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maki2 · Sep 14, 2024

This week by the Grand Canyon South Rim on the Kaibab NFS dispersed area it is a 40 degree difference in temperature between the high and low. It is partly cloudy. The clouds are mostly white but some grey on the bottoms making it slightly humid today. Proof attached of the 40 degree difference between high and low from captured today's weather forecast. I typically skip going into the Park itself on Saturday and Sunday unless I go early before 8 in the morning or after 3 in the afternoon to avoid lines at the entry gate. There is also a long line on Friday afternoons. People arriving for the weekend to escape the heat in the lower elevation areas.

maki2 · Sep 15, 2024

Looks like I will need to batten down my popup roof tomorrow afternoon. The prediction is for some gust up to 46 to 50mph but otherwise not a stormy day, no thunderstorms, not a cold front, no extreme heat.

I have had people pulling into my campsite after dark crowding in way too close. This afternoon I will use my tow vehicle to block that entry area off more effectively. Once they come in they do not leave as they can’t turn around and do not want to back their motorhomes back out in the dark.

vanbrat · Sep 15, 2024

We just spent the weekend at Lake Crescent on the Olympic Peninsula and we might have gotten to 65 today at the most and it has been the warmest day of the weekend. But it was very busy and beautiful and just a bit frustrating. First, we expected to cool weather, so we were prepared warm clothes and an electric blanket and a few books for rain that was forecasted too. When we first got there we paddled around the end of the lake a bit and as we were coming in we got the first drops of rain. My awning leaked so we went into the resort to eat..... but after that it was just pouring so into the van and read a few books ok I read 1 1/2 books hubby read 1 and we both decided we need to pack a few more book. I got tons of work done on my new quilt. I made sure it was at a hand work point. Then we got to watch as 5-6-7 more folks pulled in for the weekend the spot next to us stayed empty for most of the day it was tiny and the person who finally pulled in had a very wide big trailer it parked about 5 feet from us. It was an amazing parking job! We applauded when he was done. We chatted and enjoyed when the rain quit and had more time paddling around the lake but 5:00 Am the fella who we applauded loaded up and started his loud truck and started packing up and left. So 90 percent great, park was way to crowded and other then the guy leaving at 5 AM it was nice to be around other campers for a bit and to kayak in a very pretty lake. Oh yea and I fell in killing my phone as I got out of my kayak..... lesson learned don't rush the exit...

maki2 · Sep 15, 2024

vanbrat said:
We just spent the weekend at Lake Crescent on the Olympic Peninsula and we might have gotten to 65 today at the most and it has been the warmest day of the weekend. But it was very busy and beautiful and just a bit frustrating. First, we expected to cool weather, so we were prepared warm clothes and an electric blanket and a few books for rain that was forecasted too. When we first got there we paddled around the end of the lake a bit and as we were coming in we got the first drops of rain. My awning leaked so we went into the resort to eat..... but after that it was just pouring so into the van and read a few books ok I read 1 1/2 books hubby read 1 and we both decided we need to pack a few more book. I got tons of work done on my new quilt. I made sure it was at a hand work point. Then we got to watch as 5-6-7 more folks pulled in for the weekend the spot next to us stayed empty for most of the day it was tiny and the person who finally pulled in had a very wide big trailer it parked about 5 feet from us. It was an amazing parking job! We applauded when he was done. We chatted and enjoyed when the rain quit and had more time paddling around the lake but 5:00 Am the fella who we applauded loaded up and started his loud truck and started packing up and left. So 90 percent great, park was way to crowded and other then the guy leaving at 5 AM it was nice to be around other campers for a bit and to kayak in a very pretty lake. Oh yea and I fell in killing my phone as I got out of my kayak..... lesson learned don't rush the exit...

Lesson you need to know…get an Otter Box or a close clone of one to put the phone in when you go out on a small boat! Get one that will float and not let water in if you drop the phone! If it floats you have a better chance of rescuing the phone undamaged.

Not at all surprising to get rain when you are camped in the Olympic Rain Forest area in September. Next time camp over by Sequim which is in the Rain Shadow area of the Olympic Penisula. I had a house on the hill above Discovery Bay just outside of Port Townsend. My yard was exactly on the mapped borderline of the Olympic rain shadow. Many times it would be raining in my front yard but not in my backyard which faced West. I saw lots of rainbows happening!

Morgana · Sep 15, 2024

I usually put my things inside a small dry-bag and put that inside a fanny pack. It's all stuff I don't plan to access while I'm on the water but want to have with just in case. I've ~given up on trying to take photos while I'm kayaking, would rather just enjoy the paddle --- but if you want to be able to access your phone more easily, there are also waterproof pouches that aren't too expensive that you can hang around your neck, like these, also fanny pack style. The neck-hanging ones are designed so you can use the phone without taking it out (at least theoretically).
Or you can use a larger dry bag with a clip buckle, if you want to just bung all your stuff in without worrying about traveling ultralight, it's easy to secure on the back of a kayak. Those types of equipment are not too expensive or bulky and can give you easy peace of mind.
Getting out of the kayak is my least favorite part! (And my second least favorite is getting in.) Sometimes it helps me to get in or out in slightly deeper water because you don't have to tilt as much, just sit ~normally and slide your butt over.
Well maybe you know all that already. Glad you got out there and had a glass-half-something, reasonably fun time (and a good attitude)!

vanbrat · Sep 15, 2024

Thank you both for the advice. I only took the phone because I have put my gopro camera someplace safe and now I can't remember where. I have some waterproof bags but didn't have one and this is the first time I have tipped over getting out of the water. I was in a hurry to help hubby out of his kayak, his balance is still ify at best. I wish he had had his camera on me it would have made the funniest video stuff I am sure. Me and the ducks on the beach got a good laugh at that.
My House on the Island is also a big part of the rain shadow area. Not as good as the peninsula in spots, but I like my rain shadow. We know enough to prep for rain, and we did. But I was not happy about the awning, but hey it worked as the resort had a decent cafe. I just need to keep more books around. Hubby is just getting back into reading for fun. So he needs some more rainy days. I can't imagine not reading for fun. Oh yea the sound of the rain on the van was really nice. It sang me to sleep. Until 5 AM!!!

Morgana · Sep 15, 2024

Clearly you have the most important equpiment , a sense of humor!

maki2 · Sep 16, 2024

^^I owned a house on Bainbridge Island in the 1990s. It is a place that feels the most like home to me whenever I drive around on the island. It was an interesting house with a widow’s walk deck up on top and a small second story balcony with views straight across Puget Sound to the lighted red sign for the very popular Seattle Ray’s Boathouse Restaurant at Shilshole Waterfront. A decade later by a very strange coincidence my official home base residence in Seattle is one building away from that big red sign. So I was then able to look across the water from the llive/workshop’s outside 2nd story deck at Shilshole to where I used to live. But I would have needed a very high powered telescope to spot those small decks on that tall wood shingled house in the woods on the bluff of Bainbridge Island.

vanbrat · Sep 16, 2024

After 30+ yrs in the Sound, I still have not made it to Bainbridge, one of these days..... I'm on Whidbey and the only view I have is my woods and my neighbors. My kids both live 'over town' and wish we did too. But I like my moat between me and the crazy over there, so I don't plan to leave any time soon other than to do a bit or traveling. We helped build this place, so it is "home". I grumble some and wish I was out traveling more maybe next year.

maki2 · Sep 16, 2024

I have been on Whidbey Island lots of times. My second husband’s family own properties there. He also lives there now and you possibly will have seen his name in the local papers without of course knowing my connection to him or that family. One small
house that is basically a weekend sized cabin is right on the beach near the ferry, another three family houses and a barn are on the bluff above the beach. Then wooded acreage inland and the houses of various cousins. But both before and after that marriage I went camping there lots of times, especially during the years I worked at the Boeing Factory in Everett. I would get off work on a Friday, head down to the ferry and stay on the island for the weekend.

I have always had a van or truck with a cap or a station wagon to camp in since 1970. Even my current vehicle was chosen specifically because it was designed to be used for camping in with no carpets and fold flat seats, all wheel drive, and a rear 12v outlet. Dealer options included a full set of window blackout curtains, a tailgate tent, removable sun roof in the rear, etc.

maki2 · Sep 16, 2024

Wind gust of up to 50mph predicted today. I need to get busy this morning so I can make a quick run to mail out an Etsy order and then get back to camp to wait out the weather. Tomorrow should be a lot more pleasant day!

vanbrat · Sep 16, 2024

So, hang on to something and let it blow, get out a big bubble juice thing and watch them fly. I know sounds silly and I have spent too much time with little kids, but I still like to watch the things fly in strong wind. Other than the D$%&* trees around here that sometimes fall I like a good blowing day. Especially at the beach. I know they are also work inducing days too. I talk to kids who are maybe afraid "it's ok, the wind just helps the trees dance." Then we watch as the wind blows through the woods behind the playground. It's also a trip to ride the ferry's when the wind blows.

Morgana · Sep 16, 2024

vanbrat said:
So, hang on to something and let it blow, get out a big bubble juice thing and watch them fly.

Explain "bubble juice thing" please?
Do you have a recipe for bubble-blowing stuff that actually works? I spent a frustrating afternoon once trying all the advice on those $%^&* mommy blogs and nothing worked. All my bubbles either popped immediately or dropped straight to the floor.
Until then, I always thought it was just soap and water but nope. And I could never get the additive right.

maki2 · Sep 17, 2024

Morgana said:
Explain "bubble juice thing" please?
Do you have a recipe for bubble-blowing stuff that actually works? I spent a frustrating afternoon once trying all the advice on those $%^&* mommy blogs and nothing worked. All my bubbles either popped immediately or dropped straight to the floor.
Until then, I always thought it was just soap and water but nope. And I could never get the additive right.

You need to add some glycerin to get those bubbles to hold together. In the “old days”, pre Amazon era, drugstores were a good place to buy it.

maki2 · Sep 17, 2024

My campsite was a good place to sit out the windstorm. As I suspected the mixed forest of trees on the southwest side of where I parked made a good enogh wind break that my trailer stayed comfortably stable. Where the wind storms reall rock and roll my trailer is in the desert where there is no wind break unless there is some tall and thick vegetation in a wash. But in Quartzsite in winter the strong winds come in from pretty much most directions excep rarely from the East. The really cold winds are the Artic express from out of the north. There are typically a couple of those in Quartzsite winter weather patterns. Sometimes the worst are from the Southwest or almost straight West out of the Pacific Ocean from California. The “atmospheric rivers” from over last two winters were pretty rough!

vanbrat · Sep 18, 2024

Morgana said:
Explain "bubble juice thing" please?
Do you have a recipe for bubble-blowing stuff that actually works? I spent a frustrating afternoon once trying all the advice on those $%^&* mommy blogs and nothing worked. All my bubbles either popped immediately or dropped straight to the floor.
Until then, I always thought it was just soap and water but nope. And I could never get the additive right.

I usually just get some from $$ stores or Walmart but if you want REALLY big bubbles like the size of a car you need Glycerin and corn starch, and I don't have the recipe right now but there are lots of them on you tube. I had one that called for corn syrup and the type of dish soap you use makes a difference too. I have way to much silly information rattling around in my head! Seriously how silly is it that I know this much about BUBBLE JUICE.

maki2 · Sep 18, 2024

The only soap bubbles I will be involved this week would be from taking a shower.

But also there are some air bubbles needing to be pushed out of the fuel line in my diesel heater as I restart it at the beginning of this fall cold early mornings season. Which means I need to do that chore today, it was in the 30s this morning! The heater always requires a couple of startup cycles to get the fuel line filled back up at the start of the heating season. Being a snow bird chasing warm weather I have multiple starts of cold weather seasons in the year both in the spring and in the fall in high elevation and when cold weather arrives in Southern AZ in December.

vanbrat · Sep 18, 2024

Well time to get the fall chores in order. My fall chores are not as much fun as finding warm spots to be during cold weather times this year. But I do have to work on heater issues... I have to clean the pellet stove pipes. Not nice bubbles, but black soot. And I get to get the apple press out and working. And I get to look at all of you that are going somewhere warm and dream.... To many family responsibility stuff this year again. Though I do get to drink apple cider fresh from the press and from my own apples. I had hoped to take off for a few weeks after Halloween but silly me nope. Maybe in Spring.....
Got to get mom and Dad settled in a nursing home first.

Morgana · Sep 18, 2024

Two weeks from now I will be in the airport. I just finished up everything I can do on the to-do list until a couple days before, so now I have time for

.

It is 11 years since I went abroad, and 11 years before that, and another 11 years before that. In the back of my mind I think of myself as a world traveler LOL but I guess really I'm not, at least since I hit middle/old age. (Unless you count Mexican border towns where you can run home in five minutes if you want to.)

Come to think of it, this is the first time I ever went completely on my own -- no school or job or friends or tour guide to give it a little structure, just me playing solo tourist. Well, hopefully I will meet the friends of @frodo2222's friend on my next to last day. I'm going to the Dominican Republic and I get to see three different towns, the capital and a couple of smaller towns with a lot of nature tourism. Will take buses between locations so hopefully will see a lot of the countryside and some "real life." The bus system sounds very er colorful. They do seem to have lots of public transportation which is great. The Airbnb hosts have been shockingly helpful and friendly. The towns where I'm going look amazing.

I hope I see manatees!

Thank you for "listening"!

vanbrat · Sep 19, 2024

Well hope you have a great time Morgana. Enjoy the fun buses and meet lots of interesting folks, come back with some good stories and ......

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