Sunday, March 27, 2011

So the guy with no legs that I was riding with ....


One of my friends has been trying to talk me into coming on some called the solider ride. It's a benefit for the wounded warrior project, and since my nephew has combat induced PTSD, I was interested
so I showed up on Saturday and took a brief spin around Oceanside
From 3-26-2011
From 3-26-2011
Before coming back. Like most ride, there was a u-haul
From 3-26-2011
with the real life model:
From 3-26-2011
My Friend Peter, greeting the media:
From 3-26-2011
The ride star was the usual cheering, but It seemed to never stop. The only low point was Peter breaking the tie rod on his trike:
From 3-26-2011
We rode by the Marine marching on base:
From 3-26-2011
Too pretty for war games:
From 3-26-2011
before turning around at the ocean:
From 3-26-2011
we also did a little bit of the San Luis Rey Bike Path:
From 3-26-2011
apropos end: Hand cycle rider in front of me:
From 3-26-2011
I was debating what music to use, as several artists have donated sings to WWP. I ended up making two. of course the last one took two hours to upload. Hopefully, it was worth the wait:

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Rain,Rain, go away

I was going to for ride and stepped outside my door yesterday, you guessed it: rain.
So I went back inside and waited for an hour:
From 3-19-2011
surprisingly, I was the only cyclist at the coffee shop:
From 3-19-2011
I made a brief stop at the baseball stadium before heading home:
From 3-19-2011
not a bad day!

Saturday, March 19, 2011

The mystey of the Lagoon

Doing some digging for my "lorimer" novel, I ran across a couple of conundrums to solve: mainly that the Shawnees did not originally settle near Shawneetown, MO:

View Larger Map
Instead, they set up shop at the site of the district fair. Of Course, I immediately thought of Arena Park in Cape.
But my source was written in 1904. So more digging. in 1904 the fair was held at Capaha Park:

View Larger Map(Arena Park is about a mile to the west, near Kingshighway and Broadway)
The only problem was that I had already written them build semi-permanent(i.e log Cabin), which now it looks they probably built Bark huts until they found good land. Re write city here I come! here is a link with a with locations for this post.
But was the lagoon always there? Hmm.. I've been doing some searching, and have not found much luck. My guess: yes, based on the fact that sits in a depression, And did drain, and if so to where? One again, I'm not sure, but it looks there may have been an old creek bed paralleling West End Blvd 215 years ago.
And then I want to have a still as in Moonshine, you know, White Lighting

I need to have it be somewhat hidden, as I wanted my character to get in trouble for consuming a little too much. I kept on thinking that having on top of Cape Rock would work, but now I'm think it's a little close to the site of the post. Maybe I'll move the still down the river a bit. Having a bad guy fall to his death off the bluff after getting drunk on Sorghum wishkey is just too good to pass up.

Monday, March 14, 2011

I killed Tux

For a couple of years, my MobilePC has been an Asus eee pc 701. it been good , espically considering I only paid $150 for it.
It did hve some drawbacks, howeever. It only has a 7 inch screen (Not good for my aging eyes), and a 8 GB hard drive (my first HD was 20MB), plus it ran Linux.
Linux is a free(as in speech) operating system. It's also free (as in Beer). The particular distrubution (Distro) it uses is Xandros.
I did manage to get Java and Grails installed on it, but a couple of other apps defied me.
Plus I had gotten a new cell phone that had a mobile hot spot feature. The only catch: you needed a widows operating system to use it.
So I did some persusing online and headed out down Foothill Boulevard Friday. One of the prbelms was finding something small enough to be portable, but powerful enough not to be a toy.
Best buy listed a 13.5 inch screen laptop as being in store, but they were none to be seen. Office Depot's sales clerk seemed to be more interest in selling a 18inch monstroy, and Office Max was the same (Rancho Cucamonga doesn't have a Staples)
I wound at Wal mart, where I found and Acer Aspire one 10 inch scree, 260 GB hd , and 1 Gb ram. I feel like Goldilocks!
As far as linux, don't fret. My Phone is an Andriod, and have a Kindle , both of which are linux powered devices.
It's been about 7 years since I started playing around with Linux. It's great o/s with a lot flexiblity built in , which makes idea for specialized devices. As Far as desktops and laptops go, I still like Windows. Fits my budget, and I don't have to spend four hours working with config files to get something to run

of course Tux refers to the Linux mascot

Sunday, March 13, 2011

My day with Andre

I have a friend form Quebec City, Andre, that I met on Bikejournal.com. he likes to come down here and spend some time in Palms Springs
The only problem is that he likes to do short rides and I like to long ones, So Friday I took off and did Lytle Creek Canyon:


I wanted to get 50 miles, but I wanted to get 50. oh well!
Saturday, I woke Bright and early, I wound up doing the 25 miles route of the Tour De Palm Springs, once by myself and once with Andre and Lucy.
On my solo trip, There was a nice contrast between the desert and the developed area:

Headed back in to town on Dinah Shore on my Bachetta, not my Chevy:


It was a good thing, as I got lost and wound up at the airport:

I made it back to the fudge shop:
From 3-12-2011
and Andre and Lucy showed up:
From 3-12-2011
we stop at the agua Caliente Casino:
From 3-12-2011
Headed back into town on Gerald Ford with a Golf Cart lane:

we were almost back in to town when Lucy had a flat, which Andre Gallantly Fixed:

When we made it Lucy and Andre invited me to have a shower at their hotel room before we went to lunch. Andre wanted to eat outside, but so did everyone else. We eventually wound up at Las Casuelas Terraza which was excellent. I kidded Andre about ordering a Hamburger and Fries.I had the Tamales which were almost as big as I make. Execelente!
I left them and had a Palm Springs Specialty, the Date shake:
which is severed at the Fudge shop. If you think it sounds gross, try one! While I was there, I remembered Andre saying that anyplace Palm trees grow is a good place to ride your bike, so I got him a Palm tree refrigerator Magnet. I was go to put it on their door , when they walked out. They were going to see the Tramway This, along with the date shake, is a must do when you're in Palm Springs.
You start out about 2500 feet in the desert:

3 miles later , you're at 8000 feet, and it's not the Desert:


What do Canadians do in California?

A nice view of the Cochella Valley:

I left Andre and Lucy to come back to Rancho Cucamonga. I guess could have taken a tour of the Celebrity homes from the fifties, but I'll leave you with this:

Sunday, March 06, 2011

He rode a blazin pedal?

another one of my friend from Bike Journal, Blazing pedal, came down from Michigan to visit family ,and we did the shop ride from Bent Up cycles
Here he is with Dana Liebermann:
From 3-5-2011
We went up La Tuna Canyon:
From 3-5-2011
and took a break in Montrose, and the view of Downtown LA:
From 3-5-2011
Then I got lost. I decided that the easiest thing to do was to make my way down to Colorado Blvd. I came out at the Arroyo Bridge:


Colorado was real easy , but I was not about getting back to North Hollywood. I wound up on San Fernando road, and took detour to the Terminal for Los Angeles Grand Central Airport

I then mad my back on the Chandler bike path, another old Pacific Electric Right of way:

I had about 47 miles enough for the day

Saturday, March 05, 2011

Only $200?

February 23, 2011 was my fiftieth birthday. I was debating what do to celebrate it in a grand manner.
I went on American Airline's website and decided to see what the fare was from Ontario to Saint Louis $200 round trip? I'm in!
I decided not to fly on to Cape Girardeau. I would have to wait 5 hours in Saint Louis both ways, and since this was a 3 day trip, I really could not afford to waste that much time.
I woke up early, went by my bank and got some money, picked up a Daily Bulletin, before making my way to ONT. Check in,security, and boarding were uneventful.
Nothing much to note on takeoff – the sky was overcast

But by the time we got to the San Jactinos:

The Salton Sea

Some craters in Arizona

We landed a little ahead of schedule at Terminal A in DFW. I had arranged with my uncle to have lunch together. He was waiting when I walked out. we had a good lunch at Braum's and he gave my a grand tour of Grapevine, before we headed back to DFW, I had some time to spend, so I took a Grand tour on the Sky train, the inter-terminal shuttle. Unlike most airports, it runs above ground.
Terminal D and a Boeing 777:

I really did not have much time to wait before going to STL. Next to our plane was a minor star N984TW, the Last MD-80 built:

We went over the other airport in Dallas, Love Field

and a Lake

We arrived in STL a little late. I went to Avis and got my car, a Chevy HHR:

both sides of I-70 were backed up., so I decided to go down the Inner belt (170) to Kingshiway (gotta visit my old neighborhoods) and got back about 6 Friday, I did noting much . Part of it is that my mother is in her mid 80's and we have a family history of Alzheimer's. so I wanted to spend some time with her while I could. Ironically, I spent of most of my time(and money) running back and forth to the Grocery store. Whose birthday is it anyway?
Sunday , we all went to church. My nephew announced his engagement, coincidentally while I 'm scheduled to be home over the 4th of July.
I did do some research for my fiction by stopping by the Old Burnt Mill in Perry County:

And stopped at the Arch Grounds

I also took photo of the Admiral. It's where Mom and Dad met. Its supposed to be scrapped soon:

I made my back to the Airport and checked in . I paused to take a photo of the Grand hall:

I made it past security and waked down to the end of C concourse
I then found a spot at the Gate and parked and observed


From 2-19-2011
My ride has arrived
From 2-19-2011
I had a row to myself on the 2 seat side with a bulkhead behind me Not bad!
We got to Dfw early , arriving at C39. I made my way to D22, and got there just as they announced a gate swap to D38. I grabbed a quick bite at Popeye's made to D38 with about 10 minutes to spare. The flight to ONT was surprisingly not full. I was on the 3 sea side, and did have a row mate, but had an empty middle seat. Can't beat that!
Upon landing , there was an Antonov an124 being loaded, since this was about 10:00 at night, I decided to leave it unphotographed. 20 minutes after stepping off the plane, I was unlocking my front. I love the Ontario International Airport!
As far as the trip goes, I'm glad I did it I'd love to be back there, butI know I can't go back. Eddie says it better