Dr. Jason W. Ellis' Blog on Science Fiction, Computers, Artificial Intelligence, LEGO, Skateboarding, and More
When I visited my folks a few weeks back, I saw this tiny flower of the Wahlenbergia genus poking out from behind part of my dad’s Allis-Chalmers HD10 bulldozer.
The Allis-Chalmers HD10 is a mid-century crawler that can have put in decades of service with proper care and maintenance. This HD10 has been parked for a few years, but it should be fire up with a new battery and minimal work.
I decided to ride Amtrak back home after visiting my folks, because I dislike the indignity of traveling by air in the United States. I’ve had more than my fair share of “random bag checks,” and I disagree with the security theater at TSA checkpoints that does more to insult than protect.
While a train obviously takes longer than an airplane flight, it provides the individual with a dignified travel experience. You walk from the station to the tracks, board your train, and off you go.
I opted for a roomette aboard Amtrak’s Silver Meteor so that I could sleep more easily on the overnight train ride. The scheduled trip time was about 14 hours, but the actual trip time was closer to 17. For one-way travel, the cost was only a little more than a plane ticket.
Overall, I enjoyed the experience. Perhaps because the experience was new, I had trouble staying asleep. When I ride again, I might take a sleep aid like Melatonin to help with my sleep. Also, as others have remarked online, there were delays. My train’s delays meant that I missed the dinner service, and since the train was designated only with dinner and breakfast service, there was no lunch service despite arriving 3 hours late in NYC the next day. Thankfully, I had learned from other train travelers and came prepared with extra water and snacks to tide me over. However, I might pack an MRE for a meal next time to have something more substantial to eat if needed.
Below are some photos of my trip aboard the Silver Meteor and my roomette. I tried to capture the roomette’s features and amenities as well as demonstrate how much/little leg room there is if you are traveling with another person. Also, this train has a toilet in the roomette–something you would need to negotiate its use if traveling with someone else. Finally, I have some photos of the dining car and the early morning breakfast that I enjoyed (as the dining options are limited, the earlier you go to a meal, the more likely the option you want will still be available).
A few weeks, I had an opportunity to spend an afternoon at the Museum of Aviation at Robins Air Force Base in Warner Robins, Georgia before taking country roads south to visit my folks.
The Museum of Aviation is HUGE! There are four buildings (some with multiple floors) full of planes, drones, helicopters, support vehicles, equipment, and exhibits. There is a VR experience and other interactive exhibits. The four buildings are surrounded by additional aircraft that you can walk around (I walked 1.6 miles while I was there). Admission is free (but donations are accepted).
The museum is staffed by experienced volunteers/retired servicemen who are friendly and glad to talk and answer questions. They are also doing restoration work in the exhibit areas.
I was chuffed by the whole experience!
If you are an aircraft enthusiast, you owe it to yourself to visit here.
Below, I’m posting some of the hundreds of photos that I took there.
Y and I saw this futuristic Vixen RV on a recent walk through our Brooklyn neighborhood. Designed by Bill Collins, a distinguished car designer and former Delorean engineer who passed away in 2023, the Vixen has a rear-mounted engine with its radiator hidden behind the side air scoops in the back. I’ve never been inside of one, but I’m guessing it is a quieter ride than RVs with front mounted engines and has better gas mileage thanks to its aerodynamic shape and covering (on the top and bottom). This Vixen’s owner also has a cool license plate, which was also pictured in Road and Track–can you guess it’s meaning before clicking through?
Before driving back to Brooklyn, my 2013 Toyota Corolla’s center console began rattling something fierce! It began as an occasional annoyance, but it quickly became insistent and unavoidable.
The rattle, of course, manifested while I was driving. So, I began holding and pressing around the center console that I had recently disassembled a few days earlier to try to identify the culprit of the noise. I figured out that the sound came from the air vent assembly at the top of the center console. Impatient, I rapped and then banged on it with my fist. One ill-placed strike busted the air vent assembly’s top in a spray of plastic puzzle pieces. The picture above shows them carefully reassembled. Of course, the rattle was amplified by this destruction, so I ripped out the top of the assembly and made the long drive with the top off. When I got to Brooklyn, I ordered a replacement (sans clock assembly as it was significantly cheaper) on eBay. When it arrived, I installed it and restored the interior look of the car.
Above, you can see what the air vent assembly looked like when I drove back to Brooklyn. I completely removed the top so that it wouldn’t make any rattling during the long drive.
To begin the replacement, I pulled the silver plastic covers from the top of the center console. These pull off directly toward you and are held in by plastic clips. Using a thin plastic shim helps you get a hold on these. On the right side, you can open the top glove box to make their removal easier.
This is a close-up of the broken air vent assembly before removing it.
As I pulled the air vent assembly out directly towards me, I unplugged the cable from the back of the caution lights switch, because this would need to be re-installed in the new air vent assembly.
The caution switch is held in by two plastic clips–one on the top and one on the bottom. If these hold tight, you can use a plastic shim to depress the clip from the back and free the top and then bottom of the switch so that it pulls out easily.
Since I had a clock in the old air vent assembly, there was a corresponding plug on the same run as the caution lights switch cable. I used a twist tie to secure it. I pushed this cable between the two air vents so that there would be minimal possible movement by them once I put everything back together.
This is the replacement air vent assembly that I purchased on eBay for $21. Unlike my old console kit, it doesn’t have a place for a clock, which is fine for me. This saved about $20. Also, it doesn’t include the caution lights switch, which is also okay as I will be reusing my old one.
The first step for reassembly is installing the caution lights switch in the air vent console assembly. I ran the cable through the hole of the air vent where the caution switch goes, plugged the cable into the old switch, and pushed the switch into the hole. Unfortunately, the hole for the switch was slightly too large and the switch’s plastic prongs wouldn’t catch and hold it properly. I solved this problem by cutting small pieces of masking tape and putting two layers on top of each prong–top and bottom. Then, I pushed the switch in and it held securely in place.
The penultimate reassembly step was to line up the air vent assembly with the air ducts and clip receptacles. Perhaps because this was a new replacement, it was very tight to push back in. I took my time and checked and double checked the alignment as I worked it into place.
Eventually, it clicked on both sides and was flush with the radio below and dashboard above.
Finally, I pushed the center console’s side covers in place and double checked the caution light switch to make sure it was working.
I think it looks better than new now–at least that one part!
Dynamic Subspace 