Tuesday, September 29, 2009

You know you have been Orienteering when…

1) You find yourself getting lost in the woods
2) You find yourself backing up to “relocate” yourself someplace you can find in the woods and on the orienteering map
3) You spend two hours completing the course, upset that you took that long
4) You find that only a few people finished the same course any faster than you did
5) You feel much better when two of those faster than you, were MUCH younger
6) You drink two Gatorades, finish the water in your carry-along pack and drink another bottle of water and do NOT need to use the bathroom
7) You hang around for awards because it might be the only time you get one
8) You don’t want to really win the school bus they raffle off at the awards
9) You’d not mind winning the socks they raffle off. Your’s are sweat soaked.
10) You change clothes in the back seat of your truck
11) The back seat of your truck looks like a gym bag exploded in it. Mostly because it did
12) You spend hours studying the orienteering map, trying to figure out the best way to navigate, and trying to remember where all you messed up at
13) You get home and toss all your wet and muddy clothes into the washer. You forget to clean off the mud, sticks and leaves from the cleats in your shoes
14) Your wife asks you just what you put into the washer, why the water looks like mud, and those sticks seem to just float around on the top of the water
15) When you finally take off your underwear, more sticks and leaves fall out
16) You pack up the two compasses you carry with rubber between them, so they don’t mess each other up
17) You look forward to the next event

Yes, the North Texas Orienteering Association has started their year. Actually this past weekend was the second event, but I didn’t make the first one. I’m ticked off that I’ll probably have to miss the next one also. And the one after that is a “B” meet, two day event. I’ll have to keep my head on better to survive both of those days.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

In progress - transmission install


This last Sunday my friend came over and we started installing the C4 transmission. He helped muscle it into place and aligned. He stayed for four of the six bolts from the transmission into the motor, for one of the torque converter nuts(we need it further bolted up, and the starter installed to rotate the motor to align the rest), and the support cross member.
So last night since it was RAINING again in Texas, I installed a few more items, the starter and such. It's getting closer. I hope to finish it up this weekend and get it out of the garage for a drive.