On Fri, 16 May 2008 12:06:12 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

On May 16, 11:20*am, John H. wrote:
On Fri, 16 May 2008 10:35:05 -0400, wrote:
On Fri, 16 May 2008 08:43:49 -0400, John H.
wrote:

On Thu, 15 May 2008 23:00:57 -0400, wrote:

On Tue, 13 May 2008 14:14:03 -0700 (PDT), sailmonstermomma
wrote:

I see lots of people on the docks of my marina getting ready to go
somewhere this time of year. *The last month I have noticed a lot of
blue tape coming off boats and MOB poles, radar reflectors, and jerry-
jug boards going back on. *So, where's everyone going?

It's not really a boat trip but we are going to "go up north and drive
slow" this June. (Florida joke)
Fly drive trip starting in Manchester NH and ending up in Buffalo via
the White Mountains and Canada. (and wherever else we decide to go in
2+ weeks)
In the past several years we have "done" the west in the same fashion
averaging over 2000 miles on the rentacar.
*** boat content***
In Alaska we went on a whale watching boat in Seward and took a water
taxi for a hiking trip in Kachemak. We rented a house boat for a few
days on the Arizona, New Mexico trip (Lake Powell) and we boated
around Coeur D'Alene for a day on the Idaho trip. We were supposed to
spend a day on Lake Sakakawea on the Dakota trip but we had weather
problems so we went to the State Fair in Minot. Time and weather
permitting we may check out one of the lakes up north.
I am guessing the cramped spaces in New England will limit the
mileage we drive somewhat. I doubt they have deserted highways with 75
mph speed limits that people generally ignore.

I spent a few months working on the Minuteman missile sites around Minot.
What a miserable place. There was a sign over the highway that read, "Why
not Minot?" I could think of lots of reasons. I'll bet the state fair was a
great one, just to make up for the area.

But, if one likes watching wheat grow, that's the place to do it!

We went on the tour at Ellsworth in Rapid City and got to see a silo.
Interesting stuff. They also had a sample of just about every plane I
made a Revell model of. Cool.
Minot might be a tough place to live in, particularly on the base but
it wasn't a bad visit. We got a good look at the wind turbines there.

I was there in the early 60's. T'weren't no wind turbines there. Only lots
of wind! I worked for the US Coast and Geodetic Survey then as a tower
builder. We'd build the damn things up to 116 feet high, and the wind would
make it a scary proposition.

These are the towers we built.

http://tinyurl.com/6ox4dp

Lots of fun!
--
John *H*- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

It's interesting to see a map of the United States not cut up into
states, but cut up from survey. In the east, it's not uniform shapes
or sizes, once you start going west, it changes to square blocks.

Out there they didn't have a lot of trees to drive their buggies around. So
the roads stayed pretty straight.


--
John *H*