Lake Superior Circumnavigation - Day 1

The following posts will document my experiences as I drive around Lake Superior on my Goldwing. I'm meeting up with my niece Cathy's husband, JP Fortin, in Sault Ste Marie. JP has a BMW R1200RT. I left home on a bright sunny morning and it was already 75F at 8:00am. The temperature warmed steadily into the mid to upper 80's until somewhere near Newberry, MI when it started to drop back into the 70's - it felt good. First day was a drive up to Sault Ste Marie, about 320 miles. Nothing out of the ordinary to report, just a very pleasant ride. Got a real treat at the border when I crossed over the bridge into Canada to find there was only one car in front of me ... that doesn't happen often. One thing to note - I bought a pair of Diamond Gusset riding jeans fortified in the appropriate spots with kevlar and with a gusset sewn in the crotch for extra riding comfort ...they're GREAT, very comfortable. Met up with JP at the Catalina Motel in the Sault. JP is from Ottawa and had ridden up from North Bay where he had overnighted with my sister and brother-in-law. His BMW is a great looking bike and he's obviously happy with it. It was fun looking at the many 'extras' he had added ... for safety of course. We checked out the CB's to make sure we could chat to one another while we're driving. JP and I walked to dinner at Swiss Chalet and got my first mandatory fix - a half chicken dinner with extra dipping sauce! We'll have to find a Tim Horton's tomorrow for my second fix - a large Timmies coffee with double cream. We're planning for an 8:00am start in the morning to head towards Terrace Bay. The giant goose in Wawa awaits.

16 Days in the Life of an ECRV4711 Deployment

Day 1 – Get a call at home is Wisconsin at 9:30am that ECRV4711 has been deployed to the Kentucky tornadoes operation – on the road in less than 30 minutes - drive 175 miles from home to pick up the ECRV at it’s home in Glenview, IL – meet up with Jill Rowan, co-ECRV operator for this DRO – drive 400 miles to Lexington, KY – arrive after 9:00pm – stop by chapter office and meet local staff still at it – busy days ahead - overnight in Lexington

Day 2 – Drive to West Liberty, KY to Morgan Central Elementary School (MCES) – see the major devastation in the center of West Liberty where it looks like the entire town has been wiped out - complete site survey and establish communications inside the school – get IP phones out and charging – all cellular communications are dead – run WAP into shelter area in gym for “Safe & Well” laptops that never get used – shelter operation looks chaotic to me but things quickly turn around when Brad Powell and Tim Vargo from West Kentucky arrive to lead the operation - take down truck at end of day and drive to motel in Morehead (25 miles)  – motel has never heard of us – luckily find rooms nearby – finally get to bed after 11:00pm

Day 3 – wake up to 4” to 6” fresh wet snow – back to MCES and set up communications – Verizon cell network now up so we retrieve the IP phones and issue cell phones – much better – finally get staff cards but they don’t work - go to new motel and meet my new roommate – Leroy Harris, an ERV driver from west Kentucky – offers to buy me earplugs – an ominous start – Leroy turns out to be a wonderful roommate and we pledge to share a room together on a future operation if our paths cross

Day 4 – A frosty start to the morning – back to MCES and set up communications only to be told mid-morning that the shelter is relocating that afternoon to the Assembly of Faith Church (AoFC) – discover that multi-function printer we had ordered for fax capability was delivered to Louisville instead of West Liberty – tear down all communications at MCES and drive to AoFC – re-establish communications using a large RV-based mobile operation center from RJ Corman as the Ops Center – order more laptops and phones – it’s ramping up – start work on TIMS

Day 5 – Communications set up at AoFC then I spent the large part of the day looking for a new Ops Center – the RV is quickly outgrowing it’s utility – and also a client services center with local RC volunteer, Jim Rummage – order more equipment for new Ops Center – find empty former bookstore in a mall in Morehead – should do the job – lots of space, lots of light and power, and a good site for the ECRV as long as we don’t raise the mast

Day 6 – Move to the new Ops Center in Morehead and establish communications – tables and chairs finally arrive later in the morning – new equipment for Ops Center arrives and includes a Ruckus, a high-speed wifi device – we have problems getting it working until we discover that the Ruckus doesn’t play well with LDL’s (older laptops) – convert to newer laptops and all is well – more staff continue to arrive that need equipment – we now have Ops Management, Disaster Assessment, Mass Care, Government Liaison, Logistics, and Staff Services followed shortly by Health Services, Disaster Mental Health, Client Services, and Community Relations – receive word that ECRV has to move tomorrow to set up a Client Services Center (CSC) at a church east of West Liberty – more equipment ordered to set up a simplified wifi network

Day 7 – Set up communications at Morehead waiting for final word on the CSC at church – two new DST volunteers, Greg and Diane Ambrose, arrive from Louisville with a VSAT – get communications established through VSAT for the Ops Center and the ECRV is now free to go to the CSC – run the VSAT cable in through the vent in the Ladies toilet which had become non-operational – find out that the CSC is now going to be at the MCES where the shelter was when we first arrived – get laundry done – clean fresh clothes – life is good

Day 8 – Jill and Diane take ECRV to MCES and set up the CSC using a second Ruckus – have trouble most of the day with wifi disconnects – no problems at Ops Center – Greg and Diane had been certified as ECRV operators but had never had the chance to work on an actual DRO – they’re in heaven

Day 9 – Go to MCES with Greg to set up communications for CSC – wifi problem still present so we hard wire all laptops to the switch, a reminder of DRO’s past – all is well … after we disable “radio” on all the laptops

Day 10 – Settle in to supporting both locations with half of the team going to MCES with the ECRV for the CSC and the other half remaining at the Ops Center for day-to-day support - fairly quiet day at both locations – major effort was unloading a large box truck full of donated supplies by hand

Day 11 – DRO is into a rhythm as connectivity at both locations is ticking along and it’s only the infrequent “help desk” type inquiries to keep us busy

Day 12 – Hear we have to be out of MCES in two days so they can get it ready to restart school – begin limited testing to see where we might establish another CSC

Day 13 – The VSAT is very close to a dumpster that needs emptying – we came in very early (6:30am) and tilt the dish to ensure it won’t get accidentally bumped – dump truck never arrives – about 7:30am Greg goes and looks at dumpster to discover it’s already been emptied – when, we don’t know – Mike Brown, a new DST volunteer on his first DST DRO but with many DRO’s as Mental Health, arrives from Louisville to help with possible quick relocation of CSC overnight – at end of day we tear down the CSC at MCES and get all equipment back to Morehead Ops Center – set up laptops for Client Services at Ops Center

Day 14 – Client Services decide to do outreach from Morehead Ops Center – no need for a new CSC and no need for the ECRV any longer – word is it may have to go to Austin for an overhaul – 4711 is one of the few, if any, remaining trucks with a Garmin StreetPilot III – it will be replaced by a “puck” – we hoped to do a VSAT realignment and cross-polarization test but couldn’t connect with support

Day 15 – Turn ECRV over to Greg and Diane for trip to Austin and we take rental car to Louisville for out-processing

Day 16 – Drive back to Glenview, IL with two volunteers from Greater Chicago then short 3 hour drive home to Wisconsin

Conclusion: A very successful and rewarding deployment. 

ECRV4711 Goes to Kentucky

Early Saturday morning I got the call that they were deploying the Red Cross Emergency Communications Response Vehicle (ECRV) 4711 to assist in the relief efforts for the major tornado outbreak that occurred through southern Indiana and Kentucky. Since I was the "on-call" operator I was on the road to Chicago at 9:30am. By 1:00pm we had the ECRV rolling to Lexington and we arrived late that evening. The next morning we drove to one of the hardest hit communities in Kentucky, West Liberty, and set up the ECRV to provide communications to the Command Center and shelter at Morgan County Elementary School. The following are just a few photos. I'll post more later.

Monday morning we woke up to find a “fresh”
dusting of snow over everything

The snow certainly made a pretty drive to the shelter
but added insult to injury to the victims of the tornado.

Just a sample of the destruction in West Liberty.
It was the worst I've seen and looked like the tornado
was 100+ yards wide as it moved right over the
center of the town.

My co-driver Jill Rowan.
She is seated on one of the 'small' chairs at one of the 'small'
tables at the Command Center. We used the Head Start room
because it allowed easy access to the ECRV to run a
Wireless Access Point (WAP) into the office.

Today we moved the shelter to the Assembly of Faith Church,
just north of West Liberty.

We also have a new Command Center in a Mobile
Operations Center provided to the effort by the

R. J. Corman Railroad Group - the big red RV.

The ECRV is providing connectivity to the

Red Cross network for the staff inside the

Command Center - I now have "vehicle envy"!!

Not a Good Time to be a Cow, or a Goat, or ...

As Tom and I have driven through rural Bangladesh we’ve noticed cows and goats everywhere. A lot of the time they’re standing in the middle of the road and we have to slow down and treat them as roundabouts. As we got closer to the end of the first week in November the number of animals increased dramatically. Many were in small markets like the one shown. It turns out there was a reason we saw so many.

Word of warning: All vegans, vegetarians, animal activists, and animal lovers in general may want to quit reading now …

On November 6 and 7 Muslims celebrated one of their most sacred holidays called Eid al-Adha or Festival of Sacrifice. One of the main customs on the morning of the second day (the 7th) is for each family to slaughter a cow or goat or both. This is usually done on the street or road in front of their home and as one person told me “blood is everywhere!” The slain animals are then butchered with one third going to the family that owned the animal, one third going to relatives and friends, and one third going to the needy.

This is a three to five day holiday here in Bangladesh so Tom and I are not working. On Sajit’s advice we are in a resort town called Cox’s Bazar and have escaped all of the slaughter. I’ll report on how much of a resort Cox’s Bazar is in another blog entry.

Now I know I’m hypocritical as I’m a meat eater and I know that animals are slaughtered back home in terrible conditions but I don’t want to see the actual death of the animal. As we travelled over the last week or so the worst thing was to see all these animals enjoying their life and us knowing they only had days to live. I’m sure the last few days of these animals lives was far better than what their cousins face in the feed lots and slaughter houses in North America.

Cricket - a National Obsession

As Tom and I have driven through rural Bangladesh we’ve noticed cows and goats everywhere. A lot of the time they’re standing in the middle of the road and we have to slow down and treat them as roundabouts. As we got closer to the end of the first week in November the number of animals increased dramatically. Many were in small markets like the one shown. It turns out there was a reason we saw so many.

Word of warning: All vegans, vegetarians, animal activists, and animal lovers in general may want to quit reading now …

On November 6 and 7 Muslims celebrated one of their most sacred holidays called Eid al-Adha or Festival of Sacrifice. One of the main customs on the morning of the second day (the 7th) is for each family to slaughter a cow or goat or both. This is usually done on the street or road in front of their home and as one person told me “blood is everywhere!” The slain animals are then butchered with one third going to the family that owned the animal, one third going to relatives and friends, and one third going to the needy.

This is a three to five day holiday here in Bangladesh so Tom and I are not working. On Sajit’s advice we are in a resort town called Cox’s Bazar and have escaped all of the slaughter. I’ll report on how much of a resort Cox’s Bazar is in another blog entry.

Now I know I’m hypocritical as I’m a meat eater and I know that animals are slaughtered back home in terrible conditions but I don’t want to see the actual death of the animal. As we travelled over the last week or so the worst thing was to see all these animals enjoying their life and us knowing they only had days to live. I’m sure the last few days of these animals lives was far better than what their cousins face in the feed lots and slaughter houses in North America.

Cyclone Sidr Man

In November 2007, Cyclone Sidr, the equivalent of a category 5 hurricane, slammed into Bangladesh and left in it's path as many as 10,000 dead. In the Amtoli district one man tirelessly made his way through the area on a bicycle equipped with loud speakers warning the villagers on the incoming storm. Most people in these areas do not have the benefit of radios and televisions to give them advance warning. The Cyclone Prepardness Programme (CPP) relies on 50,000 volunteers to get the word out. As a result of his incredible effort no one in the immediate area was drowned.

As a reward the local government presented him with a new motorcycle which he proudly rides every day wearing his Red Crescent vest. He goes by the name of 'Cyclone Sidr Man'. We were told that the BBC did a 30 minute documentary of the remarkable job he did to save so many lives.

Two Good Days in Amtoli...

(Photos promised but will have to wait for bandwidth to upload)

After arriving at the Amtoli upazila (district) office late Saturday morning we began work on the radios. Saturday we tore down the existing antennas, replaced one of the coax cables, installed the new VHF and HF antennas on the mast, got the VHF radio up and running, and assembled the HF radio. The first test of the new VHF radio had us scratching our heads for a bit until we discovered an error in the software. A quick fix later we were communicating with other CPP VHF stations in the vicinity. General consensus was that the quality had improved.. that’s good.

Sunday we trained 15 radio operators and finished the installation of the HF antenna. This was not without a challenge. Tom asked for a ladder to get up on the roof of a building to anchor one of the ends of the antenna. Three long pieces of bamboo were delivered along with a length of rope. Apparently the best they could do for a ladder was to lash the three lengths of bamboo together. Ladders as we know them are not available. After completing the preliminary install we tuned the new antenna to optimize the operation, connected the HF radio to the new antenna and tested it. The test back to Dhaka was excellent and another test to a remote HF station was also excellent. Both stations said the quality of the communication was much better than before.. let’s hope it was our work and not a sunspot cycle!

Some final work on grounding and we'd completed the work at Amtoli on schedule. Now we've moved on to Barguna where work starts on Monday.