The Hobbit Hole III - Journey to the Cross-roads!

[HairOfTheDog]

Welcome to The Hobbit Hole!

Journey to the Cross-roads
The Two Towers Edition

Come on! Come in! -if you would like to have some seedcakes and a pint and relax a while. (If it is a special occasion, we still have a few bottles of the old wineyards left!)

Our first thread ( New Zealander builds Hobbit hole ) reached 4,100 posts, and we thought that was big. Our second thread (The New Hobbit Hole ) held us for over 48,000 posts, and we loved it dearly. We talked about moving to a new thread for the last 38,000 posts, but we are really slow to muster! Finally, the time has come. Tomorrow (at 12:01 am, to be precise!) The Two Towers comes out, and we start a new chapter.

[ecurbh]

I can imagine that the lakes that are around are not only few and far between, but are also inside canyons that are not easy to get into in a plane.

Bingo. There are a couple small lakes up on Mt. Lemmon, but they are really no more than ponds. And with the drought, there is probably not much water left in them anyway.

Also not to be ignored is that this area is already at a pretty high altitude isn't it? - 5-7,000 feet? (Trying to remember)

I believe Summerhaven is...was at about 7500 feet. The peak is around 9,000 feet.

[HairOfTheDog]

Yes! That is a compass top center....

The Manual Heading Indicator he would 'set' using the compass for reference, to actually navigate with is blocked by the yoke, right below the blue and brown attitude indicator.... The right-seat one is visible, but too small to see well.

[Corin Stormhands]

Aha, then yes I had the abridged versions. Funny, most abridged versions will say note that on the cover, but these didn't.

And yes, these were read by Zelazny. I am definitely going to read them now instead of listening to the rest of the tapes.

[HairOfTheDog]

Thanks... It is high down there, I know... Those altitudes in any kind of heat would make the little planes I trained in fly about as well as chickens do. I am sure it affects the decisions in the larger fire-fighting planes too.

[ecurbh]

And those mountains are so rugged, its going to be pretty tough to carve firelines.

I slept later than I should have. Need to get some breakfast and a shower.

[Overtaxed]

Oh! My bad.

In a previous discussion somewhere I was complaining that Corwin (or whoever) would always be dealing with the same problem people...wipe 'em out already! And someone said "well it's a family thing" to which I replied "Michael Corleone didn't have that problem."

[HairOfTheDog]

I need to get going also pretty soon.... got that meeting in Seattle today.

[HairOfTheDog]

The odd thing to me is that this area seems to be high desert with not much more than scrub brush. Aren't the pine forests sortof naturally separated by terrain containing less fire tinder? Or is this a more vast forest of pines than I think? Is it like the Show Low area? The pictures they are showing look more like Sedona in terms of forest cover.

[Corin Stormhands]

Hey, one of my friends that I haven't seen in 20 years lives just outside Seattle. And, they've got horses!

[HairOfTheDog]

I am sure there are a few good things just outside of Seattle! ;~D

What area? - You know?

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

A while back I did some hunting around on Amazon and eBay... I wanted to get the audio books, once I realized that they were read by Zelazny. That's how I found out about the abridged vs. unabridged. I never did buy a copy, though... the desire for them wasn't strong enough to pry open my wallet at the time. ;)

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

Oh, yes, I remember that discussion now! :) It was on the previous HH, I think.

We watched "The Godfather" here one night last week, by the way. One of the movie channels is running it and "Godfather 2" this month. I had seen it before, but I think it was the first time that Rose had seen it all the way through.

[Corin Stormhands]

You've got mail.

[Lil'freeper]

Yeah those numbers sound about right. As far as the vegetation goes, that mountain has it all- from desert scrub to spurce/fir near the ski lodge. While it is very rugged country it is criss-crossed with a few roads and lots of trails they can anchor fire lines from. They could get up pretty high on the north side, backburn some lines and stop it near the top. I pray it doesn't come down the north side- it'd be pretty much unfightable down in there.

[Corin Stormhands]

I'm thinking I may check out the paperback prices. Seems like good summer reading. (and I'll have to wait for Jr. and the Mrs. to finish Harry Potter)

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

Not sure if they're still published individually, even as paperbacks. The omnibus paperback The Chronicles of Amber contains the first five books (the story of Corwin: Nine Princes in Amber, Guns of Avalon, Sign of the Unicorn, Hand of Oberon, Courts of Chaos) and the Great Book of Amber contain all ten (the second five books being the story of Merlin, Corwin's son.)

They are good summer reading, especially the first five. The second five get a little bogged down after a while, but I still like them.

[RMDupree]

Last time I stopped by the used book store, the owner gave me the first of a trilogy by Juliet Marillier.

The first is called Daughter of the Forest, and basically it is the retelling of the Celtic tale of the girl (Sorcha) whose brothers were turned into swans by a wicked spell. I loved it in spite of myself, and have just returned from purchasing book 2, Son of the Shadows - which goes on to tell the story of Sorcha's children.

I think it's a great tale for folks who like fantasy, magic, herbology and a wee bit of romance.

[Sam Cree]

Do you have to mail order them, Bear, or are they usually stocked by the book chains?

Maybe the library has them, for that matter.

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

I often see the omnibus editions at the bookstores, the individual books are more rare, which made me wonder if they were still being published. A library with a good fantasy/science fiction section should have them, too.

[Overtaxed]

Oooh....I'll have to check and see what individuals I have. I think I have some.