Solutions!

Seeing as the economy has given me this time to reflect on things, I have two priorities at this moment. One is to find employment outside the automotive industry and the other is to increase my advocacy of alternate means of transportation.

Our government has chosen to implement a Stimulus Package to see if the economy can be revitalized. Part of that stimulus includes money for enhancements to transportation and alternative energy. The enhancements to our transportation system will help encourage alternative methods of getting around, hopefully to ensure better bicycle and pedestrian system integration. The alternative energy stimulus is aimed at sources other then burning fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas, and the improved distribution system these new methods will require.

I am looking into the wind energy industry for opportunities for employment as I find this quite interesting and exciting. The idea of using a renewable or non-fuel burning source of energy is interesting as it poses challenges to produce and distribute the energy to users. The distribution concerns are covered in the proposed upgrades to the distribution system that has been called a smart grid. This allows for a more distributed collection of sources and the handling of problems within the grid. The design of new sources requires careful thought as to siting and construction to maximize the output. The industry has designed wind turbines ranging from small machines capable of mounting on the roof of individual residences to huge 4.6MW turbine that stand taller then the Washington Monument.

Part of the problem with our economy has stemmed from the dependence on the automobile for essentially all of our transportation needs. We have designed our roads and cities around the car. Our zoning isolates residential areas from commercial areas. Very few cities have effective mass transit systems. We have to depend on the car to get anywhere. Even if you want to walk or ride a bike the infrastructure is not designed for it or the other users are not used to seeing it used in that manner. I rode my bike to work almost all last year, riding in all types weather and on all types of roads, from good roads with paved shoulders to gravel. I enjoyed this bike commuting as it gave a kick start to my day and a sense of accomplishment to the purpose of reducing my fuel usage. I always think of 28th Street in Grand Rapids, Michigan as a great example of an absolute failure for any transportation other then cars. This street is very commercial and in one section has two malls and several "big box" retailers situated along it. It is impossible to ride a bike or walk along this corridor.

Several other bloggers I follow, have done great jobs in documenting alternatives to the car and providing education and advocacy for alternative methods of transportation. Andy Cline, who writes isocrates.us/bike/, Carbon Trace, has several items such as Safe Routes to School, the One-Mile Solution and individual advocacy he encourages. Marc van Woudenberg, Amsterdamize.com, lives and works in Amsterdam, NED. His commentary, photos and video of bicycle life in the Netherlands is amazing.

Following these examples, I have seen where a campaign of advocacy can lead to changes and improvements for all. My goals are to further educate myself and enter the market for alternative energy and advocate for transportation change in our country.

Wind mills are energy producing machines and bikes are not just toys. We shall see what the future holds.

Kalamazoo Psychiatric Hospital water tower

What college kids will do for "fun"!

When I attended Western Michigan University back in the 70's, this tower provided a challenge. How do we get up there?

One night, a couple of friends said they knew how to get in. This required sneaking on to the grounds of the hospital and entering the courtyard through an archway used mainly for deliveries. Up on the knoll where the tower is actually located, there is a man hole that gives access to the tunnel where the pipes for the water tower are.



The man hole cover was somehow removed. The next step requires crawling along the pipes, I seem to recall some were insulated for steam perhaps, until reaching another access hole inside the base of the tower.

Once we were all inside the base of the tower the climb up the spiral staircase begins. We did not come totally prepared with sufficient flashlights so this was kind of disorienting. The stairs seemed to go up into total blackness.

Once at the top of this stairway, there is a short passage that gets you outside the lower tower. A straight ladder leads up the inside of the masonry work and the steel tank. There is a transition to another ladder half way up.

Once you get to the top, there is a dormer type structure with narrow windows on each side and a larger window on the front over the edge of the tower.



I remember the side windows would not open. This required going out the front window and getting around the corner to the roof.

Once on the roof, the view of Kalamazoo at night is phenomenal. From what I have recently learned the roof was used to gather rain water and used as "soft water" for washing and things like that in the hospital. This provided a nice area to lean back on the sloped roof.

This structure has been restored to some extent back in the 70's and recently in the mid-00's. It was originally built in 1895 to supply water for the State Mental Hospital.

There is some discussion about trying to get some access to this historic landmark.

A good discussion of this structure is available at: www.kpl.gov/video. Search for Kalamazoo Water Tower.

This is only a test!

I am checking out how this wireless stuff from AT&T works. They have wifi hotspots all over the country that come along with our ISP.

Today, I am in Kalamazoo investigating an opportunity to learn more about a Wind Turbine Repair and Maintenance course that Kalamazoo Valley Community College offers. I have a 2 pm appointment with the counselor to discuss.

So, I thought this would be a great time to check out the service and my ability to communicate and update for the big trip coming up.

Right now I am at a McDonald's on I94 on the south side of Kalamazoo that provides this free wireless service. It is amazing, just start up the Mac and click on the attwifi service and away we go.

Now that I have learned something today I can go to my meeting.

Another step towards AZ.

An Excellent Adventure!

Its that time of year again, too cold and crappy to bike ride and not enough good snow to get me out to xc ski! So, the thought came up, "What are (can) we going to do for Spring Break?"

The biggest mitigating factors to our plans and dreams are the economy and my distinct lack of current employment.

My Hotness came up with several ideas involving cruising around to relatives to "see the USA". The original thought was to go visit her niece in Boston driving through Canada to see the Niagara Falls on the way. Another thought was to go West! My brother and sister-in-law live in Phoenix. It would be the warmer of the choices by far.

So the decision was made, I will leave early and drive our Subaru and Herself and the Speedster will fly out. Aren't flight miles wonderful?

Now let the planning begin. I am truly excited to be driving out West and taking my bikes with me. I have always dreamed of going to Moab, UT and the desert canyon lands near there. The bike riding opportunities are unlimited, mountain riding on the slick-rock and desert trails, and road biking on the wonderful hills and scenic roads of Utah and Colorado.

The tentative schedule is for me to leave March 27th to drive West. I will have several days to get to Arches National Park, where I have three days camping reserved. Then proceed to Phoenix to settle in at my brother's house. Julie and Cat arrive April 3rd at the PHX airport. This will give us time to relax and enjoy the warmth. My brother has a motor home and will accompany us north again to do a loop through the Petrified Forest National Park, Flagstaff and Sedona. Our hope is to be able to climb Humphrey's Peak if the snow level allows. Humphrey's is the highest point in AZ at 12,637 feet (3,852 m).

The final leg of the trip will be to get Herself and the Speedster back to the PHX airport on Sunday, April 12th, for their return to the everyday world. I will then drive back on a more southerly route, perhaps, through New Mexico and Texas.

I am now pouring over the maps of any and all areas I can get my hands on. The table in the basement has begun to accumulate the stuff that will need to go along. I have finagled a Mac Powerbook to enable me to stay in contact with the modern world and record how things go.

This will be fun.

Back at It!

I have been slacking as far as writing anything. I just read some of my other posts and did not get to reporting on my camping trip.

The trip began in a flurry as I had things to get taken care of before I left. I wanted to get some snowshoes for the hike. The conditions were great, cold, about 20 degrees during the day and maybe 10 at night. This would help so I would not get wet. I borrowed a pair that had some good size and nice claws on the bottom. Things were thrown in the pack and the car and away I went.



It is about an hour and a half drive up to the Nordhouse Dunes Wilderness area from Grand Haven. I arrived at the end of the plowed road on the south side of the area. I carefully backed my car through the snow into a parking space so I might have a better chance of getting out should the plow come around again.



The simple task of throwing on the pack becomes quite tricky with those snow shoes are on your feet. Too bad I had no video of that. The hike out to the beach is about 2 miles from the trail head. I thought, "piece of cake". Hah! The pack was large and heavy, I was stomping through deep soft snow, and there are hills. It was slow going to say the least. I fell over once due to a photo opportunity. I had my gloves off and no jacket as I was generating some heat. So I had to put my gloves on while I lay there so I did not get my hands cold. The whole affair was quite comical I can imagine.



I soon came out into the area of the dunes known as a blowout. This is where the sand begins to take out or erode and move with the wind back from the beach. The blowouts generally form huge bowl shaped areas that rise into the typical dune shape inland of the beach. I walked along the fore-dune, just east of the beach until I found a nice sheltered area in some trees. I pitched my tent, got the sleeping pads rolled out and unstuffed my sleeping bag. It was getting to be sunset so I thought I would go explore down by the beach for some photos.



In the blowout the snow was generally wind packed or blown away down to the frozen sand. I left the snowshoes back at camp. I think it was the previous week, the weather had gone above freezing, and rained, then it froze. I was crossing a slight slope on the back side of dune just before the beach and stepped on some glare ice. I went down instantly. I landed on my left wrist. That hurt. Fortunately, no other damage. That would have put an early end to my trip.

The sunset photos were not as good as I had hoped as the shoreline at Nordhouse dunes faces NNW. So the sun was setting around the point to the south.



Dinner was the next item on the agenda. This was accomplished by lying on my stomach in my sleeping bag and cooking in the open vestibule of the tent. Quite routine. I like to use Zatarains for dinner camping with some Parmesan cheese. I ate my dinner while I read a book.



The unfortunate part about camping in the winter is that it gets dark so early. So I spent a couple of hours reading before I went to sleep. The night was quite windy. I was sleeping nicely, when I woke up to almost absolute silence. The wind had died down to almost nothing. Amazing. It is so quite in the winter when the wind is not blowing, no animal life crittering around.



When I awoke the next day, I boiled some water for oatmeal. I then took a walk around the dunes with the snowshoes on. No need to replay the evening before. It was quite nice to walk up to the top of the blowout and look out over the dark forest to the east. There were deer everywhere. It amazes me how they can just lie down on the snow and sleep.



Well, the time came to pack up and hike out. This went much easier then the hike in as the trail had set up a little from my stroll out the day before. I got back to the car and headed back.

This had been something I had not done for many years. It was interesting to see this area in the winter and stay out over night. I had hoped for some snow, maybe next time.

I thought about some changes for the next trip: use a sled instead of carrying the pack, and use skis instead of the snowshoes. Perhaps I can convince Herself to join in this fun also.