@blaineg@pakopako@yakkoTDI You were sledding using a trunk? I have seen kids try that with car hoods. Doesn’t work well in soft or shallow snow. Hill needs to be pretty steep as well.
@PooltoyWolf@yakkoTDI fond memories of my mother taking me on an Amtrak trip in 1970s. At the time you could get like a « rail pass » and travel all you wanted to in a week or two. But equipment was failing; windows were so dirty you could barely see out; on Northern route heat didn’t work, I think they gave us blankets.
‘My relatives did a trip here recently with a cabin room and said it was great, though.
@pmarin@yakkoTDI Sounds like that was during Amtrak’s early years, when they were still running on inherited equipment from the (former) passenger divisions of the various freight railroads. As for the locomotives, Amtrak is currently in the process of replacing their P42DC diesels with European Siemens Charger units (ALC-42s)…this is the first time they’ve used non-US designs on long distance trains. The P42s, and the F40s, P30s, and SDP40Fs before them were all American diesels built by EMD and GE. From a railfan’s perspective, these new units just don’t look or sound as cool as the previous generations of power! It seems trivial, but when you grew up with them, seeing them replaced by something from Europe that sounds like a vacuum cleaner in comparison is a bit depressing.
@PooltoyWolf@yakkoTDI
Probably about 10-15 years ago I went to visit my brother in Chicago and rode the train from Michigan. This is when the train still took 6 hours to get there. I’d done the trip a few times before and it wasn’t bad, just watch a couple movies on your computer and your there.
The night before I left It was one of our biggest snow storms we had seen in a long time and the temp dropped to the negatives. It was the huge polar vortex winter across a lot of the country ( I think it was 2013-14). I remember it being -25 at the bean taking pictures and you could only remove your gloves for just enough to snap a picture and your fingers hurt so bad bc they were so cold. But we were the only people there besides one lady who was seriously bundled up with a tripod. I’m sure she got awesome shots. Anyway back to the story, Amtrak called me that morning and asked me if I wanted to reschedule my trip (I should have taken the clue) but I said no. I got dropped off at the station thinking I would be just getting on the train (or the waiting area would be open) but the train was stuck frozen buried in the snow on the tracks a huge amount back from where we could get on and they were shoveling it out from the snow. My boyfriend had to go to work so he couldn’t sit and wait with me, needless to say he had front wheel drive at the time so i was gonna be like jumping out of the car as he drove by so he didn’t get stuck. I stood outside in the -25 degree weather for 2-3 hours waiting for them to dig out the train. When I finally got on the train they had no heat, hot water, barely any running water and none of the food from the day before had been restocked so their was basically no food. I got on the train warmed up and passed out for 7 hours. I woke up and we were stuck on the tracks 2 hours from Chicago. We were stuck another 2 hours and then still had the 2 hour drive left to get there and when we did it was the last train that went out for like 4 days bc it was so cold. I couldn’t get off that train fast enough. It was the worst travel of my life and I have never ridden the train again (besides to get back home). I think when I called and complained they refunded me half my money or something, cheap ass fucking train.
I remember hearing over the past year or so a train or plane full of people were stuck for 30 hours. I can’t even fathom that. At least on a train you can get up and walk a round a little but a plane you’re pretty much stuck in those tiny seats.
@PooltoyWolf@yakkoTDI I have been both a railfan and an audiophile. Both are probably incurable but due to “life” was forced to abandon both for a bunch of years. Neither is rational. But yeah considering restarting both again.
There is nothing like the visceral feeling of being near the large Diesels even idling, or passing by slowly. My dentist office where you sit in the chair (sometimes interminably) has big glass windows that look out to the BNSF tracks and there is a lot of traffic. Sadly I think a lot of it is the high-grade coal from Colorado and Wyoming, destined for China. And a daily Amtrak train I think.
@PooltoyWolf@Star2236@yakkoTDI
Regarding your trapped on a train in the snow story, there was a precedent for this, 140 years ago, but back then, 1000 local citizens mobilized to help clear it out and deliver food (and presumably coal or wood for heating) while they were stuck in heavy snowfall.
This quote reminds us of how we’d like to be as humans together again in this country (or the world, for that matter.)
…teach others how much can be endured when a cracker is a blessing and a potato a luxury; when the snow in the Cascade mountains is forty-five feet deep; when there is nothing warm among a hundred passengers excepting human sympathy, and nothing light but hope and a tallow candle (Oregon Sentinel, January 17, 1885).
fond memories of my mother taking me on an Amtrak trip in 1970s
One of my favorite memories growing up was taking Amtrak from Sanford FL to Jacksonville NC while my Dad was stationed overseas. My brother and I were fascinated by the metal soap dispensers in the bathrooms that served up the thinnest slice of soap when you pushed the lever . It’s the smallest of things but it has stuck with me all this time…I even tried to find one to buy but no luck.
@llangley@PooltoyWolf@yakkoTDI That is pretty cool. I’d never heard of those soap dispensers; would be so cool to find one. Also as I remember the toilet just dumped on the track back then, and there were signs to not use the toilet while you were stopped at a station.
EDIT probably relates to the “inherited equipment from the (former) passenger divisions of the various freight railroads”
@llangley@pmarin@yakkoTDI So the story about why they eventually started using black water tanks is because of an unfortunate incident involving a train on a trestle passing over a couple of fishermen on a river…
@pmarin@PooltoyWolf@yakkoTDI
I love reading stuff like that (about huge storms and how people survived). The pictures are really cool too. I’m gonna read the full diary. The day that quote was published is my bday, maybe it’s meant to be my story to read. Thanks for posting it.
But seriously that quote I posted above reminds me that at one time people and also newspaper reporters (people too) were so much more literate and good with words. Maybe not everybody was literate, of course, but just seeing a description like that in a news story “nothing warm among a hundred passengers excepting human sympathy, and nothing light but hope and a tallow candle” almost chokes me up with how well that was written; days we will probably not see again in the Twitter (X) generation.
@pmarin@PooltoyWolf@Star2236@yakkoTDI I did trains a lot when I lived in Europe. Once as a kid my parents took us on a train from Cleveland to Pittsburgh (about 170 miles if I recall without looking it up) so that we had the experience of being on a train. I did the Greyhound from Cleveland to LA. LA to British Columbia and two parks up there (via Yosemite first), and then home from there. That was no fun. A train would have been a lot better. I went with my college roommate and my 17 year old sister. No idea why my parents didn’t object as we sort of planned some of it as we went along. We had a 2 month bus pass and met up in the LA Greyhound station. Took a while to find each other as that was multi story and huge and pre cell phones. Fun trip though.
On that trip ran into someone else from our college that both of us knew who invited us to bike ride the Pipeline road (they were building it at the time and he had just gotten a job with that company and had gotten permission to bike it before his job started) with him. It would have taken 10 days to go home, get my bike and get to Alaska. I couldn’t face 10 days on a bus so I said no. Sort of regret that now.
@Kidsandliz@PooltoyWolf@Star2236@yakkoTDI Drove the pipeline road (aka Haul road) in a camper in 1992. It would be brutal on a bike; it’s several hundred miles with very steep ups and downs, and all gravel, and almost no facilities for food or supplies along the away. Could be several days on a bike between outposts of “civilization.” and there were not many (Coldfoot, appropriately named, is the only “real” town with motel and restaurant and service places). Got a flat tire on my truck; I can’t imagine how many spares you’d need on a bike since there’d be no place to buy more. (except maybe Coldfoot). A “local” stopped in his pickup and saw us in need at the side of the road, he said he always had a good floor jack and TWO spare tires in his truck. ('cause if you need your only spare, now you don’t have another one). He was going to Coldfoot to take a small plane from there (everything else up there you basically fly to in small planes). A bridge was closed for the evening for some maintenance reason, so you basically pull over into a turnout for the night. In a camper it was not uncomfortable at all. There was the sound of 1 or 2 big trucks that also had to stop since the bridge was closed, so there was the strange peaceful sound of big idling Diesels next to you all night. Best thing was somewhere along the way you pass the Arctic Circle, and since it was early June, it was basically light all night (well, Sun dipped behind the hills for a bit but it never got really dark). Of course in Winter it would be very dark. For a few months.
@pmarin@PooltoyWolf@Star2236@yakkoTDI Good thing I chose not to do that then. I do know he “lived” through it. He may have had “help” from his job to be with that.
@Kidsandliz@Kyeh@pmarin@Star2236@yakkoTDI Keeping a diesel idling keeps the temperatures up in cold weather, preventing fuel and coolant lines from freezing and bursting. It also increases uptime (less time than shutting down and starting up). Also, they sound awesome!
@Kidsandliz@Kyeh@PooltoyWolf@Star2236@yakkoTDI Yup that’s basically it. For sure that’s true in cold weather, but as it was June that wasn’t the issue, but back in those days most big Diesel trucks depended on running continuously to provide power and heat or A/C for the driver sleeping compartment that often are quite luxurious, and keep the engine warm and happy. An idling diesel uses surprisingly little fuel compared to a gas passenger car which even when idling is using a substantial % of typical driving consumption (one of the reasons for gas hybrid cars is they would turn off the engine while waiting at traffic lights because on a gas engine it’s more wasteful, etc.).
It’s true that the Semi trucks have evolved and some of them now have small auxiliary generators and some states like CA limited long-term idling and have power hookups and sometimes A/C units that the driver can connect through a window. I used to see some of those by the side of I-5 at truck stops. But I’m sure in cold weather (like even the CA Central Valley gets), the rules are waived. In very cold weather, you just basically don’t want to turn that engine off overnight, or ever, for that matter. It’s common for truckers to leave the engine running when fueling at truck stops; not like gas cars where it warns you not to do that. It’s common for them take on 150-300 gallons (maybe more on the AK highway) but they can often run for days on that. And again, they are really designed for that and not the same as a gas car. But yeah that took me a while to think about also.
@Kidsandliz@Kyeh@PooltoyWolf@Star2236@yakkoTDI And as far as the sound, yeah that takes some getting used to, but it’s also kind-of soothing (I would turn off my own Diesel pickup overnight though – not quite the same beast.)
It’s been a while since I’ve been on a ship, but I would liken the comforting drone of huge diesels like the sound that would resonate through the hull of a ship.
Or the great song originally by Bob Seger about the long road trips on the band busses of that era, “You can listen to the engine moaning out his one-note song.” (unclear to me if it’s his or its) About 20seconds in, but everybody probably knows this song; re-done by others many times too.
/youtube Bob Seger - Turn the Page hollowman27
@Kyeh@pmarin@PooltoyWolf@Star2236@yakkoTDI
Umm no. Not soothing. Dieseling all night is hard for me to sleep though in rest areas. Too loud. Too uneven. The sound of waves on a ship is “softer” and more soothing in my opinion (having spent 3 or 4 years working on ships - long enough to get coast guard licenses and then use them). Diesel engines on ships are also too loud. That is why I mostly worked on traditionally rigged sailing vessels (well and a tug boat).
@Kidsandliz@pmarin@PooltoyWolf@Star2236@yakkoTDI I don’t think I’d find the idling sound restful either. My yard backs onto a street that a lot of big trucks have been using to get to a construction area, and they love to stop right next to MY yard because it’s the only one that doesn’t have a high wood fence, just chain link. They sit there doing something or other and I get the deisel fumes as well - yuck.
@Kidsandliz@Kyeh@PooltoyWolf@Star2236@yakkoTDI Gotta agree soothing waves on a sailing vessel is definitely more Zen. Tugs, though, you’ve got the same Diesels (more or less) as big locomotives. They go by here on the Columbia River. It’s the equivalent of “long haul trucking” for tugs. Saw a local TV program about people working on it they would work like 2 weeks on and 1 week off. Obviously sleep and eat on-board and tugs run 24 hours a day.
I don’t usually use rest area for the reasons you mention; also not even legal in some states; don’t want a local trooper to knock on the door at 4AM. On the other hand don’t want anyone else to knock on the door at 4AM either. My brother-in-law stays at places like that or Wal-marts, but also sleeps with a loaded pistol in bed with him. I’ve chosen not to roll that way.
@Kyeh@pmarin@PooltoyWolf@Star2236@yakkoTDI I was working on the Chesapeake Bay and the tug I was on did mostly salvage or towed other boats (tow truck driver for boats so to speak; it was not one of those large tug boats with 6-8 barges it was pushing). Often we’d have a tow one way and dead head back. This particular tug boat had sails too and we’d be under sail at times.
@kittykat9180@Salanth I got robbed (of legroom) on the bulkhead seat on one transatlantic flight. The bulkhead was right where the next row of seats would be. So I had LESS legroom since I couldn’t stretch my legs under the bulkhead.
In the U. S., driving in smaller RV, 4WD. I’ve done 10 trips across the country in Winter.
Tried the big motorhome thing to live in for a year, a long time ago, but not my thing anymore. Too big and 7mpg (on a good day) is no fun. It’s still in my driveway if anyone wants it.
Had not flown for 20 years but had to do it for mother-in-law’s funeral. So now maybe I’ll start flying again. Waiting for TSA Global Entry approval now (like pre-check but also for international)
Latest idea is going to Europe and getting an RV there for a while. I said I am up for going to Nordic countries in Winter, but I think my wife wanted warm beaches in Spain and Portugal in Summer. Too damn many tourists. I would like to camp out on a mountain and watch at least one stage of a Tour de France, though.
For @Salanth, my niece says always go first class, you can afford it. I guess she’s right, but it depends on the price difference. Same damn plane either way. Better comfort is worth a few $$$ but not $$$$,
@Star2236 The other thing is I traveled with a cat (he sadly died). This pretty much ruled-out flying, and even many hotels, though some hotels now accept pets. It’s much nicer if you just have your own bed at the end of the day, maybe with all the junk already in it (video games, TV remote control, where did all these socks come from?, etc). And have your own food in the refrigerator. Only warning is that if you stay at RV parks, which I usually do (power, internet, sometimes cable TV that works) it will cost about as much as a basic highway motel,
@pmarin@Star2236 The trouble with hotels and pets is that some have the bed on a wooden box and if the cat gets under the bed at the head end (where they are usually open at the wall) getting a cat out from under there may mean dismantling the wood box. When I drove from northern Idaho to the arm pit of the nation with my cats I had to keep them in the bathroom due to that in one motel room. They were not happy. As a result I dismantled the big wire dog cage I had built a shelf in that I used in the car with them and brought it inside to contain them.
@Kidsandliz@Star2236 I have been in that exact situation and I think the cat thought it was great fun! After that we always try to block that back area with boxes or pillows or something. But again, cat was much happier staying in the camper, and did have a cabinet he liked to crawl into, but since he seemed to like staying in there I’d just leave him there and start driving. I had a heated cat pad I put in there during cold weather. (only use one designed for pets, not any other kind of heating device).
@Kyeh@pmarin
Omg right. My boyfriend thinks I’m crazy bc the first thing I do when I get to a hotel is look on the Matress for bed bugs. I don’t think he really gets what it takes to get rid of them.
When I worked at the psych hospital we had them a few times in a couple of the rooms bc patients brought them in. I don’t know which was was worse gl work with that or the lice out break.
Another job I worked at (before I started) had just gotten done with a scabies outbreak. That on scared the shit out of me.
@PooltoyWolf@transplant Did you mean 747? I don’t think any are left in commercial aviation (certainly not with lounges like that!). I think if you get invited to one of the big Air Force One planes (there are at least 2), those are still 747s. There are smaller planes also used as Air Force One at times (it’s who is on it, not the plane itself, but there are always at least two so there is a backup plane wherever it goes).
I was able to be in the upper deck of a 747 in the 90’s, but it was just business class seating, but was still pretty nice. No piano bar and lounge, though. (our company didn’t usually pay for more than coach but I negotiated a plan for people that had to go to Korea for a whole month at a time, and one perk was that you got to go Business Class, take a spouse or partner with you, and spend a week of free paid vacation in Hawaii on the way back. Honestly still amazed I had that negotiating power but look back on it proudly.)
@pmarin@PooltoyWolf@transplant No US carrier is currently operating a 747 in passenger service. Four non-US airlines still have at least one 747 in scheduled passenger service; Lufthansa, Korean Air, Air China, and Mahan.
@PooltoyWolf@transplant@werehatrack Actually from my experience 747 was a damn good plane. As evidenced by it still being used for Air Force One. Back when Boeing was king of Aviation. And IBM dominated the computer world. Oh crap, yeah that is a long time ago, isn’t it?
Clearly Air Force One gets a different level of enhancements and maintenance than commercial planes. I suspect for passenger use a 747 is not efficient in fuel or maintenance, not to mention it’s just not suited for the “sardine-ization” of passengers into today’s aviation market. the piano lounge is definitely not happenin’.
@Kyeh As a young child my parents went with me to Europe (my father did not want to fly — this was late 1960s and real “ocean liners” still did transatlantic crossings regularly). We took an Italian ship going over. On the way back it was the SS United States. My parents didn’t like it because it was all metal and noisy but also apparently very fast. I didn’t know till I saw a documentary that the ship was secretly built as a high-speed troop ship to mobilize forces to Europe in the event of a ground war there. the designer had fear of ship fires and so no wood was allowed except apparently the grand piano. Hence its sterile metal battleship feel, though it served as an ocean liner at the time. Its design as a very fast troop ship doing double-duty as an ocean liner was apparently a secret for many years. Sadly last I saw it is rusting away in an abandoned state and there is a conservancy trying to preserve and restore it but it takes a lot of $$$ to even maintain a vessel like that.
@Kyeh@phendrick Last I saw the SS United States was up in the Northeast (Maryland maybe). I hope they do succeed in saving it but looked like a lot of work; interior was gutted for salvage. And then what would you do with it? I wish we had trans-oceanic liners again but seems like only mega-cruise-ships which do “repositioning” sometimes but only once a year each way, or small exclusive private vessels.
Yeah I did “abandon” California about 25 years ago to move the PNW. Wanted to get away from the hot smoggy endless dry Summers, and now in the PNW I have hot smoky endless dry Summers.
@pmarin Interesting! I went to Japan with my mother as a kid to meet the relatives - we went on the P & O Orient Liner. Plenty of wood, in the highly waxed floors and the high lintels in every doorway; I kept tripping over them and my shins were solidly bruised from ankle to knee.
@Kyeh@pmarin Ironic. Hope you’ve taken advantage of Meh’s several offerings of air purifiers. I have, for the not infrequent grass fires we get here. E.g., yesterday’s heat index was 112 with abt 40% RH. But it has been overall a lot better than last summer, when 112 was more likely the actual temperature. S central Texas here.
@Kyeh@phendrick Also just to wrap up the somewhat-sad story of the SS United States (and transatlantic liners in general – not mega-Disney behemoths of cruise ship world – sorry got on a tangent there).
According to wikipedia,
She is the largest ocean liner constructed entirely in the United States and the fastest ocean liner to cross the Atlantic in either direction, retaining the Blue Riband for the highest average speed since her maiden voyage in 1952, a title she still holds.
@blaineg@katbyter@macromeh Replying to myself… I found some tips online and there is an iPad app called Screen Recording. It’s not on the Control Center by default. You need to enable it in Settings. Then a long-press of the record button will record video and audio. Search online for more info. I didn’t know about this before. Seemed to work.
@blaineg@katbyter Getting “there” was easy, wherever it was. Getting “back” was usually the problem and took a full 1-hour episode to do. (Not that different from most Star Trek “away teams,” come to think about it.)
EDIT not sure there are any TOS (original series) that didn’t have “away teams” because Kirk had to get into fistfights with something or else romance women, or both. TNG I think started to break some rules where there was more on-board character drama. DS9 (some say best of class but an acquired taste) really broke this where it was all staging and story and characters but very long story arcs took a long time to get into, especially when “back in the day” if you missed an episode, there was no way to just “stream” it and binge to catch up. That was probably its biggest limitation; not its fault but the way things worked at the time. Check it out if you have any fondness for Trek universe and missed it.
@medz That actually ties with my “travel in an RV” thing. Most days I am just wearing sweat pants which border on being pajamas. Much more comfy for hours in the driver’s seat. In warmer weather sometimes cotton shorts, but since most travel was in Winter that’s kind-of not a good option.
@medz Oh yeah usually I just wear Crocs or pseudo-Crocs and take them off when driving, and drive in socks. Feels much better to me. You might want to slightly adjust seat position a bit closer if you do this.
@xobzoo The same way that a horse knows where to go; the rider tells it via inputs to the beast. Motorcycle riding is a lot more organic than driving a cage around, because most of your steering is really done by shifting your weight to bank into the curves.
@werehatrack I was just being silly, but you bring up a legitimately good point. Fwiw, in English we “drive” a car, but in some other languages we “lead” a car instead.
Whether or not “driving” a car is the best term, motorcycles are led or ridden more than they are driven.
Except in a legal sense, of course.
@werehatrack@xobzoo@blaineg@pmarin I’ve had many animated discussions with people who have ridden bicycles/motorcycles but don’t understand the subtlety of how they actually steer.
For example, at anything above a walking speed, to turn right, you actually (very slightly) turn the handlebar to the left while leaning right. Maybe counter intuitive, but if you pay attention when doing it, it becomes clear.
@blaineg@macromeh@werehatrack@xobzoo That actually makes sense. I’ve only ridden on my own down a street and back in a neighborhood. Somehow I turned around at the end (at very low speed). I’ve ridden with someone else driving/riding, and the main lesson I got as a passenger was don’t try to lean, Just sit normally and yes there will be leaning of the bike, just stay upright (relative to the bike, not to the ground) and get used to it.
Not the same as being in a sailboat where the instructions are often “everybody get on the uphill side.” Also if you happen to be on the downhill (water) side, your butt may get wet, or maybe more of you, especially if “dipping the rail” in a good wind.
@blaineg@macromeh@pmarin@werehatrack And here’s a video talking about those very things. (I had already been exposed to those ideas, so when I saw this video a while ago and I saved it so I could share it with others some time. I just had to go searching for where I’d saved it…)
Fwiw, the 3rd myth it busted was completely new to me.
@macromeh@pmarin@werehatrack@xobzoo Oh yea, countersteering is usually good for a heated argument until you get someone to actually try it. Then it opens up a whole new world of control, especially rapid/large direction changes.
“Push to turn” is often the simpler way to teach it.
@macromeh@pmarin@werehatrack@xobzoo I had a passenger counter-lean through a couple of sweeping turns. That was exciting. I was being steered the wrong direction by some magic, invisible hand.
When I asked him what the hell he was doing, he apologized and explained he rode three wheelers much more than motorcycles, and was used to unweighting the inside wheel to start a turn.
Which sums up why I dislike three wheelers: The handling inverts between low & high speeds. Quads are consistent, and lightweight 2WD models are a blast to slide around.
@mycya4me@xobzoo Well, I had a college physics professor that said “well, we didn’t say you could never do that, just that our entire models and math break down at that point”
@mycya4me@pmarin@xobzoo A friend who knows a lot about time says that you should HOPE that FTL and time travel are impossible as both lead inevitably to eldritch horrors.
Having just driven 1084 miles one way twice in 10 days I’d say off hand if you’d attach airplane wings or helicopter blades to my car that would improve the situation immensely. Of course I came here to say tele-transporter but someone else already said that.
@Kidsandliz So did you go 2168 mi in one direction, or 1084 mi and back? Either way, a lot of driving. Hopefully split into at least 2 days each way. In stupider younger days tried stupidly to drive straight through 1200mi. Dumbest idea ever and not safe, even with 2 drivers. One time hit a cow (sorry ) in Utah desert. Another time my wife got a speeding ticket in Nevada. Just know when it makes more sense to stop for the night.
@pmarin 1084 one way over two days of driving and then had to do it again to get home. the longest I have ever driven in one day is about 700 miles and that was too much!!!
@Kidsandliz@pmarin I have done 700+ in one day as recently as June of last year, and I’ll be doing it again next Tuesday. That will be followed by 900+ on the Wednesday after Labor Day. I’ve been doing marathons like that for decades. I make a lot of short stops for brief naps, and I do some snacking. Sometimes I hook the iPod up to the radio and play my tunes.
@Kidsandliz@werehatrack I used to do 700mi to Silicon Valley where a friend had a house where I was welcome. If you have a friendly destination at the end of the trip it makes it easier to keep going.
Otherwise across the country, even if I know where I will stop for the night, I like to stop before dark. In Winter that can be pretty early. But I don’t mind leaving early in the morning if I can’t get back to sleep. Wake up at 2 or 3AM. Try to sleep for a bit. If that doesn’t work leave by 5AM. Driving East into the Sunrise is pretty cool. This is on known Interstates where I am comfortable. I love exploring back roads but wouldn’t do it in the dark.
On long trips if I’m alone I’ll do audiobooks. Still pissed at George R R you never going to finish the books the right way? Martin I guess you’re not. The books were 40-50 hours long which was about the same time as a cross-country trip.
Also on early mornings I don’t do any books yet, or even music. It’s the “moment of Zen” for me. Silence except for the drone of the Diesel discussed elsewhere here. (not as big as a locomotive or big truck though, but still “real” and “soothing” in a weird way.) Oh wait are we in Free Amateur Psychoanalysis mode again? Normally people have to pay hundreds of dollars to just vent their thoughts to a therapist and here you get it for the price of an IRK. And sometimes regret.
@Kidsandliz@werehatrack @pmarin@capnjb has made good use of this site in a similar way … especially during his goat month. Maybe for September you can do the same!
@capnjb@Kidsandliz@Kyeh@werehatrack is it too weird to post some travel Moment of Zen pictures here? maybe they will banish us to a different forum. But guaranteed SFW.
@Kidsandliz@Kyeh@pmarin@werehatrack I’m not sure which post to reply to, but I got one month of unfettered, unfiltered, untaxable free therapy in Capra hircus form (that’s a fancy word for goat).
It was great.
You should definitely do it. You sound like someone who is loquacious. Or at least uses the word loquacious.
@capnjb@Kyeh@pmarin@werehatrack Like goats get a choice to do it or not? They only get a choice to be loquacious or not once drafted voted into the job.
In a trunk.
@yakkoTDI You’ve tried it?
@blaineg @yakkoTDI I have.
Down an icy slope.
Not recommended.
@blaineg @pakopako @yakkoTDI You were sledding using a trunk? I have seen kids try that with car hoods. Doesn’t work well in soft or shallow snow. Hill needs to be pretty steep as well.
Amtrak. Best views, best locomotives(until very recently)! Though I am always happy to fly, which allegedly makes me a weirdo.
@PooltoyWolf It is not the flying.
@PooltoyWolf @yakkoTDI fond memories of my mother taking me on an Amtrak trip in 1970s. At the time you could get like a « rail pass » and travel all you wanted to in a week or two. But equipment was failing; windows were so dirty you could barely see out; on Northern route heat didn’t work, I think they gave us blankets.
‘My relatives did a trip here recently with a cabin room and said it was great, though.
Btw what’s up with the locomotives?
@pmarin @yakkoTDI Sounds like that was during Amtrak’s early years, when they were still running on inherited equipment from the (former) passenger divisions of the various freight railroads. As for the locomotives, Amtrak is currently in the process of replacing their P42DC diesels with European Siemens Charger units (ALC-42s)…this is the first time they’ve used non-US designs on long distance trains. The P42s, and the F40s, P30s, and SDP40Fs before them were all American diesels built by EMD and GE. From a railfan’s perspective, these new units just don’t look or sound as cool as the previous generations of power! It seems trivial, but when you grew up with them, seeing them replaced by something from Europe that sounds like a vacuum cleaner in comparison is a bit depressing.
@yakkoTDI Okay, ONE of the things that allegedly makes me a weirdo.
@PooltoyWolf @yakkoTDI
Probably about 10-15 years ago I went to visit my brother in Chicago and rode the train from Michigan. This is when the train still took 6 hours to get there. I’d done the trip a few times before and it wasn’t bad, just watch a couple movies on your computer and your there.
The night before I left It was one of our biggest snow storms we had seen in a long time and the temp dropped to the negatives. It was the huge polar vortex winter across a lot of the country ( I think it was 2013-14). I remember it being -25 at the bean taking pictures and you could only remove your gloves for just enough to snap a picture and your fingers hurt so bad bc they were so cold. But we were the only people there besides one lady who was seriously bundled up with a tripod. I’m sure she got awesome shots. Anyway back to the story, Amtrak called me that morning and asked me if I wanted to reschedule my trip (I should have taken the clue) but I said no. I got dropped off at the station thinking I would be just getting on the train (or the waiting area would be open) but the train was stuck frozen buried in the snow on the tracks a huge amount back from where we could get on and they were shoveling it out from the snow. My boyfriend had to go to work so he couldn’t sit and wait with me, needless to say he had front wheel drive at the time so i was gonna be like jumping out of the car as he drove by so he didn’t get stuck. I stood outside in the -25 degree weather for 2-3 hours waiting for them to dig out the train. When I finally got on the train they had no heat, hot water, barely any running water and none of the food from the day before had been restocked so their was basically no food. I got on the train warmed up and passed out for 7 hours. I woke up and we were stuck on the tracks 2 hours from Chicago. We were stuck another 2 hours and then still had the 2 hour drive left to get there and when we did it was the last train that went out for like 4 days bc it was so cold. I couldn’t get off that train fast enough. It was the worst travel of my life and I have never ridden the train again (besides to get back home). I think when I called and complained they refunded me half my money or something, cheap ass fucking train.
I remember hearing over the past year or so a train or plane full of people were stuck for 30 hours. I can’t even fathom that. At least on a train you can get up and walk a round a little but a plane you’re pretty much stuck in those tiny seats.
EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!
@PooltoyWolf @yakkoTDI I have been both a railfan and an audiophile. Both are probably incurable but due to “life” was forced to abandon both for a bunch of years. Neither is rational. But yeah considering restarting both again.
There is nothing like the visceral feeling of being near the large Diesels even idling, or passing by slowly. My dentist office where you sit in the chair (sometimes interminably) has big glass windows that look out to the BNSF tracks and there is a lot of traffic. Sadly I think a lot of it is the high-grade coal from Colorado and Wyoming, destined for China. And a daily Amtrak train I think.
Some local railfan info for your reading pleasure:
https://railfan.com/bnsf-in-the-columbia-river-gorge/
@PooltoyWolf @Star2236 @yakkoTDI
Regarding your trapped on a train in the snow story, there was a precedent for this, 140 years ago, but back then, 1000 local citizens mobilized to help clear it out and deliver food (and presumably coal or wood for heating) while they were stuck in heavy snowfall.
https://www.ohs.org/blog/trapped-in-the-columbia-gorge.cfm
This quote reminds us of how we’d like to be as humans together again in this country (or the world, for that matter.)
@pmarin @PooltoyWolf @yakkoTDI
One of my favorite memories growing up was taking Amtrak from Sanford FL to Jacksonville NC while my Dad was stationed overseas. My brother and I were fascinated by the metal soap dispensers in the bathrooms that served up the thinnest slice of soap when you pushed the lever
. It’s the smallest of things but it has stuck with me all this time…I even tried to find one to buy but no luck. 
@llangley @PooltoyWolf @yakkoTDI That is pretty cool. I’d never heard of those soap dispensers; would be so cool to find one. Also as I remember the toilet just dumped on the track back then, and there were signs to not use the toilet while you were stopped at a station.
EDIT probably relates to the “inherited equipment from the (former) passenger divisions of the various freight railroads”
@llangley @pmarin @yakkoTDI I have never seen this Amtrak soap dispenser and now I want one…like, a thin slice of bar soap??
@llangley @pmarin @yakkoTDI So the story about why they eventually started using black water tanks is because of an unfortunate incident involving a train on a trestle passing over a couple of fishermen on a river…
@pmarin @PooltoyWolf @yakkoTDI
I love reading stuff like that (about huge storms and how people survived). The pictures are really cool too. I’m gonna read the full diary. The day that quote was published is my bday, maybe it’s meant to be my story to read. Thanks for posting it.
@PooltoyWolf @Star2236 @yakkoTDI You must be doing pretty well for being born in 1885.
But seriously that quote I posted above reminds me that at one time people and also newspaper reporters (people too) were so much more literate and good with words. Maybe not everybody was literate, of course, but just seeing a description like that in a news story “nothing warm among a hundred passengers excepting human sympathy, and nothing light but hope and a tallow candle” almost chokes me up with how well that was written; days we will probably not see again in the Twitter (X) generation.
@pmarin @PooltoyWolf @Star2236 @yakkoTDI I did trains a lot when I lived in Europe. Once as a kid my parents took us on a train from Cleveland to Pittsburgh (about 170 miles if I recall without looking it up) so that we had the experience of being on a train. I did the Greyhound from Cleveland to LA. LA to British Columbia and two parks up there (via Yosemite first), and then home from there. That was no fun. A train would have been a lot better. I went with my college roommate and my 17 year old sister. No idea why my parents didn’t object as we sort of planned some of it as we went along. We had a 2 month bus pass and met up in the LA Greyhound station. Took a while to find each other as that was multi story and huge and pre cell phones. Fun trip though.
On that trip ran into someone else from our college that both of us knew who invited us to bike ride the Pipeline road (they were building it at the time and he had just gotten a job with that company and had gotten permission to bike it before his job started) with him. It would have taken 10 days to go home, get my bike and get to Alaska. I couldn’t face 10 days on a bus so I said no. Sort of regret that now.
@Kidsandliz @PooltoyWolf @Star2236 @yakkoTDI Drove the pipeline road (aka Haul road) in a camper in 1992. It would be brutal on a bike; it’s several hundred miles with very steep ups and downs, and all gravel, and almost no facilities for food or supplies along the away. Could be several days on a bike between outposts of “civilization.” and there were not many (Coldfoot, appropriately named, is the only “real” town with motel and restaurant and service places). Got a flat tire on my truck; I can’t imagine how many spares you’d need on a bike since there’d be no place to buy more. (except maybe Coldfoot). A “local” stopped in his pickup and saw us in need at the side of the road, he said he always had a good floor jack and TWO spare tires in his truck. ('cause if you need your only spare, now you don’t have another one). He was going to Coldfoot to take a small plane from there (everything else up there you basically fly to in small planes). A bridge was closed for the evening for some maintenance reason, so you basically pull over into a turnout for the night. In a camper it was not uncomfortable at all. There was the sound of 1 or 2 big trucks that also had to stop since the bridge was closed, so there was the strange peaceful sound of big idling Diesels next to you all night. Best thing was somewhere along the way you pass the Arctic Circle, and since it was early June, it was basically light all night (well, Sun dipped behind the hills for a bit but it never got really dark). Of course in Winter it would be very dark. For a few months.
@pmarin @PooltoyWolf @Star2236 @yakkoTDI Good thing I chose not to do that then. I do know he “lived” through it. He may have had “help” from his job to be with that.
@Kidsandliz @pmarin @PooltoyWolf @Star2236 @yakkoTDI
That doesn’t sound peaceful to me! Why do they idle all night?
@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @pmarin @Star2236 @yakkoTDI Keeping a diesel idling keeps the temperatures up in cold weather, preventing fuel and coolant lines from freezing and bursting. It also increases uptime (less time than shutting down and starting up). Also, they sound awesome!
POKER! JOKER! NOT MEDIOCRE! AWESOME!
@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @PooltoyWolf @Star2236 @yakkoTDI Yup that’s basically it. For sure that’s true in cold weather, but as it was June that wasn’t the issue, but back in those days most big Diesel trucks depended on running continuously to provide power and heat or A/C for the driver sleeping compartment that often are quite luxurious, and keep the engine warm and happy. An idling diesel uses surprisingly little fuel compared to a gas passenger car which even when idling is using a substantial % of typical driving consumption (one of the reasons for gas hybrid cars is they would turn off the engine while waiting at traffic lights because on a gas engine it’s more wasteful, etc.).
It’s true that the Semi trucks have evolved and some of them now have small auxiliary generators and some states like CA limited long-term idling and have power hookups and sometimes A/C units that the driver can connect through a window. I used to see some of those by the side of I-5 at truck stops. But I’m sure in cold weather (like even the CA Central Valley gets), the rules are waived. In very cold weather, you just basically don’t want to turn that engine off overnight, or ever, for that matter. It’s common for truckers to leave the engine running when fueling at truck stops; not like gas cars where it warns you not to do that. It’s common for them take on 150-300 gallons (maybe more on the AK highway) but they can often run for days on that. And again, they are really designed for that and not the same as a gas car. But yeah that took me a while to think about also.
@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @PooltoyWolf @Star2236 @yakkoTDI And as far as the sound, yeah that takes some getting used to, but it’s also kind-of soothing (I would turn off my own Diesel pickup overnight though – not quite the same beast.)
It’s been a while since I’ve been on a ship, but I would liken the comforting drone of huge diesels like the sound that would resonate through the hull of a ship.
Or the great song originally by Bob Seger about the long road trips on the band busses of that era, “You can listen to the engine moaning out his one-note song.” (unclear to me if it’s his or its) About 20seconds in, but everybody probably knows this song; re-done by others many times too.
/youtube Bob Seger - Turn the Page hollowman27
@Kyeh @pmarin @PooltoyWolf @Star2236 @yakkoTDI
Umm no. Not soothing. Dieseling all night is hard for me to sleep though in rest areas. Too loud. Too uneven. The sound of waves on a ship is “softer” and more soothing in my opinion (having spent 3 or 4 years working on ships - long enough to get coast guard licenses and then use them). Diesel engines on ships are also too loud. That is why I mostly worked on traditionally rigged sailing vessels (well and a tug boat).
@Kidsandliz @pmarin @PooltoyWolf @Star2236 @yakkoTDI I don’t think I’d find the idling sound restful either. My yard backs onto a street that a lot of big trucks have been using to get to a construction area, and they love to stop right next to MY yard because it’s the only one that doesn’t have a high wood fence, just chain link. They sit there doing something or other and I get the deisel fumes as well - yuck.
@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @PooltoyWolf @Star2236 @yakkoTDI Gotta agree soothing waves on a sailing vessel is definitely more Zen. Tugs, though, you’ve got the same Diesels (more or less) as big locomotives. They go by here on the Columbia River. It’s the equivalent of “long haul trucking” for tugs. Saw a local TV program about people working on it they would work like 2 weeks on and 1 week off. Obviously sleep and eat on-board and tugs run 24 hours a day.
I don’t usually use rest area for the reasons you mention; also not even legal in some states; don’t want a local trooper to knock on the door at 4AM. On the other hand don’t want anyone else to knock on the door at 4AM either. My brother-in-law stays at places like that or Wal-marts, but also sleeps with a loaded pistol in bed with him. I’ve chosen not to roll that way.
@Kyeh @pmarin @PooltoyWolf @Star2236 @yakkoTDI I was working on the Chesapeake Bay and the tug I was on did mostly salvage or towed other boats (tow truck driver for boats so to speak; it was not one of those large tug boats with 6-8 barges it was pushing). Often we’d have a tow one way and dead head back. This particular tug boat had sails too and we’d be under sail at times.
First class.
@Salanth
These prices how can you afford it?
@Salanth, whenever possible. But when I have to fly main cabin extra it’s tow 8, you get extra space behind the bulkhead.
@kittykat9180 @Salanth I got robbed (of legroom) on the bulkhead seat on one transatlantic flight. The bulkhead was right where the next row of seats would be. So I had LESS legroom since I couldn’t stretch my legs under the bulkhead.
Usually it’s a good option though.
In the U. S., driving in smaller RV, 4WD. I’ve done 10 trips across the country in Winter.
Tried the big motorhome thing to live in for a year, a long time ago, but not my thing anymore. Too big and 7mpg (on a good day) is no fun. It’s still in my driveway if anyone wants it.
Had not flown for 20 years but had to do it for mother-in-law’s funeral. So now maybe I’ll start flying again. Waiting for TSA Global Entry approval now (like pre-check but also for international)
Latest idea is going to Europe and getting an RV there for a while. I said I am up for going to Nordic countries in Winter, but I think my wife wanted warm beaches in Spain and Portugal in Summer. Too damn many tourists. I would like to camp out on a mountain and watch at least one stage of a Tour de France, though.
For @Salanth, my niece says always go first class, you can afford it. I guess she’s right, but it depends on the price difference. Same damn plane either way. Better comfort is worth a few $$$ but not $$$$,
@pmarin
I’ve always wanted to get an rv and go sightseeing around the county. I bet you see some pretty cool shit.
@Star2236 The other thing is I traveled with a cat (he sadly died). This pretty much ruled-out flying, and even many hotels, though some hotels now accept pets. It’s much nicer if you just have your own bed at the end of the day, maybe with all the junk already in it (video games, TV remote control, where did all these socks come from?, etc). And have your own food in the refrigerator. Only warning is that if you stay at RV parks, which I usually do (power, internet, sometimes cable TV that works) it will cost about as much as a basic highway motel,
@pmarin
But like you said it’s your own bed not one a thousand people have slept in
@pmarin @Star2236 And no bedbugs!
@pmarin @Star2236 The trouble with hotels and pets is that some have the bed on a wooden box and if the cat gets under the bed at the head end (where they are usually open at the wall) getting a cat out from under there may mean dismantling the wood box. When I drove from northern Idaho to the arm pit of the nation with my cats I had to keep them in the bathroom due to that in one motel room. They were not happy. As a result I dismantled the big wire dog cage I had built a shelf in that I used in the car with them and brought it inside to contain them.
@Kidsandliz @Star2236 I have been in that exact situation and I think the cat thought it was great fun! After that we always try to block that back area with boxes or pillows or something. But again, cat was much happier staying in the camper, and did have a cabinet he liked to crawl into, but since he seemed to like staying in there I’d just leave him there and start driving. I had a heated cat pad I put in there during cold weather. (only use one designed for pets, not any other kind of heating device).
@Kyeh @pmarin
Omg right. My boyfriend thinks I’m crazy bc the first thing I do when I get to a hotel is look on the Matress for bed bugs. I don’t think he really gets what it takes to get rid of them.
When I worked at the psych hospital we had them a few times in a couple of the rooms bc patients brought them in. I don’t know which was was worse gl work with that or the lice out break.
Another job I worked at (before I started) had just gotten done with a scabies outbreak. That on scared the shit out of me.
@pmarin Time is money, and having priority luggage drop, TSA, boarding and disembarking is part of the bonus. Huge stress reduction.
if you have time to spare, go by air!
@transplant yes, if only…
/image 747 airplane lounge 1970s
@pmarin @transplant Man, if only! The 74 is still on my bucket list…
@PooltoyWolf @transplant Did you mean 747? I don’t think any are left in commercial aviation (certainly not with lounges like that!). I think if you get invited to one of the big Air Force One planes (there are at least 2), those are still 747s. There are smaller planes also used as Air Force One at times (it’s who is on it, not the plane itself, but there are always at least two so there is a backup plane wherever it goes).
I was able to be in the upper deck of a 747 in the 90’s, but it was just business class seating, but was still pretty nice. No piano bar and lounge, though. (our company didn’t usually pay for more than coach but I negotiated a plan for people that had to go to Korea for a whole month at a time, and one perk was that you got to go Business Class, take a spouse or partner with you, and spend a week of free paid vacation in Hawaii on the way back. Honestly still amazed I had that negotiating power but look back on it proudly.)
@pmarin @PooltoyWolf @transplant No US carrier is currently operating a 747 in passenger service. Four non-US airlines still have at least one 747 in scheduled passenger service; Lufthansa, Korean Air, Air China, and Mahan.
@PooltoyWolf @transplant @werehatrack Actually from my experience 747 was a damn good plane. As evidenced by it still being used for Air Force One. Back when Boeing was king of Aviation. And IBM dominated the computer world. Oh crap, yeah that is a long time ago, isn’t it?
Clearly Air Force One gets a different level of enhancements and maintenance than commercial planes. I suspect for passenger use a 747 is not efficient in fuel or maintenance, not to mention it’s just not suited for the “sardine-ization” of passengers into today’s aviation market. the piano lounge is definitely not happenin’.
Ocean liner (I wish)
Trains in Japan!
@Kyeh As a young child my parents went with me to Europe (my father did not want to fly — this was late 1960s and real “ocean liners” still did transatlantic crossings regularly). We took an Italian ship going over. On the way back it was the SS United States. My parents didn’t like it because it was all metal and noisy but also apparently very fast. I didn’t know till I saw a documentary that the ship was secretly built as a high-speed troop ship to mobilize forces to Europe in the event of a ground war there. the designer had fear of ship fires and so no wood was allowed except apparently the grand piano. Hence its sterile metal battleship feel, though it served as an ocean liner at the time. Its design as a very fast troop ship doing double-duty as an ocean liner was apparently a secret for many years. Sadly last I saw it is rusting away in an abandoned state and there is a conservancy trying to preserve and restore it but it takes a lot of $$$ to even maintain a vessel like that.
@Kyeh @pmarin
It’s in California now?
@Kyeh @phendrick Last I saw the SS United States was up in the Northeast (Maryland maybe). I hope they do succeed in saving it but looked like a lot of work; interior was gutted for salvage. And then what would you do with it? I wish we had trans-oceanic liners again but seems like only mega-cruise-ships which do “repositioning” sometimes but only once a year each way, or small exclusive private vessels.
Yeah I did “abandon” California about 25 years ago to move the PNW. Wanted to get away from the hot smoggy endless dry Summers, and now in the PNW I have hot smoky endless dry Summers.
@pmarin Interesting! I went to Japan with my mother as a kid to meet the relatives - we went on the P & O Orient Liner. Plenty of wood, in the highly waxed floors and the high lintels in every doorway; I kept tripping over them and my shins were solidly bruised from ankle to knee.
@Kyeh @pmarin Ironic. Hope you’ve taken advantage of Meh’s several offerings of air purifiers. I have, for the not infrequent grass fires we get here. E.g., yesterday’s heat index was 112 with abt 40% RH. But it has been overall a lot better than last summer, when 112 was more likely the actual temperature. S central Texas here.
@Kyeh @phendrick Also just to wrap up the somewhat-sad story of the SS United States (and transatlantic liners in general – not mega-Disney behemoths of cruise ship world – sorry got on a tangent there).
According to wikipedia,
Not.
Not at all is the correct answer
/image Tardis
@katbyter This is my chosen method, as well.
Not really flying, but certainly not ground travel.
/image Enterprise Transporter
@katbyter I thought this was an Automat wall at first.
@katbyter Sure about that?
@katbyter @macromeh Damnit Jim!
@blaineg @katbyter @macromeh I want to capture that background warning “Malfunction! Malfunction! Malfunction!” and use it as a ring tone on my phone.
EDIT: anybody know how to actually do that and can send me some tips?
@blaineg @katbyter @macromeh Replying to myself… I found some tips online and there is an iPad app called Screen Recording. It’s not on the Control Center by default. You need to enable it in Settings. Then a long-press of the record button will record video and audio. Search online for more info. I didn’t know about this before. Seemed to work.
/image Stargate
@katbyter But it’s lousy for the commute.
@blaineg @katbyter Getting “there” was easy, wherever it was. Getting “back” was usually the problem and took a full 1-hour episode to do. (Not that different from most Star Trek “away teams,” come to think about it.)
EDIT not sure there are any TOS (original series) that didn’t have “away teams” because Kirk had to get into fistfights with something or else romance women, or both. TNG I think started to break some rules where there was more on-board character drama. DS9 (some say best of class but an acquired taste) really broke this where it was all staging and story and characters but very long story arcs took a long time to get into, especially when “back in the day” if you missed an episode, there was no way to just “stream” it and binge to catch up. That was probably its biggest limitation; not its fault but the way things worked at the time. Check it out if you have any fondness for Trek universe and missed it.
In pajamas
@medz That actually ties with my “travel in an RV” thing. Most days I am just wearing sweat pants which border on being pajamas. Much more comfy for hours in the driver’s seat. In warmer weather sometimes cotton shorts, but since most travel was in Winter that’s kind-of not a good option.
@medz Oh yeah usually I just wear Crocs or pseudo-Crocs and take them off when driving, and drive in socks. Feels much better to me. You might want to slightly adjust seat position a bit closer if you do this.
Depends on where in going. If it’s close by car but otherwise by plane.
@Star2236 Pamper yourself
LOL
sorry couldn’t resist
@Star2236
/showme the difference between pampers and depends
Motorcycle…
FTL
@macromeh I so agree! Whitestar-B5, Mora- Farscape, Tardis-Dr Who, Millennium falcon- Star Wars. To name a few.
Not driving, motorcycle.
@blaineg Who’s driving the motorcycle then, if not you?
@pmarin Riding, not driving.
@blaineg @pmarin But how does the motorcycle know where to go?
@xobzoo The same way that a horse knows where to go; the rider tells it via inputs to the beast. Motorcycle riding is a lot more organic than driving a cage around, because most of your steering is really done by shifting your weight to bank into the curves.
@werehatrack I was just being silly, but you bring up a legitimately good point. Fwiw, in English we “drive” a car, but in some other languages we “lead” a car instead.
Whether or not “driving” a car is the best term, motorcycles are led or ridden more than they are driven.
Except in a legal sense, of course.
@werehatrack @xobzoo @blaineg @pmarin I’ve had many animated discussions with people who have ridden bicycles/motorcycles but don’t understand the subtlety of how they actually steer.
For example, at anything above a walking speed, to turn right, you actually (very slightly) turn the handlebar to the left while leaning right. Maybe counter intuitive, but if you pay attention when doing it, it becomes clear.
@blaineg @macromeh @werehatrack @xobzoo That actually makes sense. I’ve only ridden on my own down a street and back in a neighborhood. Somehow I turned around at the end (at very low speed). I’ve ridden with someone else driving/riding, and the main lesson I got as a passenger was don’t try to lean, Just sit normally and yes there will be leaning of the bike, just stay upright (relative to the bike, not to the ground) and get used to it.
Not the same as being in a sailboat where the instructions are often “everybody get on the uphill side.” Also if you happen to be on the downhill (water) side, your butt may get wet, or maybe more of you, especially if “dipping the rail” in a good wind.
@blaineg @macromeh @pmarin @werehatrack And here’s a video talking about those very things. (I had already been exposed to those ideas, so when I saw this video a while ago and I saved it so I could share it with others some time. I just had to go searching for where I’d saved it…)
Fwiw, the 3rd myth it busted was completely new to me.
@macromeh @pmarin @werehatrack @xobzoo Oh yea, countersteering is usually good for a heated argument until you get someone to actually try it. Then it opens up a whole new world of control, especially rapid/large direction changes.
“Push to turn” is often the simpler way to teach it.
@macromeh @pmarin @werehatrack @xobzoo FortNine has a lot of great videos.
@macromeh @pmarin @werehatrack @xobzoo I had a passenger counter-lean through a couple of sweeping turns. That was exciting. I was being steered the wrong direction by some magic, invisible hand.
When I asked him what the hell he was doing, he apologized and explained he rode three wheelers much more than motorcycles, and was used to unweighting the inside wheel to start a turn.
Which sums up why I dislike three wheelers: The handling inverts between low & high speeds. Quads are consistent, and lightweight 2WD models are a blast to slide around.
Teraport.
https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2001-03-24
@blaineg How about a Stargate- Stargate/SG1.
Piggyback
@OnionSoup yep. But you don’t go far.
through time
@xobzoo everyone does that, it’s just you can’t go in reverse or faster than nature allows.
@mycya4me @xobzoo Well, I had a college physics professor that said “well, we didn’t say you could never do that, just that our entire models and math break down at that point”
@mycya4me @pmarin @xobzoo A friend who knows a lot about time says that you should HOPE that FTL and time travel are impossible as both lead inevitably to eldritch horrors.
@blaineg @pmarin @xobzoo But not if you travel in a Tardis.
@mycya4me @pmarin @xobzoo Are you sure? It seems like the Doctor has encountered many eldritch horrors.
@blaineg @pmarin @xobzoo But he has always resolved them!
Having just driven 1084 miles one way twice in 10 days I’d say off hand if you’d attach airplane wings or helicopter blades to my car that would improve the situation immensely. Of course I came here to say tele-transporter but someone else already said that.
@Kidsandliz So did you go 2168 mi in one direction, or 1084 mi and back? Either way, a lot of driving. Hopefully split into at least 2 days each way. In stupider younger days tried stupidly to drive straight through 1200mi. Dumbest idea ever and not safe, even with 2 drivers. One time hit a cow (sorry
) in Utah desert. Another time my wife got a speeding ticket in Nevada. Just know when it makes more sense to stop for the night.
@pmarin 1084 one way over two days of driving and then had to do it again to get home. the longest I have ever driven in one day is about 700 miles and that was too much!!!
@Kidsandliz @pmarin I have done 700+ in one day as recently as June of last year, and I’ll be doing it again next Tuesday. That will be followed by 900+ on the Wednesday after Labor Day. I’ve been doing marathons like that for decades. I make a lot of short stops for brief naps, and I do some snacking. Sometimes I hook the iPod up to the radio and play my tunes.
@Kidsandliz @werehatrack I used to do 700mi to Silicon Valley where a friend had a house where I was welcome. If you have a friendly destination at the end of the trip it makes it easier to keep going.
Otherwise across the country, even if I know where I will stop for the night, I like to stop before dark. In Winter that can be pretty early. But I don’t mind leaving early in the morning if I can’t get back to sleep. Wake up at 2 or 3AM. Try to sleep for a bit. If that doesn’t work leave by 5AM. Driving East into the Sunrise is pretty cool. This is on known Interstates where I am comfortable. I love exploring back roads but wouldn’t do it in the dark.
On long trips if I’m alone I’ll do audiobooks. Still pissed at George R R you never going to finish the books the right way? Martin I guess you’re not. The books were 40-50 hours long which was about the same time as a cross-country trip.
Also on early mornings I don’t do any books yet, or even music. It’s the “moment of Zen” for me. Silence except for the drone of the Diesel discussed elsewhere here. (not as big as a locomotive or big truck though, but still “real” and “soothing” in a weird way.) Oh wait are we in Free Amateur Psychoanalysis mode again? Normally people have to pay hundreds of dollars to just vent their thoughts to a therapist and here you get it for the price of an IRK. And sometimes regret.
@Kidsandliz @werehatrack
@capnjb has made good use of this site in a similar way … especially during his goat month. Maybe for September you can do the same!
@pmarin
@capnjb @Kyeh @pmarin @werehatrack
Hmm… I wonder if that is a threat or a promise?
@capnjb @Kidsandliz @Kyeh @werehatrack is it too weird to post some travel Moment of Zen pictures here? maybe they will banish us to a different forum. But guaranteed SFW.
@capnjb @Kidsandliz @pmarin @werehatrack I’m all for moment of Zen pics! Travel or not. Maybe we can have a thread specifically for them.
@capnjb @Kyeh @pmarin @werehatrack If you think there should be a thread start one.
@Kidsandliz @Kyeh @pmarin @werehatrack I’m not sure which post to reply to, but I got one month of unfettered, unfiltered, untaxable free therapy in Capra hircus form (that’s a fancy word for goat).
It was great.
You should definitely do it. You sound like someone who is loquacious. Or at least uses the word loquacious.
@capnjb @Kyeh @pmarin @werehatrack Like goats get a choice to do it or not? They only get a choice to be loquacious or not once
draftedvoted into the job./giphy tardis
