Daniel Masters Bike Riding
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This year’s camping
season opened with a trip to Last
year’s camping season closer to Tims Ford was
supposed to culminate in Daniel learning how to ride, but I had sprained my
ankle rather badly the week before we left while cooking
chicken for our Sunday School class, and was unable to run along side of
him after his bike’s training wheels were removed. The weather stayed cold after that trip, so
the bike was just put away. |
In
the meantime, Jared had received a new bike with training wheels for his
birthday, and opportunities to ride it in warm weather on level ground had been few & far
between. Monte Sano’s roads are
inclined just the right amount to help new bicyclists appreciate hills
without exhausting them in the process. |
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But
alas, Daniel found out that cuts, scrapes, and bruises are peppered
throughout bicycling’s learning curve. The Overlander’s well-stocked first aid
kit, however, was able to accommodate everything that happened. Notice
the 10-speed bike in front of the Airstream?
It’s vintage too! Back around
1974 or so, my older brother and I both got |
Candy
runs to the campground’s general store are much faster now with the Boyz on wheels.
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Daniel
takes inventory of his scrapes & bruises before the next outing. |
Check
out the new, folding, canvas stools Mema & Papa Joe gave us for
Christmas. Now we can all comfortably sit around the
table. |
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Many minor modifications to the Airstream had been
made since our last trip to a campground, and I was pleased to find that all
of them made life a little easier. A
little bit of severe weather threatened us one afternoon, but after checking
the new weather radio,
Kim decided it would blow past us. But
just to be on the safe side, she checked the television wired to the external
UHF antenna with new quad-shielded RG-6 coaxial cable. RG-6 is suitable for satellite TV or a
cable modem should we ever want either.
None of the [now] crystal-clear television stations had anything to
report. There is a funny side
story to the cable jack added to my 1967 Overlander to accommodate the new
coax. As the interior’s American
Cherry is somewhat dark, I felt that a standard ivory or white jack-plate
would stand out too much. But that was
all the local home stores were selling.
Finally it dawned on me to check with a local electronic parts supply
house which I knew had been in town for forever. “Yes, we have those”, the man behind the
counter said. “We probably haven’t
sold one since the sixties since they are so ugly”. I smiled & reminded myself that beauty
is in the eye of the beholder… The new WFCO
converter tended the battery quite well with no supervision on my
part. I did, however, notice a bit of
background noise on the AM/FM radio though when the converter was under heavy
load. But I think a little extra
filtering at the radio end of the power line will clear it up. It is nothing I can not live with. I was also happy that
the new Solardome
did not blow off during the trip. It was just a
fantastic outing. The only change
planned for the next trip is to get a bicycle carrier for the front of the
Suburban – Between the bikes & the full-sized Weber kettle grill, we almost had to leave someone behind just to get
all of our stuff packed! |