Wanderlust

I've been wanting to get out and travel lately. Since my wife became ill I haven't really been anywhere. Now that I'm tied up for a while with work, I thought I'd revisit Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon. I rarely re-read a book but since it's been probably 30 years at least since I read it, I'm hoping it will be like meeting up with an old friend - familiar but new at the same time. Off I went to the library in search of Blue Highways and I came across Here, There, Elsewhere: Stories From The Road  by Heat-Moon so I grabbed it instead. This one came out in 2013 and is a collection of his short stories. I'm about half way through the book and it's most enjoyable.

Apparently, he lives in Rocheport, Missouri which is on the Katy Trail. In one of the chapters he describes the Katy Trail which runs along the Missouri River and was also the path Lewis and Clark took when heading out west. My cycling buddy and I rode the Katy Trail on the first of our long distance bike rides together. Big time fun and it led to us undertaking several other long distance rides. I remember us stopping in Rocheport for breakfast one morning - cool little river town.

There is also a chapter in Here, There, Elsewhere about beer. Interesting perspective on real beer/ale as opposed to what is passed off as beer by the big brewing companies. I've maintained for some time that the downfall of America began with the introduction of light beer. He doesn't go quite that far but he does make an excellent case for craft breweries, micro-breweries and taverns of the traditional type. And, he of road trip fame, was willing to travel to distant locales to support his hypothesis. I like that.

In addition to Blue Highways, I've also read his River Horse and PrairyErth. The Missus and I followed the Santa Fe Trail westward in '96. My cycling buddy recommended PrairyErth to me so I took it along on the trip, reading it in the evenings after we had stopped for the day. The book is about Chase County, Kansas and we stopped in at the courthouse and signed the visitor's log. I think it would be safe to say William Least Heat-Moon put Chase County on the map judging from the visitors who have shown up at the courthouse from all over the world. Again, an excellent read.

I saw that he also has written another book, Roads to Quoz. I'll have to see about that one after finishing off Here, There, Elsewhere. Maybe then I'll get back to Blue Highways. None of this is going to help quell the itch I've got to travel, however. I've still got my four states to see in order to have been in all fifty. A train ticket to Reno with a paperback copy of Blue Highways to read along the way could help scratch that itch. Better still, a motorcycle trip out west. Pickup US 50 in southern Indiana and head west all the way to Cal-ee-for-nye-a. I doubt if you can find many three calendar cafes anymore, though.

Jeep Truck

Photo From Here

The Missus told me she had heard that Jeep was planning on bringing out a new pickup truck. After checking into it a bit, it seems they are planning on doing an overhaul of the Wrangler due out this year and then building the truck version off of that in 2018. When I was shopping for a new vehicle last time, I wanted a small truck. I was looking for something like the Dakota I used to have. Four cylinder, 5 speed manual, eight foot bed. Good mileage, cargo capacity and big enough to haul a small trailer. However, no-one makes an animal like that anymore. There's a couple of mid-size trucks out there but most of them have cabs longer than the beds. I don't need a back seat. I own a car. I need a truck so I can haul things, not people.

I'm sure the new Jeep won't look like this, but I dig this thing. Not at all practical for around here but man does not live by practicality alone.

Both Photos From Here

This I could live with. This is a concept vehicle from a few years back. Since the old Dodge will be 15 years old next year, might be time to trade it off and get something to haul my little teardrop around and see a bit more of the country while I'm still able.

One Step Closer

We had a tremendous day around here on Saturday - sunny and 60 degrees. Not at all like what a normal January day would be. I went to the gym in the morning, came home and tackled a few little things outside and then threw the big doors open in the shop and worked a little bit on the sidecar project. 

I needed to fill in a small spot on the floor and fasten down the front of the fender. Fortunately, I found a piece of diamond plate big enough to do the job without having to order in a piece. After cutting it to fit, I bent up a piece of 3/16" aluminum flat bar to match the contour of the fender, drilled and countersunk a couple of holes for the Dzus fasteners, and then welded it on to the floor plate. Punched and dimpled the fender for the Dzus fasteners and I was set. The fasteners have the "wings" on them to be able to turn them without tools but those are only temporary. When I get everything ready for final assembly, I'll swap them out for ones with screwdriver slots.

Next up is to make the fender skirt for the inside of the wheel. I'm thinking about making another hand grip on the outside. I should do that, if I'm going to, before I close the wheel opening on the outside. It's not supposed to be brutally cold or anything this week. Maybe I can get the inner skirt done in the next few days.

Auction

The recent Vintage Motorsport magazine e-mail had both of these. They're part of the upcoming Mecum auction taking place in Vegas soon. If you're flush with green and are looking for a bike, you should be able to find something to your liking. I went through the catalog and there's everything from scooters, to cruisers, old to new. A beautiful '68 Triumph Bonneville caught my eye, as well as several things of Italian origin. I don't need anything else with wheels under it but I'd love to be able to fly out there, buy the Bonnie or something similar and then ride it back home. 

Virtual Welding

Here's a short promotional video about the Lincoln virtual welding machine. It features, among others, my boss, one of my students and a co-worker.

I've farted around with the thing and I'm not sold on the advantages of it, personally. My biggest problem with it is we only have one of them. It works well if you partner people up but with the eight week format of our classes, we don't have the time to cycle everyone through the virtual welder before getting them out on the real thing. It's fun to play with, however.

You can set up different scenarios where you'll be welding, different welding processes, different electrodes, material thickness, joint types and positions. The machine will tell you if the parameters are within the required range and then grade your performance on things like arc length, travel angle, speed of travel - all the things you would be looking at if your were actually welding. The view through the helmet is pretty realistic and you have to chip your slag like a real weld. And it has sound effects! 

It has the potential to save a lot of money in material and consumables but the machine is expensive. You'd have to use it a lot to get the payback, however. While it simulates the welding processes very well, I'd like to see it make smoke and spit out sparks as well. Then you'd have something.

Survival

I'd finished reading I Had to Survive by Roberto Canessa and mentioned it to Surly. He recommended  I read the book Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzales. Interesting book. The author's father was shot down over Germany while piloting a B-17. He was unable to get out of the plane and rode a chunk of it down from an altitude of 27,000 feet. Surprisingly enough, though badly injured, he lived through that only to be facing a German farmer pointing a pistol at his head. When the farmer pulled the trigger, the gun failed to discharge, literally dodging a bullet. The author goes into more details of his father's story at the end of the book after relating many other incredible stories of survival including that of Roberto Canessa, not all of which end well.

I suppose most every man has wondered at one time or another if he had what it takes to come out on top in a true survival situation. The Deep Survival book brings together some commonalities of the survivors as well as describing how the brain functions when in serious trouble. With all the interest in "prepping" on one end of the spectrum and safe spaces and trigger warnings on the other, what's really going to happen if there's a serious national event like the grid going down for a month? What happens to the preppers who haven't prepared well enough, say their food or water supply runs out. Does being a prepper make you a survivor or just put you ahead of the curve. Will all the "snowflakes" leave their safe spaces and become survivors.

I just recently saw the documentary on the Blizzard of '49. Good Lord, what a storm. If I remember right, however, there was only one fatality. Now those people were survivors. Also, last Thursday was the anniversary of the Children's Blizzard. I recommend reading the book on that one. While it's a tragic story, it really brings home the fact that Mother Nature can be a cruel mistress.

The appendix of the Deep Survival book discusses living your life while balancing the risk/reward ratio as well as offering some things to consider if you ever find yourself in a survival situation. Additionally, there are of course things that you can and should do to prepare if you're going to be involved in a risky hobby or adventure and the book lists several of these. Since these seem to be somewhat risky times with both politics and the weather causing major issues, you might want to look in to preparing yourself for some unforeseen situation. Reading Deep Survival would be a good start.

B&W

Photo From Here

Great photo of Katherine Hepburn. Now that the cold weather is here and it gets dark early, I should mix up some fresh chemicals and make a few B&W prints. I haven't done any photography work in quite a while. I should see what I've got for film and maybe shoot a couple of rolls of medium format and maybe a few shots with the 4x5 as well. Of course getting out would somewhat be weather dependent and around here that could be just about anything. 

Last weekend the daytime temperatures were in the teens. Wednesday the Missus and I had dentist appointments that had us driving through fog on the way in, and a serious thunderstorm on the way home with temperatures increasing from high 30's through out the day until they hit 55 at 8:30 that evening.. I had gone out into the shop earlier in the day and worked a bit until I ran out of propane for the furnace. I loaded up the tank and took it over to get it refilled. It's a fairly large tank - about 42" tall and 16" in diameter. I dropped it off outside by where the route driver fills his truck. I went back yesterday to pick it up and the tank was frozen to the ground. I borrowed a hammer from the guys there, thinking I could tap around the base and break it free. No go. One of the mechanics got a strap, wrapped it around the tank and gave it a jerk with his pickup to break it free. They're forecasting temps in the mid to high fifties next weekend, so I'm planning on getting out and doing a little ice skating this weekend. Crazy weather, even for around here.

I start back to school next week. Not really looking forward to working after having a month off but I'm sure I'll be fine once I get back into the routine again. I got caught up on a lot of little things while I was off and even though I've got a project list that's still a mile long, mostly it's just my stuff and not the honey-do things. I'll get started on an exercise routine, set aside a couple hours every day for project work and then just keep on keepin' on. You all do the same.