Good morning!!!!

[RedNeckGeek]

Good evening from Terre Haute, IN. For the last two nights I've just gotten as far as I could until nearly dark, then did as best I could for a room and dinner. So far that's worked out well, this evening especially so. Just west of Terre Haute I pulled into a rest stop, rested, then got on the iPhone and pulled up Kayak to look for a room. That got me to the exit, so I looked it over in Google maps and picked one near a restaurant. There was a Panda Express nested in with the motels, so between that and a reasonably priced Red Roof Inn, I was set. Made the reservation, swung by Panda and a fuel stop on the way in, and after only two trips up and down the elevator I was all settled in. Long as the buzzing fridge doesn't keep me up all night, it's all good. Less than three hundred miles left for tomorrow, so should be able to get there in time to make a few phone calls and line up some real estate business for the next week.

Here are some notes from the trip so far:

Installed a new radio in the old truck before I left. Touch screen, menus, iPhone integration, voice command through the phone, hands free, HD radio (whatever that is), owner's manual like a fine print phone book. Took two days to install, including a backup camera, most of the time spent just running the wires, especially the one all the way from the trailer hitch. Sheesh. Anyway, it mostly works, except when it don't. The phone and the radio are supposed to talk via Bluetooth, but it only take half an hour or so before it goes toothless. Then it's time for 80 mph pokes on the phone to get it working again. Now that's a safety feature. But I can say things like "Call Jim on his mobile" and the phone'll start ringing, and I can almost hear him say "oh no, not HIM again". So that part's all good. And it helps me stay awake.

Speaking of staying awake, I called my old friend Joe, who drives bigrigs up and down I5, to see if he had any tips on staying awake. His secret is a 24oz mug of coffee first thing in the morning, that he brews himself because the stuff you get in the truck stops isn't strong enough. Good idea, but with that much caffeine in me I wouldn't sleep for a week, let alone that night. Then he mentioned podcasts, so I downloaded a few to my phone. Good idea, but there's no podcast button on the radio and I don't have time to stop long enough to talk to tech support. So if you get a phone call from me and I sound a little more out of it than usual, now you'll know I'm just trying to stay awake and I'll probably be OK after a good night or two's sleep.

Sleep? You mean people actually get sleep in strange motel rooms? Tonight, for instance, I'm sharing my room with a refrigerator that makes more noise than a Hoover Dam generator, that wasn't even plugged in when I first opened the door (phew!). Hey, all the comforts of home, right? And the heater is one of those where the fan only comes on when the heater's going, so you get this nice blast of noise at just about the same time you finally drift off to sleep, all night long. Then there's the screamin' kid in the next room, or the six or so of 'em playin' tag up and down the hall outside your door, and I can't wait for room service to call me at o'dark thirty with a wakeup call I never asked for...

Oh, and another thing. You'd think a radio this smart would know what time it is, right? Or that maybe the iPhone, seein' as it has internet access and all, and a GPS, too, would know what time it was as the truck made its way across the time zones? Nope. Today I happened to catch the small sign by the road that said we'd passed into the central time zone. Sez I to Siri "what time is it?"

Siri replies with Pacific time, two hours off. So I ask "What time is it in Missouri?". She answers with the correct time. Then I ask "Where are we?" She answers "Bumfuk, Missouri". I reply "Siri, you know where we are, you know what time it is there, but why don't you know what time it is?" The reply? "I can't answer while we're in the car." Oh well. At least I found one way to help me stay awake...

And one last thing: I don't know many people from Missouri, but I feel sorry for the ones that live there. At least the ones that have to drive on the freeways. Their behavior reminds me of why I had to leave the east: Too many a$$holes with driver's licenses. People asleep in the fast lane. People that speed up to block you when you put your turn signal on to change lanes. People that tail gate the snot out of your bumper when you can't go any faster than the idiot in front of you.

And then there's the miserable excuse for roads. Narrow, bumpy, and potholes big enough to bump my head on the headliner. And signs? Think maybe it'd be a good idea to put up a "Lane Ends" sign when the FAST LANE Peters out? Nah, they'll figure it out (thanks for lettin' me in, FedEx bigrig driver! Or maybe a "Rest Stop" sign a mile or so before? They must be savin' a ton of money on all those signs, but they're sure not puttin' it back into the roads.

Oh, and WTF is up with making a Federally funded Interstate Highway like I70 between Topeka and Kansas City a toll road? Are you freakin' kiddin' me? It'd be one thing if it was a new road like the bypass around Denver to get to the airport, but in the case of I70 in that area, it's the ONLY high speed thoroughfare. Why, there otta be a law...

 

[RoyJackson]

2016-03-11, 0318

46 right now...high of 49 today...maybe some rain.
Most of the ice is gone from the back yard...dog is much happier now..no slippin' and slidin' and she can sniff her spots to go.

 

[daugen]

RNG, drive safely out there. Are you telling me folks in California drive any better?
Actually any of us who have ever driven on the Autobahn or in several "good" Euro countries knows just how well folks can drive.
Why are we Americans such terrible drivers? Because we think it's a right and not a privilege?
Left Lane Louises, no concept of lane control, texting, yakking and basic inattention, turns signals never used, (worn out from overuse I'm sure...) and one car length off your bumper at interstate speeds.

Be careful out there and check the sheets in those motel rooms...maybe you'll still be vibrating so much nothing will stick to you...oh, that's right, you're not driving a Harley...

mid sixties already going up to high seventies. I'm headed North around 8am, maybe a little later to wait until after rush hour getting past all the sailors in Norfolk.
With several jars of local Bertie County peanuts packed away as house presents. Headed to Milton DE, not far from Lewes. An awful lot of stop lights taking that route, but at least it's one less time driving on Route 95. Between Philadelphia and Richmond it's every bit as bad as RNG says. I always breathe a sigh of relief when I get to NC; they don't drive any better...but at least they drive a little slower...less aggressive drivers. Maybe just in less of a rush. Sometimes I think the entire Eastern seaboard is in a rush.

But is there a rush in contractors getting back to one? Oh no, just like RS says. Phone calls returned in a week. Proposals, weeks....life in the slow lane and folks think you are nuts expecting things quicker. The problem is when you are used to quicker...I had to get a new attorney down here because after five months I still didn't have a new will. We'll be getting to it....new lawyer had it done in two weeks. When I'm paying hundreds of dollars an hour to someone, they sure better get with it.

My fairly new Kindle just died on me. Green light flashes, no power on. Darn. Oh well, will read on my Chromebook. Wonder what Amazon will do, just replace it probably.

Have a good Friday.

 

[Buppies]

65 balmy degrees this morning high of 77 with mostly cloudy skies today showers for weekend

 

[Thomas]

43F upper 40's for high,rain just about stop sun this afternoon.

Warm temps seem to have brought frost out of the ground little to fast,for number dirt roads are close to thru traffic highway crew been hauling gravel trying there best fill bad spot.
Does seem odd not to see any snow in the fields or hill sides this time of year.

Enjoy the day all.

 

[sam5570]

Good morning spring like temps this morning 61 scattered showers. Got to get hair cut then to john deere store for filters so i can service lawn mowers.It so nice to point and click and something happens. Everyone have a great day.

 

[Eric Salop]

Good morning. A misty and frosty start at first light, but not a drop of rain has fallen in the last 24 hours and 4 hours of sunshine already this morning. Even better, I now only have one lot of sheep to look after as the last of those I took in on a temporary basis while their ground was waterlogged were taken back yesterday. Think I may manage a little more quality time with the new brush cutter this afternoon.

As some of you were quite keen on Downtown Abbey, I thought I should mention, if you didn't know already, that the screen writer (Julian Fellows), has a new 3 part serial. Another country house period piece, this time based on the novel Doctor Thorne, by Anthony Trollope.

Take care all of you on the road. No wonder you come across many bad drivers, everyone in your country has to drive on the wrong side of the road :laughing:.

 

[wngsprd]

Where is the farm, if I can ask? I grew up just south of Tidewater in NC and actually lived in both Chesapeake and VA Beach at times. My late uncle owned a huge for the area, farm in Chesapeake on the opposite side of the Dismal Swamp Canal from old RT 17.

I don't power wash siding or vinyl railings or anything like that anymore, I use a mild bleach/water solution in my sprayer, then later rinse with the hose. Much easier on my siding and stays clean far longer.

79ｰ yesterday, saying 80ｰ for today.

I recall that you're from my old stomping grounds. That's why we call culverts tiles. I hunted quail, snow geese and swans on a couple of big farms opposite the Dismal Swamp south of Deep Creek on 17 near NC line. Spent lots of time in Indian River and Great Bridge and made a few beer runs to Moyock when a teenager or on the way surfing at Hatteras.

Yesterday went to Southampton County, a few miles north of the NC line.

 

[wngsprd]

65 going to 73.

It's warmer than I like for firewood work, but may try to take down a big dead white oak back in the woods now that the ground has dried.

Good one, Eric. I wonder how the world did end up with opposite approaches to which side to drive on.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Good Morning! 39F in Terre Haute, IN. Partly cloudy. High 63F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.

Well, the kid screamin' up and down the hall showed up right on time this morning: 2:20AM. He brought the whole clodhopper wearing family with 'im. Shoulda gotten up to see which room they disappeared into so I could arrange a nice 5AM wake up call for the whole miserable bunch.

Oh, and did I mention that they're rewiring the cable system, and there was no TV reception last night? And no hot water for a good shower this morning? Well, at least I'm awake now! And the real cherry on top: dog slow Internet. I'll be paying my respects at the front desk on the way out.

TGIF folks! Seems like this week's been a year long.