Coming down from Red Horn Pass

Thursday, 28 May 2009.  I woke to find a very sunny sky.  It would be a good day for a drive in the desert.  I picked up the car, filled with gas and head on down the road.  I was off to a Great Basin National Park.  The first part of the draw in was down the interstate.  However, I soon left the end to two-lane roads off into the distance.  For most of the way I was driving US 50 and US 6.  There is a lot of nothing along this road.  This is not to say that it isn’t pretty, which it is, but it lived up to its name of being a very lonely highway.  To make sure I had plenty of gas as one could drive well over 100 miles and not see a gas station.  To make sure I could get all the way to Cedar City, I filled up in Baker just outside of Great Basin National Park. 

I drove up to the visitors’ center and decided it was more than time enough to have some breakfast at the café up there.  It was quite a nice breakfast.  After breakfast I just made it over to the start of a tour of the Lehman Caves.  I got a 50% discount on the ticket price to due to having an Olde Phartes park pass.   It was quite a nice cave tour. 

Afterwards, I took the scenic drive up to where the footpath to the glacier began.  The beginning of the footpath was still under snow.  I couldn’t get to the glacier but the glacier had come to me.  It also allowed me to be slightly silly.  There were some other tourists there as well as a park ranger who were more than willing to take pictures of me standing barefoot in the snow.  There I was, Pippin, coming down to the base of the path from Red Horn Pass.  After all, hobbits are known to be able to go barefoot through the snow. 

I then headed back to Utah and took a state highway across an empty and desolate land.  It was actually quite pretty.  Once I got back into cell phone range, I gave Theresa and Barry a call to let them know approximately when I would be showing up.  The drive was much quicker than Google maps indicated.

When I arrived, Barry was vastly amused by the Canadian ignition system installed in my car.  After I got a little bit settled in the house, we headed out for a nice prime rib dinner at a local restaurant complete with humorous country and western songs preformed live.  Later that evening we tried to play a couple DVDs that I had but only one worked.  We watched Ringers.  It was then time to crash out.

Walking the Plains of Gorgoroth

Wednesday, 27 May 2009.  I awoke to a very nice day but made the mistake of dawdling at the motel and not immediately getting on the road.  This would prove to cause some minor problems.  Between a late start and some serious road construction that reduced the two-lane road to one by the time I reached Craters Of The Moon National Monument I had little time to really enjoy the place.  This is not to say the drive through the park wasn’t quite enjoyable.  It was.  I did take some pictures that very is stopping points along the way but didn’t have a chance to really go for any walks in the park.  Ideally, it would be a great the full day visit.   

Every time I come here, I feel I’m walking the Plains of Gorgoroth and the various paths should bear the name: The Frodo & Sam Memorial Pathways. 

I then headed out taking a long way around the park only to run in to the occasional construction crew.  This was not a good day upon which to make time.  Nevertheless, once I reach the interstate I was able to roll down the highway into Salt Lake City and find my motel.  Once there I contacted the lovely folk I was reading over dinner and headed over to a relatively close Applebee’s for some good food.  Yes, it was. 

There I met up with Ray Buck, Anna Vanderhazel and her son.  Ray is a friend of a roadie in the Chicago area and Anna, also a roadie, I know from the Route 66 egroup.  Good food and excellent conversation and company made for a delightful evening.  All too soon we had to call it a night but a most enjoyable one.

Then to sleep as I really wanted to have the time to visit Great Basin National Park tomorrow.

N by NW!

Wednesday, 6 May 2009. The alarm came much to soon on a chilly and cloudy morning.  As I put my laundry in my new laundry bag I realized I would soon need to visit a washer and dryer.  Recycling clothes not a good idea.

I only started up the road about 15 minutes after I wanted.  It was a pretty easy drive under partly cloudy skies as first Rockford.  From Rockford to the Wisconsin border there was construction.  Traffic moved fairly smoothly but there was the occasional tie up.  The rest is a trip up to Madison went smoothly.  The sun peeked in and out of the clouds.  I had good maps to get me to the restaurant and actually found a parking spot just around the corner.

As I walked up to the Japanese restaurant there was Tim McCloud waiting me for me outside the door.  This was rather practical as the restaurant did not open for another 10 minutes.  Also the propeller beanie he was wearing sort of gave him away.

We sat down and chatted for about 20 minutes before the third party arrived, Kristin Thompson.  She was the author of the book “The Frodo Franchise.” I had reviewed the book for online science fiction site and really liked it.  Kirsten had brought a copy for me as my review copy had been left in Richmond and was being sent to me at home.  Kristin was kind enough to sign the book to me.

We a delightful launch and great conversation.  I even ran over the time at my parking meter but I was told not to really worry.

I found my way back to the interstate, and where there wasn’t construction, but the pedal to the middle and headed up I-94 to my Menomonie.  I got there little later than I expected as I was tired and pulled off the road to rest for a few minutes.  When I got to my Menomonie, I realize they knew someone else there.  Mike Levy, who is associated with the SFRA, is head of the English department at the University of Wisconsin’s branch there.  Once I got into my room I gave him a call, and we had a nice chat.  Circumstances were such that we wouldn’t be able to get together.

I then headed over to Mills Farm where my friend, Robin Crickman, was attending a demonstration concerning horses.  As she runs a horse farm, this is quite appropriate.  After the demonstration was over we headed over to Applebee’s for dinner.  Unfortunately, she is a problem with garlic so the choice of entrée was rather limited.  However this did not prevent us from having a long and very enjoyable conversation allowing us to catch up for a couple decades worth of news.  I also opened the eyes of our waiter to a couple opportunities for his future.  He was graduating in culinary arts.

When I got back to the room, I was able to get online and clean up a little bit of e-mail.

A Visit to Wrigley Field & Dinner with Friends

Tuesday, 5 May 2009. The day dawned partly sunny.  It was cool and going to be a great day.  It felt good to put on the top part of my Cubs uniform.  The Cubs camp was one heck of a week.

I may use of the 24 hours I had to use the computer online and cleared up my e-mail and caught up little bit on the diary.

Oh yes, my diary entries may sound a little funny as I am dictating them using Dragon NaturallySpeaking.  If I really used it a lot, would probably work even better.  I tend to use it only on trips.  However it is a neat gadget.

I got underway under partly sunny skies and got over to Bev Friend’s place a little after 10.  The drive is slowing there is a slight detour because a train was blocking the road.  We gathered up our stuff and headed out.

The drive down was easy enough and when we got to the ballpark there were people already lining up and we found a parking lot adjacent to Wrigley Field.  Of course, this cost a small fortune.  Bev had suggested that she drive and would pay for parking.  I don’t think either she nor I expected the costs be quite the size was, $50.  I did chip in, of course.

We took some photos while waiting outside as the gates open at 11 o’clock.  There was quite a large number of fans we begin in when the gates opened.  We found our seats with no problem and they were quite good.  They were in the fifth row just to the outfield side of the Cubs dugout.  I try to get an autograph or two but they weren’t signing when they went out to practice.  By the time they got back and were signing autographs the mob scene was little bit too much to fight.  One of the Andy Frain[sic] ushers had also been at the 45 World Series.  His dad took him when he was eight.  I guess there are at least two of us alive who were there.

The weather was quite nice it was overcast and there is a light wind blowing in from the lake but it was not chilly.  Unfortunately, the Cubs lost 6 to 2.  The game was well played but disappointing.  One factor that may have been involved was the fact that a number of the starters had been benched and many of the players were the backups.

Disappointed we headed back to the car and drove back to Beverly’s place for a snack though we did stop for tea along the way.  While at Bev’s she was kind enough to write a check for me so I could pay for my tiny share of the two racehorses.  The check went out in the mail as we left.

We headed over to a nearby Chinese restaurant for an absolutely smashing dinner.  Joining us for dinner were Bev’s friend Irv, Nancy Goodman, Phyllis and Alex Eisenstein, Diane and Bob Blackwood, and Neil Rest.  Needless to say we had a rather excellent conversation ranging over a wide variety of topics.

I stopped for some very needed gas on the way back to the motel, showered, read and tried to get a good night’s sleep.

Driving Thru Nashville

Wednesday, 29 April 2009.  I had a decent night’s sleep, all things considered.  It was a cool morning with mostly cloudy skies.  I’m given to understand that I will be tried being in to more inclement weather.  However it is currently dry.

Unfortunately, I am using the quiet morning to not only catch up on e-mail and post some updates to my blog but run a few scans on my computer that usually do once a week at home.  It will be nice when computers have advanced far enough so that you can do more than one thing at a time and also really work.  This may happen by 2050 but I’m not holding my breath.

After catching up on e-mail and learning that the nearest coffee with cream may be a mile or more away I got everything sorted and packed up, loaded up the car and headed over to Merry’s.  We headed off to see local Cracker Barrel for breakfast.  Well I was getting a first breakfast and I believe Merry was getting a second, but we are hobbits.

The food wasn’t bad and we had a lovely long conversation.  Back at her home we continued our conversation.  I also called then connected up with Marie Miesel in Nashville.  Marie and I would be meeting up for dinner on my way through Nashville.

I eventually called the morning and headed down the road to Nashville.  It was an easy drive under both cloudy and sunny skies.  I didn’t have too much for problem finding Marie’s home and kicked back with a novel until she showed up from work. 

We immediately headed off to Café Nonna, I believe that’s the name.  It was an Italian style café which had excellent food.  We even shared a desert.  It was also excellent. 

Back at her apartment we talked about Tolkien and other literary matters.  I then met her roommate, an engineering Ph.D. candidate from India.  We immediately began to talk about cricket.   

Eventually, I had to get on the road to Evansville.  The drive up probably would have been pretty during the day but wasn’t bad as there was little traffic once I got on the road away from Nashville.  I even found Deb’s place without too much problem.  I usually come from the other direction.  As it was after midnight, we called it an evening rather quickly. 

A shower, a few more chapters and then some sleep.

Heading South To Go North

Monday, 27 April 2009.  In good night’s sleep was not to be had.  Even though the motel was a crowded I ended up in a new room which was occupied.  The walking and squeaking overhead until midnight wasn’t too bad as I was still up and it seemed to stop about the time I turned out the light.  However, it was quite annoying to hear pacing, and the feet were heavy, as well as a squeaking of the floor.  The manager was very nearly got a phone call at five o’clock from a rather tired and irate wombat.  Thank goodness for earplugs.  They were also useful against the chirping of bloody birds at five and six o’clock in the morning.  As I was dropping off my key, I had a few words for the front desk.

 

The morning turned out to be a minor hassle.  Almost as disaster but not quite.  I managed to leave the book I was reading in the motel.  To get it shipped to me via UPS would have been a real pain in the neck.  I contacted the time was the hopes that someone would pick up the book and mail it to my home as trying to catch me on the road would be impossible.

 

While this was vaguely of upsetting me, I misread the instructions for getting around Raleigh.  This resulted in my driving through the center of Raleigh in order to get back to the road I wanted.  I was soon back on the proper road and headed south to this town of Whispering Pines.  My friend Ann lives there. 

 

I had no problem finding her house.  She gave me the $.25 tour of her house with all the SF paintings and pictures along with figures from a variety of science-fiction and fantasy books and movies.  It was quite impressive.  We have then joined a couple of her friends for lunch at an English pub which is quite good followed by a tour of the area.  It was pointed out that there were something like eight or nine 18-hole golf courses in the immediate area.  It was definitely a place to live if you liked golf.  After the tour Ann and I sat on her back porch and had a lovely chat.  We were the center of amusement for one of her two cats.

 

Around four she had to go and pick up some friends who are coming to visit and had gotten somewhat lost.  She got me back to the main highway so I could find the motel and we waved goodbye to each other.

 

As I checked into the Motel 6 here in Pinehurst, I learned, Wi-Fi was not working at the motel.  So this will not get uploaded it to my blog for a day or two.  At least I have recorded and written it down.  You must update my budget information as I would like to keep track of how much this trip will cost.

 

This will be a quiet and early evening as I will be a quite early tomorrow morning for the long drive to Chattanooga.  There is a Pizza Hut right next door, and it is time to have some pizza.  It has been a while since I’ve had some.  Maybe KFC tomorrow for lunch. 

RAVENCON – Day 1

     Friday, 24 April 2009.  After my usual for nights sleep.  I got up ready to face the world.  It was a beautiful sunny day in Richmond.  While it was still cool in the morning, the temp was going up to about 75°.  I can live with that.

     I’m hoping the continual application of hand or body lotion to the bottom of my left foot will ease the dryness and cracking.  It is a literal pain in the foot.  My shoulders are okay, so I still have some pain in the right shoulder.  Now to try and see if I can connect up with the Internet. 

     This Crown Plaza is somewhat civilized.  Internet connection is free and seems to work.  As I had some time to kill until I could actually go and have breakfast I worked on my e-mail and did my shoulder exercises.

     While the birth the list was fairly good I was disappointed in the fact that they had no half-and-half to go with coffee which I then skipped.  Thank goodness for caffeine pills.

     The first part of the day was pretty lazy.  I got some stuff out of the car sorted out what I wanted to do got registered at the convention and chatted with the attendees who had already shown up.

     One person I was happy to meet was Amy Sturgis, who I have heard of in relation to Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings.  We had a nice talk about the books and some of the history and I hope to sit down and chat with her later during the convention.

     I was on three panels and attended a couple others.  After my last panel I hit some of the parties and finally called it a night near midnight which after all was fairly early but I was tired.

Hobbit makeup artist

I was recently in LA.  The day before the Oscars I attended a Symposium  on makeup featuring the 5 chaps nominated for the Oscar.  It was a fascinating discussion.  –  Afterwards I was able to chat briefly wit Mike Elizalde who was nominated for his work on Hellboy II.  He is to be the person in charge of makeup for The Hobbit.  He sounded really excited about the upcoming film[s].  –  I still have faint dreams of working on the film[s], but mainly planning for my trip up to Alaska.  –  Oh well, there is “The Return of the Tour” in 2011.

SF, London & Middle-earth, oh my!

Had a busy 2+ weeks involving SF & Tolkien.  –  First was LUNACON just north of NYC at the “Escher Hilton.”  I had a very nice time.  –  Then after spending the day doing laundry I headed off to London and EASTERCON.  I was getting back to my roots.  My first regular SF con was the Bristol Eastercon in 1973.  I’m a British SF fan with an extremely far west midlands accent. J  I also enjoyed the luxury of flying Business Class across the Atlantic.  So nice!  The con was great, & I enjoyed the company of several friends for dinner, including one from Oz.  –  I then hosted a panel on “The Worlds of Tolkien” at my local library.  Much fun.  –  I, of course, pushed both our local SF con – ALBACON 08 – & the projected “Reunion Tour of Middle-earth” in 2010 or ’11.  I’m looking forward to it.  –  Now it would be really neat if I get the chance to work on The Hobbit.  Now that would be an adventure!  –  Read The Hobbit on the flight.  TLOTR will be for my next road trip in 3 weeks.

The Worlds of Tolkien

On Tuesday, 1 April 2008 at 6:30 PM there will be a panel discussion on “The Worlds of JRR Tolkien” at the William K. Sanford Library, 629 Albany-Shaker Road, Loudonville, New York 12211; +1-518-458-9274.  Join us in Middle-earth.  The panelist are KATHRYN A. Laity – The College of Saint Rose; Kelli O’Connor – Salomon of Sage College & me to add the fannish element to the evening.  We will meet at 4:42 pm at the Pearl of the Orient across from the old location of FoF.  It is only a little bit over a mile back to the library.  A nosh & a natter!  Questions?  Please contact me.