Went to Loa and Price today.

I found out that I missed a bunch of e-mail concerning the four month FMARS project today, so I just spent the last hour answering the e-mail. (More on FMARS later, goto www.marssociety.org/arctic/index.asp if you have to know.) Because of background noise I was sitting here typing and wearing my MP3 player jamming. Well that got me into my writing mood, so here I am. (Bee Gees 'Fever night' just ending with 'Ain't no Sunshine when she's gone' next.)
Got up early this morning to take the keys and extra food from Peter D and Debi-Lee. (I can never remember how to spell his name.) since they were leaving MDRS today. I am a little sad because I didn't get to spend nearly enough time up there and they were not able to get all of there work done. (Not because of me.) There was some fantastic shots taken. Here are some.
Damn it, Don has my flash drive with all of the pictures. Tomorrow. I am still excited about being the first person certified as Astromer 1 under the new system.
(Telepopmusik - 'Breath')
I needed to go to Loa today to set up a project bank account, so Don and I decided to deliver the Mars Society ATV's to the shop for overhauls and make a day of it. It's about a 300 mile trip.
(INXS - 'Don't Change' I love that song! About the only part of that INXS band thing that I watched was when Marty sang this. I loved it. I wished the guy who won had sung it instead... I think moistly I like the guitar parts.)
We were originally going to take my truck, but because the Carb is still jacked, we decided to take his instead, even though mine is way more comfortable and has the computer and stereo. (Turns out we didn't need the stereo. We had much better conversation.) It's a pretty drive. I enjoyed it.
Interestingly, we stopped at Bryan's auto parts. (The Bryan's are really good people, they supply the diesel to the Mars Society for MDRS.) and my phone rang. It seems that they had an open HotSpot and my Vonage WiFi phone found it, made the link, and coincidentally my brother called. I about jumped out of my skin! The call quality was great. (Much better than I get here, but that will change once we get the 'Net connect in, then it will sound perfect here also.) Yes, I like Vonage. If you are thinking about signing up, let me know and I'll send you an invite and I'll get two months free. (Thanks if you do.)
(ABBA - "Dancing Queen' Yes, I LOVE ABBA and no, I'm decidedly NOT gay.)
Then, once we got to Price I was able to make a connect and made a couple calls while we were walking around Sutherlands lumber store! It was definitely the way the tech was supposed to work! While we were there, we met Stan, Tonya and the chill'en while they were shopping.
(Stanford Mixed Company - 'Dreams' - The Cranberrys' one, not the Fleetwood Mac one. What a perfect voice she has...)
We stopped in WalMart for some food and so I could exchange my battery. Walmart replaced the battery in my truck that was failing, No, Dead. They did it from a faxed receipt which I thought was way cool. The girl who ended up doing it after the Service manager approved it was a bitch, but at least it got done.
(Bee Gees - 'tragedy' Techno remix.)
She wouldn't let me check my stuff out, so I had to go back into the store line to do it. After waiting 5 minutes to check out, who do I find as the cashier? Yea, her. At least she wasn't ugly...
(Enya - 'Boadices' Ominous I'd love to use it in a movie sometime.)

A pretty drive home, unload, call Mom, (The owner of her new truck seems to be a corner cutter. Bad deal when you are driving Long haul expediting truck!) a touch of dinner, talk to James about FMARS and other stuff, (Jake seems to be healing very vast. I attribute most of that to prayer.) answer a bunch of e-mail, and here I am...
(Bad religion - 'Sorrow')
There was some discussion during the trip about my idea for a "Mars Rover ATV" since I got the idea to make them in a terrestrial version to sell to SAR groups and just general usage. When I get some IP protection down I'll tell you more. If you really know me, ask the next time we talk and I'll tell you more.
(Dire Straits - 'Sultans of Swing' Easily one of the best guitar solo's ever, and a plain great song.)
Spell check...
(Good Charlotte - 'I want Candy' - "I like Candy when it's wrapped in leather"!)

I think I'll let this one fly for now, Once I get my stick back, I'll UL the pictures.

Independance Day.

So, I had to take a break from the trip blog to write this one.

Monday I find out that the local Cub Scout Pack is holding a Pinewood Derby race tomorrow. Nice. Wished I'd found out about it a week or so ago, I would have ordered some trick parts... Oh well.

Then I get asked to help buld one. Great... So, I get the local supply mom to get me a kit. Only, after she gets here, she finds out that several other kids want one. Me, being the nice person I am, I let them have my kit. Of course, one of them (Austin.) asks me to help him with his. A quick call to Stan, the local Patriarch and town Mayor, and we are in the shop, cutting wood and sanding/polishing axles.

It's been sort of a secret desire of mine to build a PWD car ever since I first learnd the practical arts of Aerodynamics and basic Engineering... I was having a blast, and couldn't wait to see how this car would perform. it is only a half inch thick and about an ounce and a half of wood and stuff. the rest is lead, mounted high and to the rear. The car was long, low and Fast!

The trip.

OK, People have been asking ma about the trip, why did it take a week to go three days worth. Well, frankly, it was a bit of a nightmare, and since it happened almost two months ago, I have forgotton most of it, but I'll try anyways.

First off, the plan. The plan was simple. I was supposed to drive Jack the wonder truck to Denver, pick up my 5th wheel, then drive to Utah, where I would stay in my 5th wheel until we got the job done. Since I am always a) looking at the angle, and b) trying to help people out, I had decided to pick up a car in Detroit and take it to Kansas, (Along the route) pick up a friend and take her to Denver, and stop by a friends sister's house in Kansas City and help with their wireless network. (That is after all what I do... and, since I am really good at it.)

Nice plan.

What about the best laid plans? Yeah right.

Let's start frm the beginning. I had spent a fortune in time and money with the last few details on Jack the wonder truck. Jack is a 'factory', if you call Magnum, the motor coach people a factory, conversion of an 11,000 pound Ford cube van to a 5th wheel hauling pickup truck. He (Yes I know, mostly women, but he told me he was a he, and his name is Jack, and NO I was not medicated, legaly or otherwise at the time!) was made in '86 theoretically, but I keep on finding '89 parts on him. He has a 460 w/a C6 and a doug nash auxiliary over-drive transmission. My record is I have put 2.79 tons in the bed, and he only barely squated, yet he carries the trailer he was made for as smoothly as if, well, they were made for each other... A serious heavy duty truck that was made for long distance highway running with a load on, the pickup version of a semi tractor. I liked driving him, and even more so with a load on. He handles better that way. This was my father's truck, and it served him well for over 250000 miles until he died and I inherited him.

A couple pictures are posted here.

People think I'm crazy to want to drive him that far. Everyone, even my brother. Sure I've had some issues, but nothing serious. I even went so far as to rebuild the auxiliary trans. Still, every one thought I was nuts. I'd never lsiten.

I'll get back to this later, I need to go eat, but I'll post it untill then.

OK, Chow, an aborted attempt at a movie and I'm back.

So, the fun started when I got the contract to move the car. The guy said nothing about the type of trailer. So, when I went to use a car dolly, he freaked. (If he wanted a real trailer, he should have said so in the bid.) so I go to rent a u-haul ('cause none of those other frelling companies will rent a trailer unless you are also renting a truck.) and they don't have it, (Actually they did, but they didn't want to rent their last one the lying bastards.) so I have to drive all over town to get a trailer, and finally pick it up right as they close