Monthly Archives: October 2016

ID Required

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No Bull - Palo Duro, Canyo TXDick has been offline and mostly out of touch for the next few and that’s no…
Please enjoy this commentary from 2012.

We made the long drive from North Puffin to South Puffin last week. The consensus was to “avoid New Jersey” which we did, but I still saw the results of Shredder Sandy in the firewood on lawns and highway shoulders across Pennsylvania and parts of Maryland. We had to detour around the Delaware Water Gap on some lovely, twisty windy roads that got my rally juices flowing. Those roads didn’t appear on my map, so I’m not sure I could find them again.

A very nice lady at the Florida border handed us a waxed-paper cup of freshly squeezed orange juice; Anne had seconds, then we put the top down and continued along.

 

I voted in person on Tuesday. Despite the news reports about the horrors of voting in Florida, all true by the way, the hopelessly long line leading to the South Puffin voting booths had (wait for it) three people waiting. It really did take longer to read the 8-page ballot than it did to get to the booth and that despite studying up on it ahead of time.

I had to show my photo identification (my driver license) to get in the door so I wondered, aloud, why Florida had given me a voter ID card. No one at the polls knew because they weren’t accepting that card.

Now I know.

 

eye exam formRegular readers may recall that I had cataracts sucked out of my eyes a couple of months ago. The end result is that I have a really neat form from my ophthalmologist certifying me. OK, certifying that my vision is adequate to UNcheck the CORRECTIVE LENSES REQUIRED box on my Florida driver license.

We all know that just having the eye doc fill out a form is far too simple for a state that employs more bureaucrats than the entire population of Vermont. State government employee numbers had grown to 184,237 by 2011. County and local government employees increased to 703,922. That’s more than the population of South Dakota, Alaska, North Dakota, or Wyoming. Heck Florida government employs more people than the population of Vermont plus the population of the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands twice. Combined. (Worth noting: in the 50 years from 1957 to 2006, Florida’s population increased 302%, but the number of state and local government employees increased 583%. Corporate layoffs have been in the news as companies fight costs, but that’s another story.)

None of the 184,237 people ever answered the phone at Florida DMV when I called, so I eventually tried the county driver license office to find out what I need to bring to my get my license changed. I need to bring a lot.

The state website shows that Florida law requires one to bring “identification and proof of residense (sic) documents” for a new license but doesn’t make clear if that applies to changing the vision requirements as I need. A very nice lady in the Marathon office told me that, yes, I need a:

1. Valid United States Passport
2. Social Security Card or any 1099
3. TWO Proofs of Residential Address, such as

  • Utility bills, not more than two months old
  • Current homeowner’s insurance policy or bill
  • Florida Voter Registration Card

The voter registration card is your ticket to a driver license, the document you need to … vote. Plus your existing driver license that they collected all this stuff for in the first place.

Of course, if I simply renew my driver license online, the state doesn’t require any ID.

 

Road Trip XVI-5

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A large dome of High Pressure still over most of the eastern U.S will again bring warm temps with some record highs today back east. Much colder weather is on the way, though, as a strong cold front is set to sweep across during the next couple days. Here, it is HOLY CRAP IT’S COLD OUT THERE!

It was 52°F and fair when I got up. Today will be sunny and warm up a little to a high near 67 on quite a bit of north gusting as high as 24 mph. It is actually warmer in North Puffin, halfway down the earth from the North Pole.

In Amarillo, today will also be sunny with a high of only 65°F and wind chills between 31 and 41 early thanks to the Cold Front that I passed through yesterday and a 10-15 mph north wind. Tonight is looking clear with a low around 40. I may wear pants again. I know I’m wearing my parka.

Gas prices: I paid $1.989 for Mobil in Crawfordsville, IN, and $1.949 for Shell somewhere in Missouri. The best, so far, has been $1.709 for Shell in Midwest City, OK.

I saw a sign for RACCOON SRA but never didn’t follow up. That’s the Raccoon Lake State Recreation Area. I also saw a sign for HARPER PARKING.

Harper Parking

The countywide Covered Bridge Festival is Indiana’s largest festival and is nationally known. Communities throughout Parke County have a wide array of shopping and a variety of food. I hit the edge of it in Northfield, I think, and saw enough cars there for 20-30 THOUSAND people. Forest Ave in Brazil was one long garage sale, too, but not as many people. They  didn’t let me park for free, despite the sign.

Lila Too sent me on mile after mile of gravel roads in Brazil on the way to Main Street. Vermont’s Class 4 roads are better. NJ’s roads are better than the County’s paved back roads.

“Some roads that once served now-abandoned hill farms and settlements are rights-of-way that have been retained by communities as seasonally maintained Class 4 roads or legal trails for recreational use.”

Lila Too also sent me through an old railroad bridge with just 1′ of clearance for my mirrors.

Lila Too calls the state “Misery.”

I’m thinking Garmin may have some work to do.

I saw my first oil derrick of the trip in a cornfield near St Elmo.

And I took Old 66 through Cuba which has the same population as Highgate but in 3 sq. mi. Most folk were at a funeral as I came through. Maybe the prize was just too much.

Bingo and Funerals in Cuba

I crossed the Big Muddy and called SWMBO to fid out whether she wanted me to look up her old home out there. “I don’t remember the address.” I went up in the arch, instead.

The Gateway Arch Celebrates Its Golden Anniversary

The 50-year old tram cars seat 4-5. A nice family also traveling through adopted me and I rode up and back with them.

Shadow of the Arch on the Mississippi

Came through a lot of rain Wednesday as well as an Severe Thunderstorm Warning that called for 60 mph winds, and hail damage to vehicles with continuous cloud-to-ground lightning. It was raining in the Ozarks and raining over Route 66. Had a beautiful sunset over Oklahoma City, though, and quite a light show from afternoon into the evening as lightning just kept coming, one right after another.

Gas was .379

I drove on Route 66, the Mother Road, as much as possible. Pundits say it is “dead” but it is very much Main Street USA.

The rain meant I didn’t make as many stops nor take as many pix as I might have. Still, I managed to capture blue whales and cows, Route 66 board games, salt and pepper shakers, Boots Court air conditioned motel with a radio in every room, and a very odd silver dome.

Not What You Expect To See In The Ozarks

I passed the largest boat dealer I’ve ever seen with acres of inventory. Likewise, the biggest Bass Pro shop. I’m thinking there must be a reason.

The trees along the route are turning, which seems odd since it is 80F and above. They are not very bright. The volunteer at the blue whale asked if I had taken any photos of the trees (I took on tree yesterday). No, I said. I’m from New England.

The foliage I left in Vermont wasn’t close to peak but everything was bright and vibrant there. Even Pennsy is good in comparison to the dull browns.

I tried to visit Sandstone Gardens which you can see from the Interstate. Lila Too took me to Loma Linda which is apparently a Tulsa suburban neighborhood not the golf course it looks like and fortunately not the city in California.

I stayed in the city of Weatherford, OK, overnight and am off to Dead Women Crossing today.

 

Road Trip XVI-4

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My first stop on Thursday was in Burlington, just an hour south of North Puffin. It was marvelous because I turned in all my !@#$%^Comcast gear.

The folks in the store (two “greeters” and two reps) were nice, helpful, and had me out the door in minutes. The people in the Florida Keys store are just as nice. I wonder how we can teach corporate to work that well?

I left Saturday morning for California.

In our prior episode
The freezer and “house battery” works a treat, so far, but there is a problem with the charging system. I was wandering along through Addison County when I saw that the truck voltage had dropped to 11.5. “Self,” I said to myself, “this is not good.”

I invoked OnStar and a very nice fellow told me there is nothing wrong with the truck. He found me Faulkner GMC, a dealer in Harrisburg.

The Faulkner service department was open and “wall-to-wall” busy but they fit me in anyway. The tech did a full multi-point checkup and said, “There’s nothing wrong with your truck.”

He printed out a Technical Service Bulletin. It seems I’m not the first person to complain about this issue.

TSB #07-06-03-009D Information on Voltmeter Gauge Fluctuation
“Some customers may comment that the voltmeter is fluctuating between 12 and 14 volts on their full size pickup. Starting with the 2005 model year, … trucks are equipped with a Regulated Voltage Control (RVC) system” that turns the charging system off in “fuel economy mode” to save gas.
It’s worse when hauling a camper/trailer because the house battery tells the RVC that it doesn’t need any juice.

The nice folks at Faulkner washed my truck and gave it back in under an hour.

No charge.

The fix is simple. Use Tow/Haul mode which bypasses the RVC system or turn on the headlights which puts enough extra demand on the system to increase the generator output. I turned on the headlights.

I continued on over the “blue route” toward New Stanton, PA.

I haven’t driven the Lincoln Highway through western Pennsylvania in decades. US 30 was a lovely, lovely ride over some of the nicest, smoothest road I could pick. West of Harrisburg it is twisty and hilly and the trees are colorful right now and there were only a few traffic lights.

SWMBO will be happy to learn that I did not buy the Lincoln Outlet although it was for sale and I did stop to look.

Lincoln Outlet

There was a Free Colonial Trial at the Franklin County Jail. Downtown Chambersburg was in the middle of an Apple Fest free family street fair art, food, crafts, music and kids’ activities, and carnival rides.

Apple Fest, Chambersburg PA

I could “Check Your Batteries” at the Franklin Fire Department but mine were working fine and I think they meant smoke detectors, anyway.

Latrobe is home of my fourth favorite brewery (Rolling Rock); I discovered it is a much larger city than I remembered. I saw a sign for an Art Center just three miles thataway, but I drove three miles thataway and never found it, darn it.

I checked in to a motel in New Stanton and headed on to find Mingo’s bridge, a cute little Henry bridge. This isn’t the Burt Henry Covered Bridge over the Walloomsac River near Bennington, Vermont, nor the span in Washington County, Ohio. The historic Henry Covered Bridge in Monongahela, Pennsylvania, spans Mingo Creek. It is designated as a historic bridge by the Washington County History & Landmarks Foundation.

Henry Covered Bridge in Monongahela, PA

After that, I drove 57 miles to Indiana, Pennsylvania, for 16 ounces of 6.6% North Country Local 66 (“brewed exclusively for Pig Iron”) red IPA and about a pound of pastrami on a classic Burgh sammie.

Sunday, I continued on to California by all the back roads. Holy Coffinlids, there are a lot of dead there. I passed three cemetaries and Howe and a private mausoleum on the way in.

Political commentary:
I drove the length of Pennsylvania Ave in California and found not one Hillary Clinton sign.
In fact, I drove the length of Pennsylvania and saw nothing but Trump/Pence. I saw two anti-Clinton billboards, one with Pinocchio’s nose, and heard one anti-Clinton radio ad. That was it in a state the media thinks will go Democrat.
This is a small, scientifically unvalid, sample but it is interesting nonetheless.

Every house coming into California is anchored on the side of a mountain. I would not want to plow their driveways. The city itself was very depressed with houses in deferred maintenance and small streets.

California's Main Street

In two days, I drove through Indiana, California, Washington, Ohio, Indiana, and the Yukon where there are “Live Girls” and “Free Beer.”

I’m relaxing in West Lafayette, Indiana (the state), today. I have met three horses and a deaf German Shepherd, talked about teaching, told a lot of lies, and I have been to Menard’s where I bought a barn sash.