Wisconsin Tacomas and bad financial advice

Rain? What’s that?

it rained enough here to get us out of drought this spring and then quit and hasn’t been back lol currently burn bans across a lot of the state.

 

We got some rain here yesterday...about 16 drops on my windshield!

 

Fix the broken one and sell it!

 

That's one option.
For now I'll keep it close by.
Definitely going to open it up and see what it looks like inside.

Maybe I'll make a video of it and post it here, like one of those "unboxing" videos?

 

Arbuckle's Ariosa Dark goes well with Oatmeal Raisin Cookies [minus the raisins (to satisfy the masses)].
Recipe from under the quaker oats lid.

 

Maybe we should do a mod day but just take transfer cases apart. I can bring one too! Although, if I split it, I’m pretty sure I’d also need to bring a box so I can throw all loose the pieces in it.

 

Sure, I post up some delicious cookies, THEN you want to do a mod day. lol
I was actually thinking, don't forget to invite @Pixeltim so we have some bacon.

 

No signal in camp last night, was deep in the mountains. Previous night had a decent sunset at the KOA, showered, laundry, though there were some skunks & coyotes fighting in the nearby fields which wasn’t super cool. Not terrible and forced me to be on the road early.



Drove up west 64 which is super boring for the first while. Then you get to do twisties through a mountain ravine, and when you come out the first town is called Eagle Nest. Huge subalpine lake surrounded by mountains, stuff from fairy tales. Major haze from prescribed burns in the area.



Drove through more twisty mountain roads up to Taos, beautiful area up there too. Just outside of Taos is the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. You can walk out onto the road bridge for photos, surprisingly my slight fear of heights (or falling) kicked in here but really no reason for it. Damn lizard brain. Great views, photos don’t do it justice.



From here I drove to the Rio Grande Gorge visitor center and realized all other activities nearby needed more planning or difficult hikes so I moved on. Still say it’s worth it just to visit the bridge/gorge for the views. Drove way way way up through more mountains to Bandalier NM which was a zoo of people because apparently it was fall fest or balloon fest. They also had flood damage to trails so it just wasn’t the right time. Leaving here you drive around the Valle Caldera which is a huge nature preserve and there are several pullouts for scenic panoramas. This is another one that photos cannot describe - vast plains that were once a volcano.



Camped at Jemez Falls NF campground. Nothing special just a quick overnight stop. Very quiet, no cell signal.



Hiked down to Jemez Falls as soon as the sun broke the treeline. Nice falls, hard to photograph without risk of dying falling into the ravine.



There is a second falls upstream too that isn’t marked but you can hear it as you hike back. A little sketchy to see it though.



In Albuquerque area now to see some petroglyphs. Temps here are like low 80’s which is pleasant for them (dry heat and all that). Temps dropping like a rock in about two days, possible snow rain and pandemonium. Can’t wait I’ve been missing the crazy stuff, been too nice!

Edit: just realized this is the midpoint of the trip. I have two more weeks then it’s back to work on 10/28. Feels like I’ve been gone a month already and often keep forgetting what the day is. Retirement is going to be awesome.

 

Jealous... Be safe, and get more pictures. Oh... and use 4x4 for crying out loud. I know some trails...

 

Use your locker.

 

Rocks don't care.

(This message is brought to you in part by your local rattle can specialist.)

 

I need to do that. Mine are totally caked inside.

 

Garden hose and a shop broom. Clean.
Rustoleum flat black spray can.
Finished.

Edit: Sorry, I wire brushed the rough gouges.

 

I don't know how many here follow SpaceX, but the capture yesterday was amazing at face value, but when you see the closeup, mind freaking blown! The accuracy needed to achieve this...
Btw, it's 17 stories tall and weighs over 200 tons at landing.



Watch the upper right video feed and you can see the pins that need to line up perfectly right before it lands.

https://x.com/yayavarkm/status/1845542761451159585

 

I dont think those are pins, they are just feet / arms

not discounting its pretty amazing to watch though

 

Yeah I’m still watching videos on this. It took me at seeing it at least a dozen time just to wrap my head around what they did. Not just the physical thing that happened, but the guidance was just so perfect.

By the way, I love the pinball action at the end when the arms close in around the rocket.

Relative to the scale of a 70m tall, 200ton, ass-backward hypersonic falling booster, I think that calling them pins is probably ok

 

@Pixeltim did you see this?…about 5 seconds before the engines relit, everything started to glow from atmospheric heating. This blew my mind.



https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NwR6caqf8GA

 

I think you are right

 

Yeah, it’s mind bending for sure! I can’t wait to see what else they have up their sleeve!

 

@Pixeltim they're easier to get on and off with a lift.

Sprayed the top side with FluidFilm.
Good until next year.