Still Alive!
I'm at Benbow Lake State Recreation Area. I met up again with Tom and Rich in Eureka, and have been riding with them for the past three days. We're inland, so the heat is kicking up, reminding me of the bad old days in Kentucky. We're two days away from topping Leggett Hill, and then it'll be back to the coast with reasonable temperatures and ocean views and so on.
It's a different thing riding with other people...better, certainly, but instead of naught to do but post, or set up the amplifer and the antenna and fiddle with that, there's hanging around to do, and fires to build and dinner to make. Tonight we had a good feed: kababs made with 2.8 pounds of steak, plus yellow squash, tomato, onion, with the meat soaked in A1 and a bit of Tom's jug wine, accompanied by baked potato with butter and sour cream donated by the nice folks across the way.
The equipment has started to take a beating...I've lost two out of six radials on the antenna, which may affect its range; the big battery in the Black Box either isn't holding its charge, or there's a problem with the switch, or maybe the cell amplifier is having problems. There may or may not be an issue with one of the solar panels. Now that there's other people about, it's more difficult to focus on troubleshooting and tracking down these issues, just because - surprise! - social contact can actually be interesting. Imagine that!
Now, it's time to plot tomorrow's route on the GPS, get things set for the evening, and so on...more later.
