Any Members in Arkansas?

I guess I’m in the minority.
I’m holding off for now. I’m all for vaccines and at my age the odds of dying from Covid are slim to none. I’ll wait until a little more is known about the virus and the vaccine. My brother is a Dr he wasn’t thrilled about having to take the vaccine. I talk to numerous people in the medical filed and the opinions are all over the place. I think you got to do what you feel
Is right for yourself and your family and I support it either way.

 

That's my approach. I don't fault anyone who gets it but I understand people who don't want to get it. I'm in that second group

 

My second dose is due next week in Cabot. I’m 58 with underlying medical conditions that place me on the high risk list. Wasn’t really a choice for me about getting the vaccine or not. I understand human rights. But people need to understand that they could be risking more than just their own health. I personally don’t believe that the virus will ever go away. This is something humanity will live with for a long time. And everyone has the responsibility to help control this issue. If not for the sake of your own health, but for the sake of your friends and families. Just my $0.02

 

Im in the same boat. I held out until last week when the VA made it super easy and have been asking for about the last 6 weeks. I finally just said why not. For me, it was more of a matter of when, not if, but I was thinking it was going to be more around the Aug/Sept timeframe.

 

Sorry to change the subject but that family and I went over to David’s burger last night here in NLR for their first cruise night of the year. Several Jeeps. All mall crawlers with all the cute lights. We went a little late, say 8pm-ish and with my 6year old daughter kinda felt a little uneasy with the crowd that was there. Not against it but smelled some pot here and there and I think everyone had to rev up there motors the entire time. Definitely enjoy the small rigs and coffee get togethers much better.

 

I don't smoke weed and I'm not personally against it but there's a time and place. Ever since that law passed, even before dispensary and grower applications were being accepted, it's been ridiculous. When I worked at the gun shop at least twice a week we would have to tell someone we couldn't sell them a gun or allow them on the range due to smelling like weed. Most understood but some would get upset and try to argue with us about whether they smelled like weed. A few would say "yeah but I haven't smoked since yesterday." "Sorry, I have no way of knowing whether that's true." One or two would get aggressive with us until we mentioned that several of our staff are LEO and ask them whether they drove to the shop.

I had one couple try to say I was just racist and they didn't smell like weed when EVERYONE on staff could smell it. "We can't even be around it. He has asthma." They called the owner and he welcomed them back when they didn't smell like weed. Wound up getting banned from the store anyway because they were verbally abusive to the general manager (owner's cousin) over how high their tab was.

Personally, for all their problems, I think Portland has this one figured out. It's illegal to buy and smoke at the same place so there are a lot of dispensaries with "tea houses" right next door. A lot of times they're owned by the same person but are separately registered businesses.

 

I think I spotted @Ozarklander today passing while I was eating outside at Canes in NLR.

 

You probably did. I work right behind Walmart and drive that route everyday. A little late but *waves

 

I try to go to that meet every first Friday of the month also, but if you get there later you usually have that crowd. If you get there earlier it’s usually calmer with an older crowd, it gets rowdier as the night goes on usually.

 

We went to church yesterday so I had a very busy day today. Changed the oil in my Tacoma then changed the passenger side CV axle in my '07 4Runner. Took a break to go to a family friend's house for Easter festivities, then came home and broke everything loose to do the CV axle on the driver's side CV axle.

I know that probably doesn't sound like a lot but juggling all of that with a 6 month old felt monumentous.

 

That’s a whole lot more than I could ever get done in a day.

 

Uh yea, that's a lot.

 

I hope to be able to re(engage) with the AR crew. As many of you know, I took a new position at at University in IN in December of '19. While I still work there, I am now able to work remotely from AR instead of having two mortgages and being away from my wife and son 3 out of 4 weeks a month. I've missed AR and the weather. Yes, even the humid summer months.

On a side note, last week, we traded in my wife's Highlander for a 2022 Acura MDX. We had been looking at '21 4Runners, but I wasn't comfortable paying $50,000+ for a 12-year-old platform, and the dealers were not willing to negotiate (in part, due to limited supplies). She really liked the Acura - bottom line, the wife is happy.

 

Welcome back Doc! Let's go get that pretty truck dirty. And congrats on wife's new ride.

 

Welcome back, Doc! Or did you really ever leave? I'm remote as well for the foreseeable future, but I still need to be near an anchor site. I like where I am the best of any of the other options.

That MDX is purty, and if she is used to a Highlander she will probably like it better than a body-on-frame 4Runner.

On another note, I got some Gaia envy, plus I keep paying them, not to mention that my trail running partners seem to be a bit challenged with it at times. The hand-me-down tablet I was trying to use seems to be old junk now, doesn't have GPS built in, plus it is really big and heavy. So I decided to figure something out that was cheap. I took a risk on a Walmart Android tablet and I think it is going to be a good option. They have an 8" tablet running a clean Android 10 build for 90 bucks. It was really hard getting specs on it, and I wasn't sure if it had a GPS chip because they didn't list it, but some internet peeps seemed to think it did. I could use my external Dual GPS, but I hate having all the devices and wires to charge them, Bluetooth connections, etc. I ran some tests, and it does have GPS -- it doesn't get a lock inside, but it seems to be fine outside and from inside the truck. For just running Gaia, it seems to perform just fine. The GPS Test app showed a solid 3D lock within 3 feet. The 8" tablet is a bit on the small side, but it's the size I wanted. They have a 10" as well for another 30 bucks. Before you run out and grab one, let me use it a couple times, and I will report back.

 

I'm def curious to see how that tablet performs in real world test. If it doesnt have cellular capability you'll still have to use phone as a hotspot so maps will update when in cell range. Thats my biggest gripe with Gaia vs Avenza, but in Avenza you have to buy and import maps, from what I understand, and you're stuck within boundaries of your imported map unless you purchase the service. Main reason I suffer through with Gaia is the desktop interface and sync. Mapping out a trip, creating routes, saving, sharing them from big monitor on my desktop is nice to have. I like being able to map a trip and then sync it to my device, and all my tracks, waypoints are ready to roll, and can drop a pin easily while in the field. Gaia has no intentions of creating a Windows interface, so if you're running a windows tablet or a windows device, you're SOL.

 

Yeah, no cell connectivity, but when you need it, it's not there anyway, lol. But if you know where you are going to be, don't you just download those maps before going? If all I am using this for is Gaia, it's got plenty of space for maps. The USFS map for ONF plus places north (the entire NW AR corner) is 904.2MB. For some reason, my old tablet didn't like to download maps but this one seems to work fine.

 

My experience has been when you DL a map you lose resolution. Zooming in gets fuzzy quick, but I am using an old gen of iPad so could be that. I’d download the highest resolution you can and see what the clarity is when zoomed close. Tricky intersections and turns have proven difficult, like the wonky intersection on Maupin Gap. Curious to see how it works for you.

 

Hey me and the family are taking a little day trip today. I was wondering if county road 5550 from hwy 21 to hwy 123 that follows the little piney can be done in my stock tacoma it looks like there are some water crossings on the map