Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Enroute to Ceduna

For several miles in distance I could see a dust cloud swirling on the horizon. I first I thought it must be a small twister or wind storm, but it remained consistant in size and location; maybe a farmer dragging a cultivator? (The soil is so dry, yet the grain farmers till and plant in anticipation of the coming rain.)


As I approached closer to the dust cloud, I realized the source: a genuine sheep drive, complete with ranch hands on horse back, (and a couple on Honda ATVs!) I asked one of the riders, as she drew near, where they were going... "To be sheared," she said. "Yippee aye ooh!" I replied. (O.K., I didn't really say that, but the thought was going through my head.)

***

Duhhh..... For almost three months, I've been doing kilometer to miles conversions in my head in order to calculate how long it's going to take me to get to a destination. I multiply the kms. by 6, move the decimal point and add a fudge factor of 2% of the resulting mile figure. Then I have to convert my speed, from kms./hr. to mi./hr.; then divide the miles per hour I'm traveling by the distance in miles to my destination.


Today, I had an epiphany... I don't HAVE to do the math. I just have to think in kilometers per hour instead of miles. So if it's 443 km. to Ceduna and I'm traveling 110 km/hr. it will take me four hours to get there! Brilliant, huh? (And, to think it only took me a short three months to figure this out...!)


Sunrise over Penong

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