A1

I have looked high and low, and evidently I'm either the first person to think of this, or I have the wrong search terms :-)

Recently we had to get our air conditioner for the house repaired, and the problem turned out to be that the evaporator coil was rusting, and the rust was coming off and plugging the drain pipe. So I asked the repairman and he said that the AC unit was probably producing gallons a day of water from evaporation - which the sites I found about how air conditioners work seem to confirm.

So WHY does that water get shunted directly down the drain? You're already paying to extract that water from the air around you, so why not direct it instead to water your lawn, or flush your toilets, or ... ? I was sure that someone must have a system for doing that, but I haven't been able to uncover one yet.

Is this really a new idea? If so, how do we get folks to get interested in doing something about it?

One of the things I've started doing since getting back from the trip is reading the online version of the paper from my old hometown. I was surprised to read about a church group that tried the old Paper Clip for a House trading game and ended up trading a Pen up to a Car in about two hours.

Pretty cool...

As part of the preparations for the trip, I have picked up a Canon FS100 camcorder. One of Canon's newer flash camcorders, it uses SDHC cards instead of DV or other tape formats. Makes the camera smaller, and hopefully more sturdy. Has been fun to play with so far, but we'll see how it performs later this week.

New itinerary is to leave on the 4th from SA to go to Castle Rock to visit my folks, then drive on the 5th from there to Cortez, Colorado with a quick trip through Leadville on the way. On the 6th is a full day at Mesa Verde National Park.

Then on the 7th I drive from Cortez to Estes Park, taking Trail Ridge Road/Hwy 34 from West to East. I've wanted to do the full TRR before, but never had time. I will also do a loop up Fall River Road if there's time. Otherwise I'll try to fit it in the next day. The 8th is a full day at Rocky Mountain National Park, with a long hike from the Bear Lake parking lot to Lake Haiyaha, crossing over to Mills Lake, past Glacier Gorge, and back to the Bear Lake parking lot. On the 9th is the BIG challenge of the trip - climbing Longs Peak. I haven't been able to find out yet if it's open to non-technical climbing. Normally that depends on how much snow is up there. Usually by July 4th it is, but you never know. Worst case I get up to the Keyhole. If that goes well, I may also try to work in a road trip to Mount Evans.

Then on the 10th it's back to visit with the folks. On the 11th I drive from Castle Rock to Santa Fe, detouring to spend a bit in Great Sand Dunes National Park. Finally on the 12th it's Santa fe to San Antonio.

So, that's what I'll be up to for the holiday and beyond!