Y'all ain't gonna believe this!
- Thread starter Duck
- Start date
Duck
Sarcastic remark goes here
Thinking about calling this thing off. Not the contraption, but the trip to Tennessee in the middle of July.
I don't know what the heat index was yesterday but it was hot as hell out & the American Legion asked him to fly his big kite with the flag suspended from the line over a park dedication. Lots of walking around looking for his keys & carrying equipment around the field where he wasn't allowed to drive his pickup. By the time I got there he was having heat stroke symptoms. He wasn't speaking 100% coherently, his voice was raspy & he said he'd been getting dizzy. So we took the flag & the kite down & left.
Heading directly south, I know that only 250 miles south of here, it's normally about as hot as it was today & it gets worse the further you get this time of year. He would probably be fine as long as he's moving 30 mph & the machine is doing the work. But if it breaks down or runs out of gas, it's still a bicycle with a trailer. He can remove the chain and pedal it. But that'll overheat him quick.
Unless, .....
I get him to switch cell phones with Mrs. Duck, and pay an extra $10 for the month to activate a service Verizon offers that enables the account holder to log in and track the GPS location of the phone just like the cops can, & I secretly "shadow" him with the pickup so I ain't too far behind if he calls & says the thing broke down or he's not feeling good. He's 63 years old. I think the old man's got AT&T for his own phone, and my mom is the account holder. If AT&T has a Big Brother feature she can activate, then I won't even have to come up with a bull**** reason why he should bring Mrs. Duck's phone with him instead of his own.
He's asked me to plan his route, which I haven't done yet. I'm just thinking back-roads to US 41, which has a wide shoulder (safer than 2-lane roads) to Kentucky, but from there I have no idea. Not too sure if I want him on 2-lane roads with no shoulder in an area where there's blind hills & curves. Maybe I can get help with the routing from some locals.
Who drives truck in western KY and central TN & knows of non-interstate routes through that area that would be safe to take a bicycle on? Needs at least a 3 foot wide shoulder, with gravel beyond that.
I don't know what the heat index was yesterday but it was hot as hell out & the American Legion asked him to fly his big kite with the flag suspended from the line over a park dedication. Lots of walking around looking for his keys & carrying equipment around the field where he wasn't allowed to drive his pickup. By the time I got there he was having heat stroke symptoms. He wasn't speaking 100% coherently, his voice was raspy & he said he'd been getting dizzy. So we took the flag & the kite down & left.
Heading directly south, I know that only 250 miles south of here, it's normally about as hot as it was today & it gets worse the further you get this time of year. He would probably be fine as long as he's moving 30 mph & the machine is doing the work. But if it breaks down or runs out of gas, it's still a bicycle with a trailer. He can remove the chain and pedal it. But that'll overheat him quick.
Unless, .....
I get him to switch cell phones with Mrs. Duck, and pay an extra $10 for the month to activate a service Verizon offers that enables the account holder to log in and track the GPS location of the phone just like the cops can, & I secretly "shadow" him with the pickup so I ain't too far behind if he calls & says the thing broke down or he's not feeling good. He's 63 years old. I think the old man's got AT&T for his own phone, and my mom is the account holder. If AT&T has a Big Brother feature she can activate, then I won't even have to come up with a bull**** reason why he should bring Mrs. Duck's phone with him instead of his own.
He's asked me to plan his route, which I haven't done yet. I'm just thinking back-roads to US 41, which has a wide shoulder (safer than 2-lane roads) to Kentucky, but from there I have no idea. Not too sure if I want him on 2-lane roads with no shoulder in an area where there's blind hills & curves. Maybe I can get help with the routing from some locals.
Who drives truck in western KY and central TN & knows of non-interstate routes through that area that would be safe to take a bicycle on? Needs at least a 3 foot wide shoulder, with gravel beyond that.
Duck
Sarcastic remark goes here
I've been making fun of him for that since the day he bought it.
He doesn't care. He just starts talking about it's gas mileage.
Terry
Gear Grinding Jerk
I've been making fun of him for that since the day he bought it.
He doesn't care. He just starts talking about it's gas mileage.
Gay men and women drive Miatas... and THEN you still won't see a lesbian driving one.. LOL
Miata's new slogan: "When a Gay Pride Sticker Isn't Enough"
Duck
Sarcastic remark goes here
Miata's new slogan: "When a Gay Pride Sticker Isn't Enough"
That's for the Toyota Prius and the "Smart Car".
Miata's actually have lots of straight guys fascinated with them, but they're all Asian computer geeks. My dad was often picked on in school in the early 50's because the other kids thought he was Japanese.
Miata's fall into the same category as the Ford Probe, Olds Alero & the Pontiac Grand Am (or maybe it's the Grand Prix). Both were engineered & marketed with women in mind but at some point in your life, you quit worrying about silly stereotypes.
The only reason I don't drive the thing is because I can't fit in it. I'm a lot taller than my dad. It takes me like 5 minutes just to get my right leg past the steering wheel, which does not tilt. Going down the road, it handles like a big go-kart, but the damn thing sits so low I have this constant worry that I'm going to hit a little bump and get road rash on my ass.
Plan B, if the old man doesn't take this bicycle pusher contraption down there, is to have me drive him in his S-10. From there, he would take the S-10 to Virginia Beach to babysit my sister's kids while she goes to Scotland. The original plan was for him to go get the Mazda & drive it back up here, then leave from here with the S-10. He wants to have the S-10 with him in VA because ... something about kites or bicycles, I don't remember. But if we go with plan B, I might have to drive that damn Miata home. I ain't looking forward to that.
He can ride on my catwalk.
LOL... how long you been waiting to use that one??
And I believe you are right about @Duck s dad.. maybe ...pontoons outta his water jugs??
Duck
Sarcastic remark goes here
From somebody who has never met my dad, I have never seen a more accurate theory of what he would do in a certain situation. You are 100% correct. I think he will probably just look around for cops, then when there ain't no cops, he'll probably just cross it as fast as he can.
If you could see my e-mail inbox, ... he sends me stuff like that all the time. He's fascinated with anything human powered like that, and he's sent me pictures exactly like that before. In fact, I even want one. I hate pedal boats, because they're terribly inefficient the way they work, with a small diameter paddle-wheel in a tunnel. But if you can make a decent drive train that will spin a prop in the water instead of a paddle wheel, you'll actually be able to move fast enough in the water to make it worth expending all that energy in pedaling it.
Even a paddle wheel can be efficient in low horsepower applications if it's a large diameter wheel. (about 4 or 5 feet diameter, as long as it's lightweight). But a prop is still better, especially if you can steer it. You can't steer with a paddle wheel that easily.
Duck
Sarcastic remark goes here
Old man said he's not going to have time to make the trip to TN but he wants this thing completed so he can take it to VA Beach. He's going to sell the Mazda.
Here's a link to a PDF file describing the muffler we're going to make that's based on mufflers made for aircraft in Switzerland where the noise police have machine guns & a body count.
http://www.oshkosh365.org/saarchive/eaa_articles/1975_06_15.pdf
Here's a link to a PDF file describing the muffler we're going to make that's based on mufflers made for aircraft in Switzerland where the noise police have machine guns & a body count.
http://www.oshkosh365.org/saarchive/eaa_articles/1975_06_15.pdf
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