Day Old News

This is the news that was typed up on Tuesday June 12. I know that it just drops off at the end...

Let's start this update with a little product performance review, shall we?  The titanium elbow has been magnificent!  In fact, of all the mechanical or electronic devices that we have brought along, it has certainly provided the best performance with the least amount of maintenance; my compliments to Dr. Lafonda!  Riley joined the flat tire fraternity yesterday (Monday).  When I was inspecting his tire, I must have pulled out about 15 or more small thorns; this says that maybe he should be more careful about the debris he's rolling into, and that his tires are performing very well to have yielded only one flat with that many thorns.  The tires are Vittoria Randonneurs.   My front tire is a Specialized Armadillo Skin with slime tube, and my rear tire is a Continental Grand Prix 4 Season, with a extra thick thorn resistant tube.  They weren't cheap; the Continental was something like $70!  Ouch!  But I haven't had a flat in either tire since installing them, although admittedly neither one has very many miles yet.

Technology still vexes me.  I believe that it was Jackie Gleason's Love Child who sent me a link or comment about connecting the bluetooth keyboard to the phone.  Hey JGLC, that app is not available in MY marketplace.  I don't know if it's available at all.  I have tried to download other similar apps, and they do not work.  I have read on android forums and it seems that the only way to get an android phone to work with a bluetooth keyboard is to use a rooted phone.  I know enough to know that that means changing some of the fundamental operating system files.  I can't connect to anything from where I am at currently, so I will have to go by memory, but I think that the term was 'bricked'.  Most of the advice was that unless you really know what you are doing and can root your phone, then don't attempt it unless you are OK with you phone being bricked - meaning good for nothing than to use as a papaerweight.

Really, the reason that I mention technology, is the idea of posting pictures to the blog.  Obviously, I've been able to  do it a time or two, but there have been more attempts that have failed.  We were at Kirkwood earlier, and I had wireless access, so I made a post.  The scenery, of course, was beautiful so I tried to add a picture.  Hey the iPad has a camera, I snapped a couple of shots, but when it came time to attaching the photo, I was not able to search for the file. 

I believe that I mentioned the AT&T Wifi hotspot feature on an earlier post, and how I was not able to utilize this feature on my "smart" phone.  Well, I received a text message survey - 3 questions in 3 separate, sequential messages.  I did bother to take the time to respond and gave ratings of 1, 2 & 1 on a scale of 10 to their questions.  Hey I got a follow up phone call, from a live representative named Meghan.  It's hard for me to criticize a Meghan - such a fine Irish name - and I'm not sure if I even have a bone to pick with her.   Rather than letting her lead the conversation with a bunch of questions, I said, "Let's get right to the point of my dissatisfaction."  I then proceeded to tell her that, as a customer of 15 or more years with AT&T wireless, I was appalled that their solution to my wanting to use the hotspot, was to have me pay for even more data than what I am already paying for and not coming close to using.  I pointed out that I got the same basic response when I needed to add another line to my cell service - pay for a new plan that includes more minutes, even though I have never come close to using the minutes that I was already paying for.  The fact is that someone at AT&T can authorize the entry of the few keystrokes that it takes to enable my stupid-ass friggin idiotic pice of over engineered but under thought-out cell phone to provide a hotspot for my iPad to connect to.   Does AT&T not care one whit about customer loyalty and customer retention? 

Meghan did seem to listen, understand and agree that my complaint really was not unreasonable.  She attempted to connect me with her manager, but was unable to at that time, she promised that her manager would give me a call back.  Of course, the manager never called, or left a message, or text, or anything.  I'm right back to square one.  Technology - they talk about how it is making things so very easy and simple, but the fact is, it is only all about the money.  Now, I can't back down on the AT&T issue (and pay the extra $20 a month) because if I do, I just prove them right - we can screw anyone we want whenever we want, and they will still come back AND PAY FOR MORE! 

The other product performance issue, which is now apparently our most significant (other than the tied-on panniers, which do seem to be holding thanks to my training in knots with Boy Scout Troop 226 of Huntington Beach) is our stove.  The stove is a SVEA 123 that I have had for 35 years or more.  I think that it was last out about 21 or 22 years ago.  It  was working fine the last time that I had used it, just as it had every time previous to that, so when I got it out for this trip, I expected perfection.  I tried to fire it up, and it lit, but just sort of sputtered.  I was surprised, but not alarmed.  I went online and bought a new cap that is compatible with the pump that takes this stove out of the realm of being a pain in the butt into being the finest backpacking stove ever.  I received my new cap, installed it, fired up the stove, and voila!  I had perfect results.  I wish that  I had had the opportunity (or foresight) to actually use the stove for 4 or 5 days in a row.  Hey, I was going to have a shakedown tour to San Diego, but I tipped over... that's another story that you already know if you've been following along.  Well, I got out the stove a couple of days ago to make pancakes and coffee, and let's just say that I don't type well enough to give you all the details.  I did get the pancakes and coffee made, as well as popcorn last night, which was our only dinner after such an arduous day, but the stove is not working right.  Heck, if it wasn't such a great stove to begin with, it wouldn't be working at all.  So I don't know what to do.  We could go stove-less, which would mean being able to ditch some other stuff as well, or we could get another stove in Carson City, at least I believe that we could.

Enough for performance reviews for the time being; let's move on to the route we are taking.  The Adventure Cycling Association's Western Express is not for the feint of heart!  It's not for the brave, either.  It's for the uber-brave, beau-hunk stud muffin, or whatever the female equivalent of that is!  Growing up in Escondido, I rode up Mount Palomar a few times, once or twice with some camping gear.  That ride is about 5850 feet of elevation in about 30 miles.  The Placerville to Carson Pass section is about 6500 feet over about 70 miles.  Going into it, I didn't exactly expect a cake walk, but neither did I think that it would be a hard as it proved to be.  Before sticking out my thumb, I thought about a lot of different things, including the time that I hopped aboard Amtrak on my way to Wyoming.  I was not too excited about catching a ride, but I do believe that it was the right decision at the moment.  In the end, we could have gotten over Carson Pass on our own power, I suppose, but we didn't come to prove how much misery we could endure.  One other consideration that came to my mind is the fact that all of our preparation has been done at Sea Level.  If we had had the opportunity to have ridden more before setting out, that would have been beneficial, but the elevation surely does play a factor.  I've read several different training strategies for preparing for a cross country trip, from don't worry about it, your body will adjust as you go, to training regimens that make it sound like you'd better be in world-class athlete condition before you go.  If you're going to ride east bound on the Western Express, then you had better be in good shape; VERY good shape, or else don't be too proud to ask for a lift.

Tonight, we are going to nestle down in a United States Forest Service campground next to Caples Lake.  The summit of Carson Pass is about 5 or 6 miles away to the east.  It looks like we will be able to ride to the top