24/7 Chat About Anything

[GypsyJan]

"hot oatmeal for breakfast or dinner."

A real road trip treat for me is to add a scoop of trail mix to the water before heating it....gourmet oatmeal!

 

[nature lover]

I am so happy to hear you’re getting some rain out west.

I was at market today The season Is most over four sweet corn watermelon tomatoes grapes cantaloupes and a few other home grown things. And some of the fall produce is in like broccoli cauliflower good apples sweet Cider New potatoes Lima and soy beans, and one of my favorite turnips The summer crops are all things I’m gonna miss in another couple of weeks. I don’t do those ugly pink plastic tomatoes they have in the winter. Our cold weather is leaving - tonight Low to be 52 so the van doors will be open. I did buy a little ceramic heater in case it drops into the 30s again before I get out of here. Going to have to be here till at least October 6 with a doctors appointment. I also treated myself with an ice cream cone at market today. I only got the child size. My friend Jonathan Has a dairy farm and makes this homemade soft ice cream that’s out of this world. Real whole milk and real vanilla from Jamaica.Next week will be his last week at the market till spring. So I had to just support him not for my own selfish reasons. LOL. I’ve got some more work to do in the van but my money supply is down to coins so it’s gonna have to wait till uncle Sam pays me on the third. That’s a good excuse to be lazy for the next week. I think I’ll do some more birdwatching.

Travel around –sounds like tomorrow’s gonna be a big day for you. I’ll be keeping you in my prayers it could be emotional up or down maybe both. I hope it’s all up. Are you getting rain there too?

Our high was nearly 80 today low to be 52 this is some of the best weather God has for us. God bless the nomads all of us.

 

[travelaround]

Nature Lover - no rain here yet. That was really very nice of you to support your friend by buying his incredible ice cream. I think I would have done the same thing.

I called every storage facility in Yreka and they're all FULL can you believe it? Plan B is to pack everything into my van and clean out the cargo trailer so my son can use it. I'm going to tell him to leave it there in Reno until I get there to retrieve it. Well, maybe. If he can park it in a safe place where it won't get stolen. I'd like not having it on my van for a while... sorry to admit it but driving with a trailer isn't a favorite thing for me, although I have been practicing on backing it up, just because, well ... it seems like time I became proactive in learning that.

One of my cats got brought into the cat shelter here in Yreka today. I'm going to go visit her tomorrow. Still don't know where the male cat is. Feeling rather down about that... he was my companion cat. Followed me everywhere. So sorry I didn't keep better track of them while I was trying to pack/evacuate but... there are no do-overs.

 

[Qxxx]

Once your son gets to Reno, maybe he can find a storage locker for your stuff. It's a much bigger town than where you're at, and could serve as a "central" base for your new travels, roughly 1/2 way between the southwest and the PNW. So you might look online for storage areas there, and find out the prices. A small 5'x5' unit might be large enough for what won't fit in the van. Then you could also haul the trailer on some of your trips and work on it in the desert.

 

[bullfrog]

Sounds like maybe it would be a good time to spread the wealth to family members. Maybe have your son make two trips and store your boxes there? One of the reasons I rent a spot in Caballo Loco is it came with a 10’x10’ storage shed that needed some work but at $880 a year for a site and storage it is hard to beat just for storage and there is a complete workshop residents can use. It is just two more days drive from Las Vegas more or less. And you would have a place to winter while they clean up your property.

 

[Qxxx]

Hey frog, does Caballo Loco have water?

 

[bullfrog]

The really good well water that most use for drinking normally is about 600 gallons per week so we usually fill gallon jugs with that, the main more mineral water we fill tanks with has never been a problem. There is a dump and fill station also that water is filtered for the laundry and showers I believe. I have a little trailer with 2-55 gallon barrels one is a black tank and one is potable water so it is no big deal for me to have a boondocking site. They were asking us last year to limit the use of the good upper well water by filling tanks at the lower main fill station. It is a community working together that makes it work, sort of unusual in this day and age but one of the reasons we like it. I believe they were selling water to the cattle ranch last year but stopped that to prevent shortages as well.

 

[maki2]

Sounds like maybe it would be a good time to spread the wealth to family members. Maybe have your son make two trips and store your boxes there? One of the reasons I rent a spot in Caballo Loco is it came with a 10’x10’ storage shed that needed some work but at $880 a year for a site and storage it is hard to beat just for storage and there is a complete workshop residents can use. It is just two more days drive from Las Vegas more or less. And you would have a place to winter while they clean up your property.

Sounds like my kind of place if it has a complete workshop. Where can I see more information about Caballo Loco?

 

[Qxxx]

Thanks for the info, frog. How many years have you been going there?

 

[maki2]

Today started out rainy but then turned mostly sunny and warm enough for short sleeves.

Made a new woman friend today at the campground. Plus reconnected with one I made the other week. Quirte likely I will see both of them in Arizona this winter. My cute as a bug travel trailer is proving to be a great asset as a conversation starter.

Tomorrow, Weds and the day after, Thurs have predictions for thunderstorms. I have decided to stay off the road until that passes on to the east. Besides I have an Amazon order due to arrive tomorrow. My new antenna to put up on a mast. But I think I will wait to put it up when iit is not raining.

Have a fix for stopping the drip drip noise off the corners of the popup roof. Same fis I used in my former workssop where the corner of the skylighyt leaked. Just put a towel on the spot, it muffles the noise. As long as the wind is not blowing a gale force winf
D it will be fine. I will make a tie for the two I need that secures to the support bar for my solar panel. Of course I only need it when in camp in rainy weather if the top is up. So not something I have to do often in Arizona.

 

[bullfrog]

This is the third year we have rented there but we usually stay around Tucson. I was stationed a few miles down the road in the missile silo in the late 1960’s. There are several good deals within a hundred miles for people with RVs. Escapees in Benson is less than $400 a month and a few parks do 6 months in and 6 months storage for less than $3,000 a year with full hookups. Apartments can be had in Tucson for around $450 to $650 a month and there is a bunch of BLM land as well as Parks within 120 miles so you can do it for free as far as boondocking but you still have fuel to get food and water at Tucson, Benson or Sierra Vista which all have Walmarts. We used to spend more time on the California side of Yuma out close to the mountains just before the sand dunes in really cold years but it got too crowded for us. Liking more remote places does increase your expenses at least for us as we make several trips into town to see family plus fuel, food and goods. Really and truthfully the southwest is getting more crowded every year and we may end up like Cammalu doing Long Term Stay Areas as they are cheap and easy.

 

[nature lover]

Where is everybody? Are you asleep? Somebody add a verse to the haiku so I can. It’s no fun following myself. I guess you West Coast or’s are just getting up. I feel like I’ve been up since yesterday morning. God bless the Nomads even those of us who don’t get any sleep

 

[Cammalu]

Bullfrog you can still be fairly remote in the KTVAs if you want. I’m on my puttputt all over the place out there and it’s pretty easy to stay as far as you want to from other folks.

On the other hand if you park somewhere with others - like YARC Camp - you can still be antisocial (just stay inside) or you can join others at the fire. The really, really good thing about YARC Camp is that you can leave your stuff out all the time - even for weeks if you take a trip - without worrying about your stuff getting stolen. We watch for each other and I can’t think of a time when someone wasn’t in camp.

I’m allergic to cigs and pot smoke so I stay in my camper pretty much when I’m in camp. I’m a pretty severe asthmatic and I can’t expect everyone to remember that and I don’t. But I still leave and am gone most of the time exploring the desert.

If you want the coordinates let me know.

 

[B and C]

I've been up since 6 here in the central zone (I slept late for the first time in quite awhile). Just nothing to contribute these days but I do enjoy reading.

 

[maki2]

Bullfrog you can still be fairly remote in the KTVAs if you want. I’m on my puttputt all over the place out there and it’s pretty easy to stay as far as you want to from other

I’m allergic to cigs and pot smoke so I stay in my camper pretty much when I’m in camp. I’m a pretty severe asthmatic and I can’t expect everyone to remember that and I don’t.  But I still leave and am gone most of the time exploring the desert.

If you want the coordinates let me know.

Hope to visit the YARC group for a while this winter. I don't smoke. Looking forward to a ride in your putt putt. I will get the coordinates when I get closer to Arizona.

 

[maki2]

It is raining today, a lot of showers but the forecast moved the wind and lightening to tomorrow and Friday.
I will have to be ready today to take advantage of the breaks between showers to do some short organizing sessions of stuff in my tow vehicle. 

Packing my business stuff away this morning as I have likely cut enough kits for a month or two. Then I can have room to pull stuff out of the cabinet so I can get some electrical wiring done. Naturally I forgot to get my raincoat dug out of the car yesterday.

My antenna parts will arrive today, that will give me an excuse to get in the car, go into the store where the Amazon pickup counter is and get away from working. For tommorow's escape I will go to the laundromat. It won't be crowded on a stormy day.

 

[bullfrog]

Bob did a video on Caballo Loco a while back. Jim is the owner/manager and there are a few videos on YouTube of the drive in. That is what keeps out the rif-raf according to Jim. It is an 8 mile dirt road that goes thru a large wash a couple of times as well as divides into two one lane one way roads in order to get around some large inclines. Normally it is graded but if wet gets rutted and if not washboarded. I usually prefer the sandy wash in the Samurai as I usually get to see more wildlife, as the National Wildlife Refuge runs from the park 33 miles south to the Mexican border and it is smoother. My daughter drives the road in a stock 2002 Camry with Cooper AT tires out there regularly after cutting a regular street tire on a sharp rock going too fast, she does have to straddle some ruts sometimes. Once you get to the paved highway 286 you are 20 miles south of a gas station/store/True Value well supplied hardware store and from there about 45 minutes to Tucson on highway 86 or two hours thru the reservation to Ajo the other way.

 

[Qxxx]

8 mile dirt road in. Caballo Loco sounds curiouser and curiouser. I also looked at it on google maps, and it definitely seems isolated. Nice for people who like the desert outback, albeit near to border crossings for illegals. I kind of decided I didn't like being so close to the Mexican border.

I stayed in Ajo 2 winters ago, and the ICE station there is certainly one of the largest in the country. Dozens of border patrol vehicles running up and down the "one" main road constantly. Squads of armed agents behind the barrier at the checkpoint (literally). Apparently the border with Mexico is pretty wide open, as the historical Tohono O'odham "Nation" straddles both sides there. Massive wall building effects cutting through Organ pipe NM.

 

[travelaround]

Caballo Loco sounds wonderful and I looked at the photos on Google maps.. love the landscape and remoteness of it.

Went to visit my cat, Morgan, who is now in the cat shelter here in Yreka. She looked contented enough but also happy to have me there petting her and talking to her. One of my neighbor's cats was also rescued... an ill-tempered male who ate our cat food daily... so aggressive I had to leave him his own plate of food so he wouldn't disturb my cats while they were eating. But, he's safe. She had another cat who looked exactly like him but not with the red collar. I'm still missing my other cat. He was such a nice cat - I hope he survived too. He used to wait for me every night on the steps to the shed, and then walk me to my van at midnight because I slept out there. I adopted the two outdoor cats when I bought the property they lived on last January.

Waiting for the livestream of the community town hall meeting to start at 1. After that, need to do laundry today.

 

[Qxxx]

Latest maps of the Salter/Devil/HC fire, shows good progress towards containment (24% now). Bulldozer and containment lines around much of the southern end near HC and Hwy 96, and also significantly on the northern end near Cave Junction.

https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/photos/CAKNF/2020-09-08-2340-Slater/picts/2020_09_21-07.38.08.951-CDT.jpeg
https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7173/