Now, understand that when I left on this trip, I had every intention of doing the whole tourist thing – stopping at the state lines, important points along the way, and so forth, to the point that I even packed the tripod for our camera so that I could take pictures of myself at the state lines, important points along the way, and so forth.

I didn’t realize how much I would miss my wife and daughter.

Now, I know that a big tough former Marine such as myself should be a big old independent cuss, able to stand on his own two feet, not need anyone’s help for anything, yada yada yada, but I stand before you a changed man.

As I recently told a friend, “…the whole self-sufficiency thing can get in the way sometimes…” – and I have finally had the lesson come home to roost.

So – I shot most of the pictures through the windshield of the rental car. Besides, day two was spent in the rain until I was in Texas. No way I was gonna get out, set up a tripod, take my picture in the rain, take down the tripod, repack it, and then continue on the way. I didn’t have that many changes of clothes.

You’ve already seen the picture of Denver International Airport. The next trip photo is of Tampa, as seen from the causeway driving from Clearwater: This was on Tuesday afternoon, as I headed out.
Mile marker 56 on I-275 nothbound:
Fair warning: you are going to see a lot of these.
Mile 317 on I-75 northbound: I took most of these every hour or seventy miles, whichever came first. I also learned a lot about the camera – like when it’s dark outside, the pictures don’t come out nearly as well. I experimented with the settings a bit, but nothing spectacular happened.
Mile 383 I-75 northbound:

Then I thought, “How goofy do I look driving?”Answered that one, didn’t I?
Once I gunned through Gainesville and hooked west, I felt like I was making some progress: (Mile 281 I-10 westbound)Still, it was getting dark, and time to start thinking about how long I wanted to drive.
Mile 211 I-10 westbound, just outside Tallahassee: You can see what I mean by the pictures not turning out at night. Since it was about 1830, I figured I would just stop for a bite and push on for a while. Then I saw the light had been left on for me, so instead I got a room at the Motel 6. I did grab a bite to eat, but I ate it in my room, watched a little bit of TV, and then sacked out.

Miles traveled: about 250.

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

Motherboard went the way of the dodo bird.

New MB, case, and power supply, since the manufacturer of the old one no longer supported it, or even made replacement parts.

I’ll be back in the swing of things after I make sure everything is hunky-dory.

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

On Monday (MLK day, and a holiday for most) I installed the entertainment center that I have talked about before.

Here’s the space that needed to be filled:

My first step was to install the loose base, and ensure that it was level – which turned out to be a bit tricky, as there was a large hump under the tile on the right side. Without a level base, the entire project would not have been square, true, and plumb.

Next step – place the main case. In this instance, I was only one person wrangling a box that was 90″ wide, 28″ deep, and 48″ tall. I had picked up a couple of mover’s dollys from Harbor Freight (they were on sale for $9.99, all wood, with padding on the ends and heavy-duty casters) and they turned out to be the tool of choice here. I was able to maneuver and place the box single-handedly. I also needed to cut in the electrical and cable outlets, moving them to inside the box for access. This view shows the side trim also installed, which made the whole thing look like it grew there.

At this point, I have cut and fit the wood top to finish the top.

Here’s another view, with more of the wood top showing:

In retrospect, I’m thinking I should have made the center taller and deeper than the end sections; it would have required more wood, but it would have made the install go easier, the outlets would have been easier to place, and the wood top probably wouldn’t have been such a bear to fit. I’ll keep that in mind for the next one.

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

I started my Thursday with my nose within dangerous proximity of the southern end of a northbound cat. I hope yours started out better, although mine can’t possibly get any worse!

GuyK was at the top of the list when I checked in this morning, with a bit on National Health Care. Take some time on his site, see if you can find the gem about what he has against Hillary…

Scotwise has Friday’s funnies up already – thanks for the head start!

Bushwack let his true feelings for Ron Paul slip…

Third Wave Dave updates us on Andrea Shea King’s latest doings, and the Voice of Liberty Podcast Network.

John posted about Mitt Romney last Wednesday on Fire of Liberty – everything OK there, John?

Greybeard makes some good points about freedoms afforded to those not used to them in his review of “MIG Pilot Escape” over on Pitchpull.

Stuart on Seaspook points out that not condemning something as “an archaic, violent, intolerant philosophy of domination and hatred” is as bad as then praising it, no matter how faintly.

Fred is celebrating Fat Tuesday in the Town That Should Be Moved on TexasFred’s.

Gunz has a new look at his place, Long Live The Republic.

Phishing isn’t the only threat nowadays – pharming by taking control of your router has started to rear it’s ugly head, as documented on Fraud, Phishing, and Finacial Misdeeds.

Mike’s comic genius is matched only by his ability to actually get it in writing on Reality is Overrated. (please note that he carries a “Fully Adult” rating) I dare you to scroll down to his stairway story and NOT laugh ’til you cry…

Good Ole Doug re-examines the outlook for a Red November on Political Pistachio.

Kasee highlights this week’s Wednesday Hero on Supporting the Troops.

Paul shares some lost poetry on prying1.

Cube shares her love of clowns on the BLOG.

JustJohn shares his thoughts on joining the Corps at Write on the Right.

Please be sure to stop by at the Loon, Jenn’s place, Gawfer, and the rest of the fine folks on my blogrolls.

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

Everyone can relax – I found the notes. They were in the margins of the Sudoku book I use on flights, to take my mind off the fact that we are ignoring the laws of gravity and relying on “flight physics” or whatever to be transported from point A to point B.

What I failed to do, during the trip, was keep the camera handy on the plane, so I didn’t get any shots through the windows. Sorry ’bout that.

During the leg from Phoenix to Denver, I had a middle seat so the Sudoku kept my attention. On the leg from Denver to Tampa, however, the view out the window kept pulling me away from the puzzles. I used to live in the Denver area, and I was happy to see it come into view, and very sorry to see it go.

Once in the air towards Tampa, I noticed some of the crop fields that were in circles (radial irrigation, with a fixed point and sprinklers on pipes that travel in a circle to water the crops) were planted in sections; this caused a bit of curiosity in the farmer part of me – were these different crops? Same crop in different stages? I noticed this first over the Colorado/Kansas line, but it continued for some time.

Just before we crossed into Kansas, I happened to glance out and down in time to see a westbound airplane below us. We weren’t at the correct angle to catch the name of the airline, but it was close enough to make out the window shapes. I had just read an article in Popular Science that the navigation rules allowed for separation of just 1000 feet, in place of the older 2000 foot rule.

In case you are wondering how I knew where the flight was, Frontier Airlines has DirecTV available in the seat-back sets. Being the miserly sort I didn’t buy any channels, so my set was stuck on the advertising that rotated with a mapquest view of heading, altitude, and speed. (PHX – DEN 500 – 505 mph @ 30K feet; DEN – TPA 525 – 605 mph @ 37K to 40K feet) They also serve Coke products and Sun Chips, so I was in heaven. (wait – don’t tell my wife I drank Coke on the flight. I’m supposed to be sticking to water)

I forget, living in the arid southwest, that the midwest and southern states are very damp. There are meandering rivers with the attendant ox-bow lakes, silver dollars of ponds and short strips of man-made lakes everywhere you look from above.

As much driving all over the country as I have done, I still marvel at the land; it’s folds and wrinkles, flat land and mountains, the way the water has left it’s signature on the formation of this land mass. Seeing it from the air increases my sense of God in all things – even as I am praying that this hollow tube of aluminum continue to defy the law of gravity.

The mighty Mississippi – a whole lot of water in no particular hurry to join the Gulf of Mexico. Alongside, more ox-bows, and evidence of very old ox-bows, left behind, eventually filling into a marsh, then solid ground, and now being tilled and worked by farmers. A high bank on one side, and a shallow rise on the other of a crescent field in the middle of the checkerboard that is found everywhere farms are staked by fences.

Crossing into Alabama, I catch sight of something new – below us, there are several large fires, almost like entire fields on fire, the long trails of thick white smoke pointing to the east explaining our air speed of over 600 mph – with a tailwind, we are making good time. Again, my curiosity is aroused – what’s burning? Is it fallow field, being cleared of unwanted growth? Random lightening strikes? (that can’t be it – it’s a clear day, with high clouds – actually, the clouds are below us) I spotted these fires even in southwest Georgia and the panhandle of Florida.

The flight crews on Frontier are friendly and seem to enjoy their job. They don’t have the polished banter and patter of Southwest, but they do keep things light and enjoyable.

Next time: A photographic journey of the drive from Tampa to Phoenix. Be warned – I only stop for gas, and this is mostly flat land!

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!