BeachWeb - March 2011
Bike Florida:
Well, I rode several days (5) of the Bike Florida event,
and enjoyed it quite a bit... I didn't sleep much but there were
definitely some high-points along the way. The ride was about 400
riders, and 'organized' by the "Bike Florida" group, and run by three
young ladies who did quite a good job, overall, especially considering
the 'obstacles' that the weather-gods threw in their way...
I
came home to Stuart a day early (on Thursday afternoon, 31 March) -
they had cancelled riding for Thursday due to (VERY) inclement weather
forecasts. Driving home to Stuart was a significant struggle because of
the huge cross-winds and blown-down-trees along the way.
the 'routes' are in this 'overlay' file here ( large view / small view )...
- Saturday (26 March)
I 'trashed' my right front rim when I tried to go over a grassy area
and hit something 'SOLID' and it bent my rim and blew-out the side-wall
of a BRAND NEW TIRE (there goes $35 down the drain)... Kojak
tire. A bike mechanic (with a rim-truing-stand) with a BIG
BLACK TRUCK re-aligned the rim (as best he could) and then I re-rode a
goodly portion of the route... (blue track-log in the middle of
the picture
- Sunday(27 March) was a good (if a bit hot) ride out the east of Gainesville (red track-log to the right in the picture(s)).
- Monday(28 March) we went north and west and ended up in "High Springs". (green track-log to the north).
- Tuesday(29 March
(was _Mom's_ birthday - so I found a quiet place and phoned her to wish
her happy birthday) Our route took us NW of High Springs and then back
there for a second night in the gym at the "_First_Baptist_Church_".
(with a great Winn Dixie (with a deli)) across the street, and a Subway
next door. (the ride NW of High Springs is the orange-yellow track-log
to the upper-left in the above picture(s).
- Wednesay(30 March)
we left High Springs in the morning - supposedly only using the 'Short
Route' (because of the weather-forecast), and rode to "Newberry's
"Easton (Archery equipment supplier) - Newberry Sports Complex. (blue-
track-log in the lower-left of the picture
- Thursday(31 March)
dawned late (to fully overcast skies) with thunderstorm, lightning,
hail, tornadoes all around, so the organizer requested us to not ride.
Eventually (about 10 a.m.) we got a bus back into Gainesville, to
pick-up our cars. I came back to Newberry (only about a 30 minute
drive from the car-park (in a Wal-Mart parking lot) and picked-up my
gear-bag and trike, and then drove home..
some random pictures taken along the ride - in no particular order...
a typical route-marking 'Bike Florida' sign
Mr._Bill - picture 1 by Jim Harris Photography...
Mr._Bill - picture 2 by Jim Harris Photography...
some cows who thought I looked funny?
some horses
some birds, debating about the overcast
a part of the "Rails to Trails" that we rode on
an 'inside-camping-view' (not un-like the "Cycle North Carolina" thing) but this ride was MUCH smaller (about 400 cycles)
Bill's I.C.E. "TriceQ" (don't know where the white-plastic-bag came from, but it is NOT MINE...)...
(notice 'outdoor camping' in the background...)
Another
sort of trike, this one is called a "LoGo" - originally made by a
'one-man-shop' in Western Australia... - There's less than a hand-full
of these in the United States, and the company is no longer in
business... This one is owned by Mr._Dean from WAY UP NORTH IN
THE COLD-FROZEN world. He and I 'sort of got lost' (took a wrong
turn and went almost all the way to Waldo) on Monday - but we finally
figured out the 'error of our ways' - and only went about 11-12 miles
out of our way...
We managed - today (Saturday, 19th) a brief
but EXCEEDINGLY ENJOYABLE cycling-trip around Lake Okeechobee (well not
ALLLL the way around but a part...) - about 35 miles plus or minus...
My good friend from Okeechobee e-mailed last night and we put this
together quite on the spur-of-the-moment and then met him near about
08:15 a.m. this morning and finished our ride just before noon...
We happened to see both a lot of 'generic' traffic on the
Lake dike, but ran-into Ms. Phyllis and Mr. Gary BOTH on the dike - -
we see Mr. Gary quite often and he has a new 'hybrid' bicycle and so we
ran-around (not aground) a lot on the dike today - very good weather,
too.
Well, first
weekend back in the USA and Mr. Bill had to 'be reliable' to support a
sailing regtta he forgot about... - so - Here's some things...
Just a FEW of the MANY boats in this sailing regatta... Mr._Bill got to be a 'shepherd boat' operator (still part of the "B.I.M.B.O." crowd...)
But this is a really interesting view of the sailboat racing community.
This is the support of the "Green-Opti(mist)" boats / fleet -
it's the BEGINNERS and I do mean beginners, in the
sailing-racing-world.
These guys and gals, (some as young as six years old) are both a
challenge and a reward. When you help one of these kids sail
around the course, and they recognize they have completed the course,
it's truly a feeling to behold. The kids (and sometimes the
parents and the coaches) will both recognize & compliment your
(most of the time "HARD" (not physically but psychologically)) work and
it is a real kick to see these kids compete and to help them out...
A REAL CHANGE and a REAL DIFFERENCE from the typical (near-olympic)
sailing we normally support. This was the second time I'd
helped-out at an Optimit Green-Fleet event and I really enjoyed it...
A 'few' items from Rio de Janeiro - in no particular order...
I thought I rode something called an 'I.C.E. (recumbent) tricycle' - however, there are some
IceTrikes here in Rio de Janeiro, that might have something on my ICE_Trike?
some hang-gliding-area pictures (from Sunday Morning)...
one of the mountains that has 'some' lift next to it (at least the (VERY BEAUTIFUL)) birds think so...
(if you look REALLY CLOSE you'll see a hang-glider at the top-middle of the picture).
A nice grassy break-down area for the glider-pilots - launch is up to the upper-right of the picture - inside the
cloud when this picture was taken...
We saw about 20-30 cars with gliders (and/or racks) on them. The Brazilian 'authority' has an office just
to the right of the glider in this picture. This is at a place called "Sao Conrado" beach - which is about
a 90 minute drive from the "International Airport" - and about a 20 minute 'mini-bus' ride from the
place we were staying in Ipanema Beach... - There is even a pair of hang-glider logos on the 'tourist-maps'
for the launch and landing-zone areas. There is also a 'bus' ride that one can take from near the downtown area...
there was this 'smallish' Sushi restaurant near to where we were
staying in the Bed and Breakfast... We never ate at this Sushi
restaurant, but we were 'taken' in by the 'street-urchins' (see
below)...
A view from the Bed & Breakfast bedroom-window as the 'Carnival Band & followers' passed-by...
I took several picture(s) with both the iPhone's camera as well as Ms._May's _NikonD40...
The one above happens to be from Ms._May's camera, not the iPhone...
The NOISE generated by the band (all kept together by a huge circle of BIG GUYS holding-hands around
the band (so the errant partiers can not get in amongst the band...)) - was ASTOUNDING - even through
closed-windows, curtains, air-conditioners running, etc. - they were, though, RIGHT outside the window,
and, well - I suspect that part of the 'attraction' is the noise...
And-as-always the job ain't done until the paper-work-is-cleaned-up... These two pictures were taken
less than 30 minutes apart! - Rio does a 'pretty-decent-job' of cleaning-up after itself, during the carnival
time.
Ms._May and Mr._Albert went to see what Mr._Bill has labelled the 'professionals' (this is ONLY
his 'terminology') - the pictures above is of what I 'term' the 'amateurs' (that is people who are doing this
on-their-own - and fairly un-organized) - though the above 'parade' was on a 'defined' route... (some are not)
The "Samba Schools" - which are 'typically' neighborhood based, and each 'school' might have several thousand
members - only some of whom dance... Tickets are required for this - and Mr._Albert and Ms._May
had these - and this whole part of the event is probably what most people see in pictures and on television
as it is visually stunning and the costumes are remarkable in every way - especially if one can dance in them
they have to be.
When we are able to show pictures, we'll do that - but it rained to some (fairly great) extent and so neither
May nor Albert took their 'good' cameras... But we'll get some pictures of this and put them here, eventually.
This 'event' is billed, by some entities as being the biggest in the world - and it was certainly impressive
May and Albert say. However, it is only at night and supposedly starts at 9p.m. and lasts until 04:00 a.m..
May and Albert say their show started a bit early (about 08:30 p.m.) and they watched almost four schools
worth of the event before they crashed-out and came back to the B & B - arriving here about 01:00 a.m...
a pepper stand at the morning's vegetable market
an orchid at this afternoon's visit to the Orchid House in the "Botanical Gardens"
Someone we met at the morning's vegetable market...
another friend we met at this morning's vegetable market; maybe the same one?
and - finally - someone we saw at the "Botanical Garden" - this picture
is NOT THAT GREAT - before you complain that it is out-of-focus (or
maybe it's your EYES that are out of focus) and the 'animal' (we think
a small monkey) is facing away from the camera; AND he's VERY SMALL and
VERY FAR AWAY, and - welll his body is about the size of a small
grey-squirrel, but - nevertheless we found him (and his friends) in the
Botanical Garden on our 2 hour walk. There were other more
'obvious' monkeys (as well as a smattering of other animal life...)...
- the Botanical Garden was truly amazing, though.!
and there were a 'couple' of these "tree-lined-streets" (though no
traffic except foot-traffic) in the Botanical Gardens - obviously they
have no hurricanes here?!
AND - if you are at ALL INTERESTED in some interesting images for your
computer-desktop - here is a link to my 'sub-page' for desktop images
collected along the way - just briefly, though ( you have to
click-on-the-link ) a greenery-one and a floor (very interesting from
the Hotel in Iguazu Falls) and a bunch of rose-petals (red & white)
from this morning's walk through the vegetable garden... link to desktop sub-page-here
AND - Even more 'finally' - here's a link to my friend's Hang-Gliding
business - he will take you on a 'tandem' ride and land on the
beach here in Rio...
Link to Konrad's Hang Gliding Business Web-Site.
A 'few' items from Iguazu (spelling?) Falls...
first, of COURSE, this location would NOT BE COMPLETE without the local hotel-cat (that greeted us when we checked-in...
This VERY PRETTY orange flower (re-created here at about 2x 'real' size) seems to have attracted a LOT of butterflies,
but - well - the butterflies wouldn't hold-still for a picture, so you'll have to settle for the flower.
this is NOT OUR PICTURE - bird-picture - it is a picture of a
picture - someone else took this - not us... the bird is a green-headed
"tanager" and the picture was taken (at least the caption on the real
picture reads) "Gpque Jose Calo"... ... ... - it was on display at
Igazu (or Igassu (as they spell it in Brazil)) Falls...
Ms. May in the 'far' distance, attempting to hold her hat on in the 'blow' and 'wet'...
a "wide" picture of the falls - dumping a LOT of water over the edge
We met several of these guys fairly close-up. This guy's 'kiosk' was near-by but his 'agent' was
away and so he was looking for 'dontation's or 'hand-outs'?
And here's another guy who almost evaded Mr. Bill's iPhone... - but not quite...!!!
Here's another couple of butterfly-close-ups - but - unfortunately the iPhone's camera doesn't focus very 'close-in'
- not enough to get a really REALLY close picture of a butter-fly and
very very very few butterflies will hold-still long enough?
Now - if you are REALLY REALLY into "Butterflies" you could have
purchased this poster at Iguazu Falls and perused it to your heart's content
to learn ALLLLLL about the butterfly species in the area... - We did NOT purchase
said poster - but we DID see a LOT of butterflies...
Bottom-Line: the iPhone's camera is a pretty-good-camera overall - especially if one is patient with the
white-balance-part of it - but - it doesn't do 'Close-Ups' the way we'd like _ (it will not focus at - say - 1"
from the camera) - but - well - there are a LOT of trade-offs in life, and this is just one of them... - We could
have carried Ms. May's bigger Nikon, but keeping it dry MIGHT have been a problem - but it might not
have been - there are a couple of places here at the "Falls" that are VERY VERY VERY Wet - most of it
is not wet, but some places are - and the iPhone - one can keep it in one's pocket and shield it quite well
when it's misty outside...!!!
well - that's it for now - more later - when we get better internet connectivity...
A few more pictures from Buenos Aires...
a local McDonald's (American business gets to EVERYWHERE!!!
and yet another cat we met at a local market here...
and a sailing-war-battle-ship we found 'down-town' - we visited this
ship - lots of guns - big ENGINE as well as sails, even a torpedo
launcher in the bow...
Inconsistencies in the Internet...
Yeah - there's NO QUESTION that Mr. Bill is WOEFULLY SPOILED TO DEATH by his Home-based 'xDSL'
connection via BellSouth.Net (well, I think it's called AT & T now a days...) - anyway - at home
I get about 1.5 megs / second download and I get over 500 K bytes a second UP-LOAD...
However, now I know how the "rest of the world" exists in / on their Internet connection,
and let me tell you what - it "AIN'T PRETTY" (at all)
First: I had a chance to use various and sundry 'wifi' connections in / around Buenos Aires
and Igazu Falls - both in Argentina, and on the Cruise Ship "Infinity" - and then in Buenos
Aires, again, then also in Rio de Janiero - and everything seemed VERY VERY VERY spotty,
(and this was 'at-best'...) - at worst the connection would 'make' and start-off a file-
transfer (or maybe even an e-mail down-load) at roughly 500-900 K bytes / second and rapidly
(with 5 seconds) to less than 10 K bytes per second and frequently (at least 50 % of
my attempts 'stalled' and both the e-mail software as well as ftp as well as parts of my
OS (Mac OS "X") would tell me 'stall' ???
Harumph
So - I am now VERY THANKFUL for my Home-based 'xDSL' from BellSouth - it is both FASTer
than sin and VERY RELIABLE, and very repeatable and well - in general - I'm MORE THANKFUL
now than EVER BEFORE, and will continue to feel the same way -
FAST, RELIABLE, REPEATABLE and PREDICTABLE
- that's xDSL from BellSouth.Net or AT&T....
Politicians, Capital Expenditures and Maintenace:
One of the things I have noticed - and maybe this is a 'worldwide'
problem but maybe not, and that is that MANY MANY countries / cities,
even politcal organizations (which I guess is most countries and
cities) - seem to have this problem...
Politicians perceive (and I guess the public tells them this, by
electing them):
There is more 'value-added' to a politician's career and/or legacy by
allocating 'scarce resources' to a 'capital project' than to the
maintenance of an existing project already built / completed.
What this means - perhaps only locally, but perhaps globally, is that
a lot of 'infrastructure' projects get built (things like subways,
roads, bridges, ports, piers, etc.) but VERY LITTLE of this stuff gets
the 'attention to detail' (Maintenance) that it needs OVER TIME and
then - therefore - the safety of the public becomes an issue...
I suspect, though, that - again - over-time some projects will get 'canned'
an some will never get maintained and that some politician's 'favourite'
project will get 'condemed' (frequently a political decision, not an
engineering one) and that said politician will claim that the old "thing"
needed to be condemed because the person and/or organization responsible
was (most probably) of the 'other' party and that said politican will,
then, be able to 'be responsible' for the next-generation of whatever 'THING'
has now been condemed...
I suspect, also that this has something to do with Generational 'pride'
and that each generation has it's share of 'great' politicians to allocate
funds (scarce resources) to a given project and they are remembered for that
for 'some period of time' then their project, too, becomes the focus of some
future generation's ire and it, too, goes by the way-side?
IT WOULD SURE BE NICE if the engineers could 'rule the infrastructure' instead
of the policitians and that some, if not all, of the funding for maintenance of
what we already have would garner as much political support as the 'new' projects
many of which we do not REALLY NEED nor WANT - but the politicians, once elected,
seem to find a 'mind of their own' and move-forward with what THEY WANT which may
or may not be what the public wants...
But - Hey - I'm NOT a politician - so what do I know?
and - lastly: Carnaval (Carnival) in Rio (de Janeiro, Brazil)
YES - we were 'here' for Carnaval (or Carnival as it is spelled in other countries)...
What was THIS LIKE _ well - lets's start off with the facts:
about 6.2 million people live here... (2010)
Carnaval / Carnival - USED to be (at one time) tied to the 'Catholic Church's Calendar' (more accurately
to Easter) - and that is when it 'happens' in New Orleans, in the USA. - I've been to New Orleans several times
for Carnival in the USA.
But - apparently, here, the schedule (which weekend) is decided by the government (probably has something
to do with tourism dollars / etc.) - but this weekend was pretty-much dominated - in some sectors of Rio, by
Carnaval happenings....
Fact: - there is only one 'subway system' - and it has two lines and it is WOEFULLY INADEQUATE
for the 'normal' traffic, much less when you want to move several million Carnivalers around in a day or two ...
Fact: - there is not very much 'participation' by the 'older' generation (people over say 35-40...) - there are,
no question, some, and there are the obvious parents with their kids, and so-on but this tends to be a celebration
for the younger set (well - at least that's my observation, and we all know that my observation might be 'off' ?)
Fact: it RAINED (and rained, and rained some more) and after wandering around (mostly) in the rain, I was
pretty wet - Ms. May managed to have the foresight to bring her cycling (mostly waterproof) jacket and so she
was pretty dry... - Now - lest you get the wrong impression - it did NOT rain "hard" but it drizzled and drizzled
and drizzled some more - and well - UGH that seems to have dampened SOME spirits but definitely not all...
Fact: SOME (but definitely not all) 'attractions' (attractive to tourists like us) were on 'odd' schedules, some
closed, some - well - you get the idea - we did a combination of things - but for the (pure (not interested in carnival)
tourist - this MAY have been a problem
- and - someone could have warned-us - but there is no central listing of all the tourist attractions
and when / how / etc their schedule(s) might have been compromised by the Carnaval weekend activities.
It is probably not 'realistic' to think that this could happen in this city and/or any OTHER city, because I
do not think in most cities there is a 'central listing' of hours and such... - - - AND "Guide Books" and the
like tend to be out-of-date about the same time they are printed - so - well - that option could have worked
but - again - I guess not...
What WAS GOOD, though was we were able to happen-across - in our wanderings - a REALLY EXCELLENT
displayof M.C. Escher's work - something completly un-expected but VERY VERY MUCH enjoyed. The normal
Escher 'stuff' (which has been displayed in many exhibitions and museums) was enhanced by computer-aids that were
not even invented yet when Escher was doing his thing in the early 1900s... ( Wikipedia link to Escher )
The other attraction we REALLY ENJOYED was the "Botanical Garden" (<= Portugese Language Link)
here which we spent a couple of hours in and found it to be very attractive, very well kept and very educational
- as well as having a number of excllent plant species and some fun animals, also...
So - all was not lost - all was not rain and all was not 'clutter' (in our lives) - there were definitely some excellent
things to see and do - besides wandering around in the RAIN!>>>
Let's remember, too, that in a 3 week trip, if one has to have a little weather to wake-us-up to the normally FINE
and ENJOYABLE weather we usually have - "ookie" weather can be tolerated for some time - we know by
being sailors, hang-gliders, sailors and other such sports fanatics that there is ALWAYS the weather-factor.
I event telephoned the rock-climbing people here in Rio and they said - try them again next week when it's supposed
to have 'dried-up' - they said they didn't do rock-climbing when it was this wet...
YUP! - that's ME and Mr. Pool Bear on a VERY CHILLY MORNING - more to come about our trip - later...
You can access the February web-page (which has more about our 'cruise' and access to those places...) here
In the interest(s) of a 'query'
- here is the 'up-to-date' query of how to keep your sanity - by
one of Mr. Bill's brain-teaser(s):
WHAT IF: (yeah, I read another book that 'got me thinking'?
You were 'stationed' on a remote planet, with 'guidelines' from earth-bound-'politicians' on how to handle 'aliens' who wanted
to 'trade' with you / your planet - as a representative of our 'solar-system'...
AND - what IF - as that 'planetary leader' - you were given a choice -
break the rules, deal drugs with the aliens, in exchange for their
'weapons technology' which so
out-stripped what earth / our solar-system could do that it wasn't even
open for negotiation / debate, they just had significant technology
that we did NOT!
???
think about it...
Book: "Hostile Take-Over" by Susan Swartz (spelling?)
Archived BeachWeb monthly (and other) site(s): Click here for a list of the archived months
updated: 11:45 a.m. on Friday, 01 April, 2011; by: Mr._Bill on the Apple Macintosh
'G5 - revID: 1k
