RR Tracks width

 The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used?

Well, because that's the way they built them in England, and English engineers designed the first US railroads. Why did the English build them like that?

Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the wagon tramways, and that's the gauge they used. So, why did 'they' use that gauge then?

Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they had used for building wagons, which used that same wheel spacing. Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing?

Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break more often on some of the old, long distance roads in England. You see, that's the spacing of the wheel ruts. So who built those old rutted roads?

Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (including England) for their legions. Those roads have been used ever since. And what about the ruts in the roads?

Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match or run the risk of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore, the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. Bureaucracies live forever.

So the next time you are handed a specification/procedure/process and wonder 'What horse's ass came up with this?', you may be exactly right. Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses. (Two horses' asses.)

Now, the twist to the story:

When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah. The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds.

So, a major Space Shuttle design feature, of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system, was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's ass. And you thought being a horse's ass wasn't important? Ancient horse's asses control almost everything.

In Cape Girardeau

 Got to Cape Camping in Cape Girardeau yesterday (Sunday) afternoon.  Set up, dumped the gray and black tanks of the trailer and drove to Chateau Girardeau and visited with brother Don and wife Vicki

Don is less with us than before.  He uttered a few words but hardly moved from this position in his recliner chair (which he does not recline in) while we were there for couple hours.

Made plans to meet with them at 11 today and will visit a store or two and also go to Yummies Buffet for lunch.

We had Wednesday evening, most of the days Thursday, Friday and Saturday of enjoying really fine music from many bands.  Here are some photos of some of them.

At right and below is the beloved Little Roy & Lizzy Show

We had a bit of rain on us on one day and the program was held up for a while account of lightning in the are, as you can see by the rain gear being used by the people in front of us.

Photo at left - The heavy-set lady and blind man with sunglasses and banjo beside her are a couple.

Photos at right and 

below was our

playing dominoes tonight.

Photos at right and below is our eating

at Yummies Buffet at noon today.

Will be with Don & Vicki tomorrow.  Plan on pulling out of Cape Camping here in Cape Girardeau with trailer Wednesday morning, driving the 500 miles northwest to home in Clarinda, IA.

Later, Lynn

Rain at Starvy Creek Campground

78 degrees at 9:30 am on Saturday morning here in Starvy Creek Campground near Conway, MO.  Light shower and radar shows will rain until about noon.  Performances are scheduled to start at noon, so might work out.  We woke up to rain yesterday morning but it cleared off until about 2:30 pm when they had to ask people to leave because of lightning in area.  Everyone sits outside, though the entertainers have a little roof over them. 

  Was some showers then and we went to the trailer and cooked some lunch.  Returned about 45 minutes later and program went on until after 11 pm.  We were tired and didn't stay until the end. 

    Well, this is the last day of the music festival and neither of us feel sick, so think we will make it through the whole thing.  Won't have many photos as wifi through phone here isn't allowing me to do much with computer.  I have had a terrible week for one reason---my camera went south - when trying to turn it on the gears that extend the lens just grinds and won't fully open or close.  Is the third SLR camera I have worn out.  Had this one about 5 years and estimate took around 50,000 pictures so the lens was opened and closed a few times. Didn't have the time to order another.   Took photos and some videos with phone but quickly ran out of battery. 

For the last 8 or 10 years when we have attended any festival, or entertainment of any kind as far as that is concerned, I always ran the video on the camera, with the lens aimed down in a fannypack that I wore on the front.  This allowed the microphones to be exposed and it picked up all the sound.  When back to the computer I used the SD disk to run the files through a program and changed the video MP4 file to an audio MP3 file.  This reduced the file size to about a third and gave me a file I then transferred to flash drive and we listened over and over to them when driving the pickup.  We have listened many times to many programs from the past.  But, this time I could not do this.  The camera quit only the day before we left home and I hope to replace it before we go to the next gathering of any kind.

               

There are many groups on this show that are new to us and it has been very enjoyable.

                The ignition on the pickup was turned off last Monday about 3 pm when we got back from Springfield and has not been turned on since.  With no money being spent for gas, and our "hotel " being only $15 per night is an inexpensive week.  Plan to hook up to the trailer tomorrow (Sunday) morning and pull to Cape Camping in Cape Girardeau, MO.  Will be there until Wednesday morning, giving us several days to visit with brother Don and his wife Vicki.

Later, Lynn

 

Sunshine today in Missouri

 79 degrees with bright sunshine at 11 am Wednesday. 

Many RV's here and I made a video from the roof of our trailer.  However, can't get it transferred to this blog.  We are guessing there are over 200 rigs setting here on this grassy hill.

Lots of people out and about in the sunshine.  Stark difference from yesterday and Monday's rainy weather.  Ground is not really soft, so guess it absorbed the rain well.

Phyllis fixing a desert to take to the Potluck at 5 pm.

Later, LCM

Rain from Hurricane Beryl

 64 degrees here near Conway, MO and has been raining for last 20 hours and predicted to continue another 4 hours. 

We drove 40-some miles to Springfield, MO yesterday and had lunch with Sue (Winnie) Rank. Stopped at a couple stores for groceries and headed back northeast.   Was in torrential rain for quite a few miles but got ahead of it enough to be able to unload things things here at the trailer before it started raining here just before 3.  Rained all night and until now about 1 pm.

Here is how stress diet works. 

This at Sue's meal gathering 
Building. 

This is in Sue's condo.

Near Conway, Missouri for the week at Starvy Creek Bluegrass Festival

 Set our trailer up about 3:30 this afternoon (Saturday) at Starvy Creek which will have Bluegrass Festival from Wednesday through Saturday.  Very warm.  This is on an 80-acre field near Conway, MO and is some 30 to 40 miles northeast of Springfield, MO, along I-44.  Had to come early to get a spot with electricity & water.  Some RV's have been here for weeks.

Went to New Market, IA on the Fourth for their 1 pm parade.  Lasted about an hour with lots of cars, trucks, tractors, fire trucks, etc., etc.

Ronnie Foster, 90 years old,
was riding a borrowed horse.

Phyllis had a pulled pork sandwich and I got a couple sausage links.  She got to see quite a few of her cousins in the Cabbage family, finding the lot behind us was a cousin and they all get together every year at her place with a table of food, and chairs to watch the parade.  She invited us back next year and to partake.

When mowing the yard Friday I realized the huge Pin Oak tree that we had heavily trimmed some 10 years ago, had lots of sprigs coming out around many of the large branches that had been removed.  So I got the ladder out and cut them off. 

Japanese Beetles are back!!  I found a Neem
Oil spray for them and it seemed to get rid
of all the ones that were there at the time.  Sprayed
all the flowers and plants by the back deck.

These are in the circle on west side of house.

Have arranged to go into Springfield on Monday and visit with Sue Rank who, with her husband, spent many years in Kenwood but after he passed we hadn't seen her for several years.  Then this last winter she came down alone and rented a place in the park and took part in many activities. Had told her in the spring we would visit her in Springfield, but don't think she had believed it.

We put our chairs out to save our spot near
the stage this afternoon.

  

Here is schedule starting on Wednesday

.

"Did you ever meet someone that you immediately knew you wanted to spend the rest of your life away from them?

LCM

Working on the trailer

 Is 87 degrees and quite humid here in Clarinda, IA at 2:25 pm Tuesday.  Rained quite a bit through the night, but most of the rain today is slipping to the north for now so just humid and heavy overcast.

Last week I put a coat of wax, actually a ceramic coat on part of the trailer.  Worked on it 3 or 4 times, just doing a section at a time.

This week I finished

covering the spots

I had left.

Have been occasionally having some

moisture in the shower area of the

trailer.  I put up these dry paper

towels to see where the moisture

was coming down.

Well, yesterday's rain made the towel in the very center wet............so I took down the lower bubble.  You can see where some blocks were out of the Styrofoam that is between the ceiling and the roof.  I have removed the lower bubble several times and where the screws went into just the thin plywood they were barely holding.  So I glued and screwed in blocks of wood above each of those places to give the screws a better hold.

While I had the lower bubble off, I spray painted the bottom of the top bubble with a Plastic okayed white paint.  This will let some diffused light in, but cut out a lot of the heat of direct sun.

This is showing from the top.

The area on top at the corner was very rough, with both tape and older rubber caulk which I was hesitant to remove. So this morning I went on the top and put several layers of the heavy rubber tape across the back and the side of the top bubble completely covering that corner..

Since the tape came to the very edge of the trailer and the tape isn't the best on the black corner, I covered it with an aluminum angle iron screwed into side of the roof to hold the tape from liftin when going down the road.  Hope this takes care of everything.......................

Today is the nineth day of a 27-day trip for Cam and Pat in the Netherlands.  We have been getting nearly daily notes with a few pictures from them. So far that have been in England -- just for 90 minutes between planes, Sweden, Finland and Estonia.  They are having a good time.

Till Next Time -- L Carroll