50th Year Reunion

This summer we traveled to Baldwinsville, NY to attend the Charles W Baker High School (Baldwinsville Academy & Central School) 50th year reunion of the Class of 1961.

I attended this school for 11th and 12th grades while the majority of my classmates went through the same school from beginning to end. I didn't know all of them when I was in school and some I didn't know at the reunion even when I could read their name tag.

However, we had a great time. We even took the opportunity to visit my brother and his wife Rick & Jan in Central Square. On Sunday before leaving the area we had breakfast with Rick, his son, and his two grandchildren. A short social hour before departing.

On the cruise to Lock 24.

Residences or camps along the river.

Maudie with Dave & Sheryl, enjoying themselves and the ride. I had often thought I may have been the youngest in the class. A conversation with Sheryl revealed she was born on the same day as me. As a gentleman, I will assume she is the youngest.

An unknown type flowering tree of which there where many at this time of the year in Central New York.

Headed West, entering Lock 24, Baldwinsville, NY.

The Red Mill Inn, Baldwinsville, NY; a great place to stay.

The ship's bell.

Exiting Lock 24 on the upstream side where the cruise will turn around and head for home back through Lock 24.

I believe this is called Freedom Park.

West side of Lock 24 also showing the Red Mill Inn.

Lock 24 Bar & Grill, location of stand up cocktails.

Blue heron on the canal East of Lock 24.

Our canal cruise ship. The ride, the crew and the food were excellent.

This is a beauty.

The view from our room at the Red Mill Inn.

This pretty much says it all.

A violin solo at the Saturday dining in.

A table full of revelers on Saturday night.

Doing the dances from high school.

My beautiful wife, who did not go to this high school but indulged me by coming with me. I love her with all my heart.

Comparing notes at the table.

Small groups everywhere.

More dancing, I wonder where all my peers are. I didn't see any of them dancing.

After parting from Central Square, it was about an eight hour drive to our next stop in Takoma Park, MD. There we visited our daughter Marcy, her husband Charlie and their three sons.

These pictures were taken right after we had breakfast in a great little deli style place Marcy and Charlie selected. The waitress we had was great!

Nana and Finn at breakfast.

The family after breakfast just before our departure. Bean is trying for an Oscar.

Beans grimace kept changing, he has his image to uphold.

I think he may be destined for a career in the theater.

The Adventure Continues, More Spending (Conservatives Stimulating The Economy)

I picked up some more stuff at Wally World while getting the car's oil change. At another location I also got some fifth wheel hitch locking devices and a Reese fifth wheel lube plate.

The truck, fresh from the shop, has had the transmission and rear differential serviced, the brakes checked and adjusted, the serpentine belt replaced and other belts and hoses checked, as well as the fuel filter and the fuel pressure switch replaced. She is ready for some adventures.

The Adventure Continues, Shore Power Established

We now have a 50 amp circuit for shore power. We use a 30 amp dog bone adapter for powering our 30 amp fifth wheel from the 50 amp electrical box.

A roadside view of the truck and trailer moored alongside.

A far side view of the trailer moored alongside. Shore power has been tested and all equipment inside and outside the trailer appears to function properly.

The Adventure Continues, Tire Chapter

Saturday, I spent half a day in Tire Kingdom getting new tires for the dually. After I got the trailer home on Saturday a closer inspection with a flashlight revealed how bad the tires on the fifth wheel actually were.

Monday morning, I was back at Tire Kingdom to order four more tires, BFG 215/85R16 "E" tires just like the ones I put on the truck Saturday; for a total of 10 tires. I spent the rest of Monday and Tuesday working on a plan to jack up the RV and set it on jack stands for safety as well as the built in landing gear and scissor jack stabilizers. This required a trip (South)to Ocala to get jack stands after the trip (North) to Tire Kingdom.

My original plan went down the tubes. A 20 ton bottle jack that had been seldom used was no good, I did not have the proper blocking to get either my jack or jack stands into effective and SAFE use.

This evolved into Plan 2, take either the forward tires or the after tires at the same time while leaving the opposite set for increased stability. Again, I could not use my jack stands in what I felt was a SAFE condition.

Plan three was to raise one side of the RV and take both tires on the same side. It was about a 40 minute ride to Tire Kingdom. I used my neighbors 3.5 ton car jack to assist with the scissors jack stabilizer and the landing gear forward to position the RV.

I didn't start with the camera until after I had done the Port side so here is a view of the Starboard side with the tires removed.

Two tires ready to go to Tire Kingdom for re-shoeing. I did this maneuver twice today also.


The Port side is complete, each bolt has been torqued to 85 ft-lbs.


The Starboard side is complete, each bolt has also been torqued to 85 ft-lbs.


A closeup of the little beauties. Interesting enough trailer tires do not come with lifetime mounting, balancing and a road hazard warranty. I had to pay for it but all of these tires have it. Also, I specifically ordered each tire to have a 2011 date code. The two tires on the front of the dually a date code of the last month of 2010 and they discounted each tire for me $30 because I specifically ordered date codes for 2011. Even so, they (all 10) were a lot of dinero.

The Adventure Continues With Some Inside Pictures

From left side aft, landing gear and stabilizers down.

Same side from the front.

Right side from aft. Today, I ordered four new BFG LT215/85R16E Commercial T/A All Season tires. The same tires Glenfield installed when the 5ver was new. Coincidentally the same tires are on the dually. I also got 2 pair of 3 ton jack stands for her to sit on while I have the tires installed on the rim. Since my "flight training" has to wait for tires, I am not even about to try and back this 5ver into a tire shop yet!

Left rear corner of crews living space.

From right inside corner of crews living space looking forward towards Crew's Head and Hogan's Alley.

Crew's Mess on the right.

Galley, showing refrigerator, stove, oven, microwave and sink.

Forward left corner of crew's living space.

Crew's living space aft.

Entrance to Head and Hogan's Alley.

Crew's Head.

Forward, port side of Hogan's Alley.

Hogan's Alley, forward, the location of senior crew berthing. The center area headboard is presently being refitted to meet the CO's standards.

Senior crew storage, Hogan's Alley aft, port side.

One of two personal storage spaces for senior crew.

Medicine cabinets and sink area in Crew's head.

The 5ver's home berth, which has yet to be prepared for it to come alongside. When we built the house we had a 50 amp circuit run to the gray box to the right of the garage side door. Today we contracted an electrician to hook-up a 50 amp box for shore power while she is alongside at her home berth. We decided on 50 amps because we already have a dog-bone and it will allow berthing of either 50 amp or 30 amp units.

2002 Titanium 28E33SB by Glendale, Floor Plan As Sold

Some of the original paperwork on the fifth wheel we just purchased which shows the original floorplan. It now has a small cast iron type electric parlor stove in the middle back with a small desk on the right in the back. One chair remains in the back by the entrance.

A Fifth Wheel Joins The Fleet, Let The Adventure Begin

The Fleet in port. This by the way is my initial park job in my driveway. It is in straight but about 8 feet to the right of where I wanted to put it. This took about 1/2 hour and I was ragged so when I got it straight I quit.

The fifth wheel is a 2002 Titanium 28E33SB by Glendale. It measures, I think, 33 feet from bumper to pin. Then it goes on for awhile until you reach the nose.

It is an all weather unit built in Canada.

More pictures will follow but the last two days have been long and busy.

Rear picture window. I can't show the inside because the truck prevents me from opening the slide.

You can't really tell from the picture but the truck is wearing a new set of dancing shoes. Yesterday when we initially hooked up the fiver to the truck we found out the left inside tire would not hold air. So we unhooked and I spent half a day today at Tire Kingdom re-shoeing the truck.

As the say, it looks bad. Tomorrow I will hook it up again and drag it around for awhile; perhaps I might even go over to an old Wal-Mart store and practice backing in to some parking spaces. I'm going to be running my own "flight school" for awhile before I actually go anywhere.

The number one task turned out to be new truck tires. The ones on the truck while only traveling about 19,000 miles were over 5 years old. The number two task will be to replace the trailer tires, they are 10 years old. Well inspecting them tonight, looking for the year date I found one has cracks in it, it may have been used with low or no air pressure. My "flight school" maybe on hold until the tires are replaced.

01-29-2011, Seaman Recruit Sailor Reports For Duty

Seaman Recruit Sailor reported for duty on or about 1200 hrs today. Here she is on the screen porch with the Blushing Bride. It was BB who arranged for Sailor's transfer.

Sailor is reported to be a Corgi mix of about 32 lbs. However, she also looks like she could have dashing Dachshund in her background. They say she is fully house trained and likes cats. Crash may change her opinion of cats.

She briefly met Crash during her initial yard patrol and it appears she is wondering:
"What the hell was that? and,
"Where is it now?"

Up to this report, neither cat has rushed forward to welcome her aboard.

Her collar is a little large but you have to have a dog to size before you can purchase a collar that fits.

2011, New Year, New Cat

A dinner party, a glass of wine and Voila, a new cat.

The cats name is not Voila and the cat did not drink any wine. Neither did the "Old Salt."

Their is some talk of calling her Poppy as the wine drinker likes "P" names for pets. You can see how the cat responds when called Poppy.

Right now she is confined to the "Man Room" while we keep trading her blanket with Crash's blanket. The idea is to let each of them find out there is another cat in the house. Neither of them have showed any response, but Shasta sure knows there is another cat in the house. There is no fooling that dog when it comes to cats.

The Old Salt Learns At 66+ Years

Ya think you have lived to be 66+ and know who you are, then along comes someone and blows it all to hell!

The Old Salt sat down at the Starbucks and ordered a cup of coffee.

As he sat sipping his coffee, a young woman sat down next to him..

She turned to the Old Salt and asked, 'Are you a real sailor?'

He replied, "Well, I've spent my whole life working on and sailing in submarines; first an Auxiliary Submarine (essentially a reclassified fleet submarine with no snorkel as built for WWII), followed by Guppy 2, Guppy 2A and a Guppy 3 diesel configurations, then an ancient nuclear submarine (already 21 years of age when I went aboard) and lastly a brand new Los Angeles Fast Attack. I taught many sailors in various schools during my service tenure as well as those I taught on-the-job. I have sailed in the North and South Pacific, the North and South Atlantic, the Mediterranean and the English Channel. I have visited Hawaii, Canada, England, France, The Netherlands, France, Spain, Italy, Malta, Puerto Rico, Columbia, Panama, Chile, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Curacao, Jamaica, Mexico, Belize by ship or submarine, so yes, I guess I am a sailor."

She said, 'I'm a lesbian. I spend my whole day thinking about naked women. As soon as I get up in the morning, I think about naked women. When I shower, I think about naked women. When I watch TV, I think about naked women. It seems everything makes me think of naked women.'

The two sat sipping in silence.

A little while later, a young man sat down on the other side of the Old Salt and asked, 'Are you a real sailor?'

He replied, 'I always thought I was, but I just found out I'm a lesbian.'