Hill-topping with Larry 10-27-07

Boy is time getting away from me! I couldn’t believe how many days have gone by since I last blogged.

Last weekend after a lovely rain storm we went over to Ukiah for our Nephew’s wedding reception. We had a great time and I didn’t take a single picture. Kinda weird for me, but I just didn’t feel like taking pictures. It was good to see Larry’s Brother and his family, Larry’s Mom, our Brother-in-law and Nephews and their girlfriends. We saw a few people we hadn’t seen since High School which was strange because they were hardly recognizable. We spent the night at Andrea’s and then headed out the next morning for “home” back in Quincy.

Every day this week Larry went to two different hilltops doing repeater maintenance. I went with him on Tuesday and it was a stunning Indian Summer Autumn day. Not a breath of wind, sunny and warm. Most hilltops are windy so it was a rare day, I was glad I went.

The truck Larry has been using is the fire departments seldom used 1970 Ford 4x4 with a utility body. The thing only has a little over 12,000 original miles on it. It certainly took me back 30 years. When Larry and I were dating he had bought a 1972 Ford pickup, but his was an automatic and we had it quite awhile. The wide bench seat and the simple dash, the high beam light switch on the floor (which I still miss) and that lovely faint aroma of gasoline and oil that old trucks seem to hold. Not an electric switch to be had to move anything…which I am glad we have today. What a ride!

The first hilltop’s road wasn’t too bad, but the second’s was sooo rocky and rough we had to go really, really slow so we wouldn’t toss all Larry’s equipment on the floor or rattle ourselves and the truck apart! One hour to go five miles and I totally get why Larry doesn’t like to drive dirt roads anymore! Oh, I forgot to mention that the truck did NOT have power steering which made for more work for driver Larry. This is just a small example of the road we were on.

Now I know some of you have just been dieing to know what a radio site looks like so here you go. The first site we went to was small and quiet, one building, solar panels, tower and great views.

The second site had lots more buildings, towers and equipment and was noisy with the hum of air conditioner motors which are needed to keep the radio equipment from over heating, the repeaters generate a LOT of heat. The lightning bolt is pointing to Larry up there checking out an antenna. This tower is pretty short as towers go, he’s climbed some so tall that he would wear a safety belt, lucky him…not me!

The rest of the pictures are of the great views to be had from mountain tops.

Yesterday I went to another site with Larry that is between two lakes and we had to climb to get to it, but it wasn’t on top of a mountain and we didn’t have to take to a dirt road. This little lake was very serene and peaceful.

As we aren’t doing anything much that seems worth sharing it may be another week before you hear from me. The last picture is a close up of lichens on a rock, pretty color and textures.