Friday, November 27, 2009

The Aftermath

I have lived in Arizona for 35 years and Taiwan for 12, if one can live in two places at the same time. In Arizona we have two to four inches of rain per year, usually all at once, maybe two years worth at a time. I have watched flash floods under blue skies begin with little trickles of water and progress to raging torrents.

When I first moved to Bullhead City, we would get three or four road closures a year due to these flash floods. One wash in particular, Silver Creek, carried the water all the way from the mountains around Oatman, several miles away. When the storms would come, several of us would gather at the point Silver Creek crossed Arizona Highway 95 and wait for it. The first time I watched it the road was washed out a few feet deep and of course the road was impassable. Mohave County workers came in and rebuilt the road and poured a concrete apron on the down wash side to keep the road from being washed out.

The second time watched we took a pool as to how long after the water started going over the road the apron would wash out. I don’t remember who won, if we even kept track, or how long it took, but eventually with a roar, the apron tumbled away, and soon after the road followed.

The County again came in and built an apron, this time the down side went almost down to the level of the Colorado River where the wash ended, several hundred yards away from the road. I remember watching this time very vividly. As we waited for the water we had watchers up the wash to tell us when the water was coming. They always started slowly here, not like the instant floods I have read about around the Grand Canyon. The water came and with a gigantic roar the new apron was washed away. Now there is a large box culvert under the road at river level and extensive renovations to the wash upstream. The wash has not run in several years and several of my friends have never seen it run at all. On the downriver side of the wash, between the highway and the river, is a condominium project. I was told that in the beginning of the 20th century, Silver Creek ran so much as to block off the Colorado and force it to change course. Looking at the local geography it is believable.

So I have seen flooding, I thought…

In Taiwan I saw wide rivers with meandering streams. I thought I was smart, knowing that once in awhile a lot of water flowed between the banks.

Typhoon Morakot came to southern Taiwan while I was in Bullhead City in August of 2009. Rivers flooded, bridges were washed out and villages were covered over by mudslides. Many people died. In my bike riding since returning I have crossed bridges and seen the trees that were brought down in the flooding caused by the Typhoon. I have taken detours because of bridges being washed out. Tuesday I took a ride along the riverbank of the KaoPing River.

I had no particular destination or route planned when I started out in the morning so I made my way to the old railway bridge near the KaoPing (car) Bridge. There I found the area had been improved on the old tracks with several abandoned cars on tracks and graveled roadbed.

The bridge was blocked off


Wooden walkway along side the cars


It was great for walking but not compacted well for biking.


The old railway bridge


Below was what had once been a restaurant that we never found open that now did not even pretend.

Used to be a restaurant here


From there I went to ride up the road along the river on the levee road.

Ooops, it was gone.

Before it had been a good dirt road; now it was four inches of loose silt. I followed it to a new park on the “high/dry” side of the levy. It had a bike path and a mock bridge make from a section of the abandoned railway bridge.

Mock Bridge

There were also several sections that had not fared as well in the removal from the riverbed. There used to be a canal diverted from the main stream that went to a large preserve that presumably was to clean the water and provide a sanctuary for birds.

Santuary, or what is left of it.


What is left of the canal


That was then.

After the park, there was a bridge over the canal back to the riverbank, and there the road ended. There are still several dirt tracks that are used by the trucks going to salvage the trees that washed down the river. The river is divided into different parts. The width between the banks is at some points about a half mile. One third to one half of that is the main channel in which there is usually only a meandering stream. The other part is raised and used to be farmed. During the typhoon, not only did the farmed land get inundated, but the banks were breached increasing the width by fifty percent in some places. And even at the widest parts, the remains are covered with the dead forest carried down by the waters.

The "high/dry" side of the river is on the right of this canal, the river is on the left




This is looking at the river side


Occasionally amidst the debris one can see a banana tree springing up, or a half buried shrine to the god of the land.


Huts that were used by the farmers were half filled or removed altogether. This Sunday I will be taking a ride one of the tributaries that feed this river. Hopefully I will be able to get pictures of where the debris came from.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Temporary Spoke Repairs

A friend, ZhiSheng, invited me on a bike tour of Taiwan in early 2008. They needed a fourth to share the hotel expenses. I was riding a Peugeot that I had purchased in College in probably 1970. I had taken a five day tour then so certainly the bike and I could do it again.

About fifty miles down the road I broke a couple of spokes. They weren’t just any old spokes; they were the spokes next to the gear sprocket (“freewheel”) on the back wheel. In order to replace these without removing the “freewheel”, ZhiSheng took a longer spoke, cut off the curved tip, bent it into a Z shape (two ninety degree bends) and slipped it into the hole next to the “freewheel”. ZhiSheng, I forgot to mention, has the local Giant bike shop in ChangJhih where I live during the school year.

The trick is to get the new spoke the proper length. The first bend on the new spoke must be at about the same distance from the thread end as the bend on the correct sized spoke. The second bend needs to give just enough room to go through the hub. The remaining distance needs to be short enough so the spoke will point in the correct direction, although it can bend sideways a little. See the photos.





The spoke does not pull out, as it is stiff enough to hold its shape under the tension. I was surprised, but we did it several times before the trip was over. As it turns out, the holes on the hub that the spokes went into were cracked and as I rode, they wore out any spoke we put into it. I finally got a new hub in Taipei and the problem was solved.

below is a picture of the tools I carry with me in my saddlebag.

Friday, October 2, 2009

The Shining

My friend, John Cowgil, has a Cessna 140 that is polished aluminum. That is to say, the fuselage is polished aluminum; the wings are fabric and silver coated. The fuselage, somewhat smaller than mine, shines like a mirror, and unfortunately, sets the standard at our airpark, A20. Thanks a lot, John.

Having purchased an unpainted (I say unpainted as it had not been polished in years) it was up to me to bring it up to the airport standard. When I purchased the airplane about three years ago, I spent about three weeks experimenting with different polishes and polishers in search of the magic potion that would bring my dull metal to a mirror finish with the least amount of work. I tried big orbital buffers and small orbital buffers. I tried about six different miracle polishes, all to no avail.

Finally I stumbled upon “Top of the Line”, a system using three different grits of polish and a sealant, along with a twin rotor buffer with three different types of pads. This provided the polishing goal, but nowhere near the “least amount of work”. At the end of my first foray into restoration of the shine, the plane showed a remarkable improvement, but when compared with John’s 140, it didn’t reach the bar. Thanks a lot, John.

This year, as I hadn’t sealed the aluminum in three years, the oxidation was starting to come back. Hsien-Ling and Johnny had to go back to Taiwan at the end of September so Johnny could start fourth grade but I had to stay an additional four weeks for work purposes. I took advantage of this to again attempt to bring my plane up to standards. It was a chore.

I remember in high school having a ten speed bicycle with aluminum handlebars. Occasionally I would have the handlebar tape removed and when I did my hands would turn black from the aluminum. In polishing the plane I not only tuned my hands black, but my entire body, and the entire hangar floor. I had a stack of 30 terry cloth towels that were blackened and rewashed each day, and the shower floor, well let’s just say I am lucky I cleaned it before I left for Taiwan.

I had come to the conclusion that the belly of the plane was a different kind of aluminum that wouldn’t polish up. Unfortunately, I found some Turtle Wax rubbing compound and a buffing pad for my sidewinder grinder. It polished up, and that meant that now I also had to polish the bottom.

Starting with the tail, I did one side in one day. Step pne was to use a wool pad with the coarsest grit, clean it off, then use a terry pad with the second coarsest grit, clean it off, followed by another terry pad application of the final polishing compound, and clean it off. Then with a sponge pad the polymer sealant is applied and buffed off. The hardest part is the cleaning and buffing between applications. The tail seemed fine until I went back over to John’s. Then I did it again.

Second in line was the trim around the windows and the top of the back of the cockpit. Third were the flaps and ailerons. It would have been nice if I could have removed them as they had areas that could not be reached. Now that I write this I realize that there is an area that is exposed when the flaps are down that was not even touched. Something for me to do in January I guess. Fourth was the bottom of the left wing. Here the oxidation was such that I could wipe it off with my fingers. The application worked great, the only problem was that I had to hold up the buffer against the wing, and it became annoyingly heavy. The wing was also not at the optimum height, too low at the root and too high at the tip. The process was the same, buff on with machine, buff off with a towel. Occasionally friends would stop by to see what I was doing and I have to say that the phrase “wax on wax off” got old real fast. Interestingly enough though, I have several friends who have offered to fly my plane while I am gone to keep the engine clear of rust, none of them offered to help polish.

After the first under wing I had discovered the possibility of polishing the belly so I went there next. At least under the plane I could lie on a creaper and hold the buffer on my stomach. The first pass with the sidewinder and the rubbing compound I did without the creaper and cleaned the floor with the back of my shirt and hair. As I did this I saw that I was running out of material and pads so did the first two passes on the belly and then the first pass on the underside of the right wing. With a delay of a day or two the additional material arrived and I was finally able to finish.

Two things would have made the exercise a lot easier: 1. If I could have removed the flaps and ailerons and polished them on a bench it would have been a lot easier and I would have been able to get the parts obscured by the wings; and 2. If I could have just turned the plane over just for a little while to polish the belly and the underside of the wings…..

All in all, it came out fairly well and I have already received good comments that almost make it worthwhile. Next time I will buy a painted plane.














Sunday, August 16, 2009

Vacation in the west by car Part III

After leaving Michael and Elizabeth Thompson in Salem, we drove to Florence and with only a short backtrack found the right road to John and Phyllis Laird’s home.




They had prepared a wonderful barbecued salmon dinner and I gained back all the weight I had so carefully lost eating at Randy and Margie’s.

My King Salmon, the one I caught (bought).


Tuesday John drove me around the town of Florence, first stopping at the airport. There were no hangars available from the city, but a couple private hangars were for sale somewhere between $35,000 and $45,000. None of the hangars were special, no bathrooms could be installed and no apartments. We looked at a metal one and a wooden one. The land could be rented for putting up a hangar for $0.17/square foot/year. Tie downs were $5/night or $60/month. With all the salt air blowing around an open tie-down would not be a good idea for more than a day.

Next we drove downtown and looked at older looking homes that might be for sale. We were looking for something with character. We looked at a couple commercial buildings, one with docks in the river, but there were no contact phone numbers so we didn’t delve any further. For dinner we went to Abby’s for pizza and met Pam and Juan Reyes from Needles. Not knowing they were going to be there, not having seen them in 13 years, and not having a clue that they had moved up here I didn’t recognize them right them away. They had taken my dog, Zuppa, when I moved to Taiwan. We had a great time and I learned all about all the people I had known in Needles. Hsien-Ling went outside when she finished eating and found a ton of wild blackberries. They tasted great on top of ice cream when we got home.

Wednesday was a big tour day. We started out going to the Sea Lion Caves. This is a giant Sea Lion hang out, one of the largest in the world. We took an elevator down into the cave to see them. There they were, sheltered from the sun, barking away and playing. Birds flew in and out as well.



Next on the tour was the Heceta Head Lighthouse. It is the brightest lighthouse on the west coast. We took a free tour and were able to climb all the way up to just below the light itself. We saw the two oil storage buildings, the gift shop that used t be the stables, and the house that housed the two assistant light keepers. That house is now a bed and breakfast that also hosts weddings and other parties.



At the beach by the lighthouse there was a whole bunch of people sitting on chairs waiting for I don't know what. So I stood before them, thanked them for coming and spoke to them for a few minutes.


Next we went beach combing on Strawberry Hill beach. We saw whales and sea lions in the water, and jellyfish on the beach. We saw lots of driftwood, starfish, crabs, sea anemones, sea urchins, and mussels.


And you have to believe me, we saw whales. We saw little more than their spouting, but we did see them.



After beachcombing we continued to drive north to Yachats where we had dinner. Guess what we had? Seafood. It was great, Ling, Halibut shrimp and cod. They were out of Salmon. The clam chowder was excellent also.

On the way back to the house we stopped to see the golf course. Greens fees were $79 plus $15 for a cart during the week, and another $10 or $15 on the weekends. Oh, and Friday was a weekend also. They did have a special for about $350 where you could play every day for a month. I didn’t check to see if that included weekends as well. It makes Taiwan’s green fees seem reasonable.


On Thursday, our last day of play here, we loafed around then went to the library to use the internet and let me catch up with my e-mail. There was nothing real important except that my mechanic wanted money. No real surprise there as I had talked to him a couple days ago. While I was in the library with John and Johnny, Hsien-Ling went to Safeway to get food for our trip down to Manchester tomorrow.

Back at the house we sat around reading and watching videos. We did get to see two does walking down the street and I did get a few pictures.

Dinner was barbecued chicken with zucchini, onions, mushrooms, potato salad, and string beans. I did pass on the pecan praline ice cream for dissert. My feeble attempt at keeping control.

Friday saw us driving south even though Hsien-Ling swore we were going north. There were lots of nice views and bridges along the way, places that would take days to explore. We stopped in Brooking to look around and talked to Scott Backer who said he would e-mail me info about the airport.

We saw lots of bridges

Sometimes we listened to the GPS and sometimes not, sometimes we didn't know where we were, but so what I always said (to myself).


Into California stopped and drove through a Redwood tree. Hsien-Ling and I had done this once before but when we got to Arcata that time we somehow lost the roll of film when we got out of the car at some view point. This time we had digital!!!


We turned off Highway 101 at Liggett to catch Highway 1 down the coast. What a winding road that is. We even lost reception on the GPS several times as the sides of the canyons got steep. Back on the coast the road wasn’t any straighter and we weaved our way south watching the GPS keep adding time to our arrival estimate. When I thought I was close I tried to call Ken and Carol Hofer but there was no service. Half the time I think it was my phone, the other half I think there was no service. Can you hear me now? WHAT????

North of Arcata we stopped at Trees of Mystery to buy my sister a Redwood Burl. The last time I went through I got her one also but it died. At the time she said she knew what she did wrong and could keep one alive the next time so I got her another one. We also the statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe.

We finally made it,

rested a bit then went farther down the coast to have dinner on a pier, or near it. We had eaten there before. Not much choice in these parts we were told. We ate outside and enjoyed it very much. Carol had a couple other friends join us and we all had a great time. I couldn’t believe it when I found out that they had lived on the coast for over 30 years and Carol didn’t eat fish. She and Johnny were instant friends. They both liked Hawaiian pizzas too.





At the house I gave Ken some Salmon and he gave Hsien-Ling some Abalone. Yum yum. We swapped lies till late at night and finally went to bed with the windows open and enjoyed the cool night air. We wouldn’t be getting any of that when we got back to Bullhead City. In the morning we went to breakfast and started on our way to Napa after promising to get together more often that every 13 years.



The ride to Napa was mostly pleasant, not overly curvy. When we got to Calistoga we called my college classmate, John Montmorency and gave him a heads up on when we would arrive in Napa. He gave us a different route and after starting on that route, and looking at my unimaginative GPS, we took a third route that turned out to be beautiful, but longer and curvier.


But we made it anyway. I had to make about five phone calls for directions once we reached Napa; I guess I should have written down the directions the first time…..

John and Tege were great, as was their daughter, Jessica. We hadn’t seen them in 13 years either. First things first, John had to take me to see his 1941 Beech Staggerwing. What a beauty.



Due to a primer problem we couldn’t take it up but it was a real joy just to look at it. It should be in the air again in a couple weeks. We managed to fill our time with stories of flying at San Jose State College, me in the Flying Aces, John in the Flying 20s. He and my instructor, Dan Dill were best friends and both went on to fly for Flying Tigers and then for FedEx. It was amazing what stories we remembered about our early flying days back in the late ‘60’s and early ‘70’s.




In the morning John made breakfast for us and we talked some more until Tege had to go work out. She is going to swim a race from Alcatraz to San Francisco so she needed to train. There’s another goal for me, a former swimmer (emphasis on the word former). When she left, so did we, making our way down the central valley, across Tehachapi and eastward till we got home in time for bed.