We Head Back to Ohio

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Saturday was a pretty laid back day with the city for the most part snowbound.  Hardly a vehicle was moving in the area and after venturing out to check a few things in the trailer I knew why.  I found out that running shoes are not the best thing to wear for traction on the ice and had to hold on to the stair railing and tread easy and slowly to get to the sidewalk.  If you had a pair of ice skates you could have skated on the street.  

We stayed around the house and just made ready for the trip back tomorrow.  Joan had a neckless that needed a couple of repairs so Jean worked on that.  Jean is creative in all artistic endeavors but has specialized in jewelry making the last few years and does a lot of work in silver.  She has some of the neatest tools including a small rolling mill to create consistently flat sheets to work with.  Below she is working on Joan's necklace.

(left click to enlarge)

Below is Joan and Jean just enjoying the time to relax.  The weather was in one sense a blessing in that we could just stay in and relax and not feel like we needed to go and do something around town.

I spent some time on Jean's computer and making phone calls to AAA or whoever we could think of to try and get reports on road conditions.  For all the technology available you would think that there would be better information readily available.  I'll have to admit that the live video cameras at a couple of the entrances to tunnels on the turnpike were interesting and somewhat helpful.

Early Sunday morning I took a walk for a couple of blocks and went as far as the main side street along the complex to see what the local road conditions were like.  I thought that if we could get to the Interstate that was just a few miles away we would be okay to travel.  North Carolina uses very little road chemicals and don't have the equipment to plow snow as they normally only have one or two snows a year and they melt off in a day or so.  A couple of intersections and a minor hill to get to the main street had been sanded and I was pretty sure that we could eventually get to the Interstate.

We said our goodbyes and crept out of the neighborhood with the trailer.  That thousand pounds of tongue weight on the center of the rear wheels on the fifth wheel attachment helped I think as we made it all the way out without too much trouble.  Don't know what I would have done if we would have started sliding backwards down that one grade with the trailer behind us.

We made it to the Interstate with little trouble.  As we headed up good old I77 there was always one lane that was just wet but clear of ice but almost always one lane had ice that was breaking up and if you tried to drive on it you could only go about 20-30 miles per hour as it was extremely rough.  Our solution was to follow the semi that was a discrete distance ahead of us and when he changed lanes we changed lanes.  By the time we started climbing the mountain up to Fancy Gap the road was just wet and clear of all snow and ice.

As we pulled into the I think the first rest area in West Virginia we had clear Carolina blue skies and all was good as far as traveling.  Parking along side a semi made me feel a little like one of the truckers.  The poor trailer was covered with salt and dirt and in a sad state and was going to remain that way for a while after we got home.

  

The rest of the trip home was uneventfuland.  We decided to go directly to the hospital in Massillon to see dad.

A Phone Call from Home

Friday, 1/29/2010

You will probably notice that my comments for a given day is usually earlier than the post date but no matter how hard I try I can't keep up with making the posts current.  Oh well, it just means that you are reading stale news I guess.

Jean had a jewelry making class previously scheduled today so we were on our own to do with the day as we pleased.  This actually worked out OK as we needed a little down time after the rush to get packed and getting on the highway.  Jean had left us with instructions on how to walk to downtown Belmont without getting lost so late morning we went for a walk.  It was still a nice day but cool.  Belmont is really a nice small town in the suburbs of Charlotte with the advantages of being only 15-20 minutes driving time to downtown Charlotte and yet gives the feeling of small town life far from a major city.

(Left click to enlarge)

Our first stop was at a bicycle shop to take a look at bike carriers.  We have a four bike carrier that we put on the back bumper of our trailer which gives it a considerable bouncing, action on the highway.  It is designed for a 1 1/2 inch receiver that we have on our mini-van and we use a reducer so that it will fit the 2 inch receiver on the trailer bumper.  At any rate there is some bounce effect on the back of the trailer and on the trip down I had noticed at rest stops that the horizontal arm that holds the bikes was getting to be not so horizontal and also had developed a slight tilt to the side.  It was starting to make me a little nervous and I didn't want to lose all four bikes on the highway someplace.

The bike shop didn't have any four bike carriers in stock so I decided to move one bike to the truck bed and one into the trailer.  With just two bikes left on the carrier I decided it would not be a worry about any catastrophe happening.

From the bike shop we went on up town and stopped at an old time hardware store that was probably as old as the town itself.  From there we stopped at a couple of antique stores and made one purchase of a book named "Catrimony" that uses photographs of cats with one liners of human marriage situations.  Kinda unique.

Belmont has a number of restaurants that look like good places to eat but we elected to stop at one that Jean had told us about.  It is sponsored by the Catholic Church Sister's of Mercy and provides a place for persons with mental and physical handicaps to work and gain a sense of worth to their lives.  We enjoyed the meals very much and would recommend it to anyone going through Belmont.  The name of the cafe is Cherubs Cafe and operates under the Holy Angel organization founded in 1956.  They are a committed organization founded to help all ages and degrees of handicapped persons. 

We found our way back to Jean's house and relaxed the rest of the afternoon.  We had began to hear warnings of a major snow storm headed to North Carolina having moved from Texas up through the middle south of the country.  Jean's friend Don came over and we enjoyed an excellent dinner and celebrated Jean's birthday.

It was about this time that we received a phone call from Joan's sister back home that Joan's dad had fainted at the assisted living facility where they moved to last year and had been admitted to the hospital for tests.  When we leave home we are always concerned with the health and well being of loved ones and not being close in case of problems arising.  Mom and dad had been pretty good over the last couple of months and although we are always thinking of them we didn't have a high concern of any immediate problems or we wouldn't have left.  Now our concern was high and our thoughts were of dad and if and when to leave for home pending the outcome of the tests and dad's overall condition.

Snow was falling now outside and quickly covering the area and the warnings of a major storm hitting North Carolina were coming true.  We went to bed with heavy hearts.

Saturday dawned with about 4 inches of snow cover with the storm continueing.  The precipitation had turned to sleet and freezing rain which was now covering the snow.  Everything was virtually shut down in the area and no one was traveling on the highways.  We couldn't go anyplace today if we wanted to especially towing a trailer.

We got the call that dad had been diagnosed with a couple of very serious problems and in his weakened condition there was little treatment that they could do especially a possible surgery.  The decision was now obvious that we needed to return to Ohio but when was the question.

Outside the snow was now covered with about a half to an inch of ice and venturing out on it required you to hold onto something with one hand.  The streets had become skating rinks with for some reason the snow and freezing rain turning into solid ice.  Observe below.

We decided to wait it out Saturday and see what the roads were like on Sunday.

In Search of the Sun - Part 2

Thursday - 2/28/2010

After a somewhat interesting night we had a relaxed breakfast in the trailer and didn't hurry to get started as we had only about seven hours of driving time to get to our destination of Belmont, NC where our friend Jean lives.  Leaving Marietta and heading to Charleston, WV it was overcast and the roadway somewhat wet but no snow.  The trip down the West Virginia turnpike went well and the mountains were not a problem.  We hadn't been down I77 with the fifth wheel before and I was wondering how it would go.  We have found the fifth wheel to be much more stable than the pull trailer that we had years ago.

The weather really improved as we got into Virginia with blue skies and the temperature up to around 55.  It almost seemed like summer to us after the sub-freezing temperatures in Ohio.  We were really glad that the weather co-operated as the mountains through West Virginia and Virginia are not something that I would want to do on slippery roads with the trailer.  We really like the panoramic views coming down the mountain into North Carolina from Fancy Gap.  It's hard to keep your eyes on the highway when there is such beautiful scenery, almost like being in an airplane looking down.  To the south you see Pilot Mountain with it's dome pointing up from the level surroundings on the beginning of the Piedmont area around it.

From there it was a relatively easy drive on down to Charlotte with beautiful weather.  As usual we had to make a phone call to Jean for the last couple miles of instructions.  I have got to download the most recent maps into our GPS as the version that came with it over a year ago doesn't have her street address in it and I can never remember the last couple of turns.

Jean has a beautiful home in Belmont and makes us feel at home there.  Jean and I have known each other since grade school and our families have traveled together a lot over the years and in fact Joan and my first camping trip as a couple was with Jean's family down to Mohican State Park in Ohio.  That was back in the days when you primitive camped down along the river before the state turned the park into a resort type park with a lodge and pool, etc.  Since then memorable times have included camping in Yellowstone Nat'l Park, a hike down into the Grand Canyon and staying overnight at the Phantom Ranch, and the hike in the Swiss Alps.  All great times.

We parked the trailer on the street in front of her house and decided to let Inky have the trailer all to himself and Joan and I accepted Jean's invitation to stay in the house.

Another good day of travels.

In Search of the Sun

Wednesday - January 27, 2010

We had made the decision after returning from China to head south in search of sunshine and warm weather for the month of February.  Weather in northeast Ohio is particularly dismal from mid-November through February with mostly overcast days and little sunshine.  Add to that numerous days of snow, slush, and maybe some freezing rain for good measure just to make things miserable.  Last year we spent February in Phoenix and discovered that there are places where you don't have to endure the depression caused by the northern Ohio environment.  One of those light panels that you can sit next to might be a good investment.  They say that they actually do work.  However, if you can why not go where you can enjoy real sunshine.

One of the reasons that the Ravenna Arsenal was built about forty miles northeast of our house to manufacture ammunition's for World War II was because of the high percentage of overcast days during the year.  It was thought that any enemy bombers would unlikely be able to find it under the cloud cover.  It's nice that we could support the war effort in this manner.

It seems that we were really busy in early January and had decided to wait until after a Habitat meeting on the evening of the 26th and then hit the road with the fifth wheel on Wednesday the 27th.  We still had a lot of packing to do Wednesday morning but decided that whenever we were ready we would leave and that turned out to be about 2 PM.  We planned on a stop in Charlotte to see our friend Jean for a day or two but knowing that it was about 9 or 10 hours driving time with the trailer we would be making an overnight stop someplace along the way.  Fortunately we hit a break in the weather and the roads were good even though the ground had been covered with snow for a number of days.

Unfortunately the temps were in the 20's so I didn't want to put water in the holding tank of the trailer or fill the piping and take a chance that it would freeze.  I had drained it and put in non-toxic antifreeze back in October so that's the way we started out.  After all we would be in Charlotte soon and would be able to fill up there with it undoubtedly being above freezing.

So about 2 we headed down I77 towards Marietta.  We decided to stop in Marietta to eat since we had kind of missed lunch before leaving home.  By this time it was around 5 and the wise decision seemed to be to find a place to stay overnight.  While we were eating we took out the campground guide and found out that there were two campgrounds close by.  We called the first one and it had closed permanently.  We called the second and they were closed for the season.  Now it was either a motel or the Wal-Mart and we opted for the Wal-Mart parking lot.  The furnace heated up the trailer quickly, Inky (cat) was happy and we had all we needed to be comfortable for the night - a well stocked refrigerator, our own bed, etc.  The only thing missing was a way to flush the toilet.  A trip to Wal-Mart and a purchase of a case of bottled water solved that problem.

About 2 AM I woke up to the familiar sound of a helicopter not far away and it just seemed to be staying in one place.  I took a look out of the bedroom window and about a few hundred yards away was the helicopter hovering with a large spotlight flashing around on the ground.  There was light snow in the air and the spotlight really showed up well.  That was about the time that I remembered hearing on the radio as we approached Marietta that there was a manhunt on in Washington County and a helicopter had been loaned to the local police for the search.  Time to check that I had locked the door.  The familiar chop-chop went on for maybe a half hour or so and then quit so I assume that they got their man.

So ends our first day of searching for the sun.
Life is good.

Hangzhou, Shanghai and Home

November 19th and 20th, 2009
I am finally trying to wrap up the trip to China.  There have been so many other things that have been keeping me busy but I have to make way for the next journey.  I had been studying for the FAA written Instrument exam for a number of months along with ground school a couple times a week but I took the test on January 25th and passed it.  Now I look forward to the flying part to actually practice IFR approaches to airports, holding patterns, and the other related parts that I have studied about but now will do in real life with the instructor.  All this will lead up to the next test - flying with an FAA examiner to hopefully get my instrument rating.

We had a day in Hangzhou to do sightseeing of this interesting city.  Hangzhou was founded 2,200 years ago which makes it a couple of centuries newer than Suzhou.  These time periods are amazing compared to the United States and cities here.  Maybe not if you consider the indigenous American Indians as the original inhabitants. 

A word or two about the Grand Canal (mentioned earlier).  Another pretty incredible manmade thing in China.  It extends from Hangzhou to Beijing in the north 1,103 miles and even though shorter than the Great Wall it too is an amazing creation at a time when manual labor was the moving force behind it.  The Grand Canal is the longest manmade canal in the world.  Early parts of it were started in 486 BC.  The elevation of the canal varies from 1 meter below sea level in Hanzhou to 38.5 meters above sea level at its summit.  Amazingly flat for that long a distance.  The canal was built originally to transport grain from the northern reaches of the country to the south.  An estimated 360,000 tons at its peak.  Today bricks, gravel, sand, diesel fuel, and coal travel on the canal.  An estimated 75 million tons are handled through the Jainbi locks on the Yangtze entry point itself.  The canal was renovated in the early 1400's requiring a workforce of 165,000 laborers.  This was during the period of the Ming Guys who liked to travel down the canal to summer to enjoy the beauty of West Lake. 

Marco Polo visited Hangzhou in the late 13th century and described it as "beyound dispute the finest and noblest city in the world".

A few more pictures below.

One of the thrills of the last day in Shanghai was a ride on the Magnetic Levitation train.  It is I think, the fastest passenger train in the world but not sure about that.  It goes from the Pudong/Shanghai airport to downtown which is about 30 km in 7 minutes.  At the peak speed the day we rode it reached a maximum speed of 431 km/hour or about 268 miles/hour without wheels but with magnetic levitation.  That's pretty darn fast.  Below is a photo taken along side the train.

An interesting thing is that it was designed in Germany, installed in China but when I looked at the screen where the non-functioning operator sits the screens are in English.  I say non-functioning operator as I read that there are no operators required but that passengers feel more secure going 250 miles/hour if someone is sitting there at the console.

Here is a link to a YouTube video that I created of the trip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuYhPP_6HeE


Here is Rainbow at her usual postion in the bus describing her family and what we were seeing as we traveled.

Here is the jump seat at the front of the bus that we had fitted with toilet paper dispensers on the armrests.  It was always good to have a supply when we stopped for lunch or just plain nature breaks.  Toilet paper was always in short supply it seemed in public restrooms or even in restaurant restrooms.  Joan tells that most of the restrooms had "bombsight" toilets (will describe this in more detail if needed), however the handicapped stalls were fitted with Western style toilets so that is where she would head.

Normally I only use pictures that I have taken however there are a couple of public use photos that I found that I would like to put here.   The first is the Tianmen Gate to the Forbidden City where you enter The Forbidden City from Tianmen Square.  You enter under the large photo of Mao.

The white railing along the entry walk indicates where the walk goes over the moat that surrounds the old city.

The next picture is a panoramic of the Forbidden City that gives a good indication of the immensity of it.

 

Sorry that it is such a small scale but if you left click on it maybe it will come up larger.

On the final night in Shanghai we went to a Chinese Acrobatics show that was very good.  The last of the acts was a ball or cage of death as it is sometimes described.  There were many signs saying not to videotape the show so I didn't but there are some links that have video that others have taped and posted.  My cousin's husband Joe and I have had a continueing conversation by email about whether the act is a trick or not.  I am still leaning to it not being a trick but Joe is adamant that it is a trick.  Don't know, but you can judge for yourself if you go to the links below.

http://virtualreview.org/china/zoom/1292235/shanghai-acrobatics---6-motorcycles-in-a-steelcage---most-dangerous-show

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PdXwX9yydk

The night we were there they used six motorcycles in the ball.  Must be a dizzying experience for the riders!

On the way back from the show they took us to the Bund (Google that) where we could look over to the newer skyline across from the Bund.  Quite a sight at night.

Then it was back to the airport the next morning for the flight home and again the ceiling there intrigued me once again.  Below you can see the ceiling with no supporting elements but with the clothespins sitting on the cables from side to side of the wide building.

Below a clothspin

If anyone knows if my conclusion is correct and that is the clothespins support the structure sitting on top of the cables let me know.  Gotta be!  Real clever!

Well that's that end of the China trip - remember the World Expo is in Shanghai in 2010 - this year, so I say go for it if you can.

A great trip to an amazing country that we in the States have made what it is and helped create a whole middle class plus a lot of rich upper class folks.  People there live a lot better than they did 30 years ago thanks to the United States.  The shoe is on the other foot now so to speak.

Life is good!

Suzhou to Hangzhou

November 17, 2009

Suzhou, like everything in China seems to be really old. The city is believed to have been founded in 514 BC on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Suzhou has been called the Venice of China because of all of the canals through the city. Narrow city streets go over these canals by bridges built mostly of ancient stone in an arched design. Rainbow took us for a boat ride on one of these canals at night through an older section of the city. It was a great experience seeing the culture from the water side. Unfortunately a lot of the canals and older parts of the city have succumbed to urban development with the building of highways and shopping centers as has happened in a lot of other Chinese cities. Fortunately it appears that at least a lot of the areas that we rode the boat through are being reconditioned due to the tourist trade and the culture will remain that surrounds that part of the canal system. A lot of lights are installed along the canal and gives kind of a romantic feel to the trip.

Along parts of the canal we saw beautiful homes built ages ago by rich Chinese families. These had beautiful stone traditional entrances and even though you only saw a small part of the house you knew it had to be beautiful behind the façade. Other buildings along the canal were multistory (maybe two or three stories) housing units that it was obvious did not house rich families but probably poorer families. Clothes hung on clothes lines, some strung across the canal with pulley systems to retrieve clothes or other places with clothes just hung on the sills of open windows. Most of these buildings were right against the water with hardly room for a boat to dock and people to step out.

Other occasional buildings had red lights out that identified the probable trade inside. Of course red is a popular color in China however so I may have made the wrong conclusions.

Another few buildings had a docking space and some beautiful Chinese boats tied up that apparently were a popular backdrop for wedding pictures as at one spot there was a bride and groom in their wedding clothes having pictures taken.

At another spot we disembarked for a walking tour through an older part of town and as we walked we passed by a well that was an open hole maybe 18 inches in diameter in a small courtyard between old apartment buildings. Rainbow explained that this was a neighborhood well where the residents came to get water. While we were standing there a woman came with a bucket on a rope and let it down to get water in it and then off down the street she went. I should mention that the streets there were hardly wide enough for one small car and now that I think about it, they probably were just wide as a large sidewalk.

Rainbow then led us into a “flea” market area which apparently was the place where the locals went for their daily supplies. It was narrow, dark, and barely wide enough for two or three pedestrians to pass. Now this is how I imagined old China to be. It was an interesting environment with the sounds of the vendors, the occasional motor scooter, bicycles, and the scooters that you really had to watch out for were the electric ones. They could sneak up on you real quiet like. Along the way there were household utensils, hardware, buckets and all kinds of animals in all states of life and death. Live ducks and chickens in crates tied by their legs, dead ducks and chickens laid out for your selection on tables and also all kinds of sea creatures – eels, fish, and other unidentifiable parts and pieces. All this in dark alleys with vendors on both sides lit by bare light bulbs on wire strung overhead. Numerous vendors had cooked food ready to take home for supper lending interesting smells to the environment. All I can say is I hope a Wal-Mart never replaces all of this culture.

I looked out of the window at the hotel and saw this scene below. Probably a whole city block was being farmed. From our level it looked like the main crops were green vegetables of some kind. I am still somewhat puzzled as to whether this was an area that had been left unbuild on for some reason or if buildings had been demolished and before a new building was going to be built the farmers had taken over. It scene seemed completely out of place.

You can left click on the pictures and some will come up full size and some won't.  For some reason the editor loses the link to the full size photos sometimes.

Suzhou has become known as the center of China's silk industry. We visited a silk factory mockup at a silk factory outlet type store. We got to see them unwind the cocoons pulling the single filament of silk off the cocoon and winding it onto a larger spool. It takes a considerable amount of time to collect all the silk fibers and go through the weaving process to create the fabrics. Very beautiful results. Below you see some bedrooms outfitted with silk sheets and bedspreads. Nice, but I would be afraid of slipping right out of bed onto the floor.

Another of their handicrafts with silk is the making of rugs.  Again bright vibrant colors in any design or size that you might want.  Price is proportional to the number of knots per inch.  Some of the most expensive were small but with 2500 knots/inch.  One about 12x18 inches that we looked at cost $6,000, very beautiful but you don't put these on the floor to walk on but hang it on the wall.

Some of the most beautiful hand work done with silk was the embroidery of pictures onto a silk backing material. Some of these pieces were very large with so much detail it was incredible. The prices were also incredible but understandable as the one's with so much detail cost well over $10,000, some multiples of ten's of thousands.

A roof at the silk factory with a nice design from the snow.

Tea bushes close to the office and display buildings.  A cool snowy morning.

Fields of tea across the street on a foggy cool morning.

The man below is drying the tea leaves in a heated bowl.

 We went off to visit a Budda temple surrounded by beautiful gardens.

A happy Budda tucked away in some of the gardens.

Lotus flowers were domant this time of year.  These were on West Lake where we had a tour boat ride across the lake.

Tour boats waiting for passengers.  A little slow this time of year and type of day that it was.

A giant dragon boat on West Lake and yes the pogadas were part of the boat.  West Lake is renowned to be a famous lake where the emperors liked to visit in the summer time.  A check on Google will undoubedly provide a lot of interesting about the lake.  Unfortunately the day we were there it was foggy, drizzly and gloomy.  We couldn't appreciate it I'm sure as much as we would have on a nice summer day.