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Showing posts from July 2, 2023

Back South Again with More Projects

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A lot of driving. I have forgotten how much driving is involved when on the farm. Everything is far. But I also had to drive up and back twice to Syracuse to pickup/drop off Angie at the airport and a business meeting for Wisdomino in Albany. Yeah it was a lot of driving for me. All and all it was about 4000 miles in three weeks. Early in the morning I decided to check out some auctions (dangerous). I ended up being high bidder on a 2015 New Holland Boomer 33 ( "hours unknown, does not run, may have problems, no key, no battery" ) from the State of Tennessee. I figured I could swing by Nashville and pick it up on the way to Georgia. And indeed I did. It was only a couple of hours extra, maybe 4. But, it was more efficient than going to Georgia and then back and forth to Nashville. Nashville is about 4 hours from Duluth. So I was looking at a 4 hour savings. After I go through it and getting if working I will tow it up to the farm in NY. I wasn't prepared for a trac...

The Balkans 2023

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Dowdell's 2023 Balkan trip Wow! What a trip! 10 New Countries (based on what the US state dept considers countries) Romania Bulgaria Moldova Serbia Bosnia and Herzegovina Kosovo North Macedonia Montenegro Albania Greece 3 Different Alphabets (many different languages, sometimes with multiple alphabets) 10 Currencies 14 Taxi or Uber Rides 3 Rental Cars 15 Border Crossings 9 Flight Segments 4 Bus Trips All that in 14 days. I am only now convinced that we could complete a trip with those stats, because it is over. It was a complex trip. We tried to take a version of this trip in 2020 but were thwarted by Covid. This time we pulled it off. The Balkan peninsula countries are fascinating because of the deep history, unique cultures, but also with current events and intercountry relationships. We learned a lot about the region and relationships with other countries. Since it was such a travel intensive trip we l...