Stationary

Rebounder stays home today, but the song remains the same.

Fire Jumper

While phantom camping yesterday, I drove by a section in which last years forest fire jumped the highway. It gave me an eerie feeling, especially when the trees were smaller, although I don't know why.

Phantom Camping

Gauche (a.k.a. Handbag) never suspected. Late in the afternoon, we went camping at Parmalee. He marked his territory every three feet, but there weren't any other campers to contest territory. We removed ourselves in sole possession, to return another day.

Question

Attempting to determine the distance to Enterprise, I used two sources to satisfy my curiosity, a gps and a Google map application. The gps believes it is 912 miles and the G map decided it was 1100 miles. Those readings fall well beyond the pale of a +/- 3% standard deviation. Now, I'm even more curious! Which one of these authorities is correct?

This led me down another path of confusion. For years, I assumed the expression, "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" came from Plato's Republic, but I discover that a number of people don't believe it. So... I am still left with, "Who guards the guardians?"

Astro '95

They arrive, circle, and never leave

Not Rainbow Bend

but another stretch of the main branch.I know you have already guessed:

John Deere Thanksgiving

Time to Celebrate!

Rebounder

.. hurls through the darkness, parked. Yesterday, I took Mike for a ride in Bounder to see another rig I had my eye on. He was impressed. On the way back home, he said, "Take Bounder out on I-75." Right on, I think to myself, a system test! As we are motoring down the expressway, the next request I hear, "Take it up to 70". I'm proud, "Look Mike, the steering wheel isn't even shaking." It appears his mind is focused on other systems. He turns and says, "I'll buy it." The sweet harmony of numbers, I'm blown away, how fortuitous, Sold!

Flight Plans

have been filed for Empire tomorrow. If the runway is open, then the Bounder will be landing.

Customs will be automatic with no paper work being filed.

Ruminating

The train whistle sounds,

coming through town,

as the snow filters in,

with the smoke again

my mind remains

at White Fish Point.

Kangaroo Footnote

Perchance yesterday, at Tammy's Used Books, I picked up a copy of Jimmy Buffett's, "A Pirate Looks at Fifty". I was absorbed past the midnight hour. Jimmy has a bag of great ideas of living life to its fullest. He buys seaplanes, sails ships, and sings for a living, amongst other things. When he went to Costa Rica with his family, a lot of time was spent at the mountain waterfall. Colleen sent me some up to date information on the Bounder's where a bouts. The juxtaposition of these two pieces of information was all I needed to take the plunge. Prometheus Bounder!

Tahquamenon Falls

There is a lot to see in the Upper.

Party Line

During the middle of the last century in rural America, the major communication device was a telephone connected to a party line. Often when you picked up the receiver, you would be a party to a conversation already in mid stream. Instant eavesdropping if you will. The proper thing to do would be to quietly hang up and try your own call at a later time. Not very convenient for the communicant.

This week, I exercised a minor coup in the telecommunications force field. The technology now exists to connect older, land line telephones to a black box that works in cellular fashion. So, for $19.95 per month (taxes will be added, I'm sure) a person can engage in real conversations, with a phone, that feels like a phone, and acts like a phone, without the party. If you insisted on being mobile, you could bring the new black box, and the old phone with you in the car, and create your own party in another location.

Kangaroo Slip

The contest was so close that I threw in the towel of logic to counter balance the full moon. Nip and tuck, so to speak. My secret plan of living in a truck might not make sense when fuel costs were about four times what they were in my twenties. It would make a perfect hunting cabin, but I don't hunt in my front yard.It appeared to me that it was time to ramp up my learning curve and demolish my aversion to staying in motels. True, it is a lot more conventional, but also leaves a smaller footprint on the budget, as well as the landscape. Propelling myself forward, the plan this week is to go to Taquammenon Falls in the Upper Peninsula, take some pictures, and spend the night in a motel.

Kanga...

Roo... The price dropped unexpectedly, but Michigan has been a buyer's market for some time. There is was...$3,500 for a 1986 Bounder. Now, I was like a fish caught on two lines. Twenty seven foot long, the tires had only 13,000 miles, drive train only 50,000 and a generator. Horns of a dilemma, but it was Sunday and the banks were closed, so the risk factor was limited

The journey...

continues. Checked out an old road warrior today. When I asked Joe, the owner of this land shark, the year of the rig, he responded, "Quality doesn't age". This comment came after he let me know what he thought of the current generation. Joe's opening remark, " I'm 80 and have never been caught in a lie, yet" led us to further discussions. I couldn't let him know, it was love at first sight! Pressed, I employed the 25 hour rule to give myself time to think and rethink, and perhaps sleep on it.