Feeding the hogs, picking berries, and Carolina Beach

 I rode with Dan to his local animal feed supplier, where he loaded several bags of hog feed into his truck. We took a couple bags to the farm and loaded them into the feeder. Here I am with the hogs.

Dan topped off their drinking water barrels with fresh water and I added some water to their pond.

Dan had loaded all the field cameras with fresh batteries and we rode around in his side-by-side vehicle, putting them back in their positions around the property. We stopped and picked blackberries along the way.

After getting back from the farm, we were off to Carolina Beach for the weekend! We picked up the keys for the condo and went out for dinner before the big rush. Dan, his parents, his son, and I came to the beach. Dan's daughter stayed home to work, and Dan's wife Jasey stayed home with her.

I started with a bowl of chowder. My main entrée was the blackened yellowtail tuna on a sauce-covered grits cake, shown below. (The dark areas in the photo above the fish are just shadows -- the yellowtail was thick!) It was very good and filled me up.

The condo overlooks the beach. We're on the second floor.

After dinner, Dan, his son, and I went into the water. Dan tried out riding the waves on the new boogie board, and his son played in the water.

When it got dark, we returned to the beach with flashlights and hunted for little crabs -- just for the fun of it. Dan's son was good at spotting them, and found four of them. I found a ring somebody lost in the sand. Dan's son wanted it, so I gave it to him.

Virtual Reality

Dan's teenage son set me up with his virtual reality goggles and hand controls, and taught me how to pick up things with my hands and move around in the virtual reality world. He demonstrated how everything works, and explained the physical boundaries.

After I put on the goggles, I was totally immersed in the virtual reality world and forgot about the room I was playing in. It was a shock whenever I took off the goggles and was brought back to the reality of my true surroundings.

When the goggles are on and I am holding the hand controls, the virtual reality makes my hands appear as bodiless white gloves mimicking my hand movements in the air. If I saw something in the virtual reality world that I wanted to pick up, I would move a hand to the object and squeeze my fingers around it.

I asked him to start me with the easiest game so I could get the hang of things. I tried three different games. he started me with Job Simulator. I was an office worker and then an auto mechanic. He showed me another game where you create worlds. It looked too complicated, so for the second game, I tried Vacation Simulator and went to a beach.

The most fun game was the third game -- Beat Saber. In this game, blue and yellow blocks come flying at you while you listen to music. You have a blue saber in one hand and a yellow saber in the other, and have to knock away each block with the matching color saber, knocking it in the direction specified by an arrow on the block. There are many levels of difficulty. I started with the easiest and then tried a couple of harder ones.

My mentor encouraged me and gave me tips while I played each of the games. Here is a photo of me playing Beat Saber while my coach is following the action echoed to the nearby computer screen and is cheering me on.

Click here to see the video.

Happy 4th of July and Happy Birthday, Dan!

Dan and I rode out to his tree farm this morning to make sure the hogs had enough food, drinking water, and water in their pond. We rode in his new truck.

Dan is raising 3 hogs this year. He knows how to butcher them. He keeps the meat from one, and has friends who always want to lay claim to the others.

After we got back to the house, Dan opened his birthday presents. One of his presents was a shirt like his father's and daughter's. All three own pickup trucks.

Dan is a great backyard chef. His cousin Cameron and two of his cousin's friends came over for dinner. I had met all of Cameron's brothers on previous fishing trips with Dan to either Canada or Alaska, so I finally met the last brother in the clan today.

Dan had planned ahead (he's good at that) and purchased nice cuts of meat for all of us from the butcher. He grilled them on his wood BBQ in the backyard. He's good at it, he and Jasey know how to season the meat, and he knows when the meat is ready. My steak was very flavorful, with a nice smoked flavor from the wood. My piece was big enough that I saved some for leftovers tomorrow.

Like most teenage boys nowadays, Dan's son was upstairs playing video games with remote friends while dinner was Being prepared. I like him! 😀 He and his sister are great!

They have a screened in back porch with a table and chairs. The screens keep the bugs out, which is nice. A butterfly bush is well placed just outside the porch and attracts large butterflies. 

After dinner we had a cookie cake decorated like a watermelon, and Dan blew out all the candles.

Dan and I took Hershey for a walk before all the fireworks noise started. We heard a few booms in the distance, which Hershey didn't like, but we got back home before any major 4th of July noise.

Jasey and their daughter went to watch fireworks, and the rest of us stayed home and played Uno Flip and Old Maid before going to bed.

Flying to Raleigh for Dan's July 4 Birthday

Vin fixed a good bacon & eggs and waffle breakfast, and then dropped me off at the North Springs light rail station, where I caught a train to the Atlanta airport for my afternoon flight to Raleigh.

The takeoff and landing were a little turbulent, but the flight was otherwise uneventful. I watched the first half of the movie "Wonka" on the short flight. The photo below is the view over Falls Lake, as the plane circled just before landing in Raleigh. Raleigh is a pretty area.

Dan picked me up at the Raleigh airport in his new truck. It is a good looking Toyota Tundra with a V8 engine and nice tires. I hadn't seen it before.

Dan and I are really good friends. We met when we worked together at HP in Roseville, California, in the mid-1990s and have been great friends since. Dan changed companies to a startup in 2000, and I followed a few months later. We worked together there for over 15 years until he moved to Raleigh. I miss having him around, but I've come to Raleigh to visit several times and he's also come to my house -- sometimes with his family.

I've known his wife Jasey since before they were married, and known their two children since they were babies. I love them like nieces and nephews, so it is always great seeing them.

Dan's parents, who live in Illinois, are also here in Raleigh for his birthday, and will be going to the beach with us. Dan and I have gone fishing in Canada with his dad and cousins several times, and we've stayed at his parents' house in Illinois each time, so I know his parents really well, too. They are both really nice and I'm glad I see them again. 

Jasey had a burrito bar ready for us when we got home. Then we went out for ice cream and played Uno Flip, which is a fun version of the Uno card game that I had never played before. 

Dan and his mom and I walked their dog Hershey tonight. He is a chill labradoodle and gets walked around the neighborhood at least twice a day -- first thing in the morning and in the evening before dark.

Visiting Ocmulgee Mounds in Macon, Georgia; and visiting Vin in Alpharetta, GA

-- Indian mounds --

I think I have about as many questions about Indian mounds after visiting Ocmulgee Mounds National Historic Park in Macon, Georgia, than I had before my visit. Archeologists have grouped the Native American mounds found in the United States into three periods: Late Archaic Period (1650 B.C. to 1000 B.C.), Woodland Period (1000 B.C. to 900 A.D), and Mississippian Period (900 A.D. to 1540 A.D.). The mounds in this park are from the Mississippian Period. It would be interesting to see and learn more about the other known mound sites across the country.

There is a lot that is not known about the mounds -- especially at older sites. Evidently the purpose of some mounds at this site was to create a flat, raised area upon which buildings could be constructed. It is thought that the homes of the chiefs and other leaders of high status were constructed on top of the mounds. There is also a burial mound here, so all mounds don't have the same purpose. Ceremonial temples were also on mounds, such as the great temple mound here. At least that is my understanding after reading the signs and talking with the ranger, but no guarantee I'm getting it right.

The mounds are large. For perspective, a boardwalk for park visitors is visible to the left of the great temple mound in the top of the photo below. Although covered with vegetation now, the sides of the mounds are believed originally to have been covered with colorful clay. The flat area in the foreground is believed to have been the location of a trading post, and the depressions in the ground are believed to have been where food was stored.

The below photo was taken on top of the great temple mound. In the photo, a few other visitors are standing at the far end of the mound, so you can see how wide it is.

The mounds are believed to have been constructed by carrying dirt in baskets by hand. I really can't imagine moving that much dirt in that way. They were also built in stages -- not all at once. Here is the view from the top of the mound, looking at the surrounding area.

An earth lodge sits atop a hill (not a mound), near the trading post area. A park bridge and walkway lead to the lodge on top of the hill.

Although covered in dirt now, the lodge might have had a thatched roof -- so the reconstruction may not be totally accurate.

The floor of the lodge has a raised area shaped like a bird's head, with indentations for three leaders to sit.

There is a lot that I don't understand about this place. The tribe that were living here are known to us as the Creek Indians, but they called themselves Muscogee. The white settlers originally called them the Ochese Creek Indians because they lived alongside what was known as Ochese Creek. Ochese was eventually dropped from the name, and they became known as the Creek. Similar to what happened to the Cherokee tribe, the Creeks had a "Trail of Tears" when they were driven from this area and sent to Indian land in Oklahoma.

Then again, maybe the mounds were built to keep people safe from the alligators in the lowlands, haha! This sign was at the trailhead of a trail that went down by the creek.

In summary, I'm still confused and don't feel like I have the big picture.

-- Drive to Alpharetta --

After visiting the mounds, I drove to my former roommate Vin's house in Alpharetta, Georgia, which is north of Atlanta. Vin and I were roommates in the 1980s when we both lived in Raleigh, NC.

Unfortunately, I got pulled over by the state police while driving to Alpharetta, and was given a ticket for holding my cell phone in my hand while driving. The officer explained that a cell phone cannot rest on any part of your body while driving in the state of Georgia. I have now been forewarned! The officer told me he thought the fine for a first offense is around $50.

Vin had some electrical work to do when I first got to his house, and then we went out to eat Philly steak sandwiches at Knuckies restaurant. After that, we sat and talked while I did my laundry at his house.

I'm sleeping at Vin's house tonight. Tomorrow Vin will drive me to the MARTA light rail station and I'll ride the train to the Atlanta airport. Vin is letting me store my car at his house while I fly to Raleigh, NC, for a few days. My friend Dan's birthday is on July 4, and I'll be flying to Raleigh to celebrate his birthday with him and his family. They also invited me to go to the beach with them while I am there.

Florida panhandle Beaches and Artwork in Tallahassee's Railroad Square Art District

Today was a beautiful day on the Florida panhandle. All the beaches have beautiful white sand and clear water. Pensacola beach has lifeguards, restrooms and a big parking lot with free parking -- which was a welcome change after paying $15 to park at the Gulf Shores beach near Mobile, Alabama on Saturday! The water at Pensacola Beach was a perfect temperature... cooler than the water was in Mobile. I'm not sure why... maybe Mobile's bay affects the water temperature along its coast?

Colored flags warn swimmers about the current water conditions. You can see the flags at the lifeguard stations and often at beach entrances. Today was a yellow flag day at Pensacola Beach.

The beach cities around here have water towers. Maybe they're needed to get decent water pressure since the land is so flat!

To get away from the crowds and see nature in its more pure form, drive a little east of Pensacola Beach to the Gulf Islands National Seashore. It has some small parking lots. You can park along the road and follow a path through the sea oats to the beach. There are no lifeguards there, though, and you might not see any colored flags.

It can be hard to find a place to park in some of the beach communities when it is crowded. That was the case today -- maybe because the 4th of July holiday is this week. There are public parking lots with beach access, but they fill. A lot of condos have private parking and metal gates with keypads blocking beach access, so beach access is more limited.

I started looking for a place to park in Destin, and finally found one at the South Walton Public Beach Access parking lot, near Miramar Beach. The water conditions weren't as favorable as they were at Pensacola Beach, though -- the red and purple flags were flying here.

The purple flag warns about marine life. I wanted to make sure it wasn't flying due to shark sightings, so I asked the lifeguard. He said jellyfish are along the coast this time of year, and that was the reason for the purple flag. He also said the jellyfish are usually farther out from the shore and he hadn't heard of any issues at the beach.

The flag wasn't double red, so we were still allowed in the water. I evaluated the wave pattern to make sure I wasn't getting into a rip tide area, and got into the water near a man and his daughters, as well as some others. There's safety in numbers, right?

It came out in our conversation that the man was a deadhead in his younger years -- attending Grateful Dead concerts across the country. When I mentioned that I attended  a Grateful Dead concert at Carter Findlay Stadium in Raleigh, NC, he knew the year (1990) and said he was at that concert, too. Small world!

The water was clear and a perfect temperature. When the sun shone on the water with the white sand beneath it, the water lookee a pretty shade of green. The wave action was pretty good, so I tried to catch some of the waves body surfing. I stayed longer than I expected because it was such perfect weather and the water felt great. I was in the water the whole time but hadn't put on any sunscreen. As a result, my face got a little red. 

My contact lenses were bothering me after I started driving away from the beach. I looked for a place to pull over and remove them, but the streets were narrow and it looked like my only choice would be to pull into someont's  driveay. Finally, I found a paved shoulder just after an intersection, where a bike path widened near the street corner. Looking forward, a bike path was separated from the road by a strip of landscaping. Where I pulled off, the bike path had joined the street and the resulting paved area was much wider than the rest of the bike path.

I pulled onto the paved shoulder and started removing my contacts, when suddenly I heard the short burst of a siren behind me. I looked in the rear view mirror and saw red lights flashing. Police usually like drivers to stay in their cars, but I opened the door while holding my contact lens case in my hand. The policeman signalled for me to come back to him.

He said, "You have a motor vehicle on a bike path".  I explained what I was doing, and  he asked if I was going to leave.  I responded yes, and he let me go with a warning instead of giving me a ticket. I thought he was a bit of a stickler. After all, I wasn't driving my car on the bike path, and the  shoulder at that point was wide enough for bicylcles to easily ride past my car. 

Tomorrow I plan to visit some Indian mounds in Macon, Georgia, and then go to my friend Vin's house, so I needed to start heading North.

My friend Keri, who lives in Utah, called me and helped me brainstorm what to see in Tallahassee, on my way to Georgia. The Tallahassee Railroad Square Art District sounded promising, so I drove there, but found it mostly closed down. Only a couple of eating places were open. Evidently a tornado recently went through the area and damaged most of the buildings. I photographed some of the murals on the buildings, though. Enjoy!

Keri also helped me find a good restaurant for dinner. We settled on a healthy-sounding restaurant named Vale, located on Madison Street, near Florida State University. The parking meters on the street require paying with a downloaded app. I didn't want to download the app so I parked about 5 blocks away and walked.

I ordered the "Sweet Earth Bowl" -- sweet potato noodles, roasted broccoli, teriyaki chicken, cilantro, and curry honey mustard. It was very good, and the girl who served me gave me a full bowl!

I liked the sweet potato noodles. They almost looked like dark rice noodles because they were semi-transparent.

I'm spending the night tonight in Tifton, Georgia. It has a Planet Fitness and a Walmart parking lot that allows overnight parking, so I'm all set. The Indian mounds in Macon will be a 90 minute drive away in the morning.