Ox's Shop

[rklopp]

Surely you planned way ahead for that one! It's not like you wake up, check the forecast, see 5 days of bum weather, and say, "I know, let's go to the tip of South America. I'll go call an Uber. We can grab plane tickets on the way."

 

[Ox]

Ya know...............you're suppozed to go to a nice white sandy beach and sip pina coladas in the sun during these chilly months......................

Well, I did see some white sandy beaches from 39,000' yesterday as we apparently flew over the Caribbean somewhere.
Does that count?

Surely you planned way ahead for that one! It's not like you wake up, check the forecast, see 5 days of bum weather, and say, "I know, let's go to the tip of South America. I'll go call an Uber. We can grab plane tickets on the way."

First mention to Mrs. O was at supper on Jan 4 2024.
You see the dates on the pics.

I don't plan ahead for anything.
If it fits, it ships.

No - way can I plan a 9 day event and expect that I can fit it in my schedule when it comes around.
The last that I was gone that long - was over Christmas break 1996. Same 9 days.


I actually proposed a long weekend trip to the Gulf Coast. Maybe just a drive-through to see the sights is all.
Then this option opened up, and she ran with it.
Turned out the Gulf Coast was frozen anyway the weekend that we would have wanted to go anyway.

The voice on the other end of the phone said to her:
"So, you are looking at Jan 2025 then?"
"No, like next week."
"Lions, tigers, and bears!" (actually - prolly not that quite as she was likely dealing with a Limey, so ... )


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I am Ox and I approve this post!

 

[Fal Grunt]

My kind of travel.

Was it you that posted the awesome video (circa 1920's?) of the last sailing ship, a massive cargo ship, to go round cape horn? My son watched that more than once, as he has this great idea that he is going to become rich (no bother how) and restore an old masted cargo ship and sail the world.

He will for sure want to see your pictures!

 

[Ox]

Seems like I posted that link somewhere - yeah, but I think that was from the 30's actually?

I found recently that the last Great Grain Race from the Tall Ships actually occurred in 1949!
Can't imagine tall ships rounding the Horne hauling grain - even after The War....

A question to the lighthouse master [had we been able to land ashore] was what amount of freighters still round the horn? And how many go which direction? I'm guessing more heading east than west. (???)

I am betting that the current traffic has actually gone up recently - as I hear that the canal is currently closed to larger vessels (?) as there is a drought there currently, and the whole canal is fed from rain only, so some fright is getting unloaded at one side and shuttled via truck or rail to the other side and loaded on another freighter. Apparently that is cheaper than rounding the Horne?

That was on the world news just a cpl weeks ago. My learning that had nothing to doo with research.


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I am Ox and I approve this post!

 

[lucky7]

Ah, Torres del Paine is beautiful. Esp with crap weather ;-)

Did you walk the whole W or just that bit?

Some surprisingly good restaurants in Punta. And a shoe store named after my home town. Surprised the heck out of me when I saw it.

 

[Ox]

We only ate one meal in Punta Arenes. I can't stand sea food, so was hoping to find something that did beef.
Walked down that side street and found a place with a pic of a Herford on the sign. Figgered that was a good indication that there was food there. But as we walked up, a fella inside flagged us and signaled by cutting his throat with his finger. I took it that they closed after lunch was done, and we were there around 3 or so.

Walked down further to another place that looked like a candidate, and that turned out fine.
A bit fancy for my resume', but I wasn't hungry after we left, so I guess it was OK.

Don't know what "walking the W" means. We hopped a boat.
I know that there are many hiking adventures starting there as well.
I was totally shocked that I didn't recognize anyone on our ship as someone from our flight down.
Nor on the way back up for that matter...

We did get off the boat and did some short hiking along the way.
Like the Pia Glacier posted above.

The boat galley was as fancy as could be. All the proper utensils in all the proper places. (how would I know?)
I've had all the culture I can stand for a LONG time to come!

Also, this guy was aboard.
I think he's Swiss?
He was with the Dutch speaking group anyhow, but I am purty sure he wasn't a Kraut, but I could be wrong.





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Think Snow Eh!
Ox

 

[rklopp]

The W is a trek in Patagonia. Oddly enough, my wife and I are doing it in about a month.

 

[rklopp]

First mention to Mrs. O was at supper on Jan 4 2024.

You don't like to rush into anything and make hasty decisions...

 

[moonlight machine]

The W is a trek in Patagonia. Oddly enough, my wife and I are doing it in about a month.

Well we will expect a report!

 

[Ox]

Ya know...............you're suppozed to go to a nice white sandy beach and sip pina coladas in the sun during these chilly months......................

I try to practice staying on the narrow road.



So much culture, that I just couldn't help myself:




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I am Ox and I approve this post!

 

[david n]

Well at least you got all gussied up for dinner......................

 

[Ox]

Well, there is that... and I was glad that I took my "good" pair of Red Wings along fer sure!

Shop pair for excursions...


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Think Snow Eh!
Ox

 

[david n]

Yeah, when I put on one of my good flannels and my Sunday boots, the lil woman gets excited cuz she knows we're goin' into town.............

I'm sure your trip was an adventure...........the only time I have left the country was back in '95 or so............drove to Thunder Bay to see what the Great White North looked like.............the wife keeps buggin' me to get a passport. Someday, someday......................

 

[Ox]

In other news:

I had contacted my local motor rebuilder in early December to see if I could git them to go through my phase convertor while I was out? I was hoping to go west - hopefully over Christmas break, but more likely would be after New Years like normal. And they said that should be OK, especially if it was over or after New Years rather than the week before.

But that came and went with no appreciable snow anywhere - 'cept possibly Alaska, but even that didn't look overly bountifull yet, so that hasn't happened yet...

So when this trip came up, I thought - well that should give them about 2wice as much time to dink with that RPC...

Well, apparently they weren't expecting me back 'till Monday, and was just working on it when I called Friday morning.
I picked it up at closing last night. As you can see, not everything got a fresh coat of paint, but that's a non-issue.

The unit had been running hot, and I have had a fan on it full time for a while now. But Lincolns are the coolest running motors that I have ever seen, so this was concerning. The motor has ran full tilt boogie for 20 years, and you could see that the vent slots were all gunked up and such.

So they cleaned it all up and put in new bearings.
He said that there was a huge moth nest inside. He fumbled for a pic on his phone for a bit and gave up I guess.

It is running MUCH cooler now!




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I am Ox and I approve this post!

 

[ARB]

That's quite a trek from the corn fields. Looks great!!

 

[sfriedberg]

Regarding the tall ship video with the trip around Cape Horn: The filming took place in on a voyage in 1929 when the narrator was a young man. The narration was done in 1980, and you can still hear the enthusiasm in the old guy's voice.

 

[Overland]

You were lucky its summer down there !!
We were down there in November a few years ago. Cruise from Buenos Aries, Falklands, South Georgia, Antarctica and finished in Ushaia.
Fabulous trip and had hurricane force 1 winds in Drakes Passage.
Where to next ?
Bob

 

[Ox]

Changed from Dead Length to Pull-Back collet chucks on the WT300.

The story is here for others to see:

Pull-Back v/s Dead Length Collet Chucks

@ARB Backing up 20 yrs, when we first got our Hardinge Twin Turn 65 (twin turret 8x lathe) it actually only came with one collet chuck on it. The machine was stripped... But the sub had a Hardinge B65 dead length collet chuck on it, and that's what was s'posed to have come with. So I bought a...

www.practicalmachinist.com

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I am Ox and I approve this here post!

 

[rklopp]

The W is a trek in Patagonia. Oddly enough, my wife and I are doing it in about a month.

I don't want to hijack this thread, but somebody asked for a report.
Patagonia was a bucket-list kind of trip. Long set of flights gets us to Bariloche, Argentina, which is a ski town. Couple days there doing warmup hikes, then bus-boat-bus-boat-bus-boat across the Andes to Petrohue by Volcan Orsono volcano. How they got those small passenger ferries up to Lago Frias I have not a clue. Couple days at Petrohue, then catch a flight down to Punta Arenas and bus up to Torres del Paine National Park. Stayed in a refugio (hostel) and hiked three legs of the W. A couple tough hikes ~13 mi, 3,000 ft gain, but not high altitude. WINDY and chilly. Watch hanging glaciers dropping tons of ice sounding like thunder. Then bus to El Chaltén and hiking up to Laguna Torre by Fitz-Roy massif. (Fitz-Roy was the captain of Darwin's ship the Beagle.) More tough hikes with elevation gain and STEEP trail up a glacial moraine, some snow flurries, but still not high altitude. Lots of glaciers and moraines. Lost my brother-in-law on one hike around 10 AM, but found him back at the bar around 4 PM - group not pleased. He sped ahead thinking he was behind. I ate some guanaco (wahn-a-ko), like a small llama. Mostly stayed in small mom & pop hotels with breakfast included. Patagonia beer is good, especially after a 14-mile hike.

 

[Ox]

A fella that I have sledded in Colorado with a cpl times now said that he was headed to Bangladesh (?) to doo some obscure 29 day (?) hike, and basically living out on the mountain the whole time. No running water (read no showers!) the whole time.

Him and I think his wife went with him last (?) year to Base Camp and back down, but she's not going for this hike.
But living at 9000' sure has to help not getting winded so easy....

He should be there now I think.

BTW - he's in the middle agewise of our group - I think he's 78.

I'm tellin' yuh, the guys I ride with out there - I think their all gunna live forever!
Their gunna be the death of me!


[vid]

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I am Ox and I approve this here post!