Any inspirational event is so, because it inspires us to act and do
something. Having visited the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown,
NY I am now more dedicated than ever to playing, watching and learning
more baseball.

--
Sent from my mobile device

Upstate Pilgrimage

One reason for this trip was to visit and get a sense of the places
where important events took place. For me there is something so
interesting and important about the location of things, and the way
that they shape us and our understanding. Today was a great example of
that. First I visited Palmyra, NY where the critical events in LDS
church history took place in the early 1800's. In fact the very
foundation of our church doctrine is based on these events.
Close by us the Erie Canal, a major engineering and business venture
in its day, the canal made shipping freight from New York harbor to
Lake Erie possible. It drastically reduced the time of shipping,
bypassing the St. Lawrence Seaway. The canal is still in use today.
I then traveled on through the Finger Lakes area of Upstate as well as
Seneca Falls, an important location in women's history.
The day ended as I arrived in Cooperstown, NY home of the baseball
hall of fame. It is a beautiful little hamlet set on the banks of one
of the Finger Lakes. I will visit the museum tomorrow before jet
setting down to Virginia to try to secure a place for the holiday
weekend.

--
Sent from my mobile device

Southern Ontario

Tonight I am in Collingwood on the shore of Lake Huron in Ontario.
Being the ignorant American that I am I did not relize that it is
Canada Day weekend and there is not a campspot to be found in the
province. Good thing that there is a brand new wal-mart here and a
little wagon train of RVs have already started to form there.
My detour into Canada has been good, but it will be nice to get back
to American soil. It has been extremely difficult to give Canadians
my money. Not taking my George Washington and Abe Lincoln bills I can
understand, but saying no to Mr Visa? That's un-Amer... never mind.

--
Sent from my mobile device

Taking it East

Today was a good day to let me and the truck rest from driving. I am
at a good campground at Chutes Park in Ontario, Canada. It is a bit
more expensive than the state parks in the U.S. But the facilities are
better, particularly the showers. I have realized that I am softer
than I thought and really don't like going a day without a shower. I
have done the baby wipe sponge bath which works ok when its dry, but
when its humid only a shower will do. I guess if these are the
biggest concerns, the trip is going pretty well.
Some other logistical things that people wonder about long road trips.
Ice - once every day or two. I keep a pretty small cooler so I have to
shop and buy ice more often.
Bathrooms- gas stations for the easy business, but libraries and
government building for anything more involved.
Eating- surprisingly I have only eaten out two times in almost two
weeks. Not driving the interstates and knowing I have cold food that
needs to be eaten helps with that. I may have even lost a pund or two,
but that might be from loss of blood to the mosquitos.
Mosquitos and other critters- plenty of them up here so I keep pretty
well covered in bug spray when outside. Thanks Nicole for the spray
:). Only had one run in with critters so far with that encounter with
the racoon in Minnesota. The little bastard had opened my dry food
box and was about to go to town before I spooked him off. I Learned to
put almost everything away at night.
Sleeping- I brought a tent with me, but have not used it yet. The
repair work that I did to the bed of my pickup has paid off as I have
stayed dry in my camper shell. I open the windows at night and it
cools down quickly. I have a hole in one screen that I stuff with
paper to keep the persistent skeeters out. Don't know how they get in
but I usually wake up with a couple of blood-red mosquitos, trying to
get out. On the first night I discovered that my therma-rest matress
had a large gash in it. A repair job made it a slow leak and every
night it goes flat and every morning I tell myself I will get a new
one and then forget about it.
Music- limited social interaction has made my CDs a necessity. I made
some random mix cds that help pass the miles. Some good road music is
Ryan Adams, Avett brothers, and Dave Alvin. Also have listened to a
couple of audio books.
Well that covers some of the common munitia of life on the road. If I
missed anything send an email or leave a comment. Ramble on rose.

--
Sent from my mobile device

Where the mounties eh?

Now that I have safely crossed into Canada I can yell everyone the
real reason for taking this trip. Turns out that my days as a
blackmarket mattress peddler were about to catch up with me back in
the states. First you year the tag off your own mattress at home and
next thing you know you leaving the furniture store with a handfull of
them.
Well Canada seemed like the most logical choice to go on the lam. They
use kilometers and liters and a Canadian dollar that's different than
ours. There's enough to keep my mind occupied and out of trouble till
the heat is off.

--
Sent from my mobile device

Fun words

Almost as fun to say as "yoo-per", "hiawatha" is the geographic word of the day.

--
Sent from my mobile device

Its relative

Weather:
Green Bay, WI
92F, Clear
Wind: NW 0 mph
Hum: 46%
Wed: 65F-90F, Thunderstorm

Was going to bo-ho on the weather again until I pased a guy on his
road bike with full paniers and travel bags. I wince in pain for him
as I downed another Wisconsin cheese curd and travel on. The truck is
out of the shop and I am on the road again, running cool too.

Just left Wisconsin and entered the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Saying "ooo-per" is fun, so I will be throwing that around at the gas
stations and such. Or is it "Yoo-per?". Any correction from my
Michigan ties would be much appreciated.

--
Sent from my mobile device

Stalled at Lambeau

Left Door Co. Early this morning to return to Green Bay for an
appointment with the auto mechanic. I hate that feeling of handing
over the keys and walking away from a truck you know inside and out to
await a diagnosis in the food court of a nearby mall.
I get the call two hours later and my suspicion is correct. Fan
clutch. Already had it replaced in 2001. I saw it done and could do
it myself if I had the tools. Damn rebuilts. $130 for the part and
another $200 for labor, but they will have it done today so I
shouldn't have to spend another night here.
So I am hunkering down in the county library in the southwest part of
town. Lambeau Field is just down the street from here. All of the
streets around here have been renamed after Packer greats. Lombardi,
Favre (who just signed with the ... [gasp] Vikings), White, Holmgren,
and others. So while the surgery is performed on the truck I am taking
in all the excitement of a Wednesday afternoon at the county library.
Can you belive that old Mrs Carter's books are two days overdue and
some kid wants to get a Thomas the Train DVD instead of a picture
book. Oh dear!

--
Sent from my mobile device

Checking in tonight from Door County, Wisconsin on the shores of Lake
Michigan. My friend suggested I camp here and it has been well worth
the time.
I am camped at Peninsula State Park and the beach is just a short bike
ride away. It reminds me so much of staying at the tent cabins at
Colter Bay as a kid. Riding bikes around the campground, a little
store to buy the necessities, communal bathrooms and all the fun
stuff.
I drove into Bailey's Harbor, one of the towns here on the peninsula
and ate dinner and watched some of the baseball game before a night
cap of butter pecan ice cream at the Yum-Yum Tree candy shop.
Even with a lot of tourism there is still a large amount of
traditional commerce here including many farms, fishing, and retail.
I imagine land values are rising here and developers are eying a lot
of these areas. The state park here is very nice and is a good value
at $17 for a camp spot and park fee. Compared to the Minn. park I
stayed at, got plundered by a racoon, and poured rain on it has been a
stay at the Ritz.

--
Sent from my mobile device

Google to the Rescue

Navigating unfamiliar roads in unfamiliar places can be hard enough.
Combine this with a pick-up that wants to overheat and its quite
tricky to avoid congested streets and traffic. While a paper road
atlas is an absolute neccessity on any long road trip, I have been
using Google Maps on my blackberry quite a bit as well. I search for
'hotel' or 'camping showers' to find a place to stay.
Just today I determined I need to get this cooling problem fixed
before I go any further so I used Google Maps to find a repair shop
and a decent motel that were closeby in Green Bay, a city I have never
been to.
I was able to find one, read reviews, and make an appointment to drop
off the truck tomorrow morning to get looked at. In the past I would
have been at the mercy of a wrecker who would have dropped me off at
the closest garage. Let's hope this is just a little hickup with the
pick-up. Otherwise Wisconsin may be the EOL.

--
Sent from my mobile device

A lot of miles traveled yesterday from New Ulm, Minn. To Wisconsin
Rapids, Wisc. I wussed out by the end of the day and got a motel room
instead of camping. The humidity was making everything sticky, so a
shower and AC was the only solution. Even my seat belt was sticky and
kinds gross. I checked online at temps and humidity and it said the
bay would be less humid and cooler, so I will check out Door County
and the Yum-Yum ice cream shop. Thanks for the tips Sam :)

Its been hard keeping up with blog posts, but I have been keeping a
list of trip highlights so I will pay those when I get a chance.

--
Sent from my mobile device

Southwest Minnesota

It's a wet and humid Sunday afternoon in Marshall, Minnesota.  I am camped out in the lobby of the hotel that I stayed at last night, undoubtedly overstaying my welcome.  Yesterday was a long day of driving through South Dakota and not many pictures taken or much to make note of.  If I could I would have liked to visit with the farmers and people in some of these midwest towns, but I felt pretty out of place and must have looked it too.  This is not shorts, sandals, and foreign pick-up country.

Confluence Energy's Makes "Lemmonade" from Beetle-Kill Trees

Jordan apologizes for making me wait. Showing up unannounced I feel like I should be offering the apology for imposing a tour of the Confluence Energy manufacturing facility in Kremmling, Colorado. Confluence has been producing wood pellet products for heating and animal bedding for less than a year, but so-far they have been unable to keep pace with demand. "We had to turn away some orders for a while," says Jordan explaining their first few months of production while they were working out some kinks in the production process, meanwhile demand continued to increased.


We walk 50 yards from his office trailer to the production plant where pellets are produced 24 hours a day. The office trailer was supposed to be temporary while the offices inside the plant were being completed. Nine months later, the plant offices are anything but, as demand for cleaner-burning wood-pellet fuels continues to increase, putting off completion of the permanent office space. Clearly there is no sign of any economic slowdown at Confluence Energy.

Jordan simplifies the business plan with the old adage "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade." In the case of Confluence Energy the lemons are dead lodgepole pine trees that blanket many of the Colorado mountainsides. These pine trees have been killed by an infestation of bark beetles which attack the trees protective bark coating. Within two years the beetles destroy the tree and migrate from tree to tree on an increasingly destructive path.

Decades of drought, wild-fire suppression, as well as Forest Service and environmental policy which discouraged traditional logging practices created a perfect storm for this "beetle-kill" infestation that has turned many of the Colorado mountainsides brown with the diseased trees.

Since beetle-kill trees are much more difficult to mill for traditional lumber products, their economic uses are limited. Beetle-kill trees often remain standing until wildfire or severe weather topple them or until savvy businessmen like Jordan find a good use for them.

The lemonade made from these trees are a variety of products that produce clean-burning fuels for residential and commercial heating. Confluence produces five different types of pellets which are shipped all over the country, the majority headed towards the upper mid-west states.

We walk to the back of the plant where whole trees, 8 to 14 inches in diameter, are chipped and passed up a conveyor belt where the chips are piled outside the building. As we approach the back-door of the plant a wave of heat hits us. Jordan points to a small open door of a black cylinder 20 feet high and 10 feet wide "that's the furnace. See the pieces of wood blowing in from the side? that's sawdust being used to power the plant." Not only does the plant produce cleaner energy sources, it utilizes them in the manufacturing process as well.

As we walk inside I see all that needs to be powered. A tumble dryer the size of a semi-trailer turns as wood chips are passed through it from outside the plant. The chips are dried in the tumbler before they are passed into cone-shaped tubes where they are sorted. After sorting, wood chips are passed into hoppers where they are heated and pressed through a die to make pellets.

My tour ended at the packaging area where machines automatically pass the pellets from a holding silo into bags and onto pallets where they are ready to be shipped to buyers. By this point Jordan's attention is on the day-to-day operations so I thank Jordan for the spur-of-the-moment tour and take a few photos of the plant before heading out.

Before leaving I see Jordan steer his bicycle back to his office trailer. One hand on the cell-phone, the other steering the bike, he is likely working out the details with another new buyer. If the next few years are anything like the first the only problem Confluence Energy will have is continuing to keep pace with the demand for clean wood-pellet fuel. As for the supply side... a look in any direction in Colorado's beetle-killed forests shows there are enough lemons for a lot more lemonade.

Wood Pellets and Wyoming

Today I bid farewell to Colorado en route to Mt Rushmore, South
Dakota. In the morning I passed through Kremmling, CO on my way to
the Colorado/Wyoming border. As I was passing through I noticed a wood
processing plant of some kind and stopped to inquire about it. The
owner/operator of Confluence Energy was gracious enough to give me a
tour and answer my meddling questions. I will be posting a more
in-depth article format entry about it in a day or so.

It was a really eye opening experience for me to see how all the
elements of business and environment come together to create a viable
business. From operations, management, and entrepreneurship to
marketing, accounting and finance this small business is a perfect
example of wearing many hats to make a venture successful.

After leaving Kremmling I continued north towards Steamboat before
turning off and passing through Walden. The extent of beetle-killed
lodgepole pine trees in this area is staggering.

I left Colorado on a positive note, knowing that the some of the areas
I visited were more dimensional than their tourism and strip mining
shells.

At once I knew that I had entered Wyoming as I stepped out of my truck
and the wind was blowing constantly. I found a great, secluded place
to camp northeast of Laramie on the Happy Jack road to Cheyenne. Long
forgotten about since interstate 80 bypassed it some 50 years ago,
this old highway weaves between granite hoo-doos as it passes over
hills of ranch land that have been greened up by the early summer
rains.

The day concluded with a good conversation with the campground host
and some good stories shared.
I hope the days that follow are as rewarding as this has been.

--
Sent from my mobile device

Economy Through a Windshield

It doesn't take long out here on the road to discover that there are
so many others just like you searching for something. From families in
minivans, biker packs, drifters, bums, and salesman the gas stations
and scenic overlooks teem with people trying to capture or avoid
something.

For me, and for the purposes of this record, I am hoping to find the
pulse of the areas I visit and people I meet to see what it will take
for me, and maybe others, to survive in this new economy and social
change.

My travels so far have taken me through the tourism based economies of
Monument Valley, Durango, and Silverton. What strikes me about these
places is the dependence on tourism. Given the new economy, I wonder
if some of these places will undergo a new round of boom-and-bust that
characterized them as mining towns.

Its hard to imagine that the actual market value of a dillapidated old
bungalow in Durango is over two times that of the same home in an
urban center. History has shown that some of these towns continue to
thrive in hard times, but this is no ordinary hard time.

Hard to Leave

"fella gets use' to a place, its hard to go. Fella gets use' to a way
of thinkin', its hard to leave." Casy, Grapes of Wrath

Day 1- Leaving Flagstaff

What a bitter-sweet day. After cleaning up the apartment, attending
church and packing up the truck I left town around 400 PM. Many
friends and good memories of that place. I made it to Navajo national
monument right before sunset. This is a great place!

The possibility of a job interview has changed my itinerary and I am
planning on hitting up Colorado first. This is really going to be some
spontaneous vagabonding for a while.