Statrix Redux

Today brings and end to the much of the running around I’ve had to do lately. Once I finish with this afternoon’s AUW (Aloha United Way) presentation, I’m good to go for the year. I’ll be glad to get back to it next year, but for now, I’m going to rest and be thankful that I’ve done my part.
Now I’ve got to concentrate on my Mexico vacation:

I’ll be staying at the Casa Gonzalez which gets a great rating at TripAdvisor.
I’ve got a bit of time to do it and make my plans, but now is the time to start.

So faithful reader (there is one, and only one as far as I can tell), I will not be running away to New York. No it’s Ciudad de Mexico for me!
Aloha!

I just discovered that Alaska Airlines, the airline that decided I should get a free ticket to Mexico isn’t going to be charging me extra for my new Bike Friday! Well I don’t really “know” that, but I was just checking their site and found this…

But just a wee bit down the page I noted this…

Customers traveling to or from Guadalajara or Mexico City may check 2 bags free of charge.

That leads me to believe I’ll be just fine on this trip!
Aloha!

Today I decided I really did need the Bike Friday TravelBag which will allow me to sling the bike over my shoulder and carry it in to places that might otherwise object.

It adds a few bucks to the price, $79 I believe, but hey, if you are going to be spending that much money on a bike that folds, you ought to get the darn bag as well. I may never actually need it, but then again, I may. I’m probably also going to want the trailer adapter for the TravelCase, but that can wait till I get back.
Part of the reason for the travel stuff is that I may want to go camping on Maui and taking a bike along is definitely part of the plan. However the SuperFerry, the method I’d use, charges $25 for bike one-way, that would be $50 for a round trip. However, according to their website:

Make sure your baggage meets the requirements. Passengers are allowed two checked bags weighing no more than 50 pounds each, and no more than two personal carry-on bags or packs. Oversized or excess luggage will be subject to additional fees.

It sounds to me like travel equipment is in order! Especially since I can ride my bike from the dock (or the airport) to Kanaha Beach Park in very little time and camp in this location…

It may not be the best spot on the island, but it’s convenient…

View Larger Map
Aloha!

On Saturday I had long ride starting with a journey out to Sand Island State Recreation Area to check on which camping sites there would support camping in my Hennessy Hammock.
The thing is, the sites have to have trees of the proper size with proper spacing. In Hawaii many places just don’t have trees as they are beach sites. It seems Sand Island has sites that have trees and site that don’t. The ones I like are…
B2, B3, B4, B5, B6, B9 and C2, C3, C4
Those all had trees and seemed appropriate. The site I liked the best, bar none, is B9. That’s the one I’m going to try for – perhaps even for this coming weekend, though I suspect I’ll have to do it after I get back from the Big Island.
I dropped by to visit a friend this morning after picking up extra tent pegs this morning. Besides letting me know that I should visit San Francisco on my way to New York (a trip I’m not taking any time soon), she mentioned that a friend of hers bought a Hennessy Hammock based on her description of my purchase. Now I’m sure they checked it out and all so it’s not just based on someone’s impression of my impression, but it does seem they have a quality product. I’m really looking forward to trying mine for real!
This afternoon I’m off to visit another friend and learn about her trip to Rome, show off my plans for Mexico City and do a little bragging about my bikes and my hammock.
Aloha!

My mental health is definitely in a precarious state. I may, no I am, completely round the bend. Or more precisely I will soon be around the bend…the bend in the road right down there yonder.
The thought of going without a bike in Mexico DF finally got to me. Now I realize I could probably have found something to ride there, maybe even something I could use for the whole time. Maybe, maybe not. I’d even considered buying a cheap bike down there and giving it away when I left. That’s no longer the plan.
i purchased a Bike Friday New World Tourist folding bike. Mine looks something like this…

Mine is green not blue and will have fenders and rear rack. The handlebars are a bit different as well, but you get the idea. I guess we can cross this one off the Christmas List. Sigh.
Of course we could add a tandem bike to the list, then I wouldn’t have to worry about riding too fast, or to slow, for a certain friend of mine. Wink. Wink.

Maybe we should get that in green as well. What do you think?
Aloha!

Yesterday my Hennessy EXPLORER DELUXE ASYM arrived, today I set it up in our local park.

First let me say that it’s not as easy as the Hennessy Website claims – the first time. I expect I will have it up in 2 minutes flat next time. Part of the problem I had was simply not starting far enough up the trees. Once I moved things up it was wasn’t a problem. All in all I think I got it in less than 10 minutes including retying the lines up the tree. Like I said, next time it’ll be a snap. Yeah. Sure.
A bigger problem is the Hex Fly that I substituted for the regular fly. I love the size of the fly. I don’t love trying to set it up in the wind. It seems as soon as I started it got a bit windy which made things a wee bit dicey, but I got it as you can see.
You can also see I didn’t really get it quite right, I’ve got to reposition the fly a bit to the left to cover the entire hammock. I noticed it when I took the image, then I did it – but didn’t bother taking another image.
Now about getting in and out. It’s a little scary the first time you backwards into it…did I tie off the hammock properly? Will it hold me? [Get one your size, I did.] So on and so forth. It worked as promised. Getting out is a breeze, even the first time. The second time I got in it was a snap. By the third I was practically falling back into it.
I still have a lot to learn about it, but I think I’m ready for its first real use, maybe next weekend!
Now, for the “snakeskins.” They work great. I was even able to get the Hex Fly wrapped up. I don’t know if I’ll do it again, but it fits. I learned how to do it on The Place with No Name –
SHANE STEINKAMP’S BACKPACKING BASE CAMP. Thanks Shane!
I learned how to do the knot on the same website, a different page though – right here.
Another excellent source of information is this article, “A prolongated test of the Hennessy hammocks” on the Outdoors-Magazine.com site. They don’t like the knot though. 🙂
All in all I’m stoked.
Aloha!

I seems my Hennessy Hammock has arrived, even though I wasn’t home, didn’t leave a note, and otherwise paid no mind the whole thing…

The only questions left is, “Will I have time and place to try it out?”
Hmm…
Now if I could only get Bike Friday out of my mind. I’d really like to be able to travel with a bike.

Aloha!

Ouch! My hammock is due to arrive today via UPS. Normally I would leave a note asking the driver to try the manager of the building if I’m not home, but I forgot to do so this morning. Admittedly, leaving the house around 4:30 am sometimes means I’m not at the top of my game.
I guess the good news is that it’s only Thursday. If it fails to arrive today I will be able to leave a note for tomorrow. I can’t go camping tonight anyway – as much as I’d like to do so.
No, the plan for this weekend is to go back out to Sand Island Beach Park and try to figure out which campsites will let me deploy the hammock. Then I’m going to try to get a permit for it for at least one overnight before I go to Mexico.
Aloha!

I wouldn’t have ridden my bike today if I’d remembered I have to be somewhere within minutes of leaving work. I did ride my bike though, so…
Cool. I’m actually glad. It’s really only a 20 minute ride (30 if I don’t sweat) so I should really have plenty of time. I just won’t be able to change before I go so the 30 minute option is probably called for here.
In better news, my Hennessy Hammock should be here tomorrow! Wow! I didn’t actually expect it that fast, but hey, maybe, just maybe I can go camping this weekend. Nah, it’s Labor Day and I suspect too late to get a permit. Ah well. Maybe I can at least set it up in a park and take a nap. That sounds good to me. 🙂
Perhaps I can do this…

Yeah!
Meanwhile, if you’ve decided you really are going to buy me a bike for Christmas, here’s another site that has a bike I’d love…Bike Friday. Being able to travel with a bike would be perfect!
Aloha! Bob

I rode to work this morning, but that was it – today was simply a commute, no extra anything. The reason?
As I was preparing to go this morning I heard rain outside and discovered that it was, indeed, raining quite hard in my neighborhood. That does not, of course, mean it was raining anywhere else – but I would have gotten soaked.

That splash of orange, yellow, and green near the crosshairs is what was coming down on me this morning. As you can see it’s pretty localized, but wet is still wet.
I waited it out, which if you are familiar with Honolulu weather didn’t take all that long. Just long enough to make it impossible to get a decent ride in and make it to work on time. On time is relative I guess, mostly it means early enough not to have to compete for space on the bike rack.
When I did leave, to what looked like clear skies no less, got caught in one little shower that seemed to sneak out of the mountains just for me. I got damp. Not wet mind you, simply damp.
Aloha!