Good afternoon Diners. A coffee and a blueberry muffin please, Janie.
Great pictures by Kevin & TF.
Ed Good news to hear about Ken. I hope he will be around here soon, (as well as others that are missing). Thanks for keeping us informed.
Playing Seniors’ Cricket today and tomorrow. All good fun and meeting people.
Thoughts & Peace to All Who Require
David
Kevin and TF, thanks for the pictures.
Good morning, diners. I can’t eat anything yet – I have an early physical therapy appointment.
I’m a little different than some of you when traveling. On all my road trips the past five years, when we checked in to our hotels, if we hadn’t had reservations we wouldn’t have gotten a room. We usually got in after 6:00 p.m., and the hotels were completely booked up. Several times we saw people in the lobby asking the hotel clerk if there were any open hotels within miles, and the answer was usually “no”.
It might be that we just hit it at a time when everyone was traveling. If I’m by myself, I can stay just about anywhere. But with my wife, we usually stay in higher-end places. It costs a lot more to travel with her!
Off to get beat up by the therapist. Have a good day today.
Last time I cut my hair was December, 2019. I retired in February 2020, and I am groing back my 1980s hair!
-Kevin
I wish I could go back to my 1970s hair. Unfortunately, I don’t worry about getting my haircut anymore. I saved a lot of money by having my hair go away permanently.
I was going to say you looked like a particular '70s/'80s rocker, but I can’t place my finger on just who. Robert Plant? Sammy Hagar? David Lee Roth? Not sure. All I know is you look good with long hair. I’d look like a train wreck at half that length! [(-D]
Howdy …
It was very stormy here yesterday. We lost power at 6:00 pm just before we started to cook supper. WE had sandwiches instead. Power was restored at midnight, but we lost it again an hour later. It wa rstored a second time at 3:00 am. It rained again this morning, but now it is partly sunny and windy.
Der John … I’m glad you are back in the Diner. Your current layout is looking good. I would like it if we ever go back to Nova Scotia because it is beautiful and the people are wonderful.
TF … It is good to see photos from your trip. Glad the hotel is affordable to you. I like that region. I recall the Deadwood Branch of the Burlington. It used old, small 2-6-6-2 locomotives from about 1910 until the 1950’s when EMD SD7’s took over.
Kevin… I’m enjoying your trip. Are you able to pack the stuff you buy into the car or do you ship some of it home? That is a lot of hair. To each his own. I still need a harcut every 6 weeks, and I think I will have a full head of hair as long as I live.
Everybody … Have a nice afternoon.
Good evening all. I had a good day playing Seniors’ Cricket. All good fun. Another game tomorrow.
I still have a good head of hair that needs cutting regularly. My son, on the other hand, is losing his hair. He began his hair loss in his early 20s. (Not as good looking as me. [:-^])
[dinner] I made Butternut Squash Curry. Strawberries and Cream to follow.
David
I’ve got a haircut appointment tomorrow. Wait, I need an appointment for a haircut now? I just got used to shaving again after wearing a stupid mask every time I went out.
We put all the stuff we buy in the trunk. The items we need in the hotel rooms are in the back seat. When we go to the hotel room we just grab the bags from the back seat and everything else stays in the trunk out of sight.
We limit ourselves to what will fit in the trunk, and we really do not buy very much. The trunk also has bottled water and dirty clothes.
-Kevin
Are motels fully open these days?
My barber in Maryland required in appointment back in August. Here in Virginia you can just walk in. Don’t know if they are still wearing masks.
My friend with MS was wearing a mask when she was alone, driving in a car, just a couple weeks ago on the theory that if she was badly hurt in an accident, she would not be able to put it on herself.
She only last week walked into a store since the beginning of the pandemic. Like all of us, she discovered she has deconditioned and is exhausted after 1800 steps in a day.
Things are pretty much back to normal here in Harford County MD. People are still wearing masts because they want to, no more state mandate.
We live near three I-95 interchanges with travel facilities and all the motels are open.
Thru this whole thing we were careful but not “phobic”, got the shot, still being careful.
But Havre de Grace is having their every Friday street fairs as usual, all types of businesses are open, we have been going out to eat on a regular basis. BUT, the places we go, and the times we go are usually quiet.
We are not drinkers or big socializers…
Sheldon
Just anecdotal info here, but a few things.
We live in an area that has a lot of Delta Airlines employees, straight shot to the airport. They report the terminal is as busy as ever, with baggage handlers reporting same.
I noticed the Indy 500 had packed stands again. Looked normal from afar. May have had more elbow room than normal, but the reported 175,000 fans in attandance is pretty much official capacity, IIRC.
Couldn’t find a hotel room withi a 60 mile radius of Indy for our annual memorial weekend trek back to see family. What we found had room prices 50% higher than normal.
Planning future vacations, motel booking looking more normal. The popular places need reservations well planned, the one night stop overs on the way to the destination have rooms.
Atlanta traffic is congested. Not as bad as normal as Kevin has reported, but there is probably a lot of permanent offsite working changes, due to COVID and the lingering crime/riot issue making commuting even more of an issue. I suspect we are close to achieving the new normal for traffic congestion in ATL.
About 25% of the people I see are wearing masks.
All our motels (eight of them) at the interchange are open, but they are having a terrible time getting enough cleaning staff.
THIS is what a train is supposed to look like!
VIA train 1 by Mike Danneman, on Flickr
Sometimes — everything is just perfect [;)]
Cheers, Ed
Not only fully open, but fully packed as well. There is little to no vacancy anywhere.
-Kevin
We started the day in West Virginia, but no pictures. It was pouring rain all the way out of the state.
It was still raining when we made it to Ohio. There is a lot of construction going on in Ohio. I snapped this picture through the windshield and the rain, yes, the car was parked.
We saw some beautiful scenery again today, but as yesterday, pictures were just about impossible.
I saw this little caboose and had to stop and try to get a picture. In this example, the poor lighting actually added to the mood of the image and improved the photograph.
We made it to the Age Of Steam Roundhouse in time for our tour. This place is so beautiful. Everything is neat and spotlessly clean.
The work that went into building this roundhouse, freight station, passenger station, turntable, and roundhouse is just amazing. I wish I could have taken better pictures outside.
The real attractions are the steam locomotive collection inside.
I loved this little critter they had. I have never seen a small locomotive like this one.
I was fascinated by so many of the other items they had on display. I could have spent days looking around the shops as happy as could be.
This firebox cross section was very interesting, but only to me. No one else in our group seemed to care.
I was also fascinated by this woode
Hi Kevin,
More great pics!
How could anyone not be interested in a cross section of a firebox?!? You never get a view like that!
By the way, thanks for answering my questions about how you plan your trips. I am a resevation kind of guy too. I have to know where I’m staying for the night.
Cheers!!
Dave
I’d love to be the first kid on the block with one of these!
Boiler_Kessel by Edmund, on Flickr
Kevin, Thanks for the great photos. Felix looks like quite the shop foreman!
Happy Travels —
Regards, Ed
Good evening. I spent teh evening running trains.
Kevin. … Your pictures are all very interesting. Felix looks content.
Ed … Interesting view of an old rusty boiler.
Everybody … Have a good night.