A Brief Getaway

We've been radio-silent for a few days.  I had a conference for work that I had to attend to get some CE credits to keep my license active.  Spouses were invited.  They put us up in a hotel in Baton Rouge near the river.  It was my wife's 57th birthday, so it was a good opportunity to celebrate and relax.  Russ took care of the animals while we were gone.  We left Thursday at noon and came back Saturday at 3 pm.

On Friday evening they loaded us up on buses and took us to Top Golf.  It's essentially a multi-level driving range with food and drinks.  You are awarded points for hitting the ball into certain targets.  The computer tracks the distance of your hit, the speed, the curve and the hang time.  It was fun, but I am no golfer.  In fact, I'm dangerous.  I teed off and sliced it.  The ball ricocheted off the ball box, hit me in the face and then bounced through the table where everyone was eating.  Embarrassing!

Tricia was much better!

We had a nice time!

On Saturday afternoon, we walked down the Mississippi River levee.  The water level was low.  In the background, the red letters spell out B A T O N  R O U G E.  Sometimes the water level is above the letters.

Here's a nice shot of the Mississippi with the I-10 bridge in the background.  I was checking out the soil at the base of the steps.  No telling where this rich, alluvial soil washed down from.  I was thinking it would be good to take some of that home with me and incorporate into my garden.

There was lots of barge traffic on the river.  The one behind Tricia appeared to be loaded with scrap iron.

Then it was back to a half day of classes.  The last one was interesting.  They were talking about investigating electric vehicle fires.  The presenter, a fire chief, asked if any of us owned an EV.  It was a room of about 125 people.  No one raised their hand.  He told us that it was the wave of the future and than Canada plans to make it illegal to sell an ICE vehicle in Canada after 2035, I think.

He told us something very interesting.  He said that his fire department and many others have a policy of allowing an EV to burn down without trying to put them out.  The reason?  Water reacts violently with the Lithium batteries.  It takes approximately 3,000 gallons of water to put out the fire, but then the water is contaminated and toxic and runs off into the soil and drinking water.  So, to combat this, they just let them burn out.  

I'm trying to figure out how EV's are good for the environment???