ansplog

My ‘No Slabs’ Motorcycle Journey, June 2009

2009-07-03T19:04:00.000-07:00

Tom Anspach June 11 – June 23 2009

My plan for this journey: take in the Iowa BMW rally in Middle Amana IA, then up to son Bruce and Ruth’s in Bemidji MN. And to do it all without using the slab… i.e. the Interstate. I wanted to follow the ‘Blue Highways’.

And I made it, 1900 miles with no routes on the interstates. You can see my detailed route at the end of my story. My Motorcyle trip pictures are at: http://tomsjourneys.shutterfly.com/344. My Pictures at Bruce & Ruth’s are at : http://tomsjourneys.shutterfly.com/379

As I left home my rubber band theory was in full swing. My nephew David, in Flordia, had just passed away. It was very devastating. But the more I thought about it the more I needed to complete this planned opportunity to visit my son Bruce, who I had not seen in 2 years. And I knew that riding my MC a long distance was a very good way to feel David’s spirit. Read ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’ by Pirsig, the long distance motorcycle riders bible, to learn more. Then a few days later my niece’s father passed away. Lots of people and things to think about while riding.

I started off on 6/11/2009,Thursday morning in the rain, riding west to Iowa. Took my usual route to Kankakee. I use this route when going NW or W to bypass Chicago. I then followed IL17 as far west as it would go. As I got near the western side of IL it had stopped raining and the sun was out. I had not seen many MC’lsts on the road. But as I neared the Mississippi, ‘what is that up ahead?’. Playing catch-up, it was 2 BMW’s loaded with travel gear. I followed them to the end of the road at the Mississippi river to a small ‘park like’ area next to the BIG River. Several grain trucks were waiting in line for something. I learned from talking to one of the truck drivers, that this location was a grain barge loading dock and they were unloading grain to a barge which hauled it down the river. I rested a while, removed my rain gear and was ready to head out into IA. My fellow rally’rs had left sooner as they were headed for lunch.

After crossing the Big River I headed to Middle Amana and the town park where the Pure Stodge riders were having the rally. I missed a turn right after I crossed the river, but with my compass, map and 1 stop to ask for best way to get back on my road it didn’t take long to recover. The campground was a neat area with lots of grass and trees. And the beer kegs were flowing. The IA Rally is known for its beer. And the Leinenkugels Porter was good.

The Amana area (West, Middle, East, High, and just Amana) is a pretty neat historical area. Check it out at http://www.amanacolonies.com/. As I rode in, a restaurant I noticed was called “The Rose and Thorn Public House”. Of course that sounded pretty neat. Ate there twice. Lunch on Friday and Breakfast on Saturday with Dan (Racine WI) and Paul (from nearby).

Got my tent set up for 3 nights, had a few beers, cooked my dinner and had a good nights sleep. Friday I needed to get a new battery for my bike.

Late last week, I had finally taken time to figure out what was wrong with my bike electrical system. The trouble shooting zeroed in on my, just over a year old, out of warrantee, battery. I didn’t have time to get a new one as there were none locally. So I called, with a recommendation from an IA club member, Ned’s Guzzit BMW shop, in Riverside IA and they had one.

Rode over to Ned’s on Friday. About 50 miles on nice IA roads and got the battery. Installed it in their parking lot and rode the neat back roads back to Middle Amana. A different route. Still off the I State. Stopping, of course, at the Rose and Thorn Public House for lunch. On both Thursday and Friday I passed the previous IA rally site in Marengo. It was amazing to me how that whole area was flooded last year. Flooding out the rally and nearly everything else.

Friday I started meeting friends from previous gatherings and making new ones. From Canada, MN, WI, IA, IN etc. I was looking hard for my friend Jerry from Florida. Jerry is a retired fireman. He is from MN originally. Every year he goes to MN this time of year and always stops at the IA rally on his way back to FL. When I lived in FL, many years ago, he kept trying to get me to go to this rally. I have met him there several times in past years. So I knew he would be there. Although 2 years ago or so, during the fall and winter, he was very sick and nearly died. But he made the rally that spring anyway. He rides a big Harley and pulls a ‘Taj Maj Jal’ of a camping trailer (I call it). I could not find him. Then an area in the park clicked in my mind. There was a BIG motor home with a MC trailer, from Florida, with several neighbors from MN. And it seemed like I recalled from somewhere that Jerry was traveling in a motor home. So I waited until they came back and sure enough Jerry is now pulling his motorcycle with his HUGE camping accommodations rather than the other way around.

Friday afternoon it started raining, lasted all night, well into the morning, which killed the Friday night campfires. Later Saturday turned out to be an OK day… little moist but not bad. After the rally meals, drinking my share of Porter (not too much, just enough), collecting a prize of a nice pottery beer mug and waking up Sunday morning, a fogy Sunday morning, it was time to head out. . . North to Bemidji. With my map and compass and talking to some riders from MN I figured out a route to Bemidji following the blue highways. The roads led me west and north, some ‘riding with Abe’ bypassing well away from the Twin Cities.

I had wanted to stop at the state park in New Ulm MN and ‘clean up’ Dennis W’s campsite. Dennis, from Florida had stopped at our place for a couple days a few weeks before, on his trip to Utah. He had stopped at the state park in New Ulm. I figured he had probably left a mess so thought I would clean it up ;-). Just kidding Dennis. However it was only 3pm when I got there and I only had about 200+ some miles to get to Bemidji. So I decided I would rather spend the time with Bruce and Ruth. I headed north. Arrived about 7 PM. 12 hours 550 miles. Pretty much a record for me. I was glad I did. It was good to see my son and daughter in law.

I had an interesting, somewhat ‘puckering’ experience late in the trip to Bemidji. It seems every time I go to Bemidji I am riding west into the setting sun. And it is blinding on a clear day. I was riding MN200 westerly. I came to a town (don’t know the name) and was squinting into the sun, trying to figure out the mysterious road shape change ahead. All of a sudden the road is NO ROAD!!. It goes into a parking lot by a bar. I slam on the brakes. I can feel the wheels start to loose traction and I let up somewhat. And rode calmly (although I was not calm) into a dirt/gravel parking lot where a Harley rider is heading out, leaving the bar. He glanced at me kind of curious but seemed to have no idea what happened. It was obvious that I missed the left turn sign because of the sun and I was trying to figure out the change in road conditions ahead. Luck was with me… It could have easily been a problem.

I spent a week, helping Bruce and Ruth with their remodeling project, canoeing up the Mississippi, near the headwaters, riding Bruce’s bicycle, eating, a few beers, fathers day at Ruth’s parents and relatives near Bagley, working Sudoku puzzles, talking and generally having a good relaxing time. Then it came Monday and it was time to head home.

It had been raining, starting Sunday afternoon and most of the night. Monday morning was cool, over cast, foggy, and misty. A ‘perfect’ day to start out. I had mapped out (MOL) a route home. As I rode the 1st 50 miles or so, ‘My Rubber Band Theory’ came into effect http://ansplog.blogspot.com/2008/11/my-rubber-band-theory-when-we-leave.html. Both directions, leaving a place that had a lot of meaning, and wanting to get home. The opportunity while riding, is there is time for continual thinking. Do I want to take the new blue highways route or do I want to take my known more direct, faster route… US2, US53, Interstates etc. and get home sooner and not have to study maps etc. I stayed on US2 longer than I had planned. Then in Grand Rapids I stopped, studied my maps… thought a lot…. Recited one of my favorite quotes several times, “It is good to have an END to a journey, but it is the JOURNEY that matters in the end’. Made the final decision and left US2 and headed back on my planned route. Once the decision was made, I was OK. I had snapped the rubber band. Even with the situation in the next paragraph, all was well.

As I was going merrily down MN65 through the beautiful MN countryside mixture of lakes and pine forests, I came to a sign ‘road construction ahead’. On a long journey you get to see lots of these signs. Usually they are no big deal. This one, though, when I reached the beginning of it was a ‘gripper’. The road had been stripped bare, down to the base. It was covered with a mixture of wet gravel and dirt. It was stop and go with flaggers and heavy equipment. Reminded me in some ways of a road in Montana many years ago. Although I was nervous, it was not too bad. As it was mostly hard packed with just a few soft spots and ridges. I made it though the 7 miles without mishap.

As I got about a 100 miles or so south of US2, the sky cleared, the temperature went up and it became HOT. And it kept climbing. Nearly 100 degrees as I got to the end of the day. I worked my way over to WI35 along the east side of the big River. The big River is a lot wider here than it was up by Bemidji. I had always wanted to take WI35 along the river, east side. I had been along WI35 south of La Crosse but not above La Crosse. The north section is not quite as nice as that distance just south of La Crosse. WI35 is called the ‘Great River Road’ along much of its length. It is a great road to ride. Unfortunately it took me up on the Interstate for a short distance. I did not count it.

I meandered along and got to my night destination, The Goose Island Campground, at 5 pm. Just as the lady was closing up. I managed to check in, pick up a couple cold beers to go with my camp cooked dinner and was ready to camp... This campground is a City (La Crosse) campground. I have stopped there several times going to and from Bemidji. It is reasonable cost, clean, shady, grassy and on the river. I took a couple showers to try to cool off and it worked pretty well. The campground was not crowded. One other MC there. A Goldwing, pulling a camper trailer. Talked to the man and wife a bit. They were from Ohio and on a long trip around the North Midwest. Mosquitoes were not too bad. A little spray helped. It started to cool down slightly. Enough to get a good nights sleep.

Tuesday morning I made my coffee, my breakfast porridge for eats, packed up and was on my way home. My 13th day. I followed WI35 a ways. It is a really nice road here, right along the big river. I pulled off of WI35 and headed SE on WI171. I had not been across this area of WI. I thought I was in NC or TN. Up and down, nice curves. A really good riding road. Kept heading S SE toward IL18. Even rode ‘US20 Rules’ a short distance in IL. On IL23 north of IL18 it, again, took me up on the interstate for a short distance. Again I did not count it.

I finally got to IL18 and headed east. About as near to a, MOL straight, direct line as you can find to home. IL18/IL17/IL114/IN10/IN110/IN231/IN14.

The tempeture was climbing. It had a higher starting point Tuesday compared to Monday. My bike thermometer was above 100 degrees. It was hot. It was wet scarves and T shirts time.

I made it home about 6 PM ET. About a 10 hour ride. I was tired but glad to be home. Fullfilling my goal a realtively long journey, IA BMW rally, son Bruce & daughter in law Ruth and No Interstate (I don’t count those 2 little anomalies).

Here are my route details:

Thursday 6/11:Local to, IN14 W, US231 N, IN110 W, IN10 W/\, IL114 W, IL17 W, CR14&Local N, IL92 W, IA22 W (I made a wrong turn getting to IA22, recovered after about 5 miles),IA149 N, Local V66 N (this took me through Marengo location of the flooded out 2008 rally), LocalF15 E, IA220 E, Town27th street N (to Rally campground).

Sunday 6/15: Town 27th St S, IA220W, Local F15 W, CR66 N, US30 W (Riding with Abe), US169 N, WI18 W, WI15 N, MN15 N (I decided at New Ulm to continue on to Bemidji), MN10N, US371 N,WI200 W, WI71 N, CR11 W, Bruce & Ruth.

Monday 6/22: CR11E, WI71 S, US2 E, US169 S, MN200 E, WI65 S (the WI65 road stripped bare at Lake Minnewawa), WI95 S, WI243 E, WI35 S (finally the Great River Road – to Goose Island Campground - a little piece up on the I state).

Tuesday 6/23: WI 35S, WI171 E (I thought I was in NC or TN, nice hilly curvey roads), US61 S, US18 E, WI39 S, WI23 S, WI11 E, WI78 S, US20 E (US 20 Rules), IL26 S, IL18E, IL17E, IL114E, IN10 E, IL110 E, Local E, IN143 E (I took these roads from IN110 as a short cut from IN14, saves about 5 miles or so, local county black tops, not too bad but probaby does not save any time due to limited speed), US421 S, IN14 E, local to home.

Some other statistics:

Average MPG-

Average cost of gas $/gal - $2.68

Highest gas- $2.86 Momence, IL

Lowest gas- $2.51 Taylor Falls, MN

Distance Home to Middle Amana- 380 miles

Distance Middle Amana to Bemidji- 550 miles

Distance Bemidji to Home- 864

Total Distance Rode- 1964

My Annual Guinness Ride #5

2009-03-19T18:33:00.000-07:00

The Tradition Continues My Annual Guinness Ride #5
May 17th 2009

This is getting kind of old. Or is it? The 5th year in a row since I started this tradition after moving back to Indiana from Florida in Dec of 2001. I missed not having a St Patrick’s Day place to go where they had real Guinness, maybe some Murphy’s Stout and some Irish whiskey although I don’t often sample that. Don’t have a DD for the ride home. Corned beef and cabbage, Irish stew, Fish n chips. Not that watery Green Beer…. Ugh!!. .

As the day approached, this year the weather was amazing. It was Florida weather. Temperature supposed to get to the 70’s. My brother John was riding with me again. We left home about 10:30AM, the temps were just above 60 degrees and sunny. Wow!! Neither electric vest nor thermal underwear needed this year.

East on IN14, met John on US31 Rochester, the up to the Fiddlers Hearth in South Bend. Had a couple pints, some great corned beef and cabbage several glasses of water, a big cup of coffee. Listened and watched the Celtic band and dancers, chatted with the revelers, then our couple of hours was over and it was time to head home.

Back to the parking garage and it seemed we had exceeded our 2 hours of free parking. Cost us 5 bucks, well worth it of course. Usually we park in an end painted off area. However this time a car in the adjacent slot had it half blocked off. Fortunately there was an open slot a couple spaces down. 1st time we got marked.

Headed home via IN23, IN10, IN17. Temperature in high 70’s. Then decided on a rest stop at Cooters in Star City. Missed picking up the Star City Black top south of Kewana (I nearly always miss it) and wandered around the back roads getting over to US35. I knew what had happened when we hit a gravel road. Ah, I have done this before. After a nice stop at Cooters we headed home, me north back to Winamac, John south to Logansport.

Another nice ‘Annual Guinness Ride’ on St Patrick’s Day.

This is a stitch of 2 photos, 1 guinness hat (mine from son Jeff a few years ago)

2008-11-22T08:17:00.000-08:00

The RA 2009 Rally will be in the Canaan Valley State park in West Virgina on July 23 to July 26 2009. I have 'fond' memories of the RA 2004 Rally in the same place. I decided to resurrect my story. I may add some pictures later.
TomEA

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

This is-

My Story about my MC trip to the
BMW RA (Riders of America) ‘Wild and Wonderful’ 2004
in the Canaan Valley Resort State Park in West Virginia.
16 - 19 September 2004

(I have since nicknamed it “Wild and Terrible Ivan”)
Tom Anspach 9/22/2004

First- this is a gorgeous place! Ski resort in the mountains . . . with a big Lodge, Lodge Rooms, Cabins (a misuse for the word cabin . . . more like ‘chalet’), RV campground . . . campground. (www.canaanresort.com)

I will write this story a little differently . . . . starting out with what I was looking forward to, what happened wx-wise while there. Then a little synopsis of the trip.

So you can readily find the place on your maps here are the directions-
From North: I- 79 South to Rt. 33 (West on). East on Rt. 33 to Harman. In Harman take Rt. 32 North to Canaan Valley. Except on the advice of the WV welcome station desk attendant I did I 79 south to I 86 east to US219 South to WV32 to Canaan Valley - great riding roads.

Here is the 10day forecast in preparation for leaving.
------
10-Day Forecast

High /Low (°F) Precip. %

Tonight Sep 13 Partly Cloudy 54° 0 %
Tue Sep 14 Mostly Cloudy 73°/53° 20 %
Wed Sep 15 Partly Cloudy 73°/56° 20 %
Thu Sep 16 Few Showers 75°/56° 30 %
Fri Sep 17 Heavy Rain 69°/58° 60 %
Sat Sep 18 Rain 71°/55° 60 %
Sun Sep 19 Showers 70°/56° 40 %
Mon Sep 20 Showers 71°/53° 30 %
Tue Sep 21 Partly Cloudy 72°/54° 0 %
Wed Sep 22 Few Showers 71°/49° 30 %
Last Updated September 13 09:3 PM EDT
----------
As you can see it looked like a rainy weekend ahead. and Ivan was potentially on the way. . . although drifting further to the west at that time. But what the heck. . . it might not rain much . . . and if it did, there would be hundreds of other people (riders tenters) there so wouldn’t be alone.

Lets get right to the heart of the matter, and include a couple of real-time emails that I sent out while there. (They had 3 computers hooked to the INet, so I could readily access my email via webmail, without standing in line very long ‘sometimes’). So I sent a few email/reports to the Florida contingent (and others once in a while) who could not make it due to Ivan.

Sent Wed Sept 15th.
Beautiful day here in the Canaan Valley Resort SP in WV.... how long will it last . . . . .
TomEA
---
Sent Thurs Sept 16th
what can i say except. what a beautiful day. of course it is after a Jane/Mitch dinner and some micro beer from the beer garden and a little vino. we miss you all from Florida. a few up here but not enough. we are trying to cover for you. . . . the best during all the rain you have been getting. . . down there. how long will the beauty last here. only time will tell. . after all it is only thursday . . . . .

from your poverty rider reporter . . . . . Canaan valley WV....cheers..
tom anspach .. .. . have conch horn will travel. . . .
---
Sent Friday Sept 17th noon
well the 'how long will it last is over' rain and wind are starting . . . . but what the heck. lots of nice people . . . . and socializing. . . . . neat place . . .

later

Tom Anspach
----
Sent Saturday morn about 9am
wowee, what a rock and role night. . . . . sitting at the campfire, light drizzle once in a while . . . calm . .looked like a nice night coming up . . then to bed . . . about midnight or so . . . . the wind shifted to the north . . . (right into the open face end of my tent where the door is zipped shut). VERY windy . . gusty . . heavy rain. . you could hear it coming roaring up the hill. MC covers, tarps, rain flys shaking and snapping like a leaves. . . LOUD leaves . . .

sometime during the night the airheads (Bones) high tech approx 10 x 20 foot 'cabin' with 2 inch steel posts blew completely away..... It was down the hill near a ditch about 1/4 mile away. Several of the 2 inch steel posts had snapped in two. How it missed hitting tents and MC's down wind we dont know (I heard later that a pole did hit a tent, punched a hole in it and broke a support . . did not injure the camper . . . don’t know any of the details). . . unless it lifted completely off the ground and flew over them . . . .WOW . . .

They are in the process of seeing if they can get something back together. . . . supposed to clear up today . . . with a crisp low tonight of 39 degrees . . . oh well free beer during happy hour . . even micro brew . . .

Marty headed home this AM

Your Rally Reporter

Tom Anspach
----------------------------------------------------

Now lets go back to the beginning.

I packed up my bike on Monday, left Tuesday morning about 8 EST. rode 388 miles US35 to Galveston IN local to US31 south of Kokomo to I465 to I70 to OH79 to Barkcamp State park. near Belmont OH.

Nice little park, nice night of camping. then up and left about 7 am EDT and 208 miles VIA I70, I79, I68 to US219 to WV32 to Rally site. total of 596 miles. Got there about noon.

Great riding wx and roads. Traffic OK, not heavy.

I was in a day early and the rules are to camp early you need to volunteer. So I found the first guy who looked like he was doing some rally stuff and introduced myself “Tom Reporting for duty”. It turned out to be ‘Bones’. He gave me a chair and assigned me a post at the top of a hill to help direct the vendors into the vendor area. So I moved my bike nearby and sat up on the hill for several hours, smoking my pipe, sipping my water, eating my snacks. Every once in a while when a vendor came in I would try to guide them into the vendor area. After it had dragged on long enough I gave Bones back his chair and found out where the Poverty rider camping compound was and the campground and headed there to set up camp.

It was a beautiful day, sunny with scattered clouds, mountains all around.

I set up my tent, helped the camping registration guy a little. By then some of the other Poverty riders, and neighbors (Airheads, and Chain Gang), and others on down the road started to show up. And the socializing started.
Did not start a campfire that night . . . it bothered me all night . . . the first one to a rally is always supposed to get the fire going. Made a camping dinner meal, then to bed.

Thursday was another gorgeous day. Did a short ride into a nearby town Davis to make some purchases. Some Free Beer, including microbrew . . . delicious, at the beer tent during happy hour. Got a nice campfire going this night. Then to bed. Light rain and winds started Thursday night.

Friday, it was rainy all day. Visited vendors and others . . . . kicked lies and told tires . . . . . . It was quite a hike from the camp area to the HQ at the Resort Lodge. They had a bus service running often, about every 15 to 20 minutes . . . worked very well. That evening I hiked up to the Lodge. Up a road, up a grassy hill to the tennis courts and ice skating rink, up a set of stairs and a up hill walkway into the beer tent then into the lodge.
When I came back down after dark, I took a short cut, to head for the campfire and add some more fuel. Even though I was careful and had my hiking stick (that I picked up out of WV woods) I slipped on the wet grass on a bank, bent my leg back at the knee, it was pretty sore for a couple days, and still a little. Fortunately it didn’t break.

Friday eve, at the fire, even though it would drizzle once in a while, it was calm . . . all appearances a good night. I went to bed well before midnight. Sometime after midnight the wind shifted from the SE to N right into the high profile end of my Kelty tent. And the WIND and RAIN started for GOOD. I still had my tarp up. I got up 3 or 4 times and tried to tie things down better. Blowing like hell in rolling gusts, raining hard once in a while. Finally gave up on the tarp and took it down. It was snapping a cracking like a gun. Some water was coming into the tent. It appeared to be blowing in past the zipper seal and in through the zipper. Sometime during the night the BIG walled canopy, which was about 10 feet away from my tent, lifted up, left the stakes in the ground, but broke the connectors on the guy lines, and flew and tumbled down the hill to near a ditch about a 1/4 mile away. Wow, what a rock and roll night.

Next morning, Sat, everyone one is getting up and going over and getting our stories together. Most everyone made out OK, amazing. A few people lost tent stuff. One I know of moved into the shower trailer. (There were 2 18 stall shower trailers in the campground .. . they were GREAT).

I should add that the camping area was a big grassy area, like an oval ridge. About a 1/8 mile wide and 1/2 mile long. There was a MC trail laid out in the grass along the top of the ridge with camping sites on each side. My guesstimate is that there were several hundred tents (200 or so) maybe. If the wx had been good there would have probably been a couple thousand tents.

A few of the Poverty Riders were involved in vending and had rented a cabin. At about 8 or 9 am, this Saturday morning, after the rock and roll night., some of the people who had came back from being up to the lodge, started talking about moving into the cabin. So that is what we did. Stan had his SUV there. We took down everything, dumped it into his SUV and with 2 trips moved up to Cabin 17. Overall there were about 16 people in the cabin. It was great, a great time and worked out great. This will forever be known as “Cabin 17 - Ivan”. We got our stuff dried out and packed up, slept on the floor and couches. This was a big cabin BTW. 4 bedrooms, 2 couches, 2 bathrooms, kitchen, fireplace, dishwasher, big TV, front and back porch. So that is where I stayed Saturday night. The temp got down into the high 30’s, but we were nice and cozy and comfy in ‘Ivan - Cabin 17’. Sunday Morn, I slowly got packed up and left about 1030 am.

Now the Ken C story. I had met Ken from Canfield OH near SW of Youngstown, at the MI Sturgis rally this spring. We were touching base when I was considering going to this Rally, and he was considering going. Although neither of us was sure until the last minute. ...I left on Tuesday, Ken left on Friday (working). So I was there, checking my cell phone once in a while. I did not realize Ken had to work till Friday and whether or not he was coming. So he took off Friday afternoon. Heading south into the rain. He arrived about 9PM (before the Rock and Roll), but still rain. The wed night before a guy had hit a deer and was in bad shape in a Morgantown Hosp. Ken managed to finagle a room at the lodge late Friday night. He spent all day Friday trying to find me. I had quit checking my phone after Thurs afternoon as I had given up on him, plus I was calling Patty on the hard phone. Turns out he was leaving messages on my cell phone and trying to call Patty on Friday (the few times he tried it was busy). Sat afternoon he saw my bike parked out in front of the lodge. The only time I rode my bike up there was Sat afternoon, when I decided to visit the whirlpool. . . it was great. . . just what I needed. While he was standing there waiting for me to show up a guy came up, spotted, my poverty rider sticker and stuck a dollar bill near my seat! Ken gave up. When I came back I wondered where the dollar bill came from!

Later in the beer hall during happy hour. Ken finally spots me and I him. He had been looking at all the gray beards without any luck. He had earlier, accidentally find out I was in a cabin from Carol one of the original cabin residents. They had, coincidentally sat at the same table when he was asking about me. And she knew I had moved up to Cabin 17. A monumental coincident with all those people milling around around. So we got together, he came up to Cabin 17 for a while, was inducted into the Poverty Riders. And we had to push his bike to get it started. . . low battery.

Saturday night, Ken had asked me to stop by their place in Canfield OH on Sunday night on my way home. I accepted. Sunday about 11 we met up at the lodge. Pushed his bike again to get it started and headed for Canfield Ohio, via WV32, US219, I68, I79, and US224 (MOL). We were going to ride some back roads, but with Kens battery giving problems decided to head straight back. After a good charging run. . . it seemed to be OK.

After 268 miles we got to his place. He and his wife Lisa, fixed a great meal, finished up the wine I had left over, had a lot of good conversation. I went to bed and slept like a rock. They had to get to work early Monday (left about 6 am EDT). I finally got up about 7:30 AM EDT, closed things up and headed out. Ken had given me directions to a neat old breakfast place a couple miles from their house. Unfortunately I did not spot it. I got on US224 and headed west.

Finally stopped for a breakfast at Travel America. They had Biscuits and Gravel and the coffee was good. What more could you ask for!

I experienced the importance of having headlights ON during daytime. While 224 was still in heavy shade from trees . . . I had a clear stretch (had been studying it for a while . . . .because of the shadows), so I pulled out to pass a semi. I just got out at his left rear corner and low and behold a dark car burst out of the shadows into a sunny spot. I got back in with a second or so to spare. . . . . the car got excited and moved half to the shoulder . . . so we would have been all right,. .had I not been able to get back behind the semi, I could have squeezed between the semi and oncoming car. . . . Had he had his lights on . . . I would seen him clearly.

A nice ride home. US224 overall was good. Few spots of trucks but traffic light enough to get around them. Brother John met me East of Peru. We rode into Peru and stopped for an ice cream cone. Then on home after 353 miles, via US24, US35. For a total trip of 1248 miles, 7 days 6 nights.

According to the closing ceremonies there were about 2100 MOL, registered. There were a little over 200 no shows. Thus there were about 1900 MOL (My memory is not good on the actual numbers) registered attendees.

Another great MC trip, with many memorable experiences.

Here is the story about the ‘pole throgh the tent’ from Jane.
From: JaneDate: Wed Sep 22, 2004 17:33:31 US/EasternTo: coonbottom@hcsmail.comSubject: Re: RA rallyOne of the poles went through a couple's tent at about 3 am -- ripped the tent, broke 3 of their 5 support poles and surely scared the sh*t out of them. It also scraped Stan's bike on the way over their tents. All in all, we survived, thanks to the PRI that shared the cabin.

Mo Bottom 2008 - A short motorcycle trip story

2008-11-17T16:37:00.000-08:00

Mo Bottom 2008 - A short motorcycle trip story
Tom Anspach 11/17/08

I wanted to go to Mo Bottom 2008, northern outskirts of Tallahassee. I tried, but I could not get the rubber band stretched enough to break. (For an explanation of my Rubber Band Theory go to: http://ansplog.blogspot.com/ Monday, November 17, 2008 My Rubber Band Theory) So I did not make it. Here is the story.

I wanted to see and rally with my ol' MC friends from Florida and elsewhere. The weekend before Thanksgiving. I always want to go. Mo Bottom- the sequel to Coonbottom then Beach Bottom, has always been one of my 2 favorite rallies. Had not been since 2000 when we lived in Florida. .The other being Rolling Broccoli.

I started tracking wx and home ‘obligations’ a week or so ago. Things did not look too bad. Of most concern was my aching jaw, therefore a dental appointment Monday morning November 17th. And of course the other major concern leaving Patty alone with all the ‘animals’ for 10 days or so, in snowy, freezing weather. Coupled with, risk of not being back in time for Thanksgiving. I started packing. Did a test ride in windy cold rainy wx, last Saturday. Dug all my camping stuff out of their spots and checked it all out and repacked. Started loading the bike. Kept waffling about a final decision to go or not to go. Driving Patty crazy. And me also. This morning, Monday, the Dentist prognosis was pretty good. He filled 1 tooth that had bad decay and we scheduled follow-up cleanings. So that was out of the way.

Back home by 10 AM. Did some odds and ends. Would need to get going by Noon or shortly thereafter. I wanted to be down there by Tuesday eve or Wednesday day to get the full benefit and enjoyment of Mo Bottom. I made several I am going, no I am not going ‘final’ decisions. Patty astutely commented, “If you are having such a hard time making a decision to go, that means you shouldn’t go”.

Finally, the last decision, finished packing the bike, got bundled up and headed out. About 1:30. Temp in the high 30’s. Wind blowing like hell out of the WNW. Overcast. No snow but predicted on the way. I started heading South. It was good to be on the bike.

As you can imagine, I was thinking in overtime. You get to think a lot while riding. Especially without a radio or other distractions. If you have read ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’ by Robert Pirsig, you know exactly what I am talking about. The rubber band was stretching. Could I get it to break. Would I, could I, get into the mode of one of my favorite quotes: “It is good to have an END to journey toward, but it is the JOURNEY that matters in the end. / Ursula Le Guin. On my motorcycle trips I like to enjoy the JOURNEY not just the ends.

The question that came to my mind, after about an hour or so: “Would I rather spend 4 to 5 days out of the next 8 or so on the road, or would I rather spend the next 4 to 5 days at home?” Discounting, for the moment, being at the rally when the road would be mostly forgotten. The answer kept coming back- I would rather spend them at home. The rubber band wasn’t breaking. I wasn’t getting into the Journey. Although not needed badly, I stopped for gas at 50 miles out. It was convenient. Michigantown IN, 800 miles to go. Filled up. Pulled out of the gas station and headed North. The FINAL decision had been made.

Going northerly, heading more into the stiff wind. It was definitely cooler. The big trucks heading south threw up quite a wind blast. The parrabellum windshield that I have had on the bike since on my way to a Georgia Mountain Rally, from Odessa Florida, many years ago, rolled right through them. The northerly ride was, probably, similar to what I would have experienced on my return trip on about the 25th of November, 8 days later. Except there may have been snow on the ground.

I rolled back into the garage at about 4 pm. A 2 ½ hour, 100 mile MC trip, fully packed for camping. I was glad I had taken this short ride. I had demonstrated to myself that I could have made it, if I had broken the rubber band. I came in the house and Patty said “I knew you would be back today.’ She was right. . . again. I was glad to be home. A week early.

2008-11-17T16:26:00.000-08:00

My Rubber Band Theory
(1st written in about 1995)

When we leave some place that has lots of meaning, family, close friends, a family reunion, a neat gathering (i.e. a special MC rally e.g. BMW), or when they leave us, there is a rubber band between ‘us’ and ‘them’. As we (or they) leave, the rubber band starts stretching, wanting to pull us all back together. We have a feeling of depression, lonesomeness, missing the friends, the family, etc. . . . wanting to go back. But we must keep going.

We may think the rubber band will never break, but after a period of time and/or distance the rubber band snaps! The time/distance varies, sometimes long sometimes short. After the snap we realize we are back to normal. The great memories remain, the NOW and the FUTURE comes back into focus. And we are OK again. We are on the journey to a new end.

That is my rubber band theory.
Tom Anspach

My Beemers and Brats Story

2008-10-02T17:26:00.000-07:00

My Beemers and Brats Story

Tom Anspach (9/29/2008)

Since this is probably my last camping trip of 2008 I thought I would write up a little story about it.

This year the Beemers and Brats rally, Rockport IN, down as far as you can go on US231 in Indiana before you hit the Ohio River, had been delayed such that it fell on the same weekend as the Hoosier Beemer rally in North Vernon IN. I had been to the Hoosier Beemer Rally several times and enjoyed it. It is at a neat County Park. The Muskatatuk, named after the river that flows through it. I had never been in the particular area of Rockport, East of Evansville a ways. So finally decided to give it a go.
The Bemmers and Brats was a little pricey $25 rally fee, plus $15 per night per tent directly to the Oakridge Campground, for a total of $55. Quite a bit higher than normal for a weekend ‘small, local’ rally. The Hoosier rally was $15 for the weekend, including camping, for example. However since the Beemers & Brats included all the food you could eat over the weekend, maybe not too bad.

I packed up my bike Thursday eve and was ready to go.
I, messed around with odd’s and ends and did not leave Winamac, home, till about 10 AM Friday. I followed IN14, west; US231, south; IN66, west; for 278 miles arriving about 5PM. Was a little warm at spots, temp on my bike thermometer even approached 95 degrees at times. I missed my US231 sign in Lafayette around Purdue and wandered around the Purdue campus/housing area for a while before I figured out how to get back to US231. College students seem to get younger as each year passes. And I discovered something new to me, Purdue has its own airport.

I managed to find fellow riders Dick, Doug, Glenn & Linda from the Michiana BMW club and set up my tent nearby, so I could share their picnic table. I had picked up a bottle of Merlot (1.5 L) in Rockport. $8, cheapest I have seen for a while. Didn’t investigate the vintage much, but it tasted OK. Turns out the Bovarak Club had a keg on tap, donations accepted. So we were all set for the weekend.

Friday night we dined on Brats with all the trimmings. They were good. Saturday morning it was Biscuits and Gravy with coffee and extras. There was continuous coffee, tea, cold drinks, water etc all day. Saturday lunch was left over brats, sausage and hot dogs. Saturday night was BBQ with all the sides. It was very good. Sunday morning as we prepared to leave it was B&G, sausage, pancakes, sweet rolls. Plenty to eat.

It was a pretty small rally, with about 100 people or so, including the local club. Met a few other people who I had met over the years and forgotten their names. Much talking around the campfire. Only wandering into politics once in a while and did not last long. I think, people wanted to take a break from politics.

The campground was OK. The big RV’s were in sight but pretty much out of the way. Lots of trees, grass and a small pond. The HQ building had plenty of room, tables, kitchen, rest rooms and showers. Augmented by the standard portelets.

Saturday was a nice day of ‘kicking lies and telling tires’ as the saying goes. While Doug was reviewing the status of my bike he noticed the bolts on my front axle pinch clamp had threads showing and were finger loose. WOW, how in the heck had that happened. I know I torqued them to spec when I changed my tire a couple thousand miles ago. Or did I? Got out my tool kit and tightened them up. Re-torqued them when I get home.

There was an organized ride which I did not go on. But I did take a short ride across the new US231 Ohio River Bridge into Kentucky then west to Owensboro and back across the old US231 Bridge to IN161. I stopped at the neat River Park in Owensboro. They had several story board signs that covered the interesting history of the city originally named Yellow Bluff because of the foliage and the high bluff. There were pictures of the 1937 flood where water was standing in the street. All of the lower lying surraounding areas were totally flooded. There was a neat story about the start of the school system by a young lady (Aunt Sukey’s School) who had washed ashore on a plank from a wrecked Steamboat, in the early 1800’s.

Saturday night I managed to walk away with the ‘mature’ rider award. No luck on door prizes though. My luck had been used up at the Beemers in Bluegrass rally a couple weeks before where I won 2 door prizes.
In Rockport there was still a LOT of cleanup going on, cutting up trees, piles of brush, hauling brush, as a result of the very high winds, no rain, that came through 2 weeks before. There were lots of corn fields where the standing corn been been blown flat. It turns out the rally delay, for other reasons, was good. Had it been at the scheduled time, all the tents would have been blown away. There is also a neat little park in Rockport right along the Ohio river with a sheer rock wall on the opposite side of the narrow road. It was 1st gear climbing back up to the streets.

Come Sunday morning it was packing up, eating breakfast- more biscuits and gravey, sausage, pancakes, etc.- saying goodbyes and heading home. The dew was heavy Saturday night so the outside of the tents were dripping wet.

Taking some different roads to home, I left about 9:55AM, followed- IN66,west; IN161, north; IN62, west, IN61, north; IN57, north; US231, north; IN25, north; IN421, north; IN39, north; IN119, north; US35, north; IN14, east; home at about 4:40PM. Being from the rolling flat land of Northern Indiana makes me feel like I am in another state when riding the roads in lower (Southern) Indiana. The traffic was very light starting out, a very nice ride.

Just north of Greencastle there was a lot of activity going on, digging a long, deep trench and installing huge pipes (42 inch diamter, I found out later). Turns out it is a natural gas pipe line from Missouri to Ohio. It will carry about 2 billion cubic feet of natural gas/day from the western wells to the east and Midwest markets. Natural gas prices should go down?? What do you think??

Going home I wanted to find a little roadside rest park so I could stop and eat my left over brat sandwich for ‘lunch’. But could not find one. Finally stopped at a Dairy Queen in Lafayette, that had outside tables. So had an ice cream cone, a cup of coffee, some of my snacks and my left over brat sandwich, and watched the traffic go by.

Why doesn’t Indiana have roadside rest parks along non I State highways, like many other states do? Like the rest park along US35 in Thornhope, which I have heard that INDOT wants to get rid of.

The weather was great all weekend.

Statistics- Miles down-285, average MPH- 41, Miles back- 281, average MPH- 42, overall average MPG- 39.5, Total miles- 606.

My Kill Switch (Bike Broke) Story

2008-08-20T12:55:00.000-07:00

My Kill Switch Story (August 20 2008)

The Kill Switch thread (or close to it) resurfaced on the Internet BMW Riders list today. I decided to go back and find my story and put it on my Blog. It took me a while to find it as I could not remember exactly when it was. I searched my computer files without luck. Finally I went to the IBMWR archives and searched. I quickly found it, thank you. It is hard to believe it was almost 5 years ago. It seems like it happened yesterday.
Here is ‘My Bike Broke' aka ‘My Kill Switch Story’.(edited from Friday 9/26/2003)

On Tuesday (Sep 23 2003) about noon I started up the trusty BMW and rode up to Valporaso, about 60 miles. It was a nice riding day. Bike started and ran great.

I wanted to go to Menards to check out the prices for 250 feet of black plastic pipe and 10 gage 3 conductor w/ground underground electrical cable for my 'water and electric to the chicken house/sheep shed' project. But first I went to K mart to check out their sale on the Coleman Ascension tent and a new sleeping bag.

I parked up on the K mart sidewalk by the kiddy merry go-round and went into the store. It took me a while to analyze the tent and sleeping bag information and visit the rest room. I bought the new sleeping bag to replace my old thread bare 10 year old one. I came back out and strapped the SB on my bike.

Put my gloves and helmet on,
turned on the key
and ......
..... NOTHING.

Uh oh what happened? All was well when I parked and shut it down.

I started checking things with an appropriate puzzled expression.

1 Lights came on OK
2 No indicator lights
3 No starting sound
4 No fuel pump sound
5 Got out voltmeter
6 Got out schematic
7 Checked battery voltage - good
8 Checked fuses good
9 Checked for loose wires
10 It seemed like, maybe a wire had come loose
11 By then it was getting on towards late afternoon
12 I figured I had better get my options started
13 I called a BMW guy in my anonymous book.
14 He wanted to come over and did come over a little later
but did not have a trailer.
15 I called my wife to come and get me.
16 I called my towing service - too far away
17 I called a local Honda shop - could leave the bike there
but they did not have time to come and pick it up - they recommended a local towing service
18 I called the service
19 A Harley rider stopped by and consoled me for a while
20 The BMW guy came over and helped me. I used his cell phone for some phone calls and we looked things over.
21 Could not find anything wrong.
22 The Towing truck came over, we loaded the bike (the service was good - the operator knew what he was doing)
23 We unloaded the bike at the towing service garage (by then the Honda shop was closed) and stored it under cover.
24 My wife picked me up, from the towing company garage.
25 My plan was to borrow my neighbors trailer and go and pick it up Wednesday.
26 I wanted to go to the local theater to see "Open Range" it was the last showing of 4, my wife talked me into going anyway, even with this bike problem, so I did. (Great movie BTW).
27 Got home late, had a sandwich and went to bed.
28 As I lay thinking about what could be wrong, --

***At this point I suggest that many of you (MC'st in particular) would have had the answer to the problem at about number 2 or 3 no later than 10, if not go back and take another look)***

29 --Suddenly it hit me - - - - - - "KILL SWITCH"

Somehow I had forgotten the first thing to look at.

Next morning I called the storage service and asked them to check the position of the kill switch.

Sure enough it was in the KILL position. The counter guy flipped it on and it started right up purring like a kitten.

I mush have accidently hit it when parking (or some kid from the merry go round turned it?????)

It was a rainy morning, They said 'chuckling' they would not charge me extra storage, so I said I would pick it up Thursday.

The guy on the phone consoled me with a story about being out on the lake with his boat and it died. He troll motored in, loaded it went home and later discovered he had accidentally pulled out the kill switch, "So don't feel too bad." Thanks

I have tried to get in the habit, as recommended by some riding instructions, to shut the bike off 1st with the kill switch so you get used to knowing where it is. I have never gotten into the habit even though I have tried several times. I had accidentally hit it, turning it off, a few times in the 150,000 miles I have ridden it. But managed to come to my senses, with varying reasonable delays to check it and turn it back on.

Now a list of possible excuses, that go through my mind as to what happened….-
- -Heavy Ion through the brain
- -Senior moment
- -Brain fahrt
- -I was focused on the Tent/Sleeping bag analysis that I had just been through
- -I was thinking of the first use of my new sleeping bag
- -I was focused on the next stop, Menards
- -I was focused on what a nice day it was for riding
- -I wanted to do some electrical trouble shooting
- -I wanted people to see me there with my tools and schematic
out working on my bike on the K Mart sidewalk, maybe meet new people.
- -I wanted to see if I could figure out how to recover from a broken bike while away from home. (even though I had just been through that experience with my cracked sparkplug up at the Wisconsin Dells Rally).
- -Dumb Ass
- -Stupid
- -Just needed more experience in the trials and tribulations of life.

Take your pick.

Thursday, $70 later (the $50 towing was picked up by my towing company), was a beautiful riding day for the ride back home.

For all you Motorcycle Riders (BMW included) the moral of this story is obvious.

I give my wife LOTS of credit. Not once during the trip back home after picking me up, at home, or bringing me back up to pick up my bike did she say any thing nasty, that could have been easily said with regards to my stupidity.

2008 Anspach Family Reunion - the 13th”

2008-07-25T12:12:00.000-07:00

A summary of A8R the “2008 Anspach Family Reunion - the 13th”

7/14/08 Tom E Anspach

A story for those who were not able to make it and encouragement for those who were there to write their story. .

(I will place a copy in the log book and post it on the ‘2008 Reunion is over’ anspachs.com web site page . . . eventually)

For me it started early in the morning of Saturday July 5th ,, disregarding packing, as I boarded Patty’s little Ford Escort and headed to Townsend TN. This, after making the crucial decision of not riding my MC and deciding to move in with Earl and Carl in the ‘Taj Ma Hal’ – the KOA River Lodge. I placed Patty’s Audio Book “The Last Juror by John Grisham” in the tape deck and I was on my way.

The River Lodges were brand new. Sleeps 6, would be a little crowded but 6 could make it. For us it was 3 and each had our own room, MOL. Facing the Little River. Ours was the side door model. The others, Gene Rena, Josh Ashley, were the front door models. . . with a perfect view of the River. It worked out well, even with the finicky gas hot water heater, which worked some of the time. The campground was pretty typical. Not my favorite type of campground. But I will have to admit, even with all the RV’s, campers, River Lodges and cabins it turned out OK. I suspect that the Anspach Family Environment had a lot to do with it being OK. It was packed solid on July 4th weekend. It cleared out somewhat during the following week, and filling up again for the July 11th weekend.

The only tent campers were Nephew Jim and Barbra. Jerry, Becky, Drew, Jeff Calvin were in cabins. Tom Susan (Jeff Linda also) in their RV. The rest, Doug Kerry, John Diane, Kevin, Ken Judy, David Tammy, Mathew Charla, Scott Kelly, were off base, in Cabins, Becky G stayed wherever she happened to be when the lights went out. The term ‘cabin’ is a misnomer as they were pretty neat full featured ‘houses’ with multiple bedrooms, several bath’s, hot tubs, fireplaces, grand views and hilly curvy mountainy, sometimes gravel, roads leading to and from.

We ALL went up to Doug and Kerry’s place 1 night, after dinner. And it was pretty neat, lots of room, with a hot tub. We had a great time playing cards, talking and socializing. All the kids had a great time too, you could tell by the ‘noise’ and activity. . ahh. . . only to the have the energy of youth. Must have taken Doug and Carry many hours of clean up after we left. There should be some great pictures of this gathering.

The pavilion worked out great. KOA brought the brand new grill down from our Lodge #5 for our use at the Pavilion the entire week. The KOA staff were extremely accommodating and continually asking us if we needed anything. There were several scheduled activities at or near the Pavilion. The kids were invited to participate in many of them. They were not bashful and joined right in with the local kids. There were open grassy areas (only a little muddy after the rains) around 2 sides for the lawn games (corn hole and ladder golf), and the kids to play. A fire ring off to 1 side, around which we spent several late nights.

At the peak there were 50 people in attendance. All there for the evening meal. The rest of the time people were in and out with many varied activities - Bike riding, Local River rafting, Upper Rapids Rafting, Lower River Rafting, Cades Cove, Splash World (at Pigeon Forge Dollyworld), hiking, KOA swimming pool, Ripley’s Aquarium, River Tubing (several times), Laurel Falls, Tuckaleechee Caverns, Golf, Smoky Mountain Helicopter Ride, Previous Reunion Photo Album/Log book reviews and discussions, Checking the genealogy chart and the 300th John George Anspach (older brother of our Ancestor Johannes Anspach ) birthday reunion planning near Quad Cities in 2010, Socializing, Shopping, cooking, cleaning up, chasing after the kids, reading, some even working on their laptops using local WiFi hot spot connection, route planning using maps, Riding US119 in both directions, known the Motorcycle world over as Deal’s gap (Jerry A the only 1 to ride his MC down), etc.

It was great seeing all of the little kids getting to know each other. They certainly seemed to have a lot of fun. Most had seen each other 4 long years ago, and some weren’t around 4 years ago. I hope I didn’t teach them too many bad habits by blowing spit balls in the restaurant as we waited for our Friday night meal. And, unfortunately, or fortunately, I forgot to get the ‘spoon in the glass’ challenge going.

The wx was about as perfect as you can get in July. Maybe a little warm during some of the days, but not bad. Rained off and on a couple days, and couple times at night. The rest of the days were rain free.

And of course there were the GRAND evening meals. Prepared by the, by now world renown, Anspach chef’s. Followed by the usual boisturess Horse uchre games. We were only chastised by the campground management once for not observing the 10PM quiet hours. As I recall it was from Monday night. Usual shutdown time was around midnight or so. All though I heard there was 1 session lasting until the wee hours of the night, or is that morning. There appeared to be several empty bottles of red wine lying around in the morning. Apparently an attempt to keep the cholesterol lowered. And Alan where were you? . . The bottle of Yukon Jack lasted all week. The last sip taken on Friday Eve.

As most of us did I am sure, we looked at this new trend of reunion in an unknown location away from the historical known location of Winamac with uncertainty. For myself I was sure that once we all got going, it would work out. And of course it did. Maybe with a few small items for learning. And as usual, it seemed to go by too quickly, with that resulting exhausted feeling, missing those who were unable to make it, enjoying those who where there, leave with many memories, looking toward the next one, in 2012.

At some time I will convert the Anspach 2008 pages on Anspachs.com to past history. Some place we will have storage for digital photo’s from the reunion.

I finished listening to the audio book as I headed up the gravel road, ….and I was home. I had to drive pretty slow the last couple miles to hear the end of the book.

The 2008 Anspach Family Reunion was over; a great time.

The Ride, The Tradition Continues.

2008-03-18T11:29:00.000-07:00

3/17/08
The Tradition Continues.

My Annual Guinness (Motorycle) Ride (the 4th). The St Patrick’s Day god’s were kind again. My 4th annual Guinness Ride to the Fiddlers Hearth Public House in South Bend for a little Irish celebration was a success.

This year my brother, John, from Logansport went with me, adding to the adventure.

Starting temperature was about 39 degrees. The thermometer hovering just below 40 and sticking there. We were bundled in several lagers and looked like puff balls. At 40 degrees, although I had my electric vest with me, and John did not have one, I did not wear it. I was just trying to be fair. We were cool but not cold. Temps were supposed to get up near the 50’s, with a rain and sleet coming in the evening. Things were looking good. We would be back well before evening.

I had been watching the gravel road from the house to the black top all week. Thawing out, covered with pot holes, water spots, and muddy spots. Concerned, will I be able to make it out. This morning an hour or so before I left, the county gravel/scraper truck came by. Wow!, I had just talked to the County Highway Superintendant last week on another matter and mentioned my annual Guinness ride. So out they came just special for me, and dumped some gravel and graded in some of the muddy spots and pot holes. At least that is my story, and I’m sticking with it. So it was not bad getting out at all. Coming back later it was back to close to its usual shape. Grading and filling doesn’t last long. But I made it in OK.

I was to meet my brother at a gas station in Rochester. I knew which one I meant, but ‘which one’ he thought I meant was garbled in the planning conversation and he was waiting at a different gas station.. Fortunately he came looking and after a couple of ‘what do you means’ we took off up US31 heading north to South Bend.

Arrived at the Fiddlers Hearth, http://www.fiddlershearth.com/index.html about 11:30 or so, wearing as much green as we could find. (Don’t worry Gator, I was wearing your Irish sweater gift with pride). We received our shamrock as we entered the door. Found 2 side by side chairs at the bar immediately. From my past experience, this was very unusual. We enjoyed a nice lunch of Irish Stew (to ward off the chill), some fish and chips, Guinness, coffee, Irish and Celtic music, all blessed by the local Priest, and conversation. “Conversation’, especially with Jeff. Our bar neighbor Jeff only had to work a half day. His Irish wife had to work all day. So he was there celebrating for her. We all autographed a menu for her, wishing her a happy St Patrick’s day. I noticed that Carol ‘the lady of the house’ looked a year younger not older, said hello to Shawn bartender and musician. After a couple hours we were ready to head back home.

As we hiked across the street to the garage (free parking)- still overcast, cool wind from the east, thermometer still stuck on about 40 degrees. What happened to the high 40’s?. We headed south, nice ride on the state roads, IN23, IN10, IN17. I rode part way to Logansport with my brother. We decided to stop in Kewanna and break the chill. A little Yukon and a cup of coffee did it very well. After some more brotherly conversation we stepped out by the bikes right by the door. . . and low and behold. . . it was raining sleet!!. Fortunatetl the roads were still warm… and it was melting. . . and we were getting close to home. I headed home to Winamac, John to Logansport. I got a little damp but not bad. John said later that he got soaked. It had been and was raining harder in Logansport.

Happy St Patrick’s day 2008

Upgrade my Computer Capability - Chapter 5

2008-03-09T15:13:00.000-07:00

Hopefully this is the final Chapter of Upgrading my computer capability Who said that upgrading to a new computer and operating system was ‘easy’?

As Chapter 4 closed, about the last week in February, I had hooked up to DSL, my printer installed OK, and things were looking good. In a nutshell, things are still looking pretty good. But, there has been some turmoil. Let me tell you about it.

1st there is DSL. It was really neat to be able to get to web sites easily and look at stuff and download large pictures that people had sent me. Previously I had resisted checking referenced websites and downloading large files. As we all know time is relative.

I hooked the new Vista Dell up to DSL and wanted to filter the telephones. Also wanted to be able to connect and use the other computer(s) on dialup, at least for a while. No need to get a Ethernet router . . . yet. My 1st hookup resulted in a very noisy phone line when the DSL box was on. Especially the remote phone. After lots of disconnecting trouble shooting I traced it down to the fact that I had decided the fax machine should not be filtered and I had a filter on the fax extension to the hard wired phone. Under every case checked, just adding the filter to the fax extension (even without the phone connected to the filter) caused excessive noise on the other phones. It only went away if the DSL modem was powered off or the filter was removed from the Fax phone extension jack.

With a telephone call to my ISP I understood that I should filter ‘ALL’ of the stuff that usually used normal telephone dialing/connections, including fax machine. So I hooked everything back up with that in mind. Now line is quiet everything working normally. In fact better than expected. In fact we could connect the Dial Up computers to the Internet WITHOUT powering down the DSL modem. I had understood from my ISP techs that this was not possible. I would have to power down the DSL modem to do a dial up connection. So I called them back to talk about it. Below is the result:

“I talked to my ISP tech this morning (BTW all of the KCOnline techs are in the US and as far as I know, all located in Warsaw (Warsaw Indiana that is)). She told me, and repeated, what I thought they told me, previously, when I was researching DSL

- That I should not be able to connect with both the DSL modem and the Dial Up computer at the same time. I would need to turn OFF (power off) the DSL modem to connect the dial up computer to the ISP server on our 1 account.

This is how it is working now from our experience.

As long as I have a phone line filter on the Dial Up computer modem, we are able to connect the Dial Up computer AND the DSL modem computer to the ISP server and the same time. Connect to web sites in parallel, work Outlook Express email on at least 1 of the computers. I am not sure about both the DSL computer and the Dial Up computer accessing the email server at the same time.

When I explained this to the tech, she said.
-You are just lucky. It is not supposed to work that way. You should have to shut off the DSL modem power to connect the Dial Up to the ISP.

I asked if it hurt anything that it was working and would it hurt anything if we tried to connect to the email servers at the same time.

-She said it should not, but if something happened and it did not work they would not be able to help me figure out what was wrong, because it is not supposed to work in the 1st place. She again used the phrase, 'you are just lucky'. In fact she used that phrase several times.”

We are still lucky, because it is still working that way.

Virus Checking & Email. As I mentioned in Chapter 4, I did not want to do much email until I had installed a virus checker. I finally decided to stick with AVG FREE…. I was used to it and it seemed to still be getting good reviews. So I downloaded it. By the time I got it all installed (the program, the virus updates) it must have been around 50 meg. It sure was a lot faster than on the HP Win98 with dial up.
I imported my OE address book from the HP and I was in business. In Vista (don’t know about XP) the mail program is called Windows Mail. It is about, exactly the same as OE. I don’t know why they changed the name.
However there is, at least, 1 change. For my Panhandle Pathway Secretary job, I have an OE identity called Trails. The contact list on that identity consists of 50 MOL email addresses from people who have expressed some sort of an interest in the trail, but do not want to be totally involved.. . . yet. They just want to know, generally, what is going on. They get an email message about once, or twice, a month about monthly meetings and/or a summary of ‘accomplishments’ and ‘goals’. This separate identity keeps these addresses separate from my ‘regular’ contact list, avoiding a lot of confusion. Windows Mail eliminated this function. They said for ‘security reasons’ it was better to establish a separate account. I have not done that yet. In fact I am thinking of getting a separate email address for this task. panhandle@kconline.com My ISP says I can have as many email addresses as I want. I haven’t set it up yet. Maybe this week I will get it done.

Scanner. I connected my brother’s discarded Epson to the HP computer and the HP Flat Bed scanner. Since the Scanner uses a parallel cable hook up and the Epson had a parallel and USB cable hook up. It works well. This set up may be in use for a while, as I may be reluctant in loading the old (8 years or so) HP scanner software onto the Dell Vista. AND I don’t know how to hook its parallel output to the printer.

Data Transfer. The data transfer from the HP to the Dell has 2 options. 1 A Flash Drive and 2nd A hard drive/USB cable. I guess there is another, Ethernet capable and set up a local network. I could not get the Coby 1gig FD to work with Win98. I had email conversations with Coby. I was told that there were no drivers, there was no way it would work with Win98 without SE, I was out of luck. Anyone need a 1Gig Flash Drive? A few days later I was in Staples and found a 2 gig Sony HD that listed Win98 (as well as Win98 SE and others), as OK with a driver download. So I forked over the 18 bucks for it. Downloaded the SW using the Dell Vista DSL transferred the file to the HP vial the 128meg Simpletech FD. Installed it and BINGO, the 2 gig Sony FD works fine. I noticed the capacity under properties is 1.8 gig. They get the 2 gig by file compression SW that is installed on the FDrive. I removed this SW. Now I can move large amounts of info from the HP to the Dell, rather easily.

The other method, would be to buy a HDrive to USB cable. By removing the HDrive from the HP chasis and connecting it to this cable I should be able to plug it into the Dell Vista and get anything I want from the HP HD. These cables run about 20 bucks or so. I have been told that I only need the IDE HD interface since I am working with Win98 era hard drives. I haven’t implemented this yet. It could also be used as a back up drive.

Digital Camera. I do not like the Kodak Easy Share Software. When I loaded EZShare on my Win98 computer it ‘took over’ ALL of the picture files. It is cumbersome to use. I was reluctant to install it on the Dell Vista. 1 morning I took a snowy picture. I decided on the spur to connect the camera USB directly to the Dell. BINGO again. Vista recognized the camera and I could off load the pictures. No need to load the Kodak Easy Share software.

I installed my cheap 3 or 4 year old ArcSoft Photo Impression Photo editing softare that I got with my 1st digital camera 5 years ago or so (under $50). And low and behold it works well also. I can load pictures directly from the Kodak digital camera.

Now the BIG story. . . My HP 845c Printer. As mentioned previously my HP printer was working good. Except for a little quirk that bothered me. The neat 2sided printing function. I used it all the time on the HP. It was not available on the Vista ‘the 845c in the box’ install. I had to manipulate the odd-even, even-odd, front to back, back to front, options to get 2 sided printing. It was cumbersome.

A friend sent me a note suggesting that I, maybe, should try to load the printer CD, and install from the CD. Finally I decided to try it. Friday morning 3/7/08. First I loaded the XP CD into the drive. I figured it was a later version than the Win98 version and Vista would be more likely to recognize it. The computer would not recognize the CD at all. Even if I went to Computer etc properties. I loaded the Win 98 HP printer CD. It was looking good. I started the install process. It looked like files were being transferred. Finally I got a message that said, something to the effect, ‘this installation not recognized’ and further installation processing stopped. I was not able to make any further progress with it, so I quit the install. OPPS! Now my HP845c did not work at all.

I reinstalled from ‘the box’. Everything seemed to go ok, lights all good, no errors. Except for the print qeue would say “error” with no other information and no print. I tried all kinds of things, going to the MSoft, Dell, HP web sites for help. . . Nothing. Finally called the Dell tech.

The Dell tech took over the computer. An interesting method. I had previous experience with this on my brothers new Dell computer. The Dell tech said everything was good and it was HP’s problem. Call them they will fix it. He concurred with me that I must have corrupted a driver file in some way. I also tried the driver restore function on Vista. It did not seem to cover the printer drivers. However, I was not sure what I was doing. I had already found out from going to the HP driver down load site that the HP 845c driver web pages said “you don’t need to down load this driver it is in the Vista installed software”. I called the HP tech. He started telling me it was an old printer and I needed to upgrade. I told him that was unacceptable. It was a perfectly working printer, it was only about 5 years old, it had worked earler, I did not want or need a new printer. I said all I needed was to reinstall the Vista HP 845c driver. It must exist and I wanted it. He finally gave up, said he couldn’t help me any more. I had to talk to another tech who would solve my problem. I was placed in contact with another tech.

We went through the same thing. He quickly got down to the ‘you need a new printer’. I told him - that was unacceptable etc. The Vista driver had to be somewhere and I wanted it. If I needed a new printer it sure wasn’t going to be an HP. That I was totally disappointed with HP etc… He said something like ‘let me check to see what I can do’. A minute or so later he came back with an offer, of a discounted new ‘hot dog’ printer. About 90 bucks. That is way too much. I said I am leaving. Wait a minute lets see what else we have. He came back with another printer about 60 bucks. He wanted to add shipping, and tax. I said NO shipping, NO tax. OK.

We settled on a Replacement Model: PHOTOSMART DJ5160. From a (later) search this seems like a pretty good printer. New ranging from $120 to $160 or so. This one is refurbished. Which doesn’t bother me too much. According to the tech the refurbished list price was $89 or so. My bill $58.29, next day shipping, 1 year warrantee, no tax no shipping charge. I was not happy, but somewhat placated and I told him so.

I had been struggling for hours, on the phone with techs (in India? I forgot to ask where they were located, which I usually do) for seemingly hours. After I was done I had to have a shot of Yukon Jack to settle down. The HP customer survey I took later was not good. Lots of ‘unacceptables’

The printer should be here Monday. From reading the paper work (electronic). It appears that the tech called this an ‘unrepairable returned out of warrantee’ printer and it was replaced at a substantial discount. Another positive point is I, hopefully, can get a refund from Staples on my $35 ink cartridge for my Brothers discarded Epson. I won’t need it anymore. Net cost of my ‘new’ HP printer about $23.

The last Hurdle. The last hurdle which I have not started yet is moving my 98 Quicken Basic program and files for household accounting. 98 Quicken basic went away a l.o.n.g. time ago. Files are not even recognized by the new Quicken software. But I stll use it, it works good for me and I DO NOT NEED to change. Will it work on Vista? I haven’t taken the challenge, yet, of trying to load it from my HP Windows 98 CD. I have loaded it onto other computers (Win98) from the HP CD. So, it seems possible that it may work…. Only time will tell.

That’s my story about Upgrading my Computer Capability, aka moving from a 10 year old Win98 HP desktop to a New state of the art Dell Vista computer.

My dog Blaze is dieing

2008-02-24T14:01:00.000-08:00

My daughter, Marie, who lives in Juneau AK with her family, recently lost their loved dog Blaze. Blaze had been with them many years and was a part of the family. Marie wrote her feelings as he was succuming to sickness and passing away in January. Here it is, with her permission.

_______________________________________________________

My dog Blaze is dieing.

January 25, 2008

He struggled to lift his head. I didn't know it would be his last. He wanted to see out the window. He tried to be enthused about being in the car and going for a ride. He looked at me and then looked out the window as if to say when are we going out. His breathing was labored as he strained to hold his head . He wanted to see what was out the window.

He maintained his spirit to the end. The neighbor shoveling snow would put a spark in his eyes even if only for a moment then the stiffness and the labor just to breath would deaden the small spark. At the vet he was shaking incesantly and would press his stiff legs against me. It was the right thing to take him home he is more relaxed although he labors intensely to breath and he cannot move. We wait for the end. He is a stubborn one. He seems too young to die. I thought Beagles live to 15 or so. Every once in a while he looks out the window, then sighs, then goes back into that deadended state. He is much more relaxed than at the vet. That cold unfamiliar place filled with people who don't understand him. We understand. He doesn't like anyone to touch his toes. We understand he has some dignity. Although there is no we, there is only me. I am his favorite as long as David's not around. If son David were here, David would be his favorite.

One last ride to the vet. He looked very fearful when I put him in the back of the car. I carried him down the steps carefully. I didn't want to drop him. He always hated to be carried. Kiera and I drove to the vet again. He didn't seem concerned as much this time. His state was so grave. I think he barely knew. They shot him with the anesthesia and he responded. The doctor said it would sting him. His eyes seemed to relax some, but his breathing was still heavy. They injected the euthanasia in a moment one small noise than his breathing stopped. He was gone. The bridge vet picked up his body and will spread his ashes with the others out the road. He would've liked that.

On 3/3/2007 (last year) I wrote in my journal, "yes, Blaze is on his last legs. Enjoy his last days, yes, he's an animal without choice. He just is. Enjoy him, his heart, his passion, his faithfullness as much as he can be faithful, so he will be to the end."

Yes, he was faithfull till the end. Even though he wasn't feeling well he was still faithfully wagging his tail, eating his food, standing by. I love you Blaze. You brought much joy to our lives.

2008-02-21T17:41:00.000-08:00

Upgrading My Computer Capability
Chapter 4 Thursday 2/21/08

Today the theme of upgrading my computer capability relates to the saying "you can’t teach an old dog new tricks". Although it may not be true in total, it certainly is on the right track.
I fired up the new dell and started getting familiar with Vista. Loaded the MS Office for students software. Over all - wow!

I started transferring stuff using my 128meg flash drive. Right away I realized that 128meg was not near big enough. It was going to take a lot of mechanical moving to get it transferred. I did get my Rails to Trails Grant Implementation stuff transferred. Which includes the Construction Plan which I am working on.

I brought the CPlan up on MSWord 2007. Wow! Really fancy over MSWord 2000. What a difference 7 years makes with those guys at MSoft. You can tell that they have been working away these last 7 years.

I spotted a 1Gig Flash Drive in Alco for 15 bucks, so bought it. There was risk as the writing said W98SE (and up). I don’t have SE. I have run into this problem before and was able to work around it with an online download. The 1GB drive worked good in the Dell but the HP would not recognize it. After a couple phone calls and email to Coby Electronics I obtained a driver that should work. But after fiddling around for several try's I was unsuccessful. I called back, explained everything and was told I was ‘out of luck’, they had no other drivers.

I connected the Dell to my KCOnline ISP. Seems to be working OK. I am not doing email yet though, until I get a virus checker. Will probably wait until I get DSL as these downloads are quite large. I am planning on a FREE one.

Ah DSL. Yes I have finally broken down, bit the bullet and signed up for DSL with my ISP. $12 more a month, no activation fee, no contract, no modem cost, no add on’s. No change in my local phone bill. Only upfront cost was shipping the package, $8. The package includes the DSL box, 4 filters, a couple cables, and the instructions. In a week or so I should be high speed (768K down, 128K up). That should get me started on high speed.

I ran into some kind of a problem with the HP yesterday. The day before when trying to get my FD’s running something happened that locked the HP up. During the turn on after a lock up shut down (termed ‘bad shut down’), the scan disc program seemed to be running on the D drive. And it wouldn’t run there. I had not noticed it trying to run on D drive after bad shutdown, before. Windows would not come up. I could not figure out a way to circumvent the Scan Disc program. I was getting nervous. Finally after reading my BIG Win 98 book that I bought at a sale many years ago. There was a method to do just that- <<programs/accessories/system information/tools/system configuration utility/Advanced/Advanced trouble shooting settings - - - check the box that says --- Disable Scan Disc after bad shut down.>>.... I also did a HD (C drive) clean up, scan disc and defrag. After which it seems to be working just fine. Needless to say I was nearing the panic state yesterday morning, about ready to visit the local computer guy. I have lots of history on the HD computer, 10 years worth.

I moved the USB cable from to my HP 845c printer from the HP over to the Dell. The software was ‘in the Vista box’ so it installed pretty clean (after a couple of pilot errors). I printed out a page from my MS2007 word Construction Plan and it worked good. To keep from having to move the printer cable back and forth I will try to hook brother Johns discarded Epson printer to the HP, . . . . sometime.

I am still trying to figure out the best way to transfer data from the HP (it does not have an ether net card, but I may be able to take one out of brother John/s discarded ‘e machines’ computer). I can tell it will take a lot of work using my little 128MB Flash Drive. Maybe I should just buy a ‘backup’ Hard drive and move the whole HP (maybe 8 Gig or so of info) to that. Will just have to make sure it will connect to my Win98 system.

Maybe 1 more chapter after this, about hooking up to DSL and getting my data transferred. Time will tell.

Upgrading My Computer Capability Chapter 3

2008-02-17T18:58:00.000-08:00

Clear off the Dining Room Table - Chapter 3 Sunday 2/17/08

My objective today was to get my new computer gift OFF of the dining room table.

I started by installing 2 new 4’ shelves to help collect my ‘treasures’, to free up some space on my ‘desk’. 7 hours later (with a little time off for lunch) I had them both settled in, ‘power on’ and running. New Dell not hooked to Net, or printer yet.

Although I still have plenty of 'neaterizing' to do, which will at least, hopefully, partially get done, it should work OK for a while.

Disconected everything, wiping off as much dust as I could. I should open up the ol’ HP and dust off the insides.... but did not. Moving speakers and HP desktop, monitor, radio, scanner, odd’s and end's around I finally had a set up.

The 17 inch HP CRT monitor is very deep. Specially when compared to the new Dell 19 inch LCD monitor. Finally wound up having to stick in the corner. Did not like that too well, but appears to be an OK set up. I do not like not having the monitor right in front of the key board. I know many people have it set up that way, but it bothers me. Something left over from my typewriter days. Was finally able to get the monitor and keyboard in an OK position, all though backed into a corner.

Unless I can figure out how to hook up my HP flatbed scanner to the Dell I may have a 98 computer here for some time. The Flatbed scanner works very well, but it has a parallel output cable. And the Del does not have a parallel input connector. Anyone have any ideas let me know, besides buying a new scanner. May change to one of the spare 15 inch CRT’s I have though, so it doesn’t take up so much room.

Thanks again.....for the long term gift. Should last for many birthdays and Christmas’s.

The next step will be to hook the dell up to the Internet, 'dial up', first. Then I will probably start transferring stuff over to it. If it was just my home stuff, email, letters, pictures etc..... it wouldn't be too bad. However I have a lot of background Rails to Trails info and lots more stuff coming in all the time.... and developing lots of stuff....just like a job except, no pay. That move will be kind of tricky. Probably the best thing would be to network them. I think I have to have a router for that... will have to look into it. Any ideas let me know..... Meanwhile, I will use a Flash drive to move stuff back and forth.

Upgrading my Computer Capability Chapter 2 (or so)

2008-02-15T18:02:00.000-08:00

Chapter 2 (or so) Power On
Things from my computer upgrade started coming in this week. The MSOffice Student SW package came in Tuesday via DHL. Then on Wednesday the Computer came in. Then, finally, today Friday 2/25/08, the monitor came in. Got them plugged in and ‘on’ and ‘wow’. Just think about ‘do you know how it feels when you get rid of the old bald tires on your motorcycle and put on brand new tires”? But let me digress.

Among other things I have been working away on my ol’ HP, and studying how I would rearrange my little office. But not doing much ‘rearranging’. As things came in 1 by 1, on the DHL truck, I was excited with anticipation. When the computer came in I did not see any ‘computer manual’. You know, how to use it, how does it work, etc.?. This bothered me somewhat, specially when the big plastic fold out, ‘how to hook it up in 5 different languages’ said, look in your computer manual to see how it works (MOL).

Finally the monitor came in today, and still no manual. So - - - my 1st call to Tech support… ‘where is my manual, that is referred to in the set up card?’ After many pauses, out there in India, it was something like ‘well we don’t supply those any more, you can get them online, or they are stored on your hardrive’. But I am old fashioned and I like to flip through the manual before I do anything. Sorry. I end with, ‘well put that in your book’. And yes he would be glad to… and let the management know that I was not happy because I did not have a paper manual. So now Dell will have to think of cutting down another tree to for a manual.

I decided to set it up on the dining room table where I had plenty of room. I would not have to cram it into a corner when looking for places to plug things in. My wife happened to be gone, so I knew I had at least a few hours. It went together pretty easy, just the monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

I turned on the power and bingo!. Just like there was a little robot in there getting things going. The pages coming to the desktop looked like a power point presentation, as the bar on the bottom progressed from left to right. After I accepted several ‘very legal’ agreements (you read all of those before accepting them don’t you?), things were looking really FANCY.

I wandered around quite a bit, getting used to the Vista differences in the desktop. And there are many. But seemed OK. So far I was picking it up pretty easy. It came to mind though, that someone not familiar with computers and Windows would have a lot of trouble without an instruction manual. Google was very strong on the desktop, wanting to put all kinds of sidebars and desktops on. I am still not sure which is where but, have decided it can be straightened out later. Lo and behold, the Computer manual was on the HD. Not just the help screen/menu, but the manual. At first glance it looks pretty good. Assuming, if you are having trouble, you can get to it. I found the Vista games, wow!!!!. I don’t know what games XP had, but compared to W98 10 years ago, wow!. Even chess. Wait till my nephew’s son Kendal comes over and fires this chess game up. He will be impressed.

As I suspected the Photo stuff seemed very powerful. So I loaded my 2007 Alaska Oregon pictures (178) stored on my 1998 HP Windows, onto my flash drive and plugged it in. . . to the FRONT of the Dell computer. . nice. And like magic, even though it was a folder down it picked them up and was easy to get into a slide show. On the 19 inch monitor, I thought I was watching TV from back just a few years ago.

Next I loaded the MSOffice Student SW (357 Meg or so whew!). Wow, will the Rails and Trails guys be impressed with this. Excel, Word, Power Point . . . and some other stuff I am not familiar with. The most trouble I had was opening up the MSOffice Student plastic box. The single CD was inside a box with 2 pieces of paper to buy more stuff. The box was a puzzle, to me, in itself. Before I got a hammer, I finally gave up, . I gave it to my wife. After fiddling around for some time she finally figured it out. Wow, such a fancy box for 1 lousy CD.

Overall, so far, it is a BIG WOW!. What a change from working along with my ol’ 1998 HP with Windows 98 and popping into this Dell Inspiron 530 with Vista. Like I said earlier… it is like that feeling you get from the feel of a new set of treads on your motorcycle after slowly wearing out the old set with many enjoyable miles of riding.

Now we are ready for the next step. Moving into my little office and hooking up to, printer, Internet. I am worried about the scanner, which has a parallel cable. As far as I can tell, there is no parallel connector on the Dell.

I am also trying to think of some sort of a special thank you to my kids for giving me this great gift. I have a few thoughts in mind.

Upgrading My Computer Capability

2008-02-13T17:59:00.000-08:00

Upgrading My Computer Capability
I have decided to place this story on my blog. Just because I want to.
My kids (I still call them kids, even though they now range in ages from about 50 to 45, and I will always call them my kids) have been subtly pressuring me to upgrade my computer capability for many years. Both my computer and connection speed. Lately the pressure has become insurmountable, and I will have to succumb. But first a little background.

Background
I have been involved with computers all my working life. When I was a senior at the Milwaukee School of Engineering in 1959, we received our 1st computer. I believe it was a Royal ‘something’ drum machine. MSOE required a thesis for graduation. I wrote my thesis on Boolean Algebra, the basic arithmetic and logic for all computers. I have always typed since High School (1952), through my tour with the USNavy and into work. My handwriting has always been atrocious. When Apple came out with word processors, with SPELL CHECK, I though I had gone to heaven. I even taught a few classes in microprocessors when they 1st came out. The bottom line is - I am well aware of the ‘high tech’ 18 month progression cycle. Buy it now, 18 months later it is outdated.

My 1st home Computer
When I retired from Honeywell Space Systems in 1995 and left my ‘work computers’ at work, I would use the library computers for email and bring one home once in a while when doing odd jobs for Honeywell.

Finally in 1998, Christmas we bought our 1st home computer. An HP Pavilion with 64Meg of Ram, a 6.4 Gig (extra large) Hard Drive and a 333 MHz processor with Windows 98.

As time went on we added a printer, scanner etc.... It worked well. 1 Power supply problem, and I had a used extra Hard Drive installed and another chunk of RAM. Still using dial up. And it is still working well. Finally it became a GOAL for me, to stick with the HP and Windows 98 and dial up for 10 years, - till December 2008.

My wife had given up years ago and purchased her own latest tech computer/monitor.

Meanwhile, my kids had all progressed to the latest tech computers, with high speed connections. It was with great difficulty that I tried to get them to realize that they were not sending pictures of my grandkids to National Geographic. I did not need a 4meg picture to see what they looked like. Now they are talking about video...... wow .. . dial up will never work. Also, I became involved with a local group converting an ‘out of service’ section of Rail Road to a nice Pathway. As secretary and working on construction plans etc., my dial up, slow processor and limited memory was becoming a problem.

Now my upgrade story can begin.
I finally decided that I should 1st upgrade my computer then succumb to high speed Internet.. I started talking to people about it and reviewing some (forums). I came to the conclusion that I could make a significant improvement if I went with a refurbished office leased machine (like a Dell Optiplex) with Windows XP professional. Or similar. I should be able to set it behind my 17 inch CRT monitor, my good keyboard, printer, scanner, etc. and be ready to go. Much higher speed, much more HD memory, lots of Ram. With Windows XP OS, since it had all the bugs out of it. I did not want to help debug a new OS like the memory hog Vista. All at a reasonable cost. Then the next step would be to step up to high speed Internet. Out here in the country that would be DSL.
I was watching. Bid on one on Ebay only to be out bid at the last moment. A thought occurred to me, my son in NC had worked in the computer network department at a large local hospital. I recalled that he mentioned that 1 of his buddies was thinking of refurbishing computers for resale. So I asked him to check it out.

Over the next couple weeks, he is talking to me about how he and his buddy are putting together a really neat computer out of ‘used’ components. Sometimes he used the phrase ‘junk parts’ just to keep me a little worried. This last Saturday he tells me to keep an eye out for the mail as it would be showing up. As soon as he could find a shipping box. Then Monday, a note that it was on its way. I am getting ready..... Ah lots of memory (over 500 gig HD, 2+ gig of Ram, high speed, economical. A cost had not yet been established but I was assured that it would be reasonable or very reasonable. I started watching for the delivery truck.

THEN, showing up in an email - a note from all of my kids (and grandkids) alluding to a ‘gift’ and the specs for a new Dell computer with 2+ gig of ram, 500 gig HD, 2+ gigs processor, 19 inch LCD monitor, that is being shipped from Dell.

What is going on here? Calls to my kids.... Yes, they are forcing me into the new hitech world. All this time, when I thought I was getting a computer kluged together in somebody’s garage with suspect parts, they had been dealing with Dell for a -good- computer for me. My son had been feeding a line of BS for the last couple weeks. They are giving me this new (refurbished by Dell Inspiron 530) computer as a gift to cover future birthdays, fathersdays, Christmas’s for an untold number of years. IN RETURN I must transition to a high speed connection (fortunately they did not say how ‘high of a high speed connection’). The Dell is loaded several goodies including Vista. Oh no not Vista, with all of its new bugs.

I promptly, checked out a Vista book from the Library. Finally, I got over it, accepted the fact and started planning and ‘getting ready’. That’s for the next chapter.

Getting Ready
My little room "office’ is cluttered with accumulated ‘stuff’ from over the last 5 years. Radio, pictures, books, notebooks, files, papers, maps, scanner, printer, pencils, software, music. Very disorganized, but I know where most everything is. And everything is saved for some future use. My transition to this new computer need not be a panic replacement, since my HP is still working well. So I need a nice slow, side by side, methodical transition.

1st I need to clear a space so I can set up 2 computers. Wow what do I do? Where do I start? Clear papers, move my radio, make a space on my writing desk top. Reorganize my Computer log book, which I have had for 5 years, and make a space for the new computer. Wipe up some dust. This could take a while, and it does. But I think I am about ready. It will take some last minute paper reshuffling. But close enough.

Shutting off the Engine in an Unattended Car

2008-02-03T08:37:00.000-08:00

The Click and Clack article in this morning’s paper about finding a car running, no one around, and the questioner wanting to shut it off, reminds me of a story.

Many long years ago, it seems, about 1957, I was going to Milwaukee School of Engineering in Milwaukee Wisconsin. One of my part time jobs was working at a downtown parking lot. My job was parking cars or telling people where to park them as they came to work, and then digging them out when they left. At the time I had a 1951 Buick. I did not drive it much as I lived close to school and had to keep my nose to the grindstone. But it did get me back home to Indiana once in a while.

Anyway, 1 day there was this car parked at the back entrance to a store at the edge of our lot. The motor was running. I kept watching it. No one came to check it. I was thinking the driver must have forgot to turn off the key when they got out. Finally, being the helpful person that I was, I decided to go over and turn it off. Which I did. The door was unlocked so I did not have take off my sock or find a potato and stuff it up the tailpipe.

After some time a man came out of the back door, yelling “Who in the hell turned off my car?” He was pretty livid. Of course I had to admit the deed. “Well get your car, because we have to push/toe it to get it started”. No one had a chain so ‘push it’ it was, with my nice ’51 Buick. It seem like I pushed him forever, several blocks before it started. The bumpers scraping and grinding. I remembered the scratches on the front bumper for a long time.

From that day on I have never turned of the engine in a car that I have seen running with no one around.

Ps- My boss was interesting also. Telling me stories about his escapades running bootleg whiskey from St Louis to Chicago in the roof of his car, during prohibition.

Tongue Twisters

2008-02-03T08:34:00.000-08:00

A day or so ago, was ‘groundhog day’. One of the news stations had a little clip of-

“If a woodchuck would chuck wood how much wood would a woodchuck chuck?”

It caused me to remember there was a ‘tongue twister’ that I used like. I tried to remember what it was. I could not remember. I kept thinking hard, yesterday, last night, this morning, but just could not remember. It was buried back deep in my brain and just would not come out.

Then this morning, when I was drinking my cup of coffee, it came back to me. Here it is-

“Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, how many pecks of pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?”
Hope all your kids are able to recite it fast withoug getting their tongues all twisted up.

My Annual Guinness Ride (3rd)

2007-03-17T18:58:00.000-07:00

It’s St. Patrick’s day 3 17 2007
Here is the Story -
My Annual Guinness Ride (3rd)
Tom Anspach 3/17/07

All week I have been worried about getting the bike down the 5/8 mile gravel road to the black top. Because of last weeks few days of 60 degree and + weather, the road has been a quagmire. Pot holes, soft spots, water. But last night (and Thursday night) it froze so was good to ride. Just had to dodge the pot holes and extra rough washboards.

Left about 11:30 AM EDT (previous years we were on standard time), temp a brisk 33 degrees with a nice wind out of the NW. Headed up my usual route, that I like, local county roads to IN10 East of Bass Lake, IN23, slow way down for the RR tracks in Ober, sweep the nice double ‘chacain’ in Koontz Lake, watch for left over sand on the corners, to downtown South Bend. Heading to the Fiddlers Hearth Public House for some Guinness, and some corned beef and cabbage and hopefully some Irish Stew and some St. Patrick’s Day celebration. I also wanted to try out my ‘new’ green Ireland sweater given to me by my friend Gator from Melbourne FL. It has some kind of a story associated with it about Mexico. You will have to have Gator tell you about it, late at night around the campfire. It worked good Gator, thanks a lot. I owe you a beer.

I was worried that things could be very crowded with St. P’s day on Saturday this year. But I arrived at a good time. The place was packed as usual but I was able to elbow my way close enough to the bar. As usual everyone was very sociable. So had nice chats with the neighbors. People next to me were from Plymouth and Kewanna, ‘Southerner’s like me. Steve even bought a Guinness for me. Thanks Steve. After a couple hours or so, 2 pints, 1 coffee and a big plate of corned beef and cabbage (I was too full for the Irish Stew), lots of conversation, listening to the Irish music and watching the Celtic dancer, it was, sniff, time to leave.

Headed back home with the temp at a balmy 43 degrees. Took some sort of a round about way via IN4 and IN104 and US6 and US35. Wasn’t sure exactly where I was, but didn’t care. Made a special loop south of Winamac/Pulaski to check out roads we are adding to the Spring Fest ‘Tippecanoe and Bicycles Too’ bicycle ride (May 12), to make sure they were black top and not gravel. Nice loop. Should be a nice addition. Parked my bike at my Mother In Law’s house till the gravel road dries out. Anyone need a nice cozy house, 2 bedroom, with large detached 2 car garage, North side of Winamac? It’s for sale. By then the temps were lowering back into the mid 30’s.

Only used my electric vest a few times. Nice sunny day with clear sky and some scattered clouds, My ‘85 BWW K100RT with 192K miles ran great 2nd time out since 1st part of December.

A perfect 180 mile day for my Annual Guinness Ride. Thanks again Shawn who pours a nice glass of Guinness, and Carol H. the ‘Lady of the House".

http://www.fiddlershearth.com/index.html Fiddler's Hearth is South Bend's local public house -- a gathering place for Celtic artists and the public at large.

What do you do with your old Christmas cards?

2006-12-16T16:20:00.000-08:00

12/15/06

What do you do with your old Christmas cards? I would like to know. My friend Pete, North Miami Beach FL, sent me a picture showing that he hangs his up on a display, so he can keep the memories in the forefront through the year. Me, I hate to throw them away, but I haven’t been able to save them either as I already save too much stuff for another day.

Today I went down in the basement to clean up my xmas wrapping table mess and in the process decided to clean out the box I have my xmas paper in. It had been sitting on the floor all year. The bottom had been wet and was stuck to the floor. This was probably the result of the cat pulling the dehumidifier drain out of the floor drain last summer. Possibly looking for mice coming in through the drain from the woods. This caused a minor flood on the basement floor. Which I did not notice for several days. Anyway, I had placed several Christmas cards in this box several years (4 - 6) ago. It was interesting looking through them, even though most of them had been wet and stuck together. So maybe I should be more deliberate and save our xmas cards in a box to look at in later years.

Now comes the thought of a Christmas letter. Do or not to do, a Christmas letter, is the question. Do I really want to bore everyone about how many 4H turkeys we raised and butchered, how many chickens we have, how many motorcycle rallies and trips I took, how the sheep did, how many bales of hay we had, did I or did I not fulfill my beekeeping new years resolution, what my kids and grandkids are doing, etc. I had pretty much decided NOT. However, one of the water damaged ‘found items’ in the box mentioned above, was a Christmas letter I sent out in 2000. I read it. I liked it. Why not? Why not send this out again? Everyone has probably forgotten about it. Would it be sort of like ‘regifting’? Are there any rules against such a thing? I couldn’t think of any. If there are, I am sure it is not illegal.
So here goes. Verbatim from 2000. (next page)
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2007 and thereafter.
Tom Anspach

---------
Christmas Cards, excuses, tribulations, guilt, and other thoughts.
As you all probably know, I am not very good at sending out Christmas Cards. I have all kinds of excuses. The best this year may be my trip to Germany to surprise son Tom on his birthday (Dec 15th) and returning Christmas Day. But none is better than just simple procrastination waiting for time to pass. Lately I have been thinking that I should send out some belated cards. Those thoughts coupled along with pure guilt were pushed into action by the poem that we received from my daughter in law Susan’s’ parents. Which I like and am including along with this card.

Merry Christmas
I have a list of folks I know, All written in a book
And every year at Christmas time I go and take a look.
And that is when I realize that These names are all a part
Not of the book they're written in But of my very heart.

For each name stands for someone who Has crossed my path sometime,
And in that meeting they've become The "Rhythm of the Rhyme".
And while it sounds fantastic for Me to make this claim
I really feel I am composed of Each remembered name.

And while you may not be aware of Any special link
Just meeting you shaped my life More than you can think
For once you've met somebody, the Years cannot erase
The memory of a pleasant word or Of a friendly face.

So never think my Christmas cards Are just a rnere routine
Of names upon a Christmas list Forgotten in between.
For when I send a Christmas Card That is addressed to you
It's because you're on that list of Folks I am indebted to.

For we are but a total of the Many folks we've met,
And you happen to be one of those I Prefer not to forget.
And whether I have known you for Many years or few
In some way you have had a part in Shaping things I do.

And every year when Christmas comes I realize anew
The biggest gift that life can give is Meeting folks like you.
And may the spirit of Christmas that Forever and forever endures
Leave it's richest blessings in the Heart of You and Yours.

Added by me-------
I know it may be hard
For all to see,
Even though you may not get a card
You are listed in my book
And everytime I have a look
I know my memory of you is part of me.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Best Wishes for all of 2001 and beyond.

Tom Anspach- tom28.2n@att.net

The Massachusetts FFA Crowd Visit Again 2006

2006-10-25T07:35:00.000-07:00

The Massachusetts FFA Crowd Visit Again 2006

Here it is, October 24th, the day after nephew Jim’s FFA students visited us on their way to the convention in Indianapolis. Here is the story, as I can remember and piece it together.

This is the 3rd year that Smith Vocational HS Instructor, nephew Jim has stopped by with his associate teachers and their FFA students. They work all summer to scrape up the cash for the Planes, Trains and Automobiles (or buses/vans as the case may be) trip to the FFA convention. The Train from MA to Chicago, the highway from Chicago to the convention and the Plane home. The convention the past 2 years has been in Louisville. This year it is in Indianapolis. They did not have as far to go after leaving here.

Listening to the Train experiences, although apparently interesting, it was pretty bad. Not much sleep. Cars that were either boiling hot or freezing cold. The Chicago arrival was only about an hour or so late (The Amtrak system in the US is bad when ‘only an hour or so’ is used to describe the arrival time, really not right). Then a time consuming period picking up the 2 reserved rental vans. After a brief stop at Navy Pier in Chicago for some sightseeing, they headed south. One van missed an I94 Interstate interchange turn off and fell about a half hour or so behind the lead van. From Jim’s discussion of the itinerary on the phone, I surmised that they would be here around 4pm or so. And they would need to leave by about 6:30PM or so. I should know better by now, that surmising Jim’s schedule is risky.

I had previously decided to move the hot dog roast out to "The Hog Lounge" (appropriately named by nephew Alan and I several years ago) in the pig shed as the weather predictions had been ‘cold, high NW winds, possible rain/snow’. Actually the weather was not too bad. The cool winds were from the NW and brisk , but the snow/rain never showed. The pig shed, in the woods, gave us quite a bit of protection, while still remaining outside by the fires. The ‘pig shed’ was used 40 years ago or so by my Dad raising pigs. Now mostly used for storage etc. As should have been expected, the entourage was running late. At least we thought it was late, although it may not have not been late for them. As a result of cell phone contact, as the they neared, and clearly hungry, my brother Carl and I put on the hog dogs.

A big reason they like to stop here, besides the hot dogs and environment, is that the BIG agriculture fields and BIG harvesting equipment is much different then they are used to seeing in Massachusetts. In the past years they have had time to stop at the local John Deere dealer where Jim’s cousin Alan works. There they were able to see and drive one of the BIG tractors. This year they did not have the time for this visit. However the neighbors to the west and to the south of us were both picking corn. This is something that the FFA group had wanted to see for the last 3 years but it did not work out. This time they were in luck. As they neared our location they spotted the neighbor to the west of us. Ken G had just finished and was getting ready to drop the head on his BIG Case model 2388 cornpicking machine. So they stopped. And of course they were enthralled. And Ken G was enthusiastically explaining the workings of his big Case. Meanwhile the hot-dogs were done and cooling rapidly up at The Hog Lounge. But the cornpicker had priority. Hunger was forgotten.

They were just about ready to break free and continue on when the delayed, missed exit, van showed up. This caused a little more delay. Finally they all arrived at ‘The Hog Lounge’. It was nearing 5:30 PM.

Jim’s cousins Alan and his son Cody with his girl friend, and Jerry and his son Jeff showed up. After an initial surge of eating it looked like I had misjudged the amount of hot dogs needed, so I made a quick run to town for more. Meanwhile they had spotted Carl S picking corn in the field to the south of us. Wow, a BIG John Deer model 9610 corn picker in operation. I had previously warned Carl S that they might want to watch him at work. So down the hill they went. And Carl S was gracious in explaining and showing them the real live, big cornpicker in operation. Including taking the students for rides while picking. Again hunger was temporarily forgotten.

Back at the fire at The Hog Lounge, things started to slow down a bit so I got out the ‘steer horn’ horn and the ‘conch shell’ horn. That got everyone stirred up trying, with many successes to come up with a nice loud long blast. Several of the students scared up some deer in the neighboring woods and evidently chased them through the woods. Fortunately they did catch them or we would have been cooking deer meat on the fire in place of hot dogs. Because of the brisk weather, I had made a nice hot pot of Wassail (no alcohol) to help kill the chill. It was surprising to me that no one was familiar with Wassail (*see below). Everyone liked it though. It was nearly gone by dark.

By now it was well after 6:30PM. It was getting dark rapidly. There is no electric power at The Hog Lounge. There are usually no lights. Based on my surmised ‘Jim’ schedule I did not even bring a flashlight, let alone, our MG set and some electric lights. Finally my brother had to drive his pickup in with the headlights on so we could see to pack up all the left overs and ‘jam’ them into the vans with all the rest of their stuff. I did manage to keep out enough for a small lunch on Tuesday. Carl passed out the ‘travel’ goody bags made by Cousin Jerry’s wife Becky for their trip on south. After teacher Jim made sure they had all written in the Outhouse Diary, we all said our good bye’s and thankyou’s and come again’s they left.

It is always neat having them come to our little place in North Central Indiana They enjoy coming and we enjoy it too.

*Wassail From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wassail is a hot, spiced punch often associated with winter celebrations of northern Europe, usually those connected with the Christmas holiday such as Christmas, New Year's and Twelfth Night. Particularly popular in Germanic countries, the term itself is a contraction of the Old English toast wæs þu hæl, or "be thou hale!" (i.e., "be in good health"). Alternate expressions predating the term, with approximately the same meaning, include both the Old Norse ves heill and Old English wes hál.

Recipes vary, but usually call for a base of either wine or fruit juices (apple being popular) simmered with mulling spices, possibly fortified with spirits such as brandy. Orange slices might be added to the mixture. (In northern Europe, oranges once enjoyed the status of a novelty Christmas fruit. As oranges come into season in the winter, in pre-refrigeration days that might be the only time of year that they were available to cold climates -- provided they survived shipment from the warmer countries in which they were grown.)

A Nice Autumn Motorcycle, Camping, Saturday Outing

2006-10-15T14:02:00.000-07:00

With an invitation in hand (or at least in mind), via the Michiana BMW Club (MOL South Bend area), to the 4th annual Summit City BMW club (Ft Wayne area) Fall Outing. A little bit, SE of Silver Lake, IN early on Saturday afternoon (October 7th). It was a beautiful autumn day for the 42 mile ride over to the gathering site.

The site is at one of the SC members small family farm. And it is pretty neat. A nice, grassy area surrounding, a little pond with trees for camping. An operating windmill. A pavilion with fire place. And an outhouse.

A good chili and ham and beans lunch with deserts and some appropriate liquid refreshment was ready upon arrival. Followed by the usual tent space location and construction activities.

As evening neared a delicious Chili and Ham & Beans dinner with desert and appropriate liquid refreshment was ready (did it remind of us lunch?). As the beautiful fall harvest moon rose in a clear sky, the campfires came alive. And of course there was much stimulating discussion `kicking lies and telling tires' of motorcycle journey's and stories as well as solving world and national political, immigration, and religious issues. Followed by crawling into our tents as temperatures dropped into the 40's.

Along with the normal night sounds and a bunch of coyotes barking and howling and a distance train was the sound effects of the digesting ham & beans and chili. Unfortunately I had to get up before dawn to empty some of them in the outhouse. Very unusual for me. However with the bright light from the moon it worked out OK.

Later the sun started coming up on a crisp Sunday morning. The activities of breaking down, packing, good-bye's, see you around, thankyou's and heading out was under way.

I was planning on stopping for Biscuits and Gravy somewhere on the way home. I had vaguely recalled that their might be a place at the junction of IN114 and IN15. Since I came in via IN14 and IN15 I decided to head south and pick up IN114. It turned out that Ruth Ann's was there, at IN114 and IN15 and open and serving delicious B&G and coffee. Well fortified, I headed west toward Winamac, planning on riding straight home.

But then, it was such a nice road and nice morning and the coffee and B&G had me feeling good I decided to ride the rolling hills and take the "Rochester South By-pass" - IN19, IN16, IN17. A familiar route taken many times. Had I thought about it earlier I probably would have headed on south, from Ruth Ann's on IN15 and gone through the covered bridge in Roann on IN16.

It was about as perfect as you can get. Not much traffic, nice roads, sunny sky's, crisp temps but not cold. This route goes through the small towns of Akron, Gilead, turning west on IN16 before getting to Chili, Denver, Twelve Mile, Lucerne, and Royal Center.. Just west of Denver there are some 15 MPH and 25 MPH caution curves (watch for loose gravel). For a minute or so you think you might be in North Carolina. Since gas stations are sort of limited along this route I decided to head to US35 at Royal Center. This took me into Winamac from the South, a stop for gas, onto IN14 and east, a couple miles, to home. A nice 66 mile ride home. Temperature increasing about 15 degrees to about 70 by the time I got home at 11:30AM.

A nice Autumn MC ride, MC rider socializing and camping trip.

Antenna or Satellite Cable TV, which way to go?

2006-10-06T18:28:00.000-07:00

Antenna or Satellite Cable TV, which way to go?
Friday October 6, 2006 Tom Anspach

Our TV antenna electronics were zapped by lightning. The quandary- to replace the electronics on the TV antenna tower or belly up and subscribe to satellite TV. Here is the story.

Last Monday night a nice, typical, lightning, thunder storm (with rain) came through our rural area of North Central Indiana. Lightning was crashing all around. Not unusually spectacular, but loud, and close enough to keep a person awake. Along with one medium sized crash I heard a ‘sort of a snap’, although I thought ‘uh oh’, I did not get up to check anything out.

The next morning the phones were DEAD and the TV was very snowy. ‘Uh oh’, again, that ‘sort of a snap’ may have been ominous.

After checking the phones out, it was traced to the 2 phone line sections of the surge protectors on our 2 computers. Removing the surge protectors from the phone line fixed the phone line. The 110V portion of the surge protectors were OK (they will be good for Christmas lights). The electronic phones, the fax machine, and the computer modems were all OK. The connector portion of one of the phone line splitters I had on the line was charred black. The computers were powered off during the storm. After going to the local computer store and spending 40 bucks for 2 new surge protectors the phone line and computers were, again, protected.

Now the TV. First a little background. We are located about 80 line of sight miles from Chicago, and Indianapolis. About 40 line of sight miles from South Bend and Lafayette. We decided many years ago to stay on antenna TV rather than cable for as long as possible. We have a guyed tower about 30 feet high and we live on a hill about 20 feet high. I constructed the tower, 3+ years ago, so that I can lower and raise it myself to replace stuff at the top. With our medium gain antennas (UHF and VHF) we get good signals from South Bend and Lafayette and so-so from Chicago and Indianapolis some times. There is a preamp located at the top next to the antennas a distribution amp in the basement to drive all of our TV’s and a couple FM receivers. The antennas are on a bearing mounted rotor.

Now lets see what the problem is. After some unplugging and plugging of coaxial cables and amplifier power it was apparent that the tower preamp was capoot and probably the distribution amplifier. This meant lowering the tower and buying about $150 worth of electronics. So now the dilemma. Should we stay with antenna or go with satellite? Hard cable is not available out here. A trivial dilemma in the journey of life, but a dilemma none the less.

There were several considerations. There are several channels on basic satellite cable that we would like. Local channels are available. Both Dish and Direct TV have free installation, equipment, etc., offers to sign up new customers. They both seem to have very good customer reviews. Direct is a little more expensive ($5 or so a month) than Dish. Dish has a neat $10 per month discount for 10 months. Both require a contract. My wife likes to watch TV more than me, but I also like to watch at times. We could get about 6 months of cable for what we would have to pay for repairs. The consideration to switch to satellite cable was very strong.

There were several items bothering me about signing up for satellite cable. We had cable (hard wired cable) for several years when we lived in Florida. I recall how I hated to pay that bill, that kept increasing, each month. Even though I don’t watch TV much, I still think I watch it too much. So lots of available channels to watch was not very impressive to me. I recalled that, one of the happiest days of my life was, when we lived in Florida, I took the cable box into the cable store and said ‘I am canceling our cable’. I constructed our tower 3+ years ago just so I could replace stuff, up on top, myself if something broke. Now something is broke, and it needed replacing. My wife told me the decision was entirely in my hands. She would be OK no matter which way we went.

I slept on it a couple nights. Did a bunch of searching and talking about satellite cable. Wednesday night I decided: I did not want to be under the cable bill again. It was time to make use of the capability I had constructed in the tower. It was a good time for a nice autumn 120 mile round trip ride to Lafayette to the only electronics store that I know of this close that handles long distance antenna TV stuff. And I did not want to wait for Internet shipping, I wanted to ‘get’r done’. Thursday morning I dropped the tower. I pulled the preamp. It had a black powder on the pc board. It was probably toast. I motorcycled to the parts store and bought $170 worth of stuff. As usual my initial estimate was a little low ($150). This antenna preamp and distribution amplifier (Winegard) has a little higher (15% or so) gain than the old amps (Channel Master). It was a beautiful day for a MC ride, so the time and gas to pick the stuff up doesn’t count.

I, immediately, installed the preamp and turned the power on. The TV picture improved immensely with the tower still down. This morning (Friday) I pulled the tower back up, installed the stuff in the house, reconnected all the TV’s and FM receivers. And we are back in business with TV. Now if the lightning will stay away for another 3 years. . . . I’ll be happy.

Still remaining is the why, and how. Why and how did a surge of lightning damage the TV antenna amplifiers, blow out the telephone surge protector fuses but still not damage any of the other electronics in the house? All I can say is ‘lightning does weird things’ Once in Florida, actually this is a long story shortened to 1 sentence, lightning came in through a copper clad steel telephone line, spalling all the way, went down the water pipe, to which it was grounded, and burnt out the deep well submersible pump, leaving the electronic phones and fax machine intact! The copper clad steel cable, which is normally as stiff as uncooked spaghetti, was as pliable as cooked spaghetti. (OK it was 2 sentences.)

So that is my story for today.

Another little sidelight. I had wondered for the past 3 years why FM reception did not change no matter which direction the VHF antenna was rotated. It was very difficult to pick up any classical music stations. I know when I put the VHF antenna up I removed the FM trap shunts and I thought I had set the preamp FM trap to ‘Out’. When I pulled the preamp the FM Trap was set to ‘IN’. . . bummer! So I made sure this FM trap was set to ‘Out’. Now, I quickly found an FM station broadcasting Classical Music !!!!!!. Life is good.

A Sept 06 Rainy MC ride and Camping Weekend

2006-09-27T07:48:00.000-07:00

Here is a little story I pieced together about my MC ride last weekend (9/22 - 24/06)

Thursday 9/21- -----Planning----
Follow the rhumb line. Packed and ready to go. But haven't gone yet. Check in the morning.

To the 20th Annual Hoosier BMW Rally Vernon IN. I have never been. Wanted too but never worked out. This year, looking good. Only the wx looks bad. Only a couple hundred miles, nice ride.

Objective - follow the rhumb line. . . . avoid Indianapolis and interstates. Maybe stop and see my brother and sister in law on the way back. Will see how it works out.

Lets check the wx. -------------------
Vernon » 5 Day Forecast °
Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue
Hi: 69 Lo: 40 Hi: 68 Lo: 58 Hi: 77 Lo: 66 Hi: 69 Lo: 65 Hi: 67 Lo: 51

Winamac » 5 Day Forecast
Thu Fri Sat Sun Mon
Hi: 69Lo: 41Hi: 70 Lo: 55 Hi: 77 Lo: 64 Hi: 67 Lo: 61Hi: 65 Lo: 49

Temps weren't bad, but the, rain - wind - storm, looked pretty dicey ------------------
We would be better off if we did not have instant weather.. just look out the window and go... oh well that is why we have rain gear.

Sunday 9/24-------Back Home----
Made it to the Hoosier Beemer Rally and back. The wx prediction was not pretty, but I was packed and ready to go so I did. I waited till about 10 and the local rain was gone, overcast and brisk south wind. I went down US35, US 31 to I465 around east Indy, then I74 to IN9 to IN7 to Vernon. Compromised a little bit re: no interstates, and avoid Indy but I left home a little later than planned. No rain though.

Muscatatuk Park, a real nice county park. Got all set up., experimenting with a tarp (8x10) with no trees, (used a couple of my son's discarded tent poles, 2 sections each, along with my 2 nested Al poles).

Started raining about 6 pm.... rained off and on till sat night.... sometimes VERY hard with high winds. We managed to keep the campfire going. Tent did not leak a drop. Tarp did good too,.... will make some final adjustments then should be good. New blow up (battery blower) air mattress still working good.

60 people showed up... everyone won a door prize. Me a BMW oil filter (then a fellow rider gave he his as he couldn't use a spin on), wont have to buy PH6063's for a while. also won oldest male rider award . . plaque . . to hang on my wall (Joe from Florida, who usually beats me, wasn't there).

Stopped raining Saturday night and except for 1 instance of high winds the winds died down and Sunday was a pretty nice ride home. I came back via the IN roads on the west side of Indy..IN7 IN46, IN 135, IN252, IN44, IN39, IN236 (detour), IN75, local, IN39, IN28, IN29, US35, IN14.. got home about 330 pm.... left about 10 45 am. Was a little misty rain as I got near home but not bad. I didn't think I would know anyone there but knew 3 pretty well and others sort of. The small BMW rider world. With only 60 people got to talk/meet nearly all of them...

The area of southern Indiana between the Ohio river and south of Indy is pretty neat riding area... lots of hills curves roads were all good.

They know how to make good coffee. A BIG bottle of Johnny Walker right by the coffee pot on Friday with the hot dogs. .and . on Saturday a bottle of Amaretto right next to the coffee pot. . . made the coffee taste pretty good. Eggs, biscuits and gravy for breakfast on Saturday morn, Hamburger for lunch, BBQ & roasted chicken for dinner. Campfire hot dogs Friday night, and donuts on Sunday morn. Plenty to eat.

The attendees, particularly those who rode and camped, at this Hoosier Beemer Rally could all easily be called 'Rounders' (Those who ride year 'round'). Specially, to ride and camp, going into the potentiall dangerous predicted wx. The potentially dangerous wx did not occurr and the temps were not fridgid cold, however it did RAIN and BLOW. But fun was had by all. The campfire survived with continuous feeding and the rain encouraged much socializing. No pictures from me, but there may be some at a future date at -

----Winamac, IN-------41 deg 3 min N ------- 86 deg 36 min W-----
-Tom, '85 K100RT, 192K, MOA, BMWMOCF, PRI, RBI, PRUNE, Rounder, IBMWR-
-It is good to have an END to journey toward, but it is the JOURNEY that matters in the end. / Ursula Le Guin-
-I feel no pain, dear mother, now; But, oh, I am so dry? O take me to a brewery, And leave me there to die. -Annon.; The Everything Beer Book-

My Gall Bladder Story

2006-05-17T16:44:00.000-07:00

Part 1 of 2 parts-
My Gall Bladder Story - (May 18th 2006) Tom Anspach
(AKA The Lost Month of May 2006)

I know that many people have had their gall bladder removed. It is really not a big deal any more. Using today’s technique of Laparoscopic Surgery, named Lap Choly. Like a ‘Drive Through’ some say. But to me it was a rather large story. Not having been in the hospital, except for visits and to have my broken wrist reconstructed after hitting a deer riding Jeff’s motorcycle. Having my first organ failure after 73 years of pretty healthy living, under some sporadic unhealthy exposures. So here it is, maybe some parts of it will help others if they go through the experience.

On Tuesday April 25th I had a nice big lunch at home. That afternoon I had a little indigestion but thought nothing of it. That evening my wife and I met my brother and sister in law in town for dinner. I had a toasted tomato sandwich and a bowl of delicious potato soup. The soup was so good I had two.
Wed morning I woke up about 1 am with pretty severe indigestion. I progressed rapidly to WORSE. An initial heave. I had not thrown up for 40 or 50 years. Then some really bad, almost convulsive, dry heaves. There was no comfortable position. My whole abdomen was hurting from center breast bone on down. About 5 AM realizing it would be another 3 hours or so before I could call my Doctor and even longer to get in to see him, I gave up and asked my wife to take me to the emergency room. I never realized how nice it would be to have an emergency room, in a good local hospital about 3 miles from home, which is out in the country.

There they got right after me, as if they had been waiting all night just for me. They took x-rays, blood tests, gave me pain killers. In a couple hours I was functional and sent me home after which I made an appointment with my doctor for Friday. Wednesday and Thursday I felt like a truck had run over me. At this time the Emergency Room doctors and my Doctor were suspecting some sort of severe intestinal flue but toying with Gall Bladder problem. My Doctor scheduled an Ultra Sound for Friday morn. My wife was pushing for a gall bladder ultra sound from the beginning. For some reason it is not considered as strongly as x-rays. It should be as it is a simple non invasive procedure.

On Monday May 1st, my doctor received the results of the ultrasound. The gallstone term (cholelithiasis)) was circled. He made an appointment with the surgeon for Wed, May 3rd, afternoon. After the surgeon reviewed my records he scheduled me for surgery to have it removed 1 week later, May 10th. To me this was very fast. And of course by this time I was feeling pretty good. I had also asked and continued to ask questions about alternatives to surgery. And apparently there are. But I did not have time to investigate them thoroughly. And I had a busy summer schedule of family visiting coming up. And so - continued my appointment for surgery.

I attended a local BMW motorcycle rally in Sturgis MI on May 5 - 7. I tried to take it easy, but you could probably say that I did abuse my body somewhat. Few cigars, some whiskey and wine, a little fatty food, cold weather, short sleep etc. But it was fun. Afterwards and Monday I felt fine. Friday morning after going to the hospital for my pre surgery blood test I celebrated with my brother and his wife with some biscuits and gravy. That evening my mother in law and brother inlaw returned from Florida and we had some Pizza. I tried not to over do it.

Tuesday May 9th I started feeling funny. At first I thought it was indigestion, then realized the symptoms were the same as the week before but a lot less severe. Then I started relating back that I had experienced these kinds of symptoms previously, not often and don’t remember how far back. Putting 2 and 2 together, maybe I had this gall bladder problem before, not realizing it. By Tuesday night it was pretty much gone and I was ready to start the fasting for going under the knife on Wed, May 10th, for my ‘Lap Choly’. After signing all the papers to make sure I understood that this was major surgery, with the objective of being simple with just 4 small incisions, but could turn into major surgery even leading to death. Whew!

No food or liquid from midnight on. Into surgery about 2 pm. Out like a light. Woke up about 330PM. Wondering where I had been. Nice people all around coddling to my every need. Just a little groggy and some new bandages. Then home to recover. The word was that my gall bladder had won the prize for the biggest that day. They had to cut one of the small holes, the one next to my belly button, much bigger to get it out and had to do some additional flushing, therefore I needed to wear a drain bag for a week (till my surgeon visit the next week). My wife said the surgeon told her that 1 of the stones was the size of lemon and 1 the size of walnut. So maybe I had been having gall bladder problems for a long time, but had just attributed it to indigestion.

Because of the increased degree of my surgery my recovery would be more drawn out than would have been experience with just the 4 small incisions. Take it easy on activity and eating for at least a week or so.

The first few days were bad. Eating jello (I hate jello and never want to see another bowl), cramps, peeing every 1/2 hour, trying to get my vacuum drain bag to work. Taking pain killers and anti biodic pills. However. I rapidly started getting better. Learned to change my bandages. Started eating stuff other than jello.

Today Wed May 17th, went to see the surgeon. He gave me a small thumbs up. But don’t overdue it for a while. Pulled out my staples and cut off the plastic tube into my guts. He said the other end should fall out when I change the bandage. I kept the vacuum bag. It is a neat looking gadget and it may come in handy for helping change the brake fluid on my MC. It always requires lots of patience to keep from getting air into the brake lines. We shall see.

So 3 weeks from my BIG Attack I have had my Gall Bladder Removed and am well on the way to recovery. And I have a list of things to do a mile long..... including riding up to Bimidji MN for my Granddaughters HS graduation party on June 3rd. And I lost 10 pounds, now if I can just keep it off.

Part 2 of 2 parts-
My Gall Bladder Story - the sequel (May 28th 2006) Tom Anspach
(AKA The Lost Month of May 2006)
Reading the end of the first part - it seems sooo long ago, but only 10 days.

On Sunday morning (5/21), about 3 AM, my abdomen pain came back with a roar. The pain distribution was slightly different from before, but just as intense. Back into the emergency room. They got everything calmed down with pain killers. They took a cat scan. The ER doc’s, did not see anything significant except maybe some confusion in the area where the small intestine connects to the stomach. This is the general area, where the gall bladder was located. About 7AM they sent me home, with instructions if the pain returned to come back. At about 3PM it did and I went back to ER. 3 visits to the emergency room in 1 month. They admitted me to the hospital. A room with a bed and nurses and doctors. It is still Sunday 5/21.

They put me on a saline drip bag, clear liquid diet, and pain killers. They also inserted a tube vial the nose throat into my stomach to pump it out . . . ouch.

On Monday my surgeon made arrangements for me to go to a bigger hospital in Valparaiso, 60 miles way, for an ERCP test. By late afternoon the hospital had cleared the mounds of paper work and removed the drain bag - ouch again!. By then they had pumped a large quantity of ugly looking stuff out of my stomach. I managed to salvage a neat looking check valve from this set up, before they trashed it. Looked like it might help me bleed my brakes on my MC. Then, I was ready to go.

My wife took me up in the van, accompanied by my brother. I was immediately admitted to a room and attended to. On a clear liquid diet....! That evening I was visited by my new doctor who was a digestive intestinal specialist. She explained the test and what to expect. Scheduled it for Tuesday PM.

This test inserts a tube via the mouth to visually, with the aid of X-rays, see what is going on from inside. An inside view . . so to speak. They work it through the stomach, into the small intestine, into the bile duct. Trying to find any stones left behind, or suture clips, or leaks or ?.

Meanwhile I am on clear liquid diet and ‘Nothing’ 6 hours before the test. I am starving, and sick and tired of jello again.

The test went well, pretty easy actually. They put me on the edge of ‘out’. I could communicate but would not, and did not remember anything. I could not get the nurses to tell me what I had said. However the doctor met some unexplained resistance in the bile duct and could not complete the test to her satisfaction. She did not see anything that would have caused the problem that I was having on Sunday. She did, however, find 3 acute ulcers in my stomach.
Since she was not able to complete the test totally she scheduled me to go to a hospital, via ambulance, North of Chicago. There, an ERCP specialist with much more capability would repeat the test. This would require a 6 hour round trip, ambulance ride. I would go up on Thursday PM, undergo the ERCP, and return to my room. About a 7 hour or so undertaking. This did not look exciting. Meanwhile she signed me up for a low fat full dinner for Wednesday night. Then would retest my liver enzymes on Thursday morn and we would review the outcome.

Uhm - did that hospital food ever taste good. I ate, every scrap, at a table in the ‘solarium’ with big windows and a big TV, just like in a restaurant with personal service.

Thursday morning (5/25) my the liver enzyme test came back very good. They had been consistently high. This time they were significantly lower. The doctor was very comfortable with passing up the 2nd ERCP. Although she would like to see it done since she was not able to complete it totally. I decided to ‘pass’ on the long ambulance ride. The conjecture seemed to be that what ever had caused my ‘relapse’ had corrected itself, for example a lonely, left over, stone had passed on out.

As a result, the hospital immediately started working on my discharge. My wife had scheduled a trip up to Valpo anyway. So the timing could not have been better. When she got there I was ready to go. And on Thursday afternoon I was back home.

On Friday I had the final follow up appointment with my surgeon. He pronounced me good to go.

However on this my 3rd home day (Sunday May 28) I am still weak (I lost about 15 pounds overall), and my guts are still grumbling. And I am depressed from making an ‘unliked’ decision. I have reluctantly decided not to take the trip up to Bemidji MN for my granddaughters HS graduation open house, which I have been looking forward to for the past year. I just don’t feel up to it, and am ‘gun shy’ from what I eat and ever little nuance in my guts. <<"Life’s a series of compromises">>

Now to end the sequel, It is good to be home, I am hoping things will improve rapidly. I know hospitals have their place and in general I would have to say the local hospital and the bigger one in Valpo were very good. But I would just as soon stay away.

It was my first, first hand experience with the Nursing profession. I will have to hand it to these wonderful people. They work long difficult hours. How they ever manage to maintain their sense of dignity and humor and compassion is truly amazing. And their supporting staff of aids, attendants, technicians, house keeping etc. are truly admirable. I met a few young nursing school students who where on ‘understudy’ work assignments. Just their 1st few days. I congratulated them a wished them well and hope they keep at it and enjoy long successful careers in the nursing profession.

And of course the doctors do a good job also. But they seem distant and aloof. It is hard to tell when or where they will show up. I know they are busy, and that is probably just the way it is.

And the paperwork, wow, like everything else, computers have just seemed to generate more paperwork.

GPS and its influence on MEN

2006-05-17T16:39:00.000-07:00

GPS and its influence on MEN.

For the all of time, men have bitched and moaned when their wives/girlfriends have whispered sweet terms in their ears while driving. Turn here, go a little further then turn right. You need gas, your driving too fast. You turned to early, take the next left then double back. Men have been known to move the love of their life to the back seat, even throw them out of the car. This has been going on since men have started trying to find their own way.

But Now---

These same men will go out and spend $700 for an electronic box to hear this same sweet voice tell them where to turn, when to stop, how far they have gone, how to get back if they are lost, when to stop for gas.. . . ... and JUST LOVE IT.

It just doesn't make sense to me . . . what is the world coming to?

And they even do it while riding their BMW Motorcycle

Ride far, feel the breeze, see the trees, ride safe.