Arcturus' Travels

‘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

Tandem Milestone:

Gary — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 03:04:23 +0000

Today I finally was able to install the key assembly in the power train for the new tandem. This assembly is a jack shaft that allows the blending of power from the rider and the auxiliary electric motor. That is the rider can power the wheel with no auxiliary power. The auxiliary motor can power the wheel and the rider can coast. Finally both can power the wheel at the same time.
At the same time the shaft itself functions as the pivot for the rear wheel suspension. This is good because the chains don’t vary in length as the suspension flexes.

This is the New Power Distribution Assembly

The next task is to configure the front wheel drive. It will be pedal power only. The tricky part will be that the pedals will remain fixed to the frame and the chain will have to bend with the steering. I have ridden another person’s bicycle with a bending chain drive so I know it will work. I just have to position some idlers at the perfect point.
It was exasperating trying to compete this task today. The rainy season has started in Hillsboro where we are staying. We would get a delightful “sun break” and I would unload the bicycles and start working on the shaft with the lathe. About then the light would go away and a cold rain squall would descend on us. I would quickly return the bicycles to the trailer, lock up and retreat to the warmth of the coach. Half an hour later the sun would be back. Out comes the bicycles again and I would get back to work. Repeat the scenario several times.
The other complication occurred when I started to drill the setscrew pilot holes in the collar that locks the shaft in place. I wanted three equally spaced setscrews in the collar. I have the perfect tool, a dividing engine that allows you to rotate the part with exact precision. I dug it out of the tool chest and was horrified to see that it had rusted in the damp air. I spent about two hours disassembling the tool and polishing each part and carefully oiling and reassembling it. When compete I mounted the collar and drilled three pilot holes at exactly 120 degrees from each other.
We need to get out of this damp weather and back to the warm dry part of the country.
These years I have written extensively about “Path” the green dragon. This is our recumbent tandem bicycle. I designed and built “Path” back in 2001 and he has been our trusty steed these ten years and 13,701 miles. Path replaced our regular garden variety upright tandem named “The Purple People Eater,” (because it is purple, of course.)” Purple” has 8,428 miles on his odometer. Last week “Purple” came out of retirement and will replace “Path” as our ride of choice.
What I need to explain is that “Path” is harder to balance on. There are two reasons. First: we are closer to the ground so you have to correct for errors in balance quickly. Second: because my feet swing with the whole front end of the bicycle to steer, it takes more strength and coordination to ride a nice straight path at the edge of traffic. Over the past year my balance has been deteriorating and it now takes most of the lane to keep my balance. In April of this year my diagnosis was confirmed, I am in the early stages of Parkinson’s disease.
The new tandem will be designed for Judy to be the captain. I will become the stoker. As soon as we can finish up the new tandem we will probably retire “Purple” again. In the meantime I expect to hear “Shift!” from the back seat every time I start lugging the cadence, and I will have to remember to yell “bump” when a chuck hole rears up.

Bee Line:

Gary — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 02:06:45 +0000

Well here we are making a bee-line back to the Pacific Northwest. I guess we just reached our limit of hot muggy weather and afternoon thunder showers.
Don’t get us wrong. We have enjoyed our meandering through the upper Midwest and really enjoyed the hospitality of the extended Tice family in Petersburg, IL. After leaving Illinois we made stops in Iowa City, and Council Bluff, IA. Next day we made it half way across Nebraska to North Platte. We did notice a great similarity through the three states. There were four versions of scenery; corn and beans, beans and corn, beans and beans and finally corn and corn. I suppose the Flat-Landers think similar thoughts about the western parts of Washington and Oregon…so many trees, you can never see the horizon.
The past two days have been all about Wyoming. First it was Curt Gaudy State Park near Cheyenne. Yes it is really named after the sports announcer. Now tonight we are in Lander, WY. We visited this town seven years ago.

Doctors Buggy With Dr. Orris F. Starr's Bag on the Seat

Judy’s grandfather, Dr. Orris F Starr first practiced medicine here in Lander starting in 1905. He had previously practiced in the Creek Nation in 1902 and in the Western District, Indian Territory in 1904. On our first visit the museum was in storage. We met the curator in a small office. This visit was to the new museum building and grounds. It is really a nice well appointed museum. This time Dr. Starr’s artifacts are prominently displayed. Even in retirement in the 1940’s Dr. Starr participated in the home delivery of Judy and her sister. Judy is still celebrating her August birthday, which one she just won’t tell.
We will be back in the Pacific NW soon and we will be catching up on visitation with all our NW friends and relatives.
Bye Gary and Judy

Oshkosh Fly-In:

Gary — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 03:05:33 +0000

Breriot XI bis, First US Air Mail, 1911

Judy and I just today left Oshkosh, Wisconsin and the EAA Air Venture fly-in. We spent nearly two weeks camping right at the airport, (Whitman Regional,) and got to be up close and personal with about every aircraft you can imagine. We walked around under the new Boing 787 Dreamliner, and studied a flying replica of the 1911 Bleriot XI that delivered the first sack of air mail on September 23, 1911. By the way Lewis Bleriot flew the original model of this aircraft across the English Channel on July 25, 1909, and claimed the 1,000 Pound prize for the first channel crossing.

Of course there was lots of air show goings on. There was flight after flight of War Birds including the only flying B-29, “Fifi.” Every hour we would watch the departure of two airliners from the 1920’s; a pair of Ford Tri-Motors.
We were able to walk almost right up to the active runways and watch the planes landing and later departing. It is an amazing sight to watch two and even three small general aviation airplanes landing on the same runway at the same time. Then a minute later two or three more planes do it again. We listened in on the air traffic controller’s frequency with my hand-held Ham radio. Instructions would go something like this… “Cessna over the gravel pit, waggle your wings. Good waggle, you are number two to land on runway 27, cleared to land on the green dot.” The second later it was… “Citation, as soon as you have you plane under control, turn left into the grass, follow the volunteers to parking, welcome to Oshkosh.” Each runway had a set of huge painted dots at 1/3 and 2/3 of the runway. Each was a different color, red, green, purple and pink. I kept thinking what if the pilot is color blind?

Traffic Jam at EAA Flyin on last day

Many of the pilots and often their families camp under the wings of their airplanes for the week. Imagine, if you can, a field that is over a mile long and two city blocks wide. Small general aviation aircraft are parked wing tip to wing tip in rows that are perhaps twice as wide as the wingspan of the typical Cessna or Cherokee. There are thousands of these planes stretching as far as you can see. It is a great opportunity to talk to the pilots. Judy and I volunteered as “Protect Our Planes” watchers. The air show crowd mingles with the pilots and crew among these same aircraft. They like to sit in the shade of the planes to watch the air show. Our job was to keep people from touching and leaning on the planes. When we saw a leaner we would approach and ask if they were the owner. If they answered yes, we told them to carry-on, owners get to touch all they want. Almost every time the owner would thank us. Some even had stories to tell of inconsiderate people actually damaging their planes. Most people apologized and moved away from the planes, when approached.
We had lots of fun with the Wisconsin weather while we were here. One afternoon a severe thunderstorm popped up while we were hurrying back to our camp. We were soaked to the skin. The weather was in the 80’s so we were not chilled, just wet. The rain turned the camp into a mud wallow. Saturday afternoon we got a blast of wind and dust while we were watching the planes. Later when it subsided we observed many tents and awnings that had been destroyed in the camp ground. Another reason we never leave the awning up when we leave the rig. We were dry camping for the whole two weeks. We would come home with the temperatures in the high 80’s and run the generator and air conditioners for an hour to get the coach livable. Tonight we have glorious electricity and no mud in our camp.
I am starting to ramble, so it is time to close.

Classroom Team: Mike, Dave and Gary Fabric Covered a Horizontal Stabilizer

Tourist Destinations:

Gary — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 22:58:59 +0000

Yes, we often show up in odd ball destinations like Wickenburg, AZ, visiting obscure attractions like the “Jail Tree.” This week, however, we set our sights on a top tourist destination, Mackinac Island in the Mackinac Straits between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron in upper Michigan. By the way up here it is pronounced “Mackinaw,” the “c” at the end of the word is silent. The name is a shortening of the original Indian name Michilimackinac which means “place of the great turtle.”
The area has a colorful history controlled from time to time by the natives, French, British and Americans. The island has been a tourist destination since the Civil War and was made the second National Park in 1875. It attracted the rich and famous of the day.
Mackinac Island has a singular distinction. It has no cars. Well we did see a modern ambulance, but other than that we saw no cars. Horses rule the day. The streets indeed are littered with “horse exhaust.” Even that is picked up by… yes, a horse drawn wagon. The story goes something like this: In the infancy of the automobile one resident brought a horseless carriage to the island. The machine frightened the horses and several were injured as a result. The city fathers got together and banned the contraptions from the city and have upheld the ban ever since.
The result is a booming bicycle rental business and thousands of bicycles parked along all of the main streets in town. Path was certainly in his element. We did a romp around the eight mile shore line trail with new friends Randy and Cindy. The loop trail is perfectly flat and at least 16 feet wide. We saw sights like Arch Rock and Devil’s Kitchen.
We spent most of the day in Fort Mackinac. They have historic re-enactments throughout the day. Cannon firing, musket firing and Court Martial re-enactments by people in 1850 American Army uniforms. The previous day we visited Fort Michilimackinac in Mackinaw City at the northern tip of the Michigan Mainland. The re-enactments here depict the French time period and the actors wear French uniforms from the 1750’s. This fort is a total reconstruction. The British took over in 1761 from the French, lost it to the Chippewa in 1763. They regained control in 1764 but got worried at the end of the American Revolution and moved it ‘Lock, Stock and Barrel” to Mackinac Island in 1781 and built Fort Mackinac. What they couldn’t move thy burned to the ground. Understandably Archeology plays a big role in Fort Michilimackinac and many archeological displays are included in the basements of the various reconstructed fort buildings.
Enough with the history, already! We are finding many new things to sample. A local delicacy called pasteys, made of rutabagas, carrots, onions and some sort of meat and sealed in a pastry shell. Our new friends introduced us to “Pudgy Pies.” This is a toasted sandwich made in a special cast iron clam shell with very long handles and cooked over the campfire. Yummy!
If you didn’t get this last night it is because we again have no cell phone and no internet. We are in the U.P., which is the Upper Peninsula. The people are known as “Uppers.” This is in contrast to the people south of the Mackinac Bridge. They are known as “Trolls,” i.e. below the bridge or “Fudgies” because they come to Mackinaw City to get fudge. The Upper Peninsula at first look seems a little more rural and laid back, the southern areas more industrial. They all agree that we are a long, long way from home in Oregon.
Goodbye from Lake Michigamme near Lake Superior in U.P. Michigan
Gary and Judy

The Attic:

Gary — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 02:10:55 +0000

Here we were drifting around the nation’s rust belt, Detroit and Dearborn Michigan, when we stumbled into America’s attic. Maybe not exactly stumbled, more like encouraged by long time friends Jim and MaryKay and their daughter Kati and hubby JT. We arranged a rendezvous in Tipp City, Ohio and enjoyed a long visit.
The attic is The Ford Museum and Greenfield Village in Dearborn Michigan. Henry Ford had a passion for collecting treasures, our nation’s treasures. Because of his passion we all can go and rummage through these treasures in Henry’s attic. That is what we have been doing for the last two days.
We got to see huge steam locomotives, C&O No 1601, an Allegheny Class 2-6-6-6 locomotive. We also saw historic locomotives, like the 1831 De Witt Clinton, which looks like a toy beside the mighty Allegheny. We also saw huge stationary steam engines that powered early industry, and replicas of Edison’s first electric generating stations
On the second day we visited the Greenfield Village, a living history type museum. Here Henry gathered famous buildings from around the country including Edison’s complete Menlo Park Complex from New Jersey, the Wright Cycle Company from Detroit Michigan and the Logan County Courthouse from Postville Illinois where Abe Lincoln once practiced as a circuit court lawyer. Of course Postville is now Lincoln, Illinois. There are many more, but I need to leave something for you to discover.
Near the end of the day, we were exploring the infamous Smiths Creek Railroad Depot.

(This is where Henry Ford was evicted from the train as a teenager for catching the baggage car on fire with his experiments. Ford’s friend Edison had the depot packed up and rebuilt in Ford’s own Greenfield Village without telling him about it. Anyway it’s a long story, go check it out.)

I was having a detailed telegraph discussion with a lady who portrayed a conductor on the train. She had a telegraph key and sounder set up as a demonstration. Of course I stepped up and bragged that I was a telegrapher on the Northern Pacific Railroad in the 1960’s and offered to demonstrate. She handed me a telegraph form that had the code printed in a table on the back. Only the code was the international code, not the railroad code. I spent the next quarter hour explaining and demonstrating the difference. For example an “O” in International Morse is dah-dah-dah and in American Morse it is dit – dit. Not di-dit like an “I” but dit – dit like an “O”. Also “Y” becomes di-dit – di-dit instead of dah-di-dah-dah.
As a reward for all my effort the lady conductor offered us a ride on her train. So for my kibitzers I have a steam locomotive video on the website this time around. (Note: I have not been able to insert it here, so jump to my Facebook page to see the video clip.)

We did have some excitement the first day. When we returned to the coach for lunch there was a big puddle of antifreeze under the front of the coach. The heater core had sprung a leak. To get by I connected the inlet and outlet hoses together. We don’t really need the heater this time of year. Temperatures run in the 80’s by day and 70’s by night.
It is just after nine here and the big red meatball of a sun is just setting at the Isabella County Fairgrounds in Mount Pleasant Michigan. We have the whole campground to ourselves. Good Night and pleasant dreams from Gary and Judy in Michigan.