Keeping up

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Some folks are trying to escape from technology while on holiday or vacation, whereas we embrace it.  For example, it’s great to be hooked up with Dragonfly and watch her transit the “Big Ditch”. Or learn exactly where Mike Taylor and John Lawson are laying over on their winter adventure down the Colorado in the Grand Canyon. We even view the webcam at 8th and Main in Durango regularly to see how little snow has fallen in town, or the temp in our condo and the solar gain on our PV system.  Not to mention keeping up with the Durango Herald cover to cover if we choose.  We’re current with all three of our magazine subscriptions – The New Yorker, The Economist and The Atlantic. Plus the TED talks, This American Life, Planet Money, Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, Car Talk and Weaving podcasts. Hardly a day goes by without an email or text message and at least once a week we are viewing friends and family on FaceTime (Apple iOS’s Skype).  Reviewing all this reminds me of that perennial question we were asked while we were cruising: “What do you do all day?”

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Following Dragonfly thru the canal this week was pretty unusual in our daily routine, in fact it wasn’t even in our day. We learned of the transit time via email and then iMessage, we set an alarm and then watched diligently until we saw DF enter the locks. (The Panama Canal Authority has several 24/7 Cam’s.) We managed a number of screen captures on our iPads to send to DF while they were enroute as all their hands were busy.IMG_0452

 

Even with the graininess, Dragonfly is very distinctive coming into the Miraflores locks (about 2:30 AM for us).  For those who’ve never seen a small boat IMG_0472transit the canal, rising up the smaller craft follow a big ship and going down they preceed a ship.  This can be very intimidating when the crew chances to glance back over the stern and see what’s looming directly overhead.  We also watched DF’s progress on their Spot Locator which was turned on to the Tracking feature so we knew where they were every 10 minutes of the cross-country passage.

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Speaking of Spot Tracking we’re also following our whitewater rafting buddies in the Grand Canyon as they progress down the Colorado River.  Daily Spot “check-in” shows their location, and if they layover and day-hike we see the track for that particular hike. I suspect these unusually warm temperatures in the southwest are making this winter rafting trip much more enjoyable.

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Another event we caught on a webcam was the annual Durango Snowdown Parade.  The 7th and Main webcam showed every float that passed by, albeit the parade was only street light lit, except when the balloon basket heaters fired up casting light for a hundred feet in all directions.

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I also mentioned monitoring the condo with several apps.  The Nest app shows us thermostat setting, current temp and energy history, plus we can change the settings and schedule anytime we choose.

Yes, we do miss our condo and our Tempurpedic bed, but mostly we miss hearing from you and what you’re up to.  Drop us an email or send us a photo so we can keep up with you, too.