Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

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Monongahela River

We’re still roaming around the land of ancestors on this excursion. Today, we visited the place of my paternal grandmother’s birth in Barrackville, West Virginia. One of the major landmarks in this area is the Monongahela River, which is in northern West Virginia and Southern Pennsylvania.

Some facts about this river from Brave Leo AI:

The Monongahela River is a 130-mile-long river that flows through north-central West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania. It is formed by the confluence of the West Fork River and the Tygart Valley River in north-central West Virginia. The river flows northward, joining the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh to form the Ohio River.

The name “Monongahela” comes from the Unami language and roughly translates to “falling banks”, referring to the geological instability of the river’s banks. The Monongahela River is an important waterway for industry, carrying coal, coke, iron, and steel. It is made navigable by a series of locks and dams operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The upper reaches of the Monongahela River basin are known for their whitewater kayaking and rafting opportunities. The river also has a significant history, including being the site of the Braddock Expedition during the French and Indian War in the 18th century.

Clickable image.

23 Jul 2025 by Notions Photography Retirement Wanderlust

Completing Another Orbit

Well, my 82nd birthday finds us in West Virginia, which happens to be a place where of one of the branches of my ancestors can be traced back to the family’s original immigrants who arrived in what was then the Virginia Colony. They prospered after lots of hard work and were actually pioneers to the area.

We will pass through Barrackville, WV, tomorrow on the way to our next campsite in Morgantown. My paternal grandmother was born in Barrackville and her grandfather and possibly more ancestors are buried here. We visited grandmother’s grave in Pueblo CO, a few days ago.

So, we’re camped here in Sutton, WV, and as a celebration of the special day, we grilled a couple of petite Filet Mignon Steaks and Damsel prepared a wonderful Romaine salad as an accompaniment. It was a good day.

Clickable Images.

22 Jul 2025 by Ancestors Notions Wanderlust

Starlink Mini Report —
 Internet On The Road


Last year when we camped at Monument Valley on our way to view the Total Eclipse of the Sun in Texas, our internet service options were terrible. We had both the campground wi-fi and a hotspot provided through the cell phone; either one was very crappy. It was at that time that we decided to (eventually) go the Starlink way.

This year, our first stop was, in fact, Monument Valley. I did not bother comparing their wi-fi to the Starlink Mini. Once I got the unit turned on and the antenna oriented correctly (per the Starlink App), we were off and running with internet speeds adequately high bandwidth to not only run our laptops, but to stream movies and other content on the big RV TV using an Amazon FIRE® Stick.

The screen shots below are typical of the up and download speeds we get in places that are not perfectly clear. There is enough open view of the northern sky, which Starlink seems to like, in these places where we have been camping.

We are even getting good internet in the land of OZ.

Click on any image to enlarge.

17 Jul 2025 by Entertainment Notions Technobabble Wanderlust

A Hardy Feast on Fathers Day

It is interesting that “Fathers Day” and “Hardy Feast” are anagrams of one another; that is, each phrase contains all the same letters in a different order.

In fact, the entire weekend – Friday the 13th, Flag Day and Fathers Day each featured a “Hardy Feast.” Patty Melts on Friday, a Seafood Bake on Flag Day and Surf and Turf with Beef Tenderloin Steaks (a.k.a. Filet Mignon) and Salmon Steaks served with a green salad on Fathers Day.

Happy Fathers Day to all the Dads, Granddads and Great Grandads out there. If there are any Great-Great Granddads left, then a special shout out to y’all.

15 Jun 2025 by Family Food & Dining Holidays Humor Notions

Flag Day 2025

About Flag Day

Flag Day is a national holiday in the United States, celebrated on June 14th to commemorate the adoption of the U.S. flag on June 14, 1777. The flag has a rich history and is a symbol of freedom and justice, with its design representing the 13 original colonies and the 50 states. The flag’s colors have specific meanings: red represents valor and bravery, white represents purity and innocence, and blue represents vigilance, perseverance, and justice.

The first flag of this design was carried into battle on September 11, 1777, during the Battle of Brandywine. Flag Day is not a federal holiday, but it is observed nationally, and Pennsylvania recognizes it as a state holiday. The largest Flag Day celebration in Michigan takes place in Three Oaks, which claims to be the nation’s largest Flag Day celebration.

Donald J. Trump, the 45th and 47th President of the United States, was born on June 14, 1946. This date coincidentally coincides with Flag Day, which is celebrated on June 14th to commemorate the adoption of the U.S. flag.

June 14 is also the 250th anniversary of the Commissioning of the United States Army. Hooah!

About our Flags

In the image above, we proudly fly the American Flag on most days of the year. The flag shown in the image was manufactured in the USA by Grace Alley Flags, a company that produces high quality flags available from their website or through Amazon. Their flags have embroidered stars and sewn stripes. No cheap printed colors.

We have recently procured another high-quality American Flag, also produced in the USA, from Alliance Flags, who produce the similar quality as the Alley flags, but cost about three times as much. As of this writing, Alliance is offering a 25% discount across their product line. You may have seen Alliance advertising on TV in recent weeks.

14 Jun 2025 by Holidays Notions Patriotism Something Shiny

Starlink Mini Performance Report

We live in sort of a low hollow area in our semi-rural desert home with rising terrain to the north and a couple of places towards the southwest. Even under conditions of placing the Starlink Mini dish on the roof of the house, we would have a limited view of the sky. That being said, I did not want to climb up on the roof to put the dish up there, so I placed it on the spa in the Arizona Room (screened-in patio) by the RV Drive behind the house. Due to the limited sky view from the patio, the Starlink App reports the following 3-D graphic of the obstructions the unit “sees.”

The “dish,” in reality, is a planar phased array antenna which scans the sky for satellite signals and plots the areas blocked by obstructions. The App admonishes that the map of obstructions is collected over several hours and should be stable-ish after a while. The map shown has been integrated over the last day or so with the current antenna placement. Blue equals clear sky shot and red is obstructed. The white square is the antenna. I estimate clear sky to be no more than 35-40 percent of the dome. Regardless of the overwhelming obstructions, the system can deliver the performance seen in the OOKLA download rate seen below.

That rate is sufficient to do most internet streaming services, but may not perform as well for interactive gaming or other similar stuff for which we have no need. There is a caveat on the megabit performance shown; the satellite constellation is on the move and the performance (rate) may suffer as things go in and out of range, so some buffering (delays) may be possible.

Another note of interest: during the past few weeks, our Cox Internet Cable has gone down for several hours at a time. With the (approximate) setup shown in the top image, we continued internet service in spite of the outages on the cable.

We should do OK on the road with all of our internet needs as we take off for a nice long RV excursion in a few weeks.

This is not a paid plug, but I notice that the Starlink Mini is on sale for 40 percent off or so ($299 vs $499).

17 May 2025 by Aerospace Cyberspace Notions Rocket Science Technobabble

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