24/7 Chat About Anything

[maki2]

Woke up early today. There was dew on my car hood. First time in a very long time to see enough humidity in the early morning to create dew. It is going to be the last day in the 7 day forecast for high winds. The wind is already starting to make roaring noises combined with some growling thunder. Back tomorrow it is back to a string of the more normal days with 20mph gust at the peak heat of the afternoon, that is rather a nice weather pattern when you do not have air conditioning.

Just having coffee and breakfast the making of which warms my little travel trailer up nicely. As there are people camped in audible distance I won't start running my generator and little trim router until 8 am. Not a lot of routing to do today but there is plenty of other work on finishing up the lower cabinet doors. I am trying to avoid going into town for any play days as I want to get the cabinets finished as much as possible this week while I have a Home Depot nearby for supplies.

 

[maki2]

Travelaround and NctryBen... Monsoon season is typically in full swing from the 1st of July until mid September. That is when heavy rains typically happen. But the occasional thunderstorms that bring not much rain start by mid June. That is now and it is the most dangerous time for fires in the Arizona forest as there is lightening from those nearly dry storms that starts fires in the very dry vegetation combined with hot days and stong winds. Linda, you know what the anxiety of that situation is like. You lost so much to a fire. My only personal loss would hopefully only be gas money to move to a location where camping is available that is not too hot. I would not mind owning a small piece of land for a summer retreat. But nice land, in a pleasant climate zone, road access, near a town with a post office, and lenient rules about staying on it for 6 months without a house does not come cheaply.

 

[abnorm]

We crawled out of the forest today...............What a campground ! Hat Creek Campground.........Lassen Area

Blackie LOVED the Creek..........Harnessed and leashed she would RUN from the van to the water
She'd lean over the rocks to reach the water for a drink......that's gonna be hard to beat........

Looks like the next camp is No Signal again

Hey Ben....................Q U I T !

 

[travelaround]

I stayed at a Hat Creek campground once many years ago - I was with my children...? We had a tent. I love that area between Burney and Susanville. I last drove through there seven months ago on my way home from Reno.

Today is a beautiful day...

Maki - I would be cautious about camping in the forest when there are frequently fires... because you never know when and where one might start. But that's a really paranoid way of thinking, maybe because I do know now how quickly an unexpected fire can consume my world. People have been camping in forests during summer months from time immemorial. I should not be so paranoid.

That reminds me, there are campgrounds east of Medford in the forests that are so beautiful, I've been wanting to go back to that area. If I were to take a vacation, that might be where I'd go. Somewhere between Medford and Crater Lake.

 

[maki2]

travelaround, I do not do remote camping. I am always camped near a town or city. I am trying hard to get my cabinets finished to make moving to a new campsite very quick and easy.

 

[LeftTown]

I want to improve my outdoor skills and do some remote camping, but right now it's scary in my country.

There are three of us newbies huddled around our unlikely two-day old community and we all refer to the old man in the Winnebago with the solar panels who was here first as "G*d" because he is.

He's a very experienced nomad. We all admire him for different reasons. If he had a problem with any one of us, we would leave immediately.

We newbies all respect and admire our elder. We feel safe just because he is here.

It isn't forever, but it sure is wonderful while it lasts.

 

[maki2]

Rainy thunderstorm evening . The clouds moved not too long after lunch. It is not doing a torrential downpour but enough rain this next few days to hopefully keep fires from starting and slow down the fires in Arizona and New Mexico.

I did not feel much like working on projects today but eventually got 2 more lower cabinet doors, cut and assembled and a coat of varnish on those as well as applied to a few other cabinet pieces.

When the day starts I am always in the frame of mind thinking how much I will get done on projects. But my mind has decided I am 35 years younger in a proper, well organized, workshop and can still have the energy to work quickly and accurately. I believe it needs to catch up to reality but of course then I would never do any projects. I need to fool myself to keep my mind still active as well as my body. At least I can get up off the floor from a sitting position without assistance which is a very handy thing in life.

 

[NctryBen]

After a long day at work I have to employ Kira to help me out of my chair! I can’t get my mind to be realistic about my abilities either. I had some people say our cemetery was the fourth one they visited today and was by far the best kept. I told them to be quiet... if the town board hears that they might change their mind on letting me retire. Haha! Five more weeks I think... only thing about retiring is I hear you just get busier... but with less money. Haha!
Sovryn, sounds like you found heaven... you can learn a lot by hanging around the right people.

 

[maki2]

You can leave a job but you will always have work that needs to get done. Funny thing about chores including maintenance and "home improvement" , those things follow you right on into the nomadic lifestyle.

Time to head into Flagstaff to the Home Depot, Walmart and Joann's for supplies. Kaibab forest camping has none of those big box stores.

Good news, there was enough rain yesterday to give the ground a good soaking but not so much it caused flooding. The forecast for the week ahead shows the same thing. Looking at the forecast for the Olympic Peninsula they are finally going to have a week of sunny but not too hot weather. The weather patterns for rainfall flip for Northern Arizona and North Western Washington in July and August.

 

[LeftTown]

I haven't been in a city in so long that I'm SCARED of Walmart, but also kind of looking forward to it.

I'm boring, but I miss people. I think they call that "lonely"...?

 

[travelaround]

Hello - it is sunny in Northern California and will get close to 100 before the day is done but right now, not too hot. I bought a Black & Decker 16" oscillating stand fan and can be comfortable with only that until about 95 degrees - then I will turn on my air conditioner. I always thought the best place to be on a hot day is under a tree - or first in a swimming hole and then under a tree with wet clothes. However most of my trees burned in 2020 so all I have is a TT with no shade and it does get hotter in here than outside so I'm grateful for the electricity and air conditioning option.

A few years back when I started my van journey I bought two of the oPolar 9" rechargeable fans Bob mentioned in one of his videos. Both still work fine except that one of them will no longer recharge. They have 2 big rechargeable batteries in them so I charge them in the one fan that will do that then switch the batteries so both fans can be used. I notice Amazon no longer carries these fans. They have something similar but no brand. They can be bought from the oPolar website: https://www.opolar.com/collections/...-metal-frame-9-inch-battery-operated-fan-f531 ... I bought 2 pink fans...... in June 2019. Still in use three years later.

Meanwhile, not much happening here as usual. Just woke up and did my morning chores (garden, laundry, etc.) and now am thinking -- it is time to read a book.

 

[abnorm]

Travelaround...............we're in your area.............We just spent a couple nites at Patrick Creek............now we're in Crescent City for the Cool Ocean Breeze ......"camping" for a couple nites at the New Elk Valley Casino

Looking forward to a good fish dinner tonite served in a restaurant on the pier

JacqueG is traveling with us for a while

 

[Camper]

I sure am tired of baking in the sun here.

 

[LeftTown]

Hello - it is sunny in Northern California and will get close to 100 before the day

However most of my trees burned in 2020

I am so sorry for your loss; there are simply no words. Thank you for your service in caring for them, when it was your turn, and giving them the very best lives they could possibly have under the circumstances that were given to them.

Not everything can be replaced.

Meanwhile, not much happening here as usual.

......now we're in Crescent City for the Cool Ocean Breeze ....

Most likely my personal favourite place in the universe. Enjoy.

 

[maki2]

Slowly winding up my projects prior to hitching up tomorrow. I have to run my vinyl cutter in the morning for an hour or so. Then get it secured for travel.

All my lower cabinets are built except for screwing down the seat boards, a quick task with my drill driver I can do this evening. I am thinking of adding in an articulated swing arm mount for a laptop tray table. I have no room for a Lagun table or the DIY versions. There are some attractive versions of wooden ones on YouTube so I will likely design and fabricate my own version that blends in with the look of my custom cabinet materials. That will be good fun for the creative, designer side of my brain and also stimulate the engineering side. Easier to do such work at my previous sticks and bricks space where I had all kinds of tools for machining wood and metal. I will likely make a rough prototype from scrap materials I have on hand. Then if needed sign up for a month with the Flagstaff Maker space for better tool access and access to short pieces of hardwoods.

I am hoping to get most of my trailer projects finished before I return to Southern AZ for the winter months.

 

[maki2]

Friends who were heading south from the Flagstaff area reported back this morning on their unexpected adventure yesterday. They went into Flagstaff to get gas, dump, but some groceries etc. There was a flash flood alert warning on cell phone emergency notifications for Flagstaff and sure enough they had to deal with flooded intersections and an electrical outage in the city which meant no stoplights and closed stores. They ended up having to spend the night at Home Depot so they could get their errands finished today.

If you are going into Flagstaff do not go there during a thunderstorm with a flashflood alert. The streets do flood!!!!

 

[travelaround]

Wow, exciting life, Maki. That's so cool there's a maker space in Flagstaff for tools and building.

Not much happening here. We're in a heat wave. Because this town is in a valley the hot air accumulates, and then sometimes we get strong winds coming down from Oregon because there are no longer trees that stop the wind. We almost never got these winds before the fire. The tree trunks are still there, but the branches all burned off - between here and Oregon.

I'm doing good with my plan to stay home six days out of seven. One day is for errands.

I have a great desire to rearrange everything in my cargo trailer... but it is just too hot out there unless I start early in the morning. But it would take several hours.

 

[maki2]

The last few days the monsoon rains came and reduced the risk of wildfires.

The national forest in Northern AZ reopened at noon today. No fire restrictions, so now even campfires are now allowed. Of course the areas that were burned are off limits for camping as are the areas in high danger of flah flooding.

I guess that means the 4th of July weekend will be very busy as the 4th falls on a Monday.

I think I will see what is going on with Northern New Mexico via the internet. I sure would like to visit there. But with such high gas prices I do not know if I can do that this summer.

Not sure if the evening gathering of my friends will include a campfire tonight. I myself do not travel with firewood, not enough space for that.

 

[Ravella and X]

Aloha nomads and friends. I’ve not been reading for a while, because I’m sitting still in an RV park in southern Nevada (113 degrees today) and being a wage slave until further developments in my life story.

I work outside— y’all wouldn’t believe my tan I’m fit and strong and have more than caught up on seeing movies in theaters.

I tend to stay away from this forum so I don’t scratch the hitch-itch and make it itchier. Still luv y’all tho. Well, most of y’all.

Before I hit the road again, I intend to fulfill a long deferred dream— to walk the Camino de Santiago. I’m thinking that barring wrenches being thrown into the works, I’ll be going next May or so. Next week I will go to REI and get the perfect backpack for my birthday present to myself.

To all who move along, buen camino

 

[Random Painted Highway]

I have have the Camino de Santiago on my list too! Good for you!