Over the past weekend me and my Brother-in-law (Steven) got my old ‘68 Camaro on the “Blacktop” and up on blocks. It’s been sitting for 12 years just waiting to be brought back to life. Why has it been sitting in the elements for all this time? Long story.

Still not sure if we are going to keep it or sell it. I’m running numbers or the next month trying to see if keeping it and restoring it is the way to go.

The vinyl top was very mean to it. Rust was pretty bad under it when I cut the top off. I’ll need to replace the roof, the passenger rear quarter and a piece under the rear window.

The engine was not locked up, we could turn it. I gathered up all the parts I took off and have them in a box.

So now I have the long hard decision… keep and fix… or sell.

I wish I could keep emotion out of this one… but I can’t. To much history. Bought in 1986 (I’m the third owner) it took a year to get it into shape enough to drive on the road. I had wanted to drive it my senior year but didn’t have it in shape enough till the June after I graduated. In fact I bet only ten people in high school even knew I had it. No point in talking about a car that you can’t drive to school huh? LOL!!

I can’t even begin to describe the flood of memories that came back to me just sitting behind the wheel. It was weird, like wearing your favorite jacket… or better yet… hearing a song from long ago. It’s like time travel. All of a sudden you remember sights and sounds of long ago. I could have sworn I felt the engine vibrate just a little as I sat in the drivers seat with one hand on the wheel and another on the shifter. Dang! It just felt right!

A guy I work with has an old restored mustang. I’ve only ridden in it once. Why once? Because it made me home sick when I road in it. It just something about feeling the subtle twist of the body when you rev it up, the soft roar of the idle. Shutting the door and hearing solid steel against steel. Bucket seats of vinyl! Hahaha!! When I road with him I could help but think of my old Camaro.

It’s so strange how an inanimate object can hold such a pull on you. It’s as if all your teenage and twenty something years, all the songs you listened to, all the movies you saw, friends you knew get wrapped up into this huge piece of steel, iron, and vinyl. Like your life becomes another bolt or piece of fabric woven into the soul of the car.

It was made in 1968… but somewhere along the way it was re-born to me in 1986… Instead of also having the Doors, Hendrix, and James Brown chanting through the speakers (which I did listen to… just ask Donnie!) it also chanted Metallica, MegaDeath, Ozzy, Judis Preist, Adam Ant, The Clash, Eurythmics, Blonde, Tom Petty, Glenn Frey, And Don Henley.

For Americans… Muscle cars are more than cars… they are symbols of independence and rebellion. Then as well as now. They are gas guzzling beasts of a simple nature. No fuel injected - sensor whining - Nitrous snorting - front wheel drive aluminum blockhead. They are art in motion… air, fuel, spark and wind blockage. Raw horse power at it’s finest. Are there faster? Sure. I see these tricked out little civics and Supras. And you know what… as fast as they go… it’s the classics that capture both imagination and souls of people.

I know have a better appreciation of the old Steven King movie… Christine now. The poor old kid never stood a chance.

Here is how she sets now… like Frankenstein’s monster… waiting… yerning for that one spark that will give it LIFE!!

I joined in “Hour Comic Day” this year. Other members in Eyeskream did as well, not to mention other artists from all over the globe! England, Ireland, Australia, Norway, Canada, Mexico, and Israel… just to name a few.

What is it? Well… basically you draw a quick comic about the past hour you have been awake. So at the end of the day you have a comic of your day! Pretty cool idea. Also a lot more challenging than I thought it was. I had pre-printed a few sheets out with panels already on them thinking it would help speed things up… not sure if it did but it sure was FUN!

Here is the first comic…

You can find the rest of my day drawn HERE. Want to comment on my boring day? Then you can do it here.If this caught your fancy, there are a slew of others from around the world that you can read… FOR FREE!!! Just click Here!

I won’t be posting these over at my Suspicious Minds Comic. No sense littering things up worse there.

UhnnnnNNNNNnnnnn!!!

 I doodled this up while watching Dragon Wars with the kids. First off the movie was dumb, predictable, slow in the begining… but had some really neat effects and CGI. Plus if you like dragons, it was neat to see them tear a city apart.

Not really sure why I drew the zombie. I have watched a couple of zombie flicks later in the week, but I really was just letting my mind wander on the paper. Playing with different shapes and stuff. Kind of nice for a change.

Me and the Katt of my life went to see this on the BIG Screen. The Belcourt Theater is playing it for a week… and well… I just had to go. I mean… really how many times do you get to see something like this on the Big Screen!

First off… the Belcourt.
I had never been there before. Just never really thought of it. It shows mainly classic movies and foreign films. Stuff you can’t see at the big places. It was once a silent movie theater, is on the historical register, and is located in “the Village”. That is to say Hilsboro Village. The “college” area. Close to Vanderbilt. So you can see the appeal for the young kids there. They also serve alcohol (though neither myself or my my wife drink) as well as some food. Hot dogs, nachos, popcorn, little more than the usual.

The theater is small… but I would call it intimate. The screen, while not huge by today’s standard is still twice as big as my living room. You can see a little art deco in the theater as well. The seats have cup holders (A major advance to mankind was the invention of the cup holder!) and where a little thinly padded but fine all the same. The row we sat in… squeaked when you moved around, and sort of moved the row a bit… but again… I thought it added charm.

Now for the movie…
No sense in giving a review of the film it’s self. I mean… let’s face it… you can find a ton of stuff about this flick on the internet. So let’s just review it from my perspective… 38 year old male who likes Sci-Fi, crime noir, and never got the chance to see it in the theaters as a kid.

First off the opening scenes of the City is really cool. Not to mention hearing the bass in a theater as the flames explode above the buildings. Also subtle sounds were really cool as well. Like the rain falling. Hearing it all around you. It added to it. (At least to me.) Another added surprise was seeing the flying Police cars… Life Size and BIGGER on the screen. It seemed like I could see a lot more details in them. The reshot scene of “Zhora” (Joanna Cassidy) crashing through the window was flawless! I had forgotten much of the movie so it was like seeing it for the first time.

With this version it gave little doubt to me that Deckard is a Replicant. We discussed this on the ride home. I mean… he just has to be. We pretty much agreed on that. We are still at odds about “Gaff” (Edward James Olmos). Katt thinks he is a Replicant too… I’m not too sure though. Still trying to sort that one out!

This is an old movie. A gritty, dark movie at that. When I watched it I couldn’t help but think how well done the Special Effects were done for that time. They didn’t steal the show, only added to it in subtle ways. It’s not one I could see myself watching on TV a lot. Maybe just once and a while. I guess the style and the subject of the movie is what draws me to it more than anything else.

Overall I am glad I got to see it on the big screen. Even more thrilled that Katt went with me. (She really didn’t care to go see it.) I recommend seeing it on the big screen if you can. I also Highly recommend visiting the Belcourt Theater as well. I may be next month. They doing a series of Film Noir and are running some classic Boggart films, The Maltese Falcon, and The Big Sleep!

Read about a neat trick on one of the gun forums I visit. It’s really simple and took me all of about five minutes. Not permanent either.

You know how some slides have the logo and caliber engraved on the slide? Yeah… cool I know. Well Here is a little trick to make that “pop” off the slide. Super simple trick.

What an H&K USP Compact looks like before… (yeah, I know it’s a .45)

and after…

Use a regular crayon to fill in the engraving. Yup, you heard right. I used “brick Red” for the “HK” logo, and “White” for the “USP Compact .357 Sig”. You can use what ever color you like. Heck, you can experiment all you want… because it is just crayon! LOL!!

It won’t hurt your slide. Think about it, HK’s use the “Hostile Enviroment” finish for salt water, and all your putting on it is colored wax! So even a regular blued slide (Glocks, XDs, you name it…) isn’t going to have anything on it but.. WAX! Rub the crayon over the words, then start whipping the excess off with a towel Once they are completely filled in. If it looks like it’s not filled in enough… just do it some more! Took me like… five minutes! I think it looks pretty sharp. I’m pretty sure it would/will be easy to clean off. A little gun oil, maybe some powder solvent, maybe some hot water, an old tooth brush and you should be good to go. Remember Wax and and heat doesn’t last long.

This is a good way to try out other colors and see what you like. Once you do grab some Testor’s Model Paint and make last.

I think next I’ll try doing the “HK USP COMPACT” all in Red… then the rest in silver or grey. So it doesn’t stand out so much.

We made the pilgrimage back to Knob Creek last Saturday. It’s amazing how much this thing has grown over the years. I started going about ten years ago. It seems to get bigger each year. A lot more people, more vendors, helos now and fireworks for the first time this year. (That I can remember.)

We left at 4:00am (our time) and made the drive in about three hours. When we roll into Shoney’s for breakfast it’s 8:00 am (their time). Just enough time to eat and drive the rest of the way to the Shoot. We generally get there as the doors open. This time we had two new guys going. First timers. “Jack Attack” and “Average Joe” from the SM Forum. Always like taking a couple of people that have never been before with me. Love to see the look on their faces.

The boys really loved it. Nice to see all the firearms getting some use. It’s just getting harder to see though. The kids have a hard time getting a good spot to see them it seems now. I would love to go to the shoot with enough money to take the boys on a helicopter ride one year. Another big thing the boys like is being able to walk out on the range and see all the stuff tore up. They love seeing that stuff up close.

The boys had a very nice dealer give them some .50 cal ammo that had been cut so they would open bottles. Really cool thing and the boys just got real excited about it. I must say, everyone there tries to make it a little special for the kids.

Always enjoy walking through the vendors area. Looking at the stuff. Picked up a new three point sling for my AR. Some shirts for the kids, and a few assorted catalogs. Ammo prices sure have risen. Not to mention the supple of .223 has dried up considerably. Ouch! Getting hard to afford to feed the things. I have even heard that Nato calibers are going to see another 10-15% increase inn the next month. Thought about reloading again. Now that the boys are older and I have a little more time. (Though not much with the comic. Ugh.) I thought I might pick up some 55 grain FMJs at the show. No such luck. The ones I did find were “pulled” and they were only selling in 1,000 round packs. Not to mention they were a little pricey for me. Again… Ugh.

I have a shooting event coming up in November, so I have to save my pennies for it. Having a handgun that eats .357 sig is not very easy on the wallet. Even at wally world your looking at $22 bucks a box. Again… ouch. I desperately need to just save up and buy a case of .357 sig and .223 have sitting around. Money is just in short supply right now.

I’ll be glad when the war is over. It will be nice to have access to cheap surplus ammo again. Who knows when that will be though.

This year I went back to Gregory Bald. This time with my Brother-in-law Steven and his daughter’s boyfriend Jack. We grabbed a motel room for the night and then drove into Cades Cove that morning and started getting our packs water’d up and double checked. Then we headed out.

Made great time traveling up Parson’s Branch Road (4-5 miles)… in about an hour and fifteen minutes to the Gregory Bald Trail Head. The road was just recently re-opened. It had been closed for three years. This was the first time I have walked it with it open. LOTS of cars! Must have been 16 cars that passed us. One couple of hikers (in a white Toyota truck) offered us a ride, but we turned them down. (If they ever read this, thanks for the offer guys!) We took a break at the trail head, and let our backs breath a bit then started up the Gregory Bald Trail.

Weather was perfect. A little warmer than we had suspected, but awesome. We made it up the trail (4.0 miles) in about two hours and thirty minutes. There is a large spring a quarter mile from the campsite #13 (Sheep Pen Gap). We stopped there and filtered some water, and filled all our bottles for cooking later that night.

We made camp and got everything squared away, then headed up a half mile to Gregory Bald. Needless to say the weather and views were awesome. You can see into Cades Cove, as well as the mountains on the North Carolina side. We stayed up there about an hour just walking around and taking pictures then we headed back down to the camp to eat.

We built us a small fire to knock the chill out and spent the rest of the time chatting and making fun of each other. (And of Dustin who couldn’t make the trip.)

Come the morning I got up and headed back to the Bald to take pictures of the sun coming up. Cades cove looked like a lake of fog. The mountains on the other side of the the bald (Southeast) looked like a sea of fog with islands poking through. Really pretty.

Headed back into camp and saw three deer walking through our camp. After a quick breakfast and some Hot Chocolate we broke camp and got packed up. Grabbing our bottles we went back down to the spring to fill back up. We sat around the spring using the water filter (which is just the coolest thing in the world!) and joking around. Steven had been disappointed that he hadn’t seen any bears. (As many times as he has been to the smokys he has never seen a Bear.) While Steven worked the pump filter me and Jack sat back joking about bears. All through the hike we said if we saw a bear we would do like Patrick form Sponge Bob and do the famous “Weee-Woooo!” sound that he made when he was scared.

Patrick: (takes out walkie-talkie) Spongebob? Come in, Spongebob. Answer.

Spongebob: Spongebob here, Patrick. Report.

Patrick: (over walkie-talkie) I don’t wanna be a policeman anymore! I’m scared!

Spongebob: Get a hold of yourself deputy.

Patrick: (over walkie-talkie) I wanna go home!

Spongebob: Poor rookie. Alright, I’m on my way back.

Patrick: Hurry Spongebob, I think it’s getting… (day becomes night) …dark.

Spongebob: Just put on your siren and I’ll be right there.

Patrick: Wee-woo. Wee-woo. Wee-woo. Wee-woo. (Patrick picks up the sign that the officers showed him earlier. Then sees a darkish figure down the road. It’s Spongebob but Patrick doesn’t realize it) Wee-woo! Wee-woo! Wee-woo! Spongebob! I see him!

We heard a branch fall and we both looked at each other and started saying… “Weee-Woooo! Weee-Woooo!!!” An laughing. Then we heard a little rock get tossed and just assumed it was a raccoon. Again… ever vigil… We resorted to swaying back and forth looking scared and saying “Weeee-Wooo!!! Weeee-Woooo!!!” with Steven shaking his head at us.

Then I saw the Bear come up or the edge behind Steven not fifteen feet away!
I said… “Bear. Let’s go guys!” We slowly got up grabbed what we could and headed back to the trail. The Bear turned around and head back down a little. We could her him tossing rocks looking for grubs. Another hiker came down the trail and we told him. From the trail we watched one bear turn out to be TWO bears! I tried to get a picture but it didn’t turn out. Oh well…

After gathering up our packs we headed back to the bald again. It was Sunday (the first day of the week) so we had planned to have our worship service, and take the Lord’s Supper while on top of the mountain. Really nice. After worship, we walked around the Bald some more and then headed down Gregory Ridge Trail.

It is a lot prettier trail to travel. Very steep, but pretty. At the trail head of Gregory Ridge there are some signs pointing out the directions. If you look close you will see “H2O” carved in them. Follow them and you should find water. We didn’t look, cause we had filled up, but if you are coming up Gregory Ridge Trail you might want to know about this. from that maker it is a pretty steep climb to Gregory Bald.

Going down we noticed that there had been a fire recently and it had actually opened up the canopy a but so we could see the mountains better. Once down the main part of the trail we entered more of the basin. Lots of Mountain Laurel, and three stream crossings… but there are bridges there so no wet feet. In the basin there is also a lot of old growth forest with huge trees! We stopped by another campsite (#12 I think?) and took a break. From there on it’s a pretty easy stroll.

Then it was just loading back into the truck and sitting in the traffic that is Cades Cove.

But at least we had a great view!

Great trip. Already planning another for the Spring! Wonder if Dustin will be able to make this one?!? Hmmmmmm…

About to head out tomorrow after work. Here is a picture of my current gear before packing everything up. Minus my food. Pretty happy about this trek. relplaced a few things in my gear so that helped shave a few pounds. Nothing like a few improvements to help get you on your way.

Last hike my pack weighed in at 30 .lbs which is pretty normal for what am doing. My goal this hike was to get my gear down under 30 .lbs and boy did I! I’m weighing in at a skant 24 .lbs. Woo hoo!!!

Last time we saw a Rattle Snake, and two Bears (a mom and her cub). Not sure what we will see this time. But that is half the fun!

Got another 5 miles in this weekend with my pack. Reloaded the first-aid kit. Only have to pick up a couple of odds and ends. The backcountry camp site is reserved. That should take care of everything. I’m going to try and do another 5 miles this weekend. (Currently my pack is still loaded with 36 lbs. but the actual pack weight should be closer to 30 before I leave.) Still have a couple of meals to test out this weekend but other than that I should be good to go.

Getting all my gear out and checking it over, as well as going with two other guys to get gear has really made me want… you guessed it… NEW GEAR!! Really just a MSR Pocket Rocket stove and I would love a new pack. Mine is old and after trying on my Brother-in-laws Kelty Coyote I’m thinking next year might be a good time to upgrade my pack! They have so many more options and adjustments than my old pack does. Really neat stuff. Also a heck of a lot more comfortable. That can make a big difference.

I’ll be taking my camera with me and uploading pictures when I return to my Flickr account. So if you want to see them that would be the place to go.

We’re already starting to plan another trip for next Spring. Only this time it might be a two night, three day hike and the group may grow to four for the next one. We’ll see what everyone thinks about it after they get over this hike.

I hope before long to be able to hike and camp at the place where my Dad hunted as a boy. It is called Snow Bird. Well… that is to say they hunted mostly on Hooper Bald. The Cherohala Skyway cuts not 100 feet from the deer camp where my Grandad took my Dad, his brother, and a few other guys hunting. It took them hours to reach it and now you can walk to it in less than five minutes. I have found a trail at the base that is close to where they would start to go up. Once I get a little more experience under my belt I want to try and hike it.

I can’t believe it’s been four years since I have been backpacking. Where has the time gone. Where does it go? (I suspect it is being sold to China by big businesses, or perhaps by some big crime syndicate out east.)

Soooo… I dug out the gear, cleaned up a few things, planned out a trip, got my pack loaded with weight. About 36 punds right now. Last trip my pack weighed in at an even 30 pounds, this year I’m shooting for just a little less this time. Been walking a mile and a quarter just about everyday with my pack. (Up hill both ways… no kidding.) Hoping to be in even better shape this time than last.

It’s funny looking back at the old pictures and getting everything planned out, cleaning the gear up, etc. I really enjoyed the last trip, so why has it taken this long to get another one planned? Werid. Guess life just has a way of doing that.

I think on the next trip I’ll plan a two nighter. So many trails and so very little time. Did five miles today in the park with the pack. I’m going to try and do that every Saturday until the trip.

I’m really looking forward to the this trip. I’ve been spending way too much time in front of the computer. Nice to get into some reality. Hiking is kind of metaphoric for life in a couple of ways. You make a plan, much like life… you take stock in what you have placing more importance on what you NEED rather than what you WANT… you plan for the worst and hope for the best (just like life)… and you have ups and downs. times when you struggle to get up and times where it’s a simple stroll down hill with a gentle cool breeze blowing.

I have alway thought that you should take a little stock in yourself when you hike. That is try and be a little better person than you were before you left.

Oh yeah… the trip won’t affect the comic. Currently I am staying ahead, and I am going to try and keep it that way.