Strolling Amok

Pops goes on tour.

Archive for the category “Daily Life”

13 Jan 2015
10 Comments

Be Somewhere Else

How's the load rating on your roof, hey?

How’s the load rating on your roof, hey?

The other day, I was thinking how it would be nice to have daily highs in the 70s in Yuma AZ, since they were only in the low 60s. That has since come about. But having to turn on the little heater every morning – what an inconvenience! I actually had to wear my old winter coat when I went outside one morning!

But the November snowstorm photos forwarded to me by my ol’ work bud Dennis S., who is still young, spry and slogging it out at the same chicken outfit, reset my inconvenience scale. These all come from the Buffalo, NY area at that time, in what one wag has dubbed “Snowmageddon”. Talk about heart Read more…

Posted in Daily Life, Navel Gazing and tagged , ,
10 Jan 2015
16 Comments

Open For Business!

This started out as an empty cavern, and is now quite a step up from most tattoo shops.

This started out as an empty cavern a few weeks ago, and is now quite a step up from most tattoo shops.

Being a justifiably proud papa, I have to brag a bit. My son Tom is artistically gifted. Muchly so. After his long foray into construction, he listened to my lament that artistic skill is a very tough way to make a living, and that if he could wangle a way to leverage it, that would be 1] a miracle and 2] a great way to earn income doing something he likes. Once he discovered that there is decent money to be had in body art, he apprenticed at two shops while his lovely bride left her career at a cellular company to learn the business of piercing, and to keep the later shop’s books.  Thus armed, he mustered considerably more courage than I’ve got and just opened his own shop in cahoots with two experienced and extremely talented artists, Nate Bjork and Billy Raike. It’s called Read more…

Posted in Daily Life and tagged , ,
25 Dec 2014
7 Comments

A Rail De La Sand

Strapped in and ready to make noise, Delmont is signaling either "Go for it!" or "Call me!" I'm not up on such things.

Strapped in and ready to make noise, Delmont is signaling either “Go for it!” or “Call me!” I’m not up on such things.

I was recently given a very special opportunity in the form of what’s called a sand rail, and I took it! Delmont Day, a long-time Strolling Amok reader (“Papa”), invited me to tour the BLM land around Quartzsite with him. Long a fan of all things Volkswagen, Delmont had picked up his sand rail last Fall in order to be able to enjoy the extensive off-road opportunities in the Quartzsite, Arizona area.

The start of the run was the deep sand track I tackled on my e-bike, but the rail's big tires made it float over easily.

The start of the run was the deep sand track I tackled on my e-bike, but the rail’s big tires made it float over easily.

And what a sand rail it is! Sand rails are similar to what most folks would call dune buggies, but they have the familiar shortened VW Bug floorpan/chassis replaced with a Read more…

Posted in Daily Life, Tourista! and tagged , , ,
15 Dec 2014
16 Comments

More Opportunities Than Problems

I awoke one morning to find the sunlight in a frying pan to be my bugle to begin the day.

I awoke one morning to find the sunlight in a frying pan to be my bugle to begin the day.

A bright glare wakened me one morning, which was a trick, since the head of my enclosed bunk usually faces east and remains a dark cave as long as the window shade is down. The golden glow was from a stainless steel frying pan reflecting the sun’s light. Naturally, when I decided to take a picture, the result was more mundane. Guess you had to be there.

I’m just waiting for purchased items to arrive via UPS before I head to Yuma, and I’ve found once again this year that anything arriving via Quartzsite’s post office, like UPS Smartpost, FedEx Surepost, or Priority Mail stand a fair chance of being bounced and sent back for no particular reason. So you have to know how items will be shipped out, and “Free Shipping!” is always at risk.

It’s been a bit nippy here lately and promises to remain so for awhile, with daily highs in the low 60s and lows around 40 degrees. I prefer that to baking in heat, but it does delay venturing outside. As I write this paragraph, it’s 8AM and 44 degrees outside, something that many of you would relish, but here, that’s low enough to delay getting outside to accidentally break something while trying to Read more…

Posted in Daily Life, Navel Gazing and tagged , , ,
09 Dec 2014
4 Comments

Are I Healthy Yet?

Powdered stevia leaves. It has the nasal tinge of bent grass or possibly fine fescue, but it is sweet!

Powdered stevia leaves. It has the nasal tinge of bent grass or possibly fine fescue, but it is sweet!

I’ve been trying to wean myself off sugar for awhile (for health reasons) and that doesn’t mean going to the artificials like Saccharin. When I worked in the local hardware store, they had a $1 section that offered a good amount of it, and I found that it was very handy for wiping out ant mounds. It’s sweet, they love it, they pass it around, and it kills them all in short order. I take that as a message, myself.

So I went to stevia-based products, since real stevia is actually good for you (in small amounts) while sugar is definitely not. (But sugar is still “less bad” for you than the artificials.) Trouble is, all the “Stevia” products in the grocery stores, like Truvia, are doctored-up crap that are high in the “not good” factor. I’m not on a mission to educate here, but just saying what I found as I researched alternatives.

One product that seems the most direct equivalent is

Read more…

Posted in Daily Life, Navel Gazing and tagged
05 Dec 2014
14 Comments

And Then There’s This…

Been there awhile, too.

Been there awhile, too.

I try to enjoy what’s out here, because a positive outlook is, well, a positive in dealing with the day. Not every moment can be like that. At some dumpsters along the west end of the Tyson Wash LTVA, a fridge/freezer carcass from a motorhome or high-end fifth wheel has been on the ground for weeks. This is the second time I’ve seen discarded fridges in as many years, and it’s always a disappointment, as well as confusing to me. I mean, do these people assume that the BLM’s disposal contractor is under any obligation or is equipped to do anything more than lift bins and empty them? Maybe the driver will get out and heft the fridge inside a bin so that the two mechanized arms will be able to pick it up? Maybe the money-saving handyman who dropped it out of his RV wanted to think he was almost Read more…

Posted in Campsites, Daily Life, Navel Gazing and tagged ,
03 Dec 2014
10 Comments

Solar Suds

20141203-101615.jpg

This is the 3rd day of heavy overcast out of a predicted 4-1/2, and that will be followed by another couple of partly cloudy days, so the Defiant’s solar systems are getting a workout. If you have not looked back at past posts, the Mighty Defiant has three independent solar systems, each dedicated to specific tasks. The (2) house batteries power ignition for the fridge, water heater, water pump, and lights, as well as the iPad that I’m typing this on and the iPhone4 that connects it to the cellular Internet. At night, the house batteries also power 3 ultrasonic speakers in an attempt to keep any wandering rodents out of the trailer. (So far, so good.) The (4) batteries in the office pack power the desktop computer and the mission-critical entertainment system that offers moving picture amusement each evening, and the vast majority of them are talkies! It also recharges the Evelo e-bike’s battery, which is no easy task. At times like this, I’m glad I got a spare for it so that I can still get around in the manner to which I am accustomed. Lastly, there is also a single battery and panel dedicated to running a CPAP device, which battery is now doing double duty to desulphate someone’s old AGM battery to bring it back to life.

This is a pretty decent test period for the house batteries and especially the office pack, which I sized to last for

Read more…

Posted in Daily Life, The Defiant and tagged
28 Nov 2014
18 Comments

Cyclist as Prey

You turn your kids loose, don't you? How about this other family member? Nice doggy!

You turn your kids loose, don’t you? How about this other family member? Nice doggy!

This year is different at the LaPosa West LTVA. This year, the animal hazard I have to be concerned about is unleashed dogs. Motorcycles can pass them by at low speed without a second look, but bicycles seem to kick in their “chase and bring it down” instinct. I’ve had two attempted attacks in as many weeks while biking down this campground’s main trail, and my deference in treating them as someone’s pet instead of what they are – animal attacks – is wearing thin.

The first was a smallish mutt with legs too short to do much more than 15 MPH, which allowed me to throttle up the Aurora e-bike and keep the dog just alongside the Ibex trailer on the dirt and gravel trail. But it did manage to stay there for a good quarter mile, while some lady jumped out of her motorhome and tried in vain to call it back. That camp is a potential problem because there seem to be three other dogs, a pit bull, one that resembles a mastiff, and one that’s just as large but is a mutt or some breed I can’t identify. Oddly, the pit bull is the only one who doesn’t seem to care when I pass by – if he’s the only one staked out. It seems bored. The others charge their leashes, and it will too if the others are outside at the same time. Pack mentality.

The second episode, a mile from the main area, involved the silent type and just appeared, only barking and growling as it pulled alongside a hundred yards or so past where its owner camped. The owner had been outside with it as I rode by and, from what I could tell, did nothing but watch with amusement. This one was an undersize tan and black shepherd mix (a slightly smaller version of what’s in the photo above) and posed a problem as I returned from another campsite just after sunset. It was a two-pronged problem, the first being that it could outrun me as

Read more…

Posted in Daily Life, E-Bike Pack Mule, Navel Gazing and tagged , ,
26 Nov 2014
2 Comments

You Can’t Get There From Here!

If there's no traffic, I like to gawk at the scenery. I liked this just for the play of sun and shadow on the slopes.

If there’s no traffic, I like to gawk at the scenery. I liked this just for the play of sun and shadow on the slopes.

From where I’m camped in Quartzsite, Arizona, the spectacular Ace Hardware store in Blythe, California is 28 miles away. On a bicycle, that’s a fur piece. I knew my carcass would never survive a 60-mile jaunt at this point, but I have been curious about whether the only non-Interstate route there was passable for an oldster on an e-bike. A do-able route would open options for resupply, since Parker, Arizona is even further away. But Google Maps shows kind of a frontage road alongside I-10 from Quartzsite to Blythe, so the questions became: is it passable, and what’s the limit on my seat time these days? I pretty much got good indications on both. It started out as a rather routine routing evaluation, and boiled out as an adventure.

If you're willing to sign in with the camp host to monitor your 14-day stay, Dome Rock Campground is close to Quartzsite, and the price is right.

If you’re willing to sign in with the camp host to monitor your 14-day stay, Dome Rock Campground is close to Quartzsite, and the price is right.

Dome Rock Road heads west out of Quartzsite, and is a nicely-paved two-lane that wends its way through some decent 14-day boondocking areas. About 10 miles out, Dome Rock Road pulls up to the I-10 Exit 11 interchange, and effectively ends there. There was no dirt trail continuing on, so I had to look around for anything heading westward. I was stumped for awhile. I had just passed another BLM camping area entrance, and backtracked to go in and look around. Voila. A dirt trail that was fairly Read more…

Posted in Daily Life, E-Bike Pack Mule
14 Nov 2014
14 Comments

Standing Pat

An unnecessarily elaborate way to camp, but a wonderfully convenient and enjoyable way to live.

An unnecessarily elaborate way to camp, but a wonderfully convenient and enjoyable way to live.

Having purged tanks at the LTVA dump station Thursday, and stocked up with fresh food on a run to Parker Friday, I’m now ready to get back in the groove and see how long I can leave the Mighty Furd unused in camp. That should be awhile, perhaps longer than it should sit unstarted. I’ll be wiring in a little 10-watt solar panel to keep its battery topped up and desulfated, if only I can track down the special and now spare solar controller reserved for that task. See, I tucked it away someplace safe while it was at the Ford dealer, and now the challenge is to figure out once more where that safe place was. Ever do that? I have to conduct such searches every now and then. It’s here somewhere!

Although the Defiant is decently leveled out nearly a football field away from my nearest neighbor here at the LTVA in Quartzsite, it was necessary to use one of two long boards that I keep specifically for that job. Getting the trailer level is necessary since the fridge/freezer depends on it for efficiency, and the various cabinet doors as well as the bathroom door will want to swing this way or that if it isn’t close to perfect. Using boards under the tires can become a nuisance to set up as well as store however, and one cracked in half Read more…

Posted in Campsites, Daily Life, E-Bike Pack Mule, Mod Squad, The Defiant and tagged , , ,

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