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7/16/8 22:24 GMT7/16/8 22:24 GMT
It's our first night and many of us have been up for over 36 hours now. I was able to get about 40 minutes on the flight which has probably been a great help. Overall it was a pretty good day. I didn't have any problems with driving skill, only with teh size of the van I have to manhandle. It's a good deal larger than the minivan that all the kids are in but I only have the liability of gear rather than bodies. The Loch Lommond Visitor's Center has been replaced by an aquarium. It had a few interesting items (mating seahorses, shark tube, sea otters, but much of it reminded me of "Fierce Creatures" with every other animal labeled as "Predator!!". Also the building has an imax screen on which they showed a video from a projector at SD resolution. Just. Plain. Wrong.
Glenn Coe was really stunning again although I need to fix most of my pictures due to janky ass camera settings; my own fault.
Right now I'm on a bunk bed in a Hostel in Portree on the Isle of Skye. There is a MASSIVE amount of snoring going on and I'll be very thankful for earplugs tonight. Oddly, I have no cell reception at all right now which doesn't seem right. I've reset the phone to no avail, but I'll be able to figure it out in the morning after I've slept a little
I'm totally knackered and don't really want to go through my photos but feel I ought to. 37,000 feet over the atlantic ocean - 7-15-08 03:24am37,000 feet over the atlantic ocean - 7-15-08 03:24am
All I want to do right now is sleep and the flight staff is now serving the 4th round of drinks. WTF? All I really want right now is to have them turn off teh lights for "sleeping time". We're down to 4 hours of sleep... at most. *sigh* On the plus side I'm watching Dr.Strangelove finally. 7/15/8 17:57 EST - NWK20 minutes 'till boarding. In less than 12 hours and I'll be driving on the other side of the road on the other side of the ocean. 7/14/8 21:19 ESTWhat? I still haven't left yet? What kind of a voyage is this?
Alright, so I'm packed... again. This time I've moved all touring gear to one bag and the camp gear to another wit hthe intent to only have to worry one one bag at a time. The rolling bag is the "tourist" and the backpack is the "camper". Besides those I have the laptop bag and my North Face climbing mini internal frame pack of mysterious origin (usually addressed casually as "black backpack" or "day pack" which it finds as an insult). The laptop bag is mostly set... sans laptop and the black backpack still needs loading. Its main payload is support gear; that being camera & lenses, jackets, hats, batteries, tools, rope... and anything else that I feel fits in the category of "be prepared."
The "camper" is a Eureka Endeavor. It is a behemouth internal frame back from the late 90s and as such has turquoises instead of earth tones. Instead of light weight and "hydration systems" it is a full on "shove ALL your worldly belongings inside me and throw me on your back" sorta device. The bottom of the pack is filled with costume gear which I'm sure I will talk about later. Suffice to say it's comprised of (2) jumpsuits and (1) mullet wig and (1) flashy belt. Stacked up from there are trousers, PJs, extra socks, shoes, boots, my kilt et al, after camp clothes and a frisbee. I may need the frisbee before camp so that's why it's on top.
The "tourist" is a big rolling duffle. There is nothing remarkable about this bag other than it's capacity, durability and the fact I'm managed to get both sleeping bag and pad into a space that usually just holds tshirts and underwear. There should be enough room left to put my laptop bag inside. I travel well but I can't manage two backpakcs, a rolling bag an a laptop bag all at the same time. Ideally I can attach the black backpack (hehehe) to the rolling bag to make it all easier.
Alright, it's time to finish packing... which includes my laptop and stuff.
--pete 7/10/08 23:14 - Central NY... stillAccomplishments:
1 jeep extracted from the woods
3 beers drank
2 entertained cats
1 sewing machine fixed
1 computer healed
4 carberators disassembled
1 mowed lawn
Work that's been added:
1 dead jeep in the driveway
4 carberators disassembled
1 broken lawn tractor
Work that's left to do:
1 broken motorcycle (carbs)
3 work emails
1 shelf to build
4 bags to repack
1 flight over the ocean
7/7/8 00:50 - Central NYStarting picking up some last minute items today and repacking the bags since they were hastily packed the first time. The weather report claims it's going to be raining and cold for my entire trip, Hooray! I'm still excited, the weather can't rain on my parade.
Dinner was chinese food and here was my fortune: "You will soon be involved in many gatherings and parties"
Hell yeah I am. 11:52PST - 7/6/2008 - 30,000ft over Utah11:52PST 7/6/2008 Packing this week had condensed into "packing yesterday" despite my intentions of starting a month ago. This year I've managed to pack much less (or maybe much better) and finish much sooner: 2am vs 4am typically. I'm bringing a set of dishes back for mom who purchased them when she was here in March. Without the dishes I'll be much better off this trip than I ever have in the past. I still need some scout gear and another pair of pants but all-in-all I'll be down about 30lbs from last time. Tim picked me up today around 8:30 for my 10:45 flight. I woke up around 6 but forced myself back to sleep a few times knowing I'd be missing my bed as early as tonight. Once I finally got up I wandered around the house bidding everything farewell for 6 weeks, enjoyed my shower, made sure everything was as turned off as possible. I've given my sole remaining plant to Tim in hopes that it'll fare better there than alone in the house. It'll have predators there, but at least it'll be watered. Damnit, forgot to turn off the stereo... I'll be getting home about 20:00 tonight and probably have a long day ahead as mom apparently has a giant list of tasks/chores/exigences awaiting me. My own list includes removing the tranny & transfer case from the jeep and getting both motorcycles running. I guess that's it for now until something actually happens. 'Venture Peet!Alright, I'm on my way back to scotland again and figured I might try and join the ranks of the blogger again (we used to call it an online journal). Anyway, sitting here in ORD with a giant beer waiting for my flight to syracuse then a drive home to Cortland. |
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