Passing Through Terre Haute

Terre Haute IN gained a bit of notoriety in the news toward the end of Mr Trump's term when there was a rush on executing Federal prisoners on the only death row in the system who are housed in the US Penitentiary on highway 63 just before you get to the I-70 motorway. As you can imagine, it's not a particularly inviting place and the signs and vehicles surrounding it don't exactly suggest you ought…

Comments Off on Passing Through Terre Haute

Memories Along the Wabash

I'm always joking with my Illinois cousins that I'm probably the most hopeless member of my father's side of the family when it comes to Illinois cred. After all, I wasn't born here and truth be told...I think I've maybe spent a month of my life in total in this Land of Lincoln. Apparently my Illinois credit ranking did go up a bit last year when I was forced to pay Illinois income tax on…

Comments Off on Memories Along the Wabash

A Taste of St Louis

Owing to the late check-in, I wasn't particularly interested in the breakfast buffet at the hotel. So as I'm loading the Traverse at 1000 to start heading east, I noticed that breakfast wasn't going to be a problem. Across the car park was a place called "Lion's Choice". I remember Hannah mentioning on Facebook things she missed about St Louis whilst she was at Emerson College in Boston and this one ranked pretty high on…

Comments Off on A Taste of St Louis

The Trail of Cousins

Heading a bit more west and dipping quickly into Georgia and back into Tennessee which also was the crossing-point into the Central Time Zone, the mileage sign showed I was far closer to Nashville than I had imagined. That could mean only one thing...let's see if we can do the tour of the cousins and visit Grandma and Grandpa in southern Illinois and possibly make it all the way to St Louis where more cousins…

Comments Off on The Trail of Cousins

Lookout Mountain

There are several attractions on Lookout Mountain which straddles the Tennessee and Georgia border but the one I was aiming for was Point Park at the summit which would offer the grandest view of downtown and the river from about 2000 feet MSL. The ascent is a twisty and occasionally harrowing journey up the mountain, often on very narrow surface streets. When you arrive at Point Park, you really can't miss the building with the…

Comments Off on Lookout Mountain

Good Morning, Chattanooga!

After an early breakfast and loading of the cargo, it was time to head southwest toward Chattanooga proper with the idea of ascending to the summit of Lookout Mountain to visit Point Park. Chattanooga is at the heart of the Tennessee Valley Authority which is a New Deal-era agency that was responsible for revitalising the economy that was devastated by the Great Depression along the Tennessee River by building hydro-electric dams and generators (and later…

Comments Off on Good Morning, Chattanooga!

Next Stop…Chattanooga TN!

After a very satisfying lunch at Lexington BBQ, it was time to continue west into the mountains with a couple of stops along the way to Asheville to get royally reamed at the pump. Darn it...I knew I should have stopped at that one station in Mocksville! But no matter...it worked out well to do another splash and go at Black Mountain and give the Traverse a proper tank of the high-octane petrol before really…

Comments Off on Next Stop…Chattanooga TN!

Hopping a Western Wind

It's well past time to take advantage of a rare window of opportunity to go walkabout for the next few days! The beauty of it is whilst I know the initial direction will be to the west to drop off some paperwork with a client and the aiming point will be staying overnight near Chattanooga TN...what happens afterward is a complete mystery to me. I'll go where the winds tell me to go! But first…

Comments Off on Hopping a Western Wind
From the “If They Can Keep That Up For The Season” Dept:
TOPSHOT - Mercedes' British driver Lewis Hamilton (R) sprays champagne at Red Bull's Dutch driver Max Verstappen (L) after he won the race during the F1 70th Anniversary Grand Prix at Silverstone on August 9, 2020 in Northampton. - The race commemorates the 70th anniversary of the inaugural world championship race, held at Silverstone in 1950. (Photo by ANDREW BOYERS / POOL / AFP) (Photo by ANDREW BOYERS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

From the “If They Can Keep That Up For The Season” Dept:

If that first grand prix in Bahrain is any indication of the possibilities of the new season, the world championship fight should be one of the most epic ones in memory! It's not often you can watch a grand prix and truly be OK with whoever came out on top in the end, particularly when it was that closely fought in the final five laps. Will Red Bull use their new found pace and stability…

Comments Off on From the “If They Can Keep That Up For The Season” Dept:

From the “Completely Unintentional Irony” Dept:

A recent post where I opened up about the feelings that came out of a seemingly innocuous conversation with Katie on a rainy day trip for school photographs really seemed to strike a chord with the community of friends on Facebook with whom I shared the link to the story. The prevailing view seemed to be on the scale of being moved to tears themselves to actually thinking I'm a writer. The irony was that…

Comments Off on From the “Completely Unintentional Irony” Dept:

From the “How To Scare The Sh*t Out of Your Kids (Mars Edition)!” Dept:

It's not the cheapest technique I can envision but it certainly was very successful this afternoon! Ingredients: Planet MarsMars Reconnaissance OrbiterMars 2020 Perseverance Lander"Seven Minutes of Terror" So, nerd that I am (and have been repeatedly accused of being by my daughter Katie!)...of course I was taking a break from the current project of mining the interesting Facebook posts of the past several years and preserving them for posterity on sunfox.com to watch the play-by-play…

Comments Off on From the “How To Scare The Sh*t Out of Your Kids (Mars Edition)!” Dept:

From the “Proof Positive Commercial Radio is on Autopilot” Dept:

Oh, what to do on a dreary Saturday morning doing it's best imitation of properly wet and dreary British weather? I've spent the morning going to the shoppes for groceries, Nick's off to work at DQ and I'm thinking it's well past time for lunch but haven't a clue what I'm in the mood for considering that my local Burger King was recently torpedoed amidships and is going to be in dry dock for a…

Comments Off on From the “Proof Positive Commercial Radio is on Autopilot” Dept:

From the “She’ll Get You When You Least Expect It” Dept:

A week ago, Katie and I had a bit of time together as I had collected her from Clayton for her photo appointment at Enloe High School...a task that necessarily did not include her constant companion named Mistletoe! As we're on the way back toward Clayton, the conversation turned toward the looming second impeachment trial of former President Trump who stands accused of "inciting an insurrection" and how different Washington DC was now compared to…

Comments Off on From the “She’ll Get You When You Least Expect It” Dept:

From the “When You Fail, Make It *EPIC*!” Dept:

Today's bit of joy dealing with customer disservice comes to us courtesy of Amazon. Now, don't get me wrong...Amazon has been a god-send during the pandemic to keep me out of the brick-and-mortar germnasiums and help with practicing social distancing (yay!) without having to wear a mask (not so yay!). And to be fair, the vast majority of orders come through quickly and correctly though they could certainly add a bit more padding in the…

Comments Off on From the “When You Fail, Make It *EPIC*!” Dept:

From the “Random Thought of the Day Only Hockey Fans Will Understand” Dept:

Watching the Penguins-Rangers game being played in a nearly empty Madison Square Garden and listening to the crowd noise backing track and I can’t help but wonder this: Did the Rangers slip in that very distinctive wolf whistle you often hear at MSG that is followed by the entire arena yelling “POTVIN SUCKS!!!"? I haven’t heard it yet but wouldn’t be surprised if they slipped it in a couple of times when the network censor…

Comments Off on From the “Random Thought of the Day Only Hockey Fans Will Understand” Dept:

From the “Targeted Ship, Sank Truck” Dept:

I came across some interesting bit of local news this morning prior to making the usual journey to collect Katie, Alex, and Mistletoe for today's bit of virtual schooling at the house. It seems that someone fell asleep at the wheel round 0420 and ended up torpedoing the Burger King that I tend to visit every now and then with a direct hit amidships. Fortunately, the driver will apparently be OK but to give you…

Comments Off on From the “Targeted Ship, Sank Truck” Dept:

From the “Probably The Most Moving Scene I’ll See Today” Dept:

The motorcade carrying President Biden and Vice President across the Memorial Bridge to Arlington National Cemetery on their way to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Dad’s section would be behind the Visitor’s Centre (to your right as you’re looking back toward Abe’s place over the bridge). Thanks to the President and Vice President for allowing me a glimpse of a place I hold very near and dear to my heart forever. :) UPDATE: I…

Comments Off on From the “Probably The Most Moving Scene I’ll See Today” Dept:

From the “Most Sacred Political Tradition in the World” Dept:

Two weeks ago, Katie and I were watching the debate in the Senate after the challenge to Arizona's slate of electors during the certification of the Electoral College votes that was set to confirm President-Elect Biden's victory in November. All of a sudden, Vice President Pence interrupted Senator Lankford of Oklahoma who was in the middle of his speech and abruptly adjourned the session subject to recall of the chair and hustled out of the…

Comments Off on From the “Most Sacred Political Tradition in the World” Dept:

From the “Proof Positive You’re An Old School CSPAN Junkie” Dept:

If tuning into CSPAN and CSPAN2 isn't enough to convince people you're a masochistic political junkie (though truth be told, most of the time it is for Prime Minister's Questions from the British House of Commons on Wednesday morning!)…noticing that the graphics used to show the vote tally during the House of Representatives recorded votes has not significantly changed since 1979 certainly will! And whilst we're on the subject of the yeas and nays…even though…

Comments Off on From the “Proof Positive You’re An Old School CSPAN Junkie” Dept:

From the “Urbi et Orbi” Dept:

OK, so it probably won't be as momentous as the "To The City and the World" blessing given by His Holiness the Pope but reflecting on the year that was and the thoughts for the year that is yet to be is a tradition I truly do enjoy. There's no getting round the fact that 2020 was a complete dumpster fire of epic proportions and any semblance of normality has gone out the window for…

Comments Off on From the “Urbi et Orbi” Dept:

From the “The Power of the Force is Insignificant Next to the Power of Darth RUUD!” Dept:

My 10 year-old builder-installed Carrier heat pump decided it really wasn't all that keen on continuing it's job of pumping heat into the house. To be fair, that Carrier system was never particularly competent at heating heating both floors simultaneously so I'd often turn off one floor to heat the other. And of course, this is all happening right before Christmas when the mercury took a nosedive! Jason of Wake Heating and Air came highly…

Comments Off on From the “The Power of the Force is Insignificant Next to the Power of Darth RUUD!” Dept:

From the “Another Christmas In The Books” Dept:

Lots of presents littered the floor, three happy kids, and the occasional bit of ham and the trimmings…it was a very good day hanging about at Julia's place for Christmas. And there were things to be learnt as well…not only am I completely rubbish at this new card game called Fluxx, I'm not significantly better at another card game called "Exploding Kittens". Yes, it's kind of as weird as it sounds but at least Nicholas…

Comments Off on From the “Another Christmas In The Books” Dept:

From the “To Every Thing There Is A Season” Dept:

1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to…

Comments Off on From the “To Every Thing There Is A Season” Dept:

From the “It’s Still a Great Conjunction” Dept:

Even though these pictures were taken the day after the closest approach of Jupiter and Saturn to each other that has been observed in 800 years, it was still an impressive sight. I wasn't sure how good the viewing angle would be from the cul-de-sac last night so I was content to see where they were with binoculars with some of the more nerdly-inclined neighbours. Tonight's fun would involve bringing out the longest focal-length camera…

Comments Off on From the “It’s Still a Great Conjunction” Dept:

From the “Neither Sleet Nor Snow Nor Buggered A/C Units” Dept:

As I'm waiting to make the right turn onto the I-440 East ramp, I happened to notice that this particular mail van is delivering a bit more than the usual pile of bills and junk mail. I love it that this particular carrier managed to requisition a decent sense of humour which is decidedly lacking in the ones that tend to "service" my address. Goodness knows I needed it this morning after an evening enjoying…

Comments Off on From the “Neither Sleet Nor Snow Nor Buggered A/C Units” Dept:
Close Menu
Close Panel