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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...

England and France under the English Channel

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I am back in Atlanta after being away for two weeks. Time flies when traveling. We got a lot done in England and France. And the week off in NY was definitely worthwhile. I had some nice Fois Gras in France, but of course it isn't that fancy when you are in France compared to the US. All the food is fancy in France. I am sure I am not alone when I say "I haven't had a bad meal in France." Even a simple cafeteria is special. I guess the personal highlight of the trip was going through the "chunnel" underneath the English channel. The train was about 28 train cars (double decker car carrying), and only fractionally full of cars. There is not much to do on the train. You can get out of the car and go the restrooms, but there isn't much more than that. The crossing took about 35 minutes. It was different.
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I am in West Midlands England the first part of this week and near London and then in France for the end of the week. I am a bit concerned I may have to change my travel plans because of incoming volcanic ash from Iceland. I am thinking I may have to take a train to Italy or Spain to get back to the US. Certainly, I have not had to change my plans leaving from Paris Friday, yet. I had a good week off in NY. I spent time on the farm, went canoing and we made it up to Rochester for an overnight. My Brother was also in town. I met up with a very-very old friend. I don't know where all the time has gone. I hope it has gone somewhere good.
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I put on a presentation yesterday at the EAA chapter 690 monthly meeting for about 50 or 60 people... "Aviation in Antarctica." They recorded the event and now it is the library of the chapter. They are a great organization. One of the attendees was a participant in "Operation Deep Freeze" in the early 60s. I was hoping I could bring back some of his memories. He said I did. That is what is all about. That and making people laugh is paramount. Looking at "You tubes." I find scores of interesting videos from Antarctica that are barely viewed. Definately, the best vids are not published. In June the speaker is an Astronaut from Atlanta. http://www.eaa690.org/ Here is a picture of "Princess." You may see a simple Cessna 172. I see some really awesome adventures in Georgia, Islands, Florida and elsewhere. I look at that plane and I see my blue Schwinn bicycle of many years ago. I will be in NY next week, then it it is off to England (Maiden...
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DJ and I took the plane up this morning. That is... the plane that I am almost certainly going to buy fractional ownership in in a couple of weeks. I will finish my flight training in this plane. The plane flies very straight and it is in great shape, low hours and her name in "Princess". I flew in the left seat, DJ in the back, up around Lake Lanier and then around Stone Mountain. It sure is nice getting around the road traffic in the air, but the traffic we do encounter in the air is more impressive. I am going back to Europe (France, England and Belgium) in May as well as NY. I need to get back up to Kansas as well.
DJ in is ATL. We had a lot of tornadoes around here the other night. Compared to the last time I lived in a Tornado area (Ohio) a lot has changed. The radar is so good nowadays you can watch the storms on the TV with great accuracy. We watched tornadoes on TV go by us both to the north and south. The weather in my neighborhood never got worse than a mild thunderstorm. I didn't mind. I have enough excitement.
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A couple more pics from last week from Copenhagen.
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I am back in the US. It was a very productive trip for work. I also managed to have a good time over the weekend in Copenhagen. It is very difficult to take a bad picture in Copenhagen. On this trip, all-in-all I was in 4 countries (besides the US) in 7 days. Germany, The Netherlands, Denmark, and Sweden. Palm Sunday in Copenhagen was a full day to say the least. I cruised the city like a local on a rented bike to sight see (highly recommended). I was telling my Danish friend that I tried to look like a local in Copenhagen on my bike. He replied "It isn't difficult." A great great place. Notice the bicycle lane traffic light in one of the pics, also notice folks aren't wearing helmets. I went to St. Albens church on the bike and after that I stumbled on seeing the Dalai Lama. Seeing the Dalai Lama like that was quite a treat, indeed. Yes, I took that picture, among others. That pic was just after he stepped out of the car. You might say he made first eye contact w...