Simple Living and Simple Travel

They recently released a huge amount of water from the Glen Canyon Dam. This is a shot from standing a few miles downriver of the initial wave. Oh wait, no, maybe the photo is from Tó Mané Porto, Portugal. The coast is known for its huge waves. Awesome. This time of year I’m generally north, in a forest, and up around 8-9,000’. Change of plans this year. The medical problems went on for TEN! months. I wasn’t up for much driving. I’m presently up in the Sacramento Mountains in NM and might stay through the summer, focusing on getting back into shape. I am much weaker than when I left Moab. It’s pretty quiet here but at only 7100’, it’s hot. I leave all the windows and roof vents fully open at night and inside morning temps, during the first week, were 49-51 degrees, but lately, in the lower 60s, not good. By mid-afternoon, the inside temps are in the lower 90s. There is no shade for the Nash and I use as many of the techniques I wrote about on the June 2014 page, ‘stay cool,...

Russian thistle found its way to this country, and many others, from the steppes east of the Ural Mountains. Tumbleweeds are a classic sight out west. But they are not something you want on your property. Every winter the plants die and the stems become brittle. At some point, a stiff wind will break the stem and the plant will begin to roll, and roll, and roll; scattering thousands of seeds. Not good. Tumbleweed can be a big problem, piling up against fences, houses, whatever, clogging arroyos, and becoming a fire hazard (they are bone dry and filled with air pockets). Pretty much a worthless, no good plant. Easily spread and most difficult to kill. The Department of Agriculture in Washington first became aware of a strange plant in 1880. There were reports coming in from farms in South Dakota. There are accounts from some areas, in the late 1890’s that many farmers were driven from their homes on account of the weed. In only 20 years, Russian thistle covered an area of roughly 35...

I was surprised and pleased that I could hook up the WDH when I left Moab. I was concerned about being able to crank up the A-frame. Then being able to crank up the added weight to prepare for prying on the torsion bars. And finally, being able to pry on the bars. It all worked out well. No way, was I capable of doing this back in December. The next time I went to hitch up was more difficult. I left the pry bar on the bumper of the Ram when I pulled out of Moab. It was the factory one with curves forged in, to ease the procedure. Guano. I picked up a pry bar at Home Depot but I have to kick the torsion bars in when they are pried up high enough. Not the best time to be standing on one foot. Oh well, we’ll see how it goes. I listened to an audio book on the drive south, ‘Blue Labyrinth’ by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child. Really good story. What a great way to get through a long drive. Couples could play an audio book through the car’s radio (if they could agree on a book...

There is a trail up to the lower ridge just above the talus and one then looks down into Hidden Valley. The trail continues up, just to the left of the highest point. A week ago, Glen and some hiking buddies continued on across the valley and climbed up to the top ridge. He’s 70! And they kept going over the top to extend the hike. Unreal. It took nearly two months, but I finally developed enough stamina to hike to Mill Creek from where the Nash is set up near Old City Park. It was a bear, however, to hike back up from down along the creek. Sure was glad to see the progress, though. Last week I had gotten strong enough, sort of, to hike upstream to a set of stairs that took me back to the top. This is the lower set of stairs. At the top of the lower stairs, there’s another set of stairs that take you the rest of the way. Now the stairs are the bear. A 1:45 hour hike that is presently my max. Then of course, being in Moab, it is hard to go for a hike and not come across ro...

Since I didn’t do too well with traveling on my own last year, I think I’ll spend this year traveling with The Doctor. Oh wait, no, I came across this call box in the Moab library. Definitely brought a smile to my face since I’m a fan. Okay, this is only for those who have a Kindle. Two things. First, you are probably familiar with all the sites on the web for free ebooks formatted to Kindle. If you have not already checked it out, look at the free ebooks offered on Amazon. Amazon > Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Best Sellers > Top 100 Free The free ebooks are not best sellers but I always manage to find a few to download. I don’t check out the site much, but there always seems to be a new list when I do. Don’t be put off by all the type books you would never read (can you guess?), there are other genres scattered among them. This second thing is just strange, well at least to me. My Kindle has been acting up the last few months, slowing down and freezing. Restarti...

This is not my rig. I met Victoria in early 2013. Back on the February 2014 page, I wrote about her and her one-eye dog, Henry. At one point, Victoria had to put him down and after a couple years, got another pet. It’s healthy to have a pet if living alone. Last year a fire totaled her Dolphin. Her sister raised enough money online so Victoria could replace her rig. What a lifesaver. Whenever I saw Victoria’s Dolphin, she was never at a hookup, not ever for a month or two in the winter. She’s tough. I thought I’ve had enough medical problems since all this started back on July 31. Apparently not. I went in to see a NP I’ve been working with since I got to Moab. I had an appointment to get a referral to a doctor to have some work done on my chest wound. I had been extremely tired for the previous four days, pretty much slept the whole time and had to cancel a couple appointments. I knew I was way dehydrated, but when my blood pressure came in at 80 over 60, it kind of blew me aw...

I could live in a watch tower, a treehouse without the tree. The one I wrote about on the August 2013 page, up in Oregon would be a fine place. Quiet, solitude, and a room-with-a-view. I came across one for sale on the web but it sure would not be compatible for full-time living. It looked like an 8’ box on top of a tall, spindly tower. Would not want to be up there in a windstorm. I’d be upchuckin’ over the side. I wasn’t able to work on sudoku puzzles while in the hospitals and nursing facility. The mind just was not able to cope with puzzles and logic. Now with all the meds and whatnot out of my system, I’m enjoying the challenge again. I had to go back to much easier puzzles than I was doing before, but it’s slowly coming back. I also had to go back and relearn some techniques. &#8216Sudoku’ is a registered Japanese trademark filed by the Nikoli company. Similar number puzzles have been around since the late 1800’s, but the rules were slightly different. In 1979, Dell...