Oh, the humanity… The Mighty Furd jams awkwardly in between the normal cars like a bratwurst among franks.
Day two of the cross-country trip, putting in an easy couple of hours after hurting myself at the Thanksgiving dinner table with family. The Comfort Suites I stopped at in Normal, Illinois at end of day was nearly a clone of the Comfort Inn in Crystal Lake. Today’s 6-hour drive took me to Kearney, Missouri and an Econo Lodge Motel. No pool or fitness room here, but it’s more Read more…
Now back in the Chicago area for medical follow-up appointments and family visits in between, I’m staying in a motel called Comfort Inn for 5 days before I depart for Arizona. On the way here from Indy, I stayed in a roadside motel called Family Inn in Watseka, Illinois for $45. I was surprised to find the Family Inn to be a very good deal for the low price, with a quiet, clean, good-sized room with a decent mattress. TV, microwave and mini-fridge. I had tried to book a motel at my destination, a good family-run one I came across when I used to Read more…
The C-Head BoonJon inside the Grandby’s rear passenger-side cabinet.
The C-Head BoonJon composting toilet has proven a worthy investment, in spite of being the most expensive portable way I know to separate solid from liquid waste in a boondocking RV. To my surprise, it has proven odorless in spite of the lack of venting that is normally installed with these things. The maker suggested trying it out sans vent first, just to see, and I’m glad I avoided that complication. Most C-Heads are intended for marine use, or remote cabin use without plumbing. The separation of urine from solid waste prevents most noxious odors, and a churn handle mixes the solid waste with an absorbent material each time solids are added. The intent is that it is the initial stage of Read more…
These young women are at St. Mary’s College in Dallas, Texas in the year 1898. A change of clothing would make them look quite current, yet not have much impact on the humanity that’s pouring through this photograph. But let me be frank: all dolled up or not, that front row looks like Trouble on the hoof, no?
It’s kind of a natural thing to think ourselves superior to those who have gone before us. I have done so in my early years, and have since thought better of it. Much better. In our current culture, our arrogance often stems from a tendency to confuse knowledge with wisdom, while the two have very little linkage indeed. We think that our superiority is because of our superior technology, forgetting that its foundation is entirely based on the work that has gone on before us, as well as forgetting that technology does not define a man or a woman, while character does. We love to assume that people of the past would be awestruck at viewing us as we wave our smartphones, admiring our progress as a society in every aspect. I wonder if they would be Read more…
Here is a commemorative display. I can’t tell what year this might be from, as the March 1-7 simply falls within the “first two weeks of March” mandate. Doesn’t much matter.
With this post, I’m announcing the observance of National Procrastination Week 2016, which actually took place March 6-12. If you Google the holiday, you’ll find two sets of sad cases. One set of crazies takes it as a serious holiday with psychologically therapeutic benefits. The other set takes the Politically Correct stance, decrying the corrosive and harmful effects of frequent procrastination on the psyche. Neither side sees any tongue-in-cheek aspect, and I’ll bet neither side of this tremendously unimportant and indecisive issue is in much demand at chit-chat parties. Life must be earnest but grim when a sense of humor is lacking. Time to be thankful for the little things that aren’t quite so little after all!
Take a moment today, or perhaps sometime later this week, to appreciate your sense of humor. As the great philosopher Mark Twain wisely advised, Read more…
Being stuck in one spot for awhile has exposed me to the occasional TV news broadcast, which I normally do not subject myself to. They devoutly preach disaster, calamity and fear in order to get attention and, when possible, ghoulishly feed off the misery of others before flying off to circle over the next newsworthy carcass. At least they no longer, as in the 1960s, stick microphones into faces and ask, “How does it feel to know that your daughter was just murdered?”
Once I hit the road in 2012, I found that an enforced ignorance on my part was far more blessing than curse – most of what the media conveys today equates far more to sensationalist or anecdotal party gossip than to news which an informed person needs to be aware of. I do not count myself as worse off. As Thomas Jefferson once wrote, “I will add, that the man Read more…
You want trauma? Try drilling and sinking sheet metal screws into a pristine, seamless 1-piece top sheet, where every screw must intercept a supporting thinwall rib somewhere underneath. And it’s up to you to figure out exactly where those aluminum ribs might be.
The Grandby by default came with an electrical system intended to be powered off the Ford’s twin starting batteries. This is not a bad way to go if you travel a little each day, don’t use much power, and preferably swap in some Optima AGM deep cycle batteries under the hood to deal better with the dual-purpose stresses. Lots of overlanders do this, but it starts to make less sense once you begin to stay planted, use more power, and/or don’t care to lug along a generator and gas can. Stranding your own vehicle by depleting its starting battery is seldom advisable.
I recommend wiring an inexpensive digital DC voltmeter to your battery to get a rough idea of its state of charge. This one is perched on top of a Samlex 150-watt pure sine inverter.
I was already sitting on five 3-year-old AGM batteries, as well as a suitable solar charge controller and four 200-watt solar panels. Whoops, overkill! Right? A distinct lack of storage space and roof acreage prompted me to keep just four of the batteries and the controller. Couldn’t I make do with fewer batteries? Yes, definitely. Just two 104Ah batteries would possibly Read more…
Well, I’m usually at least ten years behind the times, which is often good. Now and then, I “discover” something worth discovering – that others have long since known about and agree is good. In this case, I’ll leave the value determination up to you. The video that I present below appears to be the illicit spawn of “Weird” Al Yankovic and the late British actor and comedian Terry Thomas. It drew my attention because at the turn of the last century, wealthy Americans did their best to fraternize exclusive private gentlemen’s clubs, while the young, future inheritors of those estates did their best to be proper “chaps” or “chappies”. Same as in Britain, family wealth connoted superior breeding and rightful societal position, etc, etc. So, in the spirit of Chap-dom, I present Mr. B, a clever young entertainer who has found a workable niche. The reflective work below is entitled, Dammit It Feels Good to be a Chap itself a take-off of Damn, It Feels Good to be a Gangsta. Perhaps you will, as I did, conclude a third viewing with a smile and the incompletely-answered question, “What…the…hell was that??”
A longer (too long but more satisfying) work is Mr. B and his “banjolele” grinding out Chap-Hop History below. As parodies go, it’s top drawer, I should say. Quite. Makes one want to brew a spot of tea, don’t you think?
The canal includes a memorial to the USS Indianapolis and the truly massive loss of life resulting more from narcissism and incompetence within the naval administration than from the Japanese sub that sunk her.
An unusual city in many respects, Indianapolis Indiana has found a way to turn a early-1800s boondoggle into an inviting and pleasant civic space. I’m talking about the Indiana Central Canal, a tiny segment of which I walked while I had the chance weeks ago.
Near one end is a fountain in the center.
The ability to transfer goods and materials across states and territories was recognized as A Good Thing from the outset, especially since the United States relied on its agricultural output to generate income from other nations. When the Erie Canal was completed in 1825, it connected New York City (and the Atlantic Ocean) by 363 miles of navigable waterway to the Great Lakes. It became fabulously successful as a commercial venture, cutting Read more…
The Tufport makes for a handy rig. Photo liberated from Ming’s blog.
Reader Ming just got a Tufport truck camper shell, and I thought it’d be worthwhile to send you to her blog, which highlights her recent purchase as well as the pickup bed canopy she was using before. The usual thing to do here is to have a “Guest Post” with pictures, but her blog already has the whole shebang ready to go, and there’s no point in trying to duplicate it here in an attempt make Strolling Amok the end-all, be-all. If it piques your interest, return to it later to see her progress in building it out with the particular features she needs. Nothing like being under the gun with winter approaching in Canada, eh? Enjoy!
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