshield.)

And we’re off.  Does Mui look happy or what?

Glimpse of the Columbia Gorge … albeit a hazy one.

The John Day Dam is one of the hydroelectric dams that span the Columbia River.

A wind farm on the Washington side of the Columbia River.

The drive has been pleasant and easy as we continue to roll down I-84.  Traffic has been negligible.  We’ve passed a lot of RVs of all classes and sizes — not a common sight in the suburbs of DC.  The overcast skies of Portland have been replaced with blue skies, enhancing the beautiful scenery.  We even had a few wildlife sightings along the way — ospreys nesting on the Columbia River; a big horn ram with an impressive set of horns grazing roadside.

The Columbia River is the longest river in North America that drains into the Pacific.

I had to chuckle at the way the sign is worded.
(the building belongs to Pendleton Grain Growers)

The temp was a dry 75F [24C] when we were summiting the Blue Mountains at 4,193 feet [1,258 m].  Now that we’re on the flatlands, it’s warmed up considerably, but it’s still comfortable enough that we have no need of the A/C.

We made a few stops at rest areas to give Mui a chance to stretch his legs, and had sandwiches for lunch during one of those breaks.  We are otherwise sticking to our plan to just drive straight through without dallying for sightseeing. With Mui assuring me that driving the Phaeton is easy and pure pleasure, I’ve been able to put the footrest up on the passenger seat and relax with plenty of legroom. :-))))

Blogging in comfort!

Happy honeymooning!

Still in Oregon; still on I-84.

We have miles to go before we call it a day.  More later …

Later … Hi Valley RV Resort

One state is behind us … there are many more waiting to be traversed.

It’s 10:00p.  A few words to wrap up today’s post and then I’m off to bed to get some rest.  Aside from a bit of “coach rock” (similar to the dock rock one might experience after a cruise), we’re both feeling pretty good.  But as the adrenaline from having accomplished a successful first day of RVing starts to recede, the weariness is setting in and the bed is looking better and better with each passing minute.

Around 6:30p, we pulled into the Snake River View rest area (milepost 1) in Idaho.  Cranking up the Woodall’s camp directory I’d installed on the laptop, we searched for RV parks in the vicinity of Boise.  Since we restricted the search to “big rig friendly” campgrounds with 50 amp and internet service, we got two options.  We picked the smaller of the two (194 sites vs 224 sites) and called the Hi Valley RV Resort to make a reservation — $31.10/night with our Good Sam discount.  From what I’ve read on the blogs, that’s probably a bit on the high side, but we’re OK with slightly higher rates on this trip.

Our accommodations for the night set, we took a bit of a breather and walked to the overlook to check out the views of the Snake River before getting back on the road again.

Mui and the Big Rig!

The rest area has an expansive view of the Snake River.

The Snake River is the largest and longest tributary of the Columbia River.

We would have arrived at Hi Valley around 8:00p, but en route we stopped at a Lowe’s to pick up an essential item that we’d been unable to pack in our carry-on bags — a lightweight stepladder that Mui could use to remove the bodies of the bugs that had committed suicide by flying into our windshield (may they rest in peace). Hence, it was 9:00p by the time we pulled into the RV park.

We still had plenty of daylight by which to set up the Phaeton for our first campground experience.  The office was already closed, but the manager had left us a packet in the night box with all of the essential information, including a map showing us where to find site 39.  Though not especially wide, the pull-through site turned out to be easy enough to maneuver into (despite one small tree branch) and there was plenty of room to deploy our slideouts.

Parked for the night!

Going through our arrival checklist, we made short work of setting up camp.  I have to admit that I was impressed with Mui’s knowledge of what needed to be done, when and in what order.  Seeing him in action, one would have thought that he’s an old hand at this.  He’s been doing his homework and that paid off tonight.

Let’s get the utilities connected!

Once on shore power, we engaged the A/C to cool the rear half of the coach.  After putting water on for pasta, Mui went outside to clean the windshield.  I used the time to unpack the two carry-on bags with which we’d traveled to Portland.  There wasn’t much to put away, so I made short work of that chore and then went about setting the table for dinner.  By the time the windshield was sort of pristine, the pasta was ready to serve.  We would like to have savored our first meal aboard the Phaeton, but that will have to wait until another time.  There just wasn’t any time for the niceties tonight.

Make sure you get all the bugs off; I need a clean windshield to take pictures!

Now to get some shuteye in preparation for another long day on the road tomorrow.

Start Odometer	End Odometer	Day’s Mileage
8603	9037	434 [694 km]

Statistics for Today

Next Up … Maiden Voyage: Day 2 on the Road