Day 112 – (AD 335) – Jim's Trek Part II – The Sequel – 21.7 Miles – New Mexico on My Schwinn 150.

Good day,

This morning, yes, my Schwinn 150, and yes, 21.7 miles. My total on this 335th day of my Trek – 6,649.4 miles.

And on my virtual trip, I am somewhere, still in New Mexico, on Highway US-380 E. All-things-being-equal I am about 19 miles from the next Town.

Wasn’t on my list of things to do, but today is Clean Your Refrigerator Day. Just remember your refrigerator just wants to be your friend.

I watched the last part of Bleak House on Netflix. I would suppose that Smallweed does have his shtick. For a while I wanted to say “Beam me up”, instead of his consistent “Shake me up”. I will be looking for my next cycling - viewing companion.

Not much more to talk about.

Be healthy and enjoy,

Jim

Day 111 – (AD 334) – Jim's Trek Part II – The Sequel – 21.5 Miles – Not Lost in New Mexico on My Schwinn 150.

Good day,

And I did not want to get on my Schwinn 150 this morning. But nothing ventured, nothing gained. Or should I say lost.

This morning on my Schwinn 150 I cycled another 21.5 miles. The exercise has its results. My doctor has halved the prescription of one my blood pressure medications.

And now the next question, at what point do I become “bored” with the cycling? At what point does it become a part of my daily routine that I must schedule all my other commitments around my cycling? Obviously the benefits outweigh the non-performance.

On my virtual Trek I think I am in the middle of what appears to be nowhere. I am located in New Mexico and I am headed east on US-380 E. Using the Goggle satellite image there are no labeled markers or points of reference from approximately two miles up. From about 500 feet I can see that I have passed L-C94.  This morning I began at "A" and cycled to "B".

I am now 596 miles from my next Interlake address goal. I am also 1,712 miles from the end of my Trek and my home in Tampa, Florida. To date I have cycled on my Schwinn 150 6,627.7 miles.

When the electronic portals cannot be trusted, why would the elder generations expect the youth to have any confidence?

Watching Bleak House, while I cycle, I am intrigued as it has now turned into a crime investigation. Oh and by the way, I guessed who dunnit. Wonder if Dickens had intended to pen an earlier version of Law and Order?

Be healthy and enjoy,

Jim

Day 110 – (AD 333) – Jim's Trek Part II – The Sequel – 21.3 Miles –6,606.1 Miles in New Mexico on My Schwinn 150.

Good day,

And today, another 21.3 miles on my Schwinn 150; total to date 6,606.1.

This morning I passed through Socorro, New Mexico, turned right and moved to the south paralleling the Rio Grande. At San Antonio I crossed over the river on 2nd Street.

I am now headed east on US-380 E/2nd Street toward Co Road 158/Cam San Pedro/San Pedro Road.

Doctor’s okay this morning on what I am doing. He decided to drop the diagnosis of diabetes from my record. Does this mean that I’ve beaten it? His prognosis is that I keep cycling and making sure that I eat a good diet. I am now to try and cut down on another medication. This one treats high blood pressure. Another goal…

Just received in yesterday’s afternoon mail delivery a brown envelope labeled "The American Legion, Benefits Department". On the label –

"James K Smith: According to our records, you are among the Florida Veterans who are not yet receiving The American Legion Benefits to which you are eligible."

In my dreams I must have served sometime, someplace to become a Florida Veteran. I know I take virtual reality trips. Just check out Jim's Trek. I know that I am reaching that point in life that I may get some more gray hair.

As British by birth I do not remember any type of associated relationship with The American Legion. As a Canadian citizen I did go to school somewhat near to the 49th parallel. When I became an American citizen it was sometime after I may have been eligible to serve in any one of the four branches.

I know it may be a pittance, but is there not a cost to some department of The American Legion? A cost for the package that came very nicely addressed to me?

Okay, my name and address might be the result of a purchase of a mailing list by some mail order third party company. The question is what percentage may warrant a viable write-off for wasted copy to non-eligible recipients? And is this a Florida thing?

I watched my cycling companion Bleak House this morning. Josiah Tulkinghorn is just the type of fictional lawyer on truly loves to hate. And it appears that almost everyone in Dickens’ novel does so.

Be healthy and enjoy,

Jim

Day 109 – (AD 332) – Jim's Trek Part II – The Sequel – 21.5 Miles – Near the Rio Grande in New Mexico on My Schwinn 150.

Good day,

This morning I cycled on my Schwinn 150 an additional 21.5 miles. I burned another 682 calories. Everything seems to be going right but I have to figure out a way to tone up my gut. Yes, I know that I am no longer 30 years old, but at twice that I think there must be a way for me to get “the fitter thing.”

My three month average fasting blood sugar count is 96.68 mg/dL. This translates to an A1c of approximately 5.11%. This means that my A1c result falls within the normal range, even for people who don’t have diabetes. This is not a clinical test. I get that one next week. I wonder how the two will compare?

I am currently headed southeast on US-60 E. The landscape imaging has not changed that much over the past couple of days. Tomorrow I will be passing through Socorro, New Mexico, elevation 4,579 feet, population about 9,000. I didn’t realize that I am that close to the Rio Grande.

And I now have 630 more miles to go to get to my next Interlake address goal.

Isn’t 14% a big number? It is…especially when the other and opposite number is only 86%. Hah!

In the search for the origins of my great-great-great-grandfather James Smith I posted another one of my transcription works yesterday at A Genealogy Hunt. The mystery is where did he come from, or where did my Smith family line originate from before it arrived to Grenada?

And last night, I definitely learned that I must not add plain Greek yogurt to a hot pot. If only I had read the following before I added it to my Calcutta Lobster and Shrimp in Spinach and Yogurt Sauce experiment.

“Don't expect it, (the Greek yogurt), to act just like regular yogurt - chiefly, don't bake with it unless it's thinned out and don't heat it quickly or the concentrated milk proteins will separate from the remainder of the whey, never to unite again. Temper it before adding it to a warm dish, and only then, right at the end.”

The dish was good but it looked like I had used dry cottage cheese. Oh and by the way, I didn’t have any spinach so I used Swiss chard and tatsoi.

Some secrets revealed on Bleak House.

Be healthy and enjoy,

Jim

Day 107 – (AD 330) – Jim’s Trek Part II – The Sequel – 20.7 Miles – New Mexico Still, On My Schwinn 150

Good Day,

I’m a bit late writing up my Trek journal and blog today. I cycled 20.7 miles this morning on my Schwinn 150. I have now cycled, in 330 days, 6,541.2 miles. My return Trek or my Part II now equals 35% of my total miles, 2,284.1 miles. All-things-being-equal I only have about 1,800 more miles to complete my complete cycling Trek, in this part of North America.

Virtually I am still in New Mexico on US-60 E and about 24 miles from Magdalena. The Google Maps satellite image certainly has this area as light brown, and seemingly dry.

Spent some quality time with CK. The kid now recognizes Grandpa's big toe.

Part 3 of Bleak House is still something that keeps my mental and visual minds focused on the story. And the actors are most definitely telling stories with their faces. This is certainly a help to my keeping up with my exercise on my Schwinn 150.

This is a short writing day.

Be healthy and enjoy,

Jim

Day 106 – (AD 329) – Jim’s Trek Part II – The Sequel – 21.0 Miles – New Mexico Somewhere, On My Schwinn 150

Good Day,

Today my cycling clocked 21.0 miles on my Schwinn 150. My next Interlake location goal is about 700 miles away.

I am on US-60 E somewhere in New Mexico between the Madre and Crosby Mountains. I am a bit north east of Datil, population about 55.

Not sure I understand this, but it seems that Firefox is recommending Add-ons to me that are Russian and Italian...in Russian and in Italian. Why? Accordingly the recommendations are based on the current ones that are included in my extensions. I only have three Add-ons currently added on; Google Image Search; iCloud Bookmarks; and Lightbeam. So what do these three have to do with the Russian and Italian recommendations? Strange thought…

This morning I watched Part 2 of Bleak House. It is Dickens’ dark examination of the shortfalls of the English Chancery court system in about the 1820s. How apropos that there is examination of legal documents and affidavits? Not in any way that I am an accomplished writer in the caliber of Charles Dickens but there does hold some persistence in the search and research of certain writings and scripts. I definitely might learn something.

I wonder if there may have been some slight association between Charles Dickens and Jules Verne. One of the minor characters in Bleak House known as Nemo is found dead, and there is an occasional reference to the fact that “Nemo” is the Latin for “nobody, no one”. Is that the meaning of Jules Verne's Captain Nemo in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea?

Decided on the new band for our Vanderbilt afghan. I think this one will work. Design work continues on CK’s GPS quilt. This new one should prove interesting and somewhat different. We started a new quilt design, The Doors. Both RG2013 and Tampa Kaleidoscope are in process of being quilted. Guess I’ll have to update our quilt and afghan schedule. Stay tuned to both Afghans SB and Quilts SB.

Be healthy and enjoy,

Jim

Day 105 – (AD 328) – Jim’s Trek Part II – The Sequel – 22.5 Miles – Catron County Heliport On My Schwinn 150

Good Day,

Today I cycled another 22.5 miles on my Schwinn 150. I’m ½ mile short of my 6,500 mark; 6,499.5 miles. And there is tomorrow.

This morning on my Trek I reached the fairly new Catron County Heliport. Google Maps' street views were taken in 2008 and the Heliport was opened in 2009. Sort of not much to see. And there is something that I do not understand. Accordingly the Catron County Heliport, C54, is 8 nautical miles east of Quemado, New Mexico. I did pass through Quemado, population about 250, but I am still looking for some body of water to measure the nautical miles. (The B-marker in the above image is me.)

I just realized that we as a human race are creating a thousand of new dialects under the umbrella of “Computer-eze”. Just trying to understand the what-application-works-with-what-device-and-if-you-do-not-have-this-make-or-type-of-device-you-can’t-use-this-application certainly boggles the wee bit of grey matter that I am trying to hold on to. Is it that I am getting old? Or just left out in the cold? It is raining nanobytes, and I do not mean the candy type.

The  kitchen and flood reconstruction is almost done. Some minor things to finish. We’re still heading for a completion date of Thanksgiving. The air-conditioning is back online... and of course our service company was insistent that there was another new gizmo that was needed for the unit.  No thanks.

My desktop PC is back to work and I am ready to start my writing and research once again.

This morning’s viewing companion was Masterpiece Theatre’s 2005 presentation of Charles Dickens Bleak House. Part 1 begins the introductions of characters, place, and time. As I never read this in school in all the English Literature classes I sat through, this one should prove somewhat interesting. There are 15 parts and this video companion will take me through much of November and about 300 miles of cycling.

Be healthy and enjoy,

Jim