10-02-09

It did get very cold during the night. I think I over prepared for it. I woke up in a pool of sweat in the middle of the night. I had bundled up and had my furnace running. I was plenty warm.
In the morning I made some scrambled eggs. When I sat down to eat them there was something kind of blackish gray in the eggs. I pulled it out with my fork and found that it was a feather. I threw it away and tried to forget about it as I continued to eat. I almost had enough mental strength to continue, but then I found another bit of feather. There was no way I could stomach the eggs any more and I threw them out.
I made some Malt-O-Meal and decided to take it outside and eat in the warm sun. It was a great moment that never would have happened if I hadn‘t had a feather in my egg. The Malt-O-Meal tasted great and it was safe. There was no threat of finding a beak.
I went for a morning stroll and talked to Jim and his friend Rattle Snack Jack for awhile. Rattle Snake Jack was as fun of a guy as his name suggests. There are old grizzled guys in the mountains that at first appear old, but at a closer look they are rock solid and very fit from running around in the great outdoors.
I decided to stay for another night. It was such a beautiful spot and it would give me time to try and install fog lights on the bus.
The fog light box was missing one long wire. I noticed now that the lights had been bought and returned. I needed a long piece of wire, but was far from any store. I went to my box of wires that I’ve been collecting my whole life. I took an indoor extension cord, cut the ends off of it and pulled the two wires apart to make two long single wires. Right now I need wire, not an extension cord, so I felt the sacrifice was justified.
I hooked up the fog lights inside to see if I had the wiring figured out. When I flipped the switch there was light, so I proceeded to mount the lights under the bumper and the switch under the dash board. Next step was to run one small wire through the firewall. I tried to get it through with some of the existing wires, but couldn’t get it to go. I decided to drill a hole in the firewall. “How important is the firewall when the engine is in the back of the bus?” I thought. The wire went through so I hooked everything up and once again there was light. I tucked the wires in nicely and was excited for nightfall to adjust the beams.
I worked on my headlights for awhile, but wasn’t able to improve them much. I wanted to take them apart to clean out the glass and the reflective surface inside, but could get them apart without risking breaking them. I searched the wires for possible shorts, but found nothing suspicious.
Enough work, it was time for a bike ride. I rode up a rough gravel mountain road that leads to hiking trails. The scenery was exquisite. I often use the Landscape setting on my camera. When I flip it to Landscape it shows an example picture of a snow caped mountain with a forest and stream in the foreground. When it switched to what was really in the view finder it was just like the example picture, but better. I was standing in it.
A jetliner flew over. If a plane is at 30,000’ and you’re on a mountain at 9,500’ it’s lower and louder. “I’m a third of the way up there I thought”.
I rode home and made a quesada. It was like I had been shot when I opened up my hot sauce. It made a loud pop and I was instantaneously covered in what looked like blood. I should know to vent my condiments at high altitude by now.