Blog Archive 2024 May
Monthly highlights:
- Toured the giant Sloss blast furnaces in Birmingham, AL
- For the first time, flew a Diamond D40, the latest in high tech general aviation airplanes
Wed May 1 = After breakfast I went in to Walmart for a little shopping and a new fan (first fan pic).
- I got to the
Selma Dallas County Public Library (upstairs, first library pic) in time to eat an early lunch before going in to spend most of the rest of the day there until they closed. Their "Sara Jane and Schuster Siegel Children's Department" (second library pic) is the largest and fanciest I have ever seen with all sorts of things... and books... from beginning readers through teens (third pic). Their tropical saltwater aquarium is awesome (third library pic). Can you find all 11 fish?
-
- After the library and supper I drove up west to the YMCA of Selma-Dallas County. None of my three YMCA tags worked so I joined and got a fourth YMCA tag with different colors.
- There I did an elliptical and a slow heavy legs workout and got two new fans (second and third fan pics).
- Then, east to the Selma Walmart where I showed off my Comedy Van, being able to park in the closest spot to the store with good Internet to finish up on my blog and fans.
- Got to bed at 11:29 for 9:02 hours of sleep
Thu May 2 = Today I worked in the library on Fans, Blog and ordering two physical publicity kits to be shipped for June shows, went to the YMCA for a
- poster trim
- weekly trimming of my beard, eye brows and little quiff so I match my poster photos
, and went to Walmart for the night, where I got five new fans.
- Got to bed at 11:57 for 8:44 hours of sleep
Fri May 3 = After my breakfast at Walmart, I went to the YMCA for a heavy arms and torso workouts and four new fans (first three pics), including the Dallas County Sheriff (second pic)!
- For my last visit to the library I caught up on my blog and stuff, then to the post to set up.
- While parked at the library I had the first
- LVD
- Low-Voltage Disconnect. To avoid battery damage, it shuts off the load of my LiFeMnPO battery at 11.5 Volts.
of the trip due to spending the last five days of warm weather hanging around Selma without too much driving to charge the
- LiFePO4
- my van's 100 Amp-hour Lithium/Iron/Phosphate/Oxygen
house
battery
up.
- Then on to Post where they let me plug into 120 volts to run my refrigerator and charge the
LiFePO4 with my low-powered 3-Amp 12v Granite 1702 charger all evening and overnight.
- I appreciated Andrew, at the post, who helped me set up and also pack up. I used my stage lights for the first time this tour.
- The show was a good one with an audience of 28. The post has no smoking inside and expected pretty clean comedy. Although it was a bit of a stretch for me, that's what they got. I was pleased with myself, going up to the line, but not stepping over it. I got two new fans there, Mattie and Mary (last pic).
- Got to bed 11:18 for a 9:17 hours of sleep until I was awakened by mowing outside.
Sat May 4 = Getting
discouraged would be easy if many days went like today. The drive was relaxed with plenty of time to make it from Selma to Opelika. It went well until there was stop and go for miles after Tuskegee due to a
crash. The freeway was totaly shut down for miles and all northeast trafic was forced to exit.
- There was time for me to spend about an hour at the Opelika library. From there I phoned the posts for next weekend's shows: not good news for
Saturday's show in Birmingham on the eleventh. My contact thought the show was the following Saturday and explained that there was no way it could be on the eleventh, in spite of our contract and the posters all saying it would be on the 11th. Mistakes happen. It will be interesting to see how this turns out.
- For tonight's show, I let the post people talk me into doing the show in the bar where the people "all came to see me" instead of the hall. I sold not one T-xhirt and now all my merch smells like
cigarette smoke. Hopefully I have done my last show in a bar, with some pretty rude people there. I didn't mind the audience's topical comments, but the loud side
visiting was noticibly distracting to people, including me. I cut some things out of my routine and shortened it, due to only about four people listening the entire time, and ended up doing only about 50 minutes which included my video segment.
- Going out to my van, I found that someone had
stolen the magnetic sign from my passenger van door. :(
- The post did make a very generous donation and parking to the west of their pavilion was an excellent quiet place for a good night's sleep.
- Got to bed at 12:29 for 9:07 hours of sleep
Sun May 5 = This morning I got a text from the Birmingham VFW Post 668 that they were canceling the show on May 11th.
- On the drive from Opelika to Birmingham, near Homewood, I stopped by an Aldi for some bread and a new fan (first pic).
- About five miles to the south of downtown Birmingham I spent an hour at the Homewood Library updating my blog, tour schedule, fans web pages and got a new fan (second pic). Since I had Internet in my van in the parking lot after the library closed I added another fan (last pic) and outlined some activities here in Birmingham until I head for Jasper's show on Friday.
- This afternoon I had to restart my phone to get it to email two fan pics queued to be sent.
- I sent a request to be on the May 23rd open mic for at the
Star Dome Comedy Club in Birmingham.
- Something is either wrong with me or with my GPS systems. It was complicated and took me four tries to locate the Cracker Barrel at US 280 and I-459. My phone took me to a power payment office. to a divided road leading to a shopping center. Then I was taken to the wrong side of the freeway. I had a good night when I finally got there.
- Got to bed at 11:22 for 8:59 hours of sleep
Mon May 6 = Today was a big library day at the Homewood Library. I got a lot done, trying to get past due booking contracts and social media preparations and fans until the library closed at 9pm.
- Then down to the Homewood Walmart to replenish my van's water. After the door lady told me they had one of those water refill machines, I uninstall my van's potable water jerry can and took it into the store to find that they did not have one any more, so I had to reinstall the jerry can back in my van.
- Had a pretty good night there.
- Got to bed at 11:04 for 8:53 hours of sleep
Tue May 7 = Before leaving the Homewood Walmart this morning I got a new fan (first fan pic), broccoli and a grapefruit.
- I try not to be too much of a perfectionist, although that wasn't what I was, when I overlooked paying my Bank of America credit card bill last month. This morning I got a text message that the bill was overdue. At the Homewood Library, it took me a long time to get it all fixed up but I had the help of a BOA rep in California. Thank you, Jesus!
- The renownd
Sloss Furnaces made Birmingham famous for its iorn production. This afternoon at the library I took a virtual online tour and would like to see the furnances in person - maybe tomorrow.
- It took me about two weeks since the last one, but I posted another reel on social five social media sites. At this point, I have decided that I need to spend more time and energy putting on good tour for veterans rather than social media.
- Also I got two new fans at the library (2nd fan pic)
- This evening at the Homewood Walmart I got a father and son as new fans (3rd pic)
- Got to bed at 11:19 for 9:02 hours of sleep
Wed May 8 = Today was a good day, both for variety.
- First thing, since the Walmart did not have a water despensing machine, I took my van's potable water jerry can into the garden center. The lady let me fill it with tap water.
- The Birmingham Central Library was my next stop for a couple hours and a guy outside and a security guy as a new fans:
- A little after 2:00 I went to see the famous
Sloss Furnaces (blast furnaces for making cast iron), National Historic Landmark (
tour map) in Birmingham, AL, and got a new fan. The furnaces were interesting and HUGE! The giant vertical cylendar behind me in the fourth pic is one of the six blast stoves that supplied 2,300°F air to the two blast furnaces. Temperatures inside the blast furnace would reach 3,800°F. And to think they were in operation until 11 years after I graduated from high school, the year I got married, 1971. At least my pictures corrected for converging verticals, which Sloss did not do (first picture, from their website). The last pic is a Diamond DA40, which I flew on May 28th.
- After Sloss closed at 4 I went on an expedition to find the down town Planet Fitness. It turned up hidden under an upper level parking lot where a GPS or phone could not find it. Parked in the vicinity, I had supper in my van then went in for a sort of Marrithon session, considering I had not been to a gym in about a week.
- I did a light full-body workout followed by an elliptical followed by a slow heavy full-body workout, got these six new fans and attempted to upload them to my Fan web page.
- Back to the Homewood Walmart, I...
- Got to bed at 11:40 for 9:01 hours of sleep
Thur May 9 = This morning I drove to Jasper and, for the first time, set foot in the town. I hung out at the city library until they closed at 5pm and then went to the Jasper Planet Fitness for a quick legs workout and four new fans:
- Still in the Planet Fitness parking lot, I decided to do something that would charge my van's house battery better when I am not doing much highway driving.
- I had figured that, at 3 amps, my Granet charger (yellow purchased in 2010) did not have enough umph for my
- LiFePO4
- my van's 100 Amp-hour Lithium/Iron/Phosphate/Oxygen
house
battery
so dug out the smart HTRCP15 charger I bought in November, 2022 that can put out five times as much current and adjusts to a variety of batteries, including my LiFePO4 "house" battery. The HTRCP charge plug does match those from the Granet, so I figured a workaround to make a test charge for the the HTRCP before I convert the connections.
- At the Jasper Walmart, I got to bed at 10:59 for 9:13 hours of sleep
Fri May 10 = Most of the day I hung out Sanders Aviation at JFX (Jasper/Walker County Airport-Bevill Field) in one of their unused briefing rooms. The walls in the various rooms are 100% dry erase board material, and filled with checklists, reminders and other aviation information.
- I even got a new fan at the airport:
- There were lots of things going on in Jasper tonight, including
The Adams Family musical ,and comedy at the VFW Post 4850 was not on very many people's list. I did a :52 minute show which included a video segment.
- Since the show was at 6:30, ended a little early and I had the entire hall upstairs to myself, I inventoried my T-shirts. I am completely out of XL Stool Design shirts.
- I spent a good night parked beside their post, charging my van's house battery.
- I got to bed at 11:31 for 9:07 hours of sleep.
Sat May 11 = Today I made south of Birmingham to Hoover, AL and the
Stardome Comedy Club. I introduced myself to Tony, the manager and hung out for both shows. It was interesting. The three comedians had completely different styles. They used a lot of the same material for both shows. Ernie, the host became my latest fan.
- Since I woke up with a sore throat last night, I took a :45 minute nap in my van between the shows.
- Got to bed at 12:24 for 8:58 hours of sleep
Sun May 12 = Changing my approach, I started deleting most voice mails after I note them. I find the saved messages tend to confuse more than they help.
- I spent a lot of the afternoon in the Albert L. Scott Library in Alabaster, AL
- Near the Calera, AL Cracker Barrel where I planned to spend the night was a Walmart. Most of the reviews for the Walmart said they were allowed to park there overnight, although it was not designated so. I got two new fans there and spent the night there with a lot of rain.
- Got to bed about 10:24 for about 10:45 hours of sleep, trying to get over my sore throat.
Mon May 13 = Before leaving the Calera Walmart this morning I did a little shopping and got a new fan (first pic).
- I drove down to Montgomery, AL and to their Juliette Hampton Morgan Memorial Library where my big project was to make 24 posters for 12 of my shows in July, and also get two new fans (second pic), who are in the entertainment business.
- After the library closed I ate supper and drove about 45 minutes down to the Greenville, AL Walmart for a rainy night.
- Got to bed at 10:11 for 10:00 hours of sleep
Tue May 14 = This morning at the Walmart, I bought a grapefruit, tomato sauce with no salt added and got three new fans in the glasses department. They had not heard of my state-of-the-art
cataract lenses
- My high-tech 100% UV blocking sunglasses are missing. I may have left them at the library in Alabaster, AL.
- Today's big project at the
Monte L Moorer/Spring Hill Library was to email the 24 posters I made yesterday to 12 posts scheduled for full shows in July, plus one post in August in Kansas.
- After the library closed I had supper in their parking lot, then drove to the Dauphin St Cracker Barrel where I had good Internet across their parking lot. I got all my credit cards paid off, then drove a block south to a Walmart where I had a good quiet night. Both my phone and Garmin tried to convence me that the Cracker Barrel was in the middle of a medical parking lot.
- Got to bed about 11:45 for 9:03 hours of sleep
Wed May 15 = This morning I researched, found and scheduled to fly a Cherokee 140 Friday morning, weather permitting. I want to be practiced up for my June 1st flight of the Diamond D40 on the 28th.
- Today's big project that took most of the day at the Monte L Moorer/Spring Hill Library was to compose, with the assistance of AI, a publicity email and to send it, along with posters, to realty companies on Hatteras Island in hopes that they will include the information with their renters' packets.
- After supper I drove on west to the Schillinger Road Planet Fitness (that was crammed into a big block of a building) for a light full-body workout, three new fans and a
- poster trim
- weekly trimming of my beard, eye brows and little quiff so I match my poster photos
.
- After my workout I hung around to add the new fans and update my blog.
- Then I went across the street to a Cracker Barrel for a difficult night with some diarrhea problems.
- Got to bed at about 11:30 for 8:40 hours of sleep
Thu May 16 = Since I have had diarrhea the last few days, I want to disinfect my van's water system and replace the tap water with official drinking water. No Walmart around has a drinking water filling station so I bought a case of 20 1 leter bottles (which is mostly in the way with my van's limited space) to get me by.
- For today's office, the pilot planning area of Signature Flight Support (the general aviaiton FBO at the Mobile Regional Airport) was perfecty. I got a lot accomplished and spent some money.
- I ordered a special 20A16.8V charger for my 14.8V
- LiFePO4
- my van's 100 Amp-hour Lithium/Iron/Phosphate/Oxygen
house
battery
. It should keep my refrigerator going better on my non-driving days than the 3A Granit charger I am now using.
- After that I analyzed my t-shirt inventory and figured how many to order and got them ordered to be shipped out by
Nancy Perry Productions in Phoenix to Hatteras Island.
- At 9:15pm, after downloading and reviewing a checklist for the airplane I'm scheduled to fly tomorrow I headed for the Cracker Barrel for another night near a gigantic shade tree.
- Got to bed at 11:06 for 9:09 hours of sleep
Fri May 17= It rained a lot last night but stopped before I went to the airport to fly. John there said it was too windy and gusty for our little Cherokee 140, so we rescheduled for the same time Sunday morning.
- I stopped at a Publix, got a new fan (first pic) and found no fat free cheese slices but I did find two things that are not easy to locate: Hebrew National 97% Fat Free Franks and a drinking water filling station.
- Taking care of my van's water system was a little involved. I bought some Chlorine bleach, disinfected the water system and filled it with fresh water from the Publix water station.
- Admidts heavy rains I spent a couple hours at the
West Regional Library. Felicia Johnson, at a nearby table was on the phone discussing a T-shirt order. We got acquainted and she became a fan (second pic).
- American Legion Post 88 was very supportive, although there were only nine people there for tonight's show. Admission was $10 to help support the post. We had a good time. for my 68 minutes. Bird Man did a short opening and gave me a good introduction. After the show I got another fan (third pic).
- It took a little over an hour, working in the post's hall, for me to transfer the five video files from my camera's micro SD cards to a 2TB USB SSD and catch up on some website stuff.
- Recently I improved my van life in a couple ways. I repositioned my speaker stand and attached it to the mic stand with a long strip of Velcro I got from Home Depot, so my clothes hang better. Last Saturday I shifted my tool box to the right and a little to the rear because it was against the
- LiFePO4
- my van's 100 Amp-hour Lithium/Iron/Phosphate/Oxygen
house
battery
and contorting the USB socket fixture.
- I spent the night parked to the southwest of the post, plugged in and charging my
- LiFePO4
- my van's 100 Amp-hour Lithium/Iron/Phosphate/Oxygen
house
battery
- Got to bed at 12:13 for 8:52 hours of sleep
Sat May 18 = Before leaving the post this morning I said "Goodbye" and got Judy Ford as a new fan (first pic)
- Keeping up with the business side of comedy, I stopped by the Mobile Educators Credit Union and deposited T-shirt cash from the last couple of shows, then a Walmart for a few things, then the Monte/Spring Hill library.
- Being exasperated with a couple of delinquent veterans' posts (not getting back to me for months about their contract), I hope I did not overstep proper etiquette when I ended my text with, "If your post is too dysfunctional to take care of a simple contract, it is probably not up to hosting a stand up comedy show."
- After the library closed I did something that was disgusting to me - being wishy-washy and changing my mind. At first I headed to south Mobile toward Costco Gas for the night, but re-routed to the northwest to the Schillinger Rd Cracker Barrel and its awesome huge shade tree.
- I stopped by the Schillinger Rd Planet Fitness for a short legs workout and a new fan (second pic). Then to the Cracker Barrel.
- Before turning in I found and reviewed the charts for Mobile Regional Airport from which I will be flying tomorrow.
- Got to bed at 11:24 for 8:50 hours of sleep
Sun May 19 = First on today's schedule was to fly with Matt who just recently got his CFI, from Tailwinds Aviation from the Mobile Regional Airport. We had a good .9 hour flight. Of course I did all the flying. It was the first time I had flown a low-wing airplane in, probably 25 years.
The Plane :
| Manufacturer |
Piper |
| Model |
Cherokee 140 (first manufactured in 1964) |
| Year |
1966 |
| N-Number |
N8486R |
| Engine |
Lycoming 0-320 |
| Pitch Trim |
Ceiling crank |
| Pitch surface |
Stabilator |
| Flaps control |
Lever between the seats |
- After the flight I drove to the nearby FBO, Signature Aviation, where I got my first fans in flight suits (including two in G-suits).
- I never knew printing wirelessly from my computer could be so easy. I wanted to print a Sectional Chart of the Johnston Regional Airport (KJNX) and a few 8-up microposters. After hitting "Print" their HP 3100 Series showed up in my computer's printer list. I simply selected it and it printed.
- Signature became my office until about 5:30.
- Then I headed to Costco Gas before they closed at 7. It is the first time I was able to drive right up to a left-fill pump with no one in line ahead of me.
- After supper at Costco I got a light legs workout in at a Planet Fitness and then drove all the way up to the Saraland Cracker Barrel (about 12 miles) for the night.
- Got to bed at 10:19 for 9:38 hours of sleep
Mon May 20 = After breakfast, I got two new fans (first pic) at the Sarahland AL Walmart.
- I spent most of the rest of the day in the little Smallwood Public Library in Chickasaw, AL.
- Since I had a show cancelation for July 14th, I made 3 calls to veterans' posts. It's not a high priority, but if I can get tomething for the 14th, I'll have shows 10 days in a row.
- After the library closed at 6, I drove down to the Dauphin St Planet Fitness in Mobile for a light arms workout, five new fans (other pics) and took a picture of a growth in my right arm pit.
-
- Got to bed at 10:52 for 9:08 hours of sleep
Tue May 21 = First stop this morning was a nearby Walmart for a couple of things.
- Then to the Dauphin St. Planet Fitness for a new fan and
- poster trim
- weekly trimming of my beard, eye brows and little quiff so I match my poster photos
, a day early since I will be driving to different towns for shows the next five days.
- I poned Nancy Perry in Phoenix. She said my T-shirts are all done and will be shipped out to Kitty Hawk Kites in Avon, NC. Thank you, Nancy!
- I spent most of the afternoon at the Toulminville Library in Mobile, AL doing office stuff and getting a new fan (second pic) until time to go to the Oyster City Brewery for Mike W's open mic. Good supportive audience of 20. Mike gave me 15 minutes and I did 13:49.
- For the night I drove up to the Saraland Cracker Barrel for the night.
- Got to bed about 11:03 for about 9:08 hours of sleep
Wed May 22 = Now I know why I prefer not to drive five or more hours between shows on consecutive nights. Today's drive was about 5.5 hours. With my stops for meals and a nap or two it was a full day of driving from Mobile to Huntsville
- I did make it there in time to spend about an hour at the Cavalry Hill Library until they closed, but did not get my blog updated, so updated it from the Cavalry Hill Community Center. I was a little uneasy because the whole area seems to be nothing but government housing.
- Phat Sammy's, for tonight's open mic was an interesting place, deep down in a basement with a narrow staircase. The crowd was enthusiastic and my Viagra set was a hit, being just right for the audience.
- I left with two comics remaining, but still got to bed late after driving down to theŚ Madison AL Cracker Barrel.
- Got to bed about 12:20 for 8:42 hours of sleep
Thu May 23 = For the first time, ever, I ran my van through one of those automatic car washes with rotating brushes. My theory is that they wear the paint down. However, I had some mud and plenty of bugs on my van and did not have time to hunt down a touchless carwash. So I left Madison, headed south to Hoover, AL (south of Birmingham) with a clean van.
- At 2:00 at the Hoover Library, I started assembling and ordering 12 physical publicity kits to be shhipped out by Office Deptot. It took me about two hours (10 minutes each) to spend $528 on them. With a 30% discount, I should get $158.40 of that back.
- I got to the
Stardome Comedy Club in plenty of time for the booked "open mic." There were actually a few White people in the audience. Eunice Elliott, producer/booker, ran a tight mic. She gave us 7 minutes each. My set was 7:31. The comedians became my fans:
- Got to bed about 11:29for 8:57 hours of sleep
Fri May 24 = Laundry day in the rain at the "Missing Sock Laundramat" in Decatur, AL. High tech with front'loading machines that are better for your clothes. After loading your clothes, you go to their keosk, select your machine, swipe your credit card (or put in cash) and the washer or the drier starts up.
- While my clothes washed I went out to my van and had lunch. Then, while my clothes dried I checked for open mics in North Carolina where I'll be next week.
- I replenienished my supply of grapefruit, tomato sauce with no salt added and frozen vegetables at the Decatur Walmart, found a shade tree near the city library to park under for a 30-minute nap. I must have needed it because I slept like a log.
- Then at the Decatur library I updated by website.
- Then drove to the American Legion Post 15. They have a gigantic hall and no smoking :) and were very supportive. Joseph, the commander is awesome and is good at taking care of details. Bill, and especially Bob, were very helpful in helping me set up and pack up. Since it was my treat night, I had 1/3 piece of each, a pineapple upside down cake and double chocolate cake. DELICIOUS!
- I did a little over an hour show for the 30 audience members and got three new fans.
- Got to bed to the west of the post in time for a little over 9 hours of quiet sleep. The insects enjoyed me a lot more than I enjoyed them.
Sat May 25 = I hung around the Decatur American Legion Post, working on computer stuff untiil noon, then fixed lunch in my van and ate it on the way to Huntsville.
- At the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library I got my website stuff done beore driving to the
American Legion Post 237. The post was very supportive and John was super helpful as my stage hand. Although the audience of 25 was small, they enjoyed the show, laughed a lot and mostly sat at the front.
- This show, the people and their positive comments made me feel lots better about my comedy tour. Just the boost that I needed :) I even got two new fans before the show started.
- For the night, I parked to the west of the post where there would be shade in the morning. However, I did not have a restful night. The bites from the insects that chewed on me last night were itching. I was so drowsy, for the first time ever, I fell asleep momentarily when up to pee. Then at 4:47 in the morning the post burglar alarm went off for five minutes. At 6:00 am there was a lot of activity outside. Apparently some group like the Boy Scouts were leaving on an outing. More activity at about 7:00 am.
- Got to bed at 11:03 for 9:12 hours of sleep
Sun May 26 = I drove with lots of rain today and in four states: AL TN GA NC
- I stopped, as I passed Asheville, NC and phoned my ontact for the American Legion Post 70 there, thinking that I could stop by the post and promote my show which is comming up in two and a half weeks. I'm glad I phoned because the post was closed.
- When I got to Morganton, NC on the way to their Walmart I stumbled across a Planet Fitness. They had just closed but there was a mailbox nearby, so I wrote and mailed thank you notes for my last two shows.
- My office this evening was in my van in the Morganton Walmart parking lot where I spent way too much time on this blog, updated the Garmin Connect software I use with my GPS and attempted to update the software on my Garmin Vivoactive
- Got to bed at 12:45 (now EDT) for 9:01 hours of sleep
Mon May 27 = After breakfast I found the absolutely best place to park my van for my office: in the Morgan Walmart parking lot near the store between the Pharmacy and the Garden Center. There I had good wifi and the shade of a tree until 11am so I took care of my blog and got a new fan - my first gun-toting public service (police) officer (first pic).
- Today's driving got me to Northwest Raleigh, NC and the only gym that was open this Memorial Day evening: Anytime Fitness where I did a brief light legs workout and got the manager as a new fan (second pic).
- It was a spacious club but they had no table, so later in the evening, I spent about two hours, straddling a bench in their changing room working on my website and getting two more fans (third pic).
- I threw all my overnight planning out the window and spent the night in the parking lot out front. There was a row of tall trees to the east that provided shade until about 10 in the morning :)
- Got to bed at 12:11 for 8:50 hours of sleep
Tue May 28 = First stop this morning was a Summit Credit Union branch to deposit T-shirt cash. I skipped Costco Gas since I had enough for the day and drive about 33 miles directly to Blueline Aviation at the Johnston Regional Airport in Smithfield, NC.
- Blueline is a very active flight school. They run a tight ship. Ryan Enwald was my "instructor" for the flight. About a year ago I first saw a Diamond and started dreaming of flying one some day.
This was my first time flying a Diamond DA40: and my first time flying a plane...
| with a control stick instead of a control wheel |
| running on Jet-A fuel |
| with no prop control for its variable pitch prop,controlled by the Engine Control Computer |
| with an Engine-Control Computer |
| with an automatic engine run-up, including cycling the prop |
| with no magnetos |
| with a Deisel engine |
| with water cooled engine |
| that fed fuel from only the left tank because it had a crossfeed fuel pump from the right tank |
Wikipedia: The Diamond DA40 Diamond Star is an Austrian four-seat, single-engine, light aircraft constructed from composite materials. Built in both Austria and Canada, it was developed as a four-seat version of the earlier two seat DA20 by Diamond Aircraft Industries.
- After a late lunch I got gas at the Costco in northern Raleigh and drove up to a Walmart, also in northern Raleigh, NC.
- Got to bed at 11:35 for 9:07 hours of sleep
Wed May 29 = This morning I refilled my van's running water supply tank from Walmart's water filling station.
- The Triangle Planet Fitness charged me $5 for my visit, which included a heavy legs workout and a
- poster trim
- weekly trimming of my beard, eye brows and little quiff so I match my poster photos
a shower and trimming my toenails.
- It is only the second gym that I have ever seen that had a sign in the entry to the men's locker room, "Woman working in the Men's locker room." You'd think that a large club like Planet Fitness would respect the men's locker room and figure out a way to have mem working in the men's room. I just did my normal thing and never saw a woman in there.
- Before leaving I recorded and posted social Media announcement of toniight's open mic at
Ancillary Fermentation;
1420 Hardimont Road;
Raleigh, NC 27609.
- At the open mic Michael Platt, the host, gave me 10 minutes for my set. He told me of two later open mics so I made it a three-mic night
- Second mic was the
Tap Yard, an unbelievably actively place with around 200 people at picnic tables in the open air area. Inside, for the open mic we had 18 audience.
- The third open mic was at
The Haymaker, the most efficient and high tech open mic I have ever seen.
- After my set I sold a T-shirt and headed out to get some sleep at Cabela's in Gardner (SE of Raleigh).
- Today I got six new fans.
- Got to bed at 1:06 for 8:38 hours of sleep
Thu Mao 30 = I got today's first fan (first pic) before leaving Cabela's.
- At Raleigh's Southwest Library today, I reserved my night spots with the National Park's Frisco Campground. I ran against their stay limit with three nights with no place to park for the night (June 22-24). Cape Point Campground in Buston is closed due to flooding so I could not schedule there.
- Both open mics tonight were fun:
- Wes ran a good show at
Crafty Beer, Wine & Spirits with a well run "bucket" list, drawing 4 names at a time for our four-minute sets. His opening set was particularly creative. I got two new fans (second pic).
- Dyson, the host at
House of Art did something that no one had ever done before. He had the audience get out their cell phones and search for "America's Favorite Old Man" which, of course showed me as #1. Thanks, Dyson! My set was a fun six minutes. The security guard there became my latest fan (last pic).
- Got to bed at 1:11am at the Town Center Walmart for 8:55 hours of sleep with some morning shade.
Fri May 31 = Spectacular! Today was the last one of three with seven open mics which added 203 to my total audience count, Mostly thanks to Mike, local comedian and host of the open mic at Ancillary Fermentation in Raleigh. He told me of additional open mics. By the end of the three days I had a bunch of new comedian friends.
- At Raleigh's North Regional Library, after eating lunch in the parking lot and taking a nap, I got a new fan (first pic), added to my Fan web page, added eight email addresses to my list from some people here in Raleigh, updated my Past Appearances etc.
- I got to the
Vault Craft Beer in time to find that the onile sign-up was, of course, past. Izzy, the host graciously had me open the show. It was a good responsive crowd of 43. After selling a T-shirt or so and geting two new fans (second pic) I headed northwest to Durham.
- I got to the
Durty Bull at about 9pm and the open mic was nearing the half-way point. Ebony, the host let me open the last half of the show for the audience of 52, largest for the month. I did my Yoga routine. I sold some T-shirts and got two new fans (last two pics)
- After the show I drove down to the Cracker Barrel in Morrisville NC for the night - perfect shade but jet noise, being off the end of the runway of the airport.
- Got to bed at 12:14 for 9:94 hours of sleep
- According to Google, here's where I went in May:
