the static quo

Creeper!

2012-01-16T15:31:00.003-06:00

That'ssssa a very nicccsssseeee ssssstuffie I made there....

"Creeper" from the video game Minecraft.

No pattern, no pins, all freestyle cutting and sewing..

Sunday Night Stuffies

2012-01-16T00:53:00.001-06:00

We watched the last Harry Pottery and I finished Walleye the Walrus. Awesome!

Saturday Night Stuffies

2012-01-14T22:38:00.001-06:00

Lily and I made a polar bear tonight. My first homemade stuffed animal. His name is Pablo the Polar Bear. His ears are off kilter (thanks to Lily) and his tail is off center as well (thanks to me) -- he's a scruffy little guy, but the kids absolutely love him, and he taught us a lot about how to make a little friend. Awesome!

(BTW, he goes to Jill, who thought the Polar Bear looked cute in the book we used. The kids get to fight over who gets the next one..)

Heading Downriver again...

2011-10-12T23:35:00.000-05:00

If the weather holds (I don't care about cold, just rain/snow at this time of year), and it looks like it will, I'll be taking another quick trip on the Mississippi. Going from Minneapolis to Red Wing, roughly 70 miles. At the pace of my boat and the lesser currents of autumn, I'm banking on 7 miles per hour for a ten hour trip. Spreading it over two days I'll find a nice slough to drop anchor for the night and have a nice little wavy night's sleep. Jill and the kids will meet me in Red Wing -- or any other landing before that point if something doesn't work out according to plan.

I had been saying I didn't do as much boat camping as I'd wanted to this year, and Jill was so supportive of a last little jaunt. She's awesome!

I'll be boating alone, but filing a travel plan as well as reporting in via social networks. And the GPS will be on the whole time, I'm sure. Really looking forward to it! Me and my boat..

The River

2011-10-09T23:22:00.002-05:00

Mine is a small boat. Ok, a Tiny Boat. But I feel like this when I'm on any river:

View Larger Map

You can see that the towboat is pushing hard, but sliding a bit to port (left) so that he can overcompensate on the turn.

The science museum of Minnesota has a towboat/barge simulator that looks like a fun video game. I mean, it's just driving a slow boat down a river right? The moment a kid steps up to it they're excited, but by the first river bend they're shoving those barges up on the beach.

So I step up, never having played, and simply apply my "slow boat, takes a long time to respond, think about the *next* bend" logic and I took the barge and boat through downtown and on to the end of the simulation. I was quite proud of myself.

It would be months later that I would apply these rules in the real world with my boat on the river in some more "technical" (read: crazy wind, currents, and waves) waters and I really understood the intensity of the river.

So now when I see this picture in google maps of this tow pushing sideways up a bend, it just makes me really appreciate what's going on so much more. And makes me want to make another voyage...

This.

2011-09-20T03:31:00.002-05:00

Don't Ask Don't Tell is over. Now watch what happens. Hard to argue against something if the military has accepted it.

Life As We Knew It (book series)

2011-08-25T16:55:00.003-05:00

Jill (in her saintly way) tutors kids at a local school and one of the classes she stops in at was reading this book. So she got to hear the teacher reading snippets and was curious to know what the whole book was like. I found her copy lying around and, thinking it was a book club book, read the back cover to find out what they were reading this month.

Much to my surprise I was pulled in immediately. Apocalypse? The common man? Perfect! In reading some online reviews it was quite positive and most comments said they literally couldn't put it down. Got about a quarter of the way through it one night and the following night I was kept awake finishing it. You can't stop reading. You just can't. I was reading it on my Nook Color, which I love. Initially got it to hack and turn into an Android tablet, but I use it stock as an eReader. Lovely!

The book is actually teen fiction, but it's really quite dark. Told from the perspective of a girl as diary entries, it's pretty tame but the underlying concept just looms over you and makes you feel like you're a part of the story.

By the two thirds point I was sure I wouldn't be reading the next books in the series. It was too stressful and I just wanted it to be over. I was enjoying it in a "it's the end of the world and nobody feels fine" but I connected so much with the family I felt like my world was ending. It's all common stuff. Electricity, gas, water, food. Everything we take for granted in our lives, and they were slowly disappearing from theirs.

Right up to the last five pages I was done. I just couldn't take it. And when I finished the last paragraph I was trying to figure out if I should get the sample of the next one and just read a couple sentences. But I knew that would involve less sleep that night.

Found the next edition at the Library, online! With a few clicks of a mouse I downloaded it, authorized it on my Nook Color, and now I am all ready to lose more sleep.

Blister Camp, Year Two

2011-08-20T23:21:00.004-05:00

This year we headed south to Perrot State Park in Wisconsin. Uriah, Tom Lindsey, Matt, Jared and I headed out at 4ish on Friday and made good time to the park. Set up in the near dark and enjoyed a feast of Hot Dogs and Not Dogs provided by Mrs Uriah, who drove down to secure our site and get firewood.

Today (Saturday) we rode and rode and rode all over southeastern Wisconsin. Lettered roads all around. We stopped in Whitehall for "Beef and Dairy Days" and got to see some real live carnies. Oh and a car show. Did you know that modern cars, when washed and dice hanging from mirrors count as "classic cars" for a car show? Yeah we didn't either.

Dinner after a REALLY LONG WALK was Hammond-esque but pretty good. Except for Uriah, the vegetarian in a rural Wisconsin "nice restaurant" -- they didn't understand. It was all meat, all the time. Except the salad bar with chocolate pudding.

A much quieter fire this evening started later, but Tom made up for it by making the largest fire the massive fire circle could hold. Uriah called it a Sprawling metropolis of fire, I referred to it as a landscape of flame.

Pigs on Bear Lake!

2011-08-13T21:54:00.001-05:00

On our way back from a lovely boat ride on the lake we were surprised to find four pigs wandering around the yard. A few calls later and the Boy Scout camp sent some guys over to wrangle them home. But it was a fun little diversion. All I could think of was the high price of ham and how delicious they looked...

After You - Pepin Messabout

2011-06-04T22:38:00.001-05:00

Another fun filled day, with lots of boating and talking about boating and even some kite flying. You wish you were here. Although the afternoon produced the Lake Pepin that I had imagined, with whitecaps and waves over the transom. Need an electric pump.. :)

https://picasaweb.google.com/robert.craig/AfterYouPepinMessabout?feat=directlink

After You - Pepin!

2011-06-03T23:20:00.001-05:00

Early to rise, headed downriver in a grind that would involve 12 hours, multiple rainstorms, waves to crash over her bow, two lock passages, and a few hours of beautiful scenery and river. Met up with the wonderful folks of the messabout and had a great evening sitting around the fire telling lies, er, stories about many things.

https://picasaweb.google.com/robert.craig/AfterYouPepinBound?feat=directlink

After You - Downriver

2011-06-02T21:04:00.001-05:00

Well, that was exciting! Hidden falls has a boat ramp but today it had a boat parking lot. It was a bit flooded. No matter, Jill and the kids helped me launch quite nicely. Left around five thirty and made good time for a bit. Have to admit the first hundred yards took some getting used to, as the wind and currents were tossing me around. By the time I got to downtown Saint Paul, I wanted to top off my gas tank. Good call, though only half empty, I would end up needing every last drop in the next section.

I took a few minutes at the pier by Navy Island to tape some trash bags over the skylight and then put on the skylight cover. The clouds were graying up a bit and I wanted to be completely sure I kept the cabin dry. It has not yet rained but I am glad I did it for my overnight, just in case.

Ok, I head into an alley of barges and industrial docks and soon after the wind picks up. I am heading right into it and spend a couple miles reenacting various scenes from The Deadliest Catch. Whitecaps, three foot waves, spray coming over the bow completely drenching me, and not a safe harbor in sight. I soldiered on and eventually decided to stop at the landing at my evening halfway point, which was sure to be nearer the end of the evening rather than half way. That was the 694 bridge, and the landing ended up being further underwater than Hidden Falls was. So I skirted behind some islands where the water was calmer and refilled the tank. It was almost empty, so good timing on that one.

Took a backwater behind some more islands and noticed there was a protected channel running up through the island. This is where I dropped anchor for the night as it was twenty minutes to sunset.

Dropped some Pigs Eye Pilsner (felt only appropriate) in the net and dropped it in the river to cool them off. Had a nice cold sandwich and a juice box and here I sit, having a brew on the river in my gently rocking boat. The cabin is small but super cozy now that it is organized, and I am rocking my Android tablet writing this post. Obviously it is easy to type on, as evidenced by the long post.

After the sun set it is quite cool and no bugs to be found. Awesome.

Now to read some pirate adventures by Michael Crichton as darkness falls and the birds in the trees coo me to sleep. It is going to be an early morning to make up for lost time.

More photos in my Picasa Albums
https://picasaweb.google.com/robert.craig/AfterYouDownriver?feat=directlink

After You - Up North

2011-05-29T22:55:00.002-05:00

The whole family went out to Mantrap lake and had a wonderful cruise. Even got to see some Pelicans and Terns! The kids spent most of the time reading, but Jill and I had a nice time sightseeing. It was chilly and cloudy, but a lovely trip.

We also tested out the new underwater camera. At full speed it's no fun, but at low trolling speeds it's quite interesting. Next step: hook up something that will record the video..
After a long day of off and on rain I got to take her out for a later evening cruise. Bliss.

First outing of the year on the After You

2011-05-26T22:36:00.003-05:00

The "gear locker" with new hanging straps -- possibly the most useful additions to the boat.

I also got a new battery box. Exciting, huh?

We went to Calhoun, Isles, and Cedar lake. Didn't quite make Brownie, as I wasn't confident the battery would get us there and back. It had a long year last year.
The first mate checks the camera. It's temporary henna tattoos on her arms -- we're not horrible parents. :)

Amon Tobin

2011-04-22T00:03:00.002-05:00

Listened to "Out from out where" by Amon Tobin on my walk home today and was constantly struck by how comfortable I am with his combination of noises. A couple times

I was thinking about how discordant and chaotic his music is, but it felt really right. I've

only seem him live once, but it was a really great show. It's fun to find an electronic

artist who can recreate and improve on their music live. He definitely can.

So here are a few of his tunes that really strike me.

Verbal - There are times in my life when I have what I call a "mental virus" -- it's like

being sick with a simple virus, but it's mental. I know, hard to explain, but this video

sounds like it feels on the more manic side:

The videos are quite good, as well. Enjoy this, and welcome to my brain:

Finally, if ever there was a soundtrack to my life, I think this would be a good example of how well Amon Tobin matches:

Charizard Pokemon Pillow

2011-04-14T20:21:00.001-05:00

This pillow is for Eli. Finally got it stuffed!

Dusting off the After You

2011-04-08T11:43:00.004-05:00

This weekend I'm bringing the boat home. After a long winter in a garage in Saint Paul, it's time to work on some fitting out of the cabin and yearly spring maintenance. Excited to see how well she held out over the winter. I've stopped by a couple times to check on her but it's different getting into the actual sunlight..

Bring out your boats!

2011-03-31T18:11:00.001-05:00

Navigation season opens on Upper Mississippi

Nintendo 3DS Gamebang

2011-03-31T13:52:00.002-05:00

I got a Nintendo 3DS portable gaming system this week, and it's really cool. I'm not going to say too much about what it does, but I have an idea about one of it's cooler features.

It's called Streetpass, and it's a genius marketing move. When you come near another person with a 3DS and they have Streetpass enabled, the two consoles exchange a bit of information. At it's most basic level you "get" the person's Mii, or avatar in your collection. Collecting more Mii's allows you more points/abilities in some of the built in games, and that's kinda neat.

But what's even cooler? Some 3DS titles have Streetpass content. So if you have Nintendogs and walk past someone else who does (and it's based on the save file, not the actual game being in the machine, or even running) you find out about their pet. The next time you take your dog for a walk (regardless of whether that person is around anymore) you may see their dog. It can also unlock features and additional abilities in games.

In short (too late!), the more save games you have on your system, the more additional content you can get. And even if you don't have the game anymore, it'll be available if you do get the game in the future. See where I'm going? The more different games save files you have, the more you get. Not to mention the fact that anyone else you interact with gets something out of the deal down the road. My friend has Street Fighter, but I don't. If we meet, he doesn't get anything. If I have a save file for Street Fighter (and don't own the game, don't even want to) and we meet, he can get bonus stuff.

So it's in the best interest of all 3DS owners to have the biggest collection. So that's where the 3DS gamebang comes in. Plan an event, invite all your 3DS having friends, and get together for an hour or so. Everyone brings their games and shares them around. You all end up with save files, you all share your Mii's for the Mii Plaza, and everyone leaves happy.

Who's up for it?

Blades of March Skating Competition

2011-03-17T23:33:00.001-05:00

Lily's first skating competition -- it went really well!

Skiing!

2011-01-19T22:02:00.004-06:00

Kids these days, I tell ya. Eli comes home one day and announces that they have a field trip coming up. Skiing. Someone decided it was a good idea to take these tiny little children skiing? Ski they did. And from what I hear it was a roaring success. Eli came home with a new sport.

We signed him up for lessons at Hyland. I took him the first week and wanted to get him all set up properly so I didn't plan on skiing. Spent the whole time wishing I had the right gear so I could get on the slopes.

Hyland is considerably larger than Como (where we grew up on Ski slopes) with more than one slope and more than just one rope tow. For Minnesota, it's a great city ski spot and lots of fun. Eli has had three lessons now and was signed off on the basic course and if he wants more lessons it'll be at a (basic) advanced level. The instructor and supervisor were both really impressed that he did so well, especially since he's only been skiing five times! I just explain that by saying he's a Craig. :) And it's thrilling to find something Eli likes to do this much. Again, a Craig.

I'm excited about this new chapter in the Craig Skiing Scrapbook.

It's been so long since I'd been skiing. There were a few things that strike me:

When did skis stop being pointy?
I don't have a problem with snowboarders, but why do they all sit down in the middle of the slopes?
WOW there are a lot of opportunities for people to ski now. I don't think there's a handicap anymore that would prevent someone from getting on the slopes. The blind skiiers were a bit of a surprise, but they really do quite well!
Dad. I keep saying things to Eli that came straight out of my Dad's mouth. So many points that I totally "get" now. (Yes, ropes are better because they keep you warmer, lifts just make you cold. Bring your own sandwiches. Sweat is the enemy. Don't just go straight down the hill. Use poles. Colder means less people on the slopes.)
Why doesn't anyone use poles anymore? Seriously!
Lacking moguls, all hills are the bunny hill. Some are just steeper than others.

We're having a lot of fun. I'm having a lot of fun. It's good to be back.

eBlots - cut rate internet therapy!

2011-01-04T22:28:00.007-06:00

eBlots is back, kinda.

I'm working on porting the web site over to an app for Android, and thought it would be fun to put the site online for a bit in order to test it and gather some samples.

Fine, I'll explain. I suppose it was ten years ago. TEN YEARS. I don't know how that happened. Anyway.. I was working at Plural, and I had a Palm of some sort. Probably a Palm V, which was of course the best and coolest Palm *ever*. And whenever I had a moment of boredom I'd just draw a little doodle and save it. We'd been light on work (closed later that summer) and I'd been churning out ridiculous little web sites (guidsquirt, flarben, etc.) and coming up with some interesting ideas. eBlots was one of them. Just the idea of Rorschach charts and sharing opinions...

So I whip up eblots.. (no, I still don't know if it's eblots or eBlots) Dropped the link on a site or two but really just enjoyed doing it. Was fun coding, fun drawing the doodles, and most of all fun to put my comment in daily and see what other folks thought.

Yahoo sites of the week, mention on CNN news, many many many linkblogs, and lots of traffic. I'd promised never to put ads on it, and I'm still glad I did that. The couple hundred dollars I might have made wouldn't have been worth the thought that I kept it "pure" -- although I did open a cafepress store if folks wanted a t-shirt or something. :) I got to watch 1400 connections pour in at one moment and that was a lot of fun -- even handled the volume! Woo!

It was a lot of fun, and after a while it sort of petered out. After the year anniversary the images rolled over and somehow, as unbelievable as it sounds, a couple folks complained about the "reruns" -- what a memory! Eventually I retired it and stopped paying for the domain.

It's one of the few sites I'm really proud of because I enjoyed it and it was enjoyed by other folk.

So now I'm building a version for Android phones(*). Maybe I'll let someone write an iPhone version if I get a cut of the profits. Just kidding! eblots will always be free.

So if you want to hit the site you can play along and see a new image every day, comment on it, and see what other people thought...

The Lying Down Game

2011-01-04T13:39:00.005-06:00

These pics are a couple months old, but we were at the cabin and I had mentioned the silly "lying down" game to the kids. They took the camera and dove right in...

The Lying Down Game

by the kids

(Before you ask, just remember -- we're Craigs.)

Marting Luther King Jr Dog Park

2010-12-17T09:36:00.002-06:00

No, I'm not talking about the Minneapolis neighborhood kerfuffle. I'm not even a dog person. But I noticed something. There are three dog parks NAMED for Martin Luther King Jr. around the country:

Martin Luther King Jr Park Dog Park in Corvallis OR
Martin Luther King Field and Dog Park in Sausalito, CA
Martin Luther King - West Oakland Dog Park in Oakland CA

And then there are more on streets named for the undeniably great man:

Off Leash Dog area in Golden Gate Park on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive
Sam Smith Park dog park on Martin Luther King Jr. Way in Seattle, WA
Thomasville Dog Park on Martin Luther King Drive, in Thomasville GA

That search took a couple minutes, tops. There must be more. I can't help but wonder if their communities embraced or rejected these memorials.

GUIDSQUIRT

2010-12-08T09:08:00.002-06:00

http://fnirt.com/guidsquirt

Long story. Many years ago I was working the web development world at a consulting company. It was a great group of folks, both technical and non-technical. Occasionally a bit of geekiness would show up in meetings and the business folk didn't always "get it." In one such meeting the idea of using GUIDs for something was brought up, and the concept of the GUID would have to be explained. Even after the explanation one of the business people made some comment about using GUIDs sparingly, lest we "run out" of them.

Being the wiseacre, I had to take that comment a couple steps (ok, miles) further. Thus GUIDSQUIRT was born. It's a site dedicated to wasting GUIDs. Flagrant misuse and disrespect for the remaining supply of GUIDs!

A site was cobbled together and given the timeframe of this idea (.com boom anyone?) we took out a domain name -- guidsquirt.com. There was even some talk of a store in which you could buy t-shirts, but I think the fact that each shirt couldn't have a dynamically generated GUID killed that idea. After a number of years I got tired of dropping $x for a goof-off domain and let it go.

But people keep asking about GUIDSQUIRT. So here it is.

(I'm building an Android app based on the concept now. So you can waste GUIDs in your pocket all day long.. Stay tuned for further developments)

P.S. Waste ~~not, want not.~~:

Waste! Waste! Waste!

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

OPP, my favorite technical creation

2010-11-18T14:25:00.006-06:00

This is a web application I wrote in November of 2001

(click ^that^ link to see it)

Technical Information: The application backend is Active Server Pages (something of a precursor to .Net) on a Windows server. Images were originally captured with a Bell + Howell BH10 mini digital camera. They were then processed by accessing a Photoshop DLL via ASP and applying filters 'charcoal' or 'cutout' -- the original goal was just to see if I could apply Photoshop actions to images dynamically via ASP. Turns out, I could! In the end it was pretty precarious and wouldn't be very efficient in a production environment, but for post-processing via an administration page, it worked quite well. You would import the latest images and the interface would present you with the the same image filtered in each of the filters. Click on the image that seems "right" and it gets added to the mix. The other filtered image is tossed. Think Rorschach Photo Editing.

Personal Information: Two months after 9/11 I was working in a job I didn't feel comfortable in -- at a company I couldn't stand. Because it was the only job available. I had just spent part of a summer job hunting having been laid off in a bad economy before 9/11 happened. I would take the bus to and from work, go through the motions and act like a grownup. There was no challenge, no technical peers, an petty corporate culture. I hated it.

Our son was almost two at this point and had been slowly focusing from "screaming toddler" to "communicating child" but that was new. I felt like I didn't know what I was doing and got mixed feedback from the boy. Endless hours spent at toddler playgrounds just sitting there waiting and watching. Don't get me wrong, I loved him (and still do) more than life itself. And my lovely wife is wonderful and supportive, but this was not the best time of my life. Lots of days mix together, some pretty good, some horribly bad. Almost a decade later and these pictures in this application are an exact image of my memories of the time. Some vague and colorful, some gray and dirty. But few very clear, many confusing and uncomfortable.

It's not one of my most advanced technical projects, but it's one that I come back to from time to time to revisit and feel some feelings and realize how things change, how things are good, how things are bad, and how things just .. are. So this is my most successful project on a personal level. Just thought I'd share it.

Classic: ASCII Flaming Plural Logo

2010-11-18T14:15:00.003-06:00

This commercial came out when I was working at a "B2B Web Architecture and Content blah blah blah" consulting company. To it's credit, it was actually a pretty good one until the bottom fell out of the market.

It was also about the time I was really getting my ASP on. (Active Server Pages, web stuff.) We would joke about various things here and there and every once in a while a mini-project would spin off. This was one of them. The joke was that someone would want more than just a flaming logo, etc.

So the challenge was:

"Can you make a flaming logo but not use graphcs?"

The answer was:

Yes. Yes I can.

(p.s. No, it's not optimal, yes it's a crap hack job, no it doesn't matter.)

TNR 11/9/10 - Bridges!

2010-11-10T10:01:00.003-06:00

Update: ampers did a really cool piece on the Bridges of Hennepin county! It's only 90 seconds, click on it!

Every bridge that crosses the Mississippi within the beltway! That's 18 if you didn't know already. Those are the "shore to short vehicle allowed, distinct" bridges. We have a pretty high standard. If you just counted the number of times you went over a land to land span it would have been 38. Not too shabby!

I was running two mapping applications and Tom was running a third. It was an interesting experiment to see the different options. These are all Android apps, BTW.

Instamapper (Application name: GPS Tracker)

Pros: Always on so it's easy to define start and end points, simple web interface,

Cons: Not highly configurable, not a lot of statistics available

GPS tracking powered by InstaMapper.com

EveryTrail (as reviewed by Tom)

Pros: Seems to be very robust in the current version, allows you to either see the map or see overall statistics as you're going, the display interface for afterward is pretty solid, it seems to prioritize the data collection such that whatever might be going on with the phone, it gets the data anyway

Cons: It can be slow to respond to input, can't see both the map and stats at the same time, display interface on their website uses flash, which I hate

9 Nov TNR

EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking near Minneapolis, Minnesota

Google MyTracks

Pros: Lots of display information, super easy upload to My Maps, quite accurate despite GPS quality

Cons: Hard to tell if you're recording, stats good but don't filter obvious GPS errors, have to remember to start and stop recording. :)

View TNR - Bridges! in a larger map

I think it all comes down to what your needs and personal opinions are. None of these are rubbish, and for certain needs some of them are stellar. But I don't think there is a consensus or best practices for what a navigation recorder needs to be. Someday...

Mississippi Cruising

2010-11-07T21:13:00.007-06:00

GPS tracking powered by InstaMapper.com

Yes, I know it's not *really* the upper Mississippi, but it is if you're talking about the river within the beltway.

The original plan involved lots of charts, maps, schedules, complicated drop off and pick up, and an actual timetable. Unfortunately that got delayed until next spring, but I had a couple hours and a desire to go boating.

I headed for Boom Island. I had never been there but the images of the landing looked promising. I was not disappointed. Nice smooth pavement ramp, steep enough to get the trailer wet without much trouble, but not so slick I have to worry about the car getting stuck. Ample parking (when there are no events, obviously) and a very short walk from parking to landing are always a bonus.

Just off the ramp is a small rectangular pool that looks as if it normally has a couple piers in it. Really nice to have smooth, calm water for launching, especially on a river! I floated a bit while prepping the boat once I got it on the water and got the engine running. I usually use the electric trolling motor for "impulse power" before and after trailering, and this was an excellent place for it.

I didn't have any detailed maps, just the GPS maps, but I had studied this section of the river from Boom Island up to Coon Rapids. I would motor upriver for 3/4 of my time on the water and back downriver for the last 1/4. Or so.

The motor pushed me upriver quite nicely at about 3 or 4 mph. I didn't mind the noise so much, but when you're on a river you have to pay a LOT more attention to what you're doing. Between the eddies, the debris in the water, and the other river traffic it can get pretty busy.

I did get the chance to see some interesting sights on the river. There was even a cute little shanty/house boat docked at a house. They also had a huge houseboat looking thing, but I'm pretty sure it would get through the bridges upriver or the locks downriver.

When you're on the river you get to see a lot of things that you don't see from the streets:

I had no idea that was where garbage trucks lived.

The river definitely has some character to its current. I'd love to have a really clear understanding of what exactly is on the river bottom at any given point. The swirling vortex of doom in the picture above is a common sight. Quite often it means there is a wing dam down there somewhere, but I have a feeling it could also indicate other obstructions or imperfections underwater. These and other less visible currents can make the boat wiggle side to side, drift slowly in a lateral direction, or even surge forward suddenly. It's not a major issue, but it absolutely affects how attentive you must be to minor course corrections.

This trip was also my first sighting of a barge/tow vessel underway. I'm glad it was a small one. The wake it kicks up is obviously a big one, but if you quarter nose into it you cut right through it. What I didn't expect was the "echoing" of the wake off the shores. For a while the water gets choppy and unpredictable as the wake bounces around on itself. Fun!

I had been setting something on the phone/gps and hadn't been looking ahead for about a minute when I looked up and saw barges bearing down on my fairly quickly. I had a lot of time to get off to the side, but it was a very vivid reminder to Always Pay Attention! I had topped off the fuel tank just minutes before (a distracting activity) and will take more care to move to the edge of the river, anchor well, and be ready for anything coming up or down river.

Again, you see things on the river that sometimes surprise. This drain pipe was just sticking out over the water, ready to dump whatever may come. I'm sure it's a storm drain or something like that, but when I think of the dirt, fuel, tar, junk, litter, chemicals, etc. on a regular street just dumping straight into the river it makes me wonder just how nasty it is way down south. It just gives one pause.

Just before the Camden bridge is a railroad bridge with a rather threatening sign on it. I was curious to know what a hazardous channel was -- I'm assuming it just indicates the end of the navigable dredged channel. Unfortunately, the current between the quite wide bridge supports picked up quite a bit. By the time I crossed over the "wake" from the bridge and started to pass beneath it the boat had slowed to a stop. I could maintain position with the motor, but it just wouldn't get past. I was going through the middle of the channel, and I suppose I may have had better luck on the sides, but decided I'd had enough and would have to explore this further some other day.

Popped back downriver quickly and found myself having to hold my hat on. I think it was more of a headwind than a wind from the crazy 9-11mph speeds. Trailering up and getting home was wonderful due to the landing, and I called it a short but successful day.

Random things:

The "wellingtons" Jill got me for our anniversary were wonderful! Dry feet even when standing in ankle deep water at the landing!
The river was quiet and I saw very few people, which was nice
I rarely touched the motor handle and steered mostly by shifting my weight on the pilot's bench. A controller for trim would be nice but not needed.
Still need a device for holding stuff on topdeck, and would like a phone charging adapter onboard as well.

More photos available here

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

2010-10-29T23:13:00.002-05:00

When I was in the Marines in California, the movie "Always" was playing at the base theater. I'm not one to go to restaurants or movies alone, but for some reason I went to this one alone. I had heard good things about it and wanted to see it. So I went. This song plays a key role in the movie and Holly Hunter connects with it and really makes it memorable. I loved the movie and the story and the actors (Dreyfuss, come ON!) -- it's an underrated movie. Go find it and watch it. Oh and John Goodman is hilarious and has shows some serious acting chops.

A couple years later I'm still a Marine, but living in Korea as a linguist. I'm detached from my unit for the summer to study at the University and that puts me in Seoul. I had a couple favorite bars I'd go to and just hang out. I had never really hung out at a bar regularly before -- alone, that is. I would sit at the bar and drink bad Korean beer and chat with the bartenders.

One of the two bars was deep in the military/tourist area. The bartender was a young woman who always smiled. She would chat with me and when I got something wrong she'd smile a huge smile of someone who was happy to help but also a little embarrassed by the error. When I went out once with my class we went there and they loved it. That's where I heard the best riddle about cigarettes from a Korean who grew up in Nepal. Those were some strange days.

Another was a bar much further up the hill on the edge of the bright lights, but it was a smaller, quieter bar. The bartender there was an older lady who was really nice and helped me with my conversational skills. If she was serving someone and accidentally chipped the beer bottle opening it she'd give it to me. Yeah, I know, but it was free beer. I would occasionally request this song and she'd happily play it.

So whenever I hear the song I think about two times when I was alone in my life but happy to be so. And I see those people, those bars, that theater. It's not major, nor is it earth-shattering, but it's very nice.

Photo Albums all caught up!

2010-10-21T15:30:00.002-05:00

My online photo albums are all caught up. There were various albums here and there that never got captioned, etc. Flip through the calendar and enjoy!

TNR

2010-10-19T21:25:00.004-05:00

Tonights route:

Cold, but a nice ride nonetheless. And we saw the pedal pub! As for the map, I'm really grooving on Google Tracks.

View TNR in a larger map

After You - Mississippi River

2010-10-16T10:15:00.006-05:00

The After You is a river cruiser. And we live near the Mississippi. We cross it weekly, the land "Up North" is by the source of the river. I've read Twain and various travelogues of folks who have gone down the river in canoes, bass boats, riverboats and more. I've read the history of the river and the lands around it. To say I am drawn to the Mississippi is a safe bet. I built the boat with the Namekagon in mind, but it didn't take long for me to turn my sights to the Mississippi.

After the success with the Namekagon I wanted to try something bigger. The plan was simple: Jill drops me at Hidden Falls and picks me up a couple hours later at Lilydale. It was decided the night before that Lily wouldn't be joining me on the first Mississippi run. Everyone wanted to know if I could make it. I'm not really sure what they thought would happen..

Launching went well and I headed UP river! The motor seemed quieter given that the river was a bit wider. It's possible the current was less than the Namekagon, but I'm not sure. I moved upriver at a walking pace that might not lend itself to long upriver trips, but certainly affords enough speed that I don't feel like I'm completely at the mercy of the current. I made it up to be able to see the lock and dam - but I certainly wasn't going to try locking on my first trip out.

The upper portion of the river was fairly busy with everything from motorboats to Caddyshack-sized yachts.

Wakes on passing boats were an early concern, but eventually became just another part of the ride. I got pretty good at taking the waves right on the bow corners and we slipped right through them. There is some side to side rocking but nothing alarming. I headed downriver and eventually got to the Minnesota river "riverlets" down by Fort Snelling State Park. The Minnesota really does dump a ton of mud and silt into the river. You can literally see the color change. It's a bit disturbing.

When I got to the main channel of the Minnesota I headed up. The current was stronger, so I wasn't making much progress. Combine that with the additional twigs, sticks, branches and logs coming down at me I figured I'd wait til I ran out of gas and turn around when that happened. When it did indeed I dropped anchor and refilled the tank with the auxiliary gas can and headed back down. I anchor from the rear, so it aims me downriver automatically. Handy.

After fighting the current upriver the trip down felt like I was flying. The power of the motor is just enough that I can steer by simply shifting my weight, so it felt a bit like I was surfing down the river. Really felt connected to the current somehow. Nice.

Coming up the river was the Anson Northrup, one of the Paddleford packet fleet. I rang my bell at them and they were literally cheering at me. It was a lot of fun, and nice to see one of the old-style boats on the river.

Had the opportunity to see barges, but no towboats. I can wait on that. They're big, wakey, and can be dangerous.

Near the landing was this shanty-looking boat. It's been there for weeks and I thought it might be storage, but there was smoke coming from the stack, and later on I noticed movement on the boat. Was too far away to see well by then.

I like how the river seems forgotten and how remote and "old" it feels. These old pilings had some pretty intimidating signs on them, but looked quite old.

I landed with time to spare and spent some time with (yes, of course) the traditional "old man come to look at the boat" and his daughter. They were actually visiting from down south, so it was interesting to wonder what they thought about these crazy Minnesotans.

Found some pretty large paw prints in the mud. They didn't look like dog prints, but what do I know? Just prefer to think it was some sort of mountain lion or something.

Taking out went well, though I had to have Jill sit on the hood of the car to make sure we didn't slip the wheels on that stinky Mississippi mud! The next time I pulled the boat I could still smell it even though it was dried and caked a bit on the trailer tongue. Beautiful, beautiful stinky.

Can't wait to go on a longer trip!

More photos here

(I'm already planning to take the After You down the river to the Pepin Messabout in June. Sweet!)

TNR

2010-10-12T22:25:00.002-05:00

The GPS didn't pick up the signal until we were near Nokomis. Did a reverse Grand Rounds ending at the Coffee shop. Sadly, they changed their hours. Happily, we found a BETTER one around the corner. And it has beer, even!

After You - Namekagon

2010-10-09T17:07:00.004-05:00

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When I was young my father used to take us on canoe trips on the Namekagon river. We went with the Boy Scouts, we went with friends, we even went with some teachers from my school! I don't know how many times I went down that river, but I have a lot of fond memories. When he died there was talk of his ashes going in the river, but it was decided that some seedlings from the memorial tree we planted for him would be a better contribution to the area.

Many years later I have taken my family down the Namekagon on day canoeing outings. Rather, my wife motivated us all to go. I was so happy that she shared our love for that river! While the stretches we've come to know are up a bit upstream from where the canoe trips were, it's absolutely the same river. Winding, narrow with lots of sand bars and a seclusion that makes you feel like you really are out in the "the wild and the wooly" as my dad used to say.

So when I built the boat I did so with the Namekagon in mind. When I tell people it's a minimalist river cruiser I always add "think canoe trips without the tent!" Launching the boat on the river was very exciting and I was thrilled, to say the least. Launching on a river was a new experience, but lessons were learned pretty quickly. It was also one of the first launches with the newly refitted trailer. I could walk out on the skids and she slid right in easy as can be. I hopped in and ran the electric motor to get her out into the river so I could start the outboard motor in deeper water.

The motor fired up quite nicely (once I opened the fuel valve) and I headed up river. Jill took the kids and the car/trailer to the other end and got a ride back up with the canoe outfitter and a rental canoe. Meanwhile, I headed upriver. The new motor took me against the current nicely, but not really "fast" by any stretch of the imagination. And it was loud. I was used to the electric, so blowing upriver with the outboard running seemed sacrilegious.

I turned around and headed back down to the launchpoint just as Jill and the kids were re-arriving. I pulled the outboard and went on electric for the rest of the trip. It was all I needed to keep my direction and keep up with the canoe. I was able to pass them and move ahead, but kept them in front of me as much as possible. I didn't want to be fighting a current sideways and worry about them coming up on me from astern.

It was a lovely trip, and waters were high enough that I grounded out only once and not even very much. An oar pushed me over the sandbar. The "rapids" we did see were minor and easily handled. I was happy to know she could make it through a bit of bubbly water, though I did ride one rock all the way down her and waited to see if it would take out her transom. It didn't. Didn't even scratch up the hull, just the skegs a little.

We stopped for a picnic lunch on a sandbar and I channeled my father by scrutinizing the maps. Eli wasn't feeling well, so he transferred into the After You for the last half of the trip.

As it happens, he also became the first person to sleep aboard the After You while underway. I had a nap in it on the trailer once, but that's another story.

Taking her out was fairly easy, attracted the usual "old man" come to look at the boat. It did rain for a bit while Jill brought the car to the landing, but Eli slept through it and I enjoyed being out in the rain -- with no serious clouds in sight!

Notes for future trips:

Downstream only, like the canoes do. No need to prove anything anymore
A little higher water level would be ok, but it was doable.
Less rocks, more width. The Saint Croix past Riverside landing, maybe
Next time: Camping in the boat!
Awesome!

More photos here

Durutti Cab for Star Wars

2010-10-07T22:40:00.000-05:00

When I went to see Star Wars with my father, I remember saying it was the Best Movie Evar! I distinctly recall him saying it was a good "B dogfighting movie" and I had to ask what a B movie was. And what a dogfight was. In my defense, I was seven.

He was right, of course. But it astounded me that he could NOT be blown away by the Best Movie Evar, regardless. And I'm sure he chuckled to himself and thought about the excitement of experiencing something for the first time and thinking it's the best. Your first love is always your most intense, right?

When someone says something like "Death Cab For Cutie is the Best Music Evar!" I say it's good music, but emo's been around since punk, really. I bled my adolescent depressive wounds to the tune of Joy Division, This Mortal Coil, and the Durutti Column. And that whole discussion is what tells me I've grown old.

In both stories we have generational disagreements, and will always have those disagreements, with one exception:

Star Wars was indeed the Best Movie Evar.

After You - Harriet (night)

2010-10-01T17:07:00.003-05:00

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The Twilight Hours were playing at the Lake Harriet band-shell one Friday night, and Jill was going to take the kids to the concert which I putted around on the lake. I got my lights hooked up and arranged in a much safer and more efficient manner than I had before, and they worked great. Launching solo was easy and I got to hear the soundcheck while I did it. When Jill and the kids arrived I met them at the dock and said hi, but nobody wanted to ride. That was just fine by me, as I really enjoyed going out into the inky darkness and being out there all alone on the boat I made for myself. Not even scary!

By the time the music came on it was full dark and without the lights of the bandshell and surrounding paths and lots navigating would have been difficult, but it was easy with them. Next time I'll bring the 2 million candlepower spot, just in case.

Taking the boat out was ok, although folks were trying to go through the boat landing to leave after the concert, which was annoying, but dealt with. I look forward to taking the boat out after dark again some time!

More photos here

TNR

2010-09-28T22:25:00.002-05:00

A Saint Paul ride without a GPS, I don't have a map. But we wandered Saint Paul quite a bit. At Calvary cemetary Matt's scoot stopped working. After a bit of fiddling Tom bodged up a classic rig which solved the issue. All I know is it involved a wire, grounding, and something about the seat.

After You - Keller

2010-09-25T17:07:00.003-05:00

(I didn't turn on the GPS until we were halfway through the ride.)

Gervais Lake on a beautiful September afternoon. After launching from Spoon Lake, the little bubble in the middle of the map, we headed north.

Lily, my awesome first mate, apparently heard there was a cold front moving in. She was bundled up and as it turned out that wasn't so bad. Sunny, but cool. Here she's enjoying a mid-cruise snack. We like to have snacks on the boat.

One of the many reasons for going out this time was to try out the new motor! It's a Gamefisher 3.5hp motor I picked up used and cheap. She fired up quite nicely and pushed us around the lakes on just a splash of gas. Her top speed wasn't quite 10mph (ok, by a couple) but it ran solidly. It has twice the power of the electric, but there's a lot less "give" - so when that prop spins, it spins! No slowing down for hills! As a result the push is considerably stronger. In fact, it's fast enough that "steering by weight" really comes into play. By standing in my usual spot in the cockpit and just shifting my weight left and right, I can get the boat to turn left or right by degrees. If I walk to one side of the boat I can get a strong turn out of it, without even adjusting the motor. Quite nice not to have to keep a hand back there. I am always within reach of the motor, however, and understand the risks. So don't start.

The motor is loud, so conversation on the boat dwindled. Lily eventually ended up doing some reading and hanging out in the cabin.

After the last bridge passing into Keller Lake, I let Lily try her hand at navigating the boat using the electric motor. She can't do much damage, and I was Right There in case she needed help. But I think she enjoyed it, and when she's legally old enough to drive a boat I'll let her take over a whole cruise. For now it's stolen moments like these to keep her interest!

We spotted a few birds and the electric motor let us get fairly close. We were going to try and get around the island in Keller Lake, but there's a walking bridge that we wouldn't have been able to clear - by inches!

All in all a wonderful expedition, the motor worked great, and launching/recovery both went quite smoothly.

TNR

2010-09-22T11:26:00.002-05:00

A lovely if not a little chilly ride. Tom clocked it at a bit longer than the GPS indicated, but at least the speeds look good. :) It's getting later in the summer so the rides are ending in the dark. Makes for a completely different experience, and will affect how and where we ride.

We ended at Cafe Latte in Saint Paul and had some really good food.

TNR 9/7/10

2010-09-14T22:45:00.013-05:00

TNR

2010-09-14T22:25:00.002-05:00

Lack of inspiration made for an improvised ride. Lora was hungry for Spaghetti, so we decided to make that our goal. Ended up driving around a lot looking for a proper Italian restuarant but ended up at Galactic Pizza. They did have 3-d a menu but did not have spaghetti.

Blister Run 2010

2010-09-08T22:20:00.002-05:00

1 Ride
2 Capitols
3 Nights
4 States

Thursday through Sunday I'm abandoning the family and heading out on the open road with my wild posse of scooter friends. Ok, maybe not wild. But I'll be gone. If you want to know about our progress, just scroll to the bottom of this page and look at the instamapper location. Should be just about live.

I'll likely be posting pictures at the end of the day to Facebook. Or I might blow that off and not update anything. But Facebook is where it's at if it's at at all.

We usually go through Duluth at some point (and hit the Hammond in Superior) on these trips (this is our 6th year) but this year we're heading south. Madison WI, Galena IL, Dubuque IA, back up the river. It's a moderately loose plan, but it has a lot of miles and nobody will believe we "rode those things all this way" just like always.

See you in ~700 miles..

After You - Mantrap Lake

2010-09-05T17:06:00.003-05:00

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For our second outing Up North it was decided that Mantrap and it's connected lakes might be interesting. Were they! Grandpa lent me his battery as a backup, which was good as mine was apparently not fully charged. As a result we got down the lake, through a channel and into another lake when the motor slowed. I swapped batteries and headed back. Ended up using all of our alloted time doing that, however. So we didn't lose much travel in the process. But it just gave me a taste of the lakes and their potential.

Hanna and Eli were along for the ride and halfway we had the traditional candy bar snack. It was cloudy, threatened rain just a little, but never did.

Given the beautiful landing (with dock!) and parking area, not to mention the core beauty and length of the lakes -- I will definitely be back! And next time I'll bring the new gas motor, which should give me a much, much longer range. Can't wait!

More photos here

After You - Lake George

2010-09-04T17:06:00.003-05:00

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Our first outings on Lake George were a success. Launched at the public landing across the lake and Jill and niece Brooke and I took the boat across to the dock on the land. Lovely. Brooke didn't speak the whole time, but she did get a chance to sample some of the books in the After You'd children's collection. First mate Lily maintains that.

You can see the newly installed curtains. They're a hack job but meant to be placeholders for the real ones. I really wanted to get the curtain up under the lantern so I could keep junk in the bow and not worry that it looked messy. Ship shape!

Later that afternoon I took Lily and niece Hanna out on a ride. We discovered a previously unnoticed bay, saw at least three eagles waaaay up in the sky, Loons, and had a lot of fun. Lily introduced Hanna to the joys of sitting in the "front spot" that she enjoys so much.

More photos here

After You - Bear lake

2010-08-29T17:06:00.004-05:00

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An epic voyage. With a full battery I took the boat downlake to the channels which lead to the dam at the end of the lake. The goal was to see how far one can get on a single battery charge.

When my parents first got the cabin it came with a small motorboat and a 6 or 9 horse motor. Just enough for fishing. We once took the boat down to the end of the lake through the channels - rowing a bit, poling a bit, motoring a bit. Jim was in charge, I just remember thinking it was super awesome cool. We'd never been down there since. We took the latest, new, big motor speedboat down there this spring just me and my family, but only entered the channel and turned around. A taste to inspire.

So while I needed to know how far I could go, I also figured this would be a great opportunity to see how well the After You could manage in thick weeds, winding channels and an electric trolling motor. I was expecting every kind of trouble short of flipping or sinking. I came close.

Heading downlake was awesome. Another epic voyage across a massive sea -- well, it feels like that with a small motor on a good lake. Only took 45 minutes or so, if I recall correctly.

Entering the channel was exciting. The boat slipped through like it was built for it, and the motor was holding up just fine. Being near-silent, sneaking up on wildlife was a routine matter and this trip was no exception. I followed the Great Blue Heron down the channels for about half an hour. Every time I got closer he'd move down another hundred yards. On the way out I saw two of them together in the same spot. Sorry for spoiling your date, dude.

By the time I got to the second (last) bridge the battery was already running slower. I was tired of pulling it and dropping weeds off the prop - though that was really quite easy. All I had to do was bend over the motor a bit, tilt it forward, back, forward and then wait for the boat to drift over the massive pile of weeds I left behind. Once it cleared I dropped it and we were off again. Sometimes for another hundred feet, but more often just another ten feet.

I took a turn rowing through the weeds as well. I wanted to see how feasible that was, as well as preserve even a bit of battery. I was thrilled (but not surprised) to find the motor simply lost power gradually. If I turned it off for a bit it seemed to come back a bit stronger. But it definitely was starting to slow to a speed that wasn't completely efficient.

Under the last bridge there was some semi-submerged pilings and I decided that was enough to turn back and call it a success. Maybe I'll head down there again some time, but probably in the spring when the water is clearer. And operation "underwater cam" would really apply nicely here as well.

So I turn back and head back up through the weeds. But the time I got to the part of the channel which was fairly clear and just a long run up to the lake I was running short on travel hours. The plan was to call Jill from the boat radio and she'd come down in the big boat and give me a tow back up the lake as much as I needed it. It depending on the staying power of the motor, really. Cell phone was backup, as this was a bit of a stretch for the boat radio, as well.

The radio was barely getting static so I reached for -- oh wait, where's my phone? Console box, right. No... it's not there... Maybe I dropped it in the cabin. Not in there. Frantic search later and I'm realizing that my Super Awesome Nexus One Android Phone was lost at sea! Had I seen it go overboard I would have gone in headfirst after it. Looking at the GPS track later it appeared to be right by one of the bridges. I will go visit the spot from time to time as a memorial.

Finally got Jill on the radio as I coasted into range. All I had to do was cover about a hundred yards of channel, but it was uplake and into the wind. So I spent most of my power on keeping in the channel and out of the lilypads. Jill showed up and had to wait for me to limp out to her in the bay. We hooked her up to the big boat and we were towed up the lake at record speed. Well, record for the After You. Was kinda fun to see this wake behind her:

More photos here

After You - Bear Lake

2010-08-28T17:05:00.003-05:00

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An impromptu spin around the shore near the cabin as the girls went canoeing at dusk. Quiet, calm water, beautiful evening light and a full battery spinning me silently around as they canoe for a short while. More bliss.

More photos here

Evening family walk at the Lakes

2010-08-16T19:56:00.002-05:00

After You - Calhoun

2010-08-15T17:05:00.003-05:00

Jill dropped us off at the lake and we headed through Isles, Cedar, and finally to Brownie and back. Lily needed a pit stop on the way, so we stopped at the public beach on Cedar Lake for her to use the potty. There was a dock and everything!

Her entry in the ship's log has something to say about duckies.

The entrance to Brownie Lake is a culvert about 5 feet wide, which leaves us 6 inches or so on either side of the boat. But it's spooky cool!

After You - Long Lake

2010-08-14T17:05:00.002-05:00

Another Solo outing. Sadly, few pictures. Nice lake, going uplake was easy and fine. Wanted to see how far up the creek I could get. Made it to the first pool and it just got too shallow. It least now I know. :)

Downlake there were a lot more jetski and larger boats. Learned a lot about making it through wakes without slamming the hull into the next wave. Launch and retrieval went well for being alone.

After You - Bush lake

2010-08-11T17:04:00.004-05:00

My first solo cruise. Took a bit to find the lake, but the landing was a nice one. No dock, but it was concrete and had fair parking for the size. Lake has a motor limit of 6hp, which is good to remember.

It was a beautiful Wednesday evening and I got out on my own. It was at the time of day when the lake it like glass. Hot, however.

This is a dinner cruise. sammich from SuperAmerica, some pop, and a candy bar stashed somewhere. If you don't finish the sandwich...

... you feed the ducks.

Once I reached the end of the lake (upwind) I slid into the lilypads, pulled up the motor, and just hung out a bit. It was really hot, but there was an awesome breeze through the cabin. The wind took me slowly out of the lilypads and I headed back downlake. It was so nice to have a spell of just drifting with the sound of the water around. Peaceful!

The flag hardly moved in the light breeze, but just enough. That's also my captain's chair - a thin bench which will someday get some sort of cushion. It's removeable and can be placed on either side of the cockpit and used as a step.

There were a lot of birds and it was fun to see them take off as I plowed (slowly) through their landing zone.

Another beautiful evening.

The thermometer on my "dash" is notoriously high, but I think this might have been one of the more accurate readings!

Motor plugged along the whole time with no issues even though it was quite hot.

Little boat, big landing.

Yup. Hot!

After You - Twin Lakes

2010-08-04T11:05:00.005-05:00

Jill was visiting her folks for the weekend so I took the kids out on the boat. I found Twin lakes via google maps. The landing is not as well publicized as some others, so I call it the "secret" lake. It's up in Robbinsdale but you would think it was further out for all the wildlife. We saw a pair of eagles, a couple turtles, and more than a few locals. A great collection of small lakes, I intend to return for more exploring. I think we've seen it all by now, however.

This was also a test of my ability to launch and recover the boat all by myself. Lily helped a bit, but for the most part I feel comfortable doing the whole boat thing by myself. The trailer needs some work tweaking settings and benches, but I'm really excited about the concept of heading out for quick launches with just one kid or even alone!

Eli spent most of the ride in the cabin reading. He seemed to have a good time, regardless. He took a turn in the "bow seat" but that was mostly just to keep "even" with Lily.

Lily would spend the whole journey up in the front if she could. She sits with her back to the window and her feet in the front hatch - it's quite safe. She lets me know about obstacles and waves to other boats. She helped build this boat and really seems to love riding in it with me. She's an awesome first mate!

On our way back to the landing we discovered the bridge we passed under earlier was a railroad bridge! We passed about two feet under a moving train. Lily even got them to wave before we got to the bridge. Very exciting, but a bit scary. For me. She didn't even flinch.

Click here for the full Photo Album

A video:

After You - Calhoun and Isles

2010-07-29T22:01:00.005-05:00

Jill dropped me off in the evening as she took the kids to art class. I had three hours to putt about and explore the chain of lake. I'd always wanted to do this! You know that the lakes are connected, but until you actually get in there and go through the channels and under the bridges it's just not "real." I was not disappointed.

Between Cedar and Isles is a very long canal that passes some very nice homes. As I passed one of the last ones a guy ran out and took my picture. Every time someone takes a picture of the boat all I can think of is how to search the Internet for that image. Twitter? Flickr? Buzz? Still haven't found a serendipitous image of the boat. But I'll keep looking.

Between Cedar and Brownie lakes is a 50(?) foot long tunnel. I wasn't sure I'd make it, if it was deep enough, or what was on the other side. Weeds? Shallow? Bandits? But I made it through just fine. It was really cool to be under the roads like that, and when I got to Brownie I found a quiet little lake. There were some fishermen on it, but had they not been there it would have felt like I was the only boat in the world. I will return!

One of the fun elements between the lakes it being able to see all the graffiti. Love it or hate it - it's interesting at least!

When I returned to Calhoun I found it full of boats. Apparently I put in before the evening ramps up. The sailing school was going full swing and there were other sailboats out as well. Still don't like how they tack straight at you and then come about with no warning. I keep thinking they're going to cross my path - an indication would be nice.

I had a bit of time left and was concerned about my battery running out, so I anchored just off the Colorful playground and did some reading. Bliss.

Click here for the full Photo Album

A bit of video:

TNR

2010-07-27T22:25:00.002-05:00

One of those "on again off again" rides that is decided at the last second. Didn't end up raining, but we did get some pretty gnarly clouds just before we headed out.

TNR

2010-07-20T22:34:00.001-05:00

Another great TNR, good folks, good weather, good route. Oh and the Summit Belgian Wheat at Longfellow grill was amazing!

After You - Lake Harriet

2010-07-18T22:16:00.005-05:00

We were going to go out yesterday, but by the time the family dust settled the rain had begun. And today we were going to take the boat to the milk carton boat races put on by the Minneapolis Aquatennial, but logistics would have none of that. Lake Calhoun has a great ramp but crap parking, and given the activities of the festival we weren't very confident we'd find a place to park the car and the trailer combined.

So we headed to Lake Harriet, sure we could get good trailer parking. Turned out there was "old people music" in the park, so parking the trailer was a trick. But we managed. Popped the boat in the water easier than ever and tied up to the docks to prep the boat.

Lily and Grandpa guard the boat while I help Jill get the parking sorted. Walking from the lot to the dock I heard at least three "oh look at that boat!" comments -- all positive. But it was surely an indication of how the day was going to go. For someone who doesn't like talking to strangers, I sure do a lot of things to attract them.
We headed out onto the lake with the kids and Mother In Law on board. Lake Harriet is a round lake with no interesting outlets, inlets, bays, or bridges. So I spent most of my time trying to figure out which part of the circle had the least sailboats.

I knew there was talk of a lake monster on Lake Harriet, and had seen something on the other end of the lake a few days ago from shore. So I headed toward the typical "lake monster hangout" and warned the passengers to keep a sharp eye for monsters.

Eli sights something off the bow. You can just barely make out the "Nessie" type profile near the shore ahead!

As it happens the Minneapolis "Lake Creature" is a friendly one. We kept a bit of a distance, and I told the kids we could NOT land on it and explore it. Just in case.

Grandma Judy had a ride on the boat and was very patient. :)
After I dropped everyone off at the dock I motored out just off the swimming beach the kids were swimming at. I dropped anchor and headed in the cabin. This photo is from the cabin just before I laid down for a short bit. I also took the opportunity to post some pictures to Facebook. Nice! A very successful day. Taking her out of the water was as easy as dropping her in. Jill even did some trailer maneuvering!

I do so love my boat!

TNR

2010-07-14T00:02:00.001-05:00

Another great ride. Not too long, not too short!

TNR

2010-07-06T22:24:00.000-05:00

Ended at Punch, a pretty good ride, nice weather!

After You: Launched!

2010-07-03T13:11:00.001-05:00

The ship launched with great success! She handled, floated, steered, and powered exactly as I had hoped. Huge relief! More story and video and pix later..

After You: Ready for Launch

2010-07-01T21:23:00.001-05:00

A view almost as pretty as the boat herself -- a less than jam packed garage.

Trailer assembled and boat loaded. Took them on a road test tonight and they both performed on the road as hoped. We'll float her on Saturday up at Bear Lake.

After You - She's Official!

2010-06-25T11:37:00.001-05:00

TNR

2010-06-22T22:24:00.001-05:00

A longer ride, with a halfway stop at Connie's for ice cream!

Blister Camp 1 - 6/18/10 - 6/20/10

2010-06-22T11:20:00.009-05:00

Blister Camp

We (the Tuesday Night Ride) had been talking for some time about doing a camping trip, but like the TNR TNA it just hadn't happened yet. After a false start this spring we finally got a trip scrapped together. This is the telling of that story.

Executive Summary:

Rode to Saint Croix Falls
Rode Wisconsin "alphabet" roads for a day
Feasted
Camped
Rode Home
350 miles from group start to loss of quorum.
Tom, Uriah and I were the only campers, but it was great fun.

The whole story:

Heading North from Uriah's house, we had a route that would send us through Wyoming and then straight across "underneath" Forest Lake. It avoided some of the busier roads and afforded a new route in any area way too familiar to most of us. While we found spots of traffic and backed up lines of cars, it wasn't too bad. Once we got to Wyoming it was clear sailing all the way to Taylor's Falls.

Stopped for cheap but tasty burgers in Taylor's Falls. Felt more like we were about to start our journey than end it, as it only took two hours to get there.

Popped over to Interstate State Park in Wisconsin and checked in. The campground was full, so no switching sites, although we were told it was a lovely site. The ranger was a woman who edited the first book of the Dregni scooter books. So she was fun to talk to and never once called them mopeds. Although we admitted that we'd let her call them mopeds if it meant a discount.

Our site was a camper site in an area of tent sites. This meant there was a nice, flat area for setting up your camper. On gravel. While there was a small grassy area, Tom and I ended up setting up tents on gravel. It was also quite close. Our neighbors were 15 feet away on easy side, with little or no buffer between us. That said, we had no real problems with noisy naighbors which is incredible for the number of people in such a small area.

You can see how close our neighbors were

Once we were set up, it was time to get supplies. We needed water, beer, and wood. The in-campground woodseller had closed, so we headed out to town. Without going into the boring details, we had some serious issues finding alcohol. In Wisconsin. Strange, isn't it? So we ended up eventually finding a bar in which we could purchase off-sale. (We walked through a growing brawl at the Traprock Inn only to find they don't sell offsale.) The final bar didn't have any Leinie's left in cans, so we ended up with Pabst Blue Ribbon. We figured we could be ironic hipsters for the weekend.

Firewood was easily found, less easily packed on the scoots. Tom and I each had a bundle and ended up splitting them up on our scoots and wobbling back to camp. Lighting the fire proved far more of a challenge, but we eventually got it going. We didn't have any chairs (Uriah had a "butt triangle, but he wasn't sharing) so I built a small stool out of wood. It was quite useful, very comfortable, and the next night it burned quite well.

A brief walk to the water pump afforded us a bunch of water for morning coffee. It was pretty late, however and we didn't look too closely at it.

The three of us consumed more than a few PBR's because, after all, they're just water right? Irony. Turns out they actually do have more than just water in them, but it was fun nonetheless. We stayed up til 1:30 or something stupid like that. Discussions ranged from "darn kids nowadays" to the apocalypse, though I'm a little fuzzy on that last one.

The next morning was a bit hairy around the edges due to the PBR the night before, but I was pleasantly suprised with "Who would have thought that my Sleep Number is Gravel!" Uriah lent me a sleeping pad and I slept right next to it all night long. Go figure.

The water we pumped the night before turned out to be an iron-like shade of yellow. It was dubbed "Irony" water for the rest of the weekend, and wasn't bad for washing up. But pretty gross looking.

We had breakfast in Taylor's Falls, a typical high cholesterol affair. Tasty. The restroom immediately reminded me of a scene from Trainspotting, however. Headed out of town on the Wisconsin side heading up the "river road" towards Danbury. At one point we saw a sign with the universal "twisties ahead!" symbol and I thought to stop and take a picture, but we were all too excited to ride it. It kept getting narrower and narrower and I believe it was one of the nicest sidewalks I've ever ridden. Not too bumpy or sandy, just enough curvy to be lovely.

By the time we got up into the flatlands Uriah was having to stop to adjust a mirror quite a bit. We ended up stopping at a crossroads in the "middle o nowhere" and taking a wrench break. While Uriah and Tom messed with the mirror I took pictures of the beautiful landscape, listened to the birds (including the rooster in the barn down the road) and essentially floated happily in my new "happy place."

It was so nice to be out nowhere with no concept of time or goals. Just hanging out. Don't know if Uriah ended up feeling the same way, as he ended up pocketing the mirror for a later fix.

I've looked for information on the Manitou Lake School (1870-1875) and why someone would place such a memorial there, but can't find any. Hope to someday, as it seems odd for such a short time to be memorialized so long after.

We pulled into Danbury with a few drops of rain coming down, but for the most part we remained dry. It was cooler, almost cold. Having had a prediction of sunny and hot we were caught a bit off guard. I was the only one of the three of us who brought rain gear for the weekend. Can you believe that?

We skipped going to Forts Folle Avoine Historical Park up near Danbury as the day was already passing quicker than we thought it would. Took lettered roads down to Rice Lake. I was in the lead and had "X, B, H, B" running through my head so I could remember the sequence of roads. Turns out this is why I don't get songs stuck in my head while I ride. Although I did end up with Peaches' "aa xxx" going on by the time the buffer emptied out.

Just outside of Cumberland we hit a rumblestrip and my scooter just kept making the horrible rumble noise. Pulled over to find my exhaust had dislodged - a common Stella problem. Uriah had a wooden block and I had a hammer. Tom helped me line it up and they pounded it back on and he tightened it up nice and neat. We were stopped for maybe 5 minutes. I mentioned the close proximity of our cabin and how there were beds there that could be napped on, but nobody was buying. Time for sleep when we're dead. True mileage whores! Woo! We saw a fair number of roadkill, but the thing that struck me as odd were the number of foxes. I've barely seen a live fox up there, and to see multiple fox roadkill was surprising. We saw our share of puffy deer, as well.

By the time we got into Rice Lake it felt like the city again. Traffic, lights, cars. We made our way to the Norske Nook and Tom got his fabled "Lingonberry Apple" pie - as did Uriah. I went for what I thought would be a chocolate silk pie. Wasn't as good as I thought, but hey - I do like Jello pudding. We had a largeish lunch there as well. Tom's rib meal "wasn't what he thought but exceeded his expectations" and my reuben rocked the house. Uriah had a bit of a sausage problem with his vegetarian omelet. Bummer.

Straight back to St. Croix Falls on 8 was a bit of a grind. Long day was winding down but those last miles can be a bummer.

Greast Feast and Great Science

We stopped at the Marketplace on 8 near Saint Croix Falls for food and booze, and at the campground store for wood. We got an extra bit of wood since it could be a longer evening, and the wood you buy is so dry it burns quite fast. We burned all of the wood we bought, but it took some serious effort to burn everything - including my chair!

We had new neighbors across the road. An attractive young woman and her male partner. He did not seem to be in her "league" but we all took that as a sign that even doofuses like us are essential in the species, somehow. Someone made a joke about Austin Powers and tent silhouettes.

Tom boiled up our brats in Summit India Pale Ale on his cookstove and then grilled them on the fire. Uriah had some nice cheese and bean wraps and we all are until we were done. Coke and Jack Daniels was the drink of the night, and it was good that we purchased a whole 12 pack. We used most of it. Somehow the whole bottle of Jack went away in the course of the evening. And not much of it went on the fire.

I pulled out some compression towels and showed off their cool ability to expand into full sized washcloths when wetted. While everyone laughed at first, they were so refreshing when applied to the face that Tom and Uriah had a short contest of making inappropriate noises of joy. The towels were referred to as "cotten lozenges" for the rest of the weekend, and were again enjoyed in the morning. I can't say enough good about them.

At some point in the night the couple across the road retired to their tent and re-enacted the scene from Austin Powers. Turned out they were just reading. It was a little sad when they turned off their light. But that brought our attention to another tent further down the way in which it looked like they were doing acrobatics or something. Odd.

We were all waiting for 10pm so we could collapse, but ended up staying up past midnight again, but that was due to the fact that we were "doing science." What did we discover?

PBR does not extinguish fire
Coca-Cola does not extinguish fire, and spews scary thick liquids well after it dies
Jack Daniels is the anti-extinguisher and makes scariness, but fun.
"That's what she said" is actually a phrase used quite often in science. True fact.

Tom made espresso on his camp stove, and we enjoyed Donuts from the grocery the night before. A nice quick breakfast.

I had a new theory about the couple across the road, but nobody was willing to do an "adam's apple" check, so that mystery will forever linger. It's always good to have something to wonder about.

Headed down to Osceola on S off 35 - I highly recommend it. Like the river road the day before it just kept getting narrower and narrower. I was reminded of "Mrs. Todd's Shortcut" by Stephen King. Look it up, it's a good read.

Got back to the cities with no real drama, just some nice riding. We were home by noon for our Father's Day rituals! Mission accomplished!

Notes:

We can indeed scooter camp
Now that we proved it, maybe next time we should have families bring our gear and hang out
My Android phone (Nexus One) lived quite well! I charged it with a battery pack (only 50%) Saturday, but otherwise didn't plug it in all weekend. Used it for mapping, lookups, facebook posts, as a camera, and for the web to settle beer-based arguments and conundrums. Was wise about battery usage, but comfortably supplied with phone-goodness.
Group camping sites are the way to go
Not too buggy, not too cold. Could have been sunnier during the day

Gone, Gone, Gone

2010-06-18T14:50:00.003-05:00

I am going scooter camping this weekend with a couple of scooter friends. We're going to have a lot of scooter fun and drive on some cool scooter roads, like the one shown above.

The vast majority of my electronic connections will be turned OFF. Yeah. With the exception of a rare facebook status update or blog post just to let the family know I'm ok, I'm going off the grid. Will take lots of pictures, will ride lots of miles, will return Sunday all grimy and smelly. You know you're jealous.

Tuesday Night Ride

2010-06-16T11:27:00.003-05:00

Another beautiful evening, and we got to see Kent! We stopped at the landing on Lilydale road to check out the river. Nice! And when I got home, my odometer had gone palindromic on me.

After You: Flipped!

2010-06-11T00:21:00.001-05:00

Turned her upright, built the skylight and am rarin' to go on the rest of the interior! Still aiming for a July fourth launch date but I have a feeling I might dip her in a local lake first for a wet test. Really nice to get her looking like a boat and moving forward...

Lily is as helpful as ever, though between-coat sanding of paint is "really hard" and not likely to be in her future..

After You: Progress

2010-06-07T16:28:00.001-05:00

Screws gently pushed into the surface hold the tape down while a corner is being epoxied. Once the tape settles, pop the screw out, drop another layer of epoxy on it all and it's nice and tight!

I've actually gotten this side covered in paint and I'm finishing up the striping so I can poly before we go out of town next. After that dries she'll be righted and I'll finish up the top and inside. Still hoping for a July 4th or so launch date.

Need to start researching rivers to wander a bit more seriously now. Initially I was all about the Namekagon and the Saint Croix, but I'm also looking more local, like the Minnesota, Cannon, etc.

Pretty much written off the Headwaters on down based on a single Rice Lake journey report. You can haul a canoe over marches and mud, but the After You is less portagable. Unless I come up with a portable portaging solution.. Hmmm . :)

After You: Port side!

2010-06-03T19:15:00.000-05:00

Bottom and side done. Now on to the next side so I can get her upright. Sadly I'll be missing the Pepin messabout.

TNR

2010-05-25T23:12:00.001-05:00

It rained. Nobody crashed. Was a really really long route. Great ride!

After You

2010-05-21T00:05:00.001-05:00

Shiny it up with a bit of poly for UV protection and this side will be Done.

TNR

2010-05-18T19:00:00.003-05:00

A lovely Saint Paul TNR that unfortunately ended with Michelle's scooter being totalled by a hit and run driver. :(

Stopping at the Capital to allow Alice to adjust her mirrors after a light drop.

Michelle watches the ambulance come to check her out as the officer in the police car works on the report
Sad, sad, scooter and driver. Happily another case of helmet saves lives!

After You: PAINt

2010-05-17T22:48:00.004-05:00

Everybody always says "just slap some porch paint on 'er and she's done!" in regards to my current class of shipbuilding. (By current class I mean midwestern dads kicking the midlife crisis in a rowboat built from supplies at Homer's or Ace. Not the nautical professional, not a true sailor, not a serious boatbuilder.) [no offense, anybody]

Well, being so much smarter than everyone else who's done this, I went to Menards and explained my very complicated paint needs to a minimum wage paint jockey. I was sold a wonderful industrial maintenance paint that went on like tar and looked like it was going to cure to be a sheet of slate on my boat, only slightly lighter. Two days later and it's still sticky, but I'm thinking "it's on epoxy, of course it'll take a bit longer." After a week plus I decided the wet paint wasn't going to get any dryer and sucked it up and started scraping. The fact that it was so easy to slip the paint off really did tell me I should have gone traditional long ago. So after a bunch of scraping, mineral spirits, washing, sanding, and prepping... I'm porch painted up on one side. I'll get another layer or two of paint on there and hopefully by the weekend I'll put a layer of transparent protection on there, give it a week to cure, and flip it for the other side.

I still have to do the whole chisel, mineral spirits and sanding on the bottom. Joy. All I'll have to do after that is the other side, the roof, the interior, the bunks... Sweet!

I did, however, cut a porthole frame and the Lexan to go in it and it went really well. I also sanded and painted the window frames and have come closer to understanding how I want to solve the "how to open a window" issue.

After You: Materials

2010-05-17T10:54:00.002-05:00

I think there is a lot of information and valuable resources related to types of wood to use, qualities of wood, etc.

If I were building an Escargot or something really large that I want to hand down to my children when I die, I'd go whole hog. Marine Ply, West System fiberglassing, Marine Paint, the works.

I'm building a chugger right now that I want to enjoy for a few years (or more if it lasts) and when it goes kaput I'll either turn it into a garden box or a playset. So I'm using good ole exterior pine, a crapload of resin, drywall fiberglass tape instead of fiberglass fabric, porch paint, DAP 3.0 and lots of Titebond. Works just fine. I'm just a guy in Minnesota who wants to go up and down some rivers. Not building an ocean-worthy sailboat or anything. And I also understand they when/if my boat falls apart like a paper boat in a bathtub, I'll either fix it or build a new one. There will be many emotions, I'm sure, but surprise will not be one of them.

(Update post on progress soon.)

After You - Paint!

2010-05-05T22:58:00.002-05:00

I have a coat on the bottom, sanded. I've already done the ceiling in the cabin and now the port wall and starboard face -- white only. Wanted to get as much paint on since we're going up north for a few days and I wanted to let it dry and cure for as long as possible.

It's looking more and more like I'll be dropping it back on it's head after this side is done. First, to let this side dry and cure as much as possible, as well as getting another coat on the bottom. I know I can paint sides while they're upright, but I figure the more surfaces I can paint flat, the better.

TNR

2010-05-04T23:01:00.003-05:00

It looked like rain when we started, but there were storms all over the cities, so we figured we might slip between them. Rained for a bit up by Phalen, but the wind was the scary part. We got hit with a cloud of sand downtown which put grit in everyone's mouths. NavyDave said a branch dropped behind us near Phalen, as well.

We ended at Common Roots and I have to say we might not be going there again for a while. No more bagels in the evening, and it looks like they're trying to go more upscale. Now that Leaning Tower and many other places have Surly, we'll find a new Uptown destination.

Rest in Peace, D.B.

2010-04-29T20:47:00.002-05:00

Today I said goodbye to one of my best friends. And he has left me with a hole in my heart.

After You, underbelly of a project

2010-04-28T10:50:00.007-05:00

A simple progress update during what I consider to be the most boring part of the build - the bottom. People are asking me if I'm building a trailer, as it looks a bit like a pickup truck camper when it's upside down like this:

That picture also demonstrates my system for attaching the strakes. Since they're meant to take a lot of abuse I have not screwed them on, just epoxy (and fillet on the edges). That way they can be replaced without dealing with a screwhole in the hull and whatnot. I intend to place a layer of aluminum on them as well. (Not even thinking about how hard it would be to remove those, as the epoxy is like rock.)

We have bees!

Our wonderful neighbors down the block have an auxiliary beehive in our yard. They do the work, we get a cut of the honey and some awesome garden pollinators. I was working, however, later in the evening and a few of them were attracted to the lights in the garage. After their first encounter with the light they usually fell bee-screaming on top of the boat. I have not yet had to sand one out of the epoxy yet, but I'm not holding my breath.

Epoxy and fiberglass has been going well. I'm getting better at it the more I do it, and while this isn't a "sloppy" job (ok, maybe it is) it's not the neatest in the world, either. Instead of full on fiberglass fabric I'm using fiberglass drafting tape. I used it on the tweedle-dum and it worked quite nicely while keeping the price down. Since the majority of Chugger builds have been done without fiberglass and in some cases without epoxy, I'm confident my system will be adequate. I'm using a ton of epoxy to ensure I have a good seal as well as some additional strength, but with the internal framing and the filleting I'm going to have a hearty vessel. My only concern is going too heavy, but it's all good.

Also, I'm getting pretty crafty with solutions:

Because sometimes you just have to encourage things to lay flat.

The last time I got to see the interior it was well framed and ready for the bunk topping, table building, and more importantly, corner sealing.

Lily and I had just installed the bulkhead and then proceeded to build ourselves into the boat. It was a stressful moment for Lily, but I had it all planned out. After egressing via the window Dukes of Hazzard style, I cut a hatch (picture flipped from upside down view) and finished out the framing.

The inside of the cabin will be covered with a light slatted wood that I managed to stain and seal last week. I can't wait to assemble and install it. Its going to look quite nice! And it's plenty light so I'm not concerned about the added weight. Next to all the 2x2 lumber in there it's a drop in the bucket. Speaking of weight, the boat can be lifted from one end, but it takes two people to life the whole thing from both ends. I can flip it on it's side quite easily, it's just a matter of making sure it has a soft landing. It does not feel topheavy, and after the layers of epoxy, glass, and strakes on the bottom it'll be even more bottom-heavy.

Still working on the last coats of epoxy on the bottom as well as paint, then will turn it on one side to epoxy, add a lower section of tape, fillets, etc. Then to flip it on the next side and do the same. After that the bottom will be hard as a rock, fully cured and dry, and I can flip her upright to finish off the cabin, painting and such. It's hard to see the final product when it's flipped, so I'm buying little boat bits (cleats, hinges, etc.) here and there to keep reminded..

TNR

2010-04-28T10:16:00.003-05:00

The map is not an accurate mileage, as the sampling was so low. Ironic that it accurately represents the speed. Go figure.

By Tom's odometer it was actually a 55 mile ride, ended at Anodyne, attended by Lora, Matt, Brad, Mark (not replacement Mark, he's just Mark now. Sorry left-us-for-something-better Mark.) Also, Tom, Brad and Bill (not Bill Gleason, and Bill after the roundabouts you're no noob!)

It's no secret we like roundabouts on the TNR. Last year Tom led us out to a two lane roundabout out in Woodbury, and since this route was heading out in that direction, we were going to hit it. Just before the last turn we were waiting at a stop and Matt yells "hey there's a roundabout up there." Here's the map. It's so new I couldn't find it on my planning. So we rode up and looped around a couple times. But then I noticed another one further on -- looked like a dead end, which would be awesome, as we'd have our own private roundabout. Nope. Not a dead end. Led to another roundabout. That kept happening. The ringed the new sports center. We all lost count in our delirium, but the group guess was five or six. By the time we got to the original roundabout we were giddy. Ecstatic. Thrilled. We had not only found a new roundabout -- we had discovered the breeding grounds!

The pictures are not that exciting, but I just liked the idea of a dealer plate on a scooter. (Need scoot mounted camera, maybe next week.) Often you see a cheesy looking guy in a really nice car and think he's got something successful going on -- and then you notice the dealer plate. It's a rash generalization, but often a fair one. :)

Also, one of the Marines I knew in California had a really really nice sports car. He was 18 or 19. His dad was a dealer. It had dealer plates. It was later wrapped neatly around a tree. Lucky for him, he was fine.

TNR

2010-04-20T22:02:00.001-05:00

Another great ride - this week we introduced the concept of a halfway break. On longer rides it's nice to get off for a bit and stretch. In this case we had a great view of the river at at Grandview Park.

After You

2010-04-19T00:21:00.002-05:00

More progress! Finally got enough woodwork done to feel I was ready to flip her and get started on the bottom glassing and such. Did some filleting and remembered how much I love the smell of epoxy. Seriously! It's a smell I associate with boatbuilding and it just puts me in a happy place. Sometimes quite literally, but we try and make sure it's ventilated.

She's on the trailer now so I can work in the garage and roll her out to the driveway for sanding - was grinding away on the chines today and had many folks stop to ask about her. At one point I'm off in lalaland sanding and when I turned off the orbital I jumped a foot in the air. There were four people standing there watching. They laughed and asked about the boat. Very friendly, but scared the hell out of me. :)

Really excited about the coming work. It's a bit of a grind, but it's a grind I know how to do. Hopefully will do it well, not poorly.

Did:

Cut the bunk - need to rework how that's going to be built. Need better access to the flotation storage.
Built the bulkhead, framed it, double backed it, cut the hatch. Made the whole boat as solid as a rock
Removed and reattached the rear transom. I wasn't happy with the warp it had. Is better now.
Stained the cabin wallboards. Another example of "just get it done" as well as a classic "I'll be in in just a few minutes" hour.
Got some stuff at Homer's, including acetone in order to remove the epoxy from my hands. And a huge box of gloves for future epoxy work. :)

All is well.

After You

2010-04-15T13:15:00.002-05:00

Didn't take pictures but I got a bit of work done on the boat last night. Placed the initial bulkhead supports in between the cabin and cockpit. Cut, framed, and built a cover for the forward deck hatch. Came up with a (hopefully) simple, clean, useful solution for the table/bunk support in the cabin. Measured and planned front window framing, decided on a non-removable window and rounded ends. I can square them up later if I decide that's too much hassle but I really like the look.

As with any boat project, this will no doubt take longer than I suspected. I'm still hoping to be able to make it to the mess-about in June, but I'm prepared for it to be an incomplete build if I do. By incomplete I mean not necessarily having all the accessories/shiny bits. Some things are required, like a sound hull. :)

And I'm still trying to decide at which point I stop messing around and flip it to begin the glassing and epoxy process on the hull.

TNR

2010-04-13T21:46:00.002-05:00

Another great TNR - wonderful weather! We did six and a half roundabouts, including the one I was kinda reaching on.

The Most TNR

2010-04-06T23:09:00.003-05:00

Sometimes you think of something and it seems like a good idea. But then a while later, or even right away you begin to doubt yourself. The day began gray and cloudy and it really only got worse.

By the time I left home for the ride it was actually raining. Not drizzling. So I suited up in my raingear and headed out. Made sure I had a second pair of gloves, but all I had were double layer leather shells with wool linings. Thought it would be too warm.

Stopped and got my customary Ham Salad Sandwich and some pop and a candy bar at SuperAmerica after I topped off my tank. Still raining. But I was early enough that I didn't really want to hang out at the starting point in the rain for half an hour, so I pulled under the Lake Street bridge on the River Road and enjoyed my picnic dinner. The rain was coming down hard enough that the rain spouts on the bridge were pouring water.

While I hung out I thought about where to ride tonight. I knew it was likely to be Tom and I alone, which meant moderately fast (for scoots) bikes and the potential to go a good distance.

When he showed up at the monument I proposed going to Stillwater. He balked just a little bit, but it didn't take much before he was into the idea. It was raining, cold, and that was a hell of a long ride. Ridiculous. Perfect. He did mention that he only had about 40 miles of gas left and that we should gas up at some point. My idea was to do it after we got out of Saint Paul in case we needed a break. Yeah, I know, it's not a blister run so it's not like we'll be tired, but in that much rain and cold you never know.

The rain stopped shortly before we left the monument. Heading up Summit I was already cold and all I could think of were all the stoplights between there and Stillwater. We were avoiding large roads but wanted to get there fast. I figured Summit to downtown Saint Paul and then shoot up the old federal road from Saint Paul to Stillwater: 7th, Minnehaha, Stillwater Blvd etc. I had done that on the Vino and it was a nice moderate route. Fast for the Vino but perfect for the Stella.

I was cold and we really hadn't gone very far, which made me think (not for the first or last time) that this might have been a dumb idea.

We made good time across Saint Paul and headed into the faster roads just east of Maplewood. I was looking for a gas station but we just didn't see one. By the time we got to Stage Coach Trail just south of Stillwater, Tom told me he had already switched to his reserve tank. So we stopped to check the map and confirm our direction. By the time we rolled into Stillwater (yeah!) we were both pretty nervous. Tom because he didn't want to run his engine dry, and me because I didn't want to have to spend the rest of the season apologizing to Tom - not to mention the trip to get him some gas. But I would have done both if it came to that.

Interesting side fact: Did you know that the most popular gas station in Stillwater is closed? Gone. Empty. Another interesting fact: It was the only gas station downtown. So we putted up to the next one we saw on the map, another Oasis. Guess what? Yeah. Closed. Next? A Holiday down 36 - we're no longer in Stillwater. My thoughts of a warm coffee and a nice burger in Stillwater were shrinking to a twinkie and a coke at a gas station. No problemo.

By the time we got to 36 I think both of us were watching for his scoot to just stop. But it didn't. And we rolled into the SuperAmerica just down the road. Topped off the tank and headed back to Stillwater.

This is Tom's empty tank. We'd never seen one that empty before.

Got back into town, made our turn and cross the Stillwater lift bridge into Wisconsin. No real good place to stop and take a pic, so we headed back across the bridge after we'd hit out second state of the night. Got some nice pictures of the bridge and Stillwater from the Minnesota side.

We shot up to 96 and took it across to 61. That was a wild ride. When we got to 61 we both pulled up to the light and had the same thoughts about that road. Dark, curvy, scary, fast - awesome! Didn't ride it dangerously, but at night after rain and you're cold it really makes you aware of all the things that can go wrong. And when you conquer that and come through the other side okay it really is satisfying.

Took 61 down to Larpenteur and cross back across the cities with a slight jog to hit Pierce Butler Route for a last speed section. By the time we got to Marshall and crossed back into Minneapolis we were both cold but satisfied. My solo ride down Lake back home went quickly after our long ride.

So it was the longest TNR, the fastest, the rainiest, the most states, the closest to complete gas depletion, one of the most difficult, the smallest number of riders, and so much more. No stop for food, no beer, no chit chat. But it smelled like hot scooter engine and once I think I even saw some clear sky.

Best TNR ever. Thanks Tom!

A bit more of After You

2010-04-04T22:10:00.003-05:00

Had a short but great day! While waiting to go off to Easter Dinner at Mom's, Lily convinced me to do a little work on the boat, so we worked on making sure all the screws were flush or better. Some of them were a bit hastily drilled so we tidied them up a bit.

After coming home from our Easter Feast I dug in and framed the bunks and managed to get the top laid down by the time I finished up for the night. Next: bulkhead and figuring out what to do with the cockpit.

After You

2010-04-04T16:04:00.002-05:00

Kicked butt today. Lily (daughter, 7) has been helping me quite a bit. She's very excited about working on the boat and likes to hand me the screws or draw the measurement lines, etc. We'll see if she likes to sand! :)

After You

2010-04-03T19:04:00.001-05:00

Went 3D and even got the bottom on. A bit more internal framing and it'll be time to bring out the noxious epoxy and paint fumes!

My Current Boat Build: After You

2010-03-30T22:35:00.003-05:00

Ok, so here's the link to the web page for my build of the boat. Link to the original designer's site, etc.

The goal is a boat small enough to trailer easily, power minimally, sleep overnight in. I want to explore the small rivers of Minnesota and Wisconsin canoe-trip style, but I don't want to camp out. So the Chugger design is perfect. It's like a jonboat with a pup tent combined in one funky looking package.

I built a Portuguese Dinghy last year and that was a lot of fun. But I wanted bigger. I really thought about building an Escargot, but that's a bit out of reach still. Once I saw the Chugger I knew it was the boat for me.

Ideally I'll be done with it by early June and can show up with it at the Lake Pepin Messabout and get some time on the Namekagon river before the summer heat lowers the waterline and adds to the rapids. The St. Croix and Minnesota rivers are also options. I'm also really grooving on the idea of having adventures on Bear Lake, where we have a cabin.

I took the design plan, broke it out into distinct steps, and printed each stop on it's own page. So far I'm almost done with the sides and tonight I cut and framed the roof and deck. I am excited by the idea that I'll go "3-d" this weekend. Once I get the bulk of the construction done the hard work starts. Epoxy and fiberglass filleting, covering, sealing and finishing. And then sanding, more epoxy, layers of paint, layers of spar varnish, etc. I think it'll be good.

I waited as long as I could before beginning the build, as the "shop" is actually my car's half of the garage. So now that the snow is gone I can park on the street and work in the garage. But now that I'm working, I remember how much I enjoy it. Popping the garage door open, catching a breeze through the shop, feeling the night air.. Awesome. I keep thinking I need a radio or something out there, but the lack of noise is so much better.

The livery/style is modeled after the european Doerak look. Utility with a touch of style.

The designer says it's for protected waters only, and the other builders of this model all agree. Apparently Lake Minnetonka is right out, but more than one has show up at the Lake Pepin Messabout over the years. Funny enough most of the builds are up here. Designer is from Iowa, the Think Pink is from Princeton MN, and another one was built in Illinois. I think it's well suited to small river travel. That said, I don't know how far down the St Croix I'd go. Any of those powerboats kicking up the huge wakes could make for at the very least an uncomfortable trip.

Nobody has done a capsize test in a Chugger, and if I can manage I intend to do one myself. I really want to know it's limits as far as tipping, waves from the side, etc.

I like it because it's a quick build, easy to customize, and has a unique look. Like all my boats it's not intended to be an heirloom, just a fun toy for as many years as it'll last. (With proper care, of course.)

After You

2010-03-29T19:43:00.001-05:00

I have begun building the next boat in earnest. Jill's been gone so I've been busy with the kids but have managed to get the sides cut and mostly framed. Cut the windows just a bit ago and need to frame them. After that I will cut the deck and roof and after framing those will go 3D. Can't wait!

My New Boat

2010-03-22T21:13:00.000-05:00

(some assembly required, watch this space)

2009 Walking Index:

2010-03-11T01:01:00.001-06:00

Days walked: 180

Hours spent walking: 216

Miles walked: 648

Personal Best time: 54:55

Days pace came in under an hour: 21

Slowest Month: January

Fastest Month: May

Worst Month: May (%)

Best month: July (*)

Favorite Month: January ($)

Date of Personal Best time: July 9 (#)

% Personal best combined with high number of walk vs nonwalk days

* Most injuries, healing time, low walk vs nonwalk days

$ Hardest walk, coldest walk, no strangers around, dark, quiet, peaceful

# Best ever and yearly best!

Latest Craftiness

2010-03-10T13:38:00.005-06:00

A collection of pictures of my latest craftiness. Most of these are from the last two months. Some are a bit older and I'm finally able to document them. And yes, the lighting is a bit moody, but it looked really good at the time. Next time going for better, brighter light.

Valentine's Day

2010-02-15T00:20:00.001-06:00

We made "bonbons" and had a wonderful family evening watching the Olympics.

Frozen Fnirt

2010-02-11T10:39:00.003-06:00

http://tinyurl.com/frozenfnirt

I've gone and signed up for the Polar Bear Plunge. It's to raise money for the Special Olympics. Every little bit helps. I figured this would be one marathon I could do, since it's only a minute or two long. A little chilly, however.

Really easy to pledge even just a little bit, just click on the link!

Visual Confusion

2010-02-06T00:11:00.004-06:00

So I built a Telestereoscope once, and it kinda worked, but has always been a disappointment to me.

I've since read about pseudoscopes, and have decided I want to build one of those, as well. Funny thing about pseudoscopes is that they were invented by Charles Wheatstone, a concertina pioneer. Odd, how things come full circle sometimes.

Anyway, I pulled out the old Telestereoscope to goof around with it and somehow managed to calibrate it perfectly for a few minutes. WOW! I had an inkling of how cool it could be, but really managed to get it working quite well. I'm still going to rebuild it with an enclosed and easily adjustable system, but the one I started with can really do the job! It enhanced depth perception and makes the normal, everyday 3d world seem more.. 3d? Very cool indeed.

So the next step is to come up with a standard box for these optical jigs and start building!

Daddy's little girl

2010-02-03T14:15:00.003-06:00

Lily is working on her first scrollsaw project - heavily supervised, of course. She came to me one day saying she wanted to scroll something. Nothing in particular. Just something. A girl after my own heart.

Nexus One Sample Picture

2010-01-28T15:43:00.001-06:00

Scrollsaw portrait - Rodin's "The Thinker"

2010-01-12T21:22:00.003-06:00

Tasty Tasty Head Trauma

2010-01-05T15:58:00.002-06:00

Just before Halloween I was at skating lessons and fell backwards on the ice, hitting my head. I actually heard the sound of it echo off the walls. It was pretty cool. No bump, no blood, no dizziness or anything. Until the next day, which was horrible. But by a day or two later it was ok.

In December when we went to the amusement park at Nick Universe or whatever it's called I went on the balloon ride. It's arguably the tamest ride in the park. I got so dizzy and nauseous [and I don't get dizzy or nauseous normally] I was wiped out for the rest of the day. And I've had a few of those experiences. So now I'm to the point of not being able to turn my head quickly without getting dizzy. Quite annoying.

This last weekend I was complaining about the dizziness and my sister chastised me for not seeking medical attention. So I went today. And then I went for a CT scan of my noggin. So maybe I should have had that looked at before. I get credit for a concussion though!

Kleenex crossbow

2009-12-25T21:31:00.002-06:00

From one of my new woodworking books, this is the first of many fun little gizmos and gadgets I will be making. And it fires quite well!

Skating Spectacular Stravanganza

2009-12-18T21:03:00.004-06:00

Tonight was the holiday program for our skating classes, and they had open skating mixed with some exhibitions. Lots of snacks and more kids than you could count. It was a lot of fun!

Jill and Eli and Lily and I got to do a bunch of skating until completely wrung out. I snuck some practice in and even ended up in a death spiral of phenomenal proportions, but didn't even completely wipe out.

[Yesterday I walked to Target for lunch (1 mile there and back), home (3.5 miles) and then did an hour of skating lessons. Today I walked to Target for lunch again (1 more mile) and home (3.5 more) and then did tonight's skating for two hours. Needless to say, I am pretty wiped out.]

As for the exhibitions, we got to see a bunch of skaters..

Including one we knew! This is Tom's daughter:

She was quite good. There were more skaters..
Including a group!

And of course, a Zamboni wrapped it up!