Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Just before Memorial Day, my daughter and son-in-law and I took our Ducati motorcycles over the Cascade mountains to the little town of Winthrop, and back. Why? Simply for the for the fun of the ride! And it was great fun. We stayed in the Duck Brand Hotel for the night. We ate $2 tacos and drank $2 pints of local brew at a funky bistro in town. And we left the following morning in a cloud of decibels. We dropped in on an old family friend in Chelan on the way home who dropped his jaw at the site of the 3 of us on our low-flying DUCs. Round trip: 423 miles.

Twisted Edge Publishing has a book called Destination Highways Washington which rates the 346 best roads for motorcyclists. US 20 from Rockport ot Winthrop is DH-1. It is, according to Destination Highways,

“A cornucopia of Twistiness ... tight, intense coils round the brilliant green-blue gems of Gorge, Diablo, and Ross Lakes before essing up into the mountains of the high, vast Pasayten Wilderness. Huge fast sweepers scale stunning alpine environs that rappel rapidly down the east side of the Cascades. Wide-shouldered Engineering and tip-top open-in-the-summer-only Pavement enhance the up-high Remoteness that is the soul of this road. Whether you take this DH as a challenge to you and your machine or simply cruise and enjoy the amazing Scenery, you’ll witness the road’s impeccable Character. You may also witness speed tax collectors at either end, though they seem to leave the pristine, central section unfouled.”

Twistiness: 30/30
Pavement: 16.6/20
Engineering: 9.1/10
Scenery: 13.2/15
Character: 15/15
Total Destination Highways Score: 92.3/100

Posted by Digital Quixote in • Motorcycles
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Monday, May 28, 2007

God bless my wife! She is a gardener and she works to make our yard beautiul. The photo above and those below are of Poppies in our yard, and Columbines, and Bees. This is way cool

Posted by Digital Quixote in • Out and About
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Saturday, May 26, 2007

We made a quick visit to Anacortes, Washington to visit with some friends. Near sunset I took a photo of the harbor supporting the refinery at Anacortes. The Polar Resolution was in port. I learned that Exxon had renamed the Valdez the Polar Resolution after damage leading to the historic Alaskan oil spill was repaired. It is the ship to the right, blue hull with a white superstructure. I would guess it was a PR move to allow the ship to serve without damaging anyone’s reputation. In any event, before the evening was over she sailed empty, back toward Alaska for another load.

Fom the same spot overlooking the harbor, I also shot pictures of some Turkey Vultures riding the thermals over Cap Sante. Kind of cool looking down on them from the crest of the rock.

Posted by Digital Quixote in • Out and About
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Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Did you feel it on Tuesday, the Disturbance in the Force, when I drove this Lamborghini Gallardo? 520 HP ... 10 cyl ... 0-60: 3.9 sec.  It has 6 speeds forward. I wasn’t comfortable with it over 100 mph on public highways with other cars, but it will easily do 195 … on a track one supposes. The fact that both our other cars were in the shop for warranty maintenance increased the temptations something awful.

Lamborghini is moving 6 new cars around the country (US) on a Test Drive Tour, one day in each of a dozen cities. Next stop after Seattle ... San Francisco. How about that for a summer job?!?

Posted by Digital Quixote in • and Automobiles
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Thursday, July 20, 2006

I am a pilot and an aviation enthusiast. Besides the left-hand seat, there’s no better place for an enthusiast than an air show. The EU’s premier airshow alternates between Paris and Farnborough, England. Here are a few of the 550 photos I took while there.

I come from “Boeing Country” and have followed the development of the Airbus A-380, the soon-to-be rival to Boeing’s 747. At Farnborough, it made its public debut in front of an audience of half a million people and it did not disappoint. The specs are impressive:

Here is evidence of a rivalry of a different kind; Russia’s MiG 29 OVT Fulcrum fighter. It looks a lot like an American F/A 18 ... similar twin tail, twin engine, size and performance. But unlike the F/A 18, it uses thrust vectoring (similar to the Harrier) to improve maneuverability. The pilot flew 3 maneuvers which were very impressive: 1) Tail slide (I’ve seen other MiGs do this but still impressive); 2) An aborted loop - where the plane starts into a normal loop - but at the top rolls level (wheel-side down) and stops - then rotates so it faces back the way it came - and dives on a target; and 3) The pancake flip - from near hover, flipping the nose up and over through 270 degrees - diving straight down on a target. If Western forces ever meet this aricraft in anger - it’s not clear to me who will prevail. But it won’t be a fair fight in my opinion.

Posted by Digital Quixote in • Planes
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