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Showing posts from April 3, 2011

Wyoming and Idaho

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We are back from a quick vacation. I managed to score three (actually several more) bucket list items in 4 days. 1.) Long Snowmobile Trip. 2.) Yellowstone Park and 3.) Wyoming. I reached my 50th State --Wyoming! And we took a 90 mile snowmobile trip in Yellowstone National Park. We went to the "Craters of the Moon--National Monument and Preserve" in Idaho and also stopped at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) where I got to see (with my own eyes) the very cool nuclear powered twin turbojet engine. It was a successful experiment in the 1950s and 1960s. https://whatisnuclear.com/safety-minutes/htre-3-meltdown.html Of course, I had my Radiacode scintillation detector with me and yes, the apparatus is "Hot". The screenshot of the readings from my three walk-arounds the artifact. I swear you could smell the radiation. There was a very un-natural burnt smell something reminiscent of burned bakelite. Although, I am quite certain the emitted radition was not the source...
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Monday I take another look at a Cessna 172 I may buy. Hopefully, I can get to Southern Sudan (not in my own plane) for their first independence day this summer (or something equally adventurous). Pilatus Porter Aircraft
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Well I made it up to NY for the weekend. I think there is a hint of Spring coming on up there. It is more than Spring in Atlanta. I think everyone I know up in NY (or up North for that matter) has told me what a long Winter it has been up there. It will be over soon. DJ and I went to see "Scheherazade" by the Binghamton Philharmonic. On the way to Church on Sunday we saw a car in the ditch. Getting closer we saw there was someone still in the car. We opened the door and it took less than a full statement to tell us she was bombed. Totally wasted. It was 8:45 AM Sunday. We convinced her to get out of the car and kind of had to drag her out. She had only a toga on, and no shoes. There was a loaded (chambered) bolt action rifle in the back seat. I locked the rifle in the trunk. DJ put the ammo in her purse and we drove her about five miles to her home. That must have been a wild party. We drove down to Baltimore stopping to see a friend in Newark Delaware. We have been in do...