tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70201522008-11-17T20:15:15.607-06:00The ongoing story of a fun-loving young couple living in Playa Tamarindo, Costa Rica. After driving all over Mexico and Central America in our Land Cruiser, we settled here by the beach. Now we surf, travel around Guanacaste, pal around with our friends, and own our own businesses... working towards permanent traveler status someday. Currently building Land Cruiser number four.Steve Broyleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02189683886269701801noreply@blogger.comBlogger317125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7020152.post-6152331166224353902008-11-17T20:13:00.000-06:002008-11-17T20:15:15.639-06:00

What a frustrating day of working on the Cruiser! I got to it later than I wanted, around 11am instead of "early". Enjoyed some early success pulling a bolt that had given me grief earlier. Note: a good trick to getting the top bolts out of the bellhousing is to use a very long extension (I used a 24" and a 14" together) so that your ratchet is positioned behing the transmission, where you

Steve Broyleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02189683886269701801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7020152.post-62973751557593886142008-11-15T12:40:00.002-06:002008-11-15T12:43:04.886-06:00

Got up at a little before 5:30 today to enjoy a spectacular sunrise as I walked over to a friend's house. We drove out to a residential development that he is doing where we hiked some and rode horses around to enjoy a wonderful morning. Did a little business, which is welcome, but not so much as to detract from the fun. By 11 I was home, did some yardwork, now we are headed off for a sunset

Steve Broyleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02189683886269701801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7020152.post-16076496997695599152008-11-06T18:57:00.003-06:002008-11-06T19:14:08.924-06:00

Just heard that GNR is about to release a new album after a 14 year hiatus. Because this is a family-friendly blog, I'm not going to expound upon the memories related to Appetite for Destruction (or even Use Your Illusion II). So we're sitting here, enjoying the fruits of mexican agave cactus, *blasting* music recorded in the late-80s, refusing to feel old, and maybe finally understanding the

Steve Broyleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02189683886269701801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7020152.post-66478196210064978572008-11-06T08:47:00.006-06:002008-11-06T09:41:59.051-06:00

We've been enjoying a sudden stop to the rainy season: the last 10 days have been sun sun sun, and not just a little hot as the accumulated moisture in the ground has been making 2 o'clock feel a little like a sauna. The sunsets have been unbelievable, however, and there have been some nice breezy days. Yesterday we got a typical November dousing of rain- pretty heavy, not very long duration

Steve Broyleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02189683886269701801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7020152.post-6043080693280173512008-11-04T17:14:00.003-06:002008-11-04T17:16:32.928-06:00

If you haven't done it yet... GO VOTE!!

Steve Broyleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02189683886269701801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7020152.post-63647252925064562902008-10-27T11:45:00.002-06:002008-10-27T11:53:58.388-06:00

I'm amazed. Rick and Heidi's blog turned me on to the fact that there are elephants out there who are painting. Yup. Painting! Pretty cool, huh? I sure thought so.

Steve Broyleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02189683886269701801noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7020152.post-5726653692304873302008-10-24T13:21:00.003-06:002008-10-24T13:25:04.658-06:00

"Anonymous" posted the following: I'm just wondering why a couple who has chosen to leave their country has taken the trouble to get involved with its politics? Shouldn't you be trying to gain citizenship in Costa Rica and vote there? Fri Oct 24, 01:55:00 AM CST Below is my response, I put it on the main page because I think that the question was interesting and know that most folks

Steve Broyleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02189683886269701801noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7020152.post-50687224298881350152008-10-18T08:59:00.005-06:002008-10-18T09:29:46.707-06:00

Remember when this whole site was about travel? The good old days... At least I can promise no more politics for a while, I voted. I'm done. From here on out I'm avoiding the news about the candidates: it can't affect my vote, just my blood pressure. Ok, one last comment- please go vote. Please. On to software!! (whoo, hoo, the fun never stops around here). I've been fiddling with

Steve Broyleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02189683886269701801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7020152.post-63023994917390626612008-10-14T12:30:00.008-06:002008-10-14T13:42:23.748-06:00

Last week I had some business to do in Jaco so we headed out of San Jose via Puriscal on a beautiful winding road that usually has great views. Somewhere along the way we took a left instead of a right, and decided to follow our noses (and the very-vague GPS) to figure out a back roads route instead of back tracking to the way we knew was correct. One of the advantages of living in country with

Steve Broyleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02189683886269701801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7020152.post-34466981457178147242008-10-12T15:06:00.004-06:002008-10-12T15:33:55.325-06:00

...more politics. On this one, I don't know if I can avoid commentary. While doing a little research on the previous posts, I spent a lot of time chatting with Jocelyn about various topics. These chats help form my opinions and positions. I think that it is safe to say that for most people, their spouse is both an influence and an indication of what they consider to be good and important in

Steve Broyleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02189683886269701801noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7020152.post-32517544948692233302008-10-12T13:37:00.004-06:002008-10-12T14:06:33.282-06:00

Seriously. This has got to stop. We did a fun driving trip last week, I'll post photos shortly. I promise. But until then, a little more political info. Again, trying to present information, not analysis. I hope that everyone out there who reads this will make their own, informed opinion, and Vote!! in November. Mean time. Here is a look at the different ways in which the two presidential

Steve Broyleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02189683886269701801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7020152.post-22106124426674388802008-10-12T12:28:00.003-06:002008-10-12T13:22:46.096-06:00

Ugh. More political commentary. I'll try to curtail this new obsession with the 2008 Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates' portrayal by the media, but I feel a real lack of objective information vs. analysis and commentary. I took a few minutes to compile a summary of the candidates' academic records. For the record, I have a B.S. Ecology, Behavior and Evolution from the University

Steve Broyleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02189683886269701801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7020152.post-20396119644275579462008-10-05T19:07:00.006-06:002008-10-07T08:37:39.378-06:00

I spent some time today catching up on speeches and punditry for the Presidential elections in November. Wow. Another tempest in a teapot. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but I am a little bit at A) some of the things that candidates have said (or not said) and B) many of the things that other people have said about the candidates. I plan to vote for the democratic candidates this year- not

Steve Broyleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02189683886269701801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7020152.post-50447652801064566492008-10-03T16:36:00.004-06:002008-10-03T16:51:39.893-06:00

I haven't downloaded the other pictures from our Atlanta vacation, but clearly the most important part of our journey was enjoying the marriage of Katie and Brad. You couldn't have asked for a better day w/regards to weather. It was a perfect day to hang out by the lake. Both Katie and Brad looked great and were full of smiles, which is always a pleasure to see. I wasn't feeling very much the

Steve Broyleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02189683886269701801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7020152.post-86715224966453369342008-10-02T16:46:00.002-06:002008-10-02T17:04:20.484-06:00

I'm back! Jocelyn is still in Atlanta, doing some jewelry shows and trying to keep a positive attitude despite all the dire economic predictions that we are hearing. Lots to tell.... but no time to do it right now. Stay tuned.

Steve Broyleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02189683886269701801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7020152.post-31564846385573496842008-09-26T08:09:00.004-06:002008-09-26T08:37:04.180-06:00

Day four of the Moab trip (better posted late than never!). We started out the day with a pow-wow to decide what trails to run and chose Elephant Hill, which is south of Moab, down in Canyonlands National Park. I was a little bit bummed that we were leaving the slickrock playground area that is the off-road Mecca for which Moab is so notable, but excited that we were going to do some more

Steve Broyleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02189683886269701801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7020152.post-1782080037671886322008-09-23T13:04:00.004-06:002008-09-23T16:06:18.001-06:00

I've been looking for 12v LED "christmas" lights for years- mostly to use for ambient lighting around my cruiser while camping or otherwise being outdoors. I don't know the voltage at which these operate, probably 4.5v, but the fact that they run on solar power makes them even better than what I wanted. Can't wait to try them out while camping or even just around the barbecue at home.

Steve Broyleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02189683886269701801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7020152.post-41351435188229096872008-09-22T06:05:00.004-06:002008-09-22T06:15:08.409-06:00

We attended a lovely wedding this weekend, in Georgia about an hour east of Atlanta on Lake Oconee. The weather simply could not have been better- right down to the high cloud that moved in to block just enough sun so that we weren't roasting during the ceremony (but that moved back out for us to enjoy the evening sunlight on the water). Congratulations Brad and Katie Thomas! Thanks for

Steve Broyleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02189683886269701801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7020152.post-6462391780025424482008-09-20T09:17:00.003-06:002008-09-20T09:32:25.997-06:00

Really, it is how any 4-cycle internal combustion engine works, mostly. The big difference being that a diesel doesn't rely on spark and has higher compression. I got the .gif (right) at www.rudolfdiesel.info, that site is in German. Of course, Wikipedia also has information on how internal combustion engines run. This illustration shows a gas-powered motor. If you watch each, you'll notice

Steve Broyleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02189683886269701801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7020152.post-67984185606833082802008-09-14T06:59:00.004-06:002008-09-16T07:25:23.225-06:00

Always nice to have a relaxing Sunday, but I decided to spend some time fighting with some minor fixes on the cruiser. Since we got it, it has had some nasty water spotting on the outside of all the windows, and the tint on the pass-side window is a little bit fogged as well. The lack of visibility finally drove me nuts enough to try to tackle it. At first I thought the spots were just hard

Steve Broyleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02189683886269701801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7020152.post-1338445140382298352008-09-11T19:01:00.004-06:002008-09-12T09:40:58.156-06:00

Seriously. These are the good stuff. This post was prompted by a friend who asked about "something good to read on an upcoming trip". We like to read about travel when we travel. Go figure. Well... if you enjoy travel, and/or are traveling, and want something to read, the following choices won't let you down. I promise. They aren't quite in order, because I'm too lazy to put them in

Steve Broyleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02189683886269701801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7020152.post-72493082535007531662008-09-09T14:43:00.007-06:002008-09-09T15:36:51.119-06:00

For Orchid enthusiasts out there, this may not be impressive. Apparently these are very easy to grow, so I take no particular credit for having gotten them to bloom, but hey are darn pretty and I'm happy to see that they are happy, so I figured I may as well share. Also interesting: there are some ants that have been hanging out on the closed buds for the last few days. At first I worried

Steve Broyleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02189683886269701801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7020152.post-27143972949938586212008-09-09T14:35:00.002-06:002008-09-09T14:41:03.049-06:00

If you, like me, tinker with your vehicle, sooner or later you are probably going to install something electrical and you may find that you want to make sure that the wiring work that you do is of high enough quality to not burst into flames. First: use fuses! And remember, fuses are there to protect wires, not to protect the stuff at the end of the wires. So size the fuse according to the

Steve Broyleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02189683886269701801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7020152.post-25268352762083582562008-09-08T10:12:00.003-06:002008-09-08T10:34:21.291-06:00

The rains have finally paused. Not stopped, I'm sure. It rained cats n dogs last night, for example, but most of yesterday was flawlessly beautiful (though a tad warm from the humidity) and today is looking equally lovely so far. With a little luck, things can dry out some- the house and cars and dog are all taking on a musty smell, so some breeze and sunshine are much appreciated. The rain

Steve Broyleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02189683886269701801noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7020152.post-22765395571520893222008-09-05T17:19:00.002-06:002008-09-05T17:21:36.408-06:00

This is good little widget, fun for travel-nuts and armchair travelers alike. I was actually surprised to see that I had only visited 12% (as of this writing) of the world. I guess it means I need to get hopping!

Steve Broyleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02189683886269701801noreply@blogger.com0