We got up early this morning to hike Mount Hadley. It is about 25 miles west of here. My guide book says that the trail head is hard to find. It took me an hour and half, so I guess that's true. Of course, it would have helped if I had actually followed her directions. I like to think I have this sixth sense that lets me know where the trail head is. As a result, I sometimes wind up hiking a trail not in the guide book. Just ask my kids; we've been 'lost' numerous times. It doesn't bother me, getting lost in the Rotarran. Getting lost on the trail would suck, though. Like last week, when I got all turned around because some moron had stolen the trail markers. Why do people do that? Why do they steal the cock a-doody trail markers? Oh wait, someone told me the answer to this one recently....Teen Angst.
Anyway, we found the trail head and signed in. I never signed in while hiking in Arkansas. The reasons are twofold: usually, I had told someone where was I going so that if I didn't turn up, they would know where to look. Also, I usually hiked Pettit Jean or Pinnacle, since they were the only two good trails that weren't more than 2 hours from home. Ok, three fold. I don't think I ever found pencils at the trail heads. Here, there are always pencils.
It continues to amaze me, how close these great trails are to my house. We had left the house at 6:45 am, the temp standing at 45 degrees. We got to the trail head at 8:15 and I think it was a bit cooler. There was still snow on the ground up there. Wow. It was in the high 80s on Saturday, but there is still snow this close to my house.
I let Ella off her leash, a huge no-no but there was no other idiot awake at that hour. Ended up I didn't have to leash her until after we reached the summit. The trail was very easy to follow but man, was it steep! My guide book gives it a rating of 2 out of 5 for difficulty. In other words, little kids can do this hike. Great. That pumped up the confidence as I stopped for the umpteenth time to catch my breath.
At the top of Mt. Hadley is a fire tower. You mean someone didn't just haul wood up this thing, they hauled steel?!? There was also a cabin, so maybe there is a back road to the top that's on state land.
We got up there and I looked up at the top of the tower. I was reminded of looking at the top of the Stratosphere in Las Vegas. And we wonder why the locals call us Flatlanders. Anyway, I started up the steps, thinking about my sister who is deathly afraid of heights. This fire tower had no side rails; if you fell, you fell. I got about halfway up when I heard Ella crying. I figured she was just being a spoiled brat and was mad that I left her alone down there. But it was as good an excuse as any, so I started back down. Then I saw Ella in the middle of the first flight of stairs, all four feet dug in, shaking all over. She was scared to death. I had to laugh a little, but then I saw that she could still fall so I sat at the top of the flight and grabbed her by the collar. That gave her enough confidence to get to me and turn around. Once back down, I took some pictures. You can see forever up there, although it isn't too pretty right now. I have heard that the fall views are unbelievable. You can see Great Sacandaga Lake and Lake George from the 2700' summit. The guide book says you can also play "Name that peak," and then she proceeds to do so: West, Baldhead, Moose, Crane, Bearpen, Blue, Snowy, Nippletop (I swear I am just copying these out of the guide book), Dix, and Pharaoh Mountains are just a few of the ones you can see.
Ella stood up and began growling, so I knew a dog was coming. I put her leash on her and we started down. Coming up the trail was the kid with the terrier that we had seen last week. We both laughed at the coincidence. His tiny terrier wanted to play with Ella but I was afraid she might get too crazy.
The kid said his terrier usually jumped on big dogs and that they wouldn't put him in his place. The little terrier's name is Tiger. He had tortoise-shell markings. I'll probably never know the kid's name, although I could easily have found out by looking at the sign-in book. Just didn't think about it. I had to sign out, too.So we had a good hike but it wore us both out.
Alabama
We went to Alabama's Redstone Armory last week. We checked into the hotel and got in the elevator at the same time as one of the employees. "Y'all doing all right?" he asked. "Sure are," I replied, "how about y'all?" After he got off the elevator, Sam said, "Well you just fit right in, don't you?"
On Friday morning, a Colonel something or other met us at the hotel. When he came over to shake hands, the first thing I noticed was his jump pin. We got the pleasantries out of the way and then we walked over to our car to put our stuff in it. He had already told us: no cameras, no laptops, no cell phones, no jump drives. As we de-technologized ourselves, I mentioned the jump pin. The guys didn't know what I was talking about. Apparently, they were not military brats as I had been. On the way out to the armory, I said, "So Colonel, I noticed you have a jump pin. How many jumps did you make?" He said, "I'm a Cherry Jumper. I only got to do 5 jumps."
"Why would anyone want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane?" I asked. The guys laughed and Da Boss said, "Evidently you didn't hear him say he only got to make 5 jumps." Men. They are completely nuts.
We showed our ids at the guard shack, as I knew we would have to, then we had to surrender them when we got to the building. I've been on bases before, but this was a little weird. We couldn't go anywhere - and I do mean anywhere - without escort. Da Boss leaned over and said, "So what do you think they would do if I just wandered into one of these offices?" I told him, "You'd probably find yourself eating rug within 10 seconds." The Colonel had grey hair and could whip my butt easily. I wasn't going to give him any trouble at all.
They had a room set up for us and gave us a little presentation. The speaker, a native Alabaman, was talking when I looked over at Sam. I swear, I don't think he understood a word. I leaned over and whispered, "Hey Chief or Sir, I will translate for you later." I've started calling him that since his promotion last week. He didn't like it when I used the title, as in, "Yo, Director, so what time are we meeting this afternoon?" So I started calling him Chief or Sir. From the 70s tv show Hec Ramsey.
After the little presentation, we got to go Upstairs. I guess Upstairs is a big deal, the way they practically whispered the word. Now I know why.
I figure I am safe to talk about these things for two reasons: 1)an internet search found it easily and 2)everything we saw had a huge "Unclassified" sticker on it.My favorite room was Robotics. I actually got to operate a TALON. How cool is that? The "remote" is a 45-lb suitcase. They are working to make that smaller. One of the R&D items they were using was a PSP game. The guy held it up and I said, "PSP!" Everyone in the group turned around and looked at me. Jeez, doesn't anybody play video games? Anyway, they said one of the problems with the PSP is that the screen is very hard to see in direct sunlight. I guess that would be a problem in Iraq. The TALON's remote had to be completely sealed to protect it from the sand and I assume bullet proof as well. The war has never been closer to me than it was in that room. Up until then, it was just something they talked about on the news all the time. You can see a video of a TALON that was destroyed in Iraq here:http://www.foster-miller.com/lemming.htm
The TALON has several joints, a gripper, and a couple of cameras. When they asked for volunteers to operate it, I was the only one that moved. After I started playing, Da Boss came over and started playing with it. We had it walk over to a filing cabinet and were in the process of trying to figure out how to get the gripper to open in when one of the operators walked over. He said, "It takes weeks to get good at it. Our guys usually ram it into walls and rip doors off their hinges." He sped the motor up for us so we could play with the gripper. I got bored with that and put it back into movement mode. I forgot the motor was sped up. It shot out a few feet when I touched the button. "It can chase you down," the operator said. We went into another room where they had a simulator set up. Evidently, they have traveling simulators like this all over the country. I had never seen one. Three walls were movie screens and an Army vehicle was in the middle. It was sort of like a jeep, but there was a gun on top of it. Da Boss operated the gun while Chief or Sir grabbed another weapon and they shot at some bad guys. When they were finished playing, I looked at some of the weapons up close. They were real. I mean really real. They had been altered to shoot laser beams instead of bullets, but other than that they were the genuine article. One gun had an air compressor attached to it. The guys took turns then handed it to me. Stupid me, I put it up to my shoulder and fired. Now I know why it had an air compressor attached to it. It kicked like a real gun. I jumped out of my skin and the guys laughed.
Later, we were standing around chatting when I mentioned something about IED. The Colonel's eyebrows raised and I said, "Not your kind of IED, Colonel."
That was the first time I had been to Huntsville and didn't go to space camp. I never even knew that place existed.Well, I rambled on a lot today but there will be no posting for the next two weeks. The MTs are coming to Rochester and we will be over there. Ella has to stay with a boarder. Look for my next entry on the weekend of May 10.
Anyway, we found the trail head and signed in. I never signed in while hiking in Arkansas. The reasons are twofold: usually, I had told someone where was I going so that if I didn't turn up, they would know where to look. Also, I usually hiked Pettit Jean or Pinnacle, since they were the only two good trails that weren't more than 2 hours from home. Ok, three fold. I don't think I ever found pencils at the trail heads. Here, there are always pencils.
It continues to amaze me, how close these great trails are to my house. We had left the house at 6:45 am, the temp standing at 45 degrees. We got to the trail head at 8:15 and I think it was a bit cooler. There was still snow on the ground up there. Wow. It was in the high 80s on Saturday, but there is still snow this close to my house.
I let Ella off her leash, a huge no-no but there was no other idiot awake at that hour. Ended up I didn't have to leash her until after we reached the summit. The trail was very easy to follow but man, was it steep! My guide book gives it a rating of 2 out of 5 for difficulty. In other words, little kids can do this hike. Great. That pumped up the confidence as I stopped for the umpteenth time to catch my breath.
At the top of Mt. Hadley is a fire tower. You mean someone didn't just haul wood up this thing, they hauled steel?!? There was also a cabin, so maybe there is a back road to the top that's on state land.
We got up there and I looked up at the top of the tower. I was reminded of looking at the top of the Stratosphere in Las Vegas. And we wonder why the locals call us Flatlanders. Anyway, I started up the steps, thinking about my sister who is deathly afraid of heights. This fire tower had no side rails; if you fell, you fell. I got about halfway up when I heard Ella crying. I figured she was just being a spoiled brat and was mad that I left her alone down there. But it was as good an excuse as any, so I started back down. Then I saw Ella in the middle of the first flight of stairs, all four feet dug in, shaking all over. She was scared to death. I had to laugh a little, but then I saw that she could still fall so I sat at the top of the flight and grabbed her by the collar. That gave her enough confidence to get to me and turn around. Once back down, I took some pictures. You can see forever up there, although it isn't too pretty right now. I have heard that the fall views are unbelievable. You can see Great Sacandaga Lake and Lake George from the 2700' summit. The guide book says you can also play "Name that peak," and then she proceeds to do so: West, Baldhead, Moose, Crane, Bearpen, Blue, Snowy, Nippletop (I swear I am just copying these out of the guide book), Dix, and Pharaoh Mountains are just a few of the ones you can see.
Ella stood up and began growling, so I knew a dog was coming. I put her leash on her and we started down. Coming up the trail was the kid with the terrier that we had seen last week. We both laughed at the coincidence. His tiny terrier wanted to play with Ella but I was afraid she might get too crazy.
The kid said his terrier usually jumped on big dogs and that they wouldn't put him in his place. The little terrier's name is Tiger. He had tortoise-shell markings. I'll probably never know the kid's name, although I could easily have found out by looking at the sign-in book. Just didn't think about it. I had to sign out, too.So we had a good hike but it wore us both out.
Alabama
We went to Alabama's Redstone Armory last week. We checked into the hotel and got in the elevator at the same time as one of the employees. "Y'all doing all right?" he asked. "Sure are," I replied, "how about y'all?" After he got off the elevator, Sam said, "Well you just fit right in, don't you?"
On Friday morning, a Colonel something or other met us at the hotel. When he came over to shake hands, the first thing I noticed was his jump pin. We got the pleasantries out of the way and then we walked over to our car to put our stuff in it. He had already told us: no cameras, no laptops, no cell phones, no jump drives. As we de-technologized ourselves, I mentioned the jump pin. The guys didn't know what I was talking about. Apparently, they were not military brats as I had been. On the way out to the armory, I said, "So Colonel, I noticed you have a jump pin. How many jumps did you make?" He said, "I'm a Cherry Jumper. I only got to do 5 jumps."
"Why would anyone want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane?" I asked. The guys laughed and Da Boss said, "Evidently you didn't hear him say he only got to make 5 jumps." Men. They are completely nuts.
We showed our ids at the guard shack, as I knew we would have to, then we had to surrender them when we got to the building. I've been on bases before, but this was a little weird. We couldn't go anywhere - and I do mean anywhere - without escort. Da Boss leaned over and said, "So what do you think they would do if I just wandered into one of these offices?" I told him, "You'd probably find yourself eating rug within 10 seconds." The Colonel had grey hair and could whip my butt easily. I wasn't going to give him any trouble at all.
They had a room set up for us and gave us a little presentation. The speaker, a native Alabaman, was talking when I looked over at Sam. I swear, I don't think he understood a word. I leaned over and whispered, "Hey Chief or Sir, I will translate for you later." I've started calling him that since his promotion last week. He didn't like it when I used the title, as in, "Yo, Director, so what time are we meeting this afternoon?" So I started calling him Chief or Sir. From the 70s tv show Hec Ramsey.
After the little presentation, we got to go Upstairs. I guess Upstairs is a big deal, the way they practically whispered the word. Now I know why.
I figure I am safe to talk about these things for two reasons: 1)an internet search found it easily and 2)everything we saw had a huge "Unclassified" sticker on it.My favorite room was Robotics. I actually got to operate a TALON. How cool is that? The "remote" is a 45-lb suitcase. They are working to make that smaller. One of the R&D items they were using was a PSP game. The guy held it up and I said, "PSP!" Everyone in the group turned around and looked at me. Jeez, doesn't anybody play video games? Anyway, they said one of the problems with the PSP is that the screen is very hard to see in direct sunlight. I guess that would be a problem in Iraq. The TALON's remote had to be completely sealed to protect it from the sand and I assume bullet proof as well. The war has never been closer to me than it was in that room. Up until then, it was just something they talked about on the news all the time. You can see a video of a TALON that was destroyed in Iraq here:http://www.foster-miller.com/lemming.htm
The TALON has several joints, a gripper, and a couple of cameras. When they asked for volunteers to operate it, I was the only one that moved. After I started playing, Da Boss came over and started playing with it. We had it walk over to a filing cabinet and were in the process of trying to figure out how to get the gripper to open in when one of the operators walked over. He said, "It takes weeks to get good at it. Our guys usually ram it into walls and rip doors off their hinges." He sped the motor up for us so we could play with the gripper. I got bored with that and put it back into movement mode. I forgot the motor was sped up. It shot out a few feet when I touched the button. "It can chase you down," the operator said. We went into another room where they had a simulator set up. Evidently, they have traveling simulators like this all over the country. I had never seen one. Three walls were movie screens and an Army vehicle was in the middle. It was sort of like a jeep, but there was a gun on top of it. Da Boss operated the gun while Chief or Sir grabbed another weapon and they shot at some bad guys. When they were finished playing, I looked at some of the weapons up close. They were real. I mean really real. They had been altered to shoot laser beams instead of bullets, but other than that they were the genuine article. One gun had an air compressor attached to it. The guys took turns then handed it to me. Stupid me, I put it up to my shoulder and fired. Now I know why it had an air compressor attached to it. It kicked like a real gun. I jumped out of my skin and the guys laughed.
Later, we were standing around chatting when I mentioned something about IED. The Colonel's eyebrows raised and I said, "Not your kind of IED, Colonel."
That was the first time I had been to Huntsville and didn't go to space camp. I never even knew that place existed.Well, I rambled on a lot today but there will be no posting for the next two weeks. The MTs are coming to Rochester and we will be over there. Ella has to stay with a boarder. Look for my next entry on the weekend of May 10.
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