August 29 2010 by Darrin.

I’m in Towson, MD right now, having come here to join up with my old high school friend Wendell and attend the Restoring Honor Rally in Washington.  I’d never done anything like this before, so I had no idea what to expect.  There were rumors of violence and some pretty kooky comments out there, but we weren’t worried at all.

Wendell and I left Towson around 07:30 and headed for the Greenbelt Park-n-Ride, to catch the green line subway train into DC.  We were early and the line grew quickly behind us.  Here’s a shot of the folks awaiting their turn at the Metro ticket machines when we queued up outside…

As we walked west toward the Lincoln Memorial and site of Beck’s rally, it started to look like a decent turn-out:  lots of familes with kids, some flags here and there, and only the occasional political sign.  (Can’t have us “brandishing placards” as some in our media called it on the day of the House vote on health care.)  Here’s a shot of our approach to the WWII Memorial at 09:48…

We stuck to the right (north) side of the reflecting pool and tried to find a spot where we could see and hear…

It proceeded to get more and more cramped.  There was no chance to go left to the pool, so we went right again and walked over to the Vietnam Memorial where we saw this, left for a fallen friend.  God bless you both, whoever you are and whoever you were…

.

 We then “parked it” under a tree where we could hear one out of five words spoken, and sat there for the rest of the event, occasionally talking to folks that passed by.   In hindsight, we could have gone back to the lawn west of the Washington Monument, but it would have been shadeless and downright hot.  Here are a couple pix of that area just after the rally ended…

I really wanted to be a part of this event, to be “one of those faces” in the crowd.  It was a fine day for me individually, and a super day collectively for the people who attended.  There was no violence that we saw, of any kind.  Everyone was extremely polite.  A few kids walked through us with a sign that read “Glenn Beck is lying to you for profit!”  No one paid any attention that we could see.

The mainstream media description of the rally is surprising.  I heard it on NPR this morning, and then read it again in the NY Times too (click this to read it before they realize what they’ve written and take it down).  It must have gone out in the morning operative instructions to the liberal side of the media.  Stick this in Google and see for yourself…

“Like a large church picnic.”  (Darn, all those violent Tea Party members musta stayed home.  Oh well.)

Bill O’Reilly of Fox News’ O’Reilly Factor said Beck would be lucky to have 10 to 15 thousand there.  He then asked how many Glenn expected, and Glenn told him he hoped to draw 100,000 or more.  O’Reilly challenged (paraphrased), “Beck, if you have more than 100,000 in attendance, you can have my 8PM Eastern prime time slot.”

The first news Wendell and I heard on the way home reported “thousands attended rallies”.  We estimated at least a hundred thousand, but neither of us had any idea how to accurately size the crowd.  Today while having brunch at an Irish pub, I checked out some headlines and saw that Michele Bachmann (R-MN) had called it a million.  The NYT had to disagree, quoting NBC’s estimate of 300,000.  Something in the middle is likely correct.

GOD BLESS AMERICA

(AP photo below)

I was a part of that, and there’s a smile from ear to ear that I will cherish for the rest of my life.

No mater how you look at it, Bill O’Reilly better get used to doing his show at a new time.

Posted in Misc. Travel, Politics and Economics | No Comments »

August 21 2010 by Darrin.

After a couple days wire-brushing all the dirt, loose paint, and loose rust off the HJ-75 Cruiser chassis, she looked like this…

 Three hours more with a 2″ brush and a can of POR-15 yielded the following…

It’s the first time I’ve used POR-15; I’ve heard great things.  If it sticks to the metal like it sticks to my hands, legs and face, it ought to be superb.  Wearing black shorts was a good idea.  Wearing black shorts was a bad idea.  I think I’m going to look filthy for a while!

Anyway, the chassis is now ready to go back together, and it should be a lot of fun to reassemble it.  The next step will be to remove and rebuild the axles.  I have everything I need except for the front brake rotors and calipers - and they’re on the way.  When I reinstall the axles, they’ll mount to an Aussie-manufactured Dobinson’s one-ton suspension.  Everything will be new - springs, shocks, shackles, bushes, etc…  It’ll be really nice to get all the piles of new or rebuildable parts back into a vehicle.  My shop is a cluttered mess…

And then we see if the JDM engine Michael and I brought back from California is worth a crap!

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August 15 2010 by Darrin.

The tank fabrication is finally complete.  This has to be one of the longest small projects I’ve ever done, as I managed only a couple days a month for about three months!  Here are a few photos of the tank in place in the old spare tire location.  (This was more recently filled by hi-rail gear for use on the railroad.)

 This tank adds about 30 gallons of fuel capacity, and will function as the main tank.  The original 18.5 gallon tank will effectively become the auxiliary tank, and it will pump its fuel into the new main tank when the main tank is depleted.  This was done because the original tank does not incorporate a fuel return port for fuel coming from the engine.  The original 2H diesel did not bypass any fuel, but the newer 12H-T does.  The simplest solution was to build the new tank for the newer engine, and transfer fuel from the original tank into it when needed.  The combined fuel capacity should easily provide a 1000-mile range

All that remains to totally complete the tank is an interior POR-15 fuel tank coating and some external paint.  I’ll hold off on that until the body is back on the frame.  I was careful to consider any potential interference, but there’s no test like actually putting it all together!  If I need to modify something, it’ll be much easier BEFORE paint.

What’s next?  Paint the chassis, rebuild the axles, and install the new suspension.  At the rate I’m going, look for that in, say, 2013.

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August 12 2010 by Darrin.

Summer’s been pretty hectic here. In May, our 20-year Mexican ranch hand finally left us and our “bunk house” modular home - after getting a job with the local billionaire.  On his way out, the vaquero walked off with some family heirloom furniture, most light bulbs, and an unpaid balance of heat and rent from the year he lived in the house and worked for someone else.

Mom decided to clean and redecorate the modular home in June and early July, before she was inundated with guests in late July.  Anna and I had friends coming from Germany about the same time as Mom’s family was to arrive, and Anna’s dad, Frits, visited last week from Holland too.  We did get to make a couple little trips here and there with Frits - most notably to Devil’s Tower and Mount Rushmore…

We made the trip just a few days before the huge Sturgis Bike Week in South Dakota, so as you can imagine, most traffic was on two wheels. Here’s a photo from Deadwood on Aug 5th…

 Back at home, I got a few hours per day of welding in on my new fuel tank for the old Land Cruiser.  It’s taken forever to get it done, and I’ve been procrastinating for a couple reasons…  1) I wasn’t sure how I was going to fill this tank at fuel pumps, and 2) I’m not an accomplished TIG welder.  I’ve had this machine for over a decade now, and only used it to build about 60 Unimog engine block heaters back in 1999 or so.  That’s a decade of dust…

 Good, clean TIG welding takes talent and skill - neither of which I possess.  I learned the basics of stick welding in junior high some 28 years ago, and have been welding with MIG for most of my years fabricating in Wyoming.  I set a goal to TIG this tank together, and that’s exactly what I did.  By the end, things were looking okay.  The real test will be if these joints hold #2 fuel oil without leaking…

Before I could locate the tank in its final position in between the rear frame rails, I had to solve the fuel fill problem.  My friend Paul in MD cut a fuel hatch and fill pipe from a car in his tow yard, but it turned out to be for the wrong side of the vehicle and a big pain in the butt to reverse.  I went to our local wrecking yard and found this donor - a 1983 Suburban…

A couple cordless tools and 30 minutes is all it took to get what I needed (plus a trip to NAPA for a new locking fuel cap)…

Back at the shop, I check the location for the new “Aux Tank Fill”, added a 2″ fuel filler pipe, and then located the tank at a good spot in the frame…

  All that’s left now is a tank vent, and the mounting brackets.

(Thanks to Mom for snapping a few pix at the junkyard, while watching for rattlesnakes - and sparks, that might light up the grass.  Thanks to OK-Wrecking owner Dave for charging me $0 for the old Chevy parts.)

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July 28 2010 by Darrin.

I’ve tried really hard to keep the politics off my blog.  There are enough idiots out there commenting in the “sphere” and I just don’t need to participate in it.  That said, here goes my two cents on something that’s really been bothering me lately.  I’m a politics/news junkie, and what I’m seeing is driving me nuts - yes, even from my trusted source, Fox News.

I don’t understand why the anchors and guests keep saying that “the Bush tax cuts for the rich” will expire December 31st.  These cuts were NOT just for the rich.  If the cuts are allowed to expire, the LOWEST BRACKET at 10% will go up to 15%.  For a person or family making $40K in taxable income, their taxes will go from $4K to $6K.  That’s not a 5% increase (as I heard yesterday), it’s a 50% increase.  On the LOWEST BRACKET!!! (Read this article from Investors Business Daily if this is “news” to you.)

Sure the top bracket goes up too - from 35% to 39.6%, but that’s only an 11.6% increase.   Yes, it’s a lot of actual dollars for those rich folk, BUT the percentage is what you feel - and the lowest income earners WILL feel the most pain where it hurts.

To “the rich” with that 11.6% tax increase, they’ll forgo additional investments and savings, or a new Lexus, or maybe a few spa days - but not the staples of life.

To that family making a taxable $40K, the lost $2k in additional income tax will amount to Christmas, or vacation, or groceries, or IRA/401(k) retirement savings when they really need to be saving it.  It’s really going to hurt them, while the high-earners will simply complain about needing a fresh coat of bottom paint on the yacht. (I’m not knockin’ the wealthy - just putting it in perspective.)

Why doesn’t anyone talk about that?  Maybe it’s because just a few years ago, over half of our high school students failed to correctly answer the following question…  “Is 50% of 10:  a) more than 10, b) less than 10, c) equal to 10, or d) you can’t tell from the question?”

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June 18 2010 by Darrin.

It’s almost 22:00 on Friday night, and my friend Pete and I have been mostly “on the go” since Tuesday at 17:30.  During that time, we logged around 1030 miles traveling from Wyoming through Colorado and back home.  Pete had some medical tests to take care of in Denver, and then we went to see some other Wyoming friends now living back in Colorado between Florissant and Cripple Creek [below, green square “1″].  For those unfamiliar, this is just west of Pike’s Peak, and about an hour and a quarter west of Colorado Springs [red square “2″].

Our friends, Rod and Getta, were originally from Colorado, moved to Wyoming for the employment opportunities, and headed back to Colorado six or seven years ago to be near their kids again.  They both found new jobs at the Cripple Creek & Victor Mine - a South African-owned gold mining operation.   Originally, the area was underground stope-mined and boomed in the early 1900s. Old derricks and huge winches like you see here are all over the hills.  Rumor has it they lowered foals down these shafts with the winches, and the young horses were put into service, never to see the light of day again.  They grew to be too large to ever lift out.  (This particular example was electric, and the photo on the right shows some early braking resistors.)

 There are still a few ‘mom and pop’ mines in the area, but CC&V is the Big Dog.  It’s now surface (leach) mined by crushing rock and soaking it with a solution of sodium cyanide and some other “good stuff”. In the following photos, you can see the surface mining process as the rock is blasted out (left) and hauled to the leach pit on top of a rubber liner (the black in the center photo).  The aurocyanide solution drips through the crushed rock, runs down the liner, and is then pumped up to the refinement building by the pumps at the bottom of the pit (right).

Things are still pretty low key, and Rod gave us an incredible tour of the business, even though he officially retired as a CC&V electrician less than a week ago!  Here’s he is (right) with Pete (left) as we’re about to go inside the building that processes the aurocyanide solution and refines it into gold…

 It’s too late for me to Google it and figure it all out, but the solution runs down these little “pools”, all the while becoming more concentrated.  Here are some photos from inside.  Naturally, DON’T drink the water (or lick the soles of your shoes after you leave).

 The solution is refined and refined some more, and then eventually makes its way into some electrolysis tanks where electrical current deposits the leached metals onto a steel wool type material.  This stuff is then eventually thrown into a 3,000,000 BTU furnace where it melts and is poured into a little cone called a button (right, covered in slag)…

Once cooled, it’s sampled, weighed, and put into a safe.  Here’s Pete with the button we just watched pour out of the crucible…

And another shot of Pete, Rod, and me as we stand on front of the safe door…

So, what’s in that button?  Well, this one weighed 940 Troy ounces (~64.5 lbs).  It was 82% gold, 17% silver, and 1% copper.  We won’t worry about the silver or copper; 82% of 940 oz is 771 oz of gold.  And on that day, gold was $1245/oz.  That’s around $960,000 in gold.  In one lump.  And they produce 4,000 to 5,000 oz per week, 52 weeks per year.

Now if you think you’re about to get into this “easy money”, consider that it takes about 350 dump trucks to make one of these buttons.  And these dump trucks haul 300 TONS of rock at a whack.  (That’s 105,000 tons, or 210 MILLION pounds of rock.)  This mine burns 25,000 gallons of diesel per week.  (Pete points out that his coal mine in our beloved Wyoming burns up 600,000 gallons of #2 diesel per week.  Yeah, SIX HUNDRED THOUSAND GALLONS per week.  And they use 400 TON trucks.  They ship a hundred million TONS of coal per year.  Now THAT’S mining.)

So what’s a 300-ton capacity gold-minin’ haul truck look like?  Check it out, and BE SURE to stop at the stop signs when you cross the haul road…

Of the 350 loads per button, about 250 of them are overburden and other rock that doesn’t contain the good ore.  It’s dumped elsewhere.

Oh, one final note: The crucibles from the furnace last about 30 buttons.  They’ll do a few more, but it’s pushing it.  The bottoms start to burn out, and the gold can leak out onto the floor.  Shaun, the final production manager (red shirt, standing by the crucible) said, “Yeah, we don’t use ‘em for more than about 30 pours.  The boss gets kinda pissed when you spill a million dollars of gold into the concrete below the furnace.”

 For what it’s worth, the crucibles (made in Germany) run about $1500 each, and after 30 pours, they’re crushed and also smelted off-site, where they yield 5 or 6 ounces of gold.  (~$6,800)

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June 15 2010 by Darrin.

June’s been “Spring Cleaning” month, and in between a bunch of old DOS software, I found this photo of the Troopy sporting her Hi-Rail gear.  Just some cool old nostalgia.  I have no idea if this is here or Down Under…

Posted in HJ-75 Restoration | 1 Comment »

June 2 2010 by Darrin.

Item one…  Anna called me over from the shop last night to see a good looking storm begin to roll in.  We captured 36 minutes of HD video, then condensed it into a 13 second time-lapse MP4, with sound effects from freesound.org (a great place for royalty-free sound effects).  You can watch it as an MP4 off of our website by clicking the thumbnail below, or if that doesn’t work, try the YouTube link (below the thumbnail) to watch it there…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHExryPLfMY

Item two…  I forgot to mention last month that all the Hawaii 2009 movies are finished and available (in WMV format) on our personal website.  Just click the thumbnail below to go to the Hawaii 2009 video collection…

Item three…  After almost three years of editing with Avid’s “prosumer” editing software, Liquid 7 (v7.2), I’ll be moving to a new system.  Avid has finally ended development for Liquid, to focus more on the consumer and professional ends of the non-linear editing (NLE) spectrum. That middle niche pro-sumer market was just too small, I guess.

As a way of saying thanks for using Liquid (and “sorry we stopped supporting it”), they’ve made existing customers an extremely attractive offer.  I’ll be moving to Media Composer 4, which includes many other pieces of software as well, for compression, DVD/BR authoring, effects, graphics, and titling.  Total value if bought individually is over $6,000!  The offer?  US$495.  As you can imagine, I went for it, as did most Liquid users worldwide.  There will be a tremendous learning curve, but that’s what winter in Wyoming is for.  I’m lookin’ forward to it!

For the record, MC4 is used extensively in professional production.  It was recently used for editing 24, the newest Star Trek, The Hurt Locker, and Slumdog Millionaire - just to name a few.  Very cool!

Posted in Hawaii, 2009, Scenery, Weather | No Comments »

May 29 2010 by Darrin.

Things are sure green around here!  We’ve had lots of rain, and even some snow last Monday, May 24th.  Gotta enjoy it; it only lasts a few weeks or so before some of the grasses head out and turn yellow.  Last month, I decided my 1991 Kawasaki KLR 650 had been dormant in the garage for far too many years.  She got a little “freshening-up”, with a new battery, tires, chain/sprockets, cables, a clean carb, etc.  Here’s the bike, AND the green.

Before I forget, thanks to all who gave their lives to keep America safe and free.  Really.  I cherish what we have here.  A while back, I posted a video on my website.  What’s our flag mean?  Check it out if you like…

So what else is new?  My friend Michael and I were supposed to go to the Netherlands in April, but the volcano in Iceland shut that down.  We rescheduled for four weeks later, but wound up canceling again.

I did get to Maryland just before we were supposed to go to Holland.  I went to get Mom, do some chores, and drive back to Wyoming.  29 hours total time en route, covering ~1849 miles.  That’s almost 64 mph of average speed!  Amazing for her older Ford Expedition with 150,000 miles on the clock.  And we never went over 4 miles above the limit! It was an excellent run.

In the shop, work on the Land Cruiser continues.  The chassis is ready to get painted, but first I have to fabricate and install a custom fuel tank.  In the photos below, you can see the beginning of it.  It’ll hold just over 30 gallons, and will be located behind the rear axle in the factory spare tire location…

Finally, here’s the rebuilt rear differential, now with an ARB Air-Locker.  So long as it works, it’s a “best of both worlds” device, providing an open diff for normal use that can be pneumatically locked for maximum traction.

It’s a great concept if it doesn’t leak!  I’ve had mechanical, pneumatic, and electric lockers over the years, and by far, the older mechanical Unimog lockers are my favorite!  Not much to break.  We’ll see how this goes a few years down the line!

Posted in HJ-75 Restoration, Scenery, Weather | 1 Comment »

April 3 2010 by Darrin.

Finally, only a few months late, I’ve got the chassis out from under the Land Cruiser Troopy and in another shop bay for restoration.  I only managed a few hours a week in 2010 so far, but I hope I can spend some more time on the project now.  I have to keep reminding myself - “Alaska 2011, Alaska 2011″.  Motivation is good to have…

Fortunately, the chassis restoration is the fun part of the project.  (I hate bodywork and painting.)  I’ve got the newer 12H-T turbo-diesel to go in, complete new suspension on the way, new brake parts, steering linkage, and virtually everything I need to rebuild the axles. I also want to weld up another fuel tank to go behind the rear axle.  There’s plenty of room available - enough to easily build in a 1,000+ mile highway range.

I’d like to think I can have the chassis ready to go back under the body by June, and get the bodywork completed while it’s still plenty warm here in Wyoming.  Here are a few photos of the body removal process.  I used 4 x 1-ton camper jacks (the same ones I use to build the AATREC and Unimog campers) to raise the body about 20 inches so the chassis could roll out…

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