Mischievous Ramblings II

Back from the Frozen North

 

Sorry for the absence.  Some was preparation, some was the trip, some was a bit of recovery.  We drove from Seattle to Dawson Creek, British Columbia to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory to Skagway, Alaska and back, covering 3827.9 miles.

We saw moose, bison, bears, elk, mountain goats, and a lynx, some in the wild and some in a wildlife sanctuary and rescue facility.

Preliminary pictures here.

Which countries do not belong?

You'd think we'd be over this by now. Really.

Us, Burma, and Liberia?

Small Town Hold Up

Another example of hold up happened much later in our trip in Sara's home town of Bishop, California.

We traveled to Bishop from Westlake Village for a couple of reasons:

• We had a long-term issue with CA DMV concerning a motor home in Sara's late father's side yard
• Sara's niece Grace (about 18 months old) is in Big Pine (just south of Bishop) with her mom Kathleen
• Kathleen needed a truck retrieved from "storage" where it had been for about a month since Sara's brother Dan was arrested on DUI charges by the CHP

Big Town Hold Up

When we studied "hold up" in Managerial Economics, I didn't find it a compelling subject.  As a generally cooperative individual (the snorted "hah!" you hear in the background is from disgruntled stepchildren — pay them no attention) it's difficult for me to appreciate that there are people in the world who will willingly — nay, happily — take advantage of opportunities to hold others up.

Civilized Airline Travel

Sara and I flew from Vancouver to Toronto yesterday on Harmony Airways. For a 4.5 hour flight, it was very civilized. Since we were flying entirely within Canada we didn't have to deal with the TSA. They fed us a very nice piece of salmon in butter with rice (Real food? On an airline?) and plied everyone who'd take it with red or white wine. Hot towels, even.

What is this, 1965?

Home!

Back after a three week RV excursion to SoCal for Xmas. Haven't posted much while we've been gone, haven't advertised the fact that we've been gone, but there will be pick-up posts here and there (and at least a few posts about the trip) as time goes by.

It Was A Nice Day…

until the Dog exploded

And y'know, cleaning up a major dog mess in an RV, in the rain, with a wife laid up because of a caroling induced knee injury, in the dark...

is just no fun. :-(

But the Flying Flags(?) RV park here in Buellton is a nice place, even if we can't get their WiFi in our rig -- that might be because we're sitting through a multi-inch rainstorm that's passing from South to North. The last one of these we sat through (while we were in Westlake Village) dropped 6 inches of rain on downtown LA. This one is supposed to be a bit smaller, but still....

A Taste of the System

BarlowFriendz: A Taste of the System describes John Perry Barlow's ongoing court battle with the court system over a drug arrest and seizure based upon an airline security search of luggage.

This is why I don't fly. It's also why I live in Canada.

I can't argue the merits of the legal arguments. I'm not a lawyer. I do know that whatever drugs Barlow was carrying were no threat to the flight or the security of the US, and should therefore have been of no interest to the TSA.

America is in danger of becoming (or has already become) a police state. Personal privacy is increasingly irrelevant, whether the sacrifice of it has anything to do with national security or not. Victimless crimes (and yes, most drug offenses are victimless) are penalized more strongly than vast corporate fraud. Our votes are kept less safely than our money or our video rental histories (at least it requires a password to access those).

Mathematician Caught in ‘War on Terror’

Mathematician Caught in 'War on Terror'

I guess mathematicians are of a type -- he bears a distinct resemblance to my father.

Mike’s Road Trip

My best friend Mike has posted September Road Trip, a travelogue of a short escape into the Sierras from the Bay Area.

Mike was kind enough to make a quick "runaway dad" drive with me up the coast from San Jose to Vancouver when I needed to recover the GMC's toad. He's a great traveling companion.