Rosie the Riveter Museum vintage photos and posters

During World War II, while the (mostly) white men were fighting, American women and African-Americans of both genders were on the homefront, building planes, tanks, ships, and other hardware.  Rosie the Riveter is a fictitious worker who represents women's contributions to the war effort.  Last weekend, the National Park Service opened the Rosie the Riveter Museum on the Richmond (California) waterfront.  Four shipyards there produced over 700 ships during the war.  In a contest between the yards, a Liberty ship was finished in 4 1/2 days.  The social experiment forever changed the nation's attitudes toward women and minorities.

Airline galley cart bar conversion

From our friends at Telstar Logistics.

Details here.

Air Wick National Park collection

Pardon my French, but this is bullshit.  Shame.

F1 car cut in half

9 year old blogs about her school lunches

This blog is interesting and fun on so many levels.  I'm hooked.

California Ford Falcon XB

A huge thanks to reader Brendan for letting me check out and ride in (!) this Beast.  Look for a full write-up on Hooniverse, where I'll be nominating it for Hooniverse Car of the Year. 

Carspotting: Citroen GS with interesting owner

We passed by a garage sale this morning and spotted this GS.  I stopped and asked the presumed owner on the driveway if he minded me snapping photos of the Citroen.  After a brief chat, I discovered that the guy I'm talking to is none other than Jaan of Eddins Moto!  What are the chances?

Awesome business card:

Memorial Day 2012

Forest Highway 7 between Willows and Covelo

The 37 mile dirt road cuts across the Coastal Range (and Mendocino National Forest) between the Mendocino Coast and the Central Valley of California.  In fact, Mendocino National Forest is the only national forest left that is not transected by a paved road.  The pass was at 5,006 ft above sea level (1,526 meters).  We saw just six pickup trucks and two motorcycles on this desolate road.

Hittin' the old dusty trail

I'll be doing this in a 2WD Toyota Tacoma/Hilux today, right after the Monaco GP.

Photo source.

Freshly squeezed apple and orange juices

I've lived virtually next door to this restaurant (Chow) for seven years and just found out yesterday that they had served breakfast the entire time.  So we skipped the usual greasy spoon and gave this place a shot (it's a reliable lunch spot).  It was well worth the deviation from our regular Saturday morning routine.

Chow Lafayette's brunch menu.

Russian Far East road trip: Yakutsk to Chukotka

Am reading Travels in Siberia.  Had no idea that you can take a chartered flight from Nome and hop to Chukotka. This is the easternmost part of Russia, on the western edge of the Bering Strait.  There's mining,...and that's about it.  Not much is written about it.  In fact, of the dozens of books I've read about the Russian Far East, only two other books mention Chukotka.  One is Siberian Dawn.  The other is Farley Mowat's The Siberians. 

This is a video of a bunch of dudes in three Nissan Patrols and a Toyota FJ who drive from Yakutsk to Anadyr, which is quite a feat.  

Loading the Patrols in Moscow for train journey to Yakutsk:

Yakutsk and heavy mining equipment:

Prepping the trucks in Yakutsk:

Freezing weather, derelict towns, I want to go to there:

Magadan, and a rollover:

World's northernmost nuclear power plant:

Hoth:

Beyond Hoth:

If I had mechanical skills, winter driving skills, off-road driving skills, $100,000, no family, Russian fluency, and two months off, I could totally do this:

The final stretch:

2012 annular solar eclipse photos

I took these last week.