Home from the Road

Posted Mon Jul 26, 2010 in

Austin, NevadaWe are home and finally off the road. It is good to be in my own house and I’m looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight. The trip was good and the work was good and it was good to see friends and my kids. But, it’s so good to be home.

We left Ely this morning at a reasonable time — maybe 0900 or so. The extra hour from the time change crossing into Nevada yesterday was a boon. I think we all rose a little earlier. It meant we got onto the road earlier and that is a good thing.

We had rain most of the morning and into the afternoon. We had medium to heavy showers driving through the basin and range country. The spray from some of the heavy trucks made passing difficult. But, we made good time and kept after it.

I should have stopped in Eureka to refuel. But, it was raining and there was utility construction — the road was all torn up. I gaged the remaining fuel and believed we would have plenty to get to Austin with a safety factor. So, we kept moving.

I will say I was a little nervous climbing the range just east from Austin. The reserve fuel indicator was illuminated. I thought we’d have 20 miles to spare, at the least. Still, I don’t like having less than a quarter-tank of fuel in Nevada. There is a whole lot of nothing out there.

But, we rolled down the west side of the range into Austin, being careful because local LEO likes to write speeding tickets to improve local finances. We pulled into the station and I refueled while Wife and Young Son took a bio-break. About the time I finished refueling, Young Son exited the facility. So I gave him the car keys and he gave me the head key. “Think you can pull the car over there?” I asked, indicating the flat parking area just west from the depot.

He nodded, “Yes.” So, I watched him climb into the pilot’s seat and fire up the engine. He rev’ed the engine pretty hard. “Damn that sounds good,” I thought to myself, also grinning because he forgot to engage the transmission.

I watched him pull the vehicle to the side, being careful to maneuver between things. It was easy and he handled it well. He’ll do fine.

After my bio-break, I entered the store to see if the coffee was fresh. It was still cool and I was tired. Fortunately, the attendant was just brewing fresh, which made me very happy. They even had mini-moos for lightener. I picked out a ham-and-cheese sandwich for a snack, paid, and headed back for the car.

Wife and I teased Young Son about forgetting to engage the transmission. That was fun. Wife unwrapped the sandwich while I pulled back onto U.S. 50 heading west. I was happy to have fuel and glad for the break. I munched my sandwich while watching for the local LEO in case he set up somewhere in town where the limit is 25 mph.

We exited town and I ran the cruise back up to 80 mph (GPS clocked — the speedometer is 4 mph slow). We put on some music, munched, and chatted a bit. The rain let up on the west side of Austin. Visibility was good, road conditions were good, and traffic was fairly light. Wife and Young Son dozed, as they often do.

Some miles west from Austin I came on a Suburban emblazoned with the claim “Best seamstress in the World” on the side. The tag read SEXAUER, whatever the hell that is. It was a PRK tag as well. That probably explains everything — the land of fruits, flakes, and nuts. The van was just pulling back onto the highway from the shoulder, so I passed.

A few miles down the road, the Sub pulled in behind me, but too close for highway speeds. I thought “350 miles of damned-near empty road, and this ID-10-T is tailgating me.” We caught up to a pickup truck with a couple of bikes in the bed, so I passed and watched. Yep, the tailgater tailgated the other truck. It hung behind the truck a long time before passing and eventually catching up to me, falling in behind me again.

“Shit.” What I didn’t want was someone that close to my tail. If I needed to brake hard (oncoming LEO) then it would not be good. Especially given the Sub-driver appeared to be brain-dead. So, I backed off the accelerator more and more until I was running about 60 mph. The other driver took the hint, passed me, and motored on.

It wasn’t very far down the road before the Sub-driver pulled in behind the next slow-mover and did the same thing — hanging on their tail about 40 feet back, much too close to react at highway speeds and too close to see around to pass. I caught up too and stayed a couple hundred feet back, watching.

The Sub-driver wouldn’t pass. I have no idea why, because there were several opportunities.

“I don’t trust that driver,” Wife said, “if you pull out to pass, he’ll probably pull out at the same time.”

“I’ll tap the horn so they know we’re coming past…” I waited for a clear spot, laid on the accelerator, and tapped the horn a couple of times as I passed. I fell back into my lane and watched. Soon, the Sub-driver decided to pass too, pulled out, and executed a pass.

Figuring the driver would do the same thing to me again, I hammered it hoping I could put enough distance between me and the Sub-driver so I could fall back to my target speed and run without a tailgater.

After passing a couple more slow-movers, there was 1–2 miles between us and I backed off some, re-engaging the cruise control. But, the driver gained on me so I pressed it a little harder and ran pretty hot all the way to Fallon, where I finally lost the Sub-driver.

Good riddance. Tailgaters who won’t pass and then do and won’t go make me very nervous.

We considered stopping Fallon for a bite, but none of us were really hungry so we continued on toward home. Traffic west from Fallon and east from Carson City tends to be a bit heavier, so more care is required. Traffic wasn’t very heavy until we were approaching Dayton so we made good time.

We ran into rain again near Dayton — a group of thundershowers formed up over the Carson Range near Minden and were advancing northwest. The overcast sky kept the temperature moderate and made driving easy on the eyes. We broke for a bite at the DQ in Carson City, then stopped to refuel the last time and drove the remainder of the way home.

We had thundershowers and a bit of hail here at the house. It reminded me both of Texas and an afternoon long ago in Missouri when Dad, Daughter, and I stood on Dad’s front porch watching a thunderstorm. That wasn’t long before Dad died and is one of my favorite memories of time spent with him and Daughter.

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To Lubbock, Again

Posted Mon Jul 19, 2010 in

We are in Lubbock, again. We drove in over the weekend. I have work to do; Wife and Young Son will play. Older Son and DiL are here on vacation, so we’ll have some family time.

The trip in wasn’t bad at all. We left a little late, getting away about 1500 Friday (I’m always surprised how long those last couple of errands require) and drove to Ely, Nevada. We like to stay over in Ely and it makes the next two days much easier than trying to drive it in two.

The travel over Nevada is always amazing. This time of year the snow is gone from the mountains, but many of the slopes retain some green from the earlier dose of moisture. The roads are decent enough (we usually drive U.S. 50), there is little traffic, and law enforcement is usually close to the small towns that are about 100-miles apart. The radar detector alerts us in plenty of time and the GPS (TomTom 730) provides information about places to stay, food, and fuel.

Saturday night we stopped over in Farmington, New Mexico. There is a Holiday Inn Express there that is reasonably-priced and clean. We like it. The drive from Ely to Farmington was pretty easy as well. We hit a really hard shower just west from Green River. It cleaned the windshield well and cooled the drive for a hundred miles or so.

Temperature in the storm was about 60F. Once we cleared the storm again, the heat rose and stayed between 95–105F most of the way in. There was only one bit of construction, on U.S. 191 just north from Moab. That was also our first tag by LEO radar. The Passport alerted us in plenty of time and the officer passed us at police speed.

South from Moab we had about 20 miles of traffic before it thinned out. The remainder of the way to Shiprock (New Mexico) wasn’t too bad. There were a few heavy trucks, but there are lots of places to pass. U.S. 491 is a decent road most of the way, except for a stretch near Cortez, where the road is not in very good condition.

The stretch of U.S. 54 between Shiprock and Farmington was heavily patrolled. We counted four active radars (and the offices operating them) over a ten-mile stretch of road. My guess is that they get a lot of revenue from this portion of the road and so they patrol it heavily.

It sure was good to get out of the car for the night. I was really road-weary and I think Wife was suffering a bit. It’s hard on her to be stationary so long.

Sunday was hard. I woke late and was tired. The late start Friday and the long day Saturday weighed. We got away late — it was about 0930 before we left the hotel parking lot (Holiday Inn Express in Farmington, recommended) and about 1000 before we left town. We had to stop for fuel before leaving town as well. But, refueled and as-ready-as-could-be for the road, we headed out.

The Passport sang as we left town, but the signal wasn’t very strong. I suspect we had an LEO behind us somewhere, because the signal came and went several times over the next five or ten miles. I set the cruise for 80 mph (by the GPS; the car speedometer is about 4 mph fast) and went for it.

We paused in Cuba for a bio-break and to walk around the car for a few minutes. Refreshed, we headed back out. I posted to Twitter my location several times along the way. I even included a few images.

We blew through Albuquerque and then paused about six miles east from Cline’s Corners at the Texas Rest Stop there (DQ). I made an image of the Flying C Ranch (what the call the place) and took a few images of the stuffed (?) bear in the tourist trap souvenir store. Then we grabbed a bite at the DQ, then climbed back into the car and motored on.

On the interstate, we cruised at 85 mph. We crossed paths with one LEO, but there was so much traffic that we were basically invisible. We made good time.

We blew through Ft. Sumner (actually, I slowed quite a bit :) after stopping to refuel. The remainder of the trip was just a matter of grinding it out. I was tired, it was hot, and I was done.

We rolled into Lubbock about 1900 local time. I was glad to be done with that part of the trip.

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Retaining Wall

Posted Mon May 3, 2010 in

Retaining WallWe spent the day with the kids here in Denver. It started with breakfast at Perkins, which is next to the La Quinta. We puttered around the room, with the boys playing XBox and the remainder of us either kibitzing or napping. I prefer the napping.

We stepped out of the room to go find a used bookstore DiL heard about. Older Son talked about riding the K-rail that bounds the west side of the hotel property. While we were walking the rail, I noticed a lot of tension cracks in the asphalt. The tension cracks mean that the foundation failed. My suspicion is that a retaining wall shifted.

I stepped to the south end of the K-rail and looked. Sure enough, the segment of the cantilever retaining wall north from the section on which I stood was shifted, maybe three inches or so. The wall was tilted from the base. So, either the steel connection at the footing was weak or broken, or the design was insufficient to contain the loading on the backfill.

I pointed these things out to Older Son. I’m not sure what he thought, but he has enough mechanical sense to see that the tilting was a bad thing and not what was supposed to happen.

I doubt the foundation of the hotel structure is affected. I see no sign of cracking that would so indicate. So, it’s just a local issue and probably not terribly significant, except for the hotel’s pavement on the west side of their building.

The bookstore was fun, but I was overwhelmed. There was too much to take in and so I wandered a bit, then returned to the car to rest. We grabbed a bite at the A&W nearby, then returned to the hotel, where I promptly fell asleep. I slept hard for a couple of hours, which is unusual for me. I normally power-nap in the afternoon, but I guess all the travel finally caught up with me.

I don’t know what Monday will bring, but I suspect we’ll find something to do. Then Tuesday we head out hard again. I have some work to finish up and then work on whatever is next.

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Denver Sunday Morning

Posted Sun May 2, 2010 in

Boise City, OKI’m sitting in the La Quinta on Colorado Avenue in Denver, Colorado. (Heh… I just switched out for the Bluetooth keyboard — much better…) We made it in late last night (too late for this old man), but the trip wasn’t too hard. We paused a couple of times along the way for a bio-break. One of those stops was in Boise City, Oklahoma (deep in the Oklahoma panhandle). It was a Texas rest stop (DQ) and I had a few minutes to wander the parking lot. I made an image of the edge of town. I think it reflects this portion of the country — heavily agriculture.

We hit road construction west from Wild Horse. They had a segment of Highway 287 shut down. A pilot car led us along the southbound shoulder. I’m not certain how long the highway segment was, but it was at least a couple of miles long. Given the long line of traffic, we elected to pause at the next rest stop (a few miles down the road), let the traffic string out, and take a break. OK, I needed to pee. So there…

The little Bimmer did well on fuel. Pushing the speed limit, it still made 27mpg (3.7g/100 miles), so I had plenty of fuel to make it to Denver. Interstate 70 was basically clear, with only a couple of false alerts (probably local enforcement off-highway) and so we made good time.

The new SueSue (TomTom 730) has a new feature in the software — it provides a visual indication of which lane to be in when in urban areas. I appreciate this feature because it can be difficult to make that determination when in traffic and unfamiliar territory. She (SueSue) did good.

While working south on I-225, a fire truck coded on one of the exit ramps. The pickup truck in front of him didn’t know what to do, so the driver hit the air horns and he moved over (finally). The ID-10-Ts on the interstate then braked (stupid, stupid, stupid) and the second vehicle in front of me braked IN THE LEFT LANE to stop, forcing an emergency stop in the following vehicle and one for me. I braked hard (but didn’t actuate the anti-locks) and moved a little to the right to provide room to stop adjacent to the slowing vehicles. The second ID-10-T in the right lane also decided to stop (Argh!), throwing the entire traffic flow into chaos for an emergency vehicle ON THE EXIT FROM THE FREAKIN’ HIGHWAY.

I had room, the vehicle to my right jammed too far right, but the following vehicle missed him (and also leaned on the horn and there was a shimmer of ionized air around the vehicle), and all ended well, if spooky. There was plenty of room if folks had driven wisely. Unfortunately, they didn’t but it ended well anyway.

Although suffering from the adrenalin boost, the remainder of the trip was uneventful. We were about five miles out from the hotel when the incident occurred. We had an easy late supper with the kids, then headed to the hotel where they played a bit and I tried to settle down.

Young Son decided to go with Older Son and DiL to their place to play games. I think it’s good for him.

Now Wife is in the shower and I need to get there next. We’ll gather up the crew and get some food. I need to think a bit about what I want to do today. That partly depends on others, but if there is anything I want to do here, I need to make it known.

Good morning!

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Bivariate Distributions

Posted Fri Apr 16, 2010 in

East from MarysvilleI had trouble sleeping last night. Maybe it was because of a strange bed, maybe because of the nighttime city noises, or maybe it was just the noise in my head. I don’t know. I woke about 0300 thinking about things, rolled over, and finally went back to sleep.

I work for real about 0530–0600, rose, noticed Wife sleeping peacefully, and made coffee in the in-room machine. The coffee smelled OK, so I figured it would be OK if the water was decent. It was.

I puttered around clearing my head and preparing for the day. Each of us showered and packed our things for the next bit. We walked to the office for some breakfast. They had some eggs and sausage, which was decent enough. A little cereal helped as well.

We drove to my friend’s office and I got settled in to take care of email and other contact duties for the day. Although I’m not in the office, I am not off-duty. There was email and a phone call to handle, so I did. I can deal with the remainder of things next week when I return to the office.

My friend gathered us up and we drove the short distance to Davis, California. It’s a college town — in California. What more can I see? There were plenty of fruits, flakes, and nuts in attendance. I was amused.

We grabbed a sandwich from a neat little deli and sat outside munching. It was good — the munching, the talk, and the air. With the bit of food, we walked to the Hydrologic Engineering Center, arriving about 15-minutes early.

I immediately began the set up so I would be ready to start on time. My POC, Beth, retrieved the IT person because of the standing orders “do not disconnect the projector from the computer.” When he arrived, he asked “do you have your dongle — I see you do.1“ I tried not to laugh, mostly managing to hide the giggle.

It took only a few minutes to get things working and I brought up the presentation. The technician remarked, “That’s a nice presenter display!” when he saw the Keynote presenter’s screen on the computer and the display on the screen.

“It’s good to work with, especially because I don’t have to always look over my shoulder to see my points or graphs and I can see the next slide up.” It’s true that I think Keynote is a better tool than Powerpoint. I work hard to keep my presentations simple and clean.

The director introduced me and we got started. The initial part of my talk was recycled from a number of other presentations, so I know that material pretty well. It only took about 20 minutes to work through it. The second part of the material was more challenging, both to present and to understand. I actually put some mathematics on the panel, because I thought there would be some who could understand it and might want to see the work. I should also make a PDF of my talk to share with the group attending.

I found a few holes in my slides. There was a lot of material to present and some of it needs some additional graphical support. Before I do this talk again, I’ll add some slides to demonstrate the bivariate probability integral transform and how it applies to the assessment of fit using copula technology. I’m still thinking about how to use the BPIT with the standard distributions. I think there is a solution there, but I’m not certain what it is — yet. I hope to figure it out.

The second part of the talk took about an hour. Then my POC, Beth, had a number of questions for me as she worked through some of the material. We went back through my slides and talked about what I’d learned. I think I’m cutting edge on some of this material, at least for the moment. I need to get a paper put together and in publication soon, before the material becomes stale. It’s worthy of publication.

There remains a lot yet to do. The problem isn’t completely solved and there is an entirely different line of investigation to pursue. I know what it is. The question is whether I can find someone to fund it.

Now we’re at a Comfort Suites in Marysville, California. I lived here with my parents for a year about 40-years ago. In the morning, I think we’ll drive around town a little (early) before we head east. I think we’ll drive northeast along SH 20 toward Grass Valley, then turn more northerly along SH 49 on our way home through the mountains. It should be a pretty day and a pretty drive. I’m looking forward to it.

1 Some MacBook Pros have a DVI output; some have a special connector. Mine has a DVI output, but a carry a DVI->VGA adapter (dongle) just in case.

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Sacramento, California

Posted Thu Apr 15, 2010 in

SacramentoWell here we are in Sacramento, California1. We drove over the hill this morning so I could visit the Department of Safety of Dams (DOSD). I needed to find some of the engineering data on a couple of dams in eastern California for my boss. I’m glad I came early — there was a lot to go through.

In a few minutes we’ll meet a friend to go to supper. I’m looking forward to that. I’m starting to get bored here in the room. I don’t do well when I’m bored.

Tomorrow I’ll go visit the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Hydrologic Engineering Center. I’m giving a talk on bivariate probability distributions for analyzing the joint probability of concurrent flooding. It will be a two-fer; the first portion is a talk I’m recycling from a couple of other presentations. The second part will be new and technical. I’m not entirely pleased with the outcome, but it is a reasonable piece of work that was the best we could do with the allotted time and money.

There remains more work to do on the problem, but I think we pushed the problem farther down the road that it was. When I’m done, I think we’ll wander around Davis a bit. I don’t think Wife has been there. Then I’m tempted to drive north to Marysville/Yuba City, maybe spend the night there, and then drive home Saturday via SH 20. It would be interesting to see another part of the state from a very different perspective.

I’ll think about it. Now I’m getting hungry.

1 I tried, unsuccessfully, to refrain from using the term “Peoples Republik of Kalifornia” — I tried, really.

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Monterey Trip Epilogue

Posted Sat Mar 6, 2010 in

California HillsI suppose I should bring the travelogue to closure. The end was like many ends — a winding down to something approximating an anticlimax. Wife and Young Son packed the bulk of their things Friday night; mine was mostly done. We rose modestly early Saturday morning, performed our morning ablutions, and loaded the Bimmer for the trip home.

Wife and I took Young Son to breakfast at Toasties. He wasn’t exactly a-lert, but we still enjoyed our breakfast. Then it was off on the road for the trip home. Wife and I were a little nervous about road conditions because snow was forecast for the Sierra. At this time of year, there can be snow in the passes and the Bimmer is two-wheel drive and no chains.

We drove through showers on our way across the California countryside. It was obvious to me what brought the early folks to California — the hills are beautiful in the spring. They are green and rough and simply gorgeous. It works for me!

PlacervilleWe stopped in Placerville, California for a break at Mel’s Diner1. I needed a break and Young Son needed to take his pills. My ears were suffering because of my congestion. They would not clear. Young Son complained as well. (I’m so glad I wasn’t flying!) I had a strawberry shake. It was good, but not as good as the strawberry shake from Sonic!

It was a good break and the last one before home. Placerville is about 60 miles from South Lake Tahoe and about 100 miles from the house. We knew the roads were OK and it was just time to slug it out. So, we headed over the hill and arrived home about 1800. It was a little later than I planned, but not bad — especially considering that we were all sick (in various stages).

The trip was OK. I accomplished some of my objectives for going and we managed to spend a little time puttering around Monterey. I’d like to return sometime when there isn’t as much pressure and when the weather is a little better.

1 “Kiss my grits!”

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