We're at the new location and settling in

Not much to report, yet. No matter how much pressure I put on him, Frank is certainly taking his time getting all the equipment set up. I know there are quite a few connections to make, but he's being excessively slow and careful about it, so it may be a while, in spite of having the techies working on it all night. One good thing about the move: I must say that the new place is much closer to civilisation than our old one; we can practically see a dozen Wal-Mart stores from the roof top...well maybe not quite that many, but there are quite a few stores in the area, and the view is wonderful. On clear days (which there are many of, except for the recent rain), we can even see the taller buildings in downtown Sacramento.
One of the best things about the new location is that the amenities here are much better, especially the choice of eateries. In fact, right in the centre of Rocklin itself, there's a really nice place to stop for lunch, but it's got to be an early lunch because they close at 2:00pm – the Granite Rock Grill. When you schedule your trip with us, make certain you stop off there for a hearty breakfast before you head out...it may be the last decent meal you'll get for a week!
Seriously though, this building we've moved into is really going to work out great. As the real estate agents are always saying, the three most important things are "location, location, and location" and with this site, we’ve got plenty of that. The power grid is much more stable, there’s a major freeway just down the road, and the folks here are really receptive to new businesses, so I think there’s a wonderful opportunity for growth.
We should have good news to report next week...and maybe more pictures, if we can get them out of the camera.

The rest of them are back, the move is under way

All is well. The second group of hunters made it back, and they brought back quite an interesting selection of specimens. Tom says that the reason this group got so many new trophies is that they didn't rush through the hunting. He says that the first group was in so much of a hurry that they didn't have the time to find the good stuff, but this group slowed down a bit and even got to know some of the natives much better. Besides being invited to spend time in the tavern in the nearby town, they also were shown the best hunting places, but they say the hunting was only the start of things.

According to Tom, that tavern was something worth visiting all by itself. We almost couldn't get him to stop talking about the ale they brew there. In spite of the bite it has, he told us it goes down very smoothly, and he kept bragging about not having a hangover in the morning...no matter how much he drank. Well, that's just about enough to convince me to visit, but I'm still concerned about the Door itself. If I understood it the way Frank does, it might not be too bad, but all that engineering mumbo-jumbo still concerns me.

No more trips until we get set up at the new location. Frank has already started the tear down, having the big parts loaded onto a flat-bed trailer. He’s boxing up the sturdy parts and packing them into the back of a small moving van, but he’s keeping all the delicate parts separate, so he can transport them personally.

I’ll let you know when we’ve got the move done and are back up and running. Until then, Frank says that he’ll keep working on documenting just how this thing works. Maybe someday, you’ll be able to read about in one of his techie magazines.

The first group is back...at least most of them

We had anticipated a variety of possible problems, but when we opened the Door to retrieve the hunting group, we faced a problem we couldn't have expected: they didn't want to come back. Apparently when the group arrived, they decided that there were too many of them in too small of an area, so they split up into two groups, with one going hunting whilst the other waited around at camp, and they were going to swap after a while. That idea would have worked fine if the first group had come back on time, but they didn't. The hunting group didn't bother to come back until they'd all bagged the prey that they had been tracking. Unfortunately that took longer than the second group expected, and they never even got a chance to head out.

Fortunately our timing couldn't have been better: we opened the door just after the first group finally got back, so the second group hadn't had a chance to leave the drop site yet. The only thing we could offer them was to let the ones who wanted to stay remain over there for another week. Most of the first group was willing to return, as well as a few from the second group who had given up waiting. We will pick up the rest next week.

One last thing, the pictures that Tom took on the hunt are being developed (they had to be on film because digital cameras won't work over there), so I'll get them posted as soon as they come back from the lab. Keep an eye on things here.

They got off to a good start...move imminent

Frank hooked up the spare bank of capacitors to keep the Door open even longer than normal, and the whole group got through without having to rush, although a few of the porters had to make more than one trip to get all the equipment through. [shrug] I guess it's better to have too much, than to run out of something you might really need. There is still the problem of supply...there ain't any.

The new building has been secured and leases have been signed. We'll be moving in the next couple weeks. Frank doesn't want to risk moving anything whilst there is a group on the other side, just in case some setting on the equipment gets changed. It would be a real pain to drop off a group in one place and then try to pick them up hundreds of miles away, so we're going to wait for them to get back, early next week, then start packing up the Door equipment. Most of the office stuff has already been boxed up and loaded into the trucks. In fact as soon as this group returns, I'm going to be spending the rest of the week setting up the new location. Frank and the Door will be coming later. He's in charge of packing the Door itself, so it might take more than a week to complete the actual move; you know how engineers are. :-)

Lots to do, and hopefully everything will be up and running by the end of next week, so I can post on time.
Keep busy!

Volunteers? A trip out

Well, it looks like we've got folks who're ready to volunteer...not for a trip, but to help out in the office. I guess not everyone is willing to take the plunge and head out into the unknown. Don't worry, there are folks heading out this weekend. Remember those big game hunters I talked about last week? Well, we've got a good sized group leaving tomorrow. I told them about the charging problem, so they're bringing everything they need for a week in the bush...including their own porters. It'll be crowded in the office when they all arrive, but once they've left, Frank has some ideas to test out.

Talking about the office, it seems we've found a possible new location for the operation: an old abandoned, warehouse-sized building. It sits at the end of a road, so there's little issue with traffic. It's near enough to civilisation that we will be able to get customers in and out easily enough. And down the hill from the back side is a train track, so we can transport some of the heavier equipment in and out with ease. The funny thing is that it used to be a Wal-Mart store. Well, at least that's funny to me as I haven't visited that store chain for almost a dozen years. Just not my type of employer to support. [shrug]

Anyway, I'll set the poll to track your opinion on that topic and be back in a week.
Keep up the adventuring!