Idle thoughts

Isn't ironic that Russia is crying foul:

From a BBC news report:

"Russia has called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. Moscow has said the use of the Ukrainian army against its own people is "leading Ukraine to catastrophe"."

When the Syrian President used his army against his nations people, what is the difference? As the crisis was happening and continues to happen, Russia consistently obstructed any intervention. Now that the shoe is on the other foot.... are we crying wolf here? Duplicitous standards, eh Ruskies!

At last

Ok, so it's been a while. That's life. It's been busy.

Last Tuesday, I was on my way back through St Louis, Missouri and the sky was black. It was the middle of the afternoon and the street lights were on. Gives you an idea of what was in store. The recent spat of weather systems that frequent the central US this time of year were on my mind as I dodged super cells. Fast moving systems warned about, with wind gusts up to 70 mile per hour, golf ball size hail, flash floods. Enough to blow a semi over easily. Fortunately, I got caught with only 40 mph winds and pea size hail and lots of heavy rain. Nature is fascinating though. As I drove along I-70 from St Louis, Mo, I watched both the traffic and the weather. To the north-west of me, the sky/horizon line was indistinguishable. Little cars were hiding under overpasses. They hydroplane more easily than a truck weighing 50K.

I have several weather radios on-board so I keep track of my location and listen for the warning tones that NOAA provides for alerts. I also have an phone app called RadarUS provided by NOAA, so I can visually track storms versus my destination.

I do have a dash cam but by the time I got to review the storm files, they had been over-written due to lack of memory. (a 3 minute clip takes 340 mb, total memory is about 72 minutes). So unfortunately for now, there are no clips to post with this update. I need to get a bigger SD card for that. They're pricey so this will have to wait for now.

This week, it's back to Memphis, Tn with a group of my buddies ( 3 of us in this convoy).

Meanwhile, I'm moving to new digs at the end of the month. Those who read this on a regular basis will already have the change of address notifications. Those who don't read this, don't need to know.

Sun and asphalt

It's been a long time since I wrote something here. Readers have probably given up looking at the same old posts. So it's time, I guess, to tackle the task of writing something meaningful. Perhaps... or at least, ramping up.

Driving destinations have improved a bit since late 2013, I was getting a lot of western Canada and eastern US seaboard runs. Western Canada becomes "my turn" so to speak due to the "fair weather drivers" not wanting to go out west in winter. "Hey! take the good with the bad", I say. Bunch of sissies .  While these are not my preferred destinations either, particular eastern Pennsylvania and Rhode Island in the states, Winnipeg in Canada but I do them. Roads in north-western Ontario can be a drag and it's nice to visit the moon scape in Sudbury. Routes through central and southern US are much better, both in remuneration and enjoyment. Truck stops are more numerous, roads less congested and parking at days end more available with destinations usually on the outskirts of major centres.

The last trip took me through Georgia, Florida (gulf coast), Alabama, Mississippi through and to little towns. Warmer weather, 25˚C in South Carolina falling to 4˚ further south west. Facebook friends were not amused since they were still in the deep freeze. So sad! :-p

This coming week is a return to central Alabama. One destination going and returning. I should be back by Friday if all works out.

Bella continues to ride in her preferred spot; on the bunk, looking out the side window. 

Roads that suck: 

I-75 North from Ohio to Michigan (mile marker 18 or so)

I-94 East from Indiana to Michigan 

I-49 Wisconsin north of Milwaukee to Green Bay

Random thoughts:

None for now, stay tuned.