Andrew's Sprocket

Previous Location: Dallas, TX

Thank you Vangrieken’s for your hospitality, a nights stay and an awesome Texas steak dinner. We didn’t spend much time in Dallas. Just enough time to walk by the grassy knoll and sigh.

We continued on through Texas and stopped the night at Palo Duro Canyon State Park. It was night when we got there and the road into the park descended a few thousand feet. We grilled some chicken fajitas and threw back a few beers then slept with the sound of night dwelling creatures.

The next morning we hiked around a bit into the canyon. Like many places in the South West there was a history of Native Indian destruction, The Red River war was fought here. War back then was more strategic. Only four Indians were killed in the initial battle. It was the capturing of 1,400 horses and the death of 1,100 of those then burning of the town stores that eventually killed the local tribes. Unlike war today where WMD’s and big guns destroy the opponent.

Why they bother to put no alcohol signs at campsites must be a line item from the lawyers. But this sign allows the private consumption of alcohol. So take it to your tent!

Present Location: Santa Fe, NM

Within the first 10 miles crossing the state line into New Mexico the speed limit rose to 75 MPH and a tumbleweed blew across the road. Now I almost hit 75 MPH on a down hill. The hills were long with a steadily incline, which made it rough on the camper. I averaged 55 MPH with a tail wind.

We spent the next night at Santa Rosa Lake State Park. It was a bit of a disappointment since the camping area was almost a mile from the lake and it was one of those miles that seemed like ten. We stumbled to the lake through cactus, brush, thorny plants, rabbits and other dried things. Well the rabbits weren’t dry yet.

I later ventured back to find wood for the fire was the pallet we found was almost gone.

Well I finally found some time to write. Here it is.

Previous Location: Floyd, VA

Justin and Lore (+1), great to see you and your lovely hillside B&B. I want to see pics of Homer and Marge. Justin was Marge of course. The Halloween outfits were being constructed while we were there. Chicken wire and paper mache, very nice. On the way out of town we also got to stop at our brother in law², Dylan’s place.

While I haven’t finished in, actually just started it, The Omnivore’s Dillema may coincide with with my cultural corespondents in Floyd. There was an Honor Mart, Greens Grocery I think it was called. The idea was marvelous and essentially built on trust. The farmer lived up the hill but kept an unmanned and unmonitored store. It was built into the side of a hill, it had freezers, refrigerators and was open 24×7. Eggs, meats, cheeses, local produce, chocolate and just about anything else you would need at anytime of the day. This may seem like a simple idea or process but I see that it definitely defines a few exploits or assures a few common decencies among man and about our society. There were prices on all the products, some marked down with an orange sticker due to quick sale for perishable items. There were two calculators and a tax chart. Do the math. Self check out, damn right. Drop the money in a slot and be on your way.

Current Location: Memphis, TN

Jon and Lisa (+1), thank you for the stay in Nashville and the awesome lunch grub.

You can now track me with the Spot link on the right. When tracking it updates every 10 minutes, unlike my TrailGuru that updates every 10 seconds (seems like). I should have used that while biking around Nashville today.

The two beer pubs were a good stop. Big River had a few nice craft brews.

Maybe in Dallas if we get the bikes out. We decided to take the Southern route in order to soak up the last of the warm weather before heading North to Colorado. So we will be stopping a night in Dallas for possibly a Sat night honky tonkin’ Texas style at Billy Bobs.

Tonight we spent the night grubbing on some Memphis BBQ at Neely’s before scoping out the scene on the soon to be Halloween Beale Street. And while the meat was wet and smoky, my favorite was the coleslaw.

Here is some Beale St. crazy suspenseful acrobatics.

Keep watching though, this street flippin’ performer goes on an acrobatic run. He did this three times in an hour and I’m guessing made $100 easy.

Three of my favorite books have “road” in the title and in a few weeks I will be traveling cross country on a road trip, starting a new chapter in my life. I thought it pertinent to mention these books prior to my journey.

On The Road by Jack Kerouac (1957)
The End of the Road by John Barth (1958)
The Road by Cormac McCarthy (2006)

I recently read The Road and found a few memorable quotes:

He pulled the boy closer.
Just remember that the things you put into your head are there forever, he said. You might want to think about that.
You forget some things, dont you?
Yes, You forget what you want to remember and you remember what you want to forget.

A notable writing style by McCarthy is the absence of the apostrophe when used in contractions to show the omission of letters. Maybe he was inspired by Frank Zappa’s notion that “the crux of the biscuit is the apostrophe.” From Zappa’s great album, Apostrophe(‘) (1974).

Another of my favorite passages from The Road.

On this road there are no godspoke men. They are gone and I am left and they have taken with them the world. Query: How does the never to be differ from what never was?

This suggests that never to be was destined to never happen but what never was at least proposed some chance of happening.

A worthy site to check out is booklamp.org. The author compares it as the Pandora for books, however, its database is not as vast as Pandora but still a noble effort and some cool technology.

I am hoping that my trip relates more to Kerouac’s than the other two but time will tell…

P.S. The Road motion picture is set to be released in 2009.

Much like waterboarding, dashboarding can be very painful. I recently pulled the dash out of my Chevy G30 Hi-Cube Camper and out jumped a spiderweb of wires. Luckily most were connected to something, however, there were a handful of disconnects and “droopy wires”. Now, nobody likes a droopy wire so I ended up tracing back all the droopies I could muster to the two batteries.

First, let me say that the Haynes Diesel Engine Repair Manual came in handy with flow charts for diagnosis.

Here is a Before and After shot:

Before:

After:

There was a bit of work to do: Install new 4×6 front speakers, wire speakers, test/replace dash lights, install a 12V molex connector, and cut holes in the new dashboard: for the Oil Pressure Gauge (which is still not connected because of the rouge green and orange wires), Engine Temp and the right A/C vent. Oh and cut a hole for the stereo head until and cut A/C holes for the center dash.

After rerouting wires and A/C unit components I tested everything, starting the Camper to make sure I didn’t cut anything important. It started up and everything seemed to work. Then next day was spent screwing the thing back together and into the front of the camper.

The fun just didn’t stop there, today the camper refused to start. You’ll notice the dog house is off exposing the engine. I suspect a glow-plug problem. Maybe the glow-plug relay. I ordered a new one, we’ll see what happens now.

goodnite.

Ok, the glow-plug relay almost did the trick, now the light comes on and the glow plugs seem to be getting power, this does not mean they are glowing Since they still could light a test light and passing power even though they may be stalled. I will need an Ammeter to test each glow-plug. This will be a PIA.

Well I decided to replace the glow-plugs (GPs), some looked newer than others so this will be an upgrade and a sure start on cold days

The new AC-Delco GPs seem to have done the trick. Starts like a champ now.

Post Road Trip Note:
The GPs now take some time to trigger. This maybe an issue with the temperature sensor that triggers the GP relay. Now time to run some tests.

Well it’s been almost four weeks since I left Boston and I am just now finding the time to say Thank YOu.

Thanks for the laughs, the beers, the cheers, the cries, the sighs and even a bloody elbow or two. Let me not forget the:

Fried Dough
Duck Boats,
Baked Beans
Boston Redsox,
Massholes
Potholes,
Potheads
Talking Heads,
Bike lanes
Massholes parked in bike lanes
Abruptly ended bike lanes, 
Ah Boston,
I will miss ya.

My last weekend in Boston went off with a grand farewell party hosted by the master blacksmith, Mr. Jonathan Rummel and Hand Forged Works. The fire was lite more ways than one, if not in the hearth then the party billow helped kindle it in the heart. The live music, good food and drink, not to forget the swank company made it a great goodbye.

And cheers to the mischievous plunderer that vanished the good will of the party. It could have been easy for us to assume and place blame but the mystery of the missing Benjamin’s and Franklin’s will resolve themselves in good time. I may not get all the way to Portland but maybe it wasn’t meant to be.

Thanks Jonathan, Jeremy (Chef), John Beer and the rest of the gang that made it a wonderful night!

I will probably come back to this post to reminisce as memories become available, I am planning an upgrade soon.

Oh and if anyone has photos from this night, please send them.