I’ve received many kind compliments on the words I’ve written and for that I thank you. I find it easy to write and only wish that I could find more time to do so. No, wait, scratch that. I will be making the time I need to write available as I have a renewed focus on  life and intend to forge ahead on this site as one of the areas where I want to make a difference.

Stay tuned…

~ Steve

In any case we have made it home after better than 31 days on the road. In that stretch we racked up the following;

• Visited 17 states
• Took over 9000 photographs
• 4 National Parks (Theodore Roosevelt, Yellowstone, Wind Cave, Badlands)
• 3 National Monuments (Little Bighorn, Devils Tower, Mt. Rushmore)
• 2 Theme parks (Cedar Point and Six Flags New England)
• Traversed Granite Pass (el. 9,033 feet (2,753 m)) on Route 14 in the Big Horn mountains of Wyoming
• Viewed 17 trillion stalks of corn while passing through Iowa
• Our biggest mileage day was over 700 when we pushed for home from Western Pennsylvania last Monday.
• The only rain we had the entire trip was in the last 2 days on the road.
• The vast majority of days were perfect sunshine and reasonable temperatures.

As I mentioned above we pushed to get home on the last day. With no more specific sites to visit and having a fair amount of road fatigue we just wanted to go home. As such we arrived home around 4:00 am Tuesday morning. Everyone except Andrew (our oldest) Terri and myself were asleep when we pulled into the driveway. Having been away so long brought a sort of surreal quality to actually being home. As such we didn’t go directly to bed but instead went inside to check on our cats and look at the stack of mail that had piled up in our absence. While we were gone a neighbor of ours had been collecting the mail and tending to the 3 cats.

As we approached the door we realized that we did not have a house key since we had left one with the neighbor and the other one was on the key ring that had the van keys on it. Those were safely hanging just inside the door on the rack.

Okay, now what? Since it was rather late/early we didn’t want to wake the neighbor but we also didn’t want to wait until morning. So with a little work and some tools from the RV we broke into our own house. Fortunately we live in an area of the country where we don’t have to bullet proof our home from thieves. Granted, if we can break in so can they but since the house is occupied nearly 24/7 I’m not too concerned. Most criminals fear getting caught and won’t approach busy occupied houses.

In any case, the cats were happy to see us and after 20 minutes or so Terri and I returned to the RV to sleep. Since our pillows etc. were there already it was simpler than sleeping inside given the lateness. Besides, Amelia would have been more than a little lost in the morning when she woke up and found us not there. Andrew however said that he would just as soon crash on the couch.

I slept until around 11:00 and woke up refreshed. Andrew - as I learned later - never went to sleep. Soon after I was up he wanted to take the car and go see his girlfriend who was some 40 miles away. Knowing that being that tired behind the wheel can be deadly I refused to let him drive. I did offer to drive him down to her house and leave him with the car there. None of this sat very well with him so we all stayed home until late afternoon.

At around 3:00 I noticed that he had fallen asleep talking on his cell phone while sitting in the RV. After letting him nap for an hour or so I tried to wake him to get him into the car to go.

He may as well have been in a coma. Talking got zero response as did poking and shaking him. At one point MaryAnne grabbed his baseball cap off his head to which he then opened his eyes long enough to snag it back and go back to sleep. It took 20 minutes or more to get through to him enough to get him to move. Ultimately he did wake up enough and he arrived safely at Shawna’s to spend the night.

With school looming next week and the typical family grind of scheduling that goes along with it we decided to take the “Let’s just ignore it all” approach and relax. So, for the last 3 days we have done just that. We haven’t even fully unloaded the RV yet but instead have just enjoyed being home. We were blessed with 2 “perfect” weather days Tuesday and Wednesday. You know the ones, where the temperature is just right and the sun shines brightly all day through a crystal clear blue sky devoid of any clouds.

At one point I sat alone under a shade tree on the lawn - in high grass that needed mowing - just reading a Clive Cussler novel I picked up for $1.00 in Iowa called “Black Wind“, completely stress free.

As John Denver once said;

“Hey its good to be back home again - yes it is
Sometimes this old farm feels like a long-lost friend
Yes n hey, it’s good to be back home again”

Yes it is.

~Steve

Since my last post we’ve had days of fairly short distances covered and as a result we’ve enjoyed the trip that much more. Here’s a short list of places we’ve been to since the last post;

• Mackinaw City Michigan village
• Crossed the Mackinac bridge
• Michigan DNR campground on Lake Superior
• Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum
• Tahquamenon Falls State park
• KI Sawyer AFB (I lived there when I was 2 and my Dad was an Air Force officer)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
• 2007 Airventure in Oshkosh, Wiconsin
• KOA directly next to I-94 (more on that later)
• Dinner at the KOA with pksublime and his fiancee (YNABer’s know who I mean)
• A full day at the MOA
• The National Buffalo Museum in Jamestown, North Dakota

We of course have piles of pictures from these visits that I’d like to share but there is simply no time. I will be doing a full vast update after we get back if you are still interested. I may find time later in the trip to get some pictures online but not today.

On a somber note we were at the Mall of America about 3 miles away from the 35W bridge collapse when it happened. We became aware of it when a clerk in one of the shops commented that we must not live nearby. When we asked him what he meant he explained what had happened and that the fact we didn’t have our cell phones stuck to our ears was what clued him in. Indeed, many people were calling friends and family letting them know about it and checking to see if their loved ones were okay. We had noticed prior to then that our cell phones kept giving us “all circuits busy” type warnings when we did try to call each other. Now we knew why.

Our condolences to everyone effected by this tragedy.

That’s all for now.

After leaving work a day early to give us the opportunity to perhaps leave early all we accomplished was instead was more of “getting ready”. A trip of this magnitude always seems to present new thoughts of “Oh yeah, we need that too.” to the point where it was making me wonder how we ever left home before without packing the kitchen sink. Thankfully the RV has a sink so we didn’t need the one from the house.

In any case we drove away Friday headed for Niagara Falls, some 650 miles from home. 300 or so miles later after some stops to switch drivers and get gas we arrived in Chicopee Massachusetts at a Wal-Mart just off the highway for the night. There were a few other RVs there and although Chicopee seemed to be a very busy place it was quiet enough that we could sleep just fine. I was up at 6:00 the next morning and on the road by 6:50 after breakfast and a stop for gas.

We crossed into Canada on Rainbow Bridge rather quickly with only a few questions by the Canadian border patrol and found our campground in no time. Since Amelia wanted to swim - it’s her #1 goal every day it seems - I took her to the pool and then the playground before we all took the shuttle down to the falls.

Niagara Falls is an amazing place if you’ve never been and there is so much to see and do that the one evening we were giving it really wasn’t enough. None the less we had a plan and tried our best. We took a ride on the Maid of the Mist right into the middle of the Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side. At one point the waterfall took up my entire field of vision when facing it and all I could think of was some scene out of a disaster move with the world flooding from every direction. I guess you know that Hollywood has done their job well when a real life scene gets compared to a special effect.

After the ride we enjoyed one of the largest fireworks displays we had ever seen since we lucked out and happened to arrive as a local business “Pizza Pizza” was paying for the show. They were calling it the “Wall of Fire” since they were launching it from 10 different locations around the falls. Normally they don’t even have fireworks on Saturdays so it was nice.

On Sunday we left for a quick look at Lake Ontario and were able to look across and see Toronto in the distance. Having never been to any of the great lakes it was little odd to see what looked for all the world like the ocean but not have the ocean “smell” and of course be fresh water. No surprise of course, just a different experience and that’s why we’re on this trip.

We arrived at Cedar Point later in the day and as we drove out to the Point on the causeway Nathaniel was simply beside himself. He’s know we were coming here for some time but the way he was gawking out the windows you’d have thought it was all just one big surprise and he was the happiest 16 year old on the planet. The rest of us had more fun watching and listening to him than looking for ourselves. The real icing on the cake was when we pulled up to the Camper Village registration building and I told him we were staying at the park. Leading up to the trip I kept hinting that we would be “nearby” but miles away. Once we checked in we ended up with a site nestled in the trees no more than 200′ away from one of the roller coasters. This of course was met with his full approval.

The next morning he and I headed into the park an hour early - a Cedar Point resort guests perk - and rode Top Thrill dragster after waiting only 15 minutes in line. At 0-120 miles per hour and 400 feet straight up it was an amazing experience. The entire ride from start to finish is over in less than 30 seconds so even if you don’t like hights you won’t have time to care.

The Red Sox game at Jacobs Field in Cleveland on Tuesday wa great with a 1-0 Boston win. The amazing part was how many times that a huge protion of the crowd would chant “Let’s go Red Sox!” complete with the clapping only to be drowned out by boos from Indians fans. Red Sox shirts were everywhere in the crowd so we felt right at home. It was great.

On Wednesday we stopped at the Cabelas in Dundee Michigan. At 200,000 square feet it is the largest one in the world and a destination unto itself. An artificial 100 foot tall “mountain” was in the center of the store surrounded by dozens of stuffed deer, bear, antelope, mountain lions, etc. all in realistic poses. Truly an amazing place.

So now we are in Mackinaw City Michigan at a KOA within 4 miles of the Mackinac bridge. We will cross it today and head onto the UP on our way to OshKosh. Since this has been our first access to the internet I’m not sure when the next chance to get online will be. However I do know that it will be short. There’s simply too much to see and do then log in and type. I’m going to upload some pictures so make sure you click on the photo of the day to get to the album to see them.

~Steve

Amelia found me in the bathroom washing my hands and asked “Where are you going?”. When I responded with “Work.” her face turned sour and the bottom lip started to quiver as it often does on a five year old little girl. She then implored that I needed to “Call your work and tell them that you need to be on vacation today and everyday.”

If it were only so simple.

In any case I went on to tell her that in just 1 week I would be all done with work and ready to head out on the Big Trip for 5 weeks of vacation. Those 5 weeks being the single largest stretch of time I will have taken away from work in more than 20 years.

1 Week.

1 Week!

Okay, I’ve got to get cracking on finishing up with all of the loose ends prior to departure and I need to do it now.

He had asked if we could order it from the Council service center in Portland but being busy getting ready for the trip and all we simply hadn’t gotten around to it.

On the night prior to heading out to Lake George I was looking at the map and wondered if we might be traveling near one of the other state’s Scout shops. A quick Google search found that the Vermont Scout shop is located in Waterbury Vermont.

While Waterbury was not directly on our route it was not so far out of the way that it would mess up the trip so I decided to reroute us through there. I intended to keep it a surprise and not tell Andrew until we pulled into the parking lot.

The bonus to this change of direction would be that it would take us across the southern end of Lake Champlain and down the western shore of Lake George. A route listed in a book I own by Readers Digest called “The Most Scenic Drives in America”and had looked forward to exploring the roads listed therein whenever possible.

Navigating to the Scout shop was easy thanks to an Averatec GPS device that I bought for Terri back in June for her birthday. All I had to do was punch in the street address and it guided us right to downtown Waterbury. However, lacking the specific street address for the shop I had to resort to calling them for instructions once we arrived in town. After arriving in town at around 4 PM a quick call had me only about 2 miles away straight down the road we were on so just a short drive later we pulled in. Fortunately they were open until 5 PM so we had time to look around. Unfortunately however they would not sell us the Eagle knot without some sort of proof that he was in fact an Eagle scout. We had little to argue with since they were only following BSA policy. No matter, their shop had different items than ours did and we ended up purchasing a few things. It was nice to get out of the RV after riding for so many hours and we were soon on our way once again.

By this time I had been fully awake for some time and was ready to navigate drive us down the back roads of Vermont to the previously mentioned “scenic drive”. In fact I had been driving for the last 20 miles or so after getting up.

A quick check of the map showed that all we had to do was travel south on Route 100 then west on 17 into New York state. Once there a simple left hand turn onto Route 9 south would bring us to Lake George. Easy enough, but who needs maps when you have a GPS? I quickly punched in “Lake George” and tapped “Navigate” as I headed south on RT. 100.

The GPS insisted that I turn around.

I ignored it since I knew from the map that it was wrong and should figure that out soon and re-route automatically. No such luck. It kept insisting that I was going the wrong way.

It was a beautiful afternoon and the road was smooth and wide making driving the RV easy. I was a little concerned that I had to follow a long winded detour due to closure of the actual Rt. 100 presumably due to road construction. No matter, it eventually came back around onto the original Rt. 100 and kept us going south.

It didn’t take long until I noticed a sign saying “Jct. Rt. 17″. “Perfect”, I thought “Right where it’s supposed to be”. So when I reached it I turned right onto it and continued along the way.

Meanwhile Terri was fiddling with the mapping software on our laptop while sitting at the kitchen table. It was also displaying our location in real time as it was hooked to an external USB GPS. I had it setup using both “Delorme Street Atlas”as well as Microsoft’s “Streets and Trips”software. I purchased both on the lead up to the trip and liked various aspects of both programs. Terri however was not overly familiar with using either software package and began to voice her doubts as to the route I was taking.

I assured her that it was fairly straight forward since we had gone over the map just prior to leaving the scout shop and that all I had to do was pay attention to the signs. Sure, “Pay attention to the signs” I said. Wow, how that would come back to bite me.

In any case she insisted that I take a left hand turn onto an upcoming road. I felt it was a wrong turn but in the interests of marital harmony decided to play along. The side road we took led us up towards and past a ski area. A very steep at times climb and decent that was not fun. After we arrived at an intersection I pulled over just down the street to look at the map.

By this point though I had no idea where we were since we had left any sort of numbered “Route” some time ago. So I hauled the laptop right outside where the GPS could see the sky better to get my bearings. Once it locked in it showed us way up within a series of side roads that I could not see how they would connect us back to any main route let alone Lake George.

As you can guess I was getting fairly frustrated by this point. I got back in and turned the RV around and went back - up and down - the 3 or 4 mile side road that had led us to this point on my way back to what I was certain was Rt. 17. On the way back to that point I stopped long enough to once again program “Lake Gorge” into the GPS as Terri and I agreed to follow it’s instructions and stop second guessing it. What a mistake that was going to turn out to be.

Freshly punched in the GPS wanted to bring us back to Rt. 100 and head south. “Fine.” I thought. At least it was giving up it’s insistence that we head north. I believe this was due to 2 factors though.

1. We were far enough along the way that it finally gave up and re-routed automatically.
2. Having tweaked the settings to “Shortest” from “Quickest” allowed it to rethink the route.

Soon enough we were driving along south once again on RT. 100. Certain that we would not get to the scenic drive going this way I didn’t much care anymore since most of Vermont is very “scenic” anyway we weren’t missing anything and finally being on our way meant less frustration.

As I drove along I noticed that the GPS said that we had a right hand turn coming up in a few miles onto something called “Lincoln Gap Road”. When it appeared up ahead I merely had to veer right a bit since it wasn’t a sharp turn and continue on our way. Not having to slow down much I basically flew by an odd colored sign that I thought read “WARNING: Not recommended for trucks, buses or trailers!“.

In my normal brain I would have heeded such a sign but since Terri and I had agreed to follow the GPS I kept right on driving.

My first clue that perhaps the GPS was wrong was when the road turned to dirt. But since we still saw signs of life in homes and power lines we weren’t too concerned. Besides, the GPS said the next turn was only 4 miles away. After a mile or so of dirt it turned back to asphalt and I thought “How bad can this be?”

If I only knew what lay ahead.

Soon after the asphalt arrived the road began to narrow and climb. It also started to snake back and forth - as many Vermont roads do - but only more so as the canopy of trees seemed to block out all views up or to the sides. Gone were the idyllic farm lands and fields and gone to was our faith in the GPS.

By now though I was seemingly on a path of no return as a rocketed up the mountainside, the RV weaving back and forth as we climbed putting the big 460 V8 to the test. I had long before this point taken it out of overdrive and was now forced into shifting it to low gear as the grade increased seemingly by the yard.

Needless to say, we were getting a little freaked out as I continued to climb all the while I was thinking “God, it’s got to level out eventually doesn’t it?”. No such luck, it just continued to climb, narrowing down to not a whole lot wider than the RV at times. The only saving grace was the quality of the road surface being good smooth asphalt.

It didn’t take much of this to realize that we were in trouble and I needed to stop soon. With nowhere to pull over I had little choice but to hope for an opportunity to pull over or that we might just reach the top. Finally after what seemed like far too long I spotted a pull off that was really only a wide spot in the road. At that point though I didn’t care and took it.

Coming to a stop in the pull off was abrupt as all I had to do was take my foot off of the gas pedal and the weight of the RV combined with the steepness of the mountain brought us to a halt in a matter of feet.

I stepped on the brakes hard to keep us from rolling backwards and jammed the parking brake down. While I did so I hollered for someone to put the wheel chocks in place while I stayed behind the wheel.

I had shut the engine off as soon as I came to a stop and not a moment too soon as steam started pouring out of the hood. Driving a fully loaded 6 ton RV up the side of a mountain was a bit too much even for a big V8 to handle it seemed.

A quick look at the GPS on the laptop had us at over 2400′ in elevation, quite high for this neck of the woods. But how far up we were didn’t concern me near as much as how we were going to get back down safely did. Going further up was out of the question but turning around was going to be a problem.

Just like earlier in the day when we picked up the rock the whole family poured out of the RV. You might think that I was the last to emerge having stayed behind the wheel just-in-case but I wasn’t. We actually had to wake up Andrew and explain what happened as he had snoozed right through the entire accent.

As Terri and I discussed our options MaryAnne made it clear that she was not getting back in the RV and would instead walk back down the mountain. Nathaniel meanwhile had decided that the whole situation was pretty cool - albeit dangerous - and ever the explorer had trotted up the road to see what was around the corner further on ahead. Fortunately for all of us he found a parking lot where we could turn around.

The parking lot it seems is for day trippers who wanted to summit the mountain via a hiking trail. Although I like to hike I didn’t even consider this one. I just wanted off the mountain. Using the parking lot to turn around though was in the plans.

After waiting long enough for the engine to cool down I started up the RV and slowly pulled the 200 feet or so up to the parking lot and turned around.

MaryAnne was still refusing to get back in but after multiple reassurances from Terri and I she relented and climbed in. I had no intentions of doing a downhill version of the Hell Mountain ride and was going to strike a balance between riding as slow as possible in low gear while using the brakes only as much as needed.

Well, it was a nice plan anyway.

Indeed we started out slow but picked up speed rather quickly even in low gear. Automatic transmissions are a great thing but not for this purpose. The 6 tons of fully loaded RV wanted to rocket downhill faster than the accent by far.

As the speed increased and the curves became more and more to handle I was at a point where I knew we had to stop or the brakes might fail. At about the time I was ready to try and stop the RV we noticed a dirt side road on a short level stretch up ahead. By this point I was also using the parking brake to a degree to help slow us down and in trying to stop I was standing on the brakes and pressed on the parking brake ever further.

It didn’t want to stop, but it did, Finally!

Once again I called for the wheel chocks and then we climbed out this time with the wheels smoking. Yippee.

On the lead up to the Big Trip I had been reading about how important tire care is on an RV and decided to purchase a small infrared thermometer from Radio Shack to check the temperature of the tires with an accurate number as opposed to just feel-and-guess. I think Terri suggested I should check the brakes with it so I grabbed it and knelt down at one of the front wheels, aimed and pressed the button.

The range on the neat little pocket sized IR toy is from 0-415 degrees Fahrenheit. On my first shot it read “- - -”.

“Huh, that’s weird” I thought. So I tried again.

This time the angle I used was a little different and I saw it flash 399 or so before climbing to read “- - -” again.

Yup, I “pegged” it. The brakes were over 415 degrees, all four of them. I was lucky that we came to a stop at all.

Armed with this information it was clear we would be hanging out for a while. We took a little walk down the dirt road and basically hung out by the RV waiting for the brakes to cool. While we were there a car came down the mountain and slowed to a stop while rolling down the window.

Person in car: Hi, are you folks all set?

Me: Yes we are. Thanks for asking.

Person in car: What happened?

Me: (Gesturing to the GPS unit mounted to the windshield in the RV) Aw, just relying a little too heavily on the electronic wonderment in guiding us around.

Person in car: Oh, where were you headed?

Me: Lake George New York.

Person in car: Yeah, this is the road all right. But not in that. (Pointing to our RV)

Me: Yeah, we figured that part out.

The conversation from there just clarified what we had already figured out and that was to just stay on Rt. 100 south until we reach Rt. 4 then head west into New York state. We thanked them for stopping and they headed on their way.

After the breaks cooled down we climbed back in and descended the rest of the way down. Thankfully it was only about 1/4 of a mile or so before it leveled out so we didn’t have to stop again.

The rest of the ride down Rt. 100 was fairly uneventful except for the fact that it was devoid of buildings or power lines for many miles as it wound through a deep forest valley with mountains stretching up on either side. It still paled in comparison to what we now jokingly call “Hell Mountain”.

I drove the RV into town to the gas station then after filling up let Terri take over. Since I had been up for nearly 20 hours I was looking forward to getting some sleep.

Normally I can sleep just about anywhere. The motion of the road can lull me to sleep easily and deeply. You’d think that between the lack of sleep and the road I would pass right out. Nope. Not even close. With the unfamiliar feel of riding in a large vehicle combined with the endless rolling checklist in my head I barely got any sleep at all.

After about 40 miles of riding I noticed that Terri had stopped the rig but I tried to ignore it and sleep figuring she had just stopped for a coffee or something. Immediately upon her pulling out though came a large banging noise that shook the whole RV. I sat bolt upright and asked “What is wrong?”, “Do we have a flat tire or something?”

“I don’t think so.” Terri exclaimed but pulled over as best she could to have a look. Andrew jumped out and after a quick circle of the vehicle said that the tires were fine. “Okay,” I said, “Let’s try it again.”. Not thinking clearly of course at all that the large banging was not about to magically disappear just because we circled the wagon.

Sure enough, it came back with a vengeance just as soon as she rolled forward.
By now the banging had become a tremendous slamming that made me have visions of broken axles and all sorts of catastrophic breakdown imagery flash across my sleep deprived brain. “Stop!” I hollered. “There’s something clearly wrong!”. No doubt, we needed to stop ASAP. Only by now the RV was in the middle of an intersection and had no choice but to continue on a little further. Once safely through the crossing, Terri pulled it over and we all poured out of the rig like a troupe of circus clowns expecting to find the worst.

Terri was the first to see it. What had happened is that she had picked up a baseball sized rock in the dirt parking lot she had pulled out of just moments ago in between the dual rear wheels on the passenger side of the RV.

It happened to be wedged in at about the 2 o’clock position on the wheel and looked like we could just pluck it out and be on our way. Yeah, right. Having driven on it even the short distance we did had firmly buried it into place.

I asked for someone to get me the tire wrench and proceeded to bang away at it using the wrench like a hammer. With no good angle of attack all I managed to do was make some noise and throw a few sparks. If I could just get behind it I though that I might be able to pry it out.

I asked Terri to get back in the RV and roll forward just a foot or so to bring the rock down to around the 4 o’clock area where perhaps I could use the ground to help me. Once there I still couldn’t seem to get the right angle on it and between my frustration and lack of sleep I managed to pinch the little finger on my right hand causing a blood blister to show right up. Yippee.

Okay, I’m not having fun anymore, there has to be some other way. After bashing my finger I sat back and looked the situation over again. It was than that I thought I might be able to pry it out by sticking the wrench through one of the vent holes on the tire rim. I placed the wrench through and pushed.

No good, it didn’t budge. But neither did the wrench! I was on to something here. I repositioned it slightly so that I could step on it and push. I then asked Terri to look under and see if I was having any effect on the rock or if I was just bouncing against the inside tire.

She said that I was moving it some so I redoubled my efforts and climbed up with both feet placing my full weight on the wrench. Using the kids and the RV to balance I bounced up and down hard. After a few good bounces the rock took of like a shot out of the tires throwing sparks on the tar as it skidded all the way up to the front underneath.

Victory!

Back on the road and - hopefully - back to sleep.

Back about 15 years ago I had traveled to Glens Falls New York to attend a job related seminar. As part of the pampering they give you when you attend those type of events was a boat ride/dinner on nearby Lake George.

Lake George - as it turns out - is a beautiful region steeped in history. The village of Lake George is located at the southern end of the 30 mile long lake and is home to a replica of the famous Fort William Henry. A real fort that is the scene of a large battle in James Fenimore Cooper’s famous book “The last of the Mohicans”.

In any case, I had often thought that visiting the area would make for a nice family trip but had never done so. Since we wanted to purchase season tickets to Six Flags and the Lake Gorge area is home to “Six Flags: The Great Escape” it looked like finally taking that trip would nicely fit the bill.

I had to work nights on the 2nd and wouldn’t get out of work until 6AM so the plan was that Terri and the kids would sleep in the RV in the front yard packed and ready to leave as soon as I got home. I figured I could get a few hours of shut eye on the 6 hour ride while Terri drove and be ready to go.

Unfortunately things didn’t start out as we had planned.
As it turned out the kids didn’t want to sleep in the RV in the driveway. The boys had gone to the movies with their girlfriends the night before and as a result didn’t want to get out of bed even after I arrived home.

Since Terri - and myself - kept remembering that we wanted to take x, y, or z items it kept us busy gathering things giving the kids time to get up and going. Although I was disappointed that we hadn’t left as planned I was okay with it since after all, going through the motions of this shakedown cruise was what it was all about.

There is a small (2.24 MB unzipped) vector graphics drawing freeware program called “Grids” which I have had around for years and is very easy to use. The last update was many years ago but it is still very useful. I used the software to design an addition to my home and also a large gambrell style 2 car garage. In many ways it’s like using electronic graph paper so it makes laying things out straight forward and intuitive. The print outs are especially nice.

It will run from a USB drive or any other place you dump the files without installing it. A more detailed description (found on http://www.myfreewares.com/software-18910-grids-free-download.html) is below.

“Designed as a simple vectorial drawing software as there are not a lot on Windows. Its principal functions is dedicated to schemes drawing, thus you can generate libraries with symbols which can be easily used (many symbols are provided with Grids). Because of its design, it can be run very quickly in an easy way. Indeed, the documents created with Grids can be managed like folders, each folio can be composed of several pages. It can be used for networks schemes, for electrical schemes, for databases conception, flow charts, etc…Several original functions complete it: it can create a reverse-engineering of JCL files (welcome to the IBM world), it allows you to draw guitar tabs and grids (for guitarists of course), and also calendars ; it can execute midifiles, open www sites, and even a full screen mode which can be used as a midi prompt!”

Even though the project is dead and the author no longer has a site for it you can still find it on many different websites via a simple Google search for “engrids.zip” Below are several working links to the zip file.

http://ausis.gf.vu.lt/pub/tools/engrids.zip
ftp://ftp.astro.ulg.ac.be/pub/pc/windows/win-95/graphic/engrids.zip
ftp://ftp.jaring.my/pub/simtelnet/win95/graphics/engrids.zip

The only problem I have ever had with the file is that the CPU usage will max out high when you are using the program but it has never locked up any PC I have used it on or even bogged it down at all. It’s just a little unnerving to see that at first but since it does no harm I find the program very useful.

Give it a try, I think you will find it useful too.

~Steve