Arcturus' Travels

Building a Fence:

Gary — Sun, 13 May 2012 03:15:04 +0000

Thursday, May 10th four members of the Wings of History Air Museum began preparations for the annual open house at the museum and the South County Airport in San Martin, California. One of the first tasks is to build a safety fence along the taxiway. Pounding down fence posts is rather physically intensive labor.
To make the job go faster and easier we had rented a pneumatic fence post driver, complete with an air compressor and a generator to power it with. When Todd and I arrived with the fork lift and a box full of safety fencing, Don and Steve were still trying to drive the first fence post. The air compressor would only run about twenty seconds before it would trip the breaker on the generator. After several minutes of trying we finally got the pressure up to 100 psi. We hooked up the post driver and got one half hearted thump out of the driver. Air pressure was back at 20 psi.
Todd drove back to the museum, (across the road) and picked up a second generator. We filled the tank with fuel, gave a pull on the starter rope and the generator came to life. The air compressor turned on and the pressure started to rise… Circuit breaker popped at 20 psi.
Here was my chance to save the day. Our motor home has a 7000 watt generator. I volunteered to bring it to the work site and power the air compressor. Wisely we decided to see if this generator would actually power the air compressor, so we towed the air compressor to where Arcturus was parked and fired up the gen-set and plugged into my 20 amp washer/dryer circuit. Sure enough Arcturus bravely charged up the air to 120 psi and never even broke into a sweat.
With that, Judy and I unhooked Arcturus from the trailer, sucked in the sliders and worked through our pre-flight check list quickly. I backed down the road to the airport entrance, skinnied through the guard gate and carefully drove to the fence site. We snaked the power cord back to the air compressor, started Arcturus’s generator and started building pressure. We were almost ready to try the post driver when the gen-set shut down. I hit the starter again and the generator made a half hearted attempt to start then gave up altogether. At that moment I remembered that we had arrived with about 10 gallons of diesel in the fuel tank. As a precaution against running the tank dry while you are camping the generator gets its fuel supply at about the 1/8 tank level. Ten gallons out of eighty gallons is just about 1/8 of a tank.
Pounding down fence posts is rather physically intensive labor. We had two teams of two each and the day was warm. The posts are set and the fence is strung. Just like John Henry, we beat that steam drill down!

Patrick and Barb after Graduation, May 12, 2012

It is now Saturday and we, the Dinsmore and Sheppeard families are celebrating my grandson, Patrick Dinsmore’s graduation from high school. Patrick is a graduate of the Ocean Grove Charter School, a home schooling institution. He is the second member of the family to graduate from there. Patrick’s brother, Cody, graduated from the same school in 2008. Their younger brother, Bryce is also going to this school just going into the seventh grade. We need to give their mother, Barb, a huge hand for even taking on this task.
We send greeting to all from Gilroy, California. See you back in Oregon in a couple weeks.
Gary and Judy

My New Skills:

Gary — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 05:35:06 +0000

Today I studied at a new skill set. When we back the coach and the trailer into a camp site, one of us drives the coach and the other acts a ground control. Ground control is a very important position. This person is responsible for keeping track of the big picture. He or she guides the rig back into the selected site making sure there is no interference with tree branches, boulders and posts. They must also guard against jack—knifing the rig and scratching the paint and smashing the clearance lights.
This week at our Escapee Rally in Lodi California there was active discussion about getting both members of the team skilled in all aspects of driving and maneuvering the rig. So…when we arrived at Redding this afternoon I stepped out of the coach and acted as ground control. With hand signals and a walkie-talkie I skillfully guided the trailer into its assigned stall. After disconnecting the trailer I then guided our coach into the camp site. We didn’t damage anything and placed the coach skillfully in exact position. I am so proud of…Judy
Yes, Judy. It is her first time handling the coach in the tight quarters of a camp ground. Slowly, carefully, watching all tree limbs and other vehicles, Judy maneuvered around the parking lot and backed the trailer into a parking spot. Once free of the trailer, she then drove the coach to the campground slots and backed into a vacant camp site. To up the ante a bit there are three fellow campers, men, sitting nearby watching. After her performance they gave Judy a standing ovation.
Tomorrow we will cruise from Redding into Oregon. We will take a couple more days to get to Salem just in time for our Oregon State Park Volunteer boot camp. Judy and I have signed up for a two month tour as park hosts at Fort Yamhill State Park for June and July this summer. Fort Yamhill State Park is a day use park about half way from Salem to Lincoln City on the coast. This is another new chapter in our retirement saga. Stay tuned to see what new adventures we log. By all means, if you are in the vicinity this summer, drop in and visit us.
Good Bye from Redding, CA

Fort Yamhill State Park on Highway 22

The Oil Pump Tester

Gary — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 16:02:06 +0000

There are lots of ways to have fun. For example, I have found a group of Bluegrass Pickers here in Morgan Hill near where we are staying. They get together a couple times a week and play Bluegrass together. Other times I have fun by volunteering at a small local Air Museum at the airport in San Martin called Wings of History. One of their restored airplanes is a Peitenpol Air Camper, a kit plane from the 1930’s. It is powered by a Ford Model “B” engine. It is nearing the end of its restoration effort. Recently a debate has been raging in the hanger around the adequacy of the oil lube system and a new improved Model “A” oil pump was secured. Last Tuesday I helped remove the engine from the Pietenpol one more time. We flipped the engine and removed the pan. We extracted the oil pump and the crew decided we needed to test the old pump compared to the new pump and see if it really was able to pump more oil. I more or less agreed to design and build a test apparatus for the pumps. Ideas were flying back and forth while I took some basic dimensions from the pumps.
Tuesday night the design began to jell as I slept on it. Wednesday afternoon Judy and I took a bicycle ride to “Just in Time Inventory,” our friendly neighborhood “Ace Store.” I had my sketch, my digital caliper and my trusty tape measure along. Judy and I wandered up and down the aisles picking PVC pipe fittings out of the bins and measuring them, fitting them together and putting them back. After about an hour we left with an assortment of pipe fittings and “O” rings.

LeBlond Lathe - Broken Belt Draped Over Drive

When the museum opened for business on Thursday I grabbed my bag of parts and went to the ancient LeBlond lathe in the restoration hanger. Precision is not its middle name, but it is as solid as lots of cold steel can make it. It has a fully loaded quick change gear box. The tool cupboard is a little thin, however, and I was soon making a trip to my own shop trailer for an arm load of tools.
Since I was turning PVC I kicked the speed up and started shaping my first “O” ring carrier. It was about then that the Docent came by with some guests in tow and the gentleman came over to my work station and started Ooo’ing and Aaah-ing and photographing the lathe. Between us we decided the lathe was probably older than I am. Well I think that somehow insulted the lathe and about ten minutes later the lathe crossed its drive belts and jammed up tight. I managed to get the guard off and extracted the chewed up belts. We cross referenced the belt numbers at the local automotive store and we enlisted Judy to go lay the credit card on the counter for us and get the replacement belts on order. I got the lathe going again using the other two barely serviceable belts, but I turned the speed way down.
The project went smoothly after that and by mid afternoon I had the test assembly ready to go.

PMAOPTA

Of course it must have a name so true to aviation protocol it was named the “PMAOPTA.” That is the “(P)ietenpol (M)odel (A) (O)il (P)ump (T)est (A)pparatus.
How did the tests turn out? You ask. Well Dan and Jerry took the oil pumps and tester to a five gallon bucket of oil and Nate and I stood by with stop watches at the ready. With a drill motor to drive the pump and a quart cup to catch the discharged oil, we managed to get oil on just about everything in sight. The tests were a success. However, the new improved pump did not outperform the original pump.
What is next? Who knows, perhaps Glen will want to go sailing again this weekend. I will finish up with a quote from Dr. Seuss. “It’s fun to have fun, but you have to know how.” Cat in the Hat.

Skipper Emeritis

Gary — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 04:47:13 +0000

I have officially adopted the title of Skipper Emeritus. That is Skipper as in the master of a small vessel and Emeritus as in Retired but retaining the title and honors of a professional position. As Skipper Emeritus of the Regal Jug I get to stand around and critically review the performance of the new Skipper and Crew.
On Saturday we all took the Regal Jug to Anderson Lake. Since the last time we went sailing we did some repair work on the main sail, so it took us quite a bit of time to put on the sail and get ready for launch. It would probably be unfair to mark the crew down for this performance, but there is certainly room for improvement. Launch went perfectly; no runaway boat and no one got dunked. I stepped up and did the official starting of the auxiliary engine. We dropped our moorings and left Patrick stranded on the float. After circling back and running a landing we were able to retrieve our AWOL crew member.

Skipper Glen, Crew Patrick and Skipper Emeritis Gary, Anderson Lake

We ran out into the lake and noticed some white caps and decided we should take a reef in the main sail right from the start. That turned out to be a wise choice. We did a bit of a Keystone Cops routine getting the reef in and the sails set. This also included an unintentional gibe which gets the helmsperson major marks off, besides I almost got hit in the head.
Lunch was interesting: We were partway down the lake and decided it was time to eat lunch. Aunt Cathy and Judy started making sandwiches in the cabin. When we started to run out of lake we executed a maneuver called “lying a-hull.” To do that we act like we are doing a tack and forget to change the jib sail. Actually this is very easy to do, and the boat sits quietly even though the wind is quite stiff.

Aunt Cathy Tending the Jib

We had a first time sailor aboard for this trip, Aunt Cathy. Cathy was called up from the cabin and given the job of trimming the starboard jib winch. That means she was to pull in the rope holding the back corner of the front sail when we turn our left side toward the wind, for you lubbers. Now this woman has my admiration. We were sailing in very brisk winds, the boat was healing, (tipping,) and we were tacking every few minutes. Also up to this point the performance of crew did not necessarily give you a feeling of great confidence. Yet Cathy performed well under pressure. Occasionally I did hear a sharp intake of breath when the boat lay over on its side and got the brown stripe wet, but she never asked to leave the boat.
I did get a bit of static from Aunt Cathy when I tried to explain the shifting of our personal bodies to the high side to act as live ballast to control the heeling of the boat. Something about calling her “a fat a**.” I tried to graciously back out if this and kept getting in deeper and deeper. I think that in the end it was my position as Skipper Emeritus that kept me from getting dunked.
New Skipper, Glen is becoming a regular old salt with his “Ready ‘bout” and “Helm’s a-lee.” Perhaps just a bit more work on “gibe ho.” Glen and Patrick are fantastic at getting the mast up and down. It will be the part of the job I will miss terribly…or not.
After this sail we had to repair the working jib. The leach edge of the sail had torn under previous ownership. Glen and I spent about half a day at the sewing machine getting that done. We are anxious to test our repair. Perhaps we will have more adventures to report next week.

An Eagle Scout: February 20, 2012

Gary — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 06:31:19 +0000

My second oldest Grandson, Patrick Dinsmore, was awarded the rank of Eagle Scout in an Eagle Scout Court of Honor ceremony over the weekend. As you can guess, Judy and I are very proud of him and his accomplishment. It was an emotional ceremony bringing one of the assistant scoutmasters, Virginia Alegre, aka Mom-squared, to the point of tears. I also participated in the program with my guitar by providing a humorous counterpoint to the ceremony. I sang an old Homer and Jethro parody song, “The Battle of Camp Kookamonga.” Several of the Troop 792 scouts helped me out on the song.

Mom Pins Eagle Medal on Patrick, Feb. 18, 2012

I thought it would be interesting to explore the motivation of a young man who has just pulled off a major life accomplishment, so we played Paparazzi and celebrity. I even had my tape recorder, but the battery died after 30 seconds. (Some Paparazzi)
First I wanted to know when Patrick decided to go for the Eagle Scout goal. It is not something you put together on a quiet winter weekend. He responded that it was five years ago while he was in Scorpion Patrol that his Scoutmaster, Mr. Viarengo, showed him what had to be done to accomplish the goal. Patrick admitted that both Mr.Viarengo and Ms. Alegre kept the pressure on to keep him working toward his goal. He also mentioned that his parents kept him going too.
I asked him how he has been able to put the lessons he has learned to good use. His example was from a time at Camp Hi-Sierra when one of the younger scouts was somewhat terrified and suffering from a bout of home sickness. Patrick helped him through the homesickness by reminding him of the fun he was going to have, and provided some companionship for him. His reward came at the end of the week when the scout came back and thanked him for guiding him and helping him through the first days.
Mr. Viarengo told an interesting story about Patrick. It seems that one of the younger scouts had his pack prepared for him by his mother. Something about including the kitchen sink! About half way up the mountain trail the poor scout was reduced to tears because he just couldn’t go any further with his heavy pack. Patrick came to the rescue. He traded packs with him and he carried the heavy pack and gave the younger scout his compact, lightweight pack. The folly of this arrangement came to light in the dark of the first camp. The scouts had divided into two groups and they set up camp in different areas and well after dark. Patrick’s roomy sleeping bag, suitable for his six foot four inch height, was with a young five foot boy and his short bag was with Patrick. He survived with some extra coats, but was glad to get his own sleeping bag back the next night.
If there are Eagle Scouts in the ranks of my blog readership will you please take the time to log in and give us your name, the year you made Eagle Scout and your troop and city.
One other thing about the date this blog was written: Forty seven years ago today, on February 20, 1965 Judy and I were married in Spokane, Washington. You bet, I would do it all over again.

‘Mater Goes Fishin’

Gary — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 04:44:06 +0000

Remember “‘Mater“ from the Disney movie, “Cars?” He was the rusty old Tow truck, hence his name from Tow-Mater. Well today we were on our afternoon ride on “Purple” when we passed a big shiny new Red and White ‘Mater and his big brother Big Blue ‘Mater. Big Blue ‘Mater had his cable strung out into the desert near Mojave, California. In fact it disappeared into a very deep drainage ditch alongside Highway 14.
We were riding the frontage road that parallels the freeway for a couple miles. When we reached the end we spotted two more ‘Maters coming down the freeway from the north. These ‘Maters were orange. From our vantage point it looked like the orange ‘Mater brothers pulled in beside the red white and blue ‘Mater brothers. We hurried back to the fishing hole.
By the time we got back both of the big Brother ‘Maters had their cables laid out and were fishing in the same drainage ditch. We were on the far side of the freeway so we couldn’t see what they were using for bait, but soon their lines came up tight and they started pulling together. After a while the shiny red top of a big rig Peterbuilt began to show above the sage brush. We would stand and watch a while then go ride another 4 mile loop on the frontage road.
Eventually they were able to drag the whole 18 wheeler up onto the highway. It was quite an operation. They had all four tow trucks attached from time to time. They mostly used the smaller ‘Maters to stabilize the rig while they repositioned the Big ‘Maters for another pull.
I call them smaller, but they probably would be suitable for towing Arcturus; He probably only weighs a third the weight of one of those 18 wheelers.

'Maters Fishing for A Big One

Gary Watches 'Maters Drag in an Eighteen Wheeler

For those of you who have been waiting anxiously; Here is my annual summary of our travels for 2011.
Bike: 382 miles
Walk: 566 miles
Arcturus: 12,137 miles – A big loop trip to the EAA Fly-In in Oshkosh, WI
100 stops
121.4 miles for an average day’s drive
Year – - Arcturus – - – Walk – - – Bike
2004 – - 04,053 – - – - n/a – - – - 777
2005 – - 18,738 – - – - 56 – - – - 1318
2006 – - 10,548 - – - -183 – - – - 1795
2007 – - 13,375 – - – -240 – - – - 1900
2008 – - 10,465 - – - – 35 – - – - 2097
2009 – - 10,504 – - – -235 – - – - 2086
2010 – — 6,051 - – - -256 – - – - -552
2011 – - 12,137 - – - -566 – - – - -382
Grand total for eight years on the road…98,549 miles driving, walking and riding. (Doesn’t count Little Blue’s miles.)

Orange Julius Cookies

Gary — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 20:39:02 +0000

Orange Julius Cookies from Joanne Flukes “Plum Pudding Murder”
From Kathie Van Winkle

preheat oven to 350 degrees

2 1/2 c flour (not sifted – just pack in the cup)
1/4 teas salt
3/4 teas baking soda
2 sticks softened butter
1/2 c white sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
1 beaten egg
3-4 teas grated orange zest (I used 4+)
12 oz bag white chocolate morsels

In a large bowl combine flour, salt and soda.
In another bowl beat butter & 2 sugars, add egg and zest.

Combine w/flour mixture and add chips

Flatten with a fork – bake at 350 for 11-12 minutes until lightly browned.

Makes 5 dozen.

Charlotte’s Web:

Gary — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 04:33:06 +0000

Up until now we have stubbornly refused to have a pet. We adore our friends’ dogs and cats. We even keep a bag of doggie treats in the front window so we can run out and pet their dogs as they walk them. One, it is a great way to meet people, and two, we don’t have to get up with them at 5:30 to go on the morning walk.
Well guess what? We now have a pet of our own. She is pretty independent. She catches her own food and neatly packs it for a rainy day. We picked her up somewhere around Michigan as a wee tiny baby. She has been traveling with us ever since. That is something like 5,000 miles already. We are giving her the name Charlotte.

Charlotte Enjoys the Morning Sun

Charlotte lives between the screen door and the front door of the coach. You must have guessed by now…Charlotte is a spider. When we are cruising down the road she is safely sheltered inside the coach. When we stop we often open the outside door and latch the screen. Charlotte hangs in the center of her web waiting for the stray fly to drop in. She races over to cocoon each tasty morsel. In the evening she disappears into the extruded aluminum channel around the window and her window is vacant. Early in the morning she is busy cleaning and re-spinning her web.
It is a bit startling to step down into the stair well to open the door and come face to face with Charlotte. She has gotten to be a fairly good sized spider by now, and on her perch she is right at eye level as you start to open the door.
She seems to enjoy the weather where we go. I suspect she would be shivering in her web if she had stayed in Michigan. We just visited Death Valley and Charlotte picked up a nice miller in the warm desert air. From a hundred feet below sea level to over 5,000 feet at the passes she rides along watching the scenery go by. We arrived in Needles, California this evening and opened the outer door for some fresh air. Charlotte buzzed right out to the center of her web to enjoy the evening breeze. Right now she is back in the channel out of sight as I sit here in the Co-Pilot seat typing on the laptop.

Sidewinder in Titus Canyon, Death Valley, CA

Moon over the Amergosa Range, Death Valley, CA

In Death Valley we spent a week at the Death Valley 49’ers Encampment at Furnace Creek. There were lots of activities and there were music events every day and every evening: Lots of western and old country music.
I will try to get a photo of Charlotte to post on the web-site, meanwhile I have a nice photo of a sidewinder we met up in Titus Canyon. No! We didn’t try to adopt him.

Love to all,
Gary and Judy

An Adoption:

Gary — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 03:51:45 +0000

Regal Jug is our 23 foot sailboat. It has been in the family since 1974. For many years we had an annual vacation somewhere in the San Juan Islands of Washington, or the Gulf Islands of Canada. The last couple years we have not done any major trips in Regal Jug.
This year Regal Jug was adopted by our son, Glen’s family. Two weeks ago they met us in Oregon and picked up the boat. They spent last weekend cleaning and updating the maintenance on the boat. This weekend we arrived in Gilroy and we formalized the adoption by going to a local lake and launching the boat and having an inaugural sail.
Here is how the day went:
First we got underway with the boat and trailer in tow from Gilroy right on schedule at about nine. We stopped at the fueling station and picked up some gasoline for the “Iron Wind.” Glen did fantastic job negotiating the tricky corners and sorting out the one way roads.

New Skipper, Glen

We arrived at Anderson Lake, just a few miles distant only to find that we didn’t have the proper paperwork to negotiate the inspection. We pulled out of line and called Barbra to bring us the registration for the boat. Half an hour later we were able to get our inspection and prepare for launch. This was a bit of an ordeal because each step had to be reviewed in detail before acting. Glen has helped rig the boat many times, but always at my lead. Glen needs to be the leader from now on, and there is no point in learning by the school of hard knocks like I did.
The launch went smoothly and soon we had invited some scouts and parents to join us. The winds were quite light and variable, but we sailed a ways down the lake. We raced the scoutmaster in his dingy and some of the scouts paddled alongside in canoes.

Phil, Alex, Glen and Gary Sailing

Back at the dock we helped the scouts load out their canoes and sailing dingy. About then the winds picked up nicely and Glen, Judy, Bryce and I went out for a couple more hours of delightful sailing. Glen took his duties a skipper-in-command very seriously. I took my job of helming or tending the jib-sail seriously too. I caught myself a couple times “suggesting” what to do next, but for the most part I was good.

Regal Jug on Anderson Lake

We came back to the dock in time to load out and ready the boat for trailing, just in time. The Ranger was waiting at the exit gate looking very serious when we rolled by with seven minutes to spare.
The day was a total success. We never even broke anything.
I think Regal Jug will enjoy his new family and the warm sunny weather here in California. Besides now we can come and visit and sail as guests.
Goodbye from Gilroy California.
Gary and Judy

Tandem Migration:

Gary — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 05:17:46 +0000

It is not what you think. We are not riding the tandem bicycle south for the winter. This year for the first time we are taking our Honda Civic, “Little Blue,” south with us. Since I still insist on taking my trailer with my shop along, that means Judy has to drive the Honda in tandem with the coach.
Here are some of the changes:
First: we have gone retro on the tandem bicycle. The “Purple People Eater,” (our 1995 vintage Co-Motion upright tandem bicycle,) came out of a seven year hibernation to take over from the “Path the Green Dragon,” (our hand crafted recumbent tandem bicycle built in 2001.) “Path” has always been strong willed, and a handful to keep him on the straight and narrow bicycle path. Now with my P.D. I have poor balance and take the whole road to herd him along. “Purple” is much milder tempered and he only eats purple people.
Second: We have done a good job exploring areas that are bicycle friendly. Now with “Little Blue” we will be able to expand our horizons. Oh yes “Purple” will get to go along on the back bumper. I am modifying the bicycle rack to fit him. It turns out that bicycling is one of those excellent exercise regimens to help control the tremors from Parkinson’s.
Third: We plan to move less often and stay put longer. Who knows we might even find a host position that suits us for a couple months.
Driving two rigs does change the game plan a little. I lead the way with “Arcturus.” (Yes we really do give everything a name.) Judy follows with “Little Blue.” She has her paper maps and written directions in case we get separated. We have Walkie-Talkies but they are only good for two miles under ideal conditions. That means no hills or crooked gorges. The backup plan includes a cell phone for each of us and Bluetooth hands free sets. You should see us old dogs learning all this new technology. I bet I have installed the Bluetooth devices six times already, and I still don’t know why they disconnect themselves. I’ll bet I could fix them with a hammer and a wrench.
We spent the day in Redding, California. We have stopped over here at the Elks Lodge a couple times already. There is a very nice and interesting multi-use trail just behind the Lodge property. We did a twelve mile ride on “Purple” along the Sacramento River and crossed the beautiful sundial bridge. We did the same exact ride last year on “Path.” I am pleased to report that “Purple” was very well behaved and didn’t even nibble at the people we passed on the trail.
I am a little worried about Judy, however. There are a couple streaks of purple in her silvery hair. Do you suppose that “Purple” might mistake her for a true purple people?
Goodbye for now from sunny California.
Gary and Judy