One year ago today: September 24, 2014, I miss typing class.
Five years ago today: September 24, 2010, the old Swami trick.
Six years ago today: September 24, 2009, interesting anti-media comment.
MORNING
Argh, I ate an avocado which may not have been as ripe as it should have been and now I have an upset tummy. Serves me right. Insert a one hour break here. It is 5:45AM and company is at the door. They ate the avocados too and all of us are feeling ill. I suggested we go uptown for herbal tea, which seems to have settled things a bit. Just ordinary pear avocado, a little unripe, but I’ve eaten those with a spoon lots of times. It’s the top story of the morning.
The Almanac further indicates that the 21st was not the real equinox this year. In fact, at this latitude, equal day and night happens on the 27th. That’s 12 hours each of sun and dark, with 1 hour 14 minutes of twilight. And since nobody has seen Reid since y’day, I sent two men over to check on him. What? Well Reid is 6-foot-3, kind of looks like an athletic mountain man. If he falls over, one man cannot pick him up.
They came back in 15 minutes saying he was fine, says he’s fine and doesn’t know what all the fuss is about. Figure that one out.
Here’s something else you can calculate. On April Fools, 2006, I knew something was about to go south with the economy, so I contracted an option to buy a certain quantity of silver at a certain price. That was just before it fell, but I did not make any money because it is an option, I neither own the silver or have the silver. But, I have the option to buy it, although I would not do so unless it was a sure thing.
A sure thing would be any increase in silver price above $40.00 and anyone who cares to look it up will realize there is something cooking in the silver kitchen. My guess is that it is about to boil over. Something has been crushing the price down. Anyway, at that time I figured I didn’t have ten years left, but now that deadline is approaching. I ain’t stating my option price or any price, but anybody can look up the historical prices, which is sometimes a good guideline. Sometimes.
NOON
Here’s my rusty saw. This got left out in the back yard for a couple of weeks. That’s one of the things that gets me, that they still make tools out of material that can rust. Everything from drill bits to construction screws, even the staples that are sold to hold fencing together. I mean, who builds a fence indoors? Ah, but you know. The politicians are too busy placating all the queers in the land to demand any real problems get fixed.
This time, we have plenty of marker lights, including two new amber turn blinkers near the front of the wagon chassis. Across the back bumper, a strip of red LEDS, similar to those required on semis above a certain width. But my pride and joy is a central control panel wired to the front plate of the left bumper.
I can see that panel by glancing back. It has indicators for left and right turns, brakes, and tail lights. But nicest of all is a test switch which powers up all 14 lights for a walkaround. Further, this system is now completely independent of the interior lighting and fan. The relays and marine battery are not relocated to the right-side saddlebag on the Goldwing, connected by an umbilical cord. An overall weight savings of well over 100 pounds.
AFTERNOON
Only darkness got me to stop working on the cPod wagon. I have not yet cut the structural panels but they now have six coats of primer and paint each. There are other unseen improvements now that we’ve learned a bit about metal, metallic properties, and welding. The new design is only 42” long when buttoned up and slides open like a big drawer for camping. Plus, it now offers protection from rain and has provision for a tarp canopy if I decide to stay a day or two.
This is a picture of the pear avocado, which some suggested there was no such thing. Except for the shape, it is identical in taste and texture to any other avocado. And this is the species that gave most everybody mild tummy cramps—but not the person who ate four of them. He never felt a thing.
Back to the cPod, other planned improvements include two spare tire racks, one for the Honda, the other for the wagon. And an exterior locking laundry hamper. While the former model was so comfortable, I once lived 28 days in it, the design was strictly utilitarian. That means designed for sleeping.
Out west, the truck stops have everything you need, including laundromats. I found it inconvenient to carry laundry inside the sleeping compartment. People who don’t ride tend to forget that motorcycling can be a dusty and sometimes damp adventure. Even five minutes on dry pavement leaves a thin coating of dust and oil on the forearms.
Also, I was hugely surprised how cozy the camper was and my original intention was two days in the pod, a third day in a motel to get dusted off. Instead, I got the best of both worlds. With the white noise generator, I slept like a baby in the camper, which is twice as roomy as a pup tent. Although still not for claustrophobics, the new model has a lifting rear hatch, an option I included on purpose after I found it exhilarating to sleep with the hatch open on clear Texas nights. I miss the stars which can rarely be seen in the city glow in Florida.
EVENING
Shown here in the failing light, I am reaming out a small hole in the wagon frame to accepting extra side marker lighting. I’ve decided a mix of both LEDs and incandescent is best, but the whole wagon can be converted to LED any time. And easy, too, the new design is light enough to be simply flipped upright to get at the wiring harnesses. Somewhat evident in the photo is the heavy duty testing cables and the fall leaves now beginning to cover the yard.
I’ll remind you of the economics of this wagon camper so you don’t have to go back and read the trip accounts. The concept of a camper is twofold. First, I think hotels/motels/campgrounds and such are much too big and expensive and particularly the entire hotel industry needs to be criminally investigated. They are corrupt to the core and their pricing structure is an insult.
Second, the privacy issue. I cannot forget the Motel Six people had been tracking me on a database, and wanted to know why I had gone through northern Louisiana without staying at their chain. And they refused to take my information off their computer. True, this was years ago, but you’d have to be blind to not see only now is the population at large getting very concerned about this type of snooping. Yeah, well they don’t know the half of it. I’m not concerned about the surveillance, I’m concerned that others feel they have a right to do it secretly and without permission. You’d have to be a damn trusting sort to not get suspicious about that. If it is a harmless nothing, why do they insist?
On the money side, I found I was saving, on a daily basis, $84 and 104 minutes of prime travel time, that late afternoon stretch until dusk. Best motorcycling there is and what a pity to waste it around a small town looking for accommodation, which too often was not found until after dark. I don’t care to drive motorcycles after dark. That’s why my camper has 14 lights.
That $84 made an enormous difference in the quality of travel. You get to stop everywhere, see everything, eat the finest meals, take the entire trip easy. You may recall 2013, when I had so much cash left over by the time I got to Hammond that I spent my birthday in Memphis. Remember, that $84 is additional on top of what I already allocate for the trip, so it is enough to crank it up to a real travel adventure. I returned with a trunk-loads of souvenirs and tools found at flea markets along the way.
As I predicted, the system is already fighting back at this manner of travel. It’s the old the money grab. Already there are city ordinances against overnight camping even on private property, such as the WalMarts near Cape Canaveral. Not that I frequent tourist traps or use the Interstates much, but I saw it coming. Campgrounds already charge more than half the cost of cheap motels, and those are already twice the price they were in 2012. If you got enough money to travel, they want their cut and they know they can't get it if you are allowed to do as you please.
[Author’s note: on-line hosts like AirBnB are not an option for me. Read the rulebook.]
And like I said, never in my marathon trips do I ever see any “hippie vans” these days. That must be one of those things people still talk about but never do. There are plenty of huge rigs, but between you and I, the only time those things are really comfortable is when they are parked—and you don’t see a tenth of what I do wedged into some slot at the RV park.
ADDENDUM
I see my comment last day of never having been in a McDonald’s (MacDonald’s, both spellings sneak in here) until the early 1980s took a few people totally the wrong way. That figures. They interpreted that to mean I was “missing out” and “behind the time”. They are probably the same pack of goofs who think I not up to snuff because I’ve never owned a credit card. Some people never learn. So I looked up what junk food outlets are available.
Here are some that I have never been to, ever. Super China, Brown’s Chicken & Pasta, Jimmy John’s (yew, what a name), Chuck E. Cheese’s, Portillos, Chili’s, Fuddruckers, Culver’s, and Walker Brothers. Hold on, I may have once been in Fuddruckers. Places I’ve been once and never again would include Boston Market (never again), Sonic (once was enough), Hardee’s, and, before one of my best friend’s bought one, Quizno’s. And at most a few times each would be White Castle, Subway, Chick-Fil-a, Long John Silver’s, Church’s, Einstein Bros, Arby’s, Red Rooster, and KFC largely because I consider Rooster and KFC, like Flannigan’s, far too expensive for what you actually get. And even then, usually when I’m on the road and can’t find any alternative.
So, gee, looks like I’m really missing out on real American cuisine and don’t get to meet all that many people in the 350 pound range. Nor am I allergic to wheat, soy, dairy products, peanuts, eggs, shellfish, or any ordinary food. Is that a hint? People, if you knew what was in that food, you would not touch it. A single hamburger from a farm factory can have the meat of hundreds of cows—and at least one of them died from some unspeakable disease.
On the other extreme, I have patronized small or local chains in other states, when they were still small and well-managed. Cracker Barrel, Enzil’s, Checkers. As for where I will chow down, breakfast and coffee at McDonald’s, on the road, the BK kid’s meal has my allowable calories (with coffee, no soda), coffee at Dunkin Donuts or Denny’s (a Slam when JZ is visiting), and sporadically on the days when I get out of the heart clinic after fasting 24 hours, I will hit Taco Bell for, well, you don’t wanna know.
Anything else? Years ago I ate at Pizza Hut and Caesars a few times annually, or during poor stretches. I like Pop-Eye’s, but now purchase cooked chicken rarely and only at a deli, baked, never fried in anything. I only visited iHop much when I was counting toothpicks (you heard me) and that’s about it. For years now, I tend to eat only at hand-picked non-franchise family operations. I’ve been known to take the Amtrak to Winter Haven just for that.
I’d heard of Culver’s “butterburger” and had to look up that arteriosclerotic-sounding concoction. Not so fast, if you click on Culver’s nutrition link, you just get time to notice the “Butterburger Bacon Deluxe Triple” supplies 1,070 calories before you are forwarded to a link advising you to download the chart. Knowing you probably won’t.
Last Laugh
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