Postcard from the Road:
Speaking of Oregon & Boatbuilders
Emily is sorting what must go and what must stay. Much will stay. The process could take all night.
While the packing and planning ensues, there’s not much to do but come up with ideas for my own next project. A cabin in the woods, designed and constructed by a boatbuider, hmmmm . . . :
“Boatbulder Constucts Home in Oregon Woods for $11,000”
Apparently, he started with a brass sink found at salvage, and imagined a whole house around it. The idea sort of took on a life of its own after that.
I can totally relate.
Epic Cross Country Road Trip
Cross Country Route #1 ~ the most direct
So, on Wednesday morning, Emily and I will pile into her aging over-stuffed Subaru wagon here in Scottsville, Virginia. We’ll point it west and begin driving. After at least four days, over 3000 miles, passing through 14 to 16 US states (depending on where we stop for lunch), we’ll arrive on the west coast. She’s moving to Hood River, Oregon, and I talked her into letting me come along for the ride.
Yes, I know, it’s the middle of winter. Currently, there’s a blizzard sweeping across the Midwest, with temperatures plunging lower than most of the country has seen in 20 years.
We may have to go around. Those figures quoted above? That’s if we take the most direct route, which we’ll call Provisional Route #1. We could end up taking a tour of the Southwest along the way. Hey, it’s 70 degrees in Arizona right now, while by morning it will be -12 degrees (Fahrenheit) in Nebraska. Hmmm, which one is better . . .
I’ll be posting photos from the road as we go.
There’s a GPS app I use called MotionX for the iPhone. It’s pretty great, and I’ve been using it for years for sailing, hiking, biking and driving. I like it so much I also got the HD version for the iPad. It includes about a dozen different map types, from satellite, to road, topos, and even NOAA charts. The nice thing is you can download the maps ahead of time (for free) so you don’t need cell signal to use it.
“Point A”
It also let’s me post my position to an online map via the phone, much like a SPOT tracking system does via satellite. You can follow our progress (or lack thereof) on the map below. Just enter channel number 23232 and hit the submit button. We’ll appear as a flag labelled EyeInHand:
I also plan to shoot a time lapse video of the entire trip, so, if all goes as planned, look for that in a couple of weeks.
And wish us luck.
Foxing
Arrived home at dusk one evening to find a young Gray Fox mousing in the yard. Beautiful animal.
A few years ago we gave up the pretense of a suburban lawn. Waaay too much work, and never cared for it anyway. Replanted with a no-mow grass and let it grow, then let the rest go back to wild. Almost immediately the wildlife returned.
Earth Wind
The Big Picture
This is very cool. Wind patterns around the globe, in real time. Gathered from NOAA data and mapped onto the Earth’s sphere.
Rotate it. Zoom in.
On this night, December 15, 2013, there’s some serious blows going down between Nova Scotia and Labrador, and across the isthmus of Mexico, while Capes Horn and Good Hope are relatively quiet.
There does, however, appear to a nasty cyclonishness twisting off Japan:
Chickahominy River Revisited
Amanda happy on the Chickahominy
More snow, sleet and freezing rain today. A good day to sit by the fire and look at pictures of summer.
One of the trips that didn’t get posted was a quick one to the Chickahominy late in the season. Amanda called one evening as I was driving home from work, and said “Let’s go sailing this weekend.” Powerful arm-twisting words, those are.
My Dreamhouse
I don’t want much.
credit: Off-shore fishing cabin in Port Mansfield, TX. Contributed by Christian Heuer.
via cabin porn