|
|
|
|
Those coordinates could only mean Altoona, PA. This historic
railroad town is not really where I wanted or expected to be tonight. But then
again with my expectations of traveling whimsically I should get used to stops
like this. [Photo, by Donald Grant, lifted from http://www.prrths.com/ (Website of The Pennsylvania Railroad Technical and Historical Society)]
Altoona, who knew? It has this great railroad museum. Despite
my promise above not to share, I'm going to. I roared through West Virginia and eastern Ohio. Wheeling always strikes me sadly. It looks like it must have once been a vibrant place but now just suffers from a terminal malaise. I have fond memories of a college road trip to watch John Carroll U. (my alma mater) play football at Wheeling College; a battle of Jesuit schools. But I guess Wheeling is better than Washington, PA. A quick dinner in Columbus at Skyline Chili (yummy!) held me up for only a little while. I arrived home around 10:30, a little tired but glad to be
here. Next up: Sarah's baptism.
June 8, 2003
Villa Hills, KY Today was Sarah Elizabeth Kearns' big day. Sarah is the daughter of my brother Dan and his wife Lelanya. During what felt like the longest Mass in history (over 90 minutes!), she and 4 other youngsters were baptized. It was standard church stuff until the priest was set to sprinkle Holy Water on the congregation. Sprinkle turned out to be a significant understatement -- he showered the crowd. So much so that he had to refill the bucket in the process. Following the ceremonies it was back to Villa Hills where Mom and Dad hosted a very nice little party. As people arrived and they party was picking up, the skies darkened and opened up in a deluge. This was a tad ironic -- the last time Mom hosted a party after a baptism was for Dan. 31 years ago during that party the skies opened up. Like father, like daughter I guess. [Photo by Dan and Lelanya Kearns.]
June 9, 2003
Villa Hills, KY Not much to say today. Mom and Dad managed to get off to Florida, at the remarkably early hour of 2:00, in the afternoon. I spent most of the day just relaxing with Naked Prey by John Sandford. Like all the other books featuring Lucas Davenport, it's gripping and good. Spent some time looking for a new digital camera. My Nikon Coolpix 990 is just to bulky and a battery hog. I vacillated between a new Nikon and a nice Canon. When I finally made a decision they were out of stock of both models. Frustrating. Went to my sister's place and played a little Xbox with my brother-in-law and niece. This time I didn't suck too badly. Like I said, not much happened today.
June 10, 2003
Villa Hills, KY (still....sigh!) The picture left is one I took from the deck of my parent's home. It's looking west (downriver) over the Ohio River. (For those of you who are confused when I say I'm going to Cincinnati but then learn I'm actually headed to Kentucky: the land on the right side of the river is part of the west side of Cincinnati.) It kind of sums up the day... The day started out great. I had a wonderful lunch with Jim (my brother-in-law), Kate, and Emma (my nieces). The two girls couldn't be funnier in their pizza styles. Kate (the elder) orders a plain cheese pizza and then picks off the cheese. Emma orders the works and attempts to pick off only the mushrooms. The problem is she pulls off everything but the cheese in her search for those 'shrooms. On their recent trip to Grand Cayman Kate discovered she likes snorkeling (Emma didn't try it.) So I attempted to set the path to certified diving by asking questions and telling dive stories. I'd love to have a family member to dive with. I closed out lunch by successfully duplicating the college trick of balancing the salt shaker at a 45 degree angle on its edge (it's a trick involving the salt itself) I was supposed to leave for Norfolk 6/10. I did laundry, I repacked my bags in an orderly way (what a change). But then I talked with Sid and he asked to put the meeting off until Thursday. That's fine but it means I probably won't have time to get down to Sarasota. So I was feeling a little blue. (Which is how the picture came out, entirely on its own.) I had a nice dinner with my brother Dan. We had agreed that he would let me buy as his birthday gift. He's a vegetarian. We went to a nice little Japanese place. Sushi and a bunch of appetizers (tapas style as it were). A nice meal. He gave me a new money clip/knife combo. Very sharp! He had to race home to pick up Sarah from her Grandmother Sandy. Bored now, and frankly a little lonely, I figured I'd do some errands. I found a place with the camera, I finally selected the Canon Elph S400. The small size makes a difference. I searched endlessly and without success for a just released album (O by Damien Rice). I went home and snapped a photo to make sure the new toy worked and to show the great vista from Mom and Dad's upper deck. Later I went to see The Italian Job. A fun movie, entirely unbelievable but fun. Edward Norton had best be careful or he'll typecast himself. A drive around Covington and Cincinnati in the rain to see old haunts rounded out my day. Next: I'm hoping for an easy day's drive into the mountains. I'll make it pretty an easy hop to Norfolk for the next day. June 11, 2003
Lewisburg, WV A day on the road, through some very beautiful country. The hills of eastern Kentucky and the mountains of West Virginia were wonderful today. Passing through at 80+ mph left me amazed at the heartiness the pioneers showed as they moved westward. And the amazing feats of building highways, railroads, power lines and other infrastructure through the mountains. I'm glad those folks all came before me; I like living in our times. I slept in and puttered around a bit before heading off at about 1:00pm. The roads were relatively empty except a horrible backup coming into Charleston, WV. I love the WV roads; they're well maintained and have a speed limit of 70mph. Rain throughout the day led to the creation of little cloudlettes rising up off the mountains. Everywhere I looked there were wisps of smoke like vapor climbing towards the sky. Very, very pretty. No photo today. The one thing WV is lacking are scenic pull-offs on the road. And traffic hums along so I figured I'd play it safe and not stop. Plus, this hotel (The Brier Inn) does not have a high speed connection so it's just as well. Not much else to say. 6/12/03 Addition: I forgot to mention that I stopped in Milton,WV with hopes of touring the Blenko Glass Factory. I was to late for the tour, but did manage to see the gift shop. Since Mom has always like Blenko and I just broke one of her ice tea pitchers, I bought her a new one. It won't match the old one, but it's better than nothing! Next stop: Norfolk, VA June 12, 2003
Norfolk, VA What a great day for a drive! I started out in the mountains and ended up at the beach. From 70° and crisp to 95° and humid. From no idea of what comes next to at least having a clue. The picture to the right shows the haze as I crossed the Shenandoah Mountains in the Geo. Washington Nat'l. Forrest. Mind boggling pretty. I was zipping along with the windows down and the radio up, again. The speed had to be a bit controlled -- VA is the only state that makes possessing a radar detector a crime. The bastards! The countryside literally fell away as I headed through Charlottesville, Richmond, Williamsburg, and into the Hampton Roads area. Around 4:00 I hooked up with Sid, the guy with the boat. He and his friend Ken were doing some repair work: hanging a radar reflector, lubricating the mast tracks, securing some of the electrical connections on the spreaders. I couldn't do a whole lot but did what I do best -- pulled on a rope (the mizzen halyard to hoist Ken in the bosun's chair. Damn, I love to talk nautical!) After a while we just chatted. It turns out Ken has friends who need crew on a race boat tomorrow. Yep, I'm going sailing bright and early. Had dinner with Sid. He's a nice guy. Left the corporate world in the late 90s and has been sailing since. Bought his boat in Seattle, moved it to Marina del Rey, lived there for a while, then moved it to Norfolk (via the Canal). He spends the better part of the year kicking around the Caribbean on it. I'd say he's likely to be a solid seaman. He has the appropriate concern for safety and enough sea miles under his belt that I feel comfortable with him. So my plans are: race on Friday 6/13. Spend time in Newport News (at the Mariners Museum) Saturday AM, head north across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel to the Eastern Shore in the afternoon, Sunday head to DC (see relatives if we all have time). Monday Sid, Ken, and I will take the boat out for a sail. If that goes well, I'll commit to the trip. Then Tuesday I'll head north to tidy up in NY, then back down here for departure. Thanks to Paty, Laura, Tim, Sherry, and Lisa for the birthday wishes. (Gee, what happened to Mom and Dad, did their phone break?) It's nice to know I'm away but still with friends. Wish Sherry good luck, she's about to embark on her own little adventure. 6/13/03 Addendum -- 7:30am and Mom and Dad are already complaining about getting a "bad rap". Seems they tried to call but (allegedly) my cell phone was just giving them music, no voice mail. So they settled for a quick comment post over on the feedback page (which I only saw after updating these pages). I guess it's OK since it sets family precedent -- I know Mom will be glad to get Mother's Day cybergreetings from here on out!
Hampton, VA That fine foot and ankle belong to me. Note the "Emma Red" color that goes all the way down to where a footie might rise to. Yes, I sunburned my shins today, no the picture has not been enhanced or re-touched. (Yes Mom, I stopped and got some Aloe Vera gel. 2 applications applied so far.) It was hot, sunny, and hot today on the lower Chesapeake Bay. All of it took it's toll on me. Today was the first day of the Hampton Yacht Club's annual Southern Bay Race Week. This drew what seemed like 150 boats, but was probably only 80 to 100 out for 3 days of racing. There is nothing quite like the scenery of all those boats, many with spinnakers up, zipping around the water. It was kind of neat to look to the west and see the silhouettes of four aircraft carriers in the Norfolk naval facilities. As opposite as surface vessels can be. The boat I was on was interesting. It is a J-30. My first J-Boat of any type and I was not impressed. The Sonar-23 I'm use to is a much nicer boat even though it is substantially smaller. On the Sonar all lines lead aft and the boat is sailed from the cockpit for almost everything. On the J-30 the halyards just hang from the mast, the crew has to duck the boom on every gybe and tack (I have the sore spots on my noggin to remind me what happens if you don't really concentrate on this), it takes 2 people to move the pole on a gybe, and it's just not very pretty. But it is a boat so it's still an inherently good thing. I managed to stay out of the way and basically just act as ballast. An occasional tug on a rope was enough. The crew had not sailed together before, the skipper had just bought the boat (only his 2nd event with it), and the rigging was not quit right. All of which affected the results. Either that or it was the 2 cases of beer, 2 packs of Marlboros (reds, no less), the one-hitter (if you don't know what this is, you don't want or need to know) that was passed around, or the porn in the cabin that caused the poor performance. I never thought I'd say a boat that had all that was not an absolute blast to be on, but it's true. I had two beers (and well over 1.5 litres of water), smoked nothing, and prefer my porn in quiet and solitary environments so I passed on that as well. Sigh. A long day on the water makes a shower about as good as it gets. So I showered dressed and went for food. I wanted Vietnamese but the place I drove to had closed (replaced by a pool hall!). So, I had Korean. A spicy pork bool googi and a beer hit the spot. The job situation is getting weird: in WV I got a call from a recruiter who might have 2 jobs in Chicago (Motorola and another place that has not been revealed yet), tonight I got some positive feedback from the people I interviewed with about 6 weeks ago (also in Chicago). Playing hard to get by running away seems to be my most viable tack these days. Tomorrow I'll start a new page. This one is wayyyyyyyyy too damn long. |
|
This web site's pages have been viewed
Send mail to Jim@VagabondJim.com with questions or comments about this web site. Last modification: 04 September 2004 13:26:44 -0700 |
![[Product Image]](../../images/Altoonatrain.jpg)
June
6, 2003
![[Product Image]](../../images/Horseshoe%20Curve.jpg)
June 7, 2003
![[Product Image]](../../images/P1010003.JPG)
June
13, 2003
