A second post in one day…

More and more I find that it is travel that inspires me to write for the blog… hence the 2^nd post.

T. and I continue to get ready for the latest trip… while waiting for the World Series to start… the Giants are playing, our Giants… I have dyed my beard black and am wearing orange and black…

We took a break and went over to the coast for lunch… For those of you not familiar with the location of Casa de Hees, we are in San Mateo on the San Francisco Peninsula, about 15 miles south of San Francisco. San Francisco Bay lays about 200 yards to the east, the Pacific Ocean lays about 6 miles to the west, across the local version of the Coast Range… a chain of low, 1,000 to 2,000 foot tall mountains protecting inland California from Pacific storms… of course, to the ocean its closer to 20 miles of two lane road. Directly across the hills is Half Moon Bay, a small, cute, rural town. Our target was further north, in Princeton, with its small boat harbor, and lots of restaurants… we favor two, the Half Moon Bay Brewing Co, and Sam’s Chowder House… today the Chowder House won. We sat outside… it was warm, almost hot… we both had lobster roll sandwiches, T had wine, I had beer…

Half Moon Bay and the coast side can be difficult in the month of October… Half Moon Bay is known for its pumpkin festival, and its pumpkins… getting there over the windy two lane roads can be difficult if not nearly impossible (I would say impossible, but officially, something like 250,000 folks make it each year… all in search of orange squash.) Today was different, there was no traffic, there was no wait at the Chowder House… there were still lots of pumpkins for sale, still ponies to be ridden, but apparently the folks who wanted pumpkins and pony rides had come on the previous weekends, and were now at home getting ready for the annual fall candy hunt (as opposed to the annual spring candy hunt, aka Easter).

Having eaten, and lounged in the sun, on the shores of the Pacific, we returned home to the planning and packing…

The suitcases are down from the rafters, Tina has set up the portable clothing rack, and has started to hang the chosen items… she has modeled several outfits and swim suits… decisions have been made.

I have much of the miscellaneous stuff piled on a chair. This is getting real.

The World Series coverage has started… Lyle Lovett signing the National Anthem, accompanied by a man on an acoustic string base… nothing fancy, just a wonderful rendition of our national song… followed by the former Presidents Bush throwing out the first pitch… I didn’t agree with their politics, but can respect the two men as our former leaders.

Back to the packing and planning… I am tracking a hurricane, Hurricane Tomas, as it builds in the Caribbean.

It is currently (Sunday Oct 31^st) a class 1 storm (wind speed currently 75 mph) roughly due south of Puerto Rico, headed west, but projected to stall, then hook north and reach Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic) Friday the 5^th. It’s not clear if it will strengthen or weaken (currently weakening, but expected to cross some warmer water and could strengthen.)

If it does hook, and then continues north, at predicted speed, it could be in the Bahamas or off South Florida on Sunday the 7^th. The water north of Hispaniola and north is cooler, so if it goes that way it will most likely be a weakening storm…

The commonly published storm track (aka the cone of unpredictability) does not extend beyond Friday the 5^th, so much is conjecture, although Host Terry has posted a weather underground chart on the first page of this discussion that suggest that it should be in the Atlantic, 5 degrees north of our path (or 300 knots, 350 miles) by Monday the 8th. The 10 day forecast for Ft Lauderdale shows Sunday the 7^th as broken clouds, temperatures in the 70’s…

I suspect that our cruise will not be affected, but it doesn’t hurt to keep an eye on the storm, and I continue to watch the Weather Channel, the National Weather Service and Weather Underground. This could become an obsession. I don’t expect it to impact our cruise, but I am worried about the impact on Hispaniola, particularly to Haiti and its many earthquake refugees.

Now the game has started… at the top of the 1^st, with our second batter up, we have a man on base… no outs and the game calls me more than the blog…

Goodnight…