Got the air couch in the the camper and we're all packed up.
The maps are loaded and we're ready to truck.
Friday Night
Its Woods-n-Water Kampground, Columbus, Indiana (I65x54,1 hr)
We're hooking up with Rod, Resee and Jessica for a fun filled night of Corn Holing.
Saturday morning
We're headed to Indianapolis (I65,1 hr)
We'll check out their downtown area.
Saturday afternoon
Lansing, Michigan (I70,4 hrs).
While there, we'll reminisce. Becky used to live there. 
I'm going to hear a lot of, "OOOH, Look, thats where I got my lunch box". So cute, haha.
Lansing has a sister processing center for where I work, so most people at work think I'm crazy.
We'll either find a motel, a campground or sleep at a truck stop.
Sunday morning
Grand Rapids (I96, 1 hr)
I'm not sure what we'll see there.
Sunday afternoon
Chicago (I196/I94, 3 hrs)
The route will take us along the shores of Lake Michigan.
I want to hang out at the Chicago navy pier on Lake Shore drive (SR41) .
Monday Morning
Back to Woods-n-Water Kampground, Columbus, Indiana (I90,I65x54,4 hrs)
Back with Rod and his folks.
Monday Afternoon
Back to Louisville (I65, 1 hr).

Its almost as good as mine. So far, in Louisville its the BEST!

My Mustang engine bombed, the car had a flat, and so did my truck.
My Vegas air conditioner's a toaster, and my throat feels like yuck.
I'm feelin really down cause my implementations blew.
I'm all broke agin, and just don't know what to do.
Then I bought some expresso and now I don't care.
Cause I'm bouncing off the walls of this apartment everywhere!
Chorus:
Expresso, Expresso, or how I love Expresso.
Just had a few cups, gotta go!
Expresso, Expresso, now I gotta have Expresso.
Don't care bout things, gotta go!

Most of us know more about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie than we know about our own relatives.
Do you believe what you read?
From what I've read:
- A lot of the world still thinks the German death camps were fiction.
- A lot of people associate Bush with Hitler
- Many think the Twin Towers catastrophy was caused by our government.
What is truth? Is it my perspective? Yours? Or a strangers?
I think the only way I can really decide for myself what is real, or not real,
is by actually seeing something, or knowing somebody whose actually seen something.
This is where the internet, telephones and mail become so important to spreading the truth.
The internet is full of junk.
But you can sift through a hay stack and find a needle...if you have a strong enough magnet.
That metaphorical magnet is communication between people that you know are reasonable.
When I hear from people that I know, that others are being brutalized, or I find people are dissappearing in the middle of the night; then, and only then, will I rebel against the government.
But the way I see it, most of us are so spoiled by modern comforts, that we need to create enemies and heroes.
Because, our lives too boring to talk about.
Are Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie really that interesting?

The weekend started with a Blue Grass Festival. We caught the last hour of it.

We heard bombs going off.
That led us too Fort Knox. The GPS system took us through a one laned road, that wound through tall corn fields. It was pretty wild!!!

Fort Knox about confiscated my camera for taking pictures of a tank. So I don't have pictures of that. We went to the Science Museum, on Saturday. The movies were great, but I lost my pix of Main Street.
Here, we're at the Triathlon.
2,100 Ironmen (and women) participated in 2 miles of swimming, 2 miles biking, and 2 miles running.

I'd guess there were probably 2,000 people downtown.

The race lasted to midnight.
I over heard from J Gumbo's at closing, their shift pulled in $2,200. Wow.

This is a building is at the Coronado's military base near San Diego, California.
See http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2006/09/346333.shtml to read more.
Decide for yourself, if you believe what they are saying.
Why would someone be proud to call themselves part of any of the Reichs? hmmm.

First off, the word Reich refers to the ancient Germanic lands.
The 1st Reich - The Holy Roman Empire. It started in Germany and spread during a period from the 9th to 19th century.
The 2nd Reich - The German Empire, ruled by the Hohenzollern dynasty in Prussia from 1871 to 1919. It set the roots for Germany at the beginning of WWI. It fell at the end of WWI.
The 3rd Reich - Nazi Germany, ruled by Hitler from 1933 to 1945. His desire was to reunity the Holy Roman Empire and restore Germany back to its glory days. It ended with WWII.
The 4th Reich - A term used by Neo Nazis, used to describe the establishment of the Western Imperium and promote the Aryan Race. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Reich.
Why do I mention this now?
Some groups of people think the US is heading the Fourth Reich, using the same tactics of propaganda that Hitler used. See http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/reich.html as an example.
It scares me to think any of this is true.
So much of what we read is garbage.

were they rubber gloves? weird that you can't take a picture of a tank. Iv'e been on that base in the past to golf and have never as much seen any military guys.

The Pub downtown is a very, Cheers like bar.
They had a two player band, and the guitar dude was great. Becky and I were kissing during one of their Eric Clapton songs and they mentioned how every time they played, people kissed. So, when they started their next song, Becky and I really played it up. The crowd was roaring. It hilarious.

Down at J Gumbos.
They had the Two Cajuns playing their fanatical songs. One of them gave me some drums sticks, and hey, I got up there and played. No one has ever accused me of being shy! I did good. But on the next set, I played the washboard, and I really stunk. Some guy recorded it, and all I could think of was how I blew a concert in Murray, KY, because my clarinet's reed was shot and I had solos to play.
The Rock Bar
This place is a little hard to find. I think its at 401 S 4th, anyway, we just breezed on threw last night. We were told, on the weekends, the crowd gets heavy. It had a 60's theme to it, with swings hanging from the ceiling where Go Go girls do their thing. With their disco lights, and big dance floor, they've revived the ambiance.

Just felt yucky, so I stayed in and slept most the day.
There was a fire alarm around noon which was pretty cool.
Loud sucker. Everybody was down in the lobby.
Fire Trucks were outside. Firemen were running in and out.
It turns out, some painters were spraying a hallway, and sprayed a smoke detector on the 4th floor.

We have an inflatable bed, an inflatable couch, a roll up campground table, and two fold up popason chairs. The rest are plastic Walmart drawers.
If there was an incredible flood here, we'd be set!!! All we'd need is a rope to tie everything together with.
(Thats a dangling preposition btw).
The weather this morning was awesome.
It rained hard, with thunder and lightning all around. I love how most people come in late at the bank when it rains. I think they're worried about an incredible flood.
I love it though. I went outside, and a bolt of lightning hit the ground 1,500 feet away.
And there I was, under a tree, without a kite!

Very Nice Thank You Jim & Becky

I was looking at a tree while on a break.
There's really not much to do outside, but study the trees.
I got to wondering, how did this tree come to have thorns?
Naturally, the tree wants to protect its fruit from animals, but how did it come up with the thorn idea?
I asked this question, because, after all, I'm Jim.
I got to thinking about how the tree, over millions of years, must have developed all kinds of things to protect itself better.
Ears, hands, and legs are out because plants don't tend to grow animal parts well (eg: muscles). The image is funny, though.
So, that leaves things that the plant can build, like shapes and chemicals.
That could result in lots of leaves, thorns, poisons, razor sharp bark, and smell.
I can't think of any other way for the tree to protect itself, other than just having nothing animals want.
I also noticed these trees had swarms of tiny white bugs
They come come out every now and then, and they cover the tree, making the shady side white!
Most people suggested that the bugs were nasty. I'd heard reactions like: Ewwee! Someone should spray them.
But there were probably over 10,000 of these little life forms, crawling around on the tree.
Each of them probably regard their life as important as we do ours. I thought they were beautiful.
I kind of thought these bugs were necessary for the tree somehow.
What I saw was, these bugs coming out of the roots, cleaning up the bark, and dying.
I couldn't help but wonder how long that friendship, between the insects and the trees, took to foster.
In the end, it made me wonder what function we serve in nature.
What do we clean up or protect?
Was our species designed to escape this planet and spread life throughout the universe?
Or are we here just to devour all of the tasty animals, decreasing their populations?
All this from a thorny tree with bugs on it.
Guess I was bored. lol.

Somewhere along the way, I decided to stick with 120vac/240vac, because its more symmetrical.
I've been confused on the 220/240 voltages for decades.
I've heard people say they have 220v coming into the house, and 120v at the outlets.
To me, that never made any sense. It has to be 240v coming into the house or 110v at the outlets.
Because at our house, 2 legs of 120 volts (phase shifted) come into the house. One leg goes to the lights, the other leg goes to the outlets. The 240 volts for the Air Conditioner and the clothes dryer is bridged in between the two 120 volt lines.
Logically, the power coming into the house has to be called 240 volts, because it comes from 2 x 120 volt lines.
BTW - It would be insane to wire a wall outlet with the leg thats used for the lights. It would be phase shifted from the other wall outlets, and that could be very bad. The house has basically two, parallel circuits that are out of phase.
I just learned that the 420v, 440v and 480v are different.
I wasn't aware of that. I think now, I'm more confused than ever about the whole thing.
I suppose it might not have made much difference to me when I was working with Air Conditioning. I always trusted the installer to get that part right. We always changed out bad parts.

We went to the Bats ballgame.
The Bats won. They always seem to win when we're there.
We decided to go swimming afterwards, so we swung by the towers to pick up our swim wear.
The elevator action looks a lot wilder than it was.
I was just playing with the camera. I love its 'infinity mirror' effect.
Rods pool was the perfect temperature.
We ordered Philly Steak Pizza from Domino's and it came out much better than the ones we've had in Vegas.
I think the dough is better here.
It was late, and spending the night seemed like a good thing to do.
I woke up at 10 am Saturday, thinking it was 6 am. I've never slept in a basement before.
They've got it fixed up very nicely.

I was born March 31st, 1956, in Paducah, Kentucky, on what was most likely the most important day of my life.
I can't recall those times, my brain wasn't quite all working yet, it still isn't, but I'm sure I was a heck of a smiler.
Since then, life has had its ups and downs.
I've been alive for 19,000 days, and probably the worst one was when my Mom past away.
As far as the ups, well, most of the days have been pretty special for some reason or the other.
I guess if I had to pick one, I just wouldn't be able too.
Because, if you think like I do, the lowest you can go in life is death,
and if you believe there's more coming after the curtains fall, then even that ain't bad.
About the worst thing I could ever blame myself for, is for was waisting time feeling bad about my life.
All those times, I could have just walked out the door, smelled a flower, watched a cloud float by, or listened to the birds sing their songs.
What I'm trying to say is, every day of living is good, unless you decide it isn't.
So go out and seize the day.
Get a pedicure, go sky diving, explore your neighborhood...do something each day, that you've never done before.
There isn't much time left, and you've got nothing to lose.
I'm off to a BAT's Ball Game...see y'all....
And have some fun, people!

And put in an application for a parking lot attendant.
Who would ever guess, they'd give a MATH test.
And why?
It could be, that sitting in somewhere in a parking lot booth,
there's an 'idiot savant; calculating the size of the universe?
They asked her questions like:
"If a person parks at 10:32 am, and leaves at 2:17 pm the next day, how many minutes did they park".
Anyway, she's terrible at math, and I don't think anyone is good subtracting time.
They didn't even her an interview.
But she passed her background test, rode the transit system, knows the town better, and her spirits are high.
We were both in the dumps, so we hit the road to Cincinnati!
On the way back, we stopped by General Butler State Park.
They offer cabins in the mountains, next to a lake. They have mini golf, a pool, and daily hikes/activities for their guest. Tommorrows activity is a hike using a tobacco stick...hmmm.
We saw two fawns, and a racoon.

The drive to Cincinnati on I70 is hilly and scenic. It takes over an hour to get there, but it feels like 20 minutes.

Cincinnati just pops up over a hill.
The downtown area looks like its probably twice the size of downtown Louisville.

The buildings have a unique styles.
Most of the buildings look like apartments, or condos. A lot of the shops have upstairs lofts, where the owners probably live.

The impression I got of this place,
was, its where you could get lost forever, along with a million other people.
People used the streets like they might a sidewalk, not even watching for traffic.

The bridges and stadiums are awesome.
I couldn't quite get a good picture of the bridges, but theres five of them in a row, with different styles and colors.

We came on a Reds game night.
The riverfront was swamped with Reds fans.

I slept in most of the weekend.
We rearranged the furniture, so now we're actually sleeping in the bedroom.
I hung some blackout blinds so we can use the projector in the living room any time of the day.

Its a, ahem, unique arrangement. We are in apartment limbo.
We can't buy too much furniture, but we need to be comfortable.
I was told Friday that a full time position wasn't going to be created.
Thats good, because nobody ever made me an offer, and I'm still getting settled in anyway.
They were concerned that I might have taken it the wrong way.
I'm not sure what exactly goes on where I work.
I know they have a lot of meetings, and I know some of them are about me.
I can only guess whats been said by studying the behaviour of the people who attend the meetings.
It almost feels creepy. lol.
All I can do is give them my best effort, try not to make any waves, and see what happens.
Anyway, getting back to the apartment
If my contract runs out in November, we're going to have to move again.
Which means, we shouldn't buy furniture.

Another visitor has arrived.
Her name is McKenzie Jackson.
She's almost 9 pounds, the daughter of Renee Spurling and Jonathan Jackson.
She's Becky's grandaughter, and Ruth Czachorwski's great grand daughter.
And she's beautiful.
One wonders what will she see in her lifetime.
What beautiful things will come her way?
And soon, after we're all laid to rest, she will have her first grand daughter,
and she too, will be beautiful.
And she will come into a world so wonderful, we can't even imagine it.

Lynne's Café on Baxter Road
Here, you get fresh veggies, unique entrées and extremely friendly service. A waitress here sat down at our table and told us that the locals read 'The Leo' to find all of the happenings around Louisville. Its amazing, the number of name bands who just slide in and out of this place! Counting Crows is playing just 5 blocks away next week.


I really don't get why anyone would pour beer from a pitcher into a coffee cup.
Thats just disgusting. But another sign said that management isn't responsible for items left in the coat room, and there is no coat room. So, thats it, they're crazy, and they're lots of fun!
Lynnes Cafe is hosting an ugly lamp contest. The person that wins the lamp contest gets free breakfast for a year.

Bardstown Road is the place to go in Louisville.
Louisville is all about small businesses. They're motto is 'Keep Louisville Weird'.
They like the chains here, but the push is to keep the Mom and Pop stores open.
I just think thats GREAT!
 
Bardstown Road Houses
Musicians and other talented people live in houses along the road. Most of these old homes are residential, but also host some kind of business. I think I'd like living in one of these, and maybe have a Tarot Card reading / Web Site building combo in my living room. A customer would enter, I'd go through some a beaded curtains and ask them, "What would you like today? Would you like a website built, would you like to know your future, my sweetheart also does manicures, if you'd like that.". That would be cool.

Rod BBQ'd corn in the husk, garlic potatoes, T-Bone steaks and um, his trash!
The corn was especially delicious cooked that way.