Back In The 'Stan

Got back yesterday about 1545. Dropped off the wife's friend and her luggage, then headed here to unload the Jeep.

Finally got to the kennel about 1800 to pick up Pebbles, who ignored me for the first 20 minutes or so.

I'd forgotten my house keys, so when we got home I couldn't get in to the house! Had to fight the bees around the lavender bush to get at the faucet for the front garden hose so I could give the poor dog a drink, and then we waited for the wife to get home.

And waited.

And waited.

After about 20 minutes, I took the dog for another ride (she's excellent in the car) to kill some time, and when we got home, the wife was still gone.

Hmmmmm....maybe she went to get groceries, as we'd cleaned out the fridge before we left.

SOOOO.....back in the car for another ride. Stopped and got gas, and rode around for about another 30 minutes.

Got home and saw the wife's car in the driveway, so I parked and we went in.

Turns out the fire alarm at the wife's school had gone casters up and was wailing away, so they called her in to reset it. It wouldn't reset, and started throwing error codes she'd never seen, so she called the alarm company who diagnosed it as a bad sensor, and told her to turn it off.

She had to go back in this  morning to give the alarm company access to the buildings, and they replaced three different types of sensors, and now all is good.

I'm off to pick up our mail, and then over to my private P.O. Box where I do all my shipping and receiving from. I *know* I have a Heathkit SB-303 receiver waiting for me, along with a few parts for the Supra, and a HUGE box of mail and other junk.

Glad I don't have to be back to "work" until Monday, as the back yard needs some grooming!

Headed Back to Kaliforniastan......

And we'll really miss Colorado!

Yesterday we went to Estes Park, home of "The Stanley Hotel".

You've seen The Stanley before, I'm sure, as it was extensively used in a movie.
 

"Here's JOHNNNNNY!" should be enough of a clue.

Turns out that The Stanley was NOT used in "The Shining", but rather was a hotel Stephen King stayed in for a while, inspiring him to write the novel.

It's up at 7500 feet, like the future in-laws homestead, and walking around the grounds (no, the maze isn't there. It was shot somewhere else) kinda winded me, but not as bad as it would have the first day or two we were here.

We spent today with The Kids, going out to lunch, and then going over to their place to see "our" dogs. The dogs went nuts to see us again, but calmed down faster this time.

The stepson's GF was out walking Coco when we pulled up, and I swear she recognized my Jeep, although the GF claims the dog smelled us coming!



Anyway......we'll take The Kids out for breakfast tomorrow, give them and the dogs a big hug, and then head back to the 'Stan Wednesday.

We're going to spend the night in Mesquite, Nevada, as everybody agreed doing this drive in one 18-hour marathon is NOT fun for us Old Folks.

Besides, I want them to see the scenery during daylight hours, as when we came through there on the way out, it was "O Dark Thirty", and they didn't get to see any of the spectacular scenery West of the Continental Divide, and through Utah and Arizona.

We've taking several hundred pix, and I'll sort through them after we get back, and write little posts about some of the things we saw.

Shooting and Boating, But NOT at the Same Time

Well, we went shooting today the the stepson's GF's parent's place.

First of all, their homestead is located at seventy five hundred feet above sea level!

After the 14,000+ foot excursion to Pike's peak, which really knocked me for a loop, this wasn't too bad. At least I didn't have to stop every 10 or 15 steps to get my breath.

I *finally* got to fire and AR pattern rifle, the stepson's slightly customized M&P-15.

He got quite a deal on the rifle and EOTech holographic sight for it; $400 for the rifle, and $400 for the sight!

We were firing the Wold Gold ammo I bought him, and it fed perfectly, went BANG everytime, and he seemed to feel it was more accurate than the reloaded stuff he'd been buyinh.

The M&P-15 is a really sweet rifle, and my wife, who is pretty recoil-sensitive, had NO problems firing it, and getting solid hits on the 100-yard steels they have on their range.

After I'd learned the controls, and fired a few "practice" rounds through it, I was able to get solid hits on the 100 and 200-yard steels with it.

I even got fancy, and was alternating shots between the 100 and 200 yard targets, getting solid hits almost every time. If I fired too fast, I'd miss one, but if I waited until I had the pipper solidly on the target, I got a hit every single time!

The GF's brother also brought several rifles, including a Henry "Survival Rifle" in 22LR, and Marlin 336 in 30-30, identical to mine, and a Winchester 94 in 30-30.

I was getting solid hits on the 200-yard steel with both rifles using Hornady LeverEvolution ammo.

The Marlin had a "Factory" 3-9x32mm scope on it, while the Winchester had classic buckhorn sights.

Getting solid 200-yard hits with open sights surprised me, but then I haven't been rifle shooting since I got my new glasses about six months ago.

Then we headed down to the Horsetooth Reservoir @5400 feet for an afternoon of boating, with The Kids going nuts tubing, while all us Old Folks just enjoying the scenery.

And it sure feels good to be back to "only" 4980 feet!

I'm jumping in the shower, and then to bed.......

Happy Birthday America!

And we're going to a big family BBQ later today.

The stepson's GF's family has a nice 50 acre or so "ranch" west of town, and we'll be heading out there a little later.

They have their own range, so we're going to burn through some of the 1000 rounds of 223 I bought for the stepson (WoW....I get to shoot an AR today, something I've never done), and then we'll have the usual burgers and dogs cooked on the grill, and watch the fireworks from Fort Collins.

Still recovering from the Pike's peak trip.

And I *promise* to never go above 10,000 feet again without my bail-out bottle!

And for a really good take on July 4, 2014, drop on by Wirecutter's place and RTWT.

Bravo, Ken!

Went to Pike's Peak Today

And the 14,000+ foot altitude kicked my tail end but good!

Just glad I bought a couple of cans of "Boost O2", basically 2 liters of 95% O2 in a small can, before we rode the Cog Railway to the top.

After that, we went to "Cave of the Winds", but I was too trashed to take the cave tour with my wife, her friend, and my stepson's GF.

Got up @ 0630, and didn't get back until 2100.

One good thing was when we dropped off the GF, I got to see Diamond and Coco, our two dogs that the kids took with them when they moved here. I called them, they heard me, and about knocked poor GF off her feet getting to me.

After much sniffing and licking, they settled down (a bit!) and it was fun to play with them for a while before we headed back here to our hotel.

Too beat to download my camera pix, so I'll do that tomorrow.

It's A LOOOONG Drive......

From Long Beach to Fort Collins!

Took us about 17 hours, and we averaged 16.8 MPG, not bad considering we spent HOURS cruising at 75 MPH (80 through Utah!).

Haven't looked at the odometer yet, but we went through $250 worth of gas.

Outside air temp peaked at 116* on the way to Vegas, and it was 113* in Baker where we stopped for fuel.

Stopped for dinner in Veags (BIG mistake!), and I wanted to go to Planet Hollywood.

Big mistake #2.

We got the menu, saw that the steaks were $55,  and everything was a la carte, so we politely thanked the staff and slipped out to find something cheaper.

Wasted over 90 minutes in Vegas, including getting off and back on I-15.

At least the parking was free!

Continued on out way through Nevada, cut through the NW corner of Arizona, and then on into Utah, where the speed limit went to 80 MPH!

We picked up with two brand new Dodge Challengers wearing manufacturer's plates, and cruised at 80+ MPH until just before sunset, when they peeled off at a small city that advertised "Gas Food Lodging".

Since they both had "SRT" emblems, and judging from the hood scoops, splitters, and spoilers both had, I'm guessing they were the new "Hellcat" models that aren't quite for sale yet.

Crossed most of Utah in darkness, which is a shame, as I remembered it being nice scenery from the last time I drove through it, some 30 years ago.

Came through the Vail area about 30 minutes after sunrise, and it was just beautiful.

There's still snow in large sections of Vail, and the outside air temp dropped to a low of 31*, quite a difference from some hours earlier in the desert!

Had breakfast in Denver, then headed North to Fort Collins. Got to our hotel several hours early, due to my wife estimating our travel time to be 22 hours, very tired, so I napped in the Jeep.

When we got our room, I laid down on the bed and slept for 7 hours. Got up, had some dinner, watched some TV, and went back to sleep for another 10 hours!

This high-speed traveling is kinda fun, but only when it matches your sleep schedule.

I'm going to be out-of-it until tomorrow........

FINALLY Setup for Field Day!

GROAN.......

Got things partially set up, and realized I didn't have a power supply with me.

45 minute round trip to home and back, and then I found I didn't have a Rig Runner with me!

Luckily, one of the guys had a home made Power Pole pigtail with him, that gave me just enough connections to get going.

Then I found I didn't have the correct clamps to hold the cross-boom into the elevation rotor, so had to mickey mouse it with hose clamps.

Then calibrated the rotor, and had everything ready to go just as the Space Station went over the horizon.

They're active this year, so I'll try and get them on the next pass in about two hours.

A lot of this heartburn is MY fault, as I didn't set everything up to run this year, and as a result, I was missing items that I had cannibalized for my "Iowa Box".

BUT, everything is up and apparently running correctly, and since this is positively the LAST time I'm dragging it all out here, I can live with it.

Murphy Strikes at Field Day Setup!

Considering how good the last few years were, I suppose he figured he'd better show up this year.

My son and I were 90+% loaded up, and the wife came home.

She immediately starts yakking away about trivial stuff, and then wants pictures taken so she can update the pix her phone shows when either he or I call her.

I protest vehemently saying that we're BUSY, DAMMIT, but she insists, and then continues yakking away about nothing.

By this time we're half an hour behind schedule, totally lost track of what I was doing, so we lock the gate and leave.

About half way to the site I call him on the radio, and ask him if he sees the 2 Meter antenna in the trailer (he's following me), and he replies, "Uhhhh....no. I think we left it propped up against the side of the house".

RATS!

We get to the site, and get set up what we can, when a club member comes up whining about the key to the bathroom, so I lose another 20 minutes walking down to the office to get the key.

Then somebody else starts whining about getting a key for the gates that they lock at 2300, so I lose another 40 minutes getting that taken care of.

I tell my son I'm going home to get the missing antenna, leave, and hit a massive traffic jam on the 710 North freeway.

Takes me over an hour to get home, when iy normally takes about 25 minutes.

Get home, grab the antenna and cable tie it to my roof rack, and head back, only to find that there's a "gaper's block" on the Southbound freeway to look at the accident I passed earlier.

Total wasted travel time: 2 hours, 15 minutes.

Hook up the rotor controller box to make sure the rotors are where they should be to install the cross-boom and antennas, and notice the Azimuth and Elevation connectors don't match. Get the extension cables I normally use, and power up the rotors only to realize I have the wrong model control box for this model of rotor.

Last year I used a different antenna mount and rotors, and never swapped out the controller from the tote box all the radio stuff is in.

I finally just give up, and pack the valuable stuff back in the Jeep to bring home for the night, as there's no freaking way I'm going to make yet another round trip to get the correct rotor control box.

And now that I'm home, I can't find the control box I used two years ago!

I give up.

I'm taking a shower, having something to eat, and going to relax the rest of the night........

Field Day Weekend

Well, the annual "Pilgrimage to the Hill" is upon us, and I'm going to start loading up the trailer shortly.

This will most likely be the last Field Day I'll do with "my" radio club, as explained in my "Terminal Burnout" post from a week or so ago.

I'd rather do Field Day from my back yard next year than lug everything out to the upper reservation of Fort MacArthur like I've been doing since 1996.

*IF* somebody else in the club steps up for next year, then *MAYBE* I'll go out again, but at this point I just don't care to do it anymore.

Or maybe do Field Day from the Iowa next year.

I'll grab some pix, but considering we'll only be operating two stations (class "2A") this year, it might not be worth taking any.....

"Curator's Tour" on the Batlleship Iowa, Part 3

The next place we went to was the ship's Bakery.

The ship I (used to!) work on usually fed us "store bought" bread, BUT, at certain times of the year, they'd bake fresh bread, and the wonderful aroma filled the entire ship.

Not sure if it was like that on the Iowa, but fresh bread is a marvelous thing!

 

Lots of racks for dinner rolls, and popcorn machine!

Biggest dough mixer I've ever seen. Probably made in the late 1930's, and still functional after over 70 years.

From the bakery we went to some "other" spaces, one of which was at the inner side of the hull. The area below is a "void", and there are many on the ship. Some were filled with sea water, others with fuel oil, and their purpose was to give an extra layer of protection to the inner hull from mines or torpedo attack.

This is one of the many "voids" on the ship.

Of to some generic "Crew's Quarters".

This was the Master Chief's quarters. They told us who he was, but not being a true "Navy Guy", the name didn't ring any bells.

The Engineering Office.

This office is in use, and is where the staff goes over some of the blueprints when needed, ad it also has a very large printer/plotter for making banners and such.

The Electric Shop.

This area is also in use, and is where we brint some of the original radios from the Comm Center when they need work. We're sloooowly getting all the receivers back on-line, and perhaps later this year we'll have one of the 1000 Watt transmitters back on-line. I don't think we'll use it for Amateur Radio operations, but it would be nice to be able to use it for MARS operations.

Some more Crew Art, unfinished. I'm not familiar with what the finished design would be, but I suspect from the hammer, axe, and square it has something to do with Engineering.

 BIG drill press!

Now we come to what the Curator calls "One of the most priceless and revered artifacts on the ship".

Neatly stamped in to the stainless work top are all the names and addresses of the men in the section who were on board the Iowa as she was anchored next to the Missouri in Tokyo Bay for the surrender ceremonies.

It looks like a typewriter did it, but it was all hand stamped. The border around the names is made form "O" and "I" stamps arranged to look like anchor chain.

Just beautiful!

Here's a better picture from the "USN Shipboard Radio Room" website.

 

The table is located in the Mechanical repair shop, at one end.

Here's sosme more shots of the area. The large I-Beam track at the top was used for handling large equipment.

Welding table with pedastal grinder at the rear. The items on the table are not "props". They were there when the ship was put into mothballs, and have been left there.

This is a large lather, with a 21" swing (I forget how long the bed is) located in the "General Workshop". I'm sure you could power it up today, and it would work perfectly. That's a horizontal milling machine on the right.

More art by Mr. Dehning on the Supply Office door.

In this piece he put his artist's signature on the paycheck!

On our way to several of the areas we saw, there were these large, curved structures that several people thought were air ducts. They're actually part of the ammo hoist for the 5" guns. The yellow hoses are from the dehumidification equipment the Navy installed when the Iowa was mothballed. There are quite a few of them still installed, mostly in the "Off Limits" areas.

The US Post Office aboard the Iowa.

This will eventually be on one of the regular tours, so the staff filled the wall display with some information and "First Day Covers" for the Iowa.

This is the certificate the City of Los Angeles gave to the Pacific Battleship Center when the ship came into port.

As we went to the Training Center for the rest of the presentation, we passed the Barbette for Turret #2.

It's 18" thick!

The '"TrainingCenter room, where the crew orientation is given, was formerly an office for the Cargo Handling Department.

Here's a bit of humorous Crew Art, artist unknown.

After the presentation was over (it's very similar to the video I linked to yesterday), we were free to roam the "regular" tour route until the ship closed at 1700.

One thing I really wanted to get some pictures of was the map of the Pacific Theater they discovered while cleaning the Officer's Wardroom. The artist is unknown, and the Curator can find no mention of this map in any of the documentation they have.

Sorry for the crummy pictures, but it was the best I could under the circumstances!

So, that's about what you'd see if you took the "Inside the Iowa Curator's Tour".

I had few flash misfires on some the shots I took, so I didn't post them, like looking "Down Into The Void".

it was deep and dark, and looked like it went on forever.

Battleship Iowa History Video

This is pretty much what we saw during the "Curator's Tour".

Sorry, but embedding has been disabled. You'll have to go to YouTube to watch it. It's about an hour long.

http://youtu.be/QFNAmu8BC18