Road Trip Day Nine: A Road Less Traveled (For Good Reason)

I wasn’t going that far today, only 353 miles from Maumee, Ohio to Lamar, Pennsylvania.  I got on the road about eight.  I set the driver assist function and found out something new.  It doesn’t like being left alone!  After 30 seconds, the Driver Assist Mode insists it is not self-driving through a persistent  beeping and  flashing a warning that says “Keep Hands on the Wheel.”  As you can see in the photograph, I am going 76PMH and obviously don’t have my hands on the wheel since I using my IPhone to take a picture.  I found out, however, If I keep pressure on the wheel with my thumb and forefinger it leaves me alone.

Covid Testing at a Rest Stop

 

The first two hundred miles on Highway 90 is just getting out of Ohio. You skirt Akron, buzz through Youngstown and then you are in Pennsylvania.  The first rest stop in Pennsylvania, right at the Ohio

Picnic Area at Rest Stop

boarder, has walk-up Covid testing.  I have never seen that before.  Also, the rest stop had a beautiful picnic  area.  Indeed, all the rest stops between Ohio and Lamar (about halfway through State) had beautiful and clean stops. 

I was ahead of schedule and decided to do some exploring.  I found a Masonic Lodge in Knox, PA.  I set the nav for Knox and off the main

While driving

highway I went.  The landscape alternated between deep forests and well-tended farmland.  It had rained several hours early and while the roads weren’t wet, they were damp.  It was 72 degrees and the air had the rain cleansed smell.  I put all the windows down and the sun roof open; cruised the countryside.

The roads are all named after something.  Like Brick Church Road, Old State Road, Christ Church Road, Porter Mill Road, Stone House
Road.  I saw both the brick church and the Christ Church. The first two pictures are driving down two of the roads that go through a forest like area.

Stopped in road

The nav computer apparently considers a hard-packed gravel road with a name a good short cut.  As I turned onto the first recommended gravel road I was a little apprehensive.  I have all wheel drive, but I also racing tires.  I figured at least one of the tires was new anyway.  Slowly, I crunched up the gravel road and as I crested a hill, I was treated to the beautiful view of a farm.  In the photograph in which you can see the back window of my car, you can also see a little bit of the gravel road.

I thought I was going further off the highway, but I was also going further back in time.  I saw carriages

parked in garages and took a picture of the sign indicating their use.  I didn’t take pictures of the carriages in garages because it seemed creepy to sit on the street and snap pictures at some Amish person’s farmhouse.  Anyway, the nav actually took me to the wrong place, middle of nowhere, no Masonic Lodge.  I reset everything and realized it was my fault (it usually is); the Lodge was 3 more miles.

The first turn on this second attempt was onto a gravel road that ended after 5 feet.  It was clear there used to be a road there and now it was farmland.  I went semi-old school.  I enlarged the map with two fingers, found a route of real streets, wrote it down, followed same!  

I found Knox and stopped on main street.  On the right hand side you can see the Knox Bakery.  The brick building on the left is the

Masonic Lodge.  The Lodge itself, is upstairs.  They rent the lower part out.  This pretty common.  I have seen plenty of Lodges that are upstairs and have retail rentals on the street level.  No body was home at Edenburg Lodge No. 550.  I didn’t realize I was taking a picture of myself at the same time!

A couple of hours later I landed at my Hotel (Hampton Inn by Hilton in Lamar, PA).  At the recommendation of the desk clerk, I had dinner at the Cottage Kitchen down the street from the hotel.  It was the best bowl of bean and ham soup I have had in a very long time.  Back at the hotel I started laundry and worked on a client project in my room for an hour.  I

View from my hotel

worked on that project in the room because it is confidential work for a government agency.  I really prefer to set-up and work in the hotel lobby.  Beavering away on your laptop in a locked hotel room leads to mental illness.  Besides its real closer to a smoke outside from the lobby.  You can see my workstation with my

laptop and trusty Diet Coke. 

 Tomorrow about five hours to Hartford, Connecticut.

 

 

Leaders Committed to Transparency With African Partners

 July 1, 2021 | BY C. Todd Lopez , DOD News

China, Russia and the United States are all on the African continent, each with their own interests. But while the commander of U.S. Africa Command said the U.S. would not ask African nations to choose between the U.S. and other countries as a partner, he did say they should pay close attention to what partnering will actually mean.

"Both China and Russia are ... competing fiercely in Africa," said Army Gen. Stephen J. Townsend during an online discussion Tuesday with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "I think the Russian's competition there is very self-interested and exploitative. I don't believe either one of these actors are really there to help Africa in the long run. But in Russia's case, I think they're there to exploit the continent for their own gain."

Some Russian-based mercenary groups operating in Africa, for instance, are suspected of committing atrocities in the Central African Republic, Townsend said.

"We have pointed out the actions of [The Wagner Group] in Libya just a few months ago," Townsend said. "I don't think these actors are helping Africans, that's what I believe."

China has done much investment in Africa on infrastructure. Townsend said while the U.S. is not going to compete with Chinese investment in infrastructure, it does have its own benefits to offer.

What the U.S. does offer, he said, is always tied with democratic values and transparency — just like what is offered by the European Union.

"That's what we bring," he said. "We play with our cards facing out, as the saying goes. And we offer our skills. And I think that's an attractive proposition for most of our African partners."

Townsend said that while the U.S. doesn't ask African nations to choose between it and China, for instance, he does offer caution about what's being offered and what the terms are.

"I think that these countries ought to just go into these relationships with their eyes wide open," he said. "I don't think Russia is out for the best interests of Africa and probably in the long term, neither is China. But China is bringing a lot of investment to the continent and I would just urge our African partners: try to take advantage of that without getting taken advantage of."

Combined African Exercises

Last year's exercise Flintlock 2020 was held across multiple locations in Mauritania and Senegal, and involved more than 1,600 service members from 30 African and Western nations. It's an example of successful partnerships in Africa, Townsend said.

"Flintlock 2020 was a fantastic exercise," he said. "Our view of these exercises is it's ... one of the best ways to bring allies and partners together to work on common security objectives and to share knowledge and best practices."

The Flintlock exercise is a Special Operations Command Africa led all-domain exercise meant to strengthen the ability of partner nations to counter violent extremist organizations, protect borders and provide security to civilians.

"I think these things are important because they allow us to share best practices and improve our interoperability," Townsend said. "If we are going to operate together on the battlefield, we have to exercise so we know how ... each of our armies work."

He said exercises like Flintlock allow partners to better understand each other's equipment, procedures and communications.

"I think the exercises are very important and we seek, in U.S. Africom, to continue our exercises not only in West Africa but across the continent on ... air, land and sea," Townsend said.

Africom conducts six annual multinational exercises including Flintlock; Africa Lion and Justified Accord, both led by U.S. Army Southern European Task Force Africa; and the Express Series consisting of Phoenix Express, Cutlass Express and Obangame Express, all led by U.S. Naval Forces Africa Command.

For more information visit the Prosper Africa website.

Command Senior Enlisted Leader Assignment

 June 28, 2021

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The Office of the Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (OSEAC) announced today the following assignment:

Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Jason P. Colon, currently assigned as the command chief master sergeant for 628th Air Base Wing, Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina, was selected to replace Navy Command Master Chief Petty Officer Alexandre Herbert as the command senior enlisted leader for Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa, Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti.