Killing time in a small "2 car" garage

[BoilermakerFan]

I'm glad I cleaned out the gutters! We had a torrential downpour this morning. Then another tonight around 9pm. We're supposed to get about an inch of rain over night.

After the rain this morning the weather outside was fantastic. And I was stuck working...

I was planning to go out to the garage tonight for a couple hours. I did that last night and started cleaning off my steel workbench. My plan was to make more progress getting things put away, condensed together, and purging. The wind and rain prevented that.

I also realized that I need to run wire for a few more receptacles before I start putting plywood up on the ceiling. After it's up I won't really have access to the joists since I have plywood decking on top of the joists for storage. I need at least one more 240V circuit for my welder, another 120V receptacle in the ceiling for an extension cord spool, a run for the big overhead light fixture that gets hard wired to a wall switch by the workbench, and a few more wall receptacles on the far side and back walls. I don't need the wall circuits completely put in... I just need the wires run through the ceiling along the joists. Fortunately, I already have the wire and boxes.

 

[xtremek]

I'm glad I cleaned out the gutters! We had a torrential downpour this morning. Then another tonight around 9pm. We're supposed to get about an inch of rain over night.

I read that we've had rain for 26 of the last 29 days. Anyone seen my water wings?

 

[BoilermakerFan]

I read that we've had rain for 26 of the last 29 days. Anyone seen my water wings?

Wow. I think the rain has been hitting you and Jon almost every front. My coworker bud lives in Grand Haven and they only had a light sprinkling of rain this morning. Even on days when it was raining in Holland/GR, he stayed dry. I tell him he'll end up getting it back as snow this fall.

We've had rain at least a day or two each week, but the past two weekends were pretty nice. We only had 3 down pours last Saturday but they were quick and in between was dry and nice.

Had T-storms this morning. Rain is moving out then chance of T-storms Saturday morning. Supposed to be nice the rest of the weekend so I'll spend evenings in the garage.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Saturday I actually did some work in the garage!

My son helped me with the gates for the chicken run. The span I decided to use was just over 8' wide so that made it a lot harder to bridge with 8' long 2x4s. If I had thought to use the first post right by the garage, I would have shifted the posts for the run over 4"... Oh well, we got figured out.

We had the first gate hung by about 4:30 yesterday, but my back and legs were too stiff and sore from being bent over all afternoon building the gate on the garage floor to even attempt starting the assembly of the second gate.


Sunday I was smart and wore my lift belt and used my wife's gardening kneeling pad for my knees. What a huge difference that made!


Here's both gates hung, but the post for the RH gate is old and the carpenter bees caused it to bow over with the weight of the gate:

I didn't feel like digging out the old post and setting a new one, so I did a little creative redneck engineering to keep the post upright:

The lag eye screw goes into the stud on my garage wall from the outside. It's hidden from view so for now... Goodenough.


The first latch I tried didn't really work well, so I raided the HD latch off the gates across our driveway that will be torn out when we get the new driveway poured. I did buy a new, extra long drop stop for the gate with the latch to keep it in place. The pin drops into a piece of 3/4" x 18" galv pipe I pounded into the ground. We also installed the middle hinges on both gates. Got it all finished around 9pm tonight. SWMBO was very happy with the results.

When I rewired the entire house in 2000, I had my electrician buddy mount a light all the way at the top of the peak of the house in back. That way when we turn on that light at night, the entire patio and most of the backyard is lit up, but it doesn't shine into my neighbor's houses and the bugs all fly 36' above our heads:

I mentioned it was at the peak of the house and 36' above the patio, right? Well, when the lights work, it's awesome. But even the halogen bulbs burn out. Right now all 3 are burned out. I had bought two rectangular LED flood lights a little over a year ago. The problem was that at the time, there wasn't a good round spot/flood to replace the little round light in the middle of that fixture. Yesterday at Menards I finally found a good quality, adjustable mount LED spot light. Woohoo! Now I have all three replacements for the peak light that are all LED.

Once they're swapped in, that will be 4,800 lumens of light so it should be nice at night without being too bright.

Now I just have to get my buddy to come over with the 48' bucket truck to install them.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Yesterday after work I ripped off all the old chicken wire from the previous section of the chicken of the run that divided the new expansion from the existing run.

Then my son and I demo'ed the old fence frame and pulled 3 of the 4 posts. The last post is against our fence and not in the way. It was also full of carpenter bees. We counted 11 that flew out when I was beating on the 2x4 frame rails attached to the post. I need to pick up wasp, hornet, and bee killer before I dig out the last post.

I have a little more clean up to do, then we can move the chicken coop to a new spot in the run so that whole area where the coop is and the old run was will be open. This will let a landscaper get a small tractor in there to clean up the space behind the garage, remove all the gravel, the grade/prep for seeding. I'll have to put up a temporary fence after that's done to keep the chickens out of it until the grass is growing.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

This afternoon I used my tree limb bow saw to cut down the big 2x4s and 4x4 posts from the old chicken run fence. Well, all but one 4x4 and the one still in the ground. I managed to get everything I cut down into my two trash cans and even had room for one of the old pallets that needs to be trashed.

I still have another old pallet, the remaining 4x4s and a small stack of misc old pressure treated 2x lumber to cut down into small sections for the garbage cans. Then I can cut down the junk sapling trees behind the garage and get rid of that yard waste. I think I have two more weeks worth of misc yard waste in the backyard that needs to go, including mulch from a landscaping bed we'll be switching over to lava rock.

I also remembered that I need to repair my fence back there. One of the top rails on a section is broken because a tree limb from a neighbor's tree fell on it. There's probably one or two more pallets that need to go as well. We planned to make them into compost bins, but then we bought a compost tumbler and I never built the compost bin.

Oh well, just a few more weekends of work and it will all be clean and ready for the pros to come in sometime this summer to do their jobs.

It's not directly garage related, but it will make the backyard so much nicer and make my wife MUCH happier. That in turn will give me a lot more time available to actually work in and on the garage.

 

[Grumblebum]

Yep yard work is always there, I have a crapload to do as well.

Chicken coop is looking good, our 3 hens have all gone into malt and off the lay in the last few weeks.

Ditto on the compost tumblers, worms find their way into them anyway and do their thing, we keep pumping it full of scraps and I bring all the coffee grinds from the office home too for it. The tumbers are good because the mice can't get in there so easily which they can do with ground based ones.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Yep yard work is always there, I have a crapload to do as well.

Chicken coop is looking good, our 3 hens have all gone into malt and off the lay in the last few weeks.

Ditto on the compost tumblers, worms find their way into them anyway and do their thing, we keep pumping it full of scraps and I bring all the coffee grinds from the office home too for it. The tumbers are good because the mice can't get in there so easily which they can do with ground based ones.

Thanks GB.

I had started composting in an old, plastic 45gal or so Roughneck rubbish bin. I had used a Uni-Bit to drill holes up to about 3/4" in it. One evening I took off the lid to add garden scraps and a field mouse jumped out at me. Damn near pissed myself. I don't know who was more startled! After I realized it was just a mouse I started to laugh my a$$ off. The tumbler is so much easier and we get lightning bug larva in ours. They must lay their eggs in the three little aeration tubes that run through the compost tumbler. Pretty cool actually.

This evening I used my recip saw to cut up the last remnants of the old run fence, the other pallet I had dragged out, the odd ends of the pressure treated wood I found in the yard, and that old plastic compost rubbish bin. I didn't take a pic, but the old posts and lumber in the pic above is all gone. The lumber was my left over pieces from the new expansion and gates. I put it in the garage to keep it out of the weather for now until I need it on another project.

I think I'm going to cut off the last post near the ground, then drag it out to the gravel driveway and fire up the weed burner torch... and wait for the carpenter bees to come back to the post so I can finish them off with fire.

This weekend I need to move the chicken coop to it's new spot in the run and replace the PT wood that was on the ground with new pieces. Also need to replace the cover over the nest box.

I had the first concrete contractor out to the house today to measure everything so he can get a quote to me. Have another one scheduled to come out Friday. As part of the quote, I'm having them clear out the gravel behind the garage (actually the side at the back of the lot), grade the area better to direct rain water to drains that will be piped to our old drainage cistern, and then pour a 2'x20' pad next to the foundation of the garage. Having this done for a few reasons; 1st, to give me a nice spot to set my extension ladder and the Gravely 2-wheel tractor; 2nd, to keep water from coming in over the short block course under the sill plate (the drains will definitely help too); and 3rd, so I can build a little cover over it this fall to keep the things out of the weather more.


I was also happy to find a 10A rated DPDT toggle switch at Home Depot this morning so I don't have to order one online. I need the DPDT switch in order to rewire the old Westinghouse 2-sp fan. It's a shaded pole motor so the normal 3-sp fan switches won't work...

I had the 24' extension cord already and I had put a Neutric PowerCon connector on the one end for a DIY audio DAC I had built. I needed the cord really long for a GTG I went to in Chicago about 8 years ago. But now I just need the cord for the DAC to be 8' long. So 16' feet will go on the old fan giving me about 15' of cord once it's all wired up.

If you look at the feet of the fan, you can see that they are pretty old and starting to dry rot. They're still soft, but they'll eventually dry up and fall off. But I already have a solution planned that will make the fan even more handy in the garage:

The wheels are soft rubber so they'll cut down vibration better than the old feet and I'll be able to just push the fan where I want it. Two of the four casters will have brakes so the fan won't blow itself around or possibly roll off a workbench if I pick it up off the floor. Usually I just leave it on the floor though...

I'll be refinishing the fan sooner than later now that I have my new switch and a plan for replacing the feet. I wish I could get the wheels on the casters in dark red, but they only come in blue. I can get other styles of casters with light grey rubber feet, but I'm going to paint or powdercoat the fan in a darker gunmetal grey. I haven't decided if I'll paint/powdercoat the fan blades dark red or dark blue.

The little metal badge in the center cap of the fan is removable so I can repair the cracks and paint the center cap, but I can't refinish the two top lifting handles that have WESTINGHOUSE on them without losing the lettering and for now I'm feeling industrious enough to trace those letters, refinish the handles and repaint the letters back on with a stencil. Maybe at a later date if they start getting scratched up or damaged some other way.

 

[bj383ss]

BM Harbor freight has red wheels.

Bret

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Thanks Bret. I'll stop by ours and see if they're red or orange. I think they're a harder too.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

No luck at HF. No red wheeled casters. I did find a set on Amazon that I'll order if I go with red. But then I'd have to change the power cord too.

I dug out the last 4x4 post this evening. Only two carpenter bees flew out. Tossed it on the driveway and came inside. Too muggy to deal with cutting it up.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

A bit later I found these on Amazon for $24 for the set of 4 with free Prime shipping:

For the price and the fact that all 4 are top locking, I think I'll definitely try them first, and since they're black, the color of the fan really won't matter. Heck, I might even have the blades finished in black, then pin stripe them with 1Shot!

Tonight I went out to the garage for a little bit to layout all the lumber for a little project I have been meaning to build for a while:

Tomorrow I will cut them so I can assemble this:

One 24" long 2x4 has an 8deg chamfer on the long edge. I can't cut it with the miter saw so I'm going to have to mark the 8deg angle on the end, then strike a line the length of the piece and use my belt sander held off camber to the 8deg and sand the length of the edge to get it as close as I can.

And I just realized that I don't have to actually sand the entire edge, just the two ends where the doubled 2x4 uprights **** up against it. So that saves me a lot of time and makes it a lot easier to get it closer to the 8deg. It really doesn't have to be perfect either, just close enough so the base of the tilted back uprights is supported.

I'll put my Merc Mk55 on it. If I like it, I'm probably going to build a second, smaller one for the Merc Mk25. The Mk25 is only an 18hp OB so I won't need the base to be as long, nor as tall. I bet I can shrink the dimensions by 4" in all directions, but I will mount it to the first one and see how much lower and shorter I can make it. I'll probably move the casters inward 2" on each side and see if it's still stable that way too.

If I cut the pieces over lunch tomorrow I can assemble it tomorrow evening.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

After work today I cut all the lumber for the outboard engine stand. I even figured out how to cut the 52deg angle on the miter saw that can only go to about 47deg.

Between my belt sander, a file, and my RA sander, I was able to get the 8deg angle put on the ends of the middle cross brace board. Didn't turn out too bad. Really darn close and it worked when I assembled the stand.

From the time I started cutting, sanding, and assembling; it only took me two hours to get to this point...

I had to stop there for dinner and I couldn't find the 5/16" x 1" lag screws to attach the casters. I may not have bought them... So after dinner my son and I went to Home Depot. I needed a few other things besides the lag screws. I wanted to grab another set of smaller 3" casters for the second stand, but HD only had 2 of them in stock.

After that we ran past Sonic for milkshakes and I had to pick up my daughter from work at 10:30pm so I didn't get back out to garage until almost 11pm.


But I got the casters put on, dug out the Merc Mark55E, and hoisted it up onto the stand.

If you look closely, you'll notice I moved the front brace inward and cut 7" off each bottom frame. It was in the plans to hold a battery and fuel tank, which I currently do not own nor need for a few years yet.

After that, I swept the floor and moved the stand back in front of the shelving unit in the background with the blue Honda fuel tank on it.

The stand is also taller than I really need for my short shaft Mk55E so on the next one for the much smaller Mk25, I'm going to shorten the height by 4", and take 7-1/2" off the length of the bottom frames. I'm only going to reduce the width by 2" instead of 4" just to ensure it stays stable. The 3" casters instead of 4" casters will also help with stability and lower it a little more. I'm going to double check my clearance on the height one more time before I commit to chopping the overall height of the stand.

 

[Grumblebum]

That worked out pretty good, you'll need to give it a retro paint job to match the mercury after the adjustments.

Cheers GB

 

[BoilermakerFan]

That worked out pretty good, you'll need to give it a retro paint job to match the mercury after the adjustments.

Cheers GB

Thanks GB. I'm not keeping the Mk55. There is a guy in central Michigan that really wants my engine so he's trading me a Merc 500 for it. The Merc500 looks similar except it's a couple years newer, is white, and most importantly for a two-stroke, has thru-prop exhaust. It's a 50hp motor instead of my 46hp too.

I'm keeping and restoring my Mk25 though.

 

[xtremek]

Nice looking stand, and outboard.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Nice looking stand, and outboard.

Thanks xtremek! Yesterday I picked a bottle of TiteBond III Xtreme and a silicone brush to spread the glue. In a few weeks I will hoist the engine off the stand and glue the stand together.


I've been incredibly busy the past 3 weeks, literally on the road traveling or attending a big trade show in Chicago. The week before Father's day I head to leave on Sunday to drive up and spent 3 days at a trade show, then Thursday visiting clients in the Chicago/Rockford area. Drove home Friday and we packed up the Pilot to go camping Father's Day weekend at Fern Cliffe S.P. in IL.


My son brought two friends who had never been camping before and we even brought one of our dogs to see how he would do.


Fern Cliffe has amazing trails and scenery:

The RV sites were really nice and big. No hookups on the sites except electric, but for our popup, it's perfect. The weather was superb. The nicest, almost perfect camping weather my wife and I have ever had. Back home it was hot and storming all weekend.

Our dog did amazing, he can be a really yappy idiot so I was a little worried. He loved the trails and was so good.

He loved the trip and slept like a rag doll on my wife's lap the whole trip home.

My son captured a couple of really cool pics of Sat. night's cooking fire after I tossed more logs on after dinner:

We got home around 1pm Father's Day so the other boys could spend time with their dads who I coach LAX with. Monday morning I had to leave at 1pm to head to Muscatine, IA. Stopped in Peoria on the way to have dinner with friends, then rolled into the hotel around 11pm.

I came home Wed. afternoon after stopping in St. Louis to meet with another client.

T-storms rolled in Thurs. night or Fri. morning and it was supposed to be nicer on Saturday, but it rained on and off almost all day. I had a project I was planning to get done on the camper on Saturday so I went out and bought some new #10 x 1/2" SS pan head screws. But before I could do that I had to wash the camper. i bought a couple of brushes to make it easier, then hit Advance Auto Parts on my way home for new car wash and wax.

I tried the TurtleWax MAX wash since it said you can vary the concentration to get bugs and grease off. I also picked up the TurtleWax ICE wash & shine plus the ICE spray on wax. I wish they had the ICE sealer, but AAP didn't carry it. I'll grab it before I wash the camper with the ICE w7s...

The TurtleWax MAX at a very high concentration did an amazing job on the camper! It was lightly raining when I washed it, but it had to be done and I didn't have time to wait for the rain to pass. This was the first step in my plan of getting the camper really clean and waxed.

I don't think our camper has ever looked this white! I really can't wait to see it after I hit with a second washing with the MAX followed by the ICE s&w.

Today it was raining on and off, but I needed to replace the old, rusted trim screws so I jumped on the opportunity to get it done during a break in the rain clouds.

I had to use my Dremel to slot about half of the rusty screws so I could get them out.

I used a little bit of 100% silicone sealer in each hole before I put in the new, larger SS screws. I wiped off the excess sealer after each screw was tightened down.

I had found the replacement narrow trim cover at the Camping World in Davenport, IA earlier in the week along with a spare tire cover. The old trim was dry, yellowed, and cracking. I wasn't sure if it might cause water damage, so I wanted it replaced.

The new trim cover is a lot more flexible and probably thinner than the OE stuff, so the bigger screw heads show a lot more than before, but I'm ok with that since the trim is more secure and sealed better with the new screws.

My folks were amazed how much better it looks and my wife was happy with the work too.

I'm starting to shop for a new awning. The awning is sewn into the storage bag. Our awning is actually in really good shape, but the storage bag is trashed. at some point on a future camping trip, the storage bag's zipper is going to completely tear off or break. When that happens I will have to remove it from the camper and toss it in the dumpster. I've thought about just taking it off now, but it's too handy not have one on the camper. Especially when it's raining.

With the trim cover replaced, the last things I want to upgrade in the camper are the two license plate lights to LED ones, replace the stair light with a LED light, and upgrade the interior dome lights to dimmable LED units. Oh, and new curtains. We need new curtains. I'm just going to buy light blocking navy curtains from Walmart and sew in the little tabs from the original ones so I can put the new curtains up.

I haven't decided if I'm going to mess with the faded, chipping decals on the side of the camper or not. I may have new decals made, or I may have a local sign shop make a wrap for each side. Cost will be the final factor in what I do. We have two couples that are interested in buying our camper when we're ready to upgrade.

And I'm ready to upgrade sooner than later. I like the little popup because it's so light, but I want a bigger bed and I'd like a newer camper that is easier to set up and take down. We put the boys in a tent so I don't need a big camper, just one with a queen size bed. I'm looking at a few different options for the next camper, but I don't think we'll actually buy anything until my daughter is out of college.

The Pilot is rated to tow 4500lbs with a 450lb max tongue weight. I need to add the helper air bags and Monroe load leveling shocks to the Pilot, along with a brake controller when we upgrade the camper. The campers on my short list are hard sided A-frame popups with dormers, a NuCamp TAB 400, a Little Guy Max, or a Rpod. The Rpods appear to actually be the lowest cost option for new campers and the rear kitchen floor plan checks all the boxes for my wants list. If I come across a 2-3 year old used model next year, I may just have to jump on it if the price is right. I'll also be doing my research on the Rpods between now and then too. Winnebago has a nice little mini single axle camper with a queen bed, but up until 2018, they didn't have much ground clearance and were prone to breaking off their real stabilizers when backing up even slightly sloped hills. My driveway has a decent slope so I know I would break them off, or worse, break off the sewer drain. Right now, all the used ones are older than 2017 models.

 

[jon72vega]

Good work on the camper!
Huge visual improvement!

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Good work on the camper!
Huge visual improvement!

Thanks Jon. I wish I had a good before pic of the camper. It was almost grey from dirt and grime. The old trim looked Nicotine stained.

Did a bit of Google Fu on the Rpods. I definitely will not be buying one of those! Very poor quality WRT materials and build.

The Winnebago Minnie Drop is on the list now as well as a Lance 1575. The Lance is the most expensive camper on the list now with a crazy high MSRP, so it may not make it past the budget cap.

 

[DynoDave]

Good work on the RV repairs. They never end, but doing a little something each year keeps 'em nice.

Trails look beautiful. Wife, son and I did a little hiking on a recent trip as well.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Thanks DynoDave. Where is that park in Michigan?

We went camping again this weekend, but it was in tents. And really damn hot. But it was fun and we went hiking in the National Forrest.

Pointed out a couple of Rpods to my wife and she liked the style, but she wants to wait a while before we upgrade. I think she'd like the hybrid trailers such as the Rockwood Roo or Palomino Solaire better. I'll see how are finances are at the end of the year. Going to try to get her to go to the RV show in Louisville in December. I'm going to catch the RV show in Grand Rapids in January too.

 

[DynoDave]

Thanks DynoDave. Where is that park in Michigan?

Actually, that's in Southern Illinois, at Giant City.

We went camping again this weekend, but it was in tents. And really damn hot. But it was fun and we went hiking in the National Forrest.

Pointed out a couple of Rpods to my wife and she liked the style, but she wants to wait a while before we upgrade. I think she'd like the hybrid trailers such as the Rockwood Roo or Palomino Solaire better. I'll see how are finances are at the end of the year. Going to try to get her to go to the RV show in Louisville in December. I'm going to catch the RV show in Grand Rapids in January too.

RV how is the way to go. You can get lots of ideas, what size you like, what features, etc.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Actually, that's in Southern Illinois, at Giant City.


RV show is the way to go. You can get lots of ideas, what size you like, what features, etc.

Cool. I believe I've been to Giant City. That's the park with "Fat Man Squeeze", correct? A vertical crevasse with a 90 degree turn in the middle? I went through it twice in college. My buddy had to help me out at the top the first time. Second time I made it out on my own. I was the largest person they've seen get all the way through it and out. Fortunately I have loose hip joints or I would not have made the turn.

I'm definitely going to the Grand Rapids RV show in January 2020. My wife wants to wait a bit longer before we buy a new travel trailer. She said she would rather put the cash towards a new house and move sooner than later now. I agree that having an extra $20K in cash when house shopping is probably a good idea.

I think my wife and son are tagging along on my next trip to Holland/Grand Rapids to look around and spend the weekend in the area. I want to visit Grand Haven, Spring Lake, Lowell, Hudsonville, and a few other towns around Grand Rapids.

This past Sunday we set up the popup and cleaned everything inside really well. We rearranged things and have much better organization now. Ot has me really wanting to go camping again, but it's just too hot now. Maybe we'll get a lucky break in the heat some weekend so we can just take off on short notice, but I'm not planning any trips until September for now.

 

[DynoDave]

Yes, that's where Fat Man's Squeeze is. Too fat to get through it myself!

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Yes, that's where Fat Man's Squeeze is. Too fat to get through it myself!

Very cool. I know I wouldn't fit now either! It is definitely a tight squeeze and I'm proud that I did it twice. I remember having to help several college coeds out that panicked about half way to the turn. One young lady wouldn't even follow me back out to the start. She was basically frozen with claustrophobia. So I went up and over her the first time. On the second trip she did calm down enough to hold my hand and back track out of it. She met me at the top when I hauled myself out and thanked me.

That area of Southern Illinois has some amazing State Parks! Fern Cliffe is about 20 minutes south and just east of Marion. Garden of the Gods also has great hiking with camping nearby. One of my favorite parks in Illinois is Carlyle State Park. Great camping! We're going back there this fall and bringing our canoe.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Yes, that's where Fat Man's Squeeze is. Too fat to get through it myself!

Have you been to Kickapoo SP in Illinois or Tippecanoe SP in Indiana? Both are really nice.

What parks in western or southern Michigan do you like? We haven't camped in Michigan yet, but it's on the agenda for this fall. Especially if I can piggyback it on to a work trip up to Holland/GR.

I'd probably drive the Pilot and haul the camper up. Then leave the camper at our test lab in Holland during the week while I work. My wife would drive up Friday after school to meet me at the park for the weekend.

 

[driftpin]

https://www.stateparks.com/southwest_michigan_parks.html

Fort Custer is pretty-big, about 6 sq. miles. Easy to reach. If you have never been, take a short trip to Kalamazoo to see Air Zoo. https://www.airzoo.org A great museum if you like aviation.

SR-71 Spy-posium: Blackbird Revealed

As if having the world’s only Lockheed SR-71B wasn’t cool enough…. the Air Zoo is over-the-moon excited to announce an all-weekend event centered around this incredible machine, the “Blackbird.” Distinguished guests, including several of the men that flew this very aircraft to train pilots for strategic reconnaissance missions during the height of the Cold War, will be on-site to share stories, answer questions and… wait for it… tour the cockpit! This event will span the weekend of October 4th, 5th and 6th. Complete schedule and ticketing will be available soon. Interested persons should keep an eye on the Air Zoo calendar as well as social media platforms for more information on this event that celebrates the fastest aircraft ever flown!

I believe the North American Rockwell X-15 was quite a bit faster, and it definitely was piloted, and may still have the record for altitude too.
https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/north-american-x-15

 

[BoilermakerFan]

https://www.stateparks.com/southwest_michigan_parks.html

Fort Custer is pretty-big, about 6 sq. miles. Easy to reach. If you have never been, take a short trip to Kalamazoo to see Air Zoo. https://www.airzoo.org A great museum if you like aviation.

SR-71 Spy-posium: Blackbird Revealed

As if having the world’s only Lockheed SR-71B wasn’t cool enough…. the Air Zoo is over-the-moon excited to announce an all-weekend event centered around this incredible machine, the “Blackbird.” Distinguished guests, including several of the men that flew this very aircraft to train pilots for strategic reconnaissance missions during the height of the Cold War, will be on-site to share stories, answer questions and… wait for it… tour the cockpit! This event will span the weekend of October 4th, 5th and 6th. Complete schedule and ticketing will be available soon. Interested persons should keep an eye on the Air Zoo calendar as well as social media platforms for more information on this event that celebrates the fastest aircraft ever flown!

I believe the North American Rockwell X-15 was quite a bit faster, and it definitely was piloted, and may still have the record for altitude too.
https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/north-american-x-15

Thanks driftpin! I'll check those MI parks.

My son and I went to the Air Force Museum two years ago. My son loves the X-15 and I had an unbuilt model of it that I gave to him. He's been working on it with my dad.

We'll definitely have to check out the AirZoo. We went to both Air and Space Museum locations in D.C. several years ago so my son has seen the SR-71 in person. Another trip we're going to make in a couple years is out west in a big 2 week loop. One of the stops is in Nebraska to visit the SAC museum.

We were trying to make it up to the EAA FlyIn in OshKosh this year, but the timing just isn't going to work out for us.

 

[cash68]

One of the stops is in Nebraska to visit the SAC museum.

One my yearly pilgrimage to the land of sweet powder, where the beer flows like wine and the women flock like the salmon of Capistrano, I usally stop at the SAC to stretch my legs. Also it's like the ONLY interesting thing in that flat barren hellscape that is Nebraska.

I wish Nebraska would offer a $150 pass to drive as fast as I possibly can through that shithole. It takes forever.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

LOL! Nebraska is a plains desert. So the population is condensed around the rivers. Omaha has some cool things and the Arbor Day Foundation Lodge in Nebraska City is amazing.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

One my yearly pilgrimage to the land of sweet powder, where the beer flows like wine and the women flock like the salmon of Capistrano, I usally stop at the SAC to stretch my legs. Also it's like the ONLY interesting thing in that flat barren hellscape that is Nebraska.

I wish Nebraska would offer a $150 pass to drive as fast as I possibly can through that shithole. It takes forever.

Wow, you need to get off of I80. I grew up in western Nebraska. You've obviously never been to the Sandhills, Chimney Rock, Scottsbluff national monument, Chadron at the state park, etc. Expand your travels a little and try a 2-lane!

If you think Nebraska is flat, you've obviously never travelled ND!

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Wow, you need to get off of I80. I grew up in western Nebraska. You've obviously never been to the Sandhills, Chimney Rock, Scottsbluff national monument, Chadron at the state park, etc. Expand your travels a little and try a 2-lane!

If you think Nebraska is flat, you've obviously never travelled ND!

It's funny, as I've gotten older, I tend to enjoy the 2-lane highways more and more. My Forester gets much better gas mileage at 62mph than 74mph, and I get to see a lot of cool old towns. Sometimes a store will catch my eye and I'll just pull off and check it out. It might add 30-45 minutes to a 6-7 hour trip, but it's definitely less stressful most of the time.

I hate getting stuck in a long line of traffic on an interstate waiting for a couple of semis to play leap frog. Especially from Indy to Chicago it's just horrible. A constant line of waiting, then some jerk driving like he owns the road and is more important than everyone else while almost causing multiple crashes... which backs up the traffic even more.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

It's funny, as I've gotten older, I tend to enjoy the 2-lane highways more and more. My Forester gets much better gas mileage at 62mph than 74mph, and I get to see a lot of cool old towns. Sometimes a store will catch my eye and I'll just pull off and check it out. It might add 30-45 minutes to a 6-7 hour trip, but it's definitely less stressful most of the time.

I hate getting stuck in a long line of traffic on an interstate waiting for a couple of semis to play leap frog. Especially from Indy to Chicago it's just horrible. A constant line of waiting, then some jerk driving like he owns the road and is more important than everyone else while almost causing multiple crashes... which backs up the traffic even more.

The two lanes carried motorist long before the interstate system was created, there is some cool stuff buried in those little one horse towns!

Yeah, I'm not a fan of how people drive, and cell phones made it 100% worse. 9 out of 10 people I pass daily are looking down at their phone while driving, in town or on the highway, makes no difference.

 

[xtremek]

...........If you think Nebraska is flat, you've obviously never travelled ND!

ND is desolate, but not flat. You want flat you need to go to central/north west Ohio. Pancake. Two lanes are the most fun, no doubt about it.

 

[DynoDave]

Actually, we tent camped at Kickapoo B.K. (before kids) with some of my old high school friends. Fun group, but it POURED the whole time we were there. When 8 or so of us were all crowded under a too-small canopy over the fire...the the rainwater flowing across the ground finally smothered the coals, we threw in the towel, and moved to a hotel. So we never saw any of the park really. And it was that trip that made my wife want a travel trailer (can't blame her). She hasn't spent a night in a tent since. I have a few times, but am an RV guy now too.

With our move to trailers also came a move away from state park camping, and into the level site, full hookups world of camping. Not quite the same, but enjoyable in a different way.

As a result, I'm not a good reference for camping in the other places you mentioned. Sorry.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Kansas... Kansas is flat. Southern Indiana where I am is pretty damn flat too.

Dave, when we camped at Kickapoo it not only rained but got down to 35degF for the low. In EARLY October! That's when my wife said no more tent camping in the fall. We did cabins for two trips in the fall the following years. We don't have a bathroom in our popup so I have no need for full hookups, but I do require electric now.


We were down in Myrtle Beach this past week from Saturday until yesterday. We stayed between Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach just south of Apache campground and pier. I don't think staying in the Apache campground in July would have been fun, even in a full TT with A/C. This was our first time to Myrtle Beach, but I will definitely be going back! I spent hours up to my neck in the ocean just bobbing with the waves. The water was perfect. We did go down to Ocean Blvd. in Myrtle Beach on Tuesday night. A little crowded, but nothing like the FL beaches over spring break or Gulf Shores. Where we stayed it wasn't crowded at all so it was great. And the drive on I-40 from Knoxville to Ashville was amazing. I just went 50-55mph with the trucks in the right lane and enjoyed the views.

And we may have stopped at Smoky Mountain Knife Works each way... it was conveniently located at the halfway point for us!

 

[DynoDave]

Dave, when we camped at Kickapoo it not only rained but got down to 35degF for the low. In EARLY October! That's when my wife said no more tent camping in the fall. We did cabins for two trips in the fall the following years. We don't have a bathroom in our popup so I have no need for full hookups, but I do require electric now.

Kickapoo...helping sell enclosed trailers since 1939!

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Kickapoo...helping sell enclosed trailers since 1939!

.

It is a nice state park. Just not a place to go in the fall.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

So August was a bit overwhelming... CRAZY busy with work.

At the end of July my wife and I went to Cincy over the weekend to catch a Reds game and to go to IKEA to get a few things we needed to replace since my daughter was moving into her first college apartment with 3 other roommates. New dishes and new glassware was the main item on the list.

The first weekend in August my wife had her ABATE Beginner's Rider class. She decided to stop halfway through on Saturday because she was feeling unsafe and the class moves at a very fast pace. She's going to get her learners permit and take the class again next summer for her endorsement.

School resumed for my wife and son the second week of August and we moved my daughter in to her apartment on Thursday that week. I rented a 6x12 U-Haul trailer to bring her stuff up and we had hoped to score some cool stuff at Purdue's Surplus Store to bring home. There were only a couple of neat things there that interested me and nothing that we actually bought. We did buy stuff for my daughter's apartment, but no cool lab tables or cabinets for us to bring home. Oh well.

August here is usually Stupid Hot and Stupid Humid, and for the most part it has stayed true to form, but we missed an absolutely perfect weekend for camping the weekend after we moved my daughter up to Purdue. Unfortunately we had other things we had to do that weekend so no camping for us until later in September.

General housekeeping projects and the heat/humidity kept me out of the garage most of August. We ordered new furniture for out LR and we're going to be painting the sunroom, LR, and DR. We had new area rugs made for all three rooms too. My wife is still trying to decide if she wants me to install can lights in the ceiling before we paint. I also bought a new pressure washer from Menards a couple weekends ago. Pressure washed the driveway and sidewalks. It was pretty amazing how filthy they were. Last weekend I washed the exterior of the garage. We also purged more stuff from the house and my wife changed grades this year so she's now teaching third grade. That meant she purged a lot of her materials that she no longer will need. We also gave away several things we had been holding on to like aquariums, freeing up more space in the basement storage area so our finished basement area is starting to look like a family room again.

This past week I did get a few things done out in the garage. We gave away our old bicycle trailer and jog stroller to my wife's coworkers and a few other smaller things to neighbors. That freed up space in my garage attic to get some items off the floor.

I started to take apart that cool vintage Westinghouse fan to wire in a new switch for the 2 speeds, but I made a sad discovery:

The wiring was in much worse shape than I anticipated. Dangerously brittle and the bare wires were exposed in several places. I tried to cut back the cloth insulation on the main lead from the motor to get to good wiring, but it was all brittle and age hardened. I decided it was just better to completely replace the fan so tonight I ran to Menards to grab their least expensive 20" 3-sp floor fan:

For $32 plus 11% MIR, I'm not going to complain. I think it moves about as much air as the vintage Westinghouse fan, but it's a little louder since the RPMs are higher.


My son and I are slowly making progress tearing down the old CB550 and CB650 engines. We're working on the "practice" CB650 engine right now. It's definitely in the worst shape of the three, but I'm still trying to salvage the crank, rods, and head from it. I won't need the lower half so that will be hauled off to my buddy's salvage yard when we have the parts we're keeping stripped out. The better CB650 donor will get the same treatment and then I'll pair up the lower of the CB550 with the donor parts of the CB650 and loosely assemble the hybrid engine sans pistons. The engine will eventually get over bore CB750 SOHC pistons, but I want to get everything fitted together and protected from rust before I put the hybrid engine assembly away in long term storage.

After those 3 engines are all torn down, all parts I won't need get hauled off to the motorcycle graveyard. That leaves my spare donor KZ650 engine as the last engine to tear down for parts. The upper half of the crankcase on this donor engine has some non-repairable damage or I would just completely overhaul/upgrade/paint it on the bench and then move it into my KZ650.


I still have more stuff to purge from the garage, some framing to do, and move some wiring before I can easily start hanging any plywood on the ceiling and walls. Not sure when I'll be able to tackle those projects, but I'm hoping to to at least have it insulated and partially finished by late fall since my wife wants me to focus on getting the CX500 torn down and fixed up this winter so she can ride it next year.

Then the following winter she wants me to tear the KZ650 down and do the same thing to it so we'll have two motorcycles that are as reliable as they can be for vintage bike. She also said that if I'm willing to wait two more years until our daughter is out of college, I can get a new bike if I get rid of one of the other project bikes. The CX500 is staying and the KZ650 is staying. The CB350 and KZ440 are completely disassembled and in the attic storage so she has forgotten about them.

The bike she wants out of the garage is the biggest space hog of them all too. At first I was really resistant, but I really love the 2018/2019 Kawasaki Z900rs so that means the GL1100 is going to be sold off as soon as I can. And to be honest, I probably would have ended up spending nearly 60%-70% as much to build the GL1100 the way I wanted to as what a 2018 Z900rs is going for new from dealers clearing out the old stock.

 

[jon72vega]

BoilermakerFan,
Sounds like you had a busy August.