Hello from Rochester, MN
Tuesday evening , September 17, 2013 (First travelogue of this trip).
I am in Rochester, MN at the Hampton Inn (map).
As you may recall, I was in Seattle last week. I got home late Friday night and left of this trip Sunday afternoon (left the house about 9:30). Just enough time for Pat to wash my clothes.
This week I am “auditing” a vibration analysis class. This class is new to NTT and two of us will be prepared to teach the class. I am excited about this subject, as I did some related work when I was with Gates. It is a pretty technical subject and will be a bit of a challenge to teach it to non-engineers.
I will be here for three days. The customer, an independent power generation plant is out in the boondocks in very beautiful farmland. The weather yesterday was great, but today it is misting rain and pretty cool.
As I write this, things are going crazy with my schedule. Pending some decisions by NTT, I could be in Seattle the first four weeks in October and traveling with Pat (via car) back to Seattle the fifth week. Quite a bit of this “overload” is to bring me up to speed on two classes involving 3 and 5 axis machining centers. When I first heard about these classes, I kind of wished I was involved, and it looks like that will happen. You can't believe how many times I have said “be careful what you wish for.....”
Getting prepared to teach these new classes (I am already on the schedule to teach them in the next three months) is really challenging my love to learn new things. My poor old tired brain is really squirming inside this old bald head {big grin}.
That is all for this trip.
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Hello from Kent, WA
Hello from Kent, WA
Thursday evening , September 12, 2013 (First travelogue of this trip).
Well, I am back in the Seattle area again this week. I left Denver Sunday morning and am staying at the now familiar Holiday Inn in Kent, WA (map). Not very fancy, but it is convenient and the folks are friendly.
This week I am teaching Shaft Alignment (Monday and Tuesday) and Mechanical Drives the last three days. This week the classes are being held at the Boeing Auburn “Craft College” on the early shift (class begins at 6:00AM). The advantage to teaching the early class is that the building does not get really hot until after we are done. The bad news is that I have to set the alarm for 4:00.
Both classes had several young apprentices for the maintenance program. I talked to them in some detail and they have a very structured curriculum (4 years I think). They make wonderful students, as they are eager to learn. Boeing has 40 folks just starting the program and are looking to hire 20 more. Like a lot of companies, Boeing is facing a significant population of folks qualified for retirement in the next couple of years. I think that bodes well for NTT.
Yesterday Seattle hit a record temperature of over 90 degrees. That is very unusual for this time of year. Indeed, 90 degrees is not the norm – even in the summer months.
I have been keeping track of the horrible weather in Denver. The national news (even the local TV station) has shown videos of the extremely heavy rain and terrible flooding. I fly home tomorrow and they are warning of delayed flights {frown}.
That is all for this trip.
Thursday evening , September 12, 2013 (First travelogue of this trip).
Well, I am back in the Seattle area again this week. I left Denver Sunday morning and am staying at the now familiar Holiday Inn in Kent, WA (map). Not very fancy, but it is convenient and the folks are friendly.
This week I am teaching Shaft Alignment (Monday and Tuesday) and Mechanical Drives the last three days. This week the classes are being held at the Boeing Auburn “Craft College” on the early shift (class begins at 6:00AM). The advantage to teaching the early class is that the building does not get really hot until after we are done. The bad news is that I have to set the alarm for 4:00.
Both classes had several young apprentices for the maintenance program. I talked to them in some detail and they have a very structured curriculum (4 years I think). They make wonderful students, as they are eager to learn. Boeing has 40 folks just starting the program and are looking to hire 20 more. Like a lot of companies, Boeing is facing a significant population of folks qualified for retirement in the next couple of years. I think that bodes well for NTT.
Yesterday Seattle hit a record temperature of over 90 degrees. That is very unusual for this time of year. Indeed, 90 degrees is not the norm – even in the summer months.
I have been keeping track of the horrible weather in Denver. The national news (even the local TV station) has shown videos of the extremely heavy rain and terrible flooding. I fly home tomorrow and they are warning of delayed flights {frown}.
That is all for this trip.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Hello from Gunnison, CO
Hello from Gunnison, CO
Drafted: Tuesday morning Sept. 3, 2013 (eighth travelogue of this trip).
Posted: Tuesday evening Sept. 10, 2013
Sunday we drove from Grand Junction to Gunnison. We are staying at the Rodeway Inn (map). Our stop here is very special – to visit our two grandsons who attend Western State Colorado University (link). It was a fairly short drive and we were able to have a late lunch with Thomas and Austin and their girlfriends (Klara and Kai). That evening, we went to McDonalds to have an ice cream cone. The reason I mention this is because both Thomas and Austin work there and both just got promoted to “swing manager”. About the time we were going to take their picture, the restaurant got very busy {frown}.
Monday, we got to spend quite a bit of the day with Thomas and Klara. Klara was born and raised in Crested Butte, CO. Pat, Thomas and I drove up there to have lunch with Klara and then we went to the coffee shop where she works and had a great cup of coffee. That evening, we had a wonderful dinner with them.
Tuesday we met with Austin for a few minutes before leaving. The photo below was taken as we dropped him off at Western.
We then got a quick tour of Hurst Hall where Thomas takes most of his geology classes. The photo below was taken in one of the labs where he was preparing a geology map of one of the oil fields in Wyoming.
We follow our good friend's full time travels in their email blog. Stevi and Ed post some great photos – many of which are very artistic. I can't begin to duplicate their skills, but I thought I had better post something a bit artsy. The photo below is of a rock that has “water pockets” that look kind of cool. In Capitol Reef, there are whole cliffs covered by what the ranger called water pockets. As I looked for a good reference, I find that the “creation” of the rock formation resulted from what is called the “Waterpocket Fold” (link). Here is the picture:
I wanted to talk a bit about the formation of the “Colorado Plateau”. This plateau is the huge area that contains Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Arches and Canyon Lands. The link above has a pretty good description of the formation of the plateau. Parts of the area were “raised” over 7000 feet and millions of years of erosion have formed the beautiful areas that are now National Parks.
Being old is not all bad. When I turned 62, we obtained a “Golden Age Passport”. It gives us free admission to all National Parks. On this trip, we toured five of them. In each of the parks, at the visitor centers, they have wonderful movies that tell about the parks. Most are about 20 minutes long and are very professionally done.
We returned home on Tuesday 9/3/13. That was one day short of four weeks. Part of the trip was very hectic (at least for me – working) and the rest was quite relaxing. We visited some of the most beautiful sights on this planet (at least we think so).
I have to apologize for the late delivery of the final post of this travelogue. Things have been very hectic. I was home for just a few days and then flew to Seattle – back to the hectic life {grin}
Till next time.
Drafted: Tuesday morning Sept. 3, 2013 (eighth travelogue of this trip).
Posted: Tuesday evening Sept. 10, 2013
Sunday we drove from Grand Junction to Gunnison. We are staying at the Rodeway Inn (map). Our stop here is very special – to visit our two grandsons who attend Western State Colorado University (link). It was a fairly short drive and we were able to have a late lunch with Thomas and Austin and their girlfriends (Klara and Kai). That evening, we went to McDonalds to have an ice cream cone. The reason I mention this is because both Thomas and Austin work there and both just got promoted to “swing manager”. About the time we were going to take their picture, the restaurant got very busy {frown}.
Monday, we got to spend quite a bit of the day with Thomas and Klara. Klara was born and raised in Crested Butte, CO. Pat, Thomas and I drove up there to have lunch with Klara and then we went to the coffee shop where she works and had a great cup of coffee. That evening, we had a wonderful dinner with them.
Tuesday we met with Austin for a few minutes before leaving. The photo below was taken as we dropped him off at Western.
We then got a quick tour of Hurst Hall where Thomas takes most of his geology classes. The photo below was taken in one of the labs where he was preparing a geology map of one of the oil fields in Wyoming.
We follow our good friend's full time travels in their email blog. Stevi and Ed post some great photos – many of which are very artistic. I can't begin to duplicate their skills, but I thought I had better post something a bit artsy. The photo below is of a rock that has “water pockets” that look kind of cool. In Capitol Reef, there are whole cliffs covered by what the ranger called water pockets. As I looked for a good reference, I find that the “creation” of the rock formation resulted from what is called the “Waterpocket Fold” (link). Here is the picture:
I wanted to talk a bit about the formation of the “Colorado Plateau”. This plateau is the huge area that contains Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Arches and Canyon Lands. The link above has a pretty good description of the formation of the plateau. Parts of the area were “raised” over 7000 feet and millions of years of erosion have formed the beautiful areas that are now National Parks.
Being old is not all bad. When I turned 62, we obtained a “Golden Age Passport”. It gives us free admission to all National Parks. On this trip, we toured five of them. In each of the parks, at the visitor centers, they have wonderful movies that tell about the parks. Most are about 20 minutes long and are very professionally done.
We returned home on Tuesday 9/3/13. That was one day short of four weeks. Part of the trip was very hectic (at least for me – working) and the rest was quite relaxing. We visited some of the most beautiful sights on this planet (at least we think so).
I have to apologize for the late delivery of the final post of this travelogue. Things have been very hectic. I was home for just a few days and then flew to Seattle – back to the hectic life {grin}
Till next time.
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Hello from Torrey, Utah
Hello from Torrey, Utah
Drafted: Friday evening August 30, 2013
Finished: Sunday morning Sept. 1, 2013 (Seventh travelogue of this trip).
Thursday we toured Bryce Canyon and then drove to Torrey, UT. We are staying two nights at the Broken Spur Inn (map).
Bryce Canyon is another spectacular National Park. One of the distinctions between Zion and Bryce is that you are on the floor of the canyons in Zion, while you view Bryce from the top. Both are magnificent!
In Bryce National Park, we took the shuttle to Bryce Point and then drove the car about 18 miles out to Rainbow Point. Everywhere you looked the views were magical and quite varied. Without question, I could post 100s of pictures and not do any of the park's beauty justice. Indeed, my rather simple camera can't begin to capture what the eye sees. That said, here are two pictures that attempt to show the spectacular beauty of the park:
The trip from Bryce Canyon to Torrey is via Utah 12 which is designated a Scenic Byway (link). Wikipedia describes it: “ …. also known as "Highway 12 — A Journey Through Time Scenic Byway", is a state highway designated an All-American Road”. Indeed, it is a magnificent 120 mile drive. Part of the highway is designated “the hogback”. It is a narrow road with steep drop-offs on each side. I tried to find photos or Youtube videos that adequately describe that area, but could find none that depict that part of the drive. The drop-offs are at least a couple of hundred feet. It gives a new meaning to “pucker power”. You could spend several days exploring the side routes, but we were tired and wanted to get to Torrey.
Friday we drove to Capitol Reef National park. That is a short distance from Torrey. The park straddles Utah 24 and has several “pull-outs” that allow you to take pictures of beautiful rock formations. One side trip to Goosenecks Overlook” lets you look down into a steep canyon where the river has carved several bends that do indeed look like goose necks. Part of the park is the historic site of Fruita. A few of the buildings have been restored and one cabin is used as a small museum.
Most of the sites describing the park talk about driving the 10 mile “Scenic Drive” road. When we got to the end, there was an open gate that let us take a dirt road into a narrow, steep canyon. On the map is is called “Capitol Gorge”. At times the road is the riverbed. It would not be a good place to be if a rain storm came up. By far, it was more picturesque than the “Scenic Drive”. I took several picture trying to capture how small the car was in relationship to the steep canyon walls. Unfortunately, the perspective of the car in the photos does not begin to show the height of the canyon walls. Here are a couple of photos:
As noted in the beginning, I am late in finishing this post. Indeed, we are in Grand Junction at the Candlewood Suites (map). I will try to catch up in the next post.
That is all for now.
Drafted: Friday evening August 30, 2013
Finished: Sunday morning Sept. 1, 2013 (Seventh travelogue of this trip).
Thursday we toured Bryce Canyon and then drove to Torrey, UT. We are staying two nights at the Broken Spur Inn (map).
Bryce Canyon is another spectacular National Park. One of the distinctions between Zion and Bryce is that you are on the floor of the canyons in Zion, while you view Bryce from the top. Both are magnificent!
In Bryce National Park, we took the shuttle to Bryce Point and then drove the car about 18 miles out to Rainbow Point. Everywhere you looked the views were magical and quite varied. Without question, I could post 100s of pictures and not do any of the park's beauty justice. Indeed, my rather simple camera can't begin to capture what the eye sees. That said, here are two pictures that attempt to show the spectacular beauty of the park:
Typical Bryce Canyon View
Natural Bridge at Bryce
Friday we drove to Capitol Reef National park. That is a short distance from Torrey. The park straddles Utah 24 and has several “pull-outs” that allow you to take pictures of beautiful rock formations. One side trip to Goosenecks Overlook” lets you look down into a steep canyon where the river has carved several bends that do indeed look like goose necks. Part of the park is the historic site of Fruita. A few of the buildings have been restored and one cabin is used as a small museum.
Most of the sites describing the park talk about driving the 10 mile “Scenic Drive” road. When we got to the end, there was an open gate that let us take a dirt road into a narrow, steep canyon. On the map is is called “Capitol Gorge”. At times the road is the riverbed. It would not be a good place to be if a rain storm came up. By far, it was more picturesque than the “Scenic Drive”. I took several picture trying to capture how small the car was in relationship to the steep canyon walls. Unfortunately, the perspective of the car in the photos does not begin to show the height of the canyon walls. Here are a couple of photos:
One view of Capitol Gorge Road
Another View Of Capitol Gorge Road
(note: car is 1/4 mile from the distant cliff --
prospective does not properly show height of cliffs)
That is all for now.
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