"We're Gonna Need A Bigger Boat"

That's one of the best known lines from a movie ever, delivered by Roy Schieder just after the monster great white shark surfaced behind the boat that was hunting it.

You see the same thing over and over again and eventually it ceases to be anything special, whether it be a sunset into the ocean, a view from a mountaintop, or even a very cool paint job. I've been looking at Twin Otters painted in cool and unusual ways for so long that they've become background noise - literally. I pay them no attention other than as a way to get to altitude. Then someone to whom it's still new and fresh sees the view, and suddenly you realize that "Yeah, that is pretty cool!" 

A friend from the Invasion saw the picture of the otter taxiing past my window and commented how much she liked the Shark painted on the side. The next day as I walked out to the plane I viewed it in a whole new light, and this morning I walked out to the end of the runway to see if I could get some good pictures. I don't know if the pilot saw me there or not, but either way, I have a pretty good idea how Roy felt when that shark came bearing down on him. I shoulda' stood further to the side!

 And then the Skyhawks started learning how to do CRW while dust devils a few hundred feet across were going past the landing area. I decided to take a day off and go wash my bike.

The Less Romantic Side Of RV Life

Just finished a 4 day road trip to Big Sur on the California coast, widely considered to be the most picturesque and scenic 100 miles on the Pacific Coast Highway. Not to mention the most dangerous. The road itself is carved into the side of a cliff, a never ending series of twisties and sweepers, in most places there are no guard rails, so I'm trying to watch where the hell I'm going as I'm going like hell, and trying to gawk at the view all at the same time. I'm coming back next year and spending a week just wandering up and down that 100 miles.

It's now evening and I'm back in Perris, which brings me to the part of RV life they don't tell you about in the brochures. The whole vehicle is self contained, it can generate it's own electricity, has a hot water tank, the fridge can run on propane, there's a propane stove and a 50 gallon fresh water tank. All of the systems must be maintained from time to time, especially the black water tank for the toilet and gray water tank for the sink and shower.

Once a week, under cover of darkness, I sneak my 11 foot tall, 32 foot long Ford Triton V10 powered motor home into an empty RV slot - they're for staff only and unavailable to the general public - to drain and flush the black and gray tanks, and refill the fresh water tank. This is the less romantic side of the RV life, playing with poo. I also plug into a post to get some electricity to recharge the house batteries that run and power various onboard systems. In the morning I rise early to sneak it back out again before anybody gets up for work. I don't know what the penalty is for stealing electricity or disposing of poo into a staff only "Poo Disposal Hole" are, but no doubt the consequences are dire.

Normally it goes off without a hitch. I wait until things have quietened down, and leaving the headlights off slowly creep into the ghetto, back into an empty slot, hook up the hoses, and begin the process.

I hadn't counted on the Canadian Army doing night jumps. I don't know who was more surprised, me encountering a crowd of heavily armed soldiers covered in glow sticks wearing night vision goggles, or them having a blacked out motor home looming out of the darkness and blundering around in their staging area. I didn't help matters any when I panicked and turned the headlights on. I'm just glad they weren't carrying live ammunition, they probably would have shot first and asked questions later. I may have to come up with a different poo disposal plan for the future.

My favorite kind of road sugn

My Favorite Place for Coffee, Higher Grounds Coffee House , Idyllwild

Skull Rock, Joshua Tree National Park, near Palm Springs

I have GOT to get me one of THOSE! I'll never get cut off in traffic again!
At least, not by the same guy twice.

Beth, my partner in crime, at a lookout on a great section of twisty mountain road with Borrego Springs in the background

This is the sign just above the piece of road shown below

Highway 74 above Palm Desert, 15 minutes from Beth's apartment

Pacific Ocean from Dana Point

That's 5,000 MILES, since arriving in Arizona, and that pic is a week and many miles old

The view out my front window, I'm camped next to the memorial park for the Twin Otter went in on take-off years ago.

The view from my front yard. Life does not suck.

Gotta go, I'm meeting Beth, Mark, and Lerinda at 9 on the creeper pad to start dirt diving our first 4-way of the day - In Jump Suits, Don't Be Late, Don't Be Last! Has the snow melted yet?