April 6th, Saturday 2:30 p.m. ozarks, arkansas
got back from a heck of a ride. 1142 ft of climbing! Going down to the six finger falls was fun, but I knew getting back to my truck/campsite, I’d pay for it later. it was a 2 hour ride, and it only took me about 20 minutes to get to the falls. the rest was me messing around and climbing back to camp.
Maybe I should have recorded the descent with my helmet mounted Gopro (actually a dji) , but I dont’ think any of the ladies in my life would have approved of that footage. Hey, you only live once, and I can think of worse ways for things to end as far as being a messy splat against a tree. You know you’re zipping along when you overtake actual automobiles. It’s nice that gravity is actually on my side sometimes.
Anyway, on the climb back up, the shorter cranks proved they were well worth the $500 that upgrade ended up costing. On the one hand, that’s a stupid amount of money just for shorter cranks, but being able to do a climb without achy knees was worth every penny. (no salt in the wound intended Dad, if anything you probably understand that better than anyone else reading this)
I forgot to mention on the way back from the ride yesterday (where I petted the donkey), I found this horseshoe on the road. I’m keeping it right side up in my food bin (at least I know that much about “luck”). Hopefully it’s not bad luck to take it off the road like I did. Don’t need to tempt fate like the Brady Bunch kids in that old, cheesy Hawaii movie. Anyhoo, it’ll make a nice keepsake of the trip
I did another 1 liter washcloth “shower”, I think the only downside of it is that eventually my washcloth is going to get rank, no matter how well I dry it in the Sun. But that’s what laundromats are for.
Jeff texted me this morning. He’s up in the New Hampshire for the eclipse. I almost feel bad for him. I’m enjoying mid 60’s and Jeff’s in the following (take your pick! Lol),.
He did say that the new 480 amp hour battery bank is working great and the 2nd alternator upgrades are working well too. His van consumed 120+ amp hours yesterday, and he can add 190 amps back per hour when he idles/drives. I think the next project is a 100 watt solar panel just to keep the battery bank topped off when the van is parked in the driveway at home.
Finally, I also chatted w Jacqui this morning. 1st phone call in a week. Even when we lived apart while she was getting her PhD, we’d only call once or twice a week. We emailed more than talked, even back then. Anyway, we jabbered on for a good hour before wrapping things up. All is well.
I think the good news from what I heard is that she’s not being shoved aside after giving her retirement notice, but the bad news is that they’re not taking it very seriously that she’s only around another 4 weeks.
If anything, it sounds like some people are truly worried she’s leaving, and they’re trying to pump all they can out of her for projections on how long projects will take before she's not around to give accurate predictions. Oh well,as I often joked during my corporate years, sometimes you just gotta “let it burn”, figuratively speaking. Sadly, there are times you can’t stop the car wreck even when you see it coming from a mile away. No matter how hard you try…
Anyway, photos from today's ride
