Trip Report #11

Today is Friday (8/26).

Hammer down, hammer down. Woke up at about 8:30 am and drove my *ass* off today. My first 1000 mile day ever. Driving through NM, TX, OK, it's easy to put on a lot of miles. I kept the cruise control at 84 and stayed in the slow lane. I found out that this truck is either RPM or speed limited and can only do about 98.3 MPH (per the GPS).

Arkansas.. what can be said other than nothing? Even my "1000 Places to See Before You Die" book has nothing to say. I believe it's the only state that doesn't have an entry in the book. There are *SO* many bugs here.

Stopped at a rest area and met a driver I had been talking to since NM, and even way back in CA. He let me check out his truck (man, it is *cool* sitting behind the wheel of those big Peterbilts!) and spent about an hour discussing the business and machines with me.

I got on "South 69". I had to stop, hold up traffic, and get a picture of that sign. Had it not been in front of a truck stop with a cop sitting there, I would have seriously considered stealing that sign!

I stopped at a rest area in Arkansas around 2am, and after 20 minutes and about 50 mosquito bites, I decided I'd had enough suffering. I hit the road again, filled up, added some (an entire gallon!) windshield washer fluid after running out due to the bug 'rain'-storm, and made it all the way to Palestine.. Arkansas, that is. What a name!

Only 20 miles from a XXX store (I need to stop by one - one of the escorts I was talking to swore to me she was a porn star by the name of Luci Thia - I gotta check it out), and about 70 miles from the "flying hook" (flying J - where I have Internet Access).

Sleep comes around 5:30 am.

Trip Report #10 - Pearl Harbor

Today is Thursday (8/25), I don't know when this will actually be posted.

Stayed up way too late last night (3:30 am), hung out in the casino, made $20 last for a couple of hours. For lack of anything better to do, sat around BS'ing with all the hottie escorts while they were waiting for clients.

Left my room at Caesars around 10am. Apparently the proverbial dinner bell went off signalling all of us to sign out at the same time. Over an hour in line. This meant that I got to have a Whopper for breakfast, yeah.

Saw the Grand Canyon today. OH.. MY.. GOD! I only stayed about 1.5 hours because of the need to make some time. I WILL be back here to stay for a week or so. Saw some mountain goats while there.

I had the strangest thing happen (and hence the Pearl Harbor reference in the title) - You know how people pass you, your eyes meet, and you give a half-smile to say "yes, I see you, I acknowledge your existance"? All week, those acknowledgements have been met with looks of disgust and an expression that says "die pig die".

What a change today has been (and hence the Pearl Harbor reference in the title). Asians, and in particular Japanese, are (in)famous for touring. Go to any major landmark, and there are hundreds of them. They seemed to be bombing me today. Just diving at me, crashing into me, without reason.

In my 1.5 hours at the Grand Canyon, no less than 3 Japanese hotties found it in their kind hearts to not only NOT look disgusted, but to start conversations and me and seem genuinely happy for some conversation.

One of them (the hottest by far - Shes a professional dancer and an aerobics instructor) followed me around for about 30 minutes and we took turns taking pictures of each other so we would actually have pictures of ourselves at the Canyon (me getting pictures with myself in them has been a problem for most of the trip. Pictures of her are in my photo gallery.. mentioned in previous posts.

We exchanged emails, said our goodbyes, and I was back on the road. I was followed on the only road out of the Canyon by a cop for about 40 miles of construction. That was relaxing... NOT.

Drove Route 66 for about 30 miles.

Before the night was through, I found myself "standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona". Got some pictures of the landmark, including the famous flatbed Ford. It was already dark and this camera sucks, so I'm going to have to do some major editing in order for them to be seen.

Slept in the truck in a rest stop somewhere around Albuquerque.

Trip report #9

Today was a much better day than yesterday; though not without it's share of problems.

I decided to stay in Vegas a second night so I could actually see some things and get some sleep... well, the sleep thing isn't happening. Gabby was sick again. Off to the regular vet she went. Turns out she had a reaction to the heartworm medicine and/or it caused the remaining heartworms to break loose. She's under close supervision

The hotel has made it a major headache to extend my stay. I've had to check out and check in again. Then the card didn't work, so it was back to the registration desk.

For those of you who have never been here, Caesars Palace is not only HUGE, but it is designed to take you in circles around everything, confusing you into staying and spending your money in their casino. So while it may seem a little whiny about the whole check-in/out and card reprogramming (not to mention yet another time to deal with cash deposits instead of credit cards) it's about 2 miles round trip I'm walking and an hour out of the 24 or so hours I have here.. it's a big deal.

Even after I told the front desk I did not need the room cleaned, told housekeeping I didn't need the room cleaned, and hung the do not disturb sign on the door, various departments still found it necessary to call me 3 times between 10am and 1pm to ask if/when I would like the room cleaned.

Now, having read the above, and possibly yesterday's post, it should be fairly obvious that I'm running on about 5 hours sleep total for the past several days.

Enough bitching.. on to the good stuff.

I took quick tours of about 3/4s of the hotels/casinos on the strip, ate in two different buffets, saw so many hot ass women that... I'm just at a loss for words. That super-thin and yet really curvy type I like so much and hardly ever see (so I get a little TOO pushy when i do find one).. they aren't rare after all, they are just all HERE.

Saw the fountains at Bellagio, went to Coyote Ugly and hung out long enough for two beers. Back to the room to update the blog and start packing.

Tomorrow I drive as far East as I can stand. Originally, Grand Canyon was supposed to be a multi-day (or at the very least, one day, two night) camping trip, but because of various delays I am behind nearly two days in my travels and am going to have to make the Grand Canyon a 3 hour tour.

At this point, I'm completely caught up on blog postings, but may start falling behind again as I'll (once again) have limited Internet access and have to put down some serious miles - 2200 by Sunday afternoon.

I/we will be making a trip to LA/LV something in the next 6-12 months to follow up on all the things I've missed and/or want to spend more time exploring.

G'night world. Feel better Gabby.

Trip Report #8

Today was a really bad day. Picked up the trailer, almost ran a guy over when the truck slipped into gear. Spent 4.5 hours driving around the damn cargo ship terminal area, got the trailer stuck (as in it took nearly an hour to get backed out) due to a temporary "parking lot" that was the equivalent of 6 parking spaces with concrete barriers for entry/exit spaced 8.5 feet apart.

didn't get started on the drive to Vegas until about 1:30. Got a call ,.. one of the dogs (Gabby, our newest addition) is really sick. Seizure, they (emergency clinic) believe.

Arrived in Vegas around 11pm. Got put on the 13th floor (if that ain't some bad mojo.. being in Vegas and being put on the 13th floor - which doesn't exist in most buildings), I don't know what is.

By the time I got all my shit straightened out, it was about 2:30am and the nightlife was winding down.

Stayed up until about 5:30 am catching up on business and surfing.

Pictures from the (still in progress) trip are HERE.

Trip Report #7

Saw SF today, combat style - we would stop at a site, jump out, take a picture, and then back into the truck and on to the next site. Not my style of sight-seeing, but at least I got to see some stuff - Golden Gate bridge, Fisherman's Wharf, the curvy road, China Town, and a few other things that I don't recognize.

I had to drop off the travel trailer for some repairs this morning. I am picking it up tomorrow (Tuesday) morning, taking it to the docks, and then I hit the road again.

Next stop - Vegas! I'm staying at Caesar's Palace. It's amazing how cheap you can stay at a 4 or 5 star hotel if you do it during the week. I'm still not quite decided on whether to see certain things that are kinda-sorta on the way. I know I'll regret it if I don't, but I'll feel pressured to drive more than I should if I do.

Among those items still up in the air are LA/Hollywood, Death Valley (Dante's View is supposed to be magnificent), Montery Point, and a few other things.

Chances are, I'll hit death valley and leave the rest for another trip/time.

Gotta get some sleep. I was up until 3:30 am, have been tired for days, and have to be up at 6:30 am tomorrow. Additionally, time starts working against me while headed home (time zones - time jumps forward, not back).

g'night.

Trip Pictures

Pictures from the (still in progress) trip are HERE.

I have no time to sort, explain details, or add captions. I'll do that once I get off the road.

Trip Report #6

Miles covered to this point: about 5200
Tonight is Sunday (Monday morning)

I'm writing the above because it's getting hard to keep the days straight; they are all starting to run together.


Spent the entire day driving the Pacific Coast Highway from somewhere in OR (maybe 100 miles north of CA?.. it was further away than I thought).

*beautiful* scenery.. saw the giant redwoods. Awe inspiring. Awesome saw more asian and later, hispanic women then I could shake my d*** at.

Stopped to wake up, do laundry, wash the truck. The "low clearance" sign at the car wash wasn't exactly accurate and the overhead pipe took out the front vent on the trailer and did some minor damage to the roof. So much for "free" fuel to SF.. the $ I'm getting paid will now be going to fix the trailer. Hopefully this gets done in time so the customer doesn't see what happened.

I'm only planning on staying in SF on Monday and then leaving first thing on Tues. If this can't be fixed tomorrow, but can be on Tuesday, I'll be staying here an extra day, probably bypassing either Vegas or the grand canyon and hauling ass home.

If it can't be fixed on Tuesday either, then the customer will just have to see it, be pissed, and give my company a poor review. This thing has to be in the terminal area to go on a cargo ship headed for Hawaii at 7am Weds morning.


Made it to SF about 9, should have been at the inlaw's house by 9:15. Traffic is HELL here. I couldn't get to the correct lane to get on the freeway I needed to be on (try changing 7 lanes with a 50 foot vehicle in 1/4 mile at rush hour and you've got a pretty good idea of what I was up against).

The GPS re-routed me. The new route was detoured. I was fucked. 1 hour, 3 passes across the bridge and $8 in tolls later, I was in the subdivision. It took another 30 minutes to find the street, get un-stuck from the apartment parking lot I turned in and get TO the right street.. another 15 minutes to make/find a suitable parking space.

A quick hello, dinner, pet the psychotic dog, shower, update the travel logs/blog, and it's off to bed.

Pictures should be coming soon. I haven't had the time, energy, or connectivity to deal with them.

Trip Report #5

Woke up at 5:30 am, took the 6:15 ferry back to Anacortes, drove to Seattle. Saw the space needle, took the monorail over to the fish market. Not nearly as much fish tossing going on there as TV would leave you to believe. Lots of quaint little hippie stores. Headed across the street and visited the first-ever Starbucks, that was slightly cool. Had a frappacino with malt added. I LOVE malt. Yummy!

Drove to Newport, OR and picked up the travel trailer. Made it just about to the state (CA) line, and couldn't stay awake another minute.

Slept in the trailer on the side of the Pacific/Oregon Coast Highway, 2000 feet up overlooking the ocean and some majorly tall rocks. Beautiful. It was *so* nice to sleep in something resembling a bed!

Trip Report #4

Drove to Tacoma this morning, stopping at a Flying J truck stop so I could check email. Good thing. The customer sent me email asking that I call him when I reach Ellensburg (I think that was the town)... turns out that's where the truck stop was.

I called him, we met up in Port of Tacoma, talked for about 15 minutes. He's a pretty cool guy. He's one of the biggest RV and boat dealers in Washington and has a lot of stuff going on He's talking about getting another boat in 2 weeks, but hauling that one himself. He said he may have more business for me in a few months. Sounds like family vacation time!

Washington has the worst roads ever. All concrete that has shifted from the harsh winters. My kidneys hurt and I actually had a filling come slightly loose.

Drove to Anacortes, took a ferry ride over to San Juan island in hopes of seeing a whale. No such luck. I did see the Puget sound, which was cool. Checked out the night life, ate in a chinese restaurant, sleeping for a few hours in a parking lot as the campground apparently no longer exists. :/

Tomorrow I will see the fish market and space needle, then head out to Newport, OR to pick up the trailer that I need to transport to Oakland, CA.

Trip Report #3

Not much to report today. I drove from Yellowstone to Spokane Washington, taking in a few small tourist trap type sites; none worth mentioning.

Slept in a rest area. Washington rest areas suck. Not only do they not have vending machines, but the restrooms don't even have mirrors.. at least this one didn't.

I will deliver the boat in the morning and start searching for another load

Trip Report #2

Today has been one of the most incredible days of my life...

I woke up, opened the tent to see the sun peeking over 10,000 ft mountain tops and shining down on Yellowstone lake. I cooked eggs, toast and coffee over an open fire and ate it 50 feet from 4 deer. I've seen wild horses, bison by the hundreds, the Old Faithful guyser, the north rim of the Grand Canyon, inspiration point, and so much more.

I've seen mud boil, more colors of rock than I thought possible, looked 500 feet down the wall of a dam, and fell asleep to an incredible thunderstorm that was unlike anything I've experienced before. The lightening was blinding, the thunder so loud that it made the truck rattle, the 3lb latern in the tent fall over, and literally shook my balls as it echoed for 30 seconds or more bouncing from mountain to mountain and through the canyon.

... and yes, the mainstreamed Sioux indian chicks are hot!

After much negotiation and 3 different facilities, I finally managed to convince a ranger to let me park in the seemingly arbitrarily labled 10 minute parking for 30 minutes and FINALLY got to take a shower!

At about 3 am, the cold winds from the storm became too much to bare. The temperature had dropped to 40 degrees (keep in mind that only 4 days before, I was in Jacksonville where it was 100+ degrees and over 95% humidity - 40 degrees might as well been absolute zero!) and the wind was blowing at over 30 MPH. I moved into my truck, started it, probably waking half the people in the campground, but I didn't care, as hypothermia was setting in. Ran the engine for about 15 minutes (it's a diesel and takes 10 minutes before the temp guage even moves), turned it off, and slept the rest of the night in peace.

Trip Report #1

This covers Thurs, 8/11 - Tues, 8/16.
This is going to be long. I'll try to make more frequent reports.

Allow me to start at the beginning..

As some of you know, I have started a transport company on the side. I have a customer that wanted a boat hauled from Jacksonville, FL to Tacoma. I had planned to ride the Harley out to the grand canyon the beginning of Sept It didn't make much sense to take this trip (having to work my other job during the day, which means constant hassles finding wireless connections, paying "late stay" charges at hotels, etc), turn around, go back home, and leave again on another 2000-3000 mile (one way) trip.

I arranged with work to take the two weeks vacation scheduled in Sept to transport the boat, with plans to see everything I can along the way. The basic plan was to haul some serious ass (and since hauling a 8000 lb boat/trailer, that meant long hours, not going fast) out west, then take time to see a few sites, and hopefully pick up another load or two for the return trip.

The completely loose, unplanned, "wouldn't it be cool to see this shit?" itinerary is/was:

- Nashville
- Mount Rushmore
- Yellowstone
- Space Needle
- San Francisco
- Possibly Hollywood
- Quick trip down the main strip of Las Vegas, maybe stay the night (cheap buffets!)
- Grand Canyon
- Anything else of major interest along the way.

So far, I am adding the redwood forest to this. I *really* want to see them big trees.

I took Friday (8/12) as a comp day, left Thursday night, stayed the night at a rest area in Jacksonville on Thursday, got the first service on the truck on Friday morning, picked up the boat, Hit Joe's Crab Shack for brunch, stood in the ocean for about 10 minutes and was on the road about noon I stayed at Crestwood Suites in Nashville (about 5 miles from Opryland) on Friday night. I didn't see Opryland as I was anxious to get on the road, plus I'll be criss-crossing Nashville on the way back home.

Saturday saw me spending the night at the Rock Point rest area in Nemaha, Missouri, about 110 miles NW of Kansas City. Only about 4 hours sleep in the truck, approximately 600 miles covered.

Sunday I covered another 600 miles, ending up in yet another rest area near Rapid City South Dakota. I was exhausted at this point. I forgot to eat all day. I woke up at 3 am with my stomach hurting, found a Dennys, and an attempt was made my a 1/2 mexican, 1/2 native american to get me to commit to "the confederate way". Creepy.

An interesting stop that night was at a so-called Discount Fuel station (most expensive fuel on the trip, but I had no choice - fuel stops open past 9pm can be over 100 miles apart in this area). This is cowboy country! I was the only one without a cowboy hat, boots, and fleece-lined denim jacket. Out of 20 or so vehicles in the lot, I was also the only one that did NOT have a horse trailer. Forget about that friendly cowboy shit. These guys were friggin' RUDE, one [i]attempted[i] to walk through me. lol

Monday was the first tourist day. Mt Rushmore. Very cool. Not surprisingly, not a long stop. Maybe 2 hours MAX. It's pretty cool, but how long can you stare at a stone rendition of a bunch of dead presidents?

I picked up some pamphlets and decided that Custer state park sounded really cool. Camping, showers, and an 18 mile wildlife loop. I exit Mt Rushmore, and there's a state sign pointing to the right that says Custer Park. Can you tell trouble is coming?

.. What they failed to mention was that this is one of the tightest, twisted roads you will ever be on, complete with 1000 ft drops off the guardrail-less shoulderless side of the road, single lane tunnels, 11'6"-12' bridges, 8' wide lanes, etc. If you know NC 226A - the road we got caught in the fog on, imagine that with no guardrails or shoulders and the lanes being a foot narrower and you've got a pretty good idea

Allow me pause here to describe what I'm driving. This is a 2005 F350 4x4 Crew Cab Dually. She's about 7'2" tall, over 22 feet long, and 7'10.5" at the "hips" (flared rear wheel wells for the dual tires). I'm hauling a 27' cabin cruiser on a trailer that, from my rear bumper measures (stepping outside in the rain to measure) 35'8". That's right, the total length of this combination is about 63 feet. 10 feet longer than the longest semi trailer. Think of a semi without a sleeper and you've got the idea (only several feet shorter in height).

Ohhh-Kaaay So I've got a 63' rig that is a whopping 1.5 INCHES narrower than the lanes, with curves so tight that some motorcycles are riding 10 MPH below the posted 35 MPH speed limit

Needless to say, I was going very slow and pissing off a lot of people. I apparently cut one right hand curve a little too tight in an effort to avoid driving the truck off a cliff The right trailer wheels (tandem axle) dropped off the inside (non cliff side) of the road - about a 1 foot drop. When it came back on the road, it bent the edge of the wheel completely over, causing the tire to deflate.

When I stop for one of the one-lane bridges, a guy pulls up to tell me about the flat and that the skeg (very bottom part of the outdrive/motor) is dragging every time I take a turn.

I have no choice but to keep driving - no turn arounds, no pull-offs - for another 3 miles I finally find a place that you could park 3 cars wide and maybe 3 cars deep if bumper-to-bumper. It's also on a steep slope. I spend 45 minutes digging suitable rocks out of the ground to act like wheel chocks so the trailer doesn't roll 1/2 mile downhill into a field Disconnect the trailer, break out the jack for the truck, remove the wheel (note to self - keep trailer on hitch next time until the wheel is off). Oh yeah, did I mention that it was raining like a mofo and *hailing*. Small gumball sized. The entire time I'm dealing with the trailer situation

I make some calls, make some more calls, find a wheel in a warehouse in the nearest city 60 miles away (back to Rapid city, ugh!). The rest of the day until about 6pm (this all started at about 11am) is spent resolving this issue. I tell the GPS to give me the quickest way back, it puts me on some short-cut dirt backroad that is actually more 4x4 trail than road. There is no way in hell I would take anything less than a 4x4 with dual limited slips and off-road tires on this trail 8 miles into this bumpy, muddy, rutty mess, I'm supposed to turn right and the highway is 200 yards away.

I turn right, yup, I see it, sweet! This actually saved me about an hour of driving Shit! There'a a big ass steel gate across the trail, permanent - concreted in the ground, with no way around it. I decid to keep going the way I was headed It seemed like it would hit 16alt further down the hill - still a time saver.

After another 3-4 miles of this road, there's a gate, but it's home made and open. There's a no hunting sign.. no problem, I'm not hunting. As I get closer, I notice brown spray paint on a darkened and rotting board that says "This is private property, no trespassing, this means you, motherfucker" (yes, including the motherfucker). I almost cry, I laugh out of frustration, figure I go in just far enough to get turned around. I then notice the trailer halfway down the side of the hill (how the HELL did they get that thing in there???) about 200 yards away with a... no shit, 3 legged dog on the porch, sitting at the feet of his master, who is slowingly standing and holding something that may have been almost anything, but was certainly looking like a firearm

Ok, new plan. Back up for about 1/3 mile into what was at one time, somebody's driveway, go ALL the way back on the dirt road, take the same twisted route back - actually seemed *easy* with only the big truck.

I finally finish getting the trailer together, hitched, and on the road again around 6pm. I head to Custer state park, hit the wildlife loop, see a lot of buffalo, some gazelle, rabbits, I think some elk, a few wild burros (they call them the "begging burros" - apparently they will come right up to your car sniffing for food). This just about makes up for the hell from earlier in the day. I stop to get a camp site - They don't have anything big enough for what I'm towing, and if I park on the side of the road, they will tow my vehicle away. I laugh, explaining what I'm towing, and that there is no way the could tow it

The friendly (really) young lady says "they have some kind of torch thingy they can burn through metal with so they can disconnect it". SHIT!

New plan - on to Deadwood (as in the tv show - This is where Calamity Jane, Bill Hitchcock, etc layed claim to fame) I roll in to Deadwood about 11pm. Turns out not much has changed there. Outside of the (closed at 11pm) main tourist strip, it's a dumpy gambling town where everybody is drunk and looking for trouble, and if you can find a motel (I did, it was a dive, there was a party in the parking lot) they will fuck you out of every cent they can (they wanted $90, I laughed and left, too tired to say something witty)

New plan version 2 (or is this 3?): Try to shake the bad mojo of South Dakota and drive just far enough into Wyoming to find a rest area and sleep in the truck yet again. After driving for what seemed like forever (I'm sure it wasn't long, but I was seriously concerned I would fall asleep) I finally figure out that (at least this part of) Wyoming doesn't have rest stops/areas, only "parking areas", these are little pull-offs parallel to the freeway. Basically a 300 yard strip of pavement with a garbage can. I'm beat, I take it. I *think* I'm somewhere between Gillette and Buffalo. It turns out not to be so bad. The sky is clear, I'm 50 miles from anything, and I see more stars than I've ever seen before - except for on Ocracoke Island. The sky seems nearly white. Sleep at midnight(?).

Tuesday - wake up at 8:30, surprised I slept so long. Driving to Yellowstone, which is only about 380 miles, a very easy day. So I take my time, stop by a truck stop, purchase some wireless Internet time, visit the visitor's center (what else would you do with one?), make calls to the customer and wifey, find out a shower costs $11 (campsites with showers are about the same), and being a man of principals, even though I am DYING for a shower (scroll back, it's been a long time - the longest I've ever went without one), there is no way in hell I'll pay that much.

Drive on with a stop in Cody, WY. This town is famous for Buffalo Bill and it's Rodeos. I'm curious about the rodeo, but am against that kind of treatment of animals, especially for entertainment purposes. I'm not curious enough about Buffalo Bill to stop at the visitor's center/museum/tourist trap. Find a Walmart, buy some camping supplies and a few cheap fishing items.

Drive through Buckhorn National forest. Beautiful!

Make it into Yellowstone via the West entrance. They don't bother to tell me that there is serious road construction, it's half bumpy dirt, etc.. for over 30 miles. Stop at the visitor center - closed. Stop in the store for some info. FINALLY make camp. They don't have a spot. Drive another 40 miles ot the next camp (there are NO roads in the Yellowstone. Each intersection is about 30 minutes away from the next one).

After much negotiation as to where I'll sleep, how I'll park, etc, they finally let me in the non-hookup RV section with the boat, but I MUST sleep in the tent. They have strict rules against sleeping in vehicles.

I find this odd considering that bears, especially Grizzlys, are a MAJOR problem here. You can be fined, even EVICTED for leaving so much as an empty water jug in the open (yes, the bed of a pickup counts as "out in the open). Why would they rather have you sleep in a tent than an 8000 lb truck?.. but a camper/rv is ok? Odd.

I manage to park in complete darkness, only bumping a log that lines the driveway/turn-in for the camp site. I set up my tent, start a fire, put on some coffee and a grilled cheese sandwich. Crash.

More (shorter and more frequent, with any luck!) coming soon.

Here's Some Irony for Ya!

Getting ready for my trip to Oshkosh, WI (Biggest airshow in the country). I'm planning on buying materials or a kit to build my own plane. I've been doing a lot of research and have it narrowed down to about 5-6 companys for a 4 seat plane (finances and wanting to get it in the air quickly - but with safety being the number one priority - may dictate a 2 seat plane).

I've started gathering tools. Being that purchasing all the required tools would cost $3k-$4k, and really wanting to spend the money where it counts (on materials), I decided to check out Harbor Freight to see what could be purchased there.

I'm generally of the mindset of "buy the right tool, buy the best, buy it once, and take care of it"... I've been burned way too many times by cheap tools. Now, if y'all know anything at all about Harbor Freight, you know that their stuff is dirt cheap.. in no small part due to the Chinese slave labor used to make the tools.

Here's the irony. every single customer in there except for me, as well as 2 of the four employees were african-american.

Now you would think that since they are still throwing the whole damn slavery thing in our face 100-200 years later like it's MY fault... they would be the last ones to support something like this.

I guess slavery and forced labor is only bad if affects your own people?.. or all they all just full of shit about the importance of their rights, and buying a hammer for $3 instead of $8 is a higher priority.

Either way, whatever the reason, it's fucked up.

Morse Code and personality types

With the new truck comes the desire to get back into CB, which ain't what it used to be. I've already installed the old radio into the minivan.

I've got a couple of 102" whips for the pickup, and have ordered a peaked, tuned, aligned Galaxy DX959 (Possibly the best non-export (that is, 10 meter converted) radio you can buy).

I could pass the no-code Technician license off the top of my head (I went to school for 1.5 years for electronics. I know enough about electronics to get the General class license with a night or two of studying... I wouldn't even attempt the extra class. It's just too damn geeky to begin with, and all the freqs I want to work are available to general class anyway.

There is no way I'd get the no-code Technician, I'll get the Technician + code instead, and if I'm going to do that, since the code test is the same, I might as well get the General class (General class requires code - there is not a "no-code General Class" license).

All that is required is 5 wpm (words per minute).

Now, here's the problem - I don't know morse code (and I've already found links to dozens of study methods and software programs) Being the Type A(+) personality I am, there is NO way I'm going to satisfied with 5 wpm. That's just lame. Most people that have been around for a few years are doing 10-15 wpm and I don't want to look like no newbie. I want to talk with the big boys. That means I need to know 15-20 wpm. Not just copy, but transmit. To do this accurately, I need to study at about 25 wpm. According to most of the info I've read, it is much better to start off at this speed than to try to gain speed later - if you learn to slow, you create a sort of "look-up table" in your head.. you translate everything. By learning it at higher speeds, "..." and "S" become the same in your head, no need to translate.

So, now I've spent three nights trying to get clean copy on 4 letters: E,I,S, and H. That's ".", "..", "...", and "....". Sounds easy, doesn't it?

Here, give it a try http://www.aa9pw.com/morse/sound/13173.au

If that link doesn't work, go here, , set it to generate 1 group of code sent at 25 wpm using character speed of 25 wpm farnsworth, select letters (a-z) and select the "eish" letter group, then click "create morse code" and download the uncompresssed AU file".

Keep in mind, you need 90% or better the *first time* you listen to it. You can get the answers (no cheating!) by clicking the link in step 2.

Not so easy, eh?

I *SO* need to come back in the next life as a Type B personality. It's maddening having someone tell you that you can't start a fire with water and trying to engineer a new type of water just because they told you it can't be done. Argh!

Crazy Week

On vacation since last Friday. I've driven and rode nearly 2000 miles, bought a new truck, started a new company, picked up the jet ski from MI and all but rebuilt it today, saw the entire family, and.. I don't even know what else. It's only Wednesday. Yikes!

Top Ten at Work

It's shortly after 9 am and I've already found the need to use almost all of these phrases:


Most Useful Work Phrases

10. Someday, we'll look back on this, laugh nervously and change the subject.
9. I don't work here. I'm a consultant.
8. I'll try being nicer if you'll try being smarter.
7. You sound reasonable...Time to up my medication.
6. It's a thankless job, but I've got a lot of Karma to burn off.
5. I will always cherish the initial misconceptions I had about you.
4. I'm already visualizing the duct tape over your mouth.
3. I'm not being rude. You're just insignificant.
2. The fact that no one understands you doesn't mean you're an artist.
1. Thank you. We're all refreshed and challenged by your unique point of view.

Photographer Pics from Deals Gap

Of course the photographer didn't get any pictures of where I was *really* leaned over, but this picture isn't bad.


I wish he would have got one of the really leaned over ones.. would have made a cool poster for the garage.

A Few Pictures

Just got back. Here are a few pictures from my trips.

Wowie!

I just don't know how else to describe this week, especially today. It's motorcycling nirvana. I rode the loop - the
Cherahola (sp?) skyway to 360 to 72 to the dragon/129. Checked out Fort Laudoun and spent the rest of the day riding the dragon.

Spent some time with Lori - semi-cute redhead whose boyfriend is the dude behind killboy.com and the main keeper of "the dragon". They are nearly celebrities.. even the factory reps know them.

I got to follow her for a while and learn some decent lines. Got my pic taken with both of them, etc.

The Rennsports (track tires with no grooves on the sidewall - do not ride in rain) are on along with the brake pads and race fluid. Shit that fuckin' bike rocks. It is *so* much better than I will ever be. I have completely fallen in love with the zx-10 and want it to have my baby.

I've been sticking to my diet pretty well, but drinking a *lot* of beer. I expect to have gained weight this week. :(

Miss y'all

R

Slip Slidin' Away

Another beautiful day. Slept in until about 10. Woke up Chris so we could leave about 10:30. Hit the dragon and did one pass up and back. Stopped at Wheelers to see some of the guys from the other house and just hang out. There was a long line to get things done and as luck would have it, my tires were greasy enough that the back of the bike started sliding on me - I needed to get them changed; ASAP!

Rode back to the house, loaded the bike on the trailer and brought it back (this had to be done so I could have bike and tires in the same place at the same time.

I got to ride a pocket bike (super tiny motorcycle powered by a 50cc engine). That was pretty cool.

Ended up hanging out at the shop until 9pm. Ended up putting my race brake pads in front and putting the race fluid in and bleeding the brakes as well. Also did a dyno run. 147 HP at the rear wheel with the tire slipping on the drum, not too shabby (out of about 20 other bikes, the next highest was 110 HP)!

The rest of the guys were going on a night run. I told them that I would stay behind - I don't see that well at night and it was my turn to buy beer anyway.

Went on a beer run - dry county, so the "run" took 45 minutes. Picked up some beer for (Ken) Wheeler - The mechanic. Hung out with him for about an hour shooting the shit and drinking beer in front of his shop. Very relaxing evening. He's a good guy, and a helluva mechanic. Somewhat of a legend around here. Good person to know. All seemed right with the world.

Back to the house. Somebody has came in, set the air conditioning to 58 degrees, erased most of the marker board (people have been putting stuff up there all week, it was kinda cool.. Almost a graffiti wall), taken the DVD I was supposed to watch tonight, and just generally made themselves at home.. I need to find out who this is and have a little chat with him.

So here I sit all by myself with 2 cases of beer (the guys aren't back to the other house yet) and not a damn thing to do. Hmm, I get the feeling I'm going to be drunk tonight. lol

Here are some pictures from the trip. If you can't see them, let me know and I will download and post them.

G'night world. Pray for good weather!