Lazy Sunday morning musings:
Time
change Sunday...except that Arizona doesn’t change time. However, our technology does change time...
which can be confusing upon waking. Kim
walked out this morning impressed with how long he’d slept.
Last year we had a helluva time figuring out
how to change our phones and therefore our Fitbits which sync with our phones. Thankfully I outlined the steps in the 2019
journal so I simply consulted that and voila! we’re back in sync with the rest of
Arizona. Fitbits are still an issue though.
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We don’t have our biker gnomes, Freddie and
Flossie, out on display yet because we haven’t been able to figure out the how of it. It was much easier with the bike trailer; this
trailer has two gas tanks with an awkward cover up front that is making it a
challenge. Plus there’s the wind factor...it
plays games with our chairs and rug, it causes the tree feathers to drop
everywhere and it blew our Michigan snowman board over which cracked it. Not
all the way but enough so that we relocated it to the side of the trailer where
hopefully it’s out of the reach of the wind. So far, so good on that front. When
we got back from Cotton Days yesterday, Kim put the little donkey on the picnic
table...didn’t take long for the wind to throw it on the ground. So what to do with Freddie and Flossie so that
they don’t get blown over and crack their heads is the prime consideration in
how to display them. Another project for
Kim.
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Our trailer kitchen is on the tiny side but
cooking and cleanup is so much easier than what we’d been doing with the bike
trailer. Camp stove out on the picnic
table and hauling dishes up to the dish washing station by the clubhouse vs. an
inside oven/stove next to a sink with running water. Yeah, no contest on that one. Then add having a fridge/freezer instead of
just a cooler and the meal possibilities suddenly seem endless!! Shoot, we’ve even got a tiny microwave which
to date we’ve only used for popcorn. I
must confess, though, that we’ve not yet figured out how much time it takes to
pop all of Orville Redenbacher’s kernels.
Could it be that Orville’s popcorn is too sophisticated for our
microwave? 😏
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We didn’t make it to church today...the time
change thing played into that decision.
Then we really didn’t do much until about 3 when we went for a
ride. Kim didn’t exactly sound gung-ho about
riding when I asked earlier in the day because he had the Freddie/Flossie
project on his mind. I was going to go
by myself but ultimately Kim decided to go with me. He was right...it’s more fun when someone
shares the ride and we have to start doing this earlier in the day so we’re
back before the setting sun is an issue on the eyes.
We headed out to Saguaro National Park
West. Temp was in the low 70s...warm
when sitting still on a picnic table but the air was cool on sunburned arms
when riding. Had to stop to put jackets
on and then all was well. Kim has also
determined that when his hands get cold his fingers have a tendency to cramp,
so his gloves went on as well.
We didn’t have a lot of time so the plan was
to ride out, find and get a picture of a particular cactus and then head
back. The crested cactus we were looking
for is near the visitor’s center so we parked and walked back to it. I had located it visually on the way in so it
was easy to walk to...well, as easy as walking in a desert landscape through
bushes and cacti that want to skewer you can be. Of course, there were things
to see and point out on the way so it wasn’t as quick as I had envisioned it
would be. Got back to camp before the
sun set so we did good on that point.
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Stopped at a gas station near Saguaro Nat’l
to use the restroom. Looking around
inside for something to buy in order to pay for my flush and I found piggy
cookies! While I’ve seen Mexican
pastries at different places I’ve only see piggy cookies at the store in
Eloy. These were also from a different
bakery than the ones in Eloy. Anyway,
bit into one and noticed a difference; these had a much stronger molasses
taste...not unpleasant though. The other
piggies have a mild molasses taste but actually don’t list molasses as an
ingredient. These do contain molasses, hence the stronger
taste. We both agreed that we preferred
the ‘original’...but it wouldn’t stop me
from buying them again. 😋
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Trains...there are lots of trains rumbling
through this area. There are two tracks
on the other side of I-10; two trains were running opposite directions when we
left on our ride. Our route on the
frontage road paralleled the tracks; the eastbound train was nearest to us and
it was moving right along. I kept an eye
on it, amazed at how many cars there were.
At Picacho Peak we have to cross to the other side of the highway to
continue on the frontage road. Sitting
at the stop sign facing the tracks I couldn’t see either end of the eastbound train. This
has got to be the longest rain I’ve ever seen...must be hundred of cars! Our
speed was a bit faster and eventually we caught up with the 3 engines pulling
it and passed it.
Then on the way home we were running
parallel to a stopped train. I got on
the radio and mentioned the stopped train that backed up traffic last year on
East Park Link, wondering if this train was doing the same thing. We were still a few miles from that
intersection; Kim didn’t think a train was allowed to be more than 100 cars or
one mile and therefore probably wasn’t messing with traffic on Park Link Dr. He qualified that by saying he’d heard that
the coal trains coming from the Consumer’s plant (West Olive) had a 100 car
limit but maybe not all trains did.
Back at camp and it’s time for a Google
search. I read a lot of information on train length, all of it stating that
there is no US governmental regulatory limit on how long a train can be. In
addition I learned this:
*Each rail company has rules governing length limits.
*Some municipalities have regulations about how long traffic can be
stopped at a RR crossing which can impact the length of the train.
*Temperature (cold) can play a part in limiting train length.
*Route and grades (%) can also be a
limiting factor.
*Rail infrastructure and total weight of the
train can also be limit the number of cars in a train.
*And while it isn’t common, it isn’t unrealistic
to have a train with 200 cars.
As long as
I’ve gone down the rabbit hole this far, I wondered how long a train car is and
subsequently how long would a train with 200 cars be.
The most common types of train cars
are typically 53 feet 1 inch long, but some are a little over 58
feet long.
Time
for some math...rounding the car length to 53 and multiplying by 200 gives me a
train that’s 10,600 feet long. I need a
more manageable number...so I divide 10,600 by 5,280 (ft in a mile) and get 2.007. Basically a 200 car train would be 2 miles
long.
And maybe the Consumer Power coal
trains had a limit because of one of the above reasons.
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I’ve been having a terrible time getting my Fitbit to recognize
the time change which is weird because the time in Arizona didn’t change but
suddenly the Fitbit has been an hour behind my phone all day but why? And just as vexing is that Kim’s has been on
Michigan time...10 p.m. here was 1 a.m. on Kim’s Fitbit. Aghh! These things drive me crazy! Just a bit ago we were investigating the
problem and figured out the solution...Kim’s Fitbit changed immediately but
mine didn’t. Again, why? But after a 10 minute interval I looked and be still my heart! it’s showing the
correct time. Now all is right and
proper in my world.
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Kim is able to image despite the nearly full
moon. He was out earlier but called it
because of clouds. But the sky cleared
and he’s out there again. Imaging Orion (again) which he said was one of the few targets available with the moon so
bright.
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Bike
miles today: 82
Total
miles: 1031
 |
| Sunday's bike route x 2 |
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