Simple Living and Simple Travel

After three weeks, I broke camp and made a run into Moab for supplies and to see a couple friends. I had breakfast with Lisa at Love Muffin Café like the last time. It’s always a treat to see her and the Muffin has good food and sidewalk tables. Then I picked up some stuff at the food co-op. Afterwards I stopped in at Arches Electronics to see if I could get a replacement Nikon Coolpix. The owner was getting ready to close the store for the winter and he gave me a stellar deal on a model S9300. Two upgrades from my S9100 and it was $50 less than what I paid for the 9100. I asked if he had any 10x50 binoculars—and he gave me another good price. It was like christmas in October. Then I spent almost three hours on the web; too long but I still did not finish the work I wanted to do. I sure miss daily access to the web. It’s such a fabulous learning tool. Later I met Theresa for coffee and went back to her place to fill up my water jugs. It was the end of October and Theresa and Da...

I’m definitely not cut out to be a butt-voyeur. One day I drove 240 miles and I was beat. Granted, I had not gotten much sleep the previous two nights, but still. 240 miles is an easy day for an RVer and they can do that and more day after day. I have trouble sitting for that long (I get to feeling like a slug), let alone being cooped up in a truck. I’d much rather go for a run in the mountains for a couple hours. Different strokes. Maybe when I’m half dead and no longer able to travel between the roads. The next driving day was more like it, 76 miles (anything under 100 miles is generally good). The last 9 miles were on dirt roads in the Canyon Rims Recreation Area, south of Moab. I don’t think I’ve been here this early in past years. But then I’ve always hit this area while heading south and this time I was still heading north. I called Glen to ask for suggestions and he gave me directions for three new spots. If you recall pictures from the last 3 years, you can see why I co...

After the second run down to Kanab, I drove to a spot that I came across while out mountain biking. It’s sunnier for the cooler weather. The spot is across a slope so I had to dig a 3” trench for the uphill wheel and put the downslope wheel up on two 2x8s. It’s been a few years since I had to do that. When M&M came back to camp after checking out the immediate area, I noticed they had found some loose dirt. Guano. Now they are back to cutting into the water supply. Washing them down each evening is not one of my favorite things to do. This spot, however, offers the best terrain we’ve had in quite a while for late afternoon walks with M&M. Win some lose some. I can get NPR here on my eton Scorpion solar radio and American Routes is broadcast on Saturday afternoons. I really enjoy that program but it’s not offered on all NPR stations and they don’t offer it on podcasts. It’s a real treat whenever I can listen to it. If I come back to this area again (and it’s a good l...

‘I was seeing if M&M wanted to come out and play.’ I know the reasons why people choose to stay in campgrounds but it just can not compare with disperse camping out in Nature. As I got back to camp one morning after a sandbag walk, this little one was checking out the place. When I first saw her, she was at the door. Sure glad she stuck around until I dug out the camera and got off this single rushed shot. The next morning while I was working through a medicine ball routine, guess who came walking up the road? I should have posted the previous entry the last time I had web access so I’m posting two today. I’m back to spending time at the bench but I’m working with ‘found objects’ rather than silver. I’ll post pictures when I get some pieces made along with a photo of what they were made from. I made a bow drill. I used something I had around for the weights. I’m keeping my eyes open for a single more compact weight to use for a cleaner look. Sure has ...

Well, we headed south from Pinedale towards the Mogollon Rim. There were deep tire tracks in the mud and some standing water from all the rain along the 8-mile stretch. I was thinkin’ that if it rained, I would have to wait for a couple days of sun or I wouldn’t get out of here. I did not want to get stuck in the mud with a trailer. At one spur road, I pulled over and jogged down it looking for a camping spot but found I would not have been able to get the rig in far enough to be out of sight of the main forest road. I continued on and headed west along the Rim Road (which also had deep ruts and mud in spots) and did not come across any accessible spur roads. This area of the Whites didn’t have the appeal that I look for in a pine forest and I started playing with the idea of heading up to the Flagstaff area the next day. I’ll save other areas of the Whites, maybe around Overgaard and Heber, for another year. Eventually I turned north on another forest road and pulled into a spot ...