Three of the Sourland Spectacular Bicycle routes passed by my house. The Sourland Spectacular is a charity event that supports the Sourland Mountains. I put a Garmin VIRB-360 camera up on my mailbox to record the early morning riders. Unfortunately, the plug to the external battery pack fell out, so the camera only recorded an hour of activity. There were a couple of heavy dump trucks that passed by. I wouldn’t want to be a bike rider on these narrow roads with those trucks passing.
Daily Electric Energy Used (37.1 kWh) from Sense and Daily Solar Electric Energy Produced (55.8 kWh) from SolSystems and Locus Energy. Sunny in the morning, some clouds in the afternoon. Still cool enough that the windows can be left open and no need to run the Geothermal HVAC. Overall a net surplus of 18.7 kWh (almost making up for yesterday.
Gone to see Europe. Semester at Sea. Fall 2012 Semester Voyage on the MV Explorer. Day 09: Arrive and Depart Ireland. Galway, Claire County, and Cliffs of Moher Field Trip.
After a long nine days crossing the North Atlantic ocean we arrived in Galway, Ireland just after sunrise. We were given our passports, and went through immigration on the ship. The ship anchored, and we were tendered into Galway via the ships lifeboats. The day was overcast with some drizzle and rain. We were only going to be there for the day and I had signed up for the Cliffs of Moher field trip. First stop was Dunguaire Castle. The quick rest stop in Ballyvaughn ended up being a long rest stop since there were only a couple of toilets. An interesting character with a pipe was waiting in front of the village store. We then visited the ancient Poulnabrone Portal Tomb. As we drove through to the Cliffs of Moher passed a road sign for Lisdoonvarna — Largest Matchmaking Festival in Europe. There were also old stone homes, and farms with cows and horses on very green fields. We were running late, and missed the tourist boat we were supposed to take to the Cliffs. The next tourist boat was the Tranquility. The seas were rough even more than our crossing the North Atlantic. By the end of the tour, some of the students looked pretty green. The final stop was to a pub for a traditional Irish meal. Unfortunately, the meal was rushed because we had a deadline to get back onto the MV Explorer.
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Lisdoonvarna — Matchmaking Festival. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V1 camera and 30-110 mm lens. (David J Mathre)
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Lamb Stew and Guinness. Image taken with a Nikon 1 V1 camera and 10 mm lens. (David J Mathre)
Gone to see Europe. Semester at Sea. Fall 2012 Semester Voyage on the MV Explorer. Day 08: At Sea, North Atlantic Ocean.
The early dawn sky was full of pink jet contrails when I got out on deck. The contrails would be from all of the red-eye flights crossing the Atlantic ocean from North America to Europe. A sign we were getting close to the end of our first leg at sea. As the sun came up, the contrails changed from pink to yellow.
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Gone to See North America Road Trip. Day 09: Alaska Marine Highway on the MV Columbia (Ketchikan, Wrangell, Wrangell Narrows, Petersburg).
Overnight we transitioned into Alaska waters. A little bit of rain for those sleeping on deck. Our first stop was in Ketchikan, where there were already three giant cruise ships. Some passengers got off at this point. The next stop was in Wrangell. I bought a $7 garnet crystal. Apparently, the owner of the mine near the town gave it to the boy and girl scouts so they could earn money selling the crystals to tourists. We then passed through the Wrangell Narrows Channel, a narrow passage with about 60 channel markers. The final stop for the evening was Petersburg, before continuing on overnight.
Early Morning, Tents on the Solarium Deck. Image taken with a Nikon D3x camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens. (David J Mathre)
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Gone to See North America 2009 Road Trip. Day 08: Alaska Marine Highway on the MV Columbia.
Traveling from Bellingham, Washington to Haines, Alaska through British Columbia via the Inner Passage. The day started out foggy. During the night there was a bit of rain and wind. I felt sorry for the folks living rough on deck, but they seemed to be warm and cheerful once they moved under the covered Solarium. We saw a few Orcas during the day. Later in the afternoon, the sun came out and folks living rough moved their chairs back out on the open deck.
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