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2019/05/31

BTA Support, Adventurer's Project, Photo Catalog of the Trail

The BTA has offered some support.  And we're certainly going to take them up on it.  On the maintenance side, we do have access to a DR String Trimmer, which makes cutting our brushy areas easier than a weed eater.  We have the offer of getting a link for Adventurer's Project's Facebook page on the Buckeye Trail's.  And we do have an offer for guidance in regards to converting Adventurer's Project into a chapter.

But what I really want to talk about is my own person acquisition of 4 Pulaski axes and 4 sets of hand pruners and folding saws.  If I asked for BTA support on these, it could take them weeks to assemble these.  Meanwhile, our area is mostly rural, but our Facebook following is mostly urban, suburban and exurban.  I like to think that I'm prepared for volunteers of any income level.

If I need volunteers, seeing that I get my car fixed, I'll just go out and get them.  And people who don't have tools will get them on loan.  That way when people are available and we're ready to go... well then, we're ready to go.  I have everything that I need for light and the most volunteer intensive heavy maintenance.

For those of you tuning in from distance trails other than Buckeye, I have maintenance organized into two categories.  "Light maintenance" is the pruning and blazing.  That's the least that we can expect from trail adopters.  But "heavy maintenance" is the muscles and the machines.  That encompasses the DR Mowers, string trimmers, weed whackers and benching.  It's best that these be done in a group.

Adventurer's Project has a unique way of dividing this up.  We're raising two crews.  One is the primary maintenance which consists of the trail adopters on mostly light maintenance.  Two is the chapterside volunteers who most concentrate on other aspects of running a distance trail.  In theroy, the adopters are the "trail promotion reserve."  And the chapterside volunteers are the "trail maintenance reserve."  My idea is that if we can get the adopters together for heavy maintenance, about two times a year, we'll call up the Maintenance Reserve and add everybody into the mix for these projects.

On the flip side, it takes about 9 volunteers to man the shifts when we do trail promotion at a typical 3 day festivals.  The idea is that we'll call the chapterside volunteers first.  And if we can't fill the shifts, we'll then go to the Trail Promotion Reserve.

Currently, we have 3 maintainers on the Whipple Section and 2 on the Road Fork.  Unfortunately, that 5 is out of 20.  But, we picked up one or two? Getting more in the short term is contingent on the condition of my vehicles.    On the chapterside of things, I roughly estimate that we have 5 of 9.  And utilizing the maintenance reserve is also contingent on my vehicle's conditions, but this is more eminent.

To get those trail adopters, the next step is in developing a "Vacant Segment Showcase" on Adventurer's Project's Facebook page and website.  It's a project of mine.  But while I'm out there, I'm also going to work on the project's contribution to the BTA's digital map repository.  It's a fully geotagged, photo catalog of the off-road trail.  It's also a supply of photos for Facebook to get us through the winters.  The audience is media hungry and the winters are difficult to furnish content for. 

I've started it, but I don't have enough content to keep the audience occupied.  But, one good day between the Archer's Fork Loop and Scenic River Trailhead in the Marietta Unit of The Wayne (National Forest) can change that.  I have enough battery power for my smartphone to last 25 miles straight of photo cataloging on one charge.

RV and the Internet, Storage Hooks, Laser Printer

Here in the RV pit, I live in an incorporated area.  So, I get cellular service here and I use my mobile hotspot for the Internet on my laptop.  What you should know is that this will never run Netflix or Hulu well.  That's because my devices get unlimited downstream, but the hotspot only gets 15 gigabytes of download.  For those of you traveling out there, that's in the "fine print" of your cellular package.  Lucky for me, I have two devices.  So, I'm getting 30 gigabytes, but I doubt that will run those said services.  I've never been willing to try it before because I need my download size for other things.

What I do have is off-line videos on an external hard drive.  Because I'm in the motorhome, it needs to be the laptop version of the external because it only needs power from the USB.  The desktop hard disk version has a separate AC to DC cable. 

On another topic, I tried to put some hooks in my motorhome's ceiling to support a folding stool.  As space goes, my ceiling is generally under utilized.  What I discovered is that the dry wall wouldn't support the stool, so I had a project up there that's been on hold until today.  Today, I put some drywall studs up there and screwed the hook into that.

So far, there's three of them.  I need another one to support the seat of the stool.  But I found some paracord, which is something that us hikers carry.  The military version (5/50) is stronger, but that's irrelevant for this project.  I made paracord loops so that the stool could interface with the hooks.  But I'm not willing to let it set overnight with my laptop being right under it and the seat being unsecured.  When the motorhome is in transport, the stool will have to come down because the wiggling of it might crack the ceiling and make the drywall studs come out?  That would cause the stool to come crashing down.

My stool by the way is what I sit on when I play guitar.  And the folding stool is compact. 

Because I'm a volunteer leader, and in light of what I do with the trails, I have a commercial laser printer in the motorhome.  But I made a mistake in getting it down here.  I should have removed the toner cartridge during transport.  Since I didn't, there is now toner particles in the wheels of it causing smudges on my prints.  I can't use it to make fliers at this time.

What happened is when you insert the cartridge, the guides cause it's door to open.  Had I thought that contaminating the inside could be possible, I could have removed it and taped the door shut.  That's probably what should have happened?

2019/05/30

Omnibus May 30th, 2019

The rent-a-car (van) was turned in today.  And I cleaned out the back holding tank (sewage) in my motorhome.  I used both an attachment on the outtake port and wand with a tube and 3 way jet to dislodge the buildup.  All in all, everything took about 15 minutes.  Right now, with the black outtake valve closed, I'm treating the tank overnight.

I used my kitchen gloves to deploy my mouse traps without bait.  I'm hoping that the mouse, or mice get use to it being there?  The next step is to wait and see if they get use to it.  Then I'll use chunky peanut butter as the bait and set the traps.

I just had a look at my kitchen sink faucet replacement.  It looks like the base is exactly the same as the one that's installed on it.  It's a model PF211304 by Phoenix Faucets.  The replacement went fast.

While the water jet intake on the sewage attachment was working, I attempted to install two valves to bypass the motorhome's hot water tank.  They had dual 1/2in male screw on ends.  But this is the second time that I got in trouble with this.  My water lines mount to a 3/8in connection.

Adventurer's Project has supporters who'd want to be more involved.  But some need a ride and I have to get either my motorhome drivable or get my car to turn on.  I've been living in my motorhome and there are things that need to get to storage.  After I cleared the blockage from the motorhome's black tank, I put the wand/ tube in my luggage carrier on the roof.  I probably should have wrapped it in a plastic garbage bag and tied it up.  Since I didn't do that, it looks like I may have a date with a hose, sprayer and some bleach?

2019/05/29

Upcoming Automotive Work, Motorhome Roof Seal Problems

I've had a rented Dodge Caravan for the last day and a half.  Out of all the vehicles that I've rented, this one is my favorite.  I just like how boxy it is and how it holds 7 passengers.  The motorhome's transmission pan gasket is leaking.  I should have the replacement for that as soon as tomorrow?

Last night, I received my catalytic converters for my 2008 Chevy HHR.  I have all the parts that I need now (or I can think of) to completely replace the exhaust.  That excludes the exhaust clamps, but every auto parts store is within walking range.  My plan it to either install the exhaust manifold first, or just put it together and lift up everything at once?

I have a gauge to measure it's fuel pressure.  Under the hood, my car has a schrader valve for this.  I'm pretty foggy on this, but there might be one near the fuel pump, which is on top of the gas tank.  If it does, that would give me an easy indication of what condition the fuel pump is in?

While I had the rental van, I stopped at the Stoney's RV in Cambridge, Ohio and got some two way valves that I'm going to bypass the motorhome's hot water tank with.  Basically, I want the water to bypass the tank on its way to the kitchen sink.  Ever since that cold snap in February, there was some bloating at the kitchen sink faucet.  I now have a replacement.  I'm looking forward to ditching my Aquatainers.  For the last 3 months, I've been using one for drinking water and the other to flush the toilet. 

The roof was sealed with some gray stuff.  it's forming a ridge at the front and back seal and I can't get the motorhome level with it being on.  If I got it level, I could get the stock refrigerator and freezer to work.  But the problem with those gray seals is that if I scraped it, I can get it off the aluminum roof okay.  But I'm worried about the fiberglass body that it's also on?  What needs to happen is something I should have done before.  Roof seam tape needs to be applied.  Then the roof needs to be painted and sealed (I have a product here that does both).

The motorhome has a mouse.  I'm going with traps this time.  But I read online about the mistake I made last time.  Mice have a very good sense of smell.  And if I put down a trap without wearing latex gloves, my sent will be on it and they'll avoid the area.  I just got some kitchen gloves that should do the trick?

2019/05/21

Space Requested - RTA Expo

A reservation for for Adventurer's Project's table and open air tent space was requested on 21 May 2019 from the River's Ales and Trails for their Expo in August.

2019/05/10

Regional+ Transit and 10 Miler Data

I was thinking about publishing data on regional, national and international transit along the North Country Trail.  Considering that the North Country concurrency with Buckeye is 917 of its 1444 miles, I might as well do the rest of Buckeye as well.  But I think that the BT is now in need of a new logistics diagnostic done at the generally 10 mile per day hiking rate.  I think that I last did it using transit and since that site is off-line, I think that the public needs to know how 10 miler comparable this trail is without it?

That's going to entail the updating of my Buckeye Trail custom tracks and map points.  I'll have to sift through the entire circuit's maps and map updates just to make sure everything is current.  And I prefer to do these in the winter if I can?  These are going to be courtesy of Adventurer's Project and available in the "Special Services and Map Repository" section of it's website.

The Regional+ transit data is going to be like a stripped down version of the Ohio Transit Hiker's Resource.  Local transit lines and services will be limited to getting from the regional, national and international amenities to the trail by much fewer ways.  In this case, it makes sense to do the non-transit 10 miler diagnostic first to so I know how to affect the local camping/ lodging situation (if I can).

This particular diagnostic will be on camping amenities alone.  The Buckeye Trail is a camping/ lodging dependent trail.  But lately, the market is demanding camping only.  If this diagnostic serves anything, it might serve to inform the audience that their demand is futile?