Still hot outside today. It's not suppose to be like this until August in Colorado, I am sure it is making fighting our wild fires that much more difficult. Add to that the little bit of rain, with a whole lot of dry lightning, and the net outcome is even more fires in the state than yesterday.
On a more positive note; went and picked up new vent covers for the trailer yesterday afternoon. Will end up replacing all 4 of them before I'm done, but there is still some question in my mind as to which type of connection each one has. They aren't all the same type of course so I only bought 3 so far. The good news is that the new ones are suppose to be unbreakable. I guess we'll see next time a good hail storm comes through or worse, when I park under some black walnut tree in some park back east. Right now of course the idea of being up on top of the trailer trying to install them is a non-starter, but there will come a day in the near future when it will be a bit cooler. Might have to wait until after the start of the next trip.
George and I spent an evening in last night and watched a couple of episodes of the old TV show 'Firefly'. One of my all time favorite Sci-Fi shows watching them again was nearly as much fun as the first time around.
Had to go do some lawn watering at the old house this morning. Will be glad when it is finally sold and I can stop doing this early morning stuff. Wanted to get there early enough that I wouldn't run into the realtor if she was showing it again today. Not a big deal though, just have to take a book or a couple of magazines and spend some time reading.
This evening should be a lot of fun. Am meeting up with a bunch of friends early to go and have dinner together.... yes, it is once again Mexican food....., and then we are all going on to the Arvada Center to see the latest play. Legally Blonde is playing tonight, haven't ever seen it as a play before, but so far the reviews for it have been favorable. I'm glad I'll be able to see at least one of the plays there this year. I've been a season ticket holder at the Arvada Center for 14-15 years now and have managed to get into seats that I really like and don't want to lose, so I still buy the whole season for two, even though I have only seen one or two plays at the most for the last 3 seasons. Several of my friends have since then started to buy season tickets on the same night so it has become a nice way to spend an evening with some of them, so tonight will be pretty special.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Friday, June 29, 2012
Caution: the last two posts have gone out with out the benefit of spell check... for some reason it has just stopped working for me. Not sure what it was that I did to piss it off.... but I'm sorry!
Got the iPod jack installed in the truck this morning. It took them better than two hours to do it, but after looking at the installation it was obvious that I could never have done it. So the good news is that I will no longer have to listen to "COMMERCIAL" radio if I don't want to. It certainly came in handy this afternoon as I drove up to Longmont and then back down again.
Needed to go up and pick up a few more things at the trailer as well as drop a few things off. Also took the time to go over and pick up my mail again. Only a bit more than a week since the last time and the box was already full of junk. Did get my latest credit card bill though and took a look to see if South West Airlines really had taken the charges for that 2nd ticket off as they said they would.... They did... so kudo's to them for actually doing not only what they said they would but what was the right thing to do in the first place.
Long drive home this evening. Ran into a traffic jam as soon as I hit the on ramp to I-25 up at the Longmont exit. From there it was nearly 3 hours of stop and go traffic until finally making it back to my friends home in southern Denver. I am so glad that I no longer have to do that on a daily basis.
Was starving once back at my home base, and also had to pee like a banshee since there was no place to really get off and go to the bathroom in Denver proper. I made it in both cases though and picked up my friend George for yet another meal out of mexican food. For those of you that have been following this blog over the past two weeks you might be starting to see a trend develop as far as where and what I like to eat when I go out for a meal. Not that I don't also like other types of food, but mexican will likely always be my favorite.
Brought George home afterwards, got some real shoes and socks on, brushed the teeth and then headed to Washington Park to do a little folk dancing outside in front of the boat house there. Forty two years and counting of dancing there every summer. Still lots of old time friends and some wonderful dances that never get old. Lot's of new dances too and it is still fun to try and pick up the steps from behind the line. Still pretty good at picking up most of the patterns, but it would probably help if I danced more than once or twice a year. Guess you can only do what you can and the rest is just extra.
Still a bit of work to do on the trailer before it is ready to go again, but it is getting closer to being complete again. Looking at taking out of here a day or two after the 4th and heading for the Chadron, Nebraska area for a couple weeks. Need to sit down and get the calender out again and start planning the next 6-8 months again. It always seems like there is going to be enough time to do everything and then 'Poof', next thing you know another month has gone by.
Got the iPod jack installed in the truck this morning. It took them better than two hours to do it, but after looking at the installation it was obvious that I could never have done it. So the good news is that I will no longer have to listen to "COMMERCIAL" radio if I don't want to. It certainly came in handy this afternoon as I drove up to Longmont and then back down again.
Needed to go up and pick up a few more things at the trailer as well as drop a few things off. Also took the time to go over and pick up my mail again. Only a bit more than a week since the last time and the box was already full of junk. Did get my latest credit card bill though and took a look to see if South West Airlines really had taken the charges for that 2nd ticket off as they said they would.... They did... so kudo's to them for actually doing not only what they said they would but what was the right thing to do in the first place.
Long drive home this evening. Ran into a traffic jam as soon as I hit the on ramp to I-25 up at the Longmont exit. From there it was nearly 3 hours of stop and go traffic until finally making it back to my friends home in southern Denver. I am so glad that I no longer have to do that on a daily basis.
Was starving once back at my home base, and also had to pee like a banshee since there was no place to really get off and go to the bathroom in Denver proper. I made it in both cases though and picked up my friend George for yet another meal out of mexican food. For those of you that have been following this blog over the past two weeks you might be starting to see a trend develop as far as where and what I like to eat when I go out for a meal. Not that I don't also like other types of food, but mexican will likely always be my favorite.
Brought George home afterwards, got some real shoes and socks on, brushed the teeth and then headed to Washington Park to do a little folk dancing outside in front of the boat house there. Forty two years and counting of dancing there every summer. Still lots of old time friends and some wonderful dances that never get old. Lot's of new dances too and it is still fun to try and pick up the steps from behind the line. Still pretty good at picking up most of the patterns, but it would probably help if I danced more than once or twice a year. Guess you can only do what you can and the rest is just extra.
Still a bit of work to do on the trailer before it is ready to go again, but it is getting closer to being complete again. Looking at taking out of here a day or two after the 4th and heading for the Chadron, Nebraska area for a couple weeks. Need to sit down and get the calender out again and start planning the next 6-8 months again. It always seems like there is going to be enough time to do everything and then 'Poof', next thing you know another month has gone by.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Up and going a whole lot earlier than normal, or that I really wanted to be, but had agreed to run an errand this morning and woke up at 6:30 and couldn't get back to sleep again. The errand was to meet my sister-in-law over at the old family home and pick up a key so I could help keep the lawn and bushes watered until the house was sold. Also had to pick up a couple boxes of stuff that had been inadvertently left in the house last fall when I left on the trip back east. No problem though, it was actually nice to see the house cleaned out again and realize that it was really a very nice place to grow up in. Lot's of memories left in that place, some not so good, but most were just wonderful. Stuck around long enough to reprogram the sprinkler system's so who ever was doing the watering wouldn't have to drag around a sprinkler and hose for the 2-3 hours it would of taken. Now you can just turn it on and let it cycle through all the zones while reading a book on the back deck.
Finally got out of Denver after 1:00 and headed for Longmont to do some more errands up there. Did a quick stop at the storage unit to add to and pick up a few more things before heading on over to the trailer. Had to jack up and remove one of the wheel's and tire in order to take it over and get it replaced. For some reason this rear tire on the driver side wore out the outside edges before the rest of the tire. It got me back to Colorado okay, but really didn't want to take a chance on it again. The wear pattern seems to indicate that the tire was under inflated for quite a while, and that could well be. I'm a bit more vigilant about checking them now that I noticed the odd wear pattern. But it could also be a problem with the alignment of that particular axle, not that there is a whole lot you can do about it. With this type of axle you can take it in and have them straighten, (bend), it, but I understand that it is hard to get it right and may in fact make the problem worse. I went and had a new tire put on the rim and balanced it so right now I think I'll just keep a closer eye on it and maybe rotate the tires a bit more so they will all wear a little more evenly.
Drove on back to Denver afterwards through the afternoon rush hour traffic. Of course now days rush hour actually starts around 3:30 in the afternoon and goes until nearly 7:00, so it's kind of a hassle no matter what. Met my friend Tom at the movie theatre and he and I went in and watched the movie 'Rock of Ages'. It's about an aging heavy metal band singer, played by Tom Cruise, who is kind of washed up. Evidently based on a play, it was a musical, which I wasn't expecting. The sondgtrack was also mainly heavy metal tunes which I grew up being pretty ambivalent about. But we both really had a great time watching it and were both surprised at not only knowing most of the songs but how many of the actual words we knew. Tom Cruise was wonderful as were Alec Baldwin and Cathrine Zeta-Jones and all the rest.
Afterwards we wanted dinner, mexican food again, but being after 9:00 on a Wednesday we found that our favorite place was already closed. We ended up at a new place for me that was still open for another hour, but only for drinks and appetizers. So that is what we had. We had a good time talking about what we have both been doing the past 10 months as well as setting up a few things for the near future. Looks like he and I will be taking off on July 31st to do the Missouri River up in Montana. We haven't done a trip with just the two of us for more than 40 years so this ought to be interesting. If we don't end up killing each other it should be a good shake down cruise for a trip we want to do in the near future, which is to paddle the whole Missouri River again from Ft Benton Montana down to at least St Louis.
But it's late now and I'm about to fall asleep right here. There are crickets singing outside, as well as one here inside in the spider cage, and they sound real nice. More errands to do tomorrow, but for now it is off to bed for me.
Finally got out of Denver after 1:00 and headed for Longmont to do some more errands up there. Did a quick stop at the storage unit to add to and pick up a few more things before heading on over to the trailer. Had to jack up and remove one of the wheel's and tire in order to take it over and get it replaced. For some reason this rear tire on the driver side wore out the outside edges before the rest of the tire. It got me back to Colorado okay, but really didn't want to take a chance on it again. The wear pattern seems to indicate that the tire was under inflated for quite a while, and that could well be. I'm a bit more vigilant about checking them now that I noticed the odd wear pattern. But it could also be a problem with the alignment of that particular axle, not that there is a whole lot you can do about it. With this type of axle you can take it in and have them straighten, (bend), it, but I understand that it is hard to get it right and may in fact make the problem worse. I went and had a new tire put on the rim and balanced it so right now I think I'll just keep a closer eye on it and maybe rotate the tires a bit more so they will all wear a little more evenly.
Drove on back to Denver afterwards through the afternoon rush hour traffic. Of course now days rush hour actually starts around 3:30 in the afternoon and goes until nearly 7:00, so it's kind of a hassle no matter what. Met my friend Tom at the movie theatre and he and I went in and watched the movie 'Rock of Ages'. It's about an aging heavy metal band singer, played by Tom Cruise, who is kind of washed up. Evidently based on a play, it was a musical, which I wasn't expecting. The sondgtrack was also mainly heavy metal tunes which I grew up being pretty ambivalent about. But we both really had a great time watching it and were both surprised at not only knowing most of the songs but how many of the actual words we knew. Tom Cruise was wonderful as were Alec Baldwin and Cathrine Zeta-Jones and all the rest.
Afterwards we wanted dinner, mexican food again, but being after 9:00 on a Wednesday we found that our favorite place was already closed. We ended up at a new place for me that was still open for another hour, but only for drinks and appetizers. So that is what we had. We had a good time talking about what we have both been doing the past 10 months as well as setting up a few things for the near future. Looks like he and I will be taking off on July 31st to do the Missouri River up in Montana. We haven't done a trip with just the two of us for more than 40 years so this ought to be interesting. If we don't end up killing each other it should be a good shake down cruise for a trip we want to do in the near future, which is to paddle the whole Missouri River again from Ft Benton Montana down to at least St Louis.
But it's late now and I'm about to fall asleep right here. There are crickets singing outside, as well as one here inside in the spider cage, and they sound real nice. More errands to do tomorrow, but for now it is off to bed for me.
Monday, June 25, 2012
To tired to write anything last night once I got home.... sorry about that. I'm blaming the great time I had contra dancing in Fort Collins, and Boulder, as well as a lack of sleep, for being to wiped out. The contra dance in Boulder last evening was a lot of fun, geared more towards experienced dancers there was less walk through and a lot more dancing. The band, Avant Gardeners, also took the level up a notch in tempo and loudness and it was soon pretty hot and sweaty inside, despite the air conditioning. I also noticed that for the first time I was breathing a bit harder because of the altitude, prior to that, I was feeling pretty smug about it not having any effect on me, even after spending the last 9-10 months down around sea level. It does point out though that dancing often enough at a fast pace will keep you in pretty good shape, even if it doesn't make you lose any weight. (Must really work on that part from now on).
Today was a lot of fun also. Started out with lunch at Racine's (again) with a dance friend. It is hard to ever grow tired of the food and the ambiance there, plus they have some of the best ice tea ever. Fun time catching up with my friend even though I have seen her several times since getting back to Colorado. This time we had a chance to actually sit and talk instead of just passing each other by in a contra dance line.
Earlier this evening it was off to the movies for a 'Guy's Night Out'. A bit of an odd choice this time in that we all wanted to go and see the newest animated show from Pixar, 'Brave'. A good movie over all and certainly stellar technically, but I think all of us were a bit disappointed by the story line. We should of realized that the target audience was going to be 8-13 year old girls. But as I said, it was still an okay movie for us.
Afterwards it was over to the Red Robin across the street for our usual veggie burger and salad. I haven't had one of those for a long, long time, so it tasted just fine to me. Lot's of people, mostly women it seems, ask why we always go there when there are so many other places we could go, and why do we almost always get the same thing when we do? But for us it's not about the food so much as it is about having a place where they actually know us and we can sit and talk boat trips or politics or where we are going on vacation with out having to deal with a lot of superfluous stuff like looking at a menu. Plus; where else could we go where the waitress, Emily, has our drink order on the table before we have even settled into the booth?
Looks like there is likely to be a canoe trip to Montana sometime while I'm in the area. The unresolved question is whether it is going to be with 'The Boys', meaning the backpacking crew, or just my friend Tom and I. Doesn't really matter to me, but in a way it would be nice to be able to paddle with Tom again. He and I have pretty much had to be the stern person in our own boats since our late teens. It would be fun to see if we can still anticipate what the other one wants with out saying anything. So if it happens it will be sometime around the start of August, so I'm going to start looking at taking a trip out to Nebraska between now and then. Sort of a shake down trip before leaving again in September.
Today was a lot of fun also. Started out with lunch at Racine's (again) with a dance friend. It is hard to ever grow tired of the food and the ambiance there, plus they have some of the best ice tea ever. Fun time catching up with my friend even though I have seen her several times since getting back to Colorado. This time we had a chance to actually sit and talk instead of just passing each other by in a contra dance line.
Earlier this evening it was off to the movies for a 'Guy's Night Out'. A bit of an odd choice this time in that we all wanted to go and see the newest animated show from Pixar, 'Brave'. A good movie over all and certainly stellar technically, but I think all of us were a bit disappointed by the story line. We should of realized that the target audience was going to be 8-13 year old girls. But as I said, it was still an okay movie for us.
Afterwards it was over to the Red Robin across the street for our usual veggie burger and salad. I haven't had one of those for a long, long time, so it tasted just fine to me. Lot's of people, mostly women it seems, ask why we always go there when there are so many other places we could go, and why do we almost always get the same thing when we do? But for us it's not about the food so much as it is about having a place where they actually know us and we can sit and talk boat trips or politics or where we are going on vacation with out having to deal with a lot of superfluous stuff like looking at a menu. Plus; where else could we go where the waitress, Emily, has our drink order on the table before we have even settled into the booth?
Looks like there is likely to be a canoe trip to Montana sometime while I'm in the area. The unresolved question is whether it is going to be with 'The Boys', meaning the backpacking crew, or just my friend Tom and I. Doesn't really matter to me, but in a way it would be nice to be able to paddle with Tom again. He and I have pretty much had to be the stern person in our own boats since our late teens. It would be fun to see if we can still anticipate what the other one wants with out saying anything. So if it happens it will be sometime around the start of August, so I'm going to start looking at taking a trip out to Nebraska between now and then. Sort of a shake down trip before leaving again in September.
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Going to make this short tonight cuz it's already after 1:00 a.m. and I'm tired. Good day all in all though. Had to get up early this morning because the problem with the truck window was still on my mind. Found out that the local Ford dealer had his service shop open for the day, so I dropped the truck off to them as my friends and I headed over to 'Lucile's' for a bit of 'Cajun' breakfast. One of my favorite restaurants of all times, there are now about 6-8 of them scattered about northern Colorado in various cities. They do only breakfast and lunch and specialise in offering food with a distinctly Cajun flavor. Lot's of red beans and rice, grits and andoule sausage. Yum! Today it was a cajun omelette with grits and hash browns, and of course, one of thier giant sheet pan biscuits with home made strawberry-rubarb jam on it.
They finished my truck up around 3:00 this afternoon. Besides having to take the front door panel off and replace the window roller up and down thing'y, I also had them replace the front brakes on the truck because they were getting pretty worn. One thing that is always nice is being able to stop while towing a 26' travel trailer behind you, and I know doing that puts a lot of wear and tear on the brakes. So; a little more than $700 bucks later my window now rolls up and down again like it should and the brakes also work like they should. Wasn't really expecting to have to shell out a bunch of money on things like that, but whatcha goin' to do?
Drove up to Fort Collins late this afternoon in order to go to the contra dance there. Had a wonderful time there of course. A few more old friends that I hadn't seen yet on my stop back here. It was the Avant Gardeners playing again and Rick Smith was the caller this evening. One more evening of dancing tomorrow night up in Boulder and then it will be back to just going to the regular dances when ever I can.
That's about all I can handle doing tonight.... time to go and get some sleep.
They finished my truck up around 3:00 this afternoon. Besides having to take the front door panel off and replace the window roller up and down thing'y, I also had them replace the front brakes on the truck because they were getting pretty worn. One thing that is always nice is being able to stop while towing a 26' travel trailer behind you, and I know doing that puts a lot of wear and tear on the brakes. So; a little more than $700 bucks later my window now rolls up and down again like it should and the brakes also work like they should. Wasn't really expecting to have to shell out a bunch of money on things like that, but whatcha goin' to do?
Drove up to Fort Collins late this afternoon in order to go to the contra dance there. Had a wonderful time there of course. A few more old friends that I hadn't seen yet on my stop back here. It was the Avant Gardeners playing again and Rick Smith was the caller this evening. One more evening of dancing tomorrow night up in Boulder and then it will be back to just going to the regular dances when ever I can.
That's about all I can handle doing tonight.... time to go and get some sleep.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Busy, busy day today. Headed north to Longmont late this morning, got to the trailer and started unloading some of the stuff from this last trip that will be staying in my storage shed for this next trip. That included about 30 pounds of various DVD movie's I've bought and watched over the course of 10 months. It's easy to do anymore with a DVD going for as little as a couple bucks each. A lot are movies I've seen before and just wanted to see again, but a few actually have some artistic or scholastic merit to them. Love those 'Planet Earth' ones and the history ones I've purchased.
Also had a whole bag of empty plastic peanut butter jars I've managed to eat all of the peanut butter out of. (I seem to eat a lot of peanut butter for some reason). Not sure why I keep the jars anymore, I use to love them for storing nails, screws and other hardware in, but that was back when I lived in a real house and had a place, and a need, for things like that. Not sure if that will ever be the case again, I seem to go back and forth on whether or not I'll ever settle down again. Right now it's no.... ask me again a few months from now though and it could be a whole different answer.
Took the one empty 30 lb propane tank off and went and had it filled. There is a place on the north end of Longmont that will do it for $26. That is about as cheap as I have been able to find it in my travels around the country. The other tank is still at least half full, so I only used a tank and a half in the last 10 months.
Also went and got my truck tires rotated and re-balanced. They are still looking good after nearly 80,000 miles, but I think it will be time to replace them all before taking off in September. That will certainly be a big shock to the wallet as it will be close to $1,400 again if I choose to go with the same type tire. I also have one trailer tire that will need to be replaced before the next trip, but at least that one will be under $100.
Got back into Denver a little bit after 5:00. Had set up a dinner date with a good friend of mine over at Racine's at 5:30. Since there was a little time before that I parked the truck and gave my sister in Florida a call to see how she and her husband were doing. It all sounded good for the time being, but he will soon be going in for a kidney transplant, so there is a bit of worry from every one about that. Had rolled down the truck windows while on the phone so the truck wouldn't heat up in the sun and start to bake me. The problem is that when I went to roll them up again and leave, the window on the drivers door wouldn't go up. Bummer! Spent about 10 minutes trying to see how hard it was going to be to get the inside door panel off, but there didn't seem to be any easy way to go about it. Finally ran out of time and gave up for the night. Took everything out of the inside of the cab and stuck it all in the back of the truck and locked it all up there, before going in and meeting up with my friend.
We had a wonderful dinner and tried to catch each other up on what we have been doing for the past 10 months. She has certainly been busy and has made it out to a couple of good dances in the West. It sounds like she will be travelling more this winter and as she has lots of family still back east we may actually have a chance to meet up along the way and have dinner and a dance or two.
Speaking of dancing; the Avant Gardeners are playing 3 nights here this weekend. Tonight was the first night here in Denver with Duffy calling. He has certainly improved since the last time I danced to his calling. The dance started off a bit slow and there were a lot of people there, a full 3 lines to start. Was a bit worried that the altitude was really going to effect me tonight, but really there weren't any problems at all. Really didn't breath hard any time during the night, which just shows how aerobic some of the dances back east can be, because on some of those dances it's hard to catch your breath at times.
It was a good time all in all and I stayed and danced all of the dances. Got to see and talk to a lot of my old friends. Interesting to note how many of them, some I barely know, knew that I had been travelling around the country. Will try to get the truck window fixed tomorrow after going to brunch with George and Marge. Then it will be off to Fort Collins and another night of dancing.
Also had a whole bag of empty plastic peanut butter jars I've managed to eat all of the peanut butter out of. (I seem to eat a lot of peanut butter for some reason). Not sure why I keep the jars anymore, I use to love them for storing nails, screws and other hardware in, but that was back when I lived in a real house and had a place, and a need, for things like that. Not sure if that will ever be the case again, I seem to go back and forth on whether or not I'll ever settle down again. Right now it's no.... ask me again a few months from now though and it could be a whole different answer.
Took the one empty 30 lb propane tank off and went and had it filled. There is a place on the north end of Longmont that will do it for $26. That is about as cheap as I have been able to find it in my travels around the country. The other tank is still at least half full, so I only used a tank and a half in the last 10 months.
Also went and got my truck tires rotated and re-balanced. They are still looking good after nearly 80,000 miles, but I think it will be time to replace them all before taking off in September. That will certainly be a big shock to the wallet as it will be close to $1,400 again if I choose to go with the same type tire. I also have one trailer tire that will need to be replaced before the next trip, but at least that one will be under $100.
Got back into Denver a little bit after 5:00. Had set up a dinner date with a good friend of mine over at Racine's at 5:30. Since there was a little time before that I parked the truck and gave my sister in Florida a call to see how she and her husband were doing. It all sounded good for the time being, but he will soon be going in for a kidney transplant, so there is a bit of worry from every one about that. Had rolled down the truck windows while on the phone so the truck wouldn't heat up in the sun and start to bake me. The problem is that when I went to roll them up again and leave, the window on the drivers door wouldn't go up. Bummer! Spent about 10 minutes trying to see how hard it was going to be to get the inside door panel off, but there didn't seem to be any easy way to go about it. Finally ran out of time and gave up for the night. Took everything out of the inside of the cab and stuck it all in the back of the truck and locked it all up there, before going in and meeting up with my friend.
We had a wonderful dinner and tried to catch each other up on what we have been doing for the past 10 months. She has certainly been busy and has made it out to a couple of good dances in the West. It sounds like she will be travelling more this winter and as she has lots of family still back east we may actually have a chance to meet up along the way and have dinner and a dance or two.
Speaking of dancing; the Avant Gardeners are playing 3 nights here this weekend. Tonight was the first night here in Denver with Duffy calling. He has certainly improved since the last time I danced to his calling. The dance started off a bit slow and there were a lot of people there, a full 3 lines to start. Was a bit worried that the altitude was really going to effect me tonight, but really there weren't any problems at all. Really didn't breath hard any time during the night, which just shows how aerobic some of the dances back east can be, because on some of those dances it's hard to catch your breath at times.
It was a good time all in all and I stayed and danced all of the dances. Got to see and talk to a lot of my old friends. Interesting to note how many of them, some I barely know, knew that I had been travelling around the country. Will try to get the truck window fixed tomorrow after going to brunch with George and Marge. Then it will be off to Fort Collins and another night of dancing.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Very busy day today. First on the agenda was getting the truck washed and cleaned out. Hasn't had a real washing for a couple of months now and some of the bug gut's were a bit hard to get off the front of the grill. It looks better now at least. Was hoping that if I washed it that it might rain a bit this afternoon, but no luck on that.
Also went and got the oil changed and all the stuff under the hood checked out. So far everything seems to still be running okay. The truck has more than 125,000 miles on it now and I'm starting to wonder when things are going to start to go seriously wrong with it. Hoping that it can last me at least one more good trip this next fall and into winter and spring before I need to replace it with something newer.
Went and saw a movie with my friend George this afternoon. 'Promethius' was the movie and it turned out to be an okay 'boys night out' kind of flick. A prequel to all of the Alien movies, it had some good special effects in it and the plot was at least decent. Or maybe it should be said that it was decent enough to have a plot. Guess I'll have to go get a copy of the other Alien movies since I've never really seen any of them. Still know the gist of the plot, but it might be good to know what all the rest of it was all about.
Had a nice dinner afterwards with a friend of mine here in the Denver area. Mexican food again.... this time at one of my all time favorite restaurants, 'El Tejado'. Good to catch up on what has been happening with her for the last 10 months or so and the food was wonderful also.
Had plenty of time to slip over to Washington Park afterwards and do a little folk dancing in front of the boat house there. 'Sugar', Sukar Basanov, (sp) has been dancing there for 42 years now and I've been there at least once a year for all of those years, including the 1st night he showed up with his wife, two daughters, a couple of friends and an old record player on a wobbly card table. I have to go see him every year because he really changed my life that 1st evening, when as a 13 year old kid he invited me up to dance my first folk dance with him and his friends. Life has not been the same since then.
Lot's of friends to see there and to talk to, as well as a few new people also. A lot of the same old dances which are a lot of fun. I probably need to come more than once or twice a year if I want to learn many of the new one's. One good thing is that it still seems pretty easy for me to learn new dances, must be something in the way my mind see's and processes patterns that makes it easier for me than most. What ever it is though, I'm just glad I'm not so introverted anymore that I won't go out and try new things.
A lot more errands to run tomorrow, probably a trip up to Longmont to start putting the trailer back together again. Also a contra dance in Denver tomorrow evening. The 'Avant Gardeners' will be doing dances in Denver, Ft Collins and Boulder over the next 3 days and I hope to get to all of them. Not quite a 3 day dance, but about as close to one as the Denver area will ever get it seems.
Also went and got the oil changed and all the stuff under the hood checked out. So far everything seems to still be running okay. The truck has more than 125,000 miles on it now and I'm starting to wonder when things are going to start to go seriously wrong with it. Hoping that it can last me at least one more good trip this next fall and into winter and spring before I need to replace it with something newer.
Went and saw a movie with my friend George this afternoon. 'Promethius' was the movie and it turned out to be an okay 'boys night out' kind of flick. A prequel to all of the Alien movies, it had some good special effects in it and the plot was at least decent. Or maybe it should be said that it was decent enough to have a plot. Guess I'll have to go get a copy of the other Alien movies since I've never really seen any of them. Still know the gist of the plot, but it might be good to know what all the rest of it was all about.
Had a nice dinner afterwards with a friend of mine here in the Denver area. Mexican food again.... this time at one of my all time favorite restaurants, 'El Tejado'. Good to catch up on what has been happening with her for the last 10 months or so and the food was wonderful also.
Had plenty of time to slip over to Washington Park afterwards and do a little folk dancing in front of the boat house there. 'Sugar', Sukar Basanov, (sp) has been dancing there for 42 years now and I've been there at least once a year for all of those years, including the 1st night he showed up with his wife, two daughters, a couple of friends and an old record player on a wobbly card table. I have to go see him every year because he really changed my life that 1st evening, when as a 13 year old kid he invited me up to dance my first folk dance with him and his friends. Life has not been the same since then.
Lot's of friends to see there and to talk to, as well as a few new people also. A lot of the same old dances which are a lot of fun. I probably need to come more than once or twice a year if I want to learn many of the new one's. One good thing is that it still seems pretty easy for me to learn new dances, must be something in the way my mind see's and processes patterns that makes it easier for me than most. What ever it is though, I'm just glad I'm not so introverted anymore that I won't go out and try new things.
A lot more errands to run tomorrow, probably a trip up to Longmont to start putting the trailer back together again. Also a contra dance in Denver tomorrow evening. The 'Avant Gardeners' will be doing dances in Denver, Ft Collins and Boulder over the next 3 days and I hope to get to all of them. Not quite a 3 day dance, but about as close to one as the Denver area will ever get it seems.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Beautiful weather out here on the coast, warm but with a breeze off of the ocean that makes the sun feel like it is gently caressing your skin. Was up around 9:00 this morning after staying up until after 2:00 last night. Hadn't meant to stay up so late, but was busy loading some of my sister-in-laws CD's onto my computer so I would have some new tunes to play later this summer. Some new, to me anyway, Grateful Dead, Jackson Brown and assorted other 60's and 70's rock stars. We seem to like many of the same artist's, but have very few of the exact same albums. Nearly done with it now, just a few more C&W CD's to go.
I spent the majority of the day down at Balboa Park going through the Railroad Museum and the Museum of Natural History. Both wonderful in their own right, I liked the RR Museum a bit better, but how can being around dinosaurs for the afternoon be bad. Also spent an hour or two just sitting on a bench in the shade reading a book. The newest Janet Evonovich novel, at least newest to me, book #18. She just cracks me up every time I get into one of her books. Had to finally stop so there would be something left for me to read on the plane ride home tomorrow afternoon.
Went to dinner with the family again this evening. Indian food this evening, actually kind of surprised at how many different kinds of food my niece will at least try, if not eat whole heartily. Un-like my sister who is a lot more picky then I ever knew. It now seems likely that I am the one in the family most likely to try odd and disgusting food items. Not that Indian food has any of that, but come on people, it was only lamb saag.
Feeling sad that it will be time to leave tomorrow. It has been really nice being out here with part of the family, but also looking forward to getting back to Colorado again and seeing some more of my friends. Also want to do a little boating with friends and certainly a couple 'boys night out movies' are on the agenda. Watching a few old 'Big Bang Theory' shows now with my niece, hope I'm not up until 2:00 tonight.
I spent the majority of the day down at Balboa Park going through the Railroad Museum and the Museum of Natural History. Both wonderful in their own right, I liked the RR Museum a bit better, but how can being around dinosaurs for the afternoon be bad. Also spent an hour or two just sitting on a bench in the shade reading a book. The newest Janet Evonovich novel, at least newest to me, book #18. She just cracks me up every time I get into one of her books. Had to finally stop so there would be something left for me to read on the plane ride home tomorrow afternoon.
Went to dinner with the family again this evening. Indian food this evening, actually kind of surprised at how many different kinds of food my niece will at least try, if not eat whole heartily. Un-like my sister who is a lot more picky then I ever knew. It now seems likely that I am the one in the family most likely to try odd and disgusting food items. Not that Indian food has any of that, but come on people, it was only lamb saag.
Feeling sad that it will be time to leave tomorrow. It has been really nice being out here with part of the family, but also looking forward to getting back to Colorado again and seeing some more of my friends. Also want to do a little boating with friends and certainly a couple 'boys night out movies' are on the agenda. Watching a few old 'Big Bang Theory' shows now with my niece, hope I'm not up until 2:00 tonight.
Monday, June 18, 2012
Just finished up dinner with my sister and her partner... Mexican food again... go figure. The niece is out at a birthday party for some of her friends so it's pretty quiet in the house this evening. Not sure if that is a good thing or not.
Today has been very quiet. It started out with some very grandiose plans of going down to Balboa Park in San Diego and visiting as many of the museums there as I had time and energy for. At least that was the plan while laying in bed, staring at the ceiling, and wondering if it was time to get up, or time to roll over and get in one final cat nap. I did manage to get up and take a shower and get some breakfast. Left overs from all the wonderful meals I've had these past three days. So there was still some Greek food, bagels and lox, watermelon.... yum!
I have to say that the shower here is one of the best I've ever been in. It's in a standard tub, so nothing special there, but the shower head is this oversize thing that makes it feel like it is raining warm water down over your whole body. I need this shower in my trailer, with it I could be pretty happy while on the road.
Anyway; turns out that I didn't do much of anything else, surfed the web, read the comics, took a short walk around the neighborhood. Mostly it was just a matter of sitting on the back patio in the shade and reading my book while sipping cold drinks. I discovered my sister-in-laws stash of CD's late this afternoon and have been busy importing them into i-Tunes since then. It'll be fun to have some new music to listen to again, though I probably already have more music than I'll ever be able to listen to again.
It's now nearly 9:00 and Char is looking like she needs to go to bed. I am so glad I don't have to get up at 4:00 like she does. A good day overall really, it surprised me that when I wrote a post on facebook exclaiming how little I had done today.... most people thought that was worth 'liking'.
Here are a couple pictures from today.
Today has been very quiet. It started out with some very grandiose plans of going down to Balboa Park in San Diego and visiting as many of the museums there as I had time and energy for. At least that was the plan while laying in bed, staring at the ceiling, and wondering if it was time to get up, or time to roll over and get in one final cat nap. I did manage to get up and take a shower and get some breakfast. Left overs from all the wonderful meals I've had these past three days. So there was still some Greek food, bagels and lox, watermelon.... yum!
I have to say that the shower here is one of the best I've ever been in. It's in a standard tub, so nothing special there, but the shower head is this oversize thing that makes it feel like it is raining warm water down over your whole body. I need this shower in my trailer, with it I could be pretty happy while on the road.
Anyway; turns out that I didn't do much of anything else, surfed the web, read the comics, took a short walk around the neighborhood. Mostly it was just a matter of sitting on the back patio in the shade and reading my book while sipping cold drinks. I discovered my sister-in-laws stash of CD's late this afternoon and have been busy importing them into i-Tunes since then. It'll be fun to have some new music to listen to again, though I probably already have more music than I'll ever be able to listen to again.
It's now nearly 9:00 and Char is looking like she needs to go to bed. I am so glad I don't have to get up at 4:00 like she does. A good day overall really, it surprised me that when I wrote a post on facebook exclaiming how little I had done today.... most people thought that was worth 'liking'.
Here are a couple pictures from today.
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| A bird of paradise flower in my sister's backyard. |
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| A slightly different view. |
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Sorry for missing a couple of days... it has been wickedly busy around here lately and no real time to sit down and take it all in. Even now this will have to be short, I can hear people waking up and soon it'll be another crazy day of running around, talking, eating, having fun. Oh, how I miss the quiet of my trailer sometimes. ;-)
So my niece is all graduated from high school now, and will soon be off to college at San Fransisco something-something. A small college right near the Presidio and Golden Gate Bridge. Boy am I ever envious. The actual graduation ceremony was rather unique. Instead of having the principle or a valedictorian standing up there giving speeches, they allowed each student to write a short 20-25, stretching to 100+, little blurb about what they did, were doing or going to do, feeling, etc. Some were just so funny especially when you added in the antic's that were performed as they walked up to receive their diploma. Very cute, and much more personnel than mine ever was. Erin was very hyper of course, as were most of the kids there, but they were all very well behaved for the most part. My sister and I showed up early to save a few seats and got to meet a few other close friends of Erin and her parents. It was obvious that this was a group of kids whose parents were willing to go to great lengths in order to help them in any way.
After the ceremony it was back to the house were the adults hung out talking and eating and drinking. Erin took a nap because she was going to the school party later on that night. Evidently most of the kids opted to go to the sponsored party held at the school every year. For a generous amount of money you can drop your kid off around 7-8 in the evening and they pretty much lock them in until 5:00 the next morning. With plenty of parent supervisors they play games, have a DJ and dance, eat sushi and mexican food, dance the 'Macarena' at 3:00 in the morning to wake up, play casino games and on and on and on. At 5:00 you can come pick them up, hyper and happy, and take them home where they can sleep the rest of the day.
Char and Laurie had a very nice graduation party for Erin then last night. They had 'Greek' food catered in and 10-12 of Erin's friends showed up as well as a whole bunch of adults who have had some personnel contact with her over the years. A fun evening of yet more eating and talking, a short but emotional slide show and speech segment, cake and ice cream, lots of conversation. Very fun for me too!
Not enough sleep these last few days, but that is okay. There will come a time when I'll be able to catch up again. Not sure what is on tap for today, but I am sure it will be a busy day also. Just about time for breakfast, bagels and cream cheese and quiche. Will post a few pictures when I find some time to download and go through them all. May be a day or two longer. Will just have to see how it goes.
So my niece is all graduated from high school now, and will soon be off to college at San Fransisco something-something. A small college right near the Presidio and Golden Gate Bridge. Boy am I ever envious. The actual graduation ceremony was rather unique. Instead of having the principle or a valedictorian standing up there giving speeches, they allowed each student to write a short 20-25, stretching to 100+, little blurb about what they did, were doing or going to do, feeling, etc. Some were just so funny especially when you added in the antic's that were performed as they walked up to receive their diploma. Very cute, and much more personnel than mine ever was. Erin was very hyper of course, as were most of the kids there, but they were all very well behaved for the most part. My sister and I showed up early to save a few seats and got to meet a few other close friends of Erin and her parents. It was obvious that this was a group of kids whose parents were willing to go to great lengths in order to help them in any way.
After the ceremony it was back to the house were the adults hung out talking and eating and drinking. Erin took a nap because she was going to the school party later on that night. Evidently most of the kids opted to go to the sponsored party held at the school every year. For a generous amount of money you can drop your kid off around 7-8 in the evening and they pretty much lock them in until 5:00 the next morning. With plenty of parent supervisors they play games, have a DJ and dance, eat sushi and mexican food, dance the 'Macarena' at 3:00 in the morning to wake up, play casino games and on and on and on. At 5:00 you can come pick them up, hyper and happy, and take them home where they can sleep the rest of the day.
Char and Laurie had a very nice graduation party for Erin then last night. They had 'Greek' food catered in and 10-12 of Erin's friends showed up as well as a whole bunch of adults who have had some personnel contact with her over the years. A fun evening of yet more eating and talking, a short but emotional slide show and speech segment, cake and ice cream, lots of conversation. Very fun for me too!
Not enough sleep these last few days, but that is okay. There will come a time when I'll be able to catch up again. Not sure what is on tap for today, but I am sure it will be a busy day also. Just about time for breakfast, bagels and cream cheese and quiche. Will post a few pictures when I find some time to download and go through them all. May be a day or two longer. Will just have to see how it goes.
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Up at 2:00 a.m. this morning.... that kind of thing should really be illegal, but in this case there is no one to blame but myself. Thankfully there is this great thing people who live in real houses have called a 'shower'. It certainly helps when you only have 3 hours of sleep.
Off to the airport and on to a plane headed for San Diego. Airport security was only mildly irritating this morning. Seems like the rules change a little bit each time you fly, so there is always something new to learn. A good flight and maybe even a short nap. Certainly hope I didn't snore to loudly if I did fall asleep. The usual hassles associated with picking up the rental car and then out onto I-5 and the shock of being back in California rush hour traffic. Sure am glad Emma, my GPS, made the trip out here with me or I might have ended up almost anywhere.
Stopped for a bit of breakfast along the way and then headed on over to my sister's place. Got there just in time to unpack and take off running errands with her. Her daughter, my niece and god daughter, is graduating from high school tomorrow. So there were trips to pick up chairs and tables and trips to Costco for food for the party tomorrow afternoon.
Had time for a bit of a nap this afternoon and a nice dinner with everyone this evening. My sister-in-law has her older sister and niece here also, so it was me and 5 women for the evening. Lot's of laughing going on. Tomorrow and Saturday will be busy days and then life should slow down pretty good after that. Glad to be here and looking forward to seeing Erin graduate tomorrow.
Off to the airport and on to a plane headed for San Diego. Airport security was only mildly irritating this morning. Seems like the rules change a little bit each time you fly, so there is always something new to learn. A good flight and maybe even a short nap. Certainly hope I didn't snore to loudly if I did fall asleep. The usual hassles associated with picking up the rental car and then out onto I-5 and the shock of being back in California rush hour traffic. Sure am glad Emma, my GPS, made the trip out here with me or I might have ended up almost anywhere.
Stopped for a bit of breakfast along the way and then headed on over to my sister's place. Got there just in time to unpack and take off running errands with her. Her daughter, my niece and god daughter, is graduating from high school tomorrow. So there were trips to pick up chairs and tables and trips to Costco for food for the party tomorrow afternoon.
Had time for a bit of a nap this afternoon and a nice dinner with everyone this evening. My sister-in-law has her older sister and niece here also, so it was me and 5 women for the evening. Lot's of laughing going on. Tomorrow and Saturday will be busy days and then life should slow down pretty good after that. Glad to be here and looking forward to seeing Erin graduate tomorrow.
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Wonderful day hanging out with my friends here in Denver. I had a chance to go through my box of mail and throw out all the junk stuff and all the Cabela's catalogs they always seem to send. I swear, you could recycle a whole forest with all of the paper they mail out.
Also got one of my credit cards all straightened out again, it had expired while I was gone, so no real way for me to do anything about it until I got back. It was my REI card though, so not one that would be easy for me to give up on. Also found my new dive card, so that will be handy next time an opportunity comes up again.
Finished up the afternoon by doing a load of laundry and then taking a short nap on the couch. One of life's simple pleasures for sure. Need to finish up just a little more packing and then everything will be ready for tomorrow. Need to be up around 2:00 a.m. in order to get everything done and to the airport on time for my flight to San Diego.
Had dinner this evening with the friends I'm staying with, as well as another couple that belong to the same 'Boat People' group we are all in. (Those friends who go on canoeing, sailing or other types of boating trips together). We had Mexican food again this evening, and it was just as good as last nights meal, maybe even better because of the great conversations. Pretty much done for the day though. Will need to locate my phone at some point, it has gone missing, but I'm sure it will show up again sooner or later.
Also got one of my credit cards all straightened out again, it had expired while I was gone, so no real way for me to do anything about it until I got back. It was my REI card though, so not one that would be easy for me to give up on. Also found my new dive card, so that will be handy next time an opportunity comes up again.
Finished up the afternoon by doing a load of laundry and then taking a short nap on the couch. One of life's simple pleasures for sure. Need to finish up just a little more packing and then everything will be ready for tomorrow. Need to be up around 2:00 a.m. in order to get everything done and to the airport on time for my flight to San Diego.
Had dinner this evening with the friends I'm staying with, as well as another couple that belong to the same 'Boat People' group we are all in. (Those friends who go on canoeing, sailing or other types of boating trips together). We had Mexican food again this evening, and it was just as good as last nights meal, maybe even better because of the great conversations. Pretty much done for the day though. Will need to locate my phone at some point, it has gone missing, but I'm sure it will show up again sooner or later.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
A long day of travel for me today. Up early this morning, because 6:30 still feels like 8:30 to me with out the time change. Actually glad for the early start because I had nearly an hour of travel before the wind started to blow in from the south. By 10:00 a.m. I was into Colorado and getting blown around pretty good. With the wind from the south and me in the right hand lane going west every big rig that went by me would whip the trailer back and forth behind me. As they would come even with me, the truck would want to move toward them, the Bernoulli effect in action, and then as they moved ahead, the trailer would come back out into the wind and try to skate off of the road behind me. A whole lotta fun!
Finally had enough of that and took the next 2-lane back road headed north. What a relief to have the wind coming behind me now, plus my gas mileage was better for that section also. Travelled up through the towns of Yuma and Akron, then on into Brush. By the time I hit I-76 the wind had switched to blowing from the north, but the important thing is that it was now much calmer. Only a 100 or so more miles after that. Got to Longmont around 5:00 and tucked Esmeralda safely into her storage spot. Took all the trailer stuff out of the back of the truck and left it there while packing up some clothes and what little food was still in the fridge and freezer that I wanted to keep.
Next stop was the mail box place where they had a whole apple box worth of stuff for me. I guess it has been more than 5-6 months since my friends had sent me a box of mail in Florida. Most of it will turn out to be junk or Cabela's catalogs, but there will be an item or two of interest I'm sure.
Another stop at the bank to deposit a check and to take out some cash for the San Diego trip, before moving on to my storage unit to drop the canoe off. Will have to figure out some way to hang it from the ceiling like the others when there is a little more time. Right now with two 18 1/2' canoes and a 22' double sea kayak there isn't a whole lot of room left up there.
The truck sure felt different with out a trailer behind it or a canoe on top. Seems odd to think it has been 9 months since I left the state.... Made it into Denver in time for the tail end of rush hour. Could of done with out that, but I still made it to my friends house in plenty of time to still go out to dinner. Mexican food at Los Delicious, yum!
Spent some time talking this evening and catching up on some of the local gossip, but the best part was finally getting a really nice shower.... it's going to be even better to sleep in a real bed again. Not that mine is bad you understand... it's just different.
So nine months away. When I first left in September of 2011, today seemed like an awfully long time to be on the road. It's fun to run back over all the places I've been, what I have seen and who I've met. I can honestly say that it has been fun the whole time, not once did I feel a need to head 'Home', where ever that is these days, nor did I feel sad or alone. As Jimmy Buffett once said; ' Yesterdays over my shoulder so I can't look back there too long, there's just to much to see waiting in front of me and I know I can't ever go wrong'.
Finally had enough of that and took the next 2-lane back road headed north. What a relief to have the wind coming behind me now, plus my gas mileage was better for that section also. Travelled up through the towns of Yuma and Akron, then on into Brush. By the time I hit I-76 the wind had switched to blowing from the north, but the important thing is that it was now much calmer. Only a 100 or so more miles after that. Got to Longmont around 5:00 and tucked Esmeralda safely into her storage spot. Took all the trailer stuff out of the back of the truck and left it there while packing up some clothes and what little food was still in the fridge and freezer that I wanted to keep.
Next stop was the mail box place where they had a whole apple box worth of stuff for me. I guess it has been more than 5-6 months since my friends had sent me a box of mail in Florida. Most of it will turn out to be junk or Cabela's catalogs, but there will be an item or two of interest I'm sure.
Another stop at the bank to deposit a check and to take out some cash for the San Diego trip, before moving on to my storage unit to drop the canoe off. Will have to figure out some way to hang it from the ceiling like the others when there is a little more time. Right now with two 18 1/2' canoes and a 22' double sea kayak there isn't a whole lot of room left up there.
The truck sure felt different with out a trailer behind it or a canoe on top. Seems odd to think it has been 9 months since I left the state.... Made it into Denver in time for the tail end of rush hour. Could of done with out that, but I still made it to my friends house in plenty of time to still go out to dinner. Mexican food at Los Delicious, yum!
Spent some time talking this evening and catching up on some of the local gossip, but the best part was finally getting a really nice shower.... it's going to be even better to sleep in a real bed again. Not that mine is bad you understand... it's just different.
So nine months away. When I first left in September of 2011, today seemed like an awfully long time to be on the road. It's fun to run back over all the places I've been, what I have seen and who I've met. I can honestly say that it has been fun the whole time, not once did I feel a need to head 'Home', where ever that is these days, nor did I feel sad or alone. As Jimmy Buffett once said; ' Yesterdays over my shoulder so I can't look back there too long, there's just to much to see waiting in front of me and I know I can't ever go wrong'.
Monday, June 11, 2012
Pulled into a rest area on I-70 just 97 miles away from the Colorado border. Emma tells me that there are only 303 more miles to go before Longmont even though it doesn't seem possible that just yesterday I was all the way over in Lexington, Ky.
Started seeing smoke from the fire in Colorado, west of Ft Collins, more than 100 miles ago. It doesn't bode well for that area or most of the west in general. Not even mid June and we already have fires burning several hundred square miles at a stretch. I wish they could get some of that torrential rain I drove through early this morning just west of St Louis. It was coming down so hard that I was going to start looking for an Ark if it didn't stop. Highway speeds, for most, went down to around 10 mph and even that was probably too fast. I just got in behind a couple semi's and let them pretty much plow the road for me.
Close to 700 miles today so it's been a bit grueling. I'm lucky that I've gone through two time zones now, so it was still light right up until my normal 10:30 pm. Another 6 hours or so tomorrow and I can tuck Esmeralda into storage for at least a couple of weeks. Still need to do some packing this evening and get a little better organized. I'm hoping to get into town in time to drop the trailer, pick up mail and then drop the canoe off at my storage unit. Sure hope I can remember what number my unit is and what the gate password is. Since I'm flying out to San Diego on Thursday I need clothes for the next week packed as well as a few other things.
It hasn't really sunk in yet that this trip is nearly over. It was September 12th last year when I took off from Colorado. There have been a lot of new people and sights along the way, and I am already missing some of them and the dancing we have done. But, I'm glad to be heading for Colorado again for a little while, there are friends there and family that I have really missed these past nine months also. There will be some fishing to do, and some sailing and canoeing, and a trip down the Grand Canyon in August. Also need to go to Washington Park some Thursday evening and go folk dancing again. And there is always the contra dance community in Denver, Boulder and Ft Collins to meet up with and see again. So it's going to be a very busy time for me.... that being said though; I'm already starting to plan for the next trip out.... September isn't that far away any more.
Started seeing smoke from the fire in Colorado, west of Ft Collins, more than 100 miles ago. It doesn't bode well for that area or most of the west in general. Not even mid June and we already have fires burning several hundred square miles at a stretch. I wish they could get some of that torrential rain I drove through early this morning just west of St Louis. It was coming down so hard that I was going to start looking for an Ark if it didn't stop. Highway speeds, for most, went down to around 10 mph and even that was probably too fast. I just got in behind a couple semi's and let them pretty much plow the road for me.
Close to 700 miles today so it's been a bit grueling. I'm lucky that I've gone through two time zones now, so it was still light right up until my normal 10:30 pm. Another 6 hours or so tomorrow and I can tuck Esmeralda into storage for at least a couple of weeks. Still need to do some packing this evening and get a little better organized. I'm hoping to get into town in time to drop the trailer, pick up mail and then drop the canoe off at my storage unit. Sure hope I can remember what number my unit is and what the gate password is. Since I'm flying out to San Diego on Thursday I need clothes for the next week packed as well as a few other things.
It hasn't really sunk in yet that this trip is nearly over. It was September 12th last year when I took off from Colorado. There have been a lot of new people and sights along the way, and I am already missing some of them and the dancing we have done. But, I'm glad to be heading for Colorado again for a little while, there are friends there and family that I have really missed these past nine months also. There will be some fishing to do, and some sailing and canoeing, and a trip down the Grand Canyon in August. Also need to go to Washington Park some Thursday evening and go folk dancing again. And there is always the contra dance community in Denver, Boulder and Ft Collins to meet up with and see again. So it's going to be a very busy time for me.... that being said though; I'm already starting to plan for the next trip out.... September isn't that far away any more.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Didn't get a chance to post anything last night, it was already after 1:00 am when I got back to the trailer and with the poor WiFi signal out there it just wasn't worth the frustration. It doesn't mean it wasn't a fun day of course, cus it was.
Spent most of it running around the country looking at things with a good friend of mine from the dance community. We started out with lunch out at the old 'Shaker Village', west and a little south of Lexington. Figured it was going to be good food, but was not prepared for just how good it could be. Just simple food really, sandwiches, salads, tarts (quiche) and some wonderful real ice tea. Must of been good, I had 4 glasses of it.
Drove over to the state capital in Frankfort next, a very impressive capital building, but it doesn't have a golden top to it like Colorado does. We walked around the old part of town for a while, checked out a few shops and art galleries. It's kind of a sad place with most of the old buildings closed up and empty. They did have one whole block of buildings open so maybe there is some hope yet.
From there it was over to the town of Georgetown where we did pretty much the same thing. A couple old antique shops in that town, but there wasn't anything in any of them that really wanted to follow me home.
A quick bite to eat at a local pub afterwards, where we got to 'experiance' the running of the Belmont Cup? with all of the locals. It's kind of fun to watch a horse race on TV with a bunch of people who live and breath horses, and actually know what it is all about. Boy did they get excited.
A wonderful 4 hours of dancing then last night. The band was hot, the calling great and all of my dance partners were superb. It was so much fun! Which explains why the time just flew by. Then you suddenly realize that it's after midnight and you still have a 50-60 minute drive ahead of you. No problem with any of it though.
Was up by 8:00 this morning even though it felt like the body could use a few more hours of sleep. A quick breakfast of fruit after a shower, and then a quick pack up before heading into town. Had to stop off at Target briefly to pick up a card and gift card. Will need those next week when I'm in San Diego. Made it to the dance in time to do a couple of the last waltz's of the set. Then at noon the last contra started up and from there it was non stop action until it ended a little after 3:00. Oh it is so much fun to be with all these like minded people who just want to have some fun, to dance and to talk to each other. I had very nice partners again today, including some new ones that I had never danced with before. That is the beauty behind this kind of dancing because I am sure there will come a time when I will dance with these women again, even though one was from Austin and the other from Seattle. And while we may not remember each others name at that point, we will still remember that we once had a fun time dancing together.
Of course it is also really nice to be able to dance with partners that you have really grown to like and look forward to seeing, talking and dancing with every time you meet up. I'm happy to say that there are now quite a few of those back in this, great big, area. It will be nice to return here again next fall and winter and see them all again.
So with the dance being done and everything packed up I was in the truck and on my way by 4:00 this afternoon. Had only planned on going a couple of hours, but there was very little traffic and the wind was blowing from the SE for most of the evening. So I'm now in Illinois somewhere around a town called Mt Vernon. A total of a little more than 5 hours and 250+ miles. What that really means though is that there are still 950+ miles to go before hitting Longmont. But it is certainly doable now.
Speaking of 'now' though; it's time to go get some sleep. I am wiped out and my feet are sore. Up early again tomorrow.
Spent most of it running around the country looking at things with a good friend of mine from the dance community. We started out with lunch out at the old 'Shaker Village', west and a little south of Lexington. Figured it was going to be good food, but was not prepared for just how good it could be. Just simple food really, sandwiches, salads, tarts (quiche) and some wonderful real ice tea. Must of been good, I had 4 glasses of it.
Drove over to the state capital in Frankfort next, a very impressive capital building, but it doesn't have a golden top to it like Colorado does. We walked around the old part of town for a while, checked out a few shops and art galleries. It's kind of a sad place with most of the old buildings closed up and empty. They did have one whole block of buildings open so maybe there is some hope yet.
From there it was over to the town of Georgetown where we did pretty much the same thing. A couple old antique shops in that town, but there wasn't anything in any of them that really wanted to follow me home.
A quick bite to eat at a local pub afterwards, where we got to 'experiance' the running of the Belmont Cup? with all of the locals. It's kind of fun to watch a horse race on TV with a bunch of people who live and breath horses, and actually know what it is all about. Boy did they get excited.
A wonderful 4 hours of dancing then last night. The band was hot, the calling great and all of my dance partners were superb. It was so much fun! Which explains why the time just flew by. Then you suddenly realize that it's after midnight and you still have a 50-60 minute drive ahead of you. No problem with any of it though.
Was up by 8:00 this morning even though it felt like the body could use a few more hours of sleep. A quick breakfast of fruit after a shower, and then a quick pack up before heading into town. Had to stop off at Target briefly to pick up a card and gift card. Will need those next week when I'm in San Diego. Made it to the dance in time to do a couple of the last waltz's of the set. Then at noon the last contra started up and from there it was non stop action until it ended a little after 3:00. Oh it is so much fun to be with all these like minded people who just want to have some fun, to dance and to talk to each other. I had very nice partners again today, including some new ones that I had never danced with before. That is the beauty behind this kind of dancing because I am sure there will come a time when I will dance with these women again, even though one was from Austin and the other from Seattle. And while we may not remember each others name at that point, we will still remember that we once had a fun time dancing together.
Of course it is also really nice to be able to dance with partners that you have really grown to like and look forward to seeing, talking and dancing with every time you meet up. I'm happy to say that there are now quite a few of those back in this, great big, area. It will be nice to return here again next fall and winter and see them all again.
So with the dance being done and everything packed up I was in the truck and on my way by 4:00 this afternoon. Had only planned on going a couple of hours, but there was very little traffic and the wind was blowing from the SE for most of the evening. So I'm now in Illinois somewhere around a town called Mt Vernon. A total of a little more than 5 hours and 250+ miles. What that really means though is that there are still 950+ miles to go before hitting Longmont. But it is certainly doable now.
Speaking of 'now' though; it's time to go get some sleep. I am wiped out and my feet are sore. Up early again tomorrow.
Friday, June 8, 2012
So the 1st night of contra dancing for the weekend dance is now over. 'Dance Trance' is really everything that a good dance should be. There is Perpetual e-Motion providing wonderful dance tunes, Gaye Fifer provided her usual excellent calling and giving us some good dances, and then there are the dancers. I really wasn't prepared to see all of these people I knew in one place. Granted; it wasn't a matter of me knowing the names of all of them, though I do actually know a lot of them, but I do recognize the vast majority of the nearly 300 people at this weekends dance.
Very nice to know some very nice women who are great dancers and who want to dance with me. Only had to sit one dance out tonight and that was really my fault. Had to go to the bathroom and by the time I got back the dance had already started. That normally doesn't dissuade me, as the caller does call for a little bit after the music starts and I can usually pick the moves up. But in this case there was absolutely no room left to crowd another couple in. Five full lines of dancers all in one middle school gymnasium. Hot and a little sweaty tonight, but really not as bad as a few other recent dances I've been at.
Not all that exciting of a day otherwise. Did have to go into town and pick up a new trailer water hose to replace the one I have. It had developed a couple small leaks over the year that I had patched with a couple layers of duct tape over several more layers of electrical tape. It worked for quite a while, but there must be enough pressure in this system that the leak, having no way to get out any more, actually leaked between the layers of the hose and the woven fibers they had put in to give it more strength and flexibility. Anyway, when I walked out this morning it looked like a blue snake that had swallowed a couple of watermelons. Glad it didn't burst before I saw it like that. Never did really like that hose from the moment I brought it home. So now I have a new one and it is hoped that it works better and stands up better than the last one did.
So enough for today, it's now after 1:00 am and time to get some sleep. Not sure what I'm doing tomorrow yet, other than going out to lunch with a friend anyway. Probably won't dance until the session tomorrow night so I better go swallow a couple ibuprofen and get some sleep.
Very nice to know some very nice women who are great dancers and who want to dance with me. Only had to sit one dance out tonight and that was really my fault. Had to go to the bathroom and by the time I got back the dance had already started. That normally doesn't dissuade me, as the caller does call for a little bit after the music starts and I can usually pick the moves up. But in this case there was absolutely no room left to crowd another couple in. Five full lines of dancers all in one middle school gymnasium. Hot and a little sweaty tonight, but really not as bad as a few other recent dances I've been at.
Not all that exciting of a day otherwise. Did have to go into town and pick up a new trailer water hose to replace the one I have. It had developed a couple small leaks over the year that I had patched with a couple layers of duct tape over several more layers of electrical tape. It worked for quite a while, but there must be enough pressure in this system that the leak, having no way to get out any more, actually leaked between the layers of the hose and the woven fibers they had put in to give it more strength and flexibility. Anyway, when I walked out this morning it looked like a blue snake that had swallowed a couple of watermelons. Glad it didn't burst before I saw it like that. Never did really like that hose from the moment I brought it home. So now I have a new one and it is hoped that it works better and stands up better than the last one did.
So enough for today, it's now after 1:00 am and time to get some sleep. Not sure what I'm doing tomorrow yet, other than going out to lunch with a friend anyway. Probably won't dance until the session tomorrow night so I better go swallow a couple ibuprofen and get some sleep.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Almost perfect weather here in Kentucky today. Took the opportunity to go out to the Kentucky Horse Park just north of Lexington and check out all the horses there, including all of this years new colts. They are all just so cute with there inquisitive ears and impossibly long legs. Several of them were racing each other, showing off that speed which they are so famous for. Unfortunately my camera battery decided to die on me this morning and I had forgotten that the spare is in the bag at the trailer still. Just where it was left after recharging it the last time.
Went and found the location of the dance that starts tomorrow night. It was exciting to see that the 'contra dance' signs were already up and pointing the way into the parking lot. Really looking forward to the dance starting, it just feels like I have not been getting out and getting enough exercise these past few weeks. Which probably means that I haven't been, duh!
One nice thing today is that I found a 'Chipotle' restaurant to eat dinner at this evening. It was down town near the University of Kentucky campus and it's medical center. I know it's not real Mexican food, but compared to what I have tried lately, it is miles ahead of the pack. At least they don't use Velveeta in any of their dishes. I mean come on.... it may be okay for nachos in front of the TV while watching football, but never in real Mexican food. Besides; it isn't even 'real' food is it? I mean they even call it a 'cheese product'.... what does that even mean really? ;-)
A beautiful evening here along the banks of the Kentucky River. The RV park here has this pet doe deer that comes down every evening to wander around the park and get petted. There is even a little old guy who is a long term camper here that brushes her every morning and evening just like you would a dog. Kind of fun, kind of sad, but I have to admit it's pretty unique.
Going to finish up the 2nd disc of the mini series 'Centenial' tonight. Never saw it when it first came out, but have read the book 3 times over the years. Have always enjoyed Michener's books except for a few of the very last ones where it became apparent that he had signed a multi book deal and was writing at that point just for the paycheck. What else could explain writing a 300 year saga and spending 230 pages on the 1st 200 years and then the last 20 pages on the last 100. Oh well, he did write some wonderful books and I'll always be grateful for the hours of pleasure that such tomes as 'Hawaii', 'Chesapeak' and 'Tales from the South Pacific gave me.
Went and found the location of the dance that starts tomorrow night. It was exciting to see that the 'contra dance' signs were already up and pointing the way into the parking lot. Really looking forward to the dance starting, it just feels like I have not been getting out and getting enough exercise these past few weeks. Which probably means that I haven't been, duh!
One nice thing today is that I found a 'Chipotle' restaurant to eat dinner at this evening. It was down town near the University of Kentucky campus and it's medical center. I know it's not real Mexican food, but compared to what I have tried lately, it is miles ahead of the pack. At least they don't use Velveeta in any of their dishes. I mean come on.... it may be okay for nachos in front of the TV while watching football, but never in real Mexican food. Besides; it isn't even 'real' food is it? I mean they even call it a 'cheese product'.... what does that even mean really? ;-)
A beautiful evening here along the banks of the Kentucky River. The RV park here has this pet doe deer that comes down every evening to wander around the park and get petted. There is even a little old guy who is a long term camper here that brushes her every morning and evening just like you would a dog. Kind of fun, kind of sad, but I have to admit it's pretty unique.
Going to finish up the 2nd disc of the mini series 'Centenial' tonight. Never saw it when it first came out, but have read the book 3 times over the years. Have always enjoyed Michener's books except for a few of the very last ones where it became apparent that he had signed a multi book deal and was writing at that point just for the paycheck. What else could explain writing a 300 year saga and spending 230 pages on the 1st 200 years and then the last 20 pages on the last 100. Oh well, he did write some wonderful books and I'll always be grateful for the hours of pleasure that such tomes as 'Hawaii', 'Chesapeak' and 'Tales from the South Pacific gave me.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Thought the water line under my trailer had started to leak this morning. When I went to do some dishes and no water came out I went outside to see if some one had turned the spigot off and found a puddle of water right out side the door. A sight you really don't want to see first thing in the morning. Turns out it was actually the hose from the trailer next door that had sprouted a leak, but still, it wasn't a fun thought.
In the end the dishes got done and I got a good shower. Have found out by experience that if you do the dishes first, the burner on the water heater will usually kick on and warm the water up a bit more before you take your shower. It's a minor thing, but it makes a difference, and sometimes the little pleasures in life are worth the wait.
One pleasure I can do without is getting my hair cut, but today was the day to get it done. You can only postpone it so long and then it starts to drive you crazy. Finding a decent place is always a crap shoot.... today wasn't the best, but certainly not the worst either. So it's done, it's a lot shorter and with any luck there will be no need for another for at least another month, maybe two. Now if I could just get some of the grey out of it.
Most of the rest of the day was spent wandering around the city looking at different area's. Lexington is really quiet lovely. A bit of that old southern feel to it and a bit of modern. What I find interesting is that people's accents here seem much more 'southern' to me than a lot of the one's I heard way down south. Who knew? Still like it though, it's not quiet as nice, or as sexy as one from England, or my all time favorite, Australia, but there is just something really charming about a waitress calling you 'dawhlin' and wanting to know if you need a refill.
My last group of photo's from Fort Klock. Hope some of you at least have enjoyed them.
In the end the dishes got done and I got a good shower. Have found out by experience that if you do the dishes first, the burner on the water heater will usually kick on and warm the water up a bit more before you take your shower. It's a minor thing, but it makes a difference, and sometimes the little pleasures in life are worth the wait.
One pleasure I can do without is getting my hair cut, but today was the day to get it done. You can only postpone it so long and then it starts to drive you crazy. Finding a decent place is always a crap shoot.... today wasn't the best, but certainly not the worst either. So it's done, it's a lot shorter and with any luck there will be no need for another for at least another month, maybe two. Now if I could just get some of the grey out of it.
Most of the rest of the day was spent wandering around the city looking at different area's. Lexington is really quiet lovely. A bit of that old southern feel to it and a bit of modern. What I find interesting is that people's accents here seem much more 'southern' to me than a lot of the one's I heard way down south. Who knew? Still like it though, it's not quiet as nice, or as sexy as one from England, or my all time favorite, Australia, but there is just something really charming about a waitress calling you 'dawhlin' and wanting to know if you need a refill.
My last group of photo's from Fort Klock. Hope some of you at least have enjoyed them.
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| One of two main Klock cemeteries in the area. There are many more places around the county that have individual Klock's buried in them. This one, and one other, appear to be reserved for Klock's and their relatives as well as a few select individuals. |
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| A large cemetery of several acres in size, there are quite a few people buried here, a lot more than the headstones suggest. There are quite a few soldiers from the Revolutionary War as well as the French-Indian wars. Also interred are many local indians as well as several people who worked for the Klock's, including several slaves that the family once 'owned'. Having toured the south east for the last two years I am still trying to wrap my mind around the idea of people thinking that it was okay to 'own' another human being. (Even though it wasn't a strictly southern institution obviously, since this was New York). I always come back to the fact that I would not have liked being a slave myself, no matter how well treated or mistreated, nor where my master thought I should or could be buried. |
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| The stone wall in this picture is one side of the original foundation for the Klock's own church. Not on the Fort Klock site, this cemetery and church are closer to Col. Jacob Klock's home just to the west a couple of miles. The headstones within the foundation, there are 4 total, are for the 4 original preachers that had this as their church. All of them had been laid to rest under the original church. |
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| The original patriarch of the Klock family, at least here in the new world. The dates are 1668-1760, so 92 years old at his death. |
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| Another side of the family. The Nellis family was one of 4 family's in this area, including the Klock's, who seemed to inter-mary on a regular basis. In addition to the Nellis family there were also the Beekman's and Walrath's. These two were some of the earliest and they owned the Nellis Tavern about a mile west of the Fort Klock. They were both killed in a horse and wagon accident one night on their way back to the tavern. This is Christian Nellis and Barvalis Klock. b Both were born in 1697 and died in 1771. |
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| I believe this would of been the 'Old George' Klock that is mentioned pretty often in our history. He was evidently a pretty cantankerous old guy who didn't seem to get along very well with the neighbors or the native Indians in the area. Always seems to be at least one in every family. 1714-1790 |
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| Another old Nellis relative. |
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| Johannes Klock, a private in the NY Militia during the Revolutionary War. 1711-1801. Another one of those really long lived Klock's |
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
I have a really poor signal this evening so there won't be much text tonight. I'm glad I got the photo's loaded this morning while still in the rest area. I'm at the RV campground now, south of Lexington about 18 miles, right on the banks of the Kentucky River. Pulled in this afternoon and got Esmeralda tucked into a nice shady spot. Will head into town tomorrow and scout out where the dance will be as well as pick up a few food items.
Not sure what else there is to see around here that I didn't see last time I was in the area. Will go on line once I have a better signal and see if there is anything I need to visit. In the mean time; here are a few more photo's from Fort Klock. Sorry for dragging it out like this, but there are only so many pictures that can be loaded at one time. These are of the Black Smith Shop at the homestead.
Not sure what else there is to see around here that I didn't see last time I was in the area. Will go on line once I have a better signal and see if there is anything I need to visit. In the mean time; here are a few more photo's from Fort Klock. Sorry for dragging it out like this, but there are only so many pictures that can be loaded at one time. These are of the Black Smith Shop at the homestead.
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| The blacksmith shop at the Klock homestead. Built of stone also, it appears that smithing was a way for the family to make money other than trading and farming. Of course a lot of smithy work might have been taken out in trade also. |
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| A view of one of two forge's inside the shop. In the foreground the ever present anvil and a rack of hammers and other metal working tools. In the far corner is the large bellows for that forge. There was another one in the other corner. Of course these days they use an electrical blower on the days they do demonstrations. Note the stone floor in this part of the building. At the front half where shoeing and other work would of been done, it was 4" thick wood flooring. One other thing; the tall metal cone in the corner was used to shape metal rings of various sizes for harness work among other things. |
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| The Klock's did a lot of wagon repair, in particular wagon wheels. So on the right is a hand cranked machine that would of bent flat pieces of metal into a circle where they could be welded together and used as the outside rim of a wooden wagon wheel. On the left is a simple grinding stone used to put an edge on tools such as axe's, draw knifes and scythe's. |
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| I love this little stool. Built for only one purpose, the small metal anvil sticking up in front was used to hand wrought nails and/or straighten out nails that had been bent. There was no Home Depot way back when that you could run down to and buy a box or two of what ever type of nail you might need. All of them were made by hand in a blacksmith shop. So when a building was old and in need of replacing they often burned them down so that they could sift through the ashes and find all of the nails that had been used. This bench would of been handy for straightening them out and reminds me of my father and his coffee can of old nails that he had pulled out of some old board and was going to reuse just as soon as he, and I, unbent enough of them. Sure would of liked one of these benches at that time. |
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| A few of the wood tools that they would of had handy for fixing a wagon. |
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| A view of both forges and some of the tools of the trade. Note the black lines on the ceiling corresponding to the location of the wooden beams above. I would assume that they are post and beam trusses by the layout. |
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| A hand cranked drill press and a rack to hold some of the longer pieces of steel bar. |
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| One unique feature of both forges is that they have a stone water trough to dunk hot steel into in order to temper the metal. |
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| A view of the other forge and the stone water trough. Pretty cool. |
Monday, June 4, 2012
A very nice day today, nothing all that exciting about any of it, but still pleasant for all of that. Didn't actually make it all that far in my travels, only about 300 miles over all, just seemed to be things that would come up that had to be explored. Stopped at a park, stopped at a grocery store, took a nap at a rest stop. As I said, nothing of great importance, just pleasant little side jaunts that filled up a lot of the 'corners' in a day. Still managed to do more than 300 miles today but the end result is that I'm not quite down to Lexington yet, still another 100+ miles to go. With any luck I should be able to do that in a couple of hours at the most once I'm on the road in the morning.
Tucked into yet another rest area in the north-central part of Kentucky, just below Cincinnati, OH. Went through there around 7:00 this evening so there wasn't all that much traffic. Thats a good thing because their highway through town is crazy to drive even when there is very little traffic. Can still remember going through there last October on the trip out, I thought it was an interesting city then and still do. Will really have to plan to settle in for a week on one of my trips and really see what there is to see in that area. I'll have to contact a few people I know there and see what they think is worth investigating.
In the mean time there is a semi parked on either side of me with their engine still running. What is it with these guys anyway. I can maybe see that when it's cold outside, or if they have a refrigerator truck, but come on.... don't they know that fuel is expensive.
Which reminds me; actually paid less than $3.50/gal this afternoon. Still not cheap, but when it's been closer to $4.00/gal for the last two months every little bit helps. Found it interesting this evening to hear that there are a couple refineries in Texas that are having big expansions done to them. Sounded like a great idea to me... you know, cheaper gas and all. Turns out that the U.S. already "exports" more oil products than we import, and that the expansion is so they can refine and sell more products to the highest bidder, ie China. Kinda makes me wonder why there is such a big push out there to drill for more U.S. oil if it isn't going to help us out a whole lot. Also wonder why no one in the news is asking about this?
But enough with the ranting.... here's another set of photo's from Fort Klock. This part dealing with the one room school house that they built.
Tucked into yet another rest area in the north-central part of Kentucky, just below Cincinnati, OH. Went through there around 7:00 this evening so there wasn't all that much traffic. Thats a good thing because their highway through town is crazy to drive even when there is very little traffic. Can still remember going through there last October on the trip out, I thought it was an interesting city then and still do. Will really have to plan to settle in for a week on one of my trips and really see what there is to see in that area. I'll have to contact a few people I know there and see what they think is worth investigating.
In the mean time there is a semi parked on either side of me with their engine still running. What is it with these guys anyway. I can maybe see that when it's cold outside, or if they have a refrigerator truck, but come on.... don't they know that fuel is expensive.
Which reminds me; actually paid less than $3.50/gal this afternoon. Still not cheap, but when it's been closer to $4.00/gal for the last two months every little bit helps. Found it interesting this evening to hear that there are a couple refineries in Texas that are having big expansions done to them. Sounded like a great idea to me... you know, cheaper gas and all. Turns out that the U.S. already "exports" more oil products than we import, and that the expansion is so they can refine and sell more products to the highest bidder, ie China. Kinda makes me wonder why there is such a big push out there to drill for more U.S. oil if it isn't going to help us out a whole lot. Also wonder why no one in the news is asking about this?
But enough with the ranting.... here's another set of photo's from Fort Klock. This part dealing with the one room school house that they built.
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| Built around 1825 by the Klock Family, this one room school house served as the local school for all the children in the local area. Later given to the county, it remained a school house up until 1936. |
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| Most of the information about the school is in a document at the end of these pictures so I won't repeat all of it here. Instead let me point out the water bucket over under the window for the children's and the teachers use. I presume there was an outhouse somewhere close, but it is no longer standing. The flooring, plaster, wainscoting are all original. |
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| Not sure if the dunce cap was actually used here, but many of the books, maps and ink wells have all been donated and are all from the right period. During the period when the house and barn were being renovated someone set to clearing the brush from around the school house. When they had a big enough pile of stuff they set it on fire and proceded to burn down the wall on the right all the way up to the ceiling. Oops! As you can see, they got it nailed back together and if no one told you, you probably wouldn't be able to tell. |
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| Two different styles of desks for two different periods. The one's on the right being from the early 1800's the one's on the left from a later date. |
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| A shelf for the kids lunch pails or buckets, and pegs for coats and hats. The red rectangular lunch box is made out of an old cigar/tobacco box that already had the handles and a neat little hinged lid. It also had all the old tobacco advertisement still on it. You can't tell me that they didn't try to hook them early. |
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| A short missive talking about the history of the school. |
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Up early and on the road this morning. No problems so far, though I've only done 300 of the 400 miles that need to be done today. Still plenty of daylight left and I see the sun is finally starting to come out. It's been cloudy and raining for most of the trip so far. Didn't mind the cloudy, but the rain was heavy at times and the wind was blowing against me most of the way. Still in NY state, I think. Emma, my GPS seems to be taking me on a round about way to get to Lexington, but what the heck. It isn't like I need to be anywhere else at the moment.
Thought I'd get a few more pictures posted now since it is doubtful I'll be anywhere close to a WiFi signal when I stop for the night. These are of the barn at Fort Klock. Enjoy!
Thought I'd get a few more pictures posted now since it is doubtful I'll be anywhere close to a WiFi signal when I stop for the night. These are of the barn at Fort Klock. Enjoy!
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| This is the current barn on the place, but certainly not the original. This one is a post and beam version of what is known as a 'Dutch' barn. Not sure where it got that name but it is evidently due to the way it is laid out and put together. This particular barn was dismantled on another farm, trucked over here and then re-assembled into what you see today. It is certainly a neat structure. |
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| The new barn was brought in only a few years ago. The stone wall you see to this side of it, along the rear and on the other side are what is left of the original barns foundation. By visually looking, it appears that the original barn was at least 3 times as large as this one. It burned down in the late 1930's. The last Klock family on the place was Lipe Klock. He owned a dairy herd of about 100 cows right before the depression set in. Right around 1930 the government came in and tested all of his cows and found 98 of them, like many in the area, had bovine tuberculosis. They ended up killing all but 2 of his cows and effectively put him out of business as there was no such thing as insurance or compensation at that time. A couple of years later while walking up to the barn to milk the last remaining cows, Lipe had a heart attack and died, leaving his widow with a couple of kids and no way to make a living. They ended up moving into the city and left the homestead abandoned until the Revolutionary re-enactors took over. In the mean time, they had been employing a 16 year old boy who was a bit slow mentally. When he heard that he would no longer have a job he didn't understand all of the reasons for it and got mad and burned down the barn in anger. Even though every one seemed to know who did it, no one ever pressed charges.... what was the point after all? |
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| But now there is this new barn, and it's a beauty. Check out the through mortise and tenon joints on the main beams and the ladder that is actually built right into the frame. |
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| Here you see a couple of the through tenons and the wedge pins that allowed it to be dismantled and moved. Pretty good technology for 200-300 years ago. |
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| Another view showing some of the secondary braces that are all pinned using hardwood pins. |
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| I liked this shot because it really showed the crude axe and adz work that was done to square up wooden beams from round logs. |
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| A view of the 4" thick hardwood planks on the floor. Thousands of cows have walked back and forth over these, and done other things, and they are still in pretty good shape. Not sure I'd want to try dancing on them, but walking was no problem. |
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| There were evidently a few bad spots in the surface of some of the planks. Rather than replacing the whole thing they routed out a shallow area and put in a 'Dutchman' to fix it. |
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| Another through or wedge pin through the tenon of a beam. The beam that has this tenon in it is one of 3 on the exterior of the barn that holds up the overhanging gable roof. |
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| It's like a big jigsaw puzzle. |
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| The wall top plate showing the roof rafters and some of the wall posts coming into it. |
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| The roof rafters. I couldn't tell if it was a pegged half lap joint or a open mortise and tenon joint. |
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| This is the slide lock they used on the big double doors on either end of the barn. It surprised me that one set opened into the interior while the pair on the other side opened out. I was told that this was so if snow piled up against both sides, or the wind was blowing to hard, one side or the other would likely be easier to open up. |
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| One of the hinges holding up these huge double doors. Check them out in the 1st picture above. |
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| A closer view of the ladder showing how the rungs are mortised into one side of the post while the other side of the ladder is tied into the beams at the top and bottom of it. There had been another section of ladder from the first floor up to this level but it was evidently lost or they decided not to put it back in when they rebuilt it. |
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| Finally got the story on the cannon. Some of the guys in the re-enactment group did some research and found that there had been a cannon in the area during all of the battles that went on, so one was located and brought back to this site. After more research, it was determined that the cannon had probably been down, (west), at Col. Jacob Klock's house where the battle of Klock's Field had taken place. But that homestead is no longer there, although the house is still standing, so here it stays. I think it looks nice with the 13 Star American flag. |
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