A complete wagon wheel

If you print all these out and tape them together you will have a complete picture of the event....

And then there was the other Friday

Friday afternoon the weather changed dramatically. While eating lunch in some little town between Norwich and Cooperstown it just got nice. Crisp and windy but nice. Rob went on over to his father's house and fetched the tractor so the kids and those adults inclined could go for a ride.

The inclined ones reclined.

And the kids got pumped.

And Braedon drove the tractor while Dad talked flag pole holders with a potential customer.

Not sure, but I think Don was trying to get schooled on how to come across that miracle Field find. Dick bought a Byam Holiday for a song. I wish he would teach me his secrets. He could adopt me if he wanted. More on Dick's Holiday in a future post.

When somethings broke at a rally, tools come out and it gets fixed. Paul (Over59) had a bad hinge. I think it was a case of suicide door meets wind, but cannot be sure. The hinge was all mangled and not allowing the door to close properly.

Wayne (WAM) got right in there and pounded on the hinges and on the doors like he knew exactly what he was doing. Not lightly pounding, but full force wailing on it with a huge rubber mallet. Son of a bitch if it was not fixed in ten minutes. A little more Airstream spirit flowing out to a member of the club.

By late afternoon the wheel was almost complete. Three more would come in after dark. The last trailer would be parked at 8 am the next morning.

Howe revisited

Needless to say they do not all transfer. So much for the reason to go visit Howe Caverns. The plus side is that I made some new friends and had another life experience.

Friday

Friday was a morning just like the previous two, more cold and rainy. The weather guys were promising a change was going to happen that morning. Instead of sitting around I went out on a day trip.

I had purchased a water decal for Howe Caverns and even though it was about two hours drive I ventured out. I was accompanied by Kay and Roman. Roman is also known as Boatdoc on the AirForums. We had spoken on the Forums a few times, but did not know each other at all. Well, to be honest it was an excellent day. We had stimulating conversation on everything from the economy, religion and the damn election. Never once did anyone blow their top and it was very pleasant. Two strangers brought together by aluminum. We took a scenic route there that passed through many small towns and villages. The landscape of Central New York is very beautiful and if you have not visited yet, I highly recommended you do.

Waiting for us at the Caverns were Don, Amanda, and Donal (Mistral Blue on the Forums) and also Jane and Paul (Over59). They had come up or down from Connecticut and had spent the night in the parking lot waiting for us to come over from Norwich. We all took the tour together.

Howe is like so many of the commercial caves you visit. Most of the fine stalagtites and stalagmites have been removed over the years and colored light attempt to make up for that. There were many beautiful formations, but for the most part the cave was devoid of most of them. This has been a commercial cave for a long time and with all the thousands of visitors, the hand of man has a tendency to destroy the works of countless years of geological creation.



A photo op... Me and my good friends the Mistral Blues

Somewhere between Howe and Norwich the weather suddenly changed. Though it remained crisp, the weather was very nice.

Thursday...

Here is what I woke up to and went to bed to....

Well actually I awoke to total darkness at about 4 am, but if it had been light, that is what it would have looked like. The weather was not the best for the first few days in North Norwich. It rained about 50% of the time and was chilly for a guy use to living south of the Mason Dixson Line. When I left Baltimore, there were just a few signs of Autumn. Way up here in New York. Autumn had taken hold and was in full force.

The weather changed back and forth from miserable to beautiful. Nice for five minutes then rainy for five.

Now when it was nice, it was really nice. By bed time the wagon wheel was about 85% complete. Three showed up after I went to bed and were parked by Rob.

Maybe my new favorite aspect of the trailer.

I heard a listener ask the pros on the VAP what a Humphry's Gas lamp is like.

It is bright and puts out a lot of heat. It works great in boon docking situations, where it might be cold and rainy like at the Installation in North Norwich. I used my lamp often and did not use the 12 volt lamps except in the bathroom so I could see where I was shaving. If you have one of these lamps on the wall and have never used it, now is the time to discover how totally cool this part of your unit is. I like it so much that soon I will be putting one in the bathroom too.

And they saved the best for last....

My unit, the Washington DC Unit, had a rally this weekend and it was without a doubt the best one of the year. No offense to the host and hostesses of all the rallies I attended this year, but for me, this rally was the best one yet. Rob Baker was the host and he graciously allowed me to co- host with him. I was just in heaven from the moment I left for the 1000 mile trip. I left at 2 am on Wednesday morning and headed North to Central New York. Unfortunately my family did not go along on this one. Beth has no more vacation time, and Ava had a test on Friday and Field hockey over the weekend.

At about 4:40 am I woke Rob up. He was waiting for me at a Crackle Barrel in Frackville Pa. He had stopped there for the night and to wait for me to catch up.

We caravaned through the early hours of the morning.

And then we caravaned into the day light hours. 6 hours door to door with a breakfast stop and fuel up at the Flying J. Rob took me to his welder and he fixed my bent bumper. Sorry for no pictures, but it is really not very exciting. We next headed over to the rally sight to layout a wagon wheel.

Funny thing is, that within ten minutes of laying out the wagon wheel in the field, we had trailers showing up. This is what it looked like at the end of Wednesday.