skybytch

Worth every mile.

A gun helped tremendously with the rabid skunk in our driveway that I had to kill when I was 18. We didn't have cell phones back then either. We have skunks and mountain lions cruising through our property all the time. We've seen them. The dog regularly gets skunked; we're pretty sure a mountain lion got two of the chickens. Never seen a bear, but a gun isn't going to do me much good against a bear anyway. It's not always about the human's life. My son is a cattle rancher. Without a gun, it would be impossible for him to put a severely injured animal out of it's misery when he's way back on the ranch, or to kill the coyotes that are often the cause of those injuries. I accept that you have no need for a gun and that many other people have no need for one. Can you accept that many people like me DO have a need for one? Is there a place in the whole gun debate for someone who owns and needs a gun yet also supports nationwide background checks, registration, training and licensing and even a ban on assault weapons? Or is either ban guns or be a rabid gun nut? I wonder sometimes...

I agree 100%. A federally issued license that requires background checks and training prior to issuance and renewal.

In suburbia, sure. But we don't live in suburbia. We don't have (human) neighbors right next door. Our cell phones don't work when we're in the upper clearing. One person's definition of need can be very different from another's. Risk is increased by having guns in the home. Risk is increased by jumping out of airplanes. We chose to live where we did, we accepted the risks involved in protecting ourselves. We chose to skydive, we accepted the risks involved in enjoying ourselves. Should skydiving be banned because it's risky?

I've dealt with a several serious bouts of depression. Last time I went through it, I asked my husband to change the combination on the safe - and he already had done so. It's more likely that I have to use one of my guns to resolve a situation with a wild animal than with a human. But I'd be stupid to not be prepared for either one. Do I need an AR or an AK with a 30 round magazine to protect myself? Nope. Totally okay with a ban on military style weapons and definitely a fan of nationwide mandatory registration. Do I need a semi-auto non-assault rifle or handgun with 10 rounds in the magazine (or 6 in a double action revolver - technically semi-auto)? When the closest cop is up to 30 minutes away and I'm alone on my property... yes. Yes I do.

There is currently a movement aimed at reducing suicide among veterans. https://overwatchproject.org/just-fucking-ask I'd say it needs to be something that we all do for our families, our friends, our communities. For Billy and his family. For JP and his family. For me. Maybe for you.

Heartbreaking.

It's that close?!? Monday may have a new plan...

Heh. We were there in November. Bought our 2nd machine from a guy just down the road.

LOL! Heading to Oshkosh for the EAA Museum and Kettle Moraine State park for some hiking. And some cheese somewhere.

That's what I what looking at doing. So what's good to go see in the area? I've never been there and I'm going to have a couple days to play tourist. Obviously cheese and a Great Lake, but what else?

Boogies can be hazardous to your financial health. You go thinking it's just going to be a few days of fun, maybe demo a new main or two, drink some cheap beer... and you come back home and order a complete new rig. We went to a pinball festival in October, played a bunch of games and fell in love with one. In November we drove to North Carolina from California and bought one.Crazy? Yeah, but we've played the shit out of that machine already, we have no plans to sell it anytime soon and it's got a great story attached to it now - plus it's already worth about $1000 more than we paid for it.. We went to a pinball festival on Saturday, played a bunch of games and fell in love with one. Either Wednesday or Thursday, I leave to drive to Milwaukee to buy a Batman 66. We could each have a new rig for what this thing is going to cost. Happily, pinball machines are appreciating in value these days, unlike skydiving gear, so it's really an investment. Really it is. So anyway, do I know anyone who lives along I80 between Reno and Wisconsin? Happy to buy you lunch, coffee or a beer in exchange for some conversation and an hour or so break from the road.

Why the snark? Because skydiving will look bad if something goes wrong? Because it isn't you getting paid (I get that, I wish I was good enough to get some of that Red Bull $$)? You mentioned Tom Noonan earlier. Luke is not providing some guy with too much money an "extreme experience". He's a professional stuntman doing an impressive stunt. If he fucks up, no paying customers will be injured or die. Huge difference. I'll be watching.

Dammit. Such a good guy.

Somewhere in a box I think I have one. It's kinda rusty though. How much you payin'?

Introduce people to other skydivers? Actually I am less of a skydiver than I used to be. Happens when you don't jump anymore.

My bad, this one wasn't a reefer, he just left the thing idling. The shitty reefer was at a rest stop in California. The nights, they all run together now. It was a long ass trip.

Judging by the 10 to 20 trucks parked on every on/off ramp along I40, I believe you. They were stacked butts to nuts at one rest area in Texas (which, btw, has some of the nicest rest areas in the US). But it's okay to bother folks in RVs. Gotcha. I get your point completely, but truckers who do this kind of thing make all of you look like jerks as far as I'm concerned. You aren't doing professional drivers like yourself any favors by defending those who lack common courtesy. I was a skydiver but I am also a raging bitch. Doesn't mean all skydivers are raging bitches... but anyone who knows no other skydivers might think so.

A lesson the husband learned veerrrry early in the relationship....

There are truck stops and rest areas for truckers. I didn't whine about the one parked next to us at a rest area and we didn't even try to sleep at a truck stop. Those are their places, they have jobs to do, I respect that. WalMarts are not truck parking areas, they are stores that allow RVs and trucks to park overnight. Some only allow RVs because hey guess what, trucks are loud. At this particlular WalMart - not rest area with truck parking, not Love's or Flying J truck stop - there was a shit ton of space on the other side of the parking lot... where all the other trucks with drivers who weren't complete dickwads were parked. . Park somewhere else? I parked all the way across the lot from the trucks, I'm sound asleep, it's 2 am and you pull in next to me with your fucked up reefer unit cycling every three minutes and I'm supposed to move? Fuck that. Want respect? Show some.

Wow, taking pictures of one's feet outside a moving vehicle and then posting them on the interwebs is copyrighted? Sure hope I don't get sued for doing what I've been doing since at least 2008. And here I thought I was just entertaining myself on a long drive. Is not knowing who or what a Nerdgirl is an acceptable defense?

We did! Driving the back roads was really cool. And some really nice people - needed subtitles to understand them at times, but really nice.

Damn it!! If I'd known... I wanted to go around and up to Tulsa anyway, there's so much Route 66 stuff along that route. We'll be back. :D

We are kinda into pinball. Played a fun game at a pinball event last month - Black Knight Sword of Rage. We already have the original Black Knight (circa 1980); SOR came out in 2019 and is the third in the BK series (the other one came out in the late 1990's - Black Knight 2000). We kinda liked it. Like, so much that even though we swore we didn't need another game and we didn't want to buy a newer game cuz new games suck, we started looking for one. There were none nearby, but I found one at a good price and it was only 2650 miles away in North Carolina. I heard that the leaves are pretty there this time of year and we didn't get a vacation last year and we are both impulsive as all hell, so I contacted the guy. He thought it was a fun idea and wanted to play along so he was willing to hold it for us to get there. Hubby got the time off work, we planned some cool stops along the way, hooked up the trailer and 10 days after contacting the guy, we were eastbound. I40 from Barstow to Little Rock, a bunch of side roads down to Fordyce, Arkansas, more side roads into Alabama and Georgia, Chattanooga to see Lookout Mountain battlefield park, then up to Asheville, N.C. The drive home was I40 west all the way from Asheville back to California. Stayed at one motel (Russellville, Alabama) and two nights at an RV park (Asheville); every other night was either in a rest area or a WalMart parking lot. Trip tidbits - There were at least 5 trucks to every car on I40 between Barstow and Oklahoma City. Route 66 has some fun and free things to stop and look at. It is impossible to see the 7 cool places you planned to see when you have 10 days to drive over 5200 miles, so we had to be happy with seeing an old friend (Lindsey - dz.commer from way back) and a Civil War battlefield instead of the Jack Daniels distillery, a National Park, an old friend, a pinball museum, a presidential library and two Civil War battlefields. Always put new tires on your travel trailer before leaving for a 5200 mile trip so you don't have to replace them all, one at a time, along the way. North Carolina apple cider is out of this world delicious. We ran out of superlatives seeing the autumn colors.in the Smoky Mountains. The people we bought the machine from had 10 others in their basement arcade - had to sell it because they didn't have room for it anymore. Truckers with refrigeration units who park right next to RV's in WalMart parking lots overnight are assholes. So was the new toy worth the trip? Ummm... yeah..... Check it out! Would we do it again? If we could take 3 weeks instead of 10 (okay, 11) days, absolutely. The really bad part of the trip was driving by so much cool stuff, especially after hours long delays caused by road work or truck accidents that took time we could have spent stopping there. TL;DR Drove 5300 miles round trip to buy a pinball machine that we could have found within a couple hundred miles from home because we are impatient and impulsive and we would do it again. Here's some pictures.