Our RV Adventures

First off, I want to thank everyone for their many kind birthday wishes. I was trying to fly under the radar this year, but my beautiful wife went on Facebook and announced it to the world.

Thanks a lot, Jan.

Jan’s always happy when my birthday comes around for another reason. We’re now in that 20 day sweet spot period every year where Jan and I are the same age. So I can no longer accuse her of robbing the cradle. But just wait until Oct. 25th comes along.

I’m one of those people who think that the best way to get what you want for your birthday is to buy it for yourself. I don’t normally buy T-Shirts with pictures or patterns on them but I just had to get this one for my birthday.

You can get yours here: You’re Now Leaving New Mexico T-Shirt

About 4:45 we headed out for dinner at Asian Grill, a favorite of ours, and where we haven’t eaten since last year. We were going to eat here back in August but forgot that they don’t open for dinner until 5pm.

We started out with an order of their delicious Shrimp Spring Rolls, made to order, as well as their homemade peanut sauce.

Really good and fresh. You can always tell when they’re not fresh, because the wrapper gets tough and chewy.

Next up was a couple of their Vermicelli Bowls. Jan got hers with Grilled Chicken and Shrimp, and I got mine with Grilled Pork and Shrimp.

We sauced it with Sriracha, Hoisin, and Dragon Sauces, and wall as the last of the peanut sauce. Jan and I both thought that the Dragon Sauce wasn’t as hot as in the past, so I warmed mine up a little more with a few shakes of my Volcanic Pepper Flakes.

All really, really good.

This is a Bump Stock.

I’m sure you’ve heard about them being used by the Las Vegas shooter. He had twelve of them installed on twelve different semi-auto rifles. For what its worth, they don’t make a semi-automatic a fully automatic weapon. They really just make it easier for you to pull the trigger faster.

Maybe a distinction without a difference to most people. But it is to the ATF who approved bump stocks in 2010. And they are legal in every state except California.

The ATF says that since they do not change the actual function of the rifle, they are legal, just like adding a scope or a laser sight.

The way they work is that when you pull the trigger the first time, the recoil of the rifle pushes it back against your shoulder and compresses the spring. The spring then pushes the rifle body forward. Since your finger is still on the trigger, the fact that the rifle is moving forward essentially pulls the trigger again. And again. And again.

The rifle operates the same as if you could pull the trigger really, really fast.

Of course after Las Vegas, the calls are out to ban bump stocks so something like this can never happen again. But would that accomplish anything? Take another look at the bump stock photo above.

It’s a SPRING!

That’s all it really is.

There are plans all over the Internet on how to make your own. I could probably make a trip to the nearest ACE Hardware, buy a selection of springs and a couple of other parts, and cobble together one right here in the rig. The only thing that makes the store-bought ones really better is cosmetics. They look like they’re actually part of the rifle.

So now we’re banning bump stocks and springs.

What’s next?

How about rubber bands?

Here’s a video of rapid fire using a rubber band.

Rubber Band Bump Stock

So what to ban next?

Really fast fingers?

The Word of the Day is: Ensconce

sfdgsfg

Not much happened today. At least not enough to really blog about. On the way home from Clear Lake I made a stop at the Fry’s Electronics in north Houston to pick up a new power supply for the Mystery Machine. So hopefully I’ll know what’s on it this coming Friday, my next trip down there.

So I’m reposting our visit to the Bay of Fundy back in September 2009.

Today is our last full day in Canada for a while, and is also our day to visit the Bay of Fundy area.

The Bay of Fundy is home to the highest tidal changes in the world. In a 6 hour period the water level can change 30-50 feet depending on the phase of the moon. But first we decided to try a place we’d heard about here in Canada called Cora. Cora is a type of restaurant that seems very popular here in Canada. It is only open for breakfast and lunch. It closes at 3 pm every day. And it was fantastic. The food is delicious, and every menu item is a work of art. Hopefully we’ll be able to eat here for breakfast tomorrow before we leave.

After breakfast, we made the 30 mile trip south to the Hopewell Rock area of the Bay of Fundy. On the way, we drove along the Chocolate River, which seems very aptly named. As it was low tide and this river connects with the Bay of Fundy, it was basically a chocolate-colored mud flat.

And here is what it looked like coming back home.

We arrived at Hopewell Rocks about 1 pm, a little before the full low tide point at 1:41 pm. The trail down to the Rocks is about 3/4 mile though the forest. Getting there, here is what we saw. If  you put your mouse cursor over one of these pics and it says ‘Click to Enlarge’, doing so will give you a larger version.  Use your browser Back Arrow to return to the blog.  Try it!

By the time high tide occurs, the water level will be to the top of the narrow sections of the rocks above.  There are a number of warning signs in the area.

Apparently people are often caught on the ocean floor when the tide comes in.  Someone said that someone drowned here a couple of weeks ago. Because it would be a little over 6 hours until high tide, we drove further down the coast along the Bay of Fundy. On the way we passed a couple of number of scenic views, including a couple of 100-year-old covered bridges, one of which is still in use.

As we neared the Bay of Fundy National Park, we came across these scenic areas. The first is a view of a cliff-side shrouded in the fog that had settled in as the day progressed.

Nearby was a boat dock that shows the problem of mooring boats in an area where the water level varies 30-50 feet twice a day.

Finally we headed back up the coast to Hopewell Rocks to see the results of the tide coming in.

Unfortunately we weren’t able to stay for the full high tide because it would occur after dark, and there is no lighting at the Rocks, or on the 3/4 mile walk through the woods to the parking area. The only downside to our visit was the fact that as the sun went down, the mosquitos came out…with vengeance. You’d think they hadn’t eaten in a year, but they certainly made up for it that night. We stayed as late as we could. In fact it was downright dark by the time we made it back to the toad.

I’d always heard of the tides at the Bay of Fundy and it was neat to be able to see them for ourselves. But, maybe the best thing about our Bay of Fundy trip is that Jan finally got to see a Canadian moose!

Tomorrow we head back to the good ole USA.