AIR CONDITIONED CARS

There was a time when air conditioned cars were an expensive add on from the dealer. We thoroughly enjoyed our 1972 Pontiac Convertible and didn’t get an air conditioned car until 1976.  In fact, in Southern California, you could buy a car from the dealer without a heater, which we did, once.  Who needed it?
A Bay Area friend of ours bought a brand new 1961, (I believe it was a Chrysler) with an  air conditioning unit, to take a trip from California to Boston. The device was a square container of ice mounted on the hump over the drive shaft with a fan attached to the cigarette lighter. The fan blew air over the ice to cool the air. It worked until the ice melted.  Every couple of hours, our friends had to stop and buy a new block of ice.  It was a  hoot and convinced us air conditioning would never be a standard part of a car. Now, I can’t imagine being without it. Which, in a round about way, is where I’m going this morning, to have my air conditioning repaired. A hose is plugged and condensed water wets the carpet on the passenger side when the air conditioning is running.
And carpet in cars?  Don’t get me started.
Yesterday, I experimented  with pictures around my yard to see what I could come up with and I can’t say that the following close-up has much appeal…

…when the leaf itself is so pretty.

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However, I liked this close-up shot of a gold pan.
Maybe because a gold pan wasn’t meant to be as pretty as a leaf.

The cables on Jim’s bike made an interesting shot. Kind of reminds me of when we were kids. Pageant magazine had a  monthly photo that required you to guess what the original object was from the close up. The answer was in the following issue, always a month away. No one in the family ever guessed an object correctly, but we loved trying.
The weather will soon turn wet and cold. We’ve enjoyed these sunny fall days.

THE HUTONGS

During the cultural revolution, the city was cleared of many of its old quarters and high rises were built as the “standard” housing. Some old families were allowed to remain in the center of Beijing called the Hutongs. Old, dilapidated one-family residences have been preserved. They are part of the narrow warrens, the crooked uneven, unplanned streets where at one time shacks were built on top of shacks and people rarely wandered more than a few blocks from their home. All business was conducted on the streets where neighbors traded goods with neighbors.  Some streets have been widened enough for a small car. At one time only bicycles and rickshaws plied the rough streets of the  Hutongs.

We disembark from our rickshaw and push our way through the throngs to a family home where our guide has arranged a home visit.
Just about every family has a  bike, still the main mode of transportation.

The area is dark and moving from one place to the other is from memory. No numbers or addresses are seen on these buildings.

We reach our destination and we crowd into two different houses.  They are very basic dwellings with a small shared courtyard to grow and gather herbs and some vegetables or flowers in pots. This is middle-class housing, usually one room. A few families have more spacious places with three rooms.  They are occupied by working middle class people, not at all what Chinese think of as poor, but to us they seem poor.

These neighborhoods are friendly, and safe. They are a very desired commodity, individual family housing, rare in modern China.  The  Hutong  families have modern amenities like a TV, a refrigerator and a place to cook on a coal or wood stove that is also used for heat. No indoor toilets.  The tour company pays them to open their homes to tours. Our hostess’s furniture was matched.  Our host family was very proud of their special home.

This is one of the bigger houses with three rooms.  Pictures  of family members share space with “decorator” pictures as well, showing their affluence.  The floor  at one time was well trodden dirt with bamboo mats.  The floor is now cement tiles.



The third room, a small bedroom with a fancy spread.

Here is a place where buildings have been removed to allow cars to enter.

Our rickshaw driver is “Joe.”  He knew some English and told us he has two kids. He was very chatty. He lives in the country and spends only one month per year with his family. Country people are allowed two children per couple. Joe works in the city and bunks in with other drivers and sends a required amount of his earnings home. He scowled and didn’t like his $1 tip. (Our guide warned us not to pay more.)

THE PAWN SHOP SIN

I'm sure at some point in my life, it must have been a sin to go into a pawn shop. At least for a "girl". Kind of like entering the Erotic Museum, or a bar. Heavy religion kind of does things like that to you.

We looked at cheapie bicycles yesterday.  They have them at several places around town. Its sort of a mixed bag, do you buy a good ride? Or do you buy a cheapie in case it gets stolen? Or a second hand junker?
The cheapie new ones didn't appeal to me. Heavy. You have to assemble them from the box. The second hand stores didn't have a one. Jim suggested a pawn shop. Whaa?

At Super Pawn, located in the middle of a respectable shopping center, was a Trek bike sitting in front of the entrance.  Hey!

I entered the place expecting a dim interior with a tough guy wearing diamond rings, a  cigar hanging out of his mouth in front of a counter filled with handguns, rings and watches. I guess the pawn shops I've seen from movies are from days long past. This was a modern building, with well organized items of every sort, generators, electronics, sporting goods, television sets. There were rifles in a case on the wall and a case with jewelry. I didn't see a hand gun. It had a spacious floor with two women helpers and a guy handling the cash register.It didn't feel sinful at all. Dang! I kind of wish it had been the place of my imagination, just for the fun of it.
The bike was a real bargain, but it needed a bit of work that we aren't prepared to do on the road, or wait for a bike shop. So, we passed on it.
 
I got a comment yesterday from a reader who said it appeared to her that my bike was stolen in San Luis. NOT!  For the record, it was here in Yuma where we are parked at the American Legion. Jim attached his severed cable to a post at the Legion warning others about the possibility of theft. This morning we are moving to a friend's driveway for one night before heading back to Las Vegas.

A BIG LOAD

My friend Ron sent me an email with pictures of this "Big Load" moving on public roadways. 

For the past few weeks, a "super heavy" load has been making its way from Hardeeville SC, enroute to Boiling Springs NC. It is a large electric generator destined for a clean coal power plant. The generator weighs in at 1.98 million pounds and isn't something you just jump on an interstate freeway with and truck it on down the road. 
The whole thing kind of made me wonder how the Chinese would move this big generator. Since I visited China and saw how they use more manpower than machine power, even in their road building efforts, this gargantuan project made me curious. I remember people carried huge loads on their bicycles, tricycles and small motors. It was very interesting and I took many pictures but none as good as this series that I received in an email. 

Tires are really quite easy to stack. And moving a ladder with a bike (in the background) is nothing. But, just try it.

 

This guy doesn't even have the advantage of a bike. He has to keep moving. No one in China thinks a thing of a load like this. Its very common.

It doesn't matter what you have to carry, if it stacks, it moves. 

 

Stacking is an art in this country.

 

A great place to visit.

SNOW IN MURPHYS, SUN IN YUMA

Jim Jaillet and I are discussing how to collaborate on a book. He is an excellent photographer and I have a writing background. A win, win. You've heard of the worst writing contest? Snoopy is the mascot. Snoopy always starts out his novel with these words: It Was A Dark And Stormy Night- and no, I didn't win the worst writing contest. Check it out on-line. Bulwer-Lytton Contest.
I miss being with my family for Christmas but I'm looking foward to many more Christmases with Jim. Besides, it is supposed to snow down to 1500 feet in Murphys and in Yuma, while slightly cool right now, the temperature is set to go up. I'm getting my dental work done during the next three weeks, then heading back north. Posting early today since we don't have a signal in the motorhome. We'll ride our bikes along the canal today and hopefully have a photo to post tomorrow. For now, here is a photo Jim took of me in the motor home.