Seemed a little strange to me that the stiffness apparently resulting from my crash should start kicking in now, but kick in it did last night. I had trouble getting comfortable for a while after I went to bed, but I still managed to get a decent amount of sleep regardless. This morning I awoke again to find a landscape covered in bushfire smoke. It's a real crisis around here at the moment, and it seems there are still people around who think lighting fires is "kewl, man!". In a way it was good, as it allowed me to rediscover something I hadn't seen in a while -- Piggabeen.
It's a while since I last ventured out that way, and sadly, urban development seems to be extending westward from the coast now (is nothing sacred?), but it's still possible to get clear of it out that way right at the moment. There are a few charms out there still, even though it's pretty dry and relatively barren right at the moment, not that anyone would realise that from this view of the Cobaki Broadwater.
Even some of the dirt roads I rode out here last time around appear to have been sealed now. Sad really, because for a while it offered the chance of something different. Still, I intend to enjoy it out there while it lasts. I've already said that I don't intend to remain on the Gold Coast forever.
Tomorrow's scheduled for the Tweed Valley, and once again nobody seems interested in joining me. Mind you, it could be my only escape from the bushfire smoke, so I'll go anyway, and just hope the weather cools down a little.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Stiffness
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Lighthouse framed in ice
This is the result of last night's high winds and waves. The blowing spray from the waves froze onto these shrubs along the Grand Marais harbor. It wasn't a very big area that was covered in ice like this, but nonetheless I had a blast photographing there. I tried several different angles to compose the ice around the lighthouse, this was my favorite. Captured with my Canon 100-400mm lens.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
_____________________Nick Hall______________________
It's been one long year since we lost you.We won't ever forget your friendship or your style.Thanks for the inspiration to do more, do it better.The mountains are still out there.We're still climbing.Miss you a ton.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Repairs and Shopping at Camping World
Let's back up to Monday night. With the looming trip to Camping World in New Braunfels, Texas (45 minutes away), Bob and I started getting the 5th wheel ready to move. We re-stowed books, loose items, outside folding chairs, and door mat.
Tuesday morning while Bob was at work, I finished putting wall hangings like photos and barometer where they wouldn't get damaged in transit...on our bed. The laptops and air card, loose magazines, pens, and notepads all get put in one of the Costco cardboard boxes. The box is secured where it can't move. The dining room chairs were strapped down, loose items in the shower were stowed either in cupboards or on the floor of the shower...you get the picture. We have two Velcro straps which I use to close up cupboards so items won't break free during transit. [Note to self: Buy more Velcro straps for the other cupboards!]
Before closing the slides this morning, I took a broom and cleared all the spiders/spiderwebs off the outside of the rig. Thankfully, the spiders were all benign; mostly daddy long legs and a little white garden-variety-type spider.
Our appointment at Camping World was at 2:30 p.m. When Bob came home at noon, he did the outside chores--emptied the black tank, put the bicycle on the bike rack on our ladder, closed the awning, partially filled the fresh water tank, hooked up the 5er to the truck, latched and locked the exterior compartments, and removed the chocks. We put up the stairs, folded in the handle and locked the door.
Because the rig had been sitting so long, our first stop was two miles away at Treds (yes, it's spelled like that) where we had the ladies fill our tires to the recommended level. (Side note: It's all women who work at Treds. They replace tires, do wheels, make "house" calls to RV parks to assist RVers with their dilemmas, i.e., come with a large jack to lift someone's car off the end of the tow dolly, etc. See another article and video here.)
Then we were off on a (short) road trip to Camping World to have our refrigerator and badly leaking kitchen faucet looked at.
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When your 5th wheel is your home everything travels with you. So when it came time for Camping World to take over possession of our 5th wheel, we had to take the cats with us. I popped them into their carriers with Sunnie sliding right in - no muss, no fuss, and Bowie with his paws extended, claws out and "I'm-not-going-in-there" fuss. Cat, resistance is futile. You're going in. And he did, but unhappily.
We took the two cat carriers and a small, disposable kitty litter box out to my Escape pod. Remember this is around 2:30 p.m. The day was dark and foreboding; it had rained on us during our drive north. While we moved the kitties, no rain. I put both carriers in the back seat and the kitty litter box in the back cargo section of the Escape.
Bob headed back to work. I sat in the car with the kitties. However it was lunch time so we drove off to find food. As soon as I started the car, the skies opened up and the downpour began. I followed Bob out of the Camping World lot. We could barely see the road it was raining so hard. The freeway access road was like a river...luckily there was good drainage. The freeway was crawling along at about 30-35 mph, the same speed as the access road. I'm guessing a couple of inches of rain fell in about 15 minutes' time.
I drove toward New Braunfels looking for a fast food restaurant where I could drive through with the kitties in tow. The downpour was crazy. When I got to an intersection where I could go under the freeway, I went for it. That's where the most water was, but it wasn't very deep so I followed the guy in front of me through. (No problem.) Finally found a Whataburger and bought my lunch. I let the cats out of their carriers to explore the car. They went everywhere, including all over me to get to every inch of the inside. They were much happier after exploring and checking out everything through the windows.
In the past, kitties didn't get to go free in the car, but since they were out of the carriers, I let them be while I drove back to Camping World. As soon as the car starting moving faster, both of them disappeared. When we parked, I saw them both come out of one cat carrier. It's only a medium-sized carrier so they must have been pretty cozy in there. (Sunnie is 16 lb. and Bowie is 10 lb.)
No sooner was I parked than Bob drove back to the Camping World parking lot. What? He had headed off to work. He came over to wait in the car with the cats and me. Said the freeway was crazy, the rain was insane, and it wasn't worth driving back to San Antonio in the downpour. So he is going to work this evening.
Here we are in the car, waiting...
With Bob in the car to keep an eye on the kitties, I was able to shop in Camping World. The Camping World flyer that came in the mail showed a vacuum on sale that had what I was looking for. The Dirt Devil® Scorpion™ is what I would call a cross-over vacuum. It's hand-held and small in size with attachments: an upholstery brush, a "Turbo" tool, and a crevice tool. When you have two cats in a 5th wheel, those attachments are much needed to get cat hair off the furniture, valances, window shades, and kitty litter out of edges. I used it last night and LOVE it!
Pros:
Cons:
The pros outweigh the cons and I am happy with the purchase. Original price was $47.99. Sale price was about $33, but with the Good Sam discount at Camping World, the price was close to $30.
My other purchase was a nice pillow, normally $24.99 which I got for $17.99. Bob liked the pillow so much he asked me to buy one for him Wednesday.
The repairs could not be finished on Tuesday, so we needed to spend the night at Camping World. They put us next to the repair building where there was a plug-in with 50 amp power. Electricity is important for light, A/C, charging our computers and phones, and for me to try out the new vacuum! You can see how wet everything is.
Today's post is long, so I will end here. Wednesday is another story altogether. Stay tuned for "the rest of the story."
Travel Bug out.
Tuesday morning while Bob was at work, I finished putting wall hangings like photos and barometer where they wouldn't get damaged in transit...on our bed. The laptops and air card, loose magazines, pens, and notepads all get put in one of the Costco cardboard boxes. The box is secured where it can't move. The dining room chairs were strapped down, loose items in the shower were stowed either in cupboards or on the floor of the shower...you get the picture. We have two Velcro straps which I use to close up cupboards so items won't break free during transit. [Note to self: Buy more Velcro straps for the other cupboards!]
Before closing the slides this morning, I took a broom and cleared all the spiders/spiderwebs off the outside of the rig. Thankfully, the spiders were all benign; mostly daddy long legs and a little white garden-variety-type spider.
Our appointment at Camping World was at 2:30 p.m. When Bob came home at noon, he did the outside chores--emptied the black tank, put the bicycle on the bike rack on our ladder, closed the awning, partially filled the fresh water tank, hooked up the 5er to the truck, latched and locked the exterior compartments, and removed the chocks. We put up the stairs, folded in the handle and locked the door.
Because the rig had been sitting so long, our first stop was two miles away at Treds (yes, it's spelled like that) where we had the ladies fill our tires to the recommended level. (Side note: It's all women who work at Treds. They replace tires, do wheels, make "house" calls to RV parks to assist RVers with their dilemmas, i.e., come with a large jack to lift someone's car off the end of the tow dolly, etc. See another article and video here.)
Then we were off on a (short) road trip to Camping World to have our refrigerator and badly leaking kitchen faucet looked at.
When your 5th wheel is your home everything travels with you. So when it came time for Camping World to take over possession of our 5th wheel, we had to take the cats with us. I popped them into their carriers with Sunnie sliding right in - no muss, no fuss, and Bowie with his paws extended, claws out and "I'm-not-going-in-there" fuss. Cat, resistance is futile. You're going in. And he did, but unhappily.
We took the two cat carriers and a small, disposable kitty litter box out to my Escape pod. Remember this is around 2:30 p.m. The day was dark and foreboding; it had rained on us during our drive north. While we moved the kitties, no rain. I put both carriers in the back seat and the kitty litter box in the back cargo section of the Escape.
Bob headed back to work. I sat in the car with the kitties. However it was lunch time so we drove off to find food. As soon as I started the car, the skies opened up and the downpour began. I followed Bob out of the Camping World lot. We could barely see the road it was raining so hard. The freeway access road was like a river...luckily there was good drainage. The freeway was crawling along at about 30-35 mph, the same speed as the access road. I'm guessing a couple of inches of rain fell in about 15 minutes' time.
I drove toward New Braunfels looking for a fast food restaurant where I could drive through with the kitties in tow. The downpour was crazy. When I got to an intersection where I could go under the freeway, I went for it. That's where the most water was, but it wasn't very deep so I followed the guy in front of me through. (No problem.) Finally found a Whataburger and bought my lunch. I let the cats out of their carriers to explore the car. They went everywhere, including all over me to get to every inch of the inside. They were much happier after exploring and checking out everything through the windows.
In the past, kitties didn't get to go free in the car, but since they were out of the carriers, I let them be while I drove back to Camping World. As soon as the car starting moving faster, both of them disappeared. When we parked, I saw them both come out of one cat carrier. It's only a medium-sized carrier so they must have been pretty cozy in there. (Sunnie is 16 lb. and Bowie is 10 lb.)
No sooner was I parked than Bob drove back to the Camping World parking lot. What? He had headed off to work. He came over to wait in the car with the cats and me. Said the freeway was crazy, the rain was insane, and it wasn't worth driving back to San Antonio in the downpour. So he is going to work this evening.
Here we are in the car, waiting...
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| Sunnie loving Bob's attention. |
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| Bowie looking skeptical. |
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| Sunnie: all settled down. |
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| Sunnie says, "Bowie, can't you just relax? Ommm." |
With Bob in the car to keep an eye on the kitties, I was able to shop in Camping World. The Camping World flyer that came in the mail showed a vacuum on sale that had what I was looking for. The Dirt Devil® Scorpion™ is what I would call a cross-over vacuum. It's hand-held and small in size with attachments: an upholstery brush, a "Turbo" tool, and a crevice tool. When you have two cats in a 5th wheel, those attachments are much needed to get cat hair off the furniture, valances, window shades, and kitty litter out of edges. I used it last night and LOVE it!
Pros:
- It plugs directly into the wall, no charging stand, so running out of battery power is not an issue
- "Turbo" tool
- Upholstery brush
- Hose with crevice tool
- Shoulder strap to use when you want to reach up high or just an easy way to carry it around while you vacuum
Cons:
- The on/off switch is hard to use
- The attachments are difficult to attach
- It gets hot pretty quickly
The pros outweigh the cons and I am happy with the purchase. Original price was $47.99. Sale price was about $33, but with the Good Sam discount at Camping World, the price was close to $30.
My other purchase was a nice pillow, normally $24.99 which I got for $17.99. Bob liked the pillow so much he asked me to buy one for him Wednesday.
The repairs could not be finished on Tuesday, so we needed to spend the night at Camping World. They put us next to the repair building where there was a plug-in with 50 amp power. Electricity is important for light, A/C, charging our computers and phones, and for me to try out the new vacuum! You can see how wet everything is.
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| There's Rigamarole on the left before we hooked up shore power. |
Today's post is long, so I will end here. Wednesday is another story altogether. Stay tuned for "the rest of the story."
 |
| The end. |
Success on Wood Chopper
Usual Friday Night Ride at Manawa.Not riding that well on warm-up. Heading up the East side the trail is blocked by construction equipment. (See photo) I was able to ride through the area, blazing a reroute.
When we started group ride, I lead the group to the West side. This evening it was the first time I was able to ride the blue section of Wood Chopper without stopping to get through those 2 tight trees. Success! Now, if I can now ride the reroute at Wood Chopper exit and climb the ditch...
It is getting dark very for our ride. Within the next couple weeks will have to stop the rides or ride with lights.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
I Made It!
The engagement party went off without a hitch on Friday night. We had a cookout at a local state park. Here's the cake I made for them; camo and girly pink. It was a cute idea, but my execution left a lot to be desired. Cake decorating is not on my list of talents! Oh well, everyone thought it was cute anyway.We had a crowd for Easter dinner. Lots of good food and fellowship. The kiddos had a great time hunting the eggs. I had a great time hiding them. I kept finding myself smiling and remembering the past when all the cousins would gather at Grandma Collins' house to hunt eggs. I was telling my mama what a good time I had hiding the eggs and remembering all the hunts we had at Grandma's house. Mama said that she just loved hiding the eggs too. There were probably a hundred or more since there were so many cousins hunting them.
So hopefully this week will be a little slower and calmer; at least until Friday. The whole weekend will be spent in celebrating our church's 25th anniversary. There'll be lots of friends back to help celebrate, so it'll be good to renew relationships. Summer, please come quickly! I'm ready for a laid-back state of mind. All these schedules are makin' me crazy!
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