On Monday, August 22, 2022, I drove the 300 miles from Midlothian to Abingdon where I met up with my Morgantown cousin, David Brown. We spent the night in a Super 8 and the next morning took a $27 (each) shuttle ride from Virginia Creeper Trail Bike Shop to Whitetop station on the top of the second highest peak in Virginia (nearby Mount Rogers is the tallest). Well worth the money as it descends 1,600′ in the 17 miles from…
Are you a perfectionist or a good enoughist? “There is never enough time to do it right, but there is always time to do it over.” — Jeff This topic came up for me during a simple repair. Years ago, Jeff installed an exterior garage door LED night-sensing light. Sometimes, on entering the garage and turning on the overhead light we would hit the wrong switch and unknowingly turn it off. The next night the light is not on. To…
Do you have an old tractor? Expect it to become a decorative lawn ornament one day. Mine did. One minute running fine, the next a howling banshee defying any attempt at forward motion. Predictably, it remained stationary despite a stream of invectives and words of encouragement. How thoughtless. Next came thoughts of “free on Craigslist, all yours, just come, pick it up, and take it away.” This tractor had tested my resolve in the past with choking plumes of white…
A bucket list item of mine for decades has been gunkholin’ the Chesapeake Bay. I’m glad you asked, according to Wikipedia: Gunkholing is a boating term referring to a type of cruising in shallow or shoal water, meandering from place to place, spending the nights in coves. The term refers to the gunk, or mud, typical of the creeks, coves, marshes, sloughs, and rivers that are referred to as gunkholes. While not necessary, gunkholers typically seek out the serenity of isolated anchorages over the crowds of…
This week, I did my part to keep the Maytag Repairman lonely. My circa 1990 Maytag dryer started squealing and chattering like a deranged ferret. Not a quiet machine during the best of times, this sock eater reached a new, annoyingly loud level. So, do you call a repairman? Do you buy a new dryer? As my friend, Jeff would say, “It’s just a paperweight now.” A chance to practice the art of handiness with nothing to lose. With Jeff’s…
After a break of five years, Terris Christian, John Bauer, Jim Stallings, and I once again spent a week together. Terris, John, and Jim are computer professionals I met decades ago at the start of the personal computer era, circa 1984, when I bought my first computer. We met monthly at someone’s house (there were other geek friends) and I was a computer nerd wannabe. I tried but never made the transition from family physician to computer professional and have…
After two years of pandemic cancellations, the Spring Horizon’s Unlimited Traveller’s Meeting for 2022 in Virginia took place from Thursday, April 21 through Sunday April 24 at the Holiday Lake 4-H Club Camp in Appomattox, VA. I attended HU in 2018 the month I retired and again in 2019. This event included presentations on traveling around the world, safety, planning, equipment, and the “Farkle Walk”, a one hour walk around as various owners described the accessories, additional, and modifications they…
On a recent (April 2022) work trip to the OBX Thornton Cottage, in preparation for the arrival of Erin, Ryan, Tobin, and Lily for the summer, a repair problem presented itself. The overhead light in the dark, windowless garage was flickering. Over time it stopped working altogether. So, handyman Tom overanalyzed the problem—as usual. Yes, I first tightened and then replaced the light bulb trying several in fact to make sure I had a working one. I then measured the…
Why walk through an almost mile-long, dark, dank, slippery, cold tunnel? Because it is there! In 2020, the Blue Ridge Tunnel, AKA Claudius Crozet Tunnel, is a historic engineering landmark now open to the public. It was built in the 1850s with black powder and pickaxes under the Blue Ridge Mountains (Rockfish Gap) Nelson County to Albemarle County. The 2.2-mile trail is now a wide, crushed limestone surface connecting the East Trailhead in Afton to the West Trailhead near Waynesboro….
On Wednesday, April 13, 2022, I had the pleasure of finally riding the Blue Ridge Railway Trail in Piney River, VA. Years ago, when I rode my (then annual) Blue Ridge Parkway motorcycle Fall ride up Route 56, I would pass the trailhead outside of Amherst and think of riding it. It was on my Rail Trail bucket list. At one time, the railroad was the “longest continuously running profitable shortline railroad in the United States”. Initially built to haul…