Thread: Ramblings From The USA - 1

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Originally Posted by Whiplash23T

I can hear the opening cords on the organ now Uncle Bob, so light the joint and pass it around...

No, you're confused. It's "darker shade of Ale", if you try Rollin that up you'll have a mess on your hands. Literally.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb3iPP-tHdA

Yeah, that would be akin to "A paler shade of pale ale....."

Wednesday 9th September.

Worked out yesterday as to why this country has so many churches…it must have the most per capita of any country in the world.
And, to me, the answer has become obvious: sinners!
There are just so many sinners out there, all requiring forgiveness and redemption, that the market has expanded to accommodate them all.
Qed.
So it follows quite naturally that America is full of bad buggers..
And looking at the size, architectural style, landscaping, et cetera; that the Lord has more money than his parishioners, many of whom live in relative poverty given the state of so many homes.
Is there an anomaly/hypocrisy here…or is it me…

Kept on truckin’ for the Buffalo Naval and Military Park.

Lots of cropping, maize, beans, squash, hay, some crops I didn’t recognise, and eventually noticed a small number of rising 2yo friesan dairy heifers….about forty, grazing alongside the road.
Quarter of a mile or so down the road was what looked to me like a cow-shed (milking parlour,) so I yelled “Stop!”
“Can’t now, too late: I’m past it.”
You’ll keep bucko…you’ll keep.
I’m paying for this; and I can change my will.
The Golden Rule.
He who has the gold makes the rules…it would bode you well to remember that.
A few miles further on and I saw a small (8 – 10) mob of jersey weaner heifers, but no obvious signs of a cow-shed.

(The friesians could’ve been for either dairy or beef; they’re suited to both roles…but the jerseys…nah…they’re a high-fat dairy breed.)

Stopped at a wee place called Meridian for lunch at the Happy Days Diner.
The décor was reminiscent of the TV show, (outdated,) the waitresses main attraction would’ve been gravitational, (she was…umm…rather large…) but the food was extremely good.
Recommended.

Arrived Buffalo about 4:00.
Too late to head for the Naval Museum, so we’re overnighting at the Orchard Park Inn.
A grand name for one of the grottiest motels yet.

All good fun.

Disclaimer: be aware that the views and the opinions expressed by the author of this missive are bloody good ones.

Originally Posted by Bob Parmenter

I'm with you on the over hopped thing Roger. It strikes me as one of those phase/fad things...........sorta like a few years back we went through a hot sauce trend. Somehow I think it's driven by the "Mr. Macho" thing..........who can down the most viciously, outrageously hot sauce without whining. Never mind that there's no chance of enjoying any flavor that might be present. The goal seemed to be, who could make a sauce so hot it would take paint off a battle ship without removing the cap. Argh!
Now it's hops in brews............it's not about flavor complexity and lingering enjoyable taste........just so it makes you pucker tighter. Hmmmm, maybe that last comment shouldn't be used around jb right now............

It's funny to many of us the subtle use of hops in appropriate IBU's for the alcohol content of beers is perfect. Dry hopping came along to boost that flavor, then Lagunitas(from Petaluma) came along and really smacked it in your face with most of the beers they make, but even Lagunitas makes a few balanced brews. As a home brewer of 35years now, and after taking many beer making classes, I can tell you the high alcohol, and overly hoppped IPA's out there , are a trend for the non decerning beer palate, because all you taste is hops. It hides a number of brewing mistakes by masking all the malt and yeast flavors. However I would not agree that all IPA's are bad, nor double IPA's or triple IPA's, as long as youfollow beer making science of using appropriate bittering unit levels, with appropriate specific gravity levels, the end product won't be overly bitter. It's ashame so many new breweries pump up the IBU's to hide their rookie league skills, but others are only going with what sells at the momment. Will be intersting when the Kolsch style ales take off to see what's coming in the lager style ale market. I loved touring Vermont, because after living in california, it's hard out west to find large varieties of craft brews that aren't insanely hopped since my local idiots seem to love these like they loved buttery chardoneys 15 years ago, and white zinfindels 20 plus years ago. In vermont the practice balanced brewing for the most part, so being a purist I was in heaven!

Thursday 10th September.

First stop was the Buffalo Naval and Military Park.
The military part to the museum was of not great interest to any of us, as it dealt with the Americans scrapping with the Canadians…a stoush that we know very little about.
And now, 200 years later; don’t really care about either.
But we spent a few hours wandering through the three naval vessels!
(And She got to stick the very first pin into NZ on their ‘World Visitor Map!’)

The first was USS The Sullivans, a destroyer named for the five Sullivan brothers who died while they were serving on the same ship during WWII when it was sunk.
Next was USS Little Rock, a light cruiser.
And lastly ‘Croaker’, a WWII submarine.
Doesn’t sound much…but those three vessels took three hours to work my way through.
(Rosie opted out early…up and down ladders does her back no good at all.)

And off to Niagara Falls…found the town easily enough…but to find the falls themselves was a bit of a different story.
Everyone’s touting their own tour; with numerous large signs proclaiming: ‘This Way To This Tour’ or ‘This Way To That Tour’, or ‘This Way For Your Souvenirs’ with very little signage for: This way to the falls.
But we found them.
What can you say?
Awesome?
Yep.
Spectacular?
Yep.
Impressive?
Yep. That too.
And that’s about it.
After twenty minutes of looking…well…okay…I’ve seen enough.
Let’s go home now.
So we did.

What? No Maid o' The Mist??

Get out of here with those obscene suggestions!
That costs money!

Friday 11th September.

The day got off to a bad start when Rosie tripped on the step (an amateur add-on because the original was broken,) and fell when walking out of the motel.
No real damage, a few bruises; but it could’ve been nasty.

Left Buffalo and headed (ultimately,) for the Peter Herdic Transportation Museum,810 Nichols Pl, Williamsport.

First bit of excitement was at Verysburg, as we came down into the valley She commented “Someone’s got a fire going. Quite a good one from the smoke.”
Well it was good in the sense that it was large and consuming everything, (which when you’re clearing land is good,) but it wasn’t good at all when it turned out to be some poor bugger’s house.
Felt sorry for them…but there’s nothing I can do.
So; bit of a detour and we’re on track again, to see a herd of about 200 friesan cows
paddock grazing.
First time I’ve seen that.
Then just before Dansville there was a mob of about 100 friesan (a lot with the red factor gene,) yearling heifers paddock grazing.
A mob that size indicates a herd size of around the 400 mark…a reasonable size.
So when we saw a cowshed that looked as though there were people present I told Rick to stop.
“Can’t. I’m past it. It’s too late.”
And I hit the bloody roof…this is our holiday; we’re paying for it, and you’re not going to dictate what I can see and what I can’t…just do as I ask!
This is the second time he’s done this.
“Don’t yell at me! You don’t like it then you drive.”
“Okay. But if I drive you’re surplus to requirements.
You walk.
Home.
“Mutter, mutter, mumble, grumble.”
But he drove.
And stopped at the next two cowsheds.
But there was no-one around at either.
(And I hope that’s cleared the air for a day or two.)

On to Conning, and the Conning Museum of Glass.
Rick was still in a sulk and stayed in the car. More fool him. It was extremely interesting. Must’ve spent about two hours there.

Then to ‘The Site’ for a nose-bag.
I tried the wings as recommended by b1…you’re right mate…bloody gorgeous.

And just before Blossburg there was a mob of fifty or so dry friesan cows being break-fed;.
Perhaps our Kiwi management skills/systems are catching on!

Finally arrived at the Peter Herdic Transportation Museum in Williamsport at 3:15.
They close at 3:00
Bugger!
That wasn’t mentioned when I researched them on the interweb.
So we went to the Taber Museum across the road instead.
It was alright I s’pose…too many arty-farty pictures for my taste but.

And a Super 8 about four miles away for the night.

JB, the Peter Hedric Museum of Transportation is only open Friday & Saturday 10-3pm from September to May, so you're in luck! You can hit it tomorrow morning, before continuing on your journey! Great timing, to hit it on the correct days of the week!

A comment about our interstate highways, or other controlled access divided roadways - If you find yourself going the wrong way, or should you see something, miss the exit and want to return the easiest way is to proceed to the next exit and take a left at the top of the ramp to cross over the highway, and the immediate next left to re-enter the roadway going the opposite way. You can take the exit you missed, or go on past to the next exit and repeat the process to reverse direction again. It's quite easy..... but it can eat a bit of the clock.

We'll be going back to both museums this morning.
From through-the-fence the Hedric Museum looked to be a good one, and the Taber Museum had the end-pieces of a rope-walk on display.
So I'll go back armed with a tape measure.
NZ farmers finish a winter season with almost literally miles of waste nylon bale twine and no real way of utilising it.
So why try to reinvent the wheel when the critical measurements are just four miles down the road?
I'll go get them and make myself some handy heavy duty ropes.

The road where my stupid boy reckoned he'd missed the gateway was a quiet two lane rural road. A U-turn was as close as the next driveway..
He was just trying to be a smart-ass.

And it didn't go down well.

Saturday 12th September.

We’d got to the motel last night, settled in, I’d written up and posted my diary to various sites, when around 6:30 there was the wail of a police siren that seemed to be getting closer, so I went to the window to see what the fuss was about.
First came the police car all full of noise and lights, and then some motorcycles…then some more…and some more, and more, and more and more more more more more.
Two – three abreast.
By 7:00 over 2000 bikes must’ve gone past.
There was a bit of a lull then for 5 minutes…then another cop car…and more bikes for another twenty minutes. There must’ve been around 3000 bikes in total…it was certainly spectacular to watch.
What’s happening?
Has Sturgis been brought forward? Has it been moved to here?
Nah…
Worked out it’s to commemorate 7 / 11…the Twin Towers incident.

Back to Williamsport to do the Peter Herdic Transportation Museum first
Not a large museum; but very interesting nonetheless.
I was intrigued I note that in the late 1800s early 1900s roads were of little importance; the canals and railroads were the major methods of transportation for both people and produce.
Henry Ford certainly has a lot to answer for!

Okay; back over the road to the Taber Museum.
I’d noticed yesterday that they had the mechanics of a rope-walk on display, so I’d bought me a tape on our way here, and now I asked the young lady if I could take the critical measurements off it
She knew the exact machine I was talking about, agreed, and turned the alarms off for me.
Thank-you very much…all good.

Then trucked on in heavy rain to Lewisville for lunch.

We’d intended to visit the Harrisburg Civil War Museum, but it was still persisting down when we pulled in…and with a ten minute uphill walk from the car-park to the entry…nah…it wasn’t our war…we’re not familiar with it...and nobody wanted the dubious pleasure of a cold shower.
So we found a Value Inn motel for the night.
With ground-floor smoking rooms.

Sunday 13th September.

Away by about 8:20, heading for Jefferson’s Monticello, 911 Thomas Jefferson Parkway, Charlottesville 22902.

Saw a herd of jersey cows in the Shippensburg area that were paddock grazing but were able to return to open air stall feed…a peculiar arrangement I thought.
But they were beautiful animals in peak condition; you could see the gloss on them from 200 yards away.
Another shed further on that was relatively open to view from the highway seemed to contain about fifty animals…too small a herd and too labour intensive to be viable in New Zealand.
There appeared to be quite a few totally housed herds in this area; but to go and look would’ve required a major deviation.

Crossed the Mason Dixon Line…the line between the Northern and Southern states.

Harpers Ferry and I saw my first long-horn cattle…surprisingly light framed, but very rangy animals.

Out of dairy country now it would appear, there were more beef breeds to be seen…a large mob of polled angus (polys,) cows at Toms Brook, a mixed mob of poly and charolais at Brucetown under very lax grazing control, another mob of ayrshire hereford cross, (choice of breed doesn’t seem to matter much around here,) then another mob of well-conditioned polys under excellent pasture management.

Even saw a flock of sheep; but they were too far away to identify the breeding.

Pasture management skills vary; some are extremely good, you can see where boundary fences are…most are not too flash, and some are just bloody terrible.
It’s not rocket science.
The beef farms appear to be primarily paddock-grazed as in NZ, but I also saw a lot of what appeared to be large wintering barns; but having no knowledge of local winter conditions can’t really comment.

Over the Blue Ridge mountain range to arrive at Monticello about 3 o-clock…and there were 4,003,221 people there.
Let’s come back to-morrow morning. Hopefully it won’t be so crowded.
So we’re now in a Super 8 about thirty minutes away in Charlottesville.

Okay…so for you Americans on CHR that are reading this; there are some road signs that have been puzzling me:
They are a green background square about 30” x 30”, a white surround, and various white letters in the middle, e.g. N, C, J, BB, E, and H.
What’s that all about?

Originally Posted by johnboy

Okay…so for you Americans on CHR that are reading this; there are some road signs that have been puzzling me:
They are a green background square about 30” x 30”, a white surround, and various white letters in the middle, e.g. N, C, J, BB, E, and H.
What’s that all about?

That's not making sense to me, jb. I'd say take a picture of one and post it, but I know THAT's not gonna happen! Green background is reserved for "Guide" signs, like distances to the next town, or information to help guide to special interest points that are not safety related. This summary of signs doesn't show anything like you've described....https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_s...:_Exclusionary

Originally Posted by rspears

That's not making sense to me, jb. I'd say take a picture of one and post it, but I know THAT's not gonna happen! Green background is reserved for "Guide" signs, like distances to the next town, or information to help guide to special interest points that are not safety related. This summary of signs doesn't show anything like you've described....https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_s...:_Exclusionary

Groan!
Mea culpa...I've got the brains of a stick...and a brittle one at that...likely to snap at any moment.
I wrote green, when I meant to write BLUE!
Total tossed egg.

I looked through what you posted Roger, (thanks for that, much appreciated!) the blue one with the H denoting Hospital was one of what I was looking at.
But what do the other letters denote?

Originally Posted by johnboy

Groan!
Mea culpa...I've got the brains of a stick...and a brittle one at that...likely to snap at any moment.
I wrote green, when I meant to write BLUE!
Total tossed egg.

I looked through what you posted Roger, (thanks for that, much appreciated!) the blue one with the H denoting Hospital was one of what I was looking at.
But what do the other letters denote?

The other letters are probably county road designations. Depending on the State, some county roads are letters and some are numbers.