Some years ago, Durf, Tanya and I attempted to ride our bikes from Bellingham to San Francisco. The apple cart was upset in Aberdeen Washington when Durf misjudged a curb and broke his olecranon. Since then Tanya has been on a mission to return me to the Olympic Peninsula to revisit the good times and erase the bad.
Getting here was more challenging than we expected. Our ferry was delayed by fog first and then security dogs that sniffed every car. I was so excited to finally get on the ferry that I forgot to ask what the dogs were looking for, but I'm guessing Carl can help us out with that. In any case, here we are and --hold onto your hat-- the sun is shining! A truly rare occurrence.
On our first hike of the first day, we managed to take a wrong turn within a quarter mile of our oh-so-rustic lodge. In no time we were lost, but it didn't bother us a bit. The real challenge was trying to locate a valium for Tanya when she found a spider in the bathtub. She doesn't really do rustic, so I was beginning to wonder why we were here.
About then she tells me we will be stopping in Forks. Forks is a remarkable place for two reasons that I can cite. It is the rainiest place in the continental U.S. And it is the city that features most prominently in the wildly popular Twilight series. Let me just say that neither the rain nor the fame seems to have done much for the local economy. With apologies to teens the world around, we did not dwell in Forks.
Also I did not see Tanya purchase any caskets, fangs, garlic, or Edward and Bella t-shirts. So I'm thinking she came to Forks for the rain -- and was disappointed.
Forks = Pecos of the North?
ReplyDeleteJust about.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what the dogs were searching for, but you can find the likely choices here:
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detection_dog
The big three are drugs, explosives, and bodies. Probably, it wasn't a search for cancer. However, see
http://www.livescience.com/9215-police-dogs-sniff-drugs.html
This Chicago Tribune study this year suggests that dogs noses are so sensitive that they detect minute traces, and actual drugs are found less than half the time the dogs signal detection. This raises serious legal questions about their use.
According to this story, the dogs were searching for drugs and illegal fireworks.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.q13fox.com/news/kcpq-dogs-sniff-out-fireworks-on-state-ferries-20110628,0,4287477.story
In honor of that bike trip in the previous millenium, are you going to blog with that old voice recognition software Durf used?
That is some pretty interesting info you found, Carl. I've been chatting people up around here and the story I'm getting is that the guards and dogs belong to the border patrol. Supposed to be hunting terrorists as part of homeland security, but are picking up illegal immigrants instead. tres controversial. Who knows what the real story is. Everyone says everyone else is lying.
ReplyDeleteRe voice recognition, the software is so much improved that I doubt it would provide as much entertainment as it did 13 years ago. (good lord, have we known you *that* long?)