Eclipocalypse!

[melville]

Morning came at the Palm and it was time to mosey home. I loaded the bike up and started to get into my gear, but every time I started to put my earplugs in, guys would start talking to me about the bike. The first one (youngish guy) knew what it was and appreciated it. The next one (older guy) also appreciated it and asked where I was going. When I said melvilleville he said, "Oh, I think my wife went to school there. I'll go ask." Indeed, his wife had in fact gone to melvilleville State and she asked if I knew So-and-So or the Other So-and-So. She was probably about the same age as my mother, who 40ish years after I ever met anyone asks me "Do you remember So-and-So from the (thing) when you were about 6?" She then scampered over to their vehicle and brought me back this:



It's one piece of Oreo glued with some yellow frosting to a slightly larger vanilla wafer. Tasty!

With the parking lot curios satisfied I got my earplugs in, helmet and gloves on, and I pointed the bike south. I'd been hoping to take the old 99 alignment over most of Siskiyou pass, but the road was out, so again it was right back to I-5. Just over the border, though, I turned off I-5 onto Hwy 96 and rode it the whole length back to Willow Creek and Hwy 299. Another excellent road, blighted just a bit by all the smoke, particularly around Happy Camp. 96 pretty much follows the Klamath River canyon to Hoopa. Here's a smoky view:



And the river itself:



In less smoky times, lotsa people raft and kayak the Klamath. Where I took those pix, I had time to get off the bike, unleash an Austin Powers unfreezing level piss, take the pix, and get regeared (gloves and helmet) without any traffic coming by either way.

Anyway, I got safely home and am now trying to figure out how I'll get to the eclipse in 2024. I have family near the path of totality, but the eclipse is happening with a week to go in tax season. I may need to get a different line of work.

[Rob]

I think they should wrap up tax season 15 days early for 2024. It not like anyone doesn't have time to prepare for it.

Bloomington, Indiana lies in 2024's path. You don't have family in Indiana, do you?

Nice pictures, 'specially your bike, with those bar-end mirrors and GPSr!

[Zombie Master]

Good trip!

[melville]

I think they should wrap up tax season 15 days early for 2024. It not like anyone doesn't have time to prepare for it.

Bloomington, Indiana lies in 2024's path. You don't have family in Indiana, do you?

Nice pictures, 'specially your bike, with those bar-end mirrors and GPSr!

Ooh, Bloomington. I am, of course a fan of the movie Breaking Away which was set in Bloomington. No, my family is to the North and East.

The bar end mirrors are getting a bit creaky after a few drops but are holding up very well considering they were just $20 each. The GPSr is a curious one. When I'm motocaching I'll use the 'hike' option for navigating my way to a location. This gives you the 'as the crow flies' distance. For this trip, I set up a few stops as waypoints and used the 'drive' navigation option. I did this to get an idea of range, because my planned route had stretches of 50+ miles without fuel available. The 'drive' navigation option can lead to some battles with the GPSr. An example--I'd set my home as a waypoint on the last day and requested a 'drive' navigation. When I turned off I-5 onto Hwy 96, the GPSr really wanted me to get back on I-5 so I could take 220ish miles to get back home on known highways. Once I convinced it that I really intended to stay on 96, my trip was suddenly 60 miles shorter. The trouble with this is that was at least 20 miles shorter than I knew the trip to be. I had some guesses as to where it was trying to direct me and the one that was right was going over the Bair Road from Hoopa. This is a seasonal (snowed out in winter) dirt road. It's a fun trip, but probably shouldn't be part of a 250 mile day. It's a good thing that I'm mostly an analog kinda guy and didn't follow the GPSr blindly. When I Googled this link, I entered only 'Oregon GPS death' to get this as the top result:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Kim

He got caught out on a similar seasonally closed road (paved all the way IIRC, though) over the coast range.

[melville]

It was good to meet a real Boxerworks person, you're the first one I've met. I should have met ZM at Redmond though, but didn't. And that's good hot sauce, thanks.

I seem to always get stuck behind RVs on 34 but when I don't, it's a great road. I like the sweepers on Kings Valley highway too, the one that heads north. Oh, and yeah the scenery. When I look.

How long do they hold the poses in Iyengar? I never heard of that one before. The main reason I need my dvd for yoga is that I would never hold poses long enough if left to my own devices.

It was great to meet you and Gael, too. You're also my first BW person IRL.

Poses can be held for two minutes or so in Iyengar. A good Iyengar teacher will use that time to give alignment cues and suggest adjustments to your position, even handling you to get things pointed in the right direction.

[enigmaT120]

I definitely need handling, or at least I used to. I will be thinking I'm doing something right, but by the time the instructor gets done I can't even stand up.

Hey, you didn't take any pics of my R65! I did ride it the first day you were here.

I still have more mowing to do, sigh. No problem, a hundred degrees is nothing to me. I'll go plunge in my creek later.

[Rob]

My best time with an old-school GPSr (Garmin eTrex Legend) on my R65 was coming home from WV through Kentucky. On the interstate, a couple of friendlies wanted to welcome me to their State (of mind?), so they blocked both lanes and then stomped on their diesel accelerators.

I backed off, of course, and at my first opportunity, I bugged off at the first available exit, leaving them on their merry way.

I already had my GPSr destination set for my home coordinates, which was roughly NW from my present location. So, if I came to a T in the road, I would chose the direction that seemed most likely to keep me in that compass quadrant. Worked a charm, and I saw some wonderful countryside, with kids and dogs and chickens playing right on the side of the road.

Of course, that was all "as the crow flies" calculation, as far as distance and ETA goes.

Now it is me and my phone and Waze. A whole new ballgame.
Sometimes I fire up Google Maps if I need a 2nd opinion. Course, you need some bars, if you plan to mess with your settings along the way. But real time ETA! And police alerts.
One day I was getting ready to get ready for work, and my phone went off like an amber alert! It was Waze, alerting me to a bad crash on my route to work, and recommended me an alternate route, and adjusted go time.

Most of the time, when I pull out of my driveway nose first, it wants me to turn left, which would take me further into my housing addition, whereas if you turn right, it takes you out to the main road... I've learned to ignore it.

[Wobbly]

I think they should wrap up tax season 15 days early for 2024.

If they pass the proposed tax code changes, you're supposed to be able to do your own taxes on 1 sheet. Avoid the rush. Now might be the best time to transition to a new line of work anyway !

[Steve in Golden]

The IRS is working on a new, simpler tax form for the 99%ers. It has only two lines:

Line 1. How much did you make?
Line 2. Send it to us.