Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Here in Gillette

Well, I finally left Greeley. Lots to be said for staying at the same place a long time. You save on diesel fuel, you get to know the town a little, and you get to play Bingo at the Moose Lodge. Thanks Joey, Heidi, Tod and Randy for your hospitality while I was there.

Greeley was unique in one way. Most towns I pass through seem to only have one price for gasoline. 99% of stations have the same price. I always thought that couldn't have been coincidence. But not Greeley. It had the most price diversity I have ever seen. On the same day I saw gas at 3.82, 3.85, 3.95, 3.99, and 4.05. Naturally I filled at the 3.82 station.

I stayed at the Moose in Cheyenne for two nights, getting my fill at Sam's Club and Walmart. I'm ready for the boonies now.

This morning I drove from Cheyenne to Gillette. 132 miles on the Interstate, then 113 miles on a two lane road. THIS is my idea of a two lane road. Straight as a string, almost no traffic, and a shoulder in case you need one. It was a very pleasant drive. I started at 7:30 am. I know that comes as a shock to most of you, was I even awake at that hour????? It was pretty and quiet then, and a nice tailwind brought me north.

I am happily (if a bit off kilter) ensconced at the local Moose Lodge, parked next to John Clairmont. We'll go into the Cam-Plex on Sunday morning for the Escapade, caravaning with the Solos. It's been a few years since I've been to an Escapade, and this a big deal - the 30th anniversary of the Escapees Club. That doesn't happen so often.

If any of you are going to be at the Escapade, come over to the Solos and say hello.

Friday, June 13, 2008

What do those numbers mean?

In a recent conversation, I mentioned that I reuse plastic water bottles, and the person to whom I was talking (forgive me, I don't remember who that was) said that some plastic can be harmful because it can release toxic particles into the water. I should be using only plastic with a certain number on the bottom, to indicate it would not release said toxins.

I said, I don't think that's what the number on the bottom means. Has something to do with recycling, I recall, but not sure what. (There was a hoax email not long ago that wrongly frightened people about the toxins in plastic water bottles. Check it out on snopes.com.)

So, in good researcher fashion, I looked it up on the internet. Sure enough, the little numbers within the triangle on the bottom of plastic things are used for recycling. Did you know all this? Keep in mind that all this plastic comes from oil, so if we can recycle more, we'll be helping to need less oil.

Below is a reprint from About.com (It's a little long winded, but very interesting, I think.):

The symbol code we’re familiar with—a single digit ranging from 1 to 7 and surrounded by a triangle of arrows—was designed by The Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI) in 1988 to allow consumers and recyclers to differentiate types of plastics while providing a uniform coding system for manufacturers.


Easy Plastics to Recycle
The easiest and most common plastics to recycle are made of polyethylene terephthalate (PETE) and are assigned the number 1. Examples include soda and water bottles, medicine containers, and many other common consumer product containers. Once it has been processed by a recycling facility, PETE can become fiberfill for winter coats, sleeping bags and life jackets. It can also be used to make bean bags, rope, car bumpers, tennis ball felt, combs, cassette tapes, sails for boats, furniture and, of course, other plastic bottles.

Number 2 is reserved for high-density polyethylene plastics. These include heavier containers that hold laundry detergents and bleaches as well as milk, shampoo and motor oil. Plastic labeled with the number 2 is often recycled into toys, piping, plastic lumber and rope. Like plastic designated number 1, it is widely accepted at recycling centers.

Plastics Less Commonly Recycled
Polyvinyl chloride, commonly used in plastic pipes, shower curtains, medical tubing, vinyl dashboards, and even some baby bottle nipples, gets number 3. Like numbers 4 (wrapping films, grocery and sandwich bags, and other containers made of low-density polyethylene) and 5 (polypropylene containers used in Tupperware, among other products), few municipal recycling centers will accept it due to its very low rate of recyclability.

Another Useful Plastic to Recycle
Number 6 goes on polystyrene (Styrofoam) items such as coffee cups, disposable cutlery, meat trays, packing “peanuts” and insulation. It is widely accepted because it can be reprocessed into many items, including cassette tapes and rigid foam insulation.

Hardest Plastics to Recycle
Last, but far from least, are items crafted from various combinations of the aforementioned plastics or from unique plastic formulations not commonly used. Usually imprinted with a number 7 or nothing at all, these plastics are the most difficult to recycle and, as such, are seldom collected or recycled. More ambitious consumers can feel free to return such items to the product manufacturers to avoid contributing to the local waste stream, and instead put the burden on the makers to recycle or dispose of the items properly.

End of reprint. I don't know about you, but recycling is the one thing I don't do well as a fulltime RVer. I don't usually stay long enough in a town to find the recycling center, and who's got room to haul around old jugs and bottles, looking for one. I'd be very interested in hearing how you deal with this. Leave a comment and get me headed in the right direction.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Tuesday Rambles

I'm still here in Greeley. I know you were waiting with baited breath for news of my many activities here. Right. I have been just hanging out, not having much to say. It's been very relaxing. I've been doing lots of beading. If I can get the "macro" feature of my camera to do what I think it should, I'll post pictures.

I took a long drive this evening (yeah, I know, I'll eat Mac and Cheese the rest of the week). I just love the country around here. If you've never been to Greeley (and really, why would you?) it sits on the prairie east of the Colorado Rockies front range. Highway 85 goes north to Cheyenne, and if you look to the east on that road, all you can see are grasslands. Being a prairie person, that is my kind of land. Just rolling hills with grass, a few cows, and a couple of antelope. I can take a really deep breath here. Lots of horizon to see. If you look to the west, you see the wonderful panorama of snow covered mountains. The majestic Rockies. Takes my breath away.

Hardly a day goes by that I don't remember how lucky I am to be able to have this lifestyle. Lucky, fortunate, blessed, take your pick. I don't know, I'm just darned glad to be living it.

I think about how far flung my friends are this summer. Oregon, Wyoming, Illinois, Ohio, New Mexico, Arizona, even California (Get out of there, John!). Yet we manage to stay in touch with our cellphones, email, and our blogs and flicker pages. Amazing.

I like to keep up with the technology of emerging energy forms. My favorite was wave power. I can't really explain how they do it (I know there are three different technologies that all work), so in layman's terms: they put a generator on the ocean floor a couple of miles off shore, with cabling back to a structure on shore. The incoming waves push a piston forward, then the outgoing waves push the piston backwards. The piston moving generates electricity. You can google wave power and find out more. There are electric buses in Scotland that run off electricity powered by these wave machines. Very cool.

But now I have a new favorite. I saw this on the new channel DirecTV has, Planet Green. Two young women have a prototype of a generator powered by people pushing a revolving door around. Really, I couldn't make that up. I just love it. Make all doors into public buildings revolving doors, and put that power into batteries or sell the power back to the electric company. How innovative is that? Shows that everybody can help in the fight to be energy independent.

I'm doing my part. Since September, I've only plugged into the power grid once. (It was 95 degrees in Las Vegas, so shoot me). Most of the time I'm off the grid completely. Since I use my generator so seldom, I'm not using a lot of diesel. It's a small thing, true, but I'm proud to do my part.

We went to the Moose Lodge last night for Bingo. I only had six cards, so it was MUCH less stressful than the first time I played bingo and had to mark up 24 cards. That was just awful. Remember, LJ? But this was much better. It's still kind of boring, though, daub, daub, daub, somebody yells BINGO, you throw away your page and start another game. Same thing, daub, daub, daub, somebody else yells Bingo, and you start all over again. Five games, intermission, five more games. We didn't win anything. It was something to do, though. Joey's dauber kind of exploded, she had to buy a new one. That was fun.

This Moose Lodge has the nicest people. I guess I say that about almost every lodge I stay at.

Those are my ramblings today. Maybe I'll do something more interesting than laundry so I'll have something to say. Have a nice day.