Road Rage - Illinois version

On a recent trip I discovered this sign has absolutely no meaning what so ever to some drivers.

The stretch of road I experienced this on was Highway 24 from Paducah Ky. to the Georgia border. 260 miles of pure living hell for me because of a few drivers NOT following this simple sign.

It took me a little while to figure out just exactly what was causing the repeated bottlenecks along this stretch of highway. After following a pack of 20 vehicles for 40 miles, I finally found out.

It's lefty's.

Not left handed people mind you, but the motorist that think it is their god given right to travel down a busy highway and permanently stay in the left hand lane regardless of their speed.

Don't know why these people do this either the fear of being called slower or lacking the ability to change lanes, but my cruise control was off more than it was on.

So as a PSA and important driving safety tip, I have thought up a couple of tips that motorists can use to find out if they need to change from the left hand of the highway to the right.

First, traveling .001 to 1 mph ABOVE the posted speed limit does not automatically qualify you to reside in the left hand lane. Move to the right.

Second, if you glace up at your rear view mirror and the traffic behind you looks like the drive thru of Starbucks on free coffee day, you probally need to change lanes. Move to the right.

Third, if the traffic passing you out your passenger side window is equivelent to the traffic in the oppisite direction, you probally need to change lanes. Move to the right.

Lastly, If a black Chevy Avalanche with Illinois plates passes you in the right hand lane doing 89 mph, the driver giving you the double bird, and you can't read lips but it looks like every other word he is saying begins with a "F", you probably REALLY need to change lanes.

PLEASE move to the right.

Redoubt erupts

Alaska's Mt Redoubt erupted overnight.

Will be interesting to see the Web cam when light hits it this AM.

Bamboo

During my recent trip south, I dug up some Alabama Bamboo and brought it back to plant here. Don't know if it will grow or not.

Don't think it liked the trip back in the back of the Avalanche because after two weeks it has not straightened up much.

Endless Gas

It's a Brinkmann Pro Series 4400.

I bought it at the end of the 2006 summer closeout sale. Picked it up for $125. Didn't want to spend too much in case this little experiment didn't work. Looked for a natural gas grill, but after shopping around, the price was a little more than I wanted to spend. Searched the internet for some info on how to convert a propane grill to natural gas and presto ! I found this site. There are several other links on this page that have useful information on doing this.

WARNING: If you are not sure of what you are doing, Do Not attempt this.

The tricky part, after getting the natural gas line to the grill, is to drill out the jets to the proper size. It's pretty much hit and miss of drilling out the burner jets. I just matched up the drill bit with what the propane on was and jumped up 2 numbers at a time until I got the flame I wanted. I think I went to a 52 drill size.

Another word of caution here is don't drill it out to big.

I've had this working for about two years now and can honestly say that I grill out much more now that the days of checking if you have enough propane to grill out are gone. I still like to grill with charcoal during the lazy days of summer, but this is the next best thing if you don't have the extra time.

Kubota Cab Project

Updated 2.22.09




This weekend's events included adding lights, marker lights and wiring them all up. Went with LED marker lights since I found out the Kubota alternator only puts out 14 amp. There goes the Bose sound system I was going to install......



Also go the back panels cut out, painted and installed. Back and front glass put in. Top put on, bolted down and halfway painted. Tried to put the back glass panels in but too many nasty words came out of my mouth during this. Have to practice on this to get the hang of it.

Got the cage painted and the top on (not here) . Hope to get a lot more done this weekend....!!!