Borg Warrner Trophy

The faces of the winners of the Indianapolis 500 are sculpted in silver and attached to the trophy. These are the faces of skilled, brave and fast drivers who have endured and tasted victory.

TR

Day 3 of Qualifying at Indianapolis

It's just over three hours drive to Speedway Indiana, home of the Indianapolis 500, parking is $5 and admission for qualifying is $5, why not go? DG has long been facinated by Indy cars, they are highly engineered to do just one thing, go fast. Within minutes of the Noon opener cars were zooming past in excess of 220 miles her hour. That is amazingly fast. How fast, it takes practice to take pictures without the car disapearing from the frame. you listen for the aproaching car, sqeeze the shutter and by the time the camera clicks you hope the car is still in the frame. Amazing! And a great source of another week of postings.

TR

Zoom - Zoom

We are off for the weekend to watch the final day of qualfiying at Indianapolis. I should be back to posting by Monday.

TR

All Aboard!

I wonder what tales these benches inside a very old Amtrak station have to tell. I can only imagine the tales of love and hate, triumph and tragedy that have passed through these seats over the decades. Someday I am going to take the train across the country and visit as many of these stations as I can.

TR

Little School on the Prarie

I could not resist a quick picture of this little one room school house. We ran across it while waiting to pick up the rest of the trainers from the airport (this is 1/2 a mile from the International Airport in Kalispell MT.)

TR

Running for another plane

Travel agents and airlines have this concept that they call a “legal connection.” I have asked and no one can point me to the statute that makes this legal. A legal connection is one that the airlines dreams that you can make . . . yeah, if you can fly through the airport like Peter Pan and never have to stop to urinate. I have seen legal connections as short as 28 or 29 minutes. Making this connection assumes that the incoming plane arrives on time (yeah right) and that you are not in the back row of the plane (4 out our 6 most recent flights) so that you can actually get off the plane within 10 minutes of the time the door opens. Getting off in a timely manner would be more likely to happen if so many people didn’t stuff steamer trunks and car parts in the overhead bins. We have to wait while they pry Aunt Gertrude’s Nash out of the overhead bin so that they can get off the plane. With this the time to change planes is down to about 20 minutes; about the time they start calling all aboard who are coming aboard on some flights. Running through the airport we have to try not to run over the people who stop dead in their tracks in the middle of the corridor to read War and Peace; or because they spotted a bathroom from 50 feet away and want to stop and think if they need to stop. Inevitably a short bathroom break is needed, yet another opportunity for slow people to delay those of us who are about to misconnect. (Am I the only one who is grossed out by businessmen talking on conference calls on their cell phones while seated in an airport bathroom? It makes me want to go into the adjoining stall and repeatedly hit the flush button.) There are two real risks on a barely legal connection, 1) that the connecting flight is on time (or heaven forbid ahead of schedule, I nearly p-missed one of these one night in Cincinnati when I stopped to answer natures call) 2) that even if you make the flight, will your checked baggage. If it is all I can do to make it from gate C-76 to Gate A-1, how in the world will my baggage. Oh yes, traveling for business can be mighty fun.

TR

Wild Goose Isle in St. Mary's Lake

On our free day we drove north from East Glacier to St. Mary's and west into Glacier National Park in the Going to the Sun Road. The road was only open about 15 miles into the Park, but the drive was spectacular. For most of the drive the road hugs the edge of this jewel of a lake. The snow capped mountains soar on the other side of the lake. Here I am on a nice little perch, taking a few moments to stop and smell the fresh mountain air. Sends shivers up my tail just to think about it.

TR

Sunset on Flathead Lake

Flathead Lake is the largest freshwater lake west of the Rocky Mountains. It is about 10 miles across and about 50 miles long, really quite amazing. Here I am relaxing on a table supplied by one of the local watering holes, now where are the cold ones?

TR

Splish Splash

The snow was melting in Glacier National Park transforming the babbling brooks into raging rivers. The water was just about the right temperature, just above freezing. How refreshing, much nicer then the tepid tropical breaches that I swelter on a couple of times a year.

TR

Two Medicine Lake – Glacier National Park

Over the river, past the moose and the wild horses way out at the end of Two Medicine Road is Two Medicine Lake. The 9th of May was still early spring; the winter snow was still melting. The campground and store were still closed for the season. It was wonderfully quiet, not a person around for miles. The squirrels were frolicking (making little squirrels) and the birds are looking for nesting sites. Our colleague saw a bear and cub coming out of the campground the day before (lucky her.) In a month the place will be full of the sounds, sites and smells of people, but on the 9th of May it was just nature, miles and miles of nature.

TR

Glacier National Park

Many of the business trips I get to tag along on are to not so thrilling places like Fayetteville, North Carolina and Montgomery, Alabama. Not that there is anything wrong with those places, but shall we say they are not places that are on the must see list of a lot of tourists. This business trip, and yes there was work to be done, was to one of the most breathtaking landscapes this side of Antarctica (actually parts of it reminded me of home.) We just returned from Glacier National Park in northern Montana. The park is out there a way, well slightly beyond out there a way. Work took DG and his colleagues around to the far east side of the park. We stayed in a tiny mom & pop motel across the street from the East Glacier Park Amtrak station (trains every couple of hours all night long, how soothing.) The views were just spectacular. The mountains still had considerable snow on top and with a couple of warm days while we were there the snow melt led for roaring streams and water falls. We saw a moose and a herd of elk. More pictures will follow in the next few days. I hear the northern sun calling me again.

TR

Sunrise over O'Hare

The recent flurry of postings (one a day for the past few days) will be interupted while we go back on the road again. This time to places so remote that internet access is unlikely (the Circle R Motel in the middle of no-where.) But the opportunity for pictures should be good, and no tropical beaches that will cause certain viewers to become emotional are involved. It may be a bit on the cool side, but that is inkeeping with my native temperment. I will return in about a week.

Travel

On The Beach Again

Just hanging out on the beach, a nice warm spring day, a nice isolated strech of sand.

TR

Blackpoint

There is something in the chemestry of a southern marsh that can cause the water to be transparent yet appear black as coal. This magical southern water is home to turtles, strange birds and alegators. This picture was taken at the lookout about half way around the Blackpoint Wildlife Drive in the Merit Island National Wildlife Refuge.

TR

In Search of the real Florida

Long before the "Worldization" of Florida, the real Florida existed in coastlines, rivers, marshes, pine trees and palmetto scrub. In the real Florida fake music doesn't play through fake rocks. In the real Flroida you can still hear the sound of bull alegators on a warm spring afternoon. Late spring is a great time to go exploring, especially if there is a stiff breeze to blow the bugs out over the water. Here we are headed into the Merrit Island National Wildlife Refuge, just north of the Kennedy Space Center, in search of the real world before the Mouse took over.

TR

Flightless!

Who says penguins are flightless! This little penguin rather enjoys jetting around various parts of the civilized world. I grew up in little single engine airplanes and have flown literally hundreds of hours in low and slow flying aircraft. But this, this was different. I had never been in a helicopter before. I finally had the opportunity to take a ride with a scenic view of the Kennedy Space Center. Frankly I wouldn’t have cared if the view had been of a garbage dump; the opportunity to ride in a helicopter was enough for me to say yes and plunk down about $11 a minute. The take off was gentle and really took me by surprise. There was a slight increase in noise, a very slight vibration. We levitated up, rotated and floated over the hedge and the street (it was really quite magic and I am pretty jaded.) Within seconds we were a couple hundred feet in the air, passing over buildings and out over the Indian River. We went east along a causeway, climbing to about 3400 feet, turned north for a spectacular view of the Space Center including the shuttle launch pads and three mile long shuttle landing strip. We could see cruise ships docked in the harbor 20 miles away (great day for flying.) We turned back toward the mainland and worked our way back south reaching speeds of nearly 150 miles per hour (the red line speed for the little chopper.) We came in low and fast over the waters edge with the tops of the pine trees swaying below us, leveled out and settled even more gently then we had ascended into a landing zone barely larger then an SUV. It was wonderful. Daddy needs to win the Power-Ball so I can travel like this all the time. This is what flying was suppose to be like.

TR

Swimwear

Penguins don’t have much of an issue with swimwear, it just happens. I am amazed by the fuss that humans make. There seems to be great confusion about how much swimwear should reveal. The same men that ogle to no end women in the tiniest bikinis; are the same men that wear the baggiest trunks they can find and sneer at any man that wears a swimsuit that gives any hint of the gender of the wearer. Of course with a penguin it takes an MRI to tell our gender from the outside. For years zoo keepers relied on waiting for mating season and then labeling as female all of the penguins with muddy foot prints on their backs, but that method is proving to be only about 95% effective (imagine the surprise.) If humans would just grow water resistant feathers, or loose some of their weird hang-ups about gender this would all be so much easier.

TR

So Many Beaches

So Many Beaches, so little time.

TR

The Secret to Living Here

Merit commented that the secret to living here was being someplace else at least once a month. I saw this sign in a shop window in Daytona Beach last week and though what a sensible philosphy. This shop must be run by the same people who ran the shoe store in Italy that I bought a pair of boots at; I went back about three times to find them open.

Live, Love, Enjoy!

TR and DG

Penguin in a Beer Wasteland

Warning to all hop consumers, Daytona Beach is a real beer wasteland. The German's wouldn't use this stuff to wash a dog dish out with. The bartender had no idea what a "Seattle Manhattan" was, bourbon wasteland as well. What is a bird to do?

TR

Tough Assignmnet

We are checked in and ready for the weeks work. If you have to put in a 70 hour week, this is not a bad place to do it.

TR

Back to Work

We are headed out to work as a trainer on a week long training. Six days, 10 and 12 hours a day. Lots of stress and strain with new people struggling with a very challenging project for a whole week. One compensating factor is that the training is at a very nice hotel, on the beach in Daytona Beach where the predicted high on Saturday is 87 degrees. It snowed here last weekend!

We are uncertain of internet access during the 10 day trip, so please bear with us, postings will follow when we have access.

TR and DG

Great Buildings Are Everywhere

This is the new building at the Denver Art Museum. The art cetner is just around the corner from the Mint and in the shadow the the mile high Capital. It is connected to the old building that can best be described as a modern interperation of a mid-evil castle. The museum has a very nice collection of modern art, asian art, and native american art. It is very worth the visit. There are new loft style condos for sale next to the new buildings, but the winters are so cold in Denver.

TR

Wouldn’t it be easier if they fit in his pocket?

We were driving home the other afternoon when we spotted this trailer filled with life size critters. Now we know all about taking your special little friends with you as you travel, but a whole trailer full going down the road at 65 miles an hour is a bit much. Wouldn’t it be easier if he had pocket sized versions to travel with?

TR

Plush

One thing about hanging out with a bunch of lawyers is they tend to choose nice hotels. The conference organizers put a picture of the wrong hotel in the conference brochure, either that or held the conference at the wrong hotel, but it was Plush.

DG

Denver Pale Ale

There is more then one way to make it through a board meeting.

TR

My Wings Hurt

It took 28 hours to fly from Denver to Lexington, Kentucky. We could have driven it faster and gotten more sleep. It rained in Chicago; that is all it takes to upset the entire air traffic control system across the middle of the country. We checked in at Denver just after noon on Friday expecting to be home in bed in time to watch the late news. Within minutes the signs showed that the flight would be delayed (customer service didn't make an announcment until about two hours after the original departure time.) The flight was then delayed again; visits to the friendly customer service agents (more like agents of the underworld) and calls to customer service yielded nothing more then "it rained in Chicago, your flight has been delayed." Finally about 3 hours behind schedule we boarded the plane and taxied out, only to have the captan come on and tells us that the plane was broken and the cabin crew was "expiring" (I was starting to know how they feel!) We returned to the gate. Ten minutes later they decided that the plane might take a couple of hours to fix, and the flight attendents (there for your safety, like the paper band around the toilet seat in a cheap motel) had been on duty for 15 hours and were no longer legal to take off on another flight. Cell calls and long waits at the customer no-service desk rendered news that the flight had not been cancelled, but delayed, the 3:15 PM flight would depart at 6:00 AM. Shuttle off 20 miles to the convient "hotel" provided by the airline (stylyish in 1975, the last time it was redecorated) with instructions to be back at the airport for a 4:00 AM check in. Alarm set for 3:00 AM, taxi reserved for 3:30 AM(the "hotel" shuttle could not get me to the airport for the required check in at 4:00 AM, the desk warned my that by 4:30 the airport would be a "nuthouse" with all of the delays and cancelations. We finally leave Denver at 6:37 AM bound for the airport that puts the "dis" in disfunctional, O'Hare. If there are clouds in the sky or heaven forbid it rains sometime in the past 36 hours within 30 miles of the place, O'Hare becomes a huge waiting room for thousands of hot, cranky passengers and a parking lot for lots of pretty airplanes. At this point Airline A handed me off to Airline U; I guess they had heard enough of me. We were booked on a 10:26 AM departure (better then airline A's 8:10 PM flight that is nearly allways 2-3 hours late.) The 10:26 AM rapidly became the 12:12 PM, then the 12:34 PM, then the 1:45 PM, then the 1:46 PM, then we finally boarded, taxied out and waited for 50 minutes to take off (without air-conditioning; the APU failed and the flight crew decided that it was to risky to try to offload the passengers, the risk of un-armed revolt was far too high.) We finally arrived home about 28 hours after first checking in at Denver, we could have driven it faster and gotten more sleep.

More later, Denver was fun but my wings hurt.

TR

Herding the Sheep!

This is not what it looked like on the nature chanel. Annebele the duck with flags coming out of her legs decided that she would organize a little sheep herding. She has tried a couple of things and today things, well sheep that is, just seemed to pile up like cars on a foggy freeway. Maybe it is the Asian origin of the flock, is this how they herd sheep in China?

TR

So what is happening?

I have been hanging out at home, resting up for the next trip. We are headed to Denver next week for a few days. That will be fun and different. Did anyone hear the NPR story about the dogs being used in Australia to protect the nesting penguins from foxes. Apparently foxes just live penguins, but not in a good way. The dogs are on loan from a free range chicken farm and have been very sucessful at protecting the nesting area. The only problem seems to be that the dogs get bored after a week or two and swim back to the mainland.

TR

Passing the Oil Refinery

DooWayne, yes that was the name on his “business” card rescued us to get this trip on the road. We went to leave for West Virginia last week and the electrical system in Big Red went dead. How dead? The trunk wouldn’t close, that’s right, the trunk won’t close without electric power. Doo had several extra holes in his face with metal sticking through them (extra car parts?) and jeans hanging down extra low all the way around. And, he knew how to clean the corrosion off of the little $2 part that kept Big Red from starting. His magic worked, things came back to life and we were off.

I can tell when we are getting to close to the West Virginia boarder when I can smell the oil refinery that startles the state line. I just love the smell of an oil refinery in the morning, reminds me of sunrise in the Bahamas, but that is a very long story.

TR

I am so excited!

Confirmation of airline tickets to visit Uncle Bert and Someone just arrived in my email box! Oh the stories we will have to tell.

TR

Fog and a Spring Thaw

We awoke to a dense fog this morning, and DG and I had a 90 mile drive down into the mountains. Everything went well, we arrived on time, safe and sound. The fog was a wonderful sign. It was foggy because it had warmed up and all of the snow and most of the ice melted off for the first time in about three weeks. By noon the fog had cleared making the drive home much easier. This picture was taken on the way back to the office this afternoon.

Stay warm,

TR

Thinking Warm Thoughts on another cold winter morning

I have had enough of winter. I know, I know, I should like the cold. But I have lived inside for so many years that the cold really bothers me. Snow is nice for a day or so, then the novilty wears off and I am ready for it to be nice again. Snow and cold don't remind me of home, the smell of hot plastic does for some reason.

So on mornings like this I remember the wonderful places I have been . . . the beach in Florida, California, Georgia, South Carolina, sunny days in Italy, Greece, London in August for their three days of summer. And I dream of places I will go this summer.

STAY WARM! Spring has to arrive some day.

TR

To Flashy?

I think it would be just right. A car that would draw the respect that a world traveler expects. A level of comfort and elegance fit for a flightless fowl. If only I could pick the right numbers.

TR

I’ll Never Be Bloggless Again!

Now I can read bloggs anyplace, I’ll never be stranded, unable to read about my featherless friends. And the screen and keyboard are just my size, you should see me dancing across the key-pad sending email at the speed of snails.

It does not appear that Blogger will let me log in to read the bloggs that require log in, or to post an update; we will continue to work on that.

So, after a couple of years of resisting the “crackberry” temptation, how does on get lured in? Mobile maps and directions, live mobile weather including animated radar, and syncing to the home and office computer based calendars so that we are never without the file that runs our lives (currently booking into October.) We went paperless on calendars this year for the first time. One down-side of this is that when you leave the computer, you leave the calendar. This little joy plugs into the computer and downloads the calendar, syncing the computer and device. I even like the way that it displays a seven day calendar better then the way that Outlook does.

Onward to read bloggs,

TR

Nesting

We are home for a few weeks. Nice, quiet, not much going on. I am just chilling out, staying warm and comfy and dreaming of travels past and planning travels future.

TR

Wisdom Is Better Then Strength

The window features the original core liberal arts curriculum. I spent many years in the shadow of this window learning critical thinking, communication, civilized debate, understanding of the arts as an essential way of communicating the human condition; quantifying the world, analyzing and understanding the essential science while never loosing sight of the human factor. Exploring and understanding of the world and myself. I will never be the same person that I was when I first walked under this window all those many years ago.

TR

Columbia South Carolina

I am back from a very quick trip to Columbia, South Carolina. We left Thursday at noon, flew to Charlotte, North Carolina (Useless Air was only 45 minutes late - please don't let them destroy another good airline.) We then rented a car and drove 90 miles to Columbia South Carolina. Why fly to North Carolina to get to South Carolina? To save about $225 between airfare and being able to be home on Friday night rather then Saturday. The training went well, they laughed at most of DG's stories. The room blew hot and cold all day, but all in all it was a good session. Friday afternoon we made a mad dash back to the airport (100 miles in less then 90 minutes) returned the rental car and arived at the gate with about 20 minutes to spare. The next couple of adventures are road trips.

TR

Where in the World is TR?

I’ve kind of been resting since the trip to Florida. Not much happening here. Rain one day, snow the next. It will be cold tonight. DG is starting to plan this year’s travel. We will be in South Carolina the end of this week. The end of February we will be in Charleston, West Virginia for a couple of day, nothing to exciting there. In March we will be in Denver for four days. In April we will be on Daytona Beach for a full week workshop. In May we are scheduled to be in Rosebud South Dakota for a couple of days. In early June we are scheduled to be in Anchorage Alaska. It will be the first time either of us has been to Alaska. We were looking at glacier tours over the weekend (reminds me of home!) In late July and early August we are planning to go to England, the Netherlands, Belgium and France (Normandy.) There are tentative plans for a trip to New Mexico and another to Michigan. In October we will have at least one conference in Washington DC. All in all it will be a busy travel season. I should rest up some more. The total was 49 nights in hotels last year, a new record for the two of us.

TR

I’m melting, melting!

As we get older we become less able to compensate for temperature and tend keep our surroundings warmer and warmer (closer and closer to body temperature.) DG’s parents are in their very late 70’s and have lived in sub-tropical Florida for 24 years. Add the mix weather in the high 70’s, and 14, count them 14 dinner guests and the house was a bit steamy. DG started cooking just after 7:00 AM and started the last load in the dishwasher at 8:00 PM by which time it was 84 degrees with 99% humidity in the kitchen (he checked this with an electronic thermometer;) at that point a slight change in air pressure would have made it cloud up and rain in the house (and that would have dropped the temperature.) At some time in the afternoon the air-conditioning was turned on for a while, set at 78 degrees of course. Then DG’s dad felt a chill and turned it off. Later in the evening DG was slumped in the corner whimpering, “I’m melting, melting, oh my wonderful wonderful wickedness” (line from the death of the wicked witch in the Wizard of Ozz.)

The next day it was in the high 70’s with a light breeze and we went to the beach to broil in the sun and cool off.

Everyone behaved. All four kids made it home for the first time in about 25 years. A great meal and wonderful time was had by all (other then the steam bath.)

It is good to be home.

TR

Merry Christmas to All!

I’m dreaming of a green Christmas, just like the ones I use to know. We are headed over the river and through the woods for a gathering of DG’s family. Nothing says Christmas quiet like palm trees and mistletoe (a parasite that grows in live oak trees in semi-tropical climates.) DG’s started spending Christmas in Florida as a teenager 35 years ago (my, but he is getting old.) Nothing quite gets him in the holiday spirit like sand between the toes on his bare feet. This will be the first time in about 25 years that all of DGs siblings will be together with mom and dad at the same time. Pass the Prozac and Jack Daniels, we’ll be back to report to all you’all before New Years.

TR

Will It Fly?

On my recent trip to Florida we went out to the beach on the north side of the Kennedy Space Center (no we did not go to the far north end, it was far to cold for that.) In the process we passed within a couple of miles of the space shuttle launch pad. The shuttle is scheduled for launch on the 7th. For the first time in several years it is scheduled to be a night launch. The shuttle flies a bit like a penguin; even the paint scheme seems inspired by we wonderful “flightless waterfowl.”

TR

TR

Over the river and through the woods,

to Mom and Dad’s house we went. DG and I went home to see his parent’s for Thanksgiving this year. For DG it was a journey to one of his childhood homes; for me it was a road trip and a visit to the ocean. We had an easy trip on the road, going down we went through Atlanta, coming back we came across South Carolina into North Carolina and across into Tennessee and then north to home (passing very near Frog Pond Holler; where is Ms. Mahala?) We encountered very little road construction and the heavier the traffic the faster people were driving. Florida was cool but beautiful. Mid way through the week the winds and surf picked up whipping the ocean into a powerful froth and furry . . . it reminded me of my childhood, but the water was cooler at home. We are home; there are a few tales to be told from this trip over the next couple of weeks. I hope that all of you had a nice holiday.

TR

ROAD TRIP!

Here I am at the beach in Florida on one of the many trips to visit DG's parents. He decided at the last minute to go visit Mom and Dad for Thanksgiving. It will be a week or so till the next update, I'll try to get a few interesting pictures on the trip.

TR

FIsh!

This great fountain is located in a small plaza in downton Charlottee NC. There are wonderful loft condos overlooking the park. This is litterally in the shadow of a bunch of 40 story bank buildings.

TR

Water, Water everywhere!

Here I am at One Wacchovia Center in Charolotte NC. Great fountain, lots of water, just what a flightless waterfowl is looking for.

TR

It Is Election Day

If you don’t vote, you can’t complain.

Go to the polls and take a friend along with you, I did!

TR

River View

I am never real sure about a town whose claim to fame is being host to the only remaining gaseous diffusion plant (yes, just like the one the Iran has started to operate) in the United States; but DG’s services were needed for an hour and off we went to the far western reaches of the Commonwealth at Paducah, Kentucky. It is actually kind of a neat little town. They have done economic development in the old downtown area by offering low interest financing and very flexible zoning to attract artist to live and work in the historic wharf area along the Ohio River. Here I am down on the landing watching Old Man River roll on by. (Yeah, I know, in a previous post I said the Mississippi River, we were about 50 miles up-stream from the confluence.) Now why are my feathers glowing in the dark?

TR