Mobile Tomato Plants

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you put a tomato plant on a motorized wheeled platform (with the requisite amount of dirt) and let the plant drive?

The hard part would be connecting the plant so it could correctly signal the platform to move in useful ways. I suppose some sort of chemical concentration sensors, or maybe even electrical conductivity would work.

For some inexplicable reason, I am greatly amused by the image of a herd of tomato plants driving around the yard on wheeled platforms.

The patient person would embark on a selective breeding program to allow the plants to drive the platforms into the sun, out of the wind, to get a drink of water, etc.

Episode III: Backstroke of the West

Imagine, for a moment, Star Wars Episode III translated into Chinese and then back into English subtitles.


Okay, stop imagining and view the screenshots.
Including such memorable lines as "Our dichotomy opens the combat" and "I was just made by the Presbyterian Church"

Home Sweet Home

After some time in Belgium, in the touristy city of Brugge (it was a fun place to visit), and an afternoon in Luxemborg, we made it back home just fine.

It was good to see Europe, and it's good to be home.

I plan to look through the 1200+ pictures I took and arrange some of them on a webpage.

Swiss travel learnings

More things learned from traveling in Switzerland.

1. When going on a two day hike, and there is only one place to stay the first night, call ahead to make sure they are open and will let you stay.
2. When mailing luggage to yourself in another town, and they say it will take two days, don't forget to account for weekends.

We were going to go on a two day hike from Gsteig to Les Mosses. And we wanted to send one piece of luggage ahead so we wouldn't have to hike with it. The guidebooks all said we could do this at Swiss train stations. However, we tried this from a small station in Les Diablerets, and the attendent didn't speak English, and didn't understand what we wanted to do.

We then went to the tourist information office, where the woman there called the train station and talked for a while, and finally the train station attendent understood. However, the woman there also suggested the post office was cheaper. So we went to the Post, and it was indeed cheaper. We also sent it second class, since that would take two days, and we planned to spend three days in Les Mosses - plenty of time for it to arrive. It was Thursday

We take the bus from Les Diablerets to Gsteig and begin our hike. Lots of climbing. I suspect we climbed more altitude than exists in Illinois. Later in the day, we get to the hotel/restaurant we expect to stay at.

It is quite empty, and the waiter seems suprised to see us. He tells us we cannot stay because we did not call ahead. He goes inside (presumably to talk to a manager), comes back out, and tells us the same thing. He also tells us we could stay if we are a group of 10 people or more, and suggests that a local barn might have room.

We try the barn/house, but it is a summer barn with only a single room for people, and of course they have no room. So we decide to press on with the second day of the hike (which is supposed to be easier than the first day, and fortunately is easier).

We got additional water from a farm we passed (we had consumed all ours), and made it to Les Mosses about ten pm. We are able to find a place to stay, just before they close - it never felt so good to find a room.

We slept late the next morning and went to the Post when it was open in the afternoon. The bag had not come (given it was only one day later, so we didn't really expect it), but the lady there told us the mail didn't come on Saturday, even though the post office was open. D'oh! So the earliest we could get the bag was Monday morning, and we had reservations elsewhere Monday night, and had planned on leaving on Sunday.

To make a long story slightly shorter, we stayed an extra day, and the bag did come on Monday morning, and we made it to Gimmelwald just fine on Monday afternoon. The weather was also very nice on Sunday, and we had a nice hike.

Guide to Swiss hiking difficulty levels

For those from flatter locales, here's a quick reference on how Swiss hiking trails are graded.

• Easy - steeper than anything in Illinois
• Medium - climb the Sears tower using the stairs.
• Difficult - climb the Sears tower again, only using the outside.

The Swiss trail system is a lot of fun. The trails are usually well marked, and even offer an up-close view of the local bovine population.

There was one spot, though, where it appeared as though the trail dropped off the edge of a cliff (we were descending). We thought maybe the person marking the trail had a sense of humor, but no, the trail really did continue weaving down, we just couldn't see it from above.

Travel update

Since the last post, we've hiked through the Swiss Alps and eaten yummy Swiss chocolate and cheese. Now we are in Belgium, in the tourist town of Bruges (somewhat similar to Rothenburg in that it was a weathly medieval city that was preserved through a fall on hard times). Eating Belgian chocolate, beer, and fries.