Strolling Amok

Pops goes on tour.

Archive for the category “Daily Life”

27 Oct 2014
4 Comments

Solitude? I Got it!

No photos today, folks. I could just barely post this text. The trip down to Parker, AZ from Wendover, UT took just two days of driving and three days for the trip itself, due to a high wind advisory on the way down. Hauling the Defiant isn’t that much fun in high winds, and I managed to skate past Nevada’s 18-hour limit in their roadside rest stops by staying in the relatively delightful Pahranagat Lake Rest Stop (GPS:37.232690, -115.090228), which is situated with the raised roadway on one side and tall hills on the other, so the threatened 45 MPH gusts literally went overhead. So I stayed there with one other camper for two nights instead of one. Such a rebel!

The Parker, Arizona campsite in the boonies about 8 miles NE of town is fab in many respects. It’s pretty, and some of the low mountains on the Shea Road access are beauties. With plenty of wide-open area at points, you just drive in and plant your rig. It seems to be near some off-road trails used by ATVs and some pretty stout-sounding Baja-style off-road pickups. Every now and them, I can hear the faint musical call of a highly modified V8 under stress, so I’ll have to check that out. But overall it’s quite quiet, and the only sound to be heard is the generator of some campers a quarter of a mile away.

At the location I picked, a mountain seems to make for an early sunset, shading my solar panels, but that’s of little concern since I cranked the trailer to catch more of the morning sun earlier. The cool weather front predicted never really materialized, so it will be toasty here for another business week while the pickup is being worked on in town.

The only bad news is the miserable cellular signal. This is great for folks who feel the effects of radio towers and such, and who need a relatively “clean” area to camp in. But for me, it means that, even with an amplified antenna, getting a cellular data connection here ranges by the moment between nonexistent and half the speed of a laundromat’s free WiFi. Without the amplifier, my phone’s reading is a flat No Signal. I’m not into biking miles into town just to hunt up free Wifi and post, so brilliantly fascinating reading with fabulously glorious and illustrative pictures will have to wait until the Mighty Furd is back on its feet and I’ve relocated to Quartzsite. Actually, that kind of writing might take awhile longer than that, so don’t get your hopes up. Who knows? Maybe I’ll get some work done!

Posted in Campsites, Daily Life, Travelin' Man and tagged
14 Oct 2014
6 Comments

Roll-Down Trailer Windows

The window. Fixed.

The window. Fixed.

Just before a major trip to town yesterday, I discovered that the window on the trailer door had somehow slipped down about an inch, opening an impromptu 1/4″x12″ fresh air slot at the top of the window. That explained the draft during the cold, high wind here the day before. Repairs would have to wait though, since a combination laundry and grocery run would prevent taking the time to disassemble the thing and figure out what would be needed to fix it.

So today, I removed the screws squeezing the inner and outer plastic window frames together. Ugh. Small pins molded into both frames that retain the edges of the glass had sheared off at the bottom, letting the glass slowly slide down from its own weight. I’m not sure why, though the door has had an unhappy existence in terms of sag, and takes some shoving now

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Posted in Daily Life, E-Bike Pack Mule, Mod Squad, The Defiant and tagged , , , , , ,
06 Oct 2014
6 Comments

A Tired Tire Day

This thing has been parked by the street since I've been here, for sale.

This thing has been parked by the street since I’ve been here, for sale.

I’ve been passing an old but fine Chevy K-20 pickup each time on my way to the grocery, hardware store or laundromat in West Wendover, NV. So I thought I’d post some pics. No price was posted, and it’s been there quite a while, so either he’s getting nothing but calls offering “$300 an’ my seester”, or he’s unjustifiably high on asking price. Hard to guess, because there just aren’t that many people in Wendover and West Wendover combined. By the way, the title for this post does not refer to its tires, which Read more…

Posted in Daily Life, E-Bike Pack Mule and tagged , , , , ,
01 Oct 2014
2 Comments

Tough Enough

One excursion after the long ride down, just to snap my campsite.

One excursion after the long ride down, just to snap my campsite.

I decided to wring out the Evelo Aurora e-bike yesterday after a 6-mile trash run to a dumpster. There are trails here and there that climb some of the peaks around camp here at Bonneville, so I figured, why not do a little exploring at the one closest to my camp? These trails in no way resemble the “working” trails I expect to revisit over the coming winter, the trails that connect me with towns and their resources. Today’s ride just kinda falls into the “exploration” category.

This is the trail as it looks from camp. Nice, smooth, and gentle.

This is the trail as it looks from camp. Nice, smooth, and gentle.

Well, I found out why not explore the trail closest to camp. I expected the aggressive slope, but recent heavy rains chose the trail to drain down, and very consistently. The rain tore out deep ruts, and formed abrupt shoulders that trapped you once your Read more…

Posted in Campsites, Daily Life, E-Bike Pack Mule and tagged , ,
30 Sep 2014

Taking Cheapskate Seriously

Yowza! A customized old Toyota pickup goes streamliner for mileage, not speed.

Yowza! A customized old Toyota pickup goes streamliner for mileage, not speed.

Riding the Aurora e-bike on the way to Wendover, Utah one day, I came across a streamliner of sorts, parked at the Sinclair truck stop at the fringes of the Bonneville Salt Flats. It differs considerably from other streamliners in two respects. First, it is streetable, if impractical. Second, this streamliner is not built for speed, but for fuel mileage.

Based on an older Toyota T100 pickup truck, its owner has made serious modifications to its body. Functionally speaking, it is no longer a pickup truck, but a car. He was at Bonneville to hopefully wade through the brine and make a run on the salt, but that isn’t as exciting as it seems. Its little four-cylinder engine can, given enough distance, push this newly-slippery shape along at just over 100 MPH, if it has to. That may be fast for a stock T100 four-banger. I don’t know, but I assume it is. Pickup trucks are bluff boxes that force

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Posted in Daily Life, Mod Squad, Tourista! and tagged , , , | Leave a comment
28 Sep 2014

Are We Marooned Yet?

In general, the water running down vast slopes collected and concentrated in flow so that few side trails were left untouched. This shot is taken at a point up Leppy Pass' long upward climb, and was possible for me only because of the bike's electric motor to help me get up there.

In general, the water running down vast slopes collected and concentrated in flow so that few side trails were left untouched. This shot is taken at a point up Leppy Pass’ long upward climb, and was possible for me only because of the bike’s electric motor to help me get up there.

I took the Aurora e-bike out on a trash run this morning to have a look around the area, looking at the end effects when weather has its way with desert that has miserably sparse ground cover.

I'm standing on Leppy Pass Road looking uphill. It's a nice paved two-lane, and I suppose still is, under all the mud and rocks that charged down along it and across it during the rainstorm.

I’m standing on Leppy Pass Road looking uphill. It’s a nice paved two-lane, and I suppose still is, under all the mud and rocks that charged down along it and across it during the rainstorm.

It turns out that the recent rainstorms were about as destructive as they were last year, but Leppy Road’s shoulders were in better shape to start with, and suffered less spectacularly as a result. If you’ve suffered through this blog for long, you’ll recall that last year, a deep new gully did its best to swallow a road grader. There is now one section carved down about four feet deep, but it’s quite short. My trail branches to intersect Leppy Road at two points, and both junctions are damaged enough that a mindless exit would, at best, firmly ground out the low-slung Defiant. At worst, the Read more…

Posted in Campsites, Daily Life, E-Bike Pack Mule and tagged , , | Leave a comment
12 Sep 2014
17 Comments

The Wendover Air Show

Reenactments Gone Wild? A sign reads, "Welcome to Palookaville" at an entrance. This display was charming, though the Friendly Ladies looked out of place to me. but not that many theatrical costumers or hairdressers moonlight for free at volunteer air show events, so ya gotta go with what ya gots! The tent, table and uniforms made me smile, and as long as you don't kick a bomb on the ground, you'll be fine!

Reenactments Gone Wild? A sign reads, “Welcome to Palookaville” at an entrance. This display was charming, though the Friendly Ladies looked out of place to me. but not that many theatrical costumers or hairdressers moonlight for free at volunteer air show events in sparsely-populated towns in remote areas, so ya gotta go with what ya gots! The tarp, table and uniforms made me smile, and as long as you don’t kick a bomb on the ground, you’ll be fine!

I was wandering into the local grocery when I noticed a small poster on their bulletin board. Wendover Air show in just a few days! I guess in the past they had current military aircraft on display, but this year would only be vintage WWII and acrobatic aircraft. Good enough for me. Even though the first successful day of land speed record runs would begin the same day, I decided to take my chances and see the air show instead.

One more shot of Palookaville, looking a bit more period at the moment.

One more shot of Palookaville, looking a bit more period at the moment.

I packed up the trusty Aurora and its trailer with camera and videocam equipment bags, water, and my vintage lawn chair, and biked the eight miles to the historic Wendover airfield. The air show volunteers even let me Read more…

Posted in Daily Life, Tourista!
28 Aug 2014
2 Comments

A Change in Operating Philosophies

Children tend to see more solutions than problems.

Children tend to see more solutions than problems.

Changing how you approach different events or circumstances in life is never easy. When your livelihood is based on the Marine-style necessity of “improvise, adapt, overcome”, it’s pretty difficult to change mindsets later, in the Autumn of one’s years, so to speak. The saying that “when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail” applies to the perception of obstacles or problems. But there are times to kick the walls down, and times to go with the flow, and learning to sense which is which can be a vague, touchy-feely puzzle for those unfamiliar with any alternate approach. There’s no imperative to change mindsets of course, but as the physical and emotional energy resources to back up a “kick-the-walls-down” approach begin to gradually drain away, it can become a good idea to learn to discern and prioritize. Persist And Pursue on some things, and let some things percolate out – or not – on their own. As the old country song goes, “know when to hold ’em, and when to fold ’em”.

Many – probably most – people already know these things by rote, and learned early. I never caught on, myself. Child or adult, the only way anything ever seemed to work for me was to take a brute force approach. Brick wall? Push through, find a way over, under, or find a way around and go on to the next. Nothing ever seemed to come easily. Paths choked with difficult obstacles. Persist. Find a way. The needs of food, housing and family merely motivate one to shove harder or pursue more doggedly. As a technique, it can work. At a price.

This approach was magnified by my choosing to Read more…

Posted in Daily Life, E-Bike Pack Mule, Navel Gazing and tagged , ,
23 Aug 2014
19 Comments

The Cheapskate’s Dilemma

A pickup truck wades out toward the dry part of the salt flats used as the race course.

A pickup truck wades out toward the dry part of the salt flats used as the race course.

Something I hadn’t banked on from last year’s all-or-nothing weather at the Bonneville Speedway was that part of the salt flats could be dry and usable for speed events, while the rest could be terminally underwater. It’s a fairly common situation, as it turns out. The endpoint of the access road to get there is nicknamed the “boat ramp” for just that reason. Right now, it’s under what I’m guessing is 9″-12″ of water, depending on the path you take. It was much shallower on Friday morning before a passing thunderstorm dumped more water on it. The track area apparently survived, while the entrance did not.

The two techniques used: on the left is the wader, rolling slowly through so as to limit splashing of the saltwater. On the right is the impatient hard charger, who must have a rental or leased car, because no one would do this to a personally-owned vehicle, would they?

The two techniques used: on the left is the wader, rolling slowly through so as to limit splashing of the saltwater. On the right is the impatient hard charger, who must have a rental or leased car, because no one would do this to a personally-owned vehicle, would they?

Beginning this weekend and running through Thursday, the Bonneville Motorcycle Speed Trials are taking place. The water entrance hasn’t proven a problem at all for the racers and hangers-on. They just dive right on in with whatever they have.

I find this impressive, but less so after I think about it. These guys make

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Posted in Campsites, Daily Life, E-Bike Pack Mule, Tourista! and tagged , , ,
22 Aug 2014
2 Comments

Damage Control! Report!

Solar panel #4 safely on the ground after being found hanging on one hook.

Solar panel #4 safely on the ground after being found hanging on one hook.

RVs are heavy – ask anyone at a fuel stop. But they also have a very large sail area, a trait which rarely works in their favor. They are highly subject to bad weather and, out west, there’s plenty of that to go around in the late summer.

A couple of nights ago, a very high wind came up in camp, one that wasn’t in any forecast. The forecasts said current wind was and would remain at 6 MPH. Night winds haven’t been unusual here in Wendover, blowing in well after sunset and rotating around in all directions for an hour or so. Often, it’s like throwing a switch on a fan.

Well, this one was a doozy. The good news was that it decided to blow in pretty much straight from the nose of the trailer, which poses the least threat to the Kleenex box aerodynamics of the Defiant. Wheel locks between each pair of trailer tires work quite well to resist any movement.

The wind had started in as usual, but didn’t let up this time, and I stayed up just short of midnight just to Read more…

Posted in Campsites, Daily Life, Mod Squad and tagged , , , ,

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