Pictorial where did you go in your Stinger today

[MerlintheMad]

LOL! Yous guys.

@Flameangel what's the largest number of cockatoos you've seen convening at one place? That pic makes me think of California gulls (aside from the singular discrepancy of birds on a wire; gulls don't do that, of course). Around here they mob parks and other venues where free food is available. (You might have heard the story of the first Mormons to the Valley, being saved by mobs of Cali gulls, who descended on the cricket plague that was devouring their crops; and thus the gulls saved "us" from starvation and became our State Bird. Cockatoos would have just sat there and watched heartlessly I'm sure.)

 

[Ozstung]

LOL! Yous guys.

@Flameangel what's the largest number of cockatiels you've seen convening at one place? That pic makes me think of California gulls (aside from the singular discrepancy of birds on a wire; gulls don't do that, of course). Around here they mob parks and other venues where free food is available. (You might have heard the story of the first Mormons to the Valley, being saved by mobs of Cali gulls, who descended on the cricket plague that was devouring their crops; and thus the gulls saved "us" from starvation and became our State Bird. Cockatiels would have just sat there and watched heartlessly I'm sure.)

Must correct you Mr Merlin, Cockatiels or Quarrions are much smaller than the Sulphur crested Cockatoos that Flameangel posted. Cockatiels are probably almost twice as a the size of a budgerigar and the Cockatoo is probably closer to the size of small eagle.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Must correct you Mr Merlin, Cockatiels or Quarrions are much smaller than the Sulphur crested Cockatoos that Flameangel posted. Cockatiels are probably almost twice as a the size of a budgerigar and the Cockatoo is probably closer to the size of small eagle.

Oh, yeah she did say "cockatoos". Heh! Thanks for the correction. I've edited my post accordingly.

So, it sounds like a cockatoo is c. twice the size of a California gull! Big birdies!

 

[Ozstung]

Oh, yeah she did say "cockatoos". Heh! Thanks for the correction. I've edited my post accordingly.

So, it sounds like a cockatoo is c. twice the size of a California gull! Big birdies!

Yes the Cockatoos are large and fly in flocks. A lot of people make the mistake of encouraging them with food. They will come back day after day expecting food at the same time.
I live on the Bush and we have a large amount of them come to the garden, some new next door neighbors put out seeds for them every day and then stopped. They went berserk screeching with ear piercing screams they ripped up the balcony and came next door and chewed up my wooden pergola. The farmers shoot them as they are destructive.

 

[MerlintheMad]

I never put out food for any birds, end stop. Cockatoos sound like a right pack of thugs!

"Screech! Screech!! Screech!!!" (translation: "Nice patio set you've got there, shame if SOMETHING happened to it!")

 

[Flameangel]

@MerlintheMad I hadn't been down to Lorne for quite a while but it is a regular haunt of hubby and his mates on their motorbikes.
I didn't realise the Cockatoos had taken over down there, they have done damage to a lot of the trees, it's only the tourists and holiday makers that feed them.I thought it was funny that you were the only one who " liked " the cocky when I posted the pic because Aussies know what they are like.
I like birds, I have a noisy little budgie.I said to hubby if we had acreage, I would have a pet cocky, and he replied " no way, even if we had acreage, they are so noisy with their screeching at day break "

 

[MerlintheMad]

Yeah, I liked the pic: those birds lined up like that look like they're waiting for something: now I know!

 

[Manaz]

I never put out food for any birds, end stop. Cockatoos sound like a right pack of thugs!

"Screech! Screech!! Screech!!!" (translation: "Nice patio set you've got there, shame if SOMETHING happened to it!")

Along with the Rainbow Lorrikeets, they are sometimes referred to as Jerk Birds...

 

[Manaz]

Also this: A uniquely Australian problem: cockatoos vs infrastructure | nbn

 

[ShannonC]

Along with the Rainbow Lorrikeets, they are sometimes referred to as Jerk Birds...

Haven't come across that terminology before. When I had the house in Baulkham Hills (NSW) it wasn't uncommon to have 16 or more sitting on the balcony rail. A number would fly to my arm to get fed. Some would fly to the window sill and tap on the glass. There was one which was blind in one eye and it would follow me everywhere. Bought a lot of apples in those days.

 

[OliverNuther]

There was one which was blind in one eye and it would follow me everywhere. Bought a lot of apples in those days.

Carrots are alleged to be good for the eyesight, not apples. Although I don’t think they’re that good.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Day one of three driving days, to get myself to Atlanta from SLC. As you can see, I-80 isn't the most scenic route in the US, across the south part of Wyoming and into Nebraska anyway.

But, here is a typical view forward of Wyoming.


And here is just past the Continental Divide. That's what the sign said. You could have fooled me. It looks the same.


Except that east of Cheyenne the hills are rather pretty, though very brief.


The occasional "feature" pops up. I presume that this is Elk Mountain, which gives a nearby town its name.


And Nebraska looks like this, except when it's even flatter yet.


The sun set, and I stopped at Elm Creek, Nebraska, at the appropriately named Sunset Inn. It's front desk man is a young man from India: and West Jordan. He said he lived there c. four months, four years ago.


At each gas stop I used their windshield sponge to also debug the front of my car: three times today I have removed bugs. Lots of them. I hate bugs. Between one gas stop and the next (c. 300 miles) the bumper between the upper and lower grill is so packed with bugs that I bet there isn't a two square inch space that is still clean. Anyway, NAV looks spiffed up and ready for bed. (I know, I missed a spot.)


Going from my car to the room I nearly stepped on a couple of toads. I've counted four of them, ranging in size from a large walnut to the palm of my hand. This is the palm sized one, the biggest, trying to escape under a chair and fade into the wall.

 

[Stinger GT SS]

Day one of three driving days, to get myself to Atlanta from SLC. As you can see, I-80 isn't the most scenic route in the US, across the south part of Wyoming and into Nebraska anyway.

But, here is a typical view forward of Wyoming.
View attachment 29786

And here is just past the Continental Divide. That's what the sign said. You could have fooled me. It looks the same.
View attachment 29787

Except that east of Cheyenne the hills are rather pretty, though very brief.
View attachment 29789 View attachment 29790 View attachment 29791

The occasional "feature" pops up. I presume that this is Elk Mountain, which gives a nearby town its name.
View attachment 29788

And Nebraska looks like this, except when it's even flatter yet.
View attachment 29792

The sun set, and I stopped at Elm Creek, Nebraska, at the appropriately named Sunset Inn. It's front desk man is a young man from India: and West Jordan. He said he lived there c. four months, four years ago.
View attachment 29793

At each gas stop I used their windshield sponge to also debug the front of my car: three times today I have removed bugs. Lots of them. I hate bugs. Between one gas stop and the next (c. 300 miles) the bumper between the upper and lower grill is so packed with bugs that I bet there isn't a two square inch space that is still clean. Anyway, NAV looks spiffed up and ready for bed. (I know, I missed a spot.)
View attachment 29794

Going from my car to the room I nearly stepped on a couple of toads. I've counted four of them, ranging in size from a large walnut to the palm of my hand. This is the palm sized one, the biggest, trying to escape under a chair and fade into the wall.
View attachment 29795

Nice shots, it looks a lot like West Texas & New Mexico but greener....lol

 

[MerlintheMad]

Crossed "the wide Missouri" and the Mississippi today. I'm in a Super 8 just south of I-64 in Okawville, Illinois. I'm just over seven hours away from Atlanta International Airport (where I will pick up my wife tomorrow evening). Nice motel. Good Internet service too.

Most of the way across Nebraska we kept getting these seven to ten mile long freeway work projects.

What was annoying about them is the repetitious "End road work" signs, "Drive safely". And then a few miles later, here would be another road work zone. Fortunately the traffic was fairly light.

This feature I remember on I-80 from nearly twenty years ago. I have no idea what it is.


NAV asked if I wanted to pick a faster route and I said yes, and "she" led me off I-80 and bypassed the first part of I-29: through Kansas city and St. Louis, and thus onto I-64. I missed a bunch of road construction on I-29.

Crossed the Missouri a couple of times.

But missed the Mississippi!? How is that even physically possible? I was waiting for it to take pics; but they wouldn't have turned out any better than those two of the Missouri. Somehow, in the negotiating of interstate interchanges, and keeping my eye on NAV, I went right over the Mississippi and didn't see a thing. I think I did see a bridge, but it didn't seem long enough to me and I didn't think it was the Mississippi below. It was a dud day for pics.

For lunch I stopped at a McDonald's and had a McGriddle. Very tasty. And a little 3" wide "sandwich" is 550 calories! Here is how you park right:


At a gas stop. You can't tell how filthy my car is. I've got to find a car wash in the worst way, that isn't a tunnel if at all possible. I've cleaned the bugs off twice again today.

By the end of day two, I want to nuke 18 wheel rig drivers. 99% of them don't give a rat's ass who they block and hold up: they just swing out, in any amount of traffic, to pass each other, Slooooowly. I was starting to flash my brights like lasers of hate at them. And then there are drivers who are oblivious: I got alongside an 18 wheeler to my right and this little SUV was crawling past it, and I was chewing his bumper with both of my grills: and he simply stopped passing up alongside the front bumper of the truck. There I was, boxed in. Waiting for one of those big tires to explode and throw shrapnel into the side of my car (there are a LOT of pieces of dead semi truck tires everywhere; mostly on the side; but I have had to dodge them; what crap for tires are these trucks using? I don't remember seeing this many years ago). I gave the SUV driver the lights and he woke up and got out of the way. Sheesh!

 

[MerlintheMad]

I'm just going to give a quick description for each row:
(top) Sunrise out my room window in the Super 8, Okawville, Illinois. The trees close in (Tennessee, I believe); road construction; jerk truck drivers, pacing each other, not even passing for several miles. Bridge over the Ohio.

(middle) Highway scenery, still Tennessee, I think. Chattanooga (I think), showing how semis ignore the regulations to stay in the right two lanes. Also, nobody is going 55 mph. And the HOV lane has drivers alone (although I'm to understand that this is permitted in the middle of the day): I too made use of the HOV to go around truckers loafing in the left lanes. The first view of downtown Atlanta.

(bottom) Downton Atlanta. I gassed up at a Chevron, and there was a power cable down, hanging across a fence. The cashier guys said that the power company and city have known about it for "over a year", but nobody seems to think it's their problem. I was told it's dead (goes to nothing). Okay, I guess. I didn't notice it till I opened my door and it touched: the end stall was desirable and parking was scarce so I carefully avoided touching it.

Last pic is the dead end that NAV led me to (yellow line): "she" said that the checkered flag (our accommodations at the Studio 6) were 100 feet straight ahead … in the trees. I got directions from the desk clerk at a motel at the head of that dead end, and came around from the other end (the green line). Crescent Centre Blvd used to go all the way through (what is now a cemetery). And NAV, as usual, has no map update up to speed.


Where I prefer to park at the Studio 6: west end of the complex, in the shade, on the end.


And I got a wash today. Scary tunnel! But the entrance was what really messed with me. I didn't know if I was lined up on the conveyor. There were two people there guiding me (with some difficulty). Finally I was straight and into the opening: and the "draggers" were slipping under my left tires and I wasn't moving. WTH!? "Release the brake!" Repeated many times, while I fumbled with the electronic brake, pressing and pulling. In "N" the car wanted the parking brake ON. Finally, somehow, the brake was released and I was on my way into soapy, thrashy purgatory. It turned out well; and no scrapes on my rims. (I swore that I would not take them into an automated "tunnel". But on trips (rare enough) I guess an exception will be made, for this contingency. NAV looks so much better!

 

[Kazz]

Nice road trip, Merlin! I hope you waved when you drove by!

 

[MerlintheMad]

I did a lot of virtual waving as I thought of various Stinger Forum members as I passed through the Midwest. There are quite a few around these parts. But I haven't seen a single Stinger on this trip. Kind of fun(ny). "I know you're out there..."

Nice road trip, Merlin! I hope you waved when you drove by!

 

[Kazz]

I did a lot of virtual waving as I thought of various Stinger Forum members as I passed through the Midwest. There are quite a few around these parts. But I haven't seen a single Stinger on this trip. Kind of fun(ny). "I know you're out there..."

They are still a bit rare - but gorgeous to watch 'em going by in the opposite direction!

 

[MerlintheMad]

They are still a bit rare - but gorgeous to watch 'em going by in the opposite direction!

I've seen exactly two out of thirteen that way; Black and a Yellow. That's it. And I didn't see either one coming: almost missed them entirely, they flashed by so briefly.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Today I took pics of my wife going up and down "our driveway" (Crescent Centre Blvd; which is terminated at the south end and is now a very long driveway instead of the former four lane street; you can see the Studio 6 sign in the background):