[aeronut]

in reply to: Whatcha Got Going On 2026 #175830

I left Cades Cove and drove over to the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail.  (Turn at Gatlingburg stoplight #8 and take the historic trail road to it)  It’s a five mile one way loop to several old cabins and trailheads to Grotto Falls and Rainbow Falls.  If you are ever out there and want to hike to any of the falls be at the trailhead at daybreak.  The parking area fills up fast on all trails.

Some sights on the drive.

Right by my car.

I hiked to three different waterfalls this year and was at the trailhead to the before daylight to beat the crowds.  I hiked to Husky Branch Falls, Lynn Camp Prong Cascades, Jakes Creek Falls, and the toughest was Upper Meigs Falls.  I enjoy reaching my destination and eating a breakfast bar without the crowd.  On the way down from the falls I’m always asked two questions.  “How much farther is it”?  Closely followed by “Have you seen any bears”?  It is always obvious that the people asking these questions are not used to the environment they are now in.  City dwellers.

I rode the Cades Cove loop again on the 12th and did two laps this time.  On the first lap I watched and videoed the 21st bear I had seen on this trip.  It was amazing to me that there was so much bear activity.  I rode a second lap and about two miles in the sky opened up and it poured nickel sized raindrops.  I stayed huddled under my poncho for about 20 minutes.  Even being wet it was a great ride.  It’s only water.

I’ll add a few more pictures later.

• This reply was modified 2 weeks, 2 days ago by aeronut.
• This reply was modified 2 weeks, 2 days ago by aeronut.

[aeronut]

in reply to: Whatcha Got Going On 2026 #175828

I recently got home from my 5th trip to the Smoky Mountains.  I really love hiking the hills in the deep woods and have hiked over 36 miles to 14 different waterfalls.  Other trails this trip was  another 6 miles.

I had two main goals this year.  One was to take my recumbent trike and ride the 11 mile Cades Cove loop road.  From May to September they close the loop every Wednesday to motor vehicle traffic and it is open only to bicycles, joggers, and hikers.  Goal number two was to place a flag at the Pearl Harbor Tree in honor of my Dad, Uncle, and Aunt who all served in the Pacific theater.

I rode the loop on Aug, 5th and was planning on riding another lap but the idler cog on my chain started chirping because it needed lubrication.  I did stop at the pullover for the Pearl Harbor Tree and get the flag placed that morning.

 

I drove the loop early the next day (at daylight) to hike to one of the old cabins (Elijah Oliver Cabin) I haven’t been able to go to before because the trail was closed because of bear activity.  I parked and headed up the trail and looked back toward the road at some stopped cars and watched two bear cubs cross the road and go into the trees on my side about 100 yds away.  I continued on to the cabin 1/2 mile away and never spotted any bears along the way.

• This reply was modified 2 weeks, 2 days ago by aeronut.

[aeronut]

in reply to: Whatcha Got Going On 2026 #175616

Good luck on the Mead Richard.  I quit drinking 35 years ago when my daughter was born.  Just a beer and occasional wine drinker, not the hard stuff.  I did make some wine about three years ago because of retirement boredom and wanted to try something different.  I made a six gallon batch two years in a row and got a lot of favorable reviews from friends who I gave it to.  To this day I have never drank a whole bottle of it.

You can keep the rattle snakes.  We have lots of rat snakes, Gopher snakes, and banded water snakes.  In my 70 years I’ve never seen a poisonous snake in this neck of the woods.

And if I could steer the rain your way I would.  There was a few small downpours yesterday that measured another 2″ in the gauge.  The road past my house has washed out three times this year and the county crews go dump more gravel instead of installing another drain whistle.  I have been watching them do this every year of the 24 years I’ve lived here.

I don’t know where Lampe went to.  I live about three hours from there.

Dennis

[aeronut]

in reply to: Happy 4th of July #175533

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

[aeronut]

in reply to: Whatcha Got Going On 2026 #175513

That should be a pretty easy fix Lamps3.  The vehicle designers/engineers hadn’t screwed those up too much then.

I just got finished checking and adding the power steering fluid to my daughter’s 2011 Dodge Charger.  For that you have to take off the front passenger tire and inner wheel well just to get to the point you can see the cap.  When I need a new battery for my Grand Cherokee it is under the front passenger seat and is pure hell getting it changed.

[aeronut]

in reply to: Whatcha Got Going On 2026 #175451

Well Richard, I sure wish we could send some of this ‘sky water’ your way.  It started around 5am and is still raining.  Gauge is showing about 2″ now.  One good thing about it though is I haven’t had to water my apple trees but the skeeters are getting pretty bad.

[aeronut]

in reply to: Spine testing #175414

I used to make and sell wood shafts, mostly Poplar and Hickory.  I have three different spine testers and all at 2# weights and all are 26″.  One of them I made out of 1/4″ aluminum angle and has a dial caliper and I use a deflection chart to measure the shafts.  It is not going to shift any to alter the readings.

All the orders I got were wanting the physical weight of the dozen arrows to be within 5 grains of each other and I would tell them all that the shaft weight would change during the seasons and I always got a puzzled look.  Humidity changes during the seasons and wood absorbs and releases moisture.

Then I would ask if they were going to seal and crest them.  “Sure” was the answer and I asked do you measure the same amount of sealant and paint used for each shaft.  Do you measure out the same amount of glue for each point and nock?  That got a lot of people scratching their heads.  No two wood shafts are going to have exactly the same physical properties as to density even cut from the same tree.  One will always soak up more sealant or paint than the one next to it and when you are measuring weight in grains it can be a wide spread at times.  I have weighed my finished shafts at different times during the year and it is surprising how much moisture they can absorb or release even after they are sealed and painted.

It was amazing to me that a lot of the customers had no idea about the properties of wood.

I have looked at lots of spine charts and they are puzzling things to try and sort through.  I’ll stick with the traditional wood shafts.

Now, you want to try bamboo or rivercane shafts?  That’s another subject.

[aeronut]

in reply to: Whatcha Got Going On 2026 #175383

I got a little rain lase night.

That’s a little over 6″.  I’ve never seen that gauge that full.

[aeronut]

in reply to: Still here. #175350

Hang in there Ralph.  I had retina surgery in my right eye and then cataract surgery in both eyes.  It took some getting used to.  Then five years ago I had cervical fusion done on my neck because of Spondylosis.  That ailment ain’t fun.

Last July I took a spill in the Smoky Mtns and tore my left bicep tendon.  I’m still working on that to get back to full shooting on some of my heavier bows.  I’ve got a couple that I can’t even string anymore.  Age is creeping up on us.

[aeronut]

in reply to: Whatcha Got Going On 2026 #175343

Several years ago I would occasionally meet up with my two cousins and we would go to the Three Trails 3D shoots near Lees Summit, MO.  Bob was my first cousin and Jim was his nephew.  I had made Bob a bow a few years earlier and he loved to shoot it.

Bob had lost his battle against cancer and passed away so shortly after Jim and I went to shoot the course in his memory.  Jim was the owner of Bob’s bow and this was his first outing with it.

Our normal procedure was that we took turns shooting first and the other shooters would try to shoot from the same position.  We seldom shot from the stakes and normally picked a little tougher shot.  It was Jim’s turn to shoot first and as we turned the corner along the creek the next target was two life sized elk a little over 50 yards away.   Jim dropped to his knees and sent an arrow downrange.  As the arrow arced over about half way I said “No way”.  Jim’s shot landed in the ten ring.  Now I had to try and match the shot but I didn’t come close.

About a year later Jim gave the bow back to me saying he didn’t have anybody to hand it down to.  I take it out and shoot it occasionally and remember the good times we had on the Three Trails course.

I’ll dig through my files and see if I can find some pictures and give you the specs on the bow.

Dennis

[aeronut]

in reply to: Website Hiccup #175231

Thanks Robin.  If it’s a computer you will have a lot of different problems.

[aeronut]

in reply to: Mother’s Day !! #175230

X2

[aeronut]

in reply to: Whatcha Got Going On 2026 #175173

We had another round of strong weather here last night and I was out as a Skywarn spotter.  We had a tornadic cell pass by a few miles south of us but where I was set up I wound up in a hail cell dropping marble sized hail.  Time to bug out so I went a mile north and the still got a dose of pea sized hail and a downpour with lots of non stop lightning.  One bolt struck less than 1/4 mile directly in front of me.

That storm finally passed by so I went home.

My Road

[aeronut]

in reply to: Whatcha Got Going On 2026 #175122

The weather radar app I use shows the storm chasers but I don’t recall seeing a Lance.  I’ll look for him on there next time.

The initial batch of storms went by to my NW so I just stayed home during that bunch.  We had a strong storm with some pretty good winds and a lot of lightning come through just after dark so I went out to watch.  I have a spot about one mile north of my house where I have a great 270* view from the south all around to the east.  When I got there it started dumping rain and I had maybe 1/4 mile visibility during the flashes.  The road I was on doesn’t have ditches so water collects on the road intersection and in about ten minutes I was sitting in shallow water.  I also have a small home weather station and I kept checking the wind velocity on it and at one point it quit showing any wind so I thought maybe it had broken down.  When I got home there was no wind.  It had gone from upper 20mph to zero mph is seconds.  This morning I am showing 1-1/4″ in my gauge and the majority of that fell in just a few minutes.

Nothing but rain, lightning , and wind here but the folks in the northern states caught hell again.  The ham radio sky warn chatter was still going on over in Missouri when I finally went to bed.  Last I heard there was over 144 tornado warnings yesterday.

[aeronut]

in reply to: Whatcha Got Going On 2026 #175117

It’s been a wild springtime here weather wise.  Yesterday was a pretty nice day but Wednesday I was out spotting for the area sky warn system.  We just had periods of heavy rain and wind but the folks to the north of here in the Olathe area had tornadoes.  Today it’s more bad weather and we are under a flood watch until tomorrow with more rain and wind coming today.

[Author]

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