Trip Photos are up

 I got back from my spring vacation.  The focus of this trip was visiting people and stuff missed last year.  The trip was pretty nice, other than hitting a deer in PA.  It is surprising how much plastic there is in the front end of a pickup these days.  I remember the last one I hit in the gold buick (92 Century), and it barely hurt anything.   The truck did not get so lucky.  Still though, I was lucky enough that it didn't damage anything critical on the truck, and that I have been too lazy to drop full coverage from the truck, which I had intended to do after 3 years.

 

With that out of the way, here the pictures.  These are all uploaded here: https://photobucket.com/share/7fb5db49-fb1c-443b-a210-fdb4dffa49b2 

• Prep stuff and the drive down, no scenery.  https://photobucket.com/share/de6cb7eb-8a6c-4d5a-8570-95eaa88836ad 
• The first stop on the trip was Red River Gorge. https://photobucket.com/share/25cf0358-129b-4ed6-a407-385f0750c8b1
• The first stop I missed last year was Mammoth Cave.  I did the Domes and Dripstones tour.  Dad went with me: https://photobucket.com/share/6a2e2941-24e0-43cf-a614-1cc10b92ff89
• While there, we also hit Lost River and did a cave boat tour.  It was a bit shorter than I expected, but was still fun, and welcome after the load of stairs at Mammoth Cave: https://photobucket.com/share/a699044f-24f1-400a-9d0e-91f59acbfbdc
• After KY, I went up and visited Mike.  He lives in Delaware, so I went and visited Assateague National Shoreline.  This isn't a national park (I think it is a National Recreational Area), but was well worth visiting, and is one of the few places where horses still roam wild.  This album also covers going over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and tunnel, of which there is more than one of each as I found out.  https://photobucket.com/share/3f201331-f28b-47f1-9bb1-540595c9e92d
• I ended up near Stuart's Draft that evening.  I had extra time so I redid part of the Skyline Drive.  I hit Shenandoah last year, but didn't get to any of the visitor centers, and still needed to pick up my stickers and souvenirs. https://photobucket.com/share/d24b50b3-9e72-4cf9-b13b-404e87dfb8f8
• Here are some other various pictures I took during the trip.  They will all be captioned soon so there is context.  https://photobucket.com/share/b5c81250-cefc-4ad3-b207-14eb2fa93b94

All told the trip was approximately 4k miles (I don't know exact courtesy of the Ford resetting trips).  The deer didn't impact the gas mileage much; I averaged 21-22 when driving slow, but even in Delaware and Maryland where I was merely keeping up with traffic (sometimes pushing >90) I got just under 20mpg.  Not bad for a full size pickup with its aerodynamics altered by the deer.  Still though, with gas price fixing going on (it is rather suspicious that every state was 4.19 a gallon when there is usually a lot of variance), the CR-V would have been nice.

 

For those who don't have time to browse, here are a few selected favorites:

Red River Gorge

Mammoth Cave

Lost River Cave
 

Assateague Island

 

Shenandoah Drive home

 

Despite the temperatures, it wasn't too cold when I got back either.  I expected the house to be in the low 40s.  It still sucks turning on the heat after it was 80 in KY.

 

One of the nicest things about the trip is that everything was in full bloom.  I had hoped that after being gone for almost two weeks that things would have bloomed when I got home.  Not so.  They are in the process of blooming now (I have been home just under a week as I write this).

 The final version of the tape.  It held up surprisingly well, no rattles or vibrations, and the headlight was surprisingly close to pointed correctly.  The truck goes in next Wednesday for the insurance claim inspection.

 

I took the truck because I was hauling a bunch of stuff down, and courtesy of the deer, it was a good thing I did (the CR-V has nothing but liability on it).  That said, in general the car is better than the truck.  It is much more comfortable to sleep in, it is narrower which is nice on a lot of the sub-par roads I drive on.  The greater gas mileage while not sacrificing 4WD is really nice.  And I designed a camper for it which works a whole lot better than the system I used in the truck.  My fall trip will definitely be in the car, mostly because of gas prices.  I added Mammoth Cave on this trip, and am heading north and west this fall to fill those in.  That is a lot of miles.  Perhaps I will head south next spring.

With the photos done, time to start working on projects.  The big ones for this year are the roof extension/garage and the deck.  I have been looking at trucks too, but I am afraid if I buy the box truck this year I won't be able to afford one of the projects, though I suppose it isn't the end of the world if I have to push the deck out another year.  Before those though, I think I need to finish the metal carport up the hill so I can get some of the stuff out of the carport by the house so I can work on mowers.  I have two lawn tractors and right now neither is capable of mowing, and mowing season is upon us.

More Snow. Ugh

I went and picked up some storage things during the week.  I got to drive through a purple blob on the way home which was interesting.  The sunset on the other side was rather pretty.  

 

Saturday wasn't too bad, and was all about cleaning out the truck.  It hasn't gotten a thorough cleaning in years at this point. I don't have a pressure washer, so I swept off the floor mats.  I also swept out the bed.

 

It took hours to vacuum everything, and it still looks dirty, but not nearly as as bad as before.

 

There was a very thick layer of dust all over everything inside, especially the dash.   I went through half a bottle of cleaning wipes on the inside.

 

The other half of the stupid felt thing in the front has started falling down, so I cut it off.

 

Then Sunday did this all day.  I did some interior rearranging, double checking to make sure I had everything.

 

The car is up at Bob's at the moment trying to get the brakes unstuck.  I biked in, which was a lot more tiring than I expected.  The weather is still looking good enough, so I am putting in my vacation time.  This is the plan for the trip:

W=work, O=Off 

Wed (W)- Leave after work. Stop at rest area 

Thu (O)- Finish drive. Empty truck 

Fri (W)- Work from KY friday. Fit cart, futon, etc. 

Sat (O)- Red river gorge. Whittleton Arch AM, Chimney Top Rock and Princess Arch PM.  Sky bridge arch if it fits?

Sun (O)- visit Aunt Lisa, etc. 

Mon (W)- remote work 

Tue (O)- Mammoth Cave. Underground river? 

Wed (O)- Drive to Mikes. Visit WW2 Experience museum on the way. 

Thu (O)- Assateague for a few hours, drive down to Norfolk. Stay on i-81 in rest area somewhere. 

Fri (W)- Remote work from road. Drive to Aunt's and Uncles. 

Sat (O)- Aunt and Unc. Leave late for home. 

Sun (O)- Home. Organize/upload pictures.

Trip readiness.

Last week started off with a bang. Ugh.

 

It melted off after a few days though.  I went down and opened up the tiny house so I could grab some breakers.  No leaks or anything.  

 

Friday I went and got the railroad ties out of the back of the truck.  Anx is going to use them as a barrier to keep leaves out of his gravel garden thing.  

 

The sunset as I went to drop them off was real pretty.  Sadly my phone didn't do it justice.

 

Saturday was quite nice out.  A bit breezy, but nice.  I decided to go dig out my table saw.  I noticed on the way up that while the tunnel that the snow made this year was really cool looking, it looks like it bent some of the metal.  

 

I went and fetched my portable garage from behind the snowblowers.  

 

I also went and cleaned up the front of the shed, so the table saw was accessible again.  

 

I loaded up the portable garage.  It will most likely end up in the back when I drive down, but this keeps it out of the rain until then.  

 

While I had the truck out, I went and sprayed the engine compartment with pepper spray.  Twice this winter I had to evict mice out of the truck.  

 

I also moved everything over I will need on my trip, like my EZ Pass, the window coverings, etc.

 

I got one of these step things for the trailer hitch so I didn't feel the need to leave the multi-ball in it which has gotten really rusty.  I prefer to leave something in it, since otherwise the receiver rusts on the inside.

 

That evening, I started to get the inside stuff ready.  The second bedroom is ready; the futon is emptied as is the dresser Jess wanted.  

 

Sunday was more construction work.  I got everything ripped for building the drawers (except the front faceplates which I will do by hand), and should get them assembled this week.  My table saw was not happy, and I am not sure why, but it struggled a lot more than it should have for pine

 

I didn't grab a picture, but I got the mattress in a bag, and got the dresser emptied and wrapped so the drawers don't come flying out.

 

I also went and made a bunch of frozen meals, but then realized something: this trip I won't be out camping at all.  I have two days I will be sleeping in the truck, and that is it, the rest of the time I will either be in KY, at Mike's, or at Aunt's and Uncle's.  So I don't need frozen meals for this trip.

 

I had a couple of visitors in the evening.  Most of them ran away when I showed up with the camera, but there were four originally. 

 

All that the trip is waiting on at this point is weather.  This week looks too dicy, but next week doesn't look better in the 10 day.  Hmmm.  

 

I have been doing some thinking of how I want to do the roofover, and I have come up with three ideas: 

1. Attach it to the house.  This is the "traditional" extension where I would remove the fascia, and tie the two roofs together.
1. Pros - This is the "traditional" way to do it.  The units move as one throughout the seasons.  
2. Cons - this is the most work.  I need to tie the slabs together as well.  This does not give me more overhang on the south facing windows.  It also means no deck coverage.
2. Independent structure that overhangs the house roof
1. Pros - completely independent, easy to build.  Depending on how much overhang, might  get some window coverage but not door coverage.  Floor doesn't need to be concrete, though I prefer concrete anyways.
2. Cons - Will shift and move independent of the house.  If I mess up the tolerances, and a frost heave lifts the house, it could damage the house roof.  The house roof under the overhang will be impossible to work on should repairs be needed.
3. Independent structure with wing resting on front.  This is basically number 2, but where it meets the house, instead of just building outriggers and extending it over the roof, make a separate detachable piece bolted to the independent structure.
1. Pros - Not sure I have ever seen anything like it; unique.  Gives me overhang on the front I desire (I can't put a wing on the back because of roof protrusions).  Removable (in theory) if there is roof damage that needs repair.
2. Cons - Once built, would likely require a crane or disassembly to lift wing off roof (assuming I use metal roofing).  Unclear what prevents the wing from sliding, might be putting a lot of twist on the independent structure.  Not simple to design and build; will need a way to hinge it in case they frost heave differently.