Sunday 5Apr20 St.Louis once again
Day 80
Got up at 8. After breakfast I went into WM and bought some grapefruit. Back at the RT I took a shower then I set up to capture a tape. I tried three different times but the e-machine laptop kept shutting down. I'm not sure it was a battery or overheating problem. I will try again tomorrow but if it fails again I will wait until I get home where hopeful I can figure it out. The overall objective is to create several DVDs from all the 8mm tapes. The project can be decided into 3 parts. Capturing the video in digital format, arranging the captured video in chronological order and burning the DVDs. I am using Windows NT Movie Maker software. Somehow it senses the 8mm tape in scenes and creates individual clips for each scenes. It even has a date stamp for each clip. I assume this is based on the camcorders clock settings. If that was correct it should make arranging the clips in chronological order pretty simple.
My new plan is to capture the video at home where I can provide a more stable power supply for the e-machine laptop. I can also build a stand alone auxiliary cooling fan to provide additional cooling. It is imperative to get the e-machine operating long enough capture the all the video. I don't want the additional expenses of buying another laptop that has a FireWire port.
Once I have all the clips saved on the external hard drive I can use the new HP laptop to arrange the clips, make movies and ultimately burn them to DVDs. This could be done on my next roadtrip.
I finally have up and decided to get on the road and headed out towards St. Louis Missouri.
I have fond memories of past times I have visited St Louis. The first I didn't actually go to St. Louis but it indirectly involved St Louis. I was actually TDY to Wichita Kansas. It was my first ever TDY. I was with a team of 3-4 guys who were sent from Hill AFB to replace the 10 gauge generator wires on an F-4 aircraft that had a unknown electrical problem.
One weekend during the TDY I took the team's rental car and drove to Carthage Missouri to meet Mom and Dad who were there for the Sunderland annual family reunion. They had driven up from Oklahoma City in their travel trailer. It just so happened and what I remember most was that it was during the 1985 World Series. That year the Kansas City Royals played the St Louis Cardinals. The Royals ultimately won the Series which was disappointing since I have always been a Cardinal fan. Since Granny would have disowned me if I even consider any other team. We had a lot of fun during that weekend.
Another occasion I was actually in St. Louis. This was another TDY but several years later and I was there for my first of many TDYs for the C-130 AMP program. During that trip I decided to go to the Gateway Arch and got a ticket to ride to the top of the arch. To get to the top you ride inside a egg shaped capsule that is on a track and cable system. I think there is room for 8 passengers in each capsule. I don't consider myself a lucky person but boy did I get lucky that day. My seven fellow travel mates were members of a highschool cheerleader team.
Another fond memory of being in St Louis was when Zack and I were stranded there for several hours due to server weather on our flight to Oklahoma City for Mom and Dad's 50th Wedding Anniversary. It was Zack's first flight. It was a TWA fight on a Boeing 727. Neither the airline nor the aircraft have been in service for years. I remember we were eating at a fast food place in the airport and an elderly man said to me something like, "that sure is a handsome boy you have there." I will never forget that.
This time I actually stopped at a Sam's Club on the East side of St Louis. After getting fuel I got back on the road and drove through St Louis without stopping. I drove on to Columbia Missouri and stop there at a Walmart for the night. I nuked one of the Hormel Complets and watched a little TV before calling it a day.