Here We Go Again...

Kinda stuck in a hole for a bit. Been trying for three days to put up a post. But the vaunted technology of Verizon hasn't been up to the task.

They seem little concerned. My money is locked in for the forseeable future... and they know, poor as their service is... ever'body else's is worse. So they do nada.

The air card won't stay hooked up. They say it's just a "bad spot" where I'm at. Not the jetpack.

Hmmm... really? Then explain why this overpriced under performing phone can operate in the same exact location?

Yeah... they already have the money soooo... :-/

On occasion I guess I'll email in a post from the phone... unless/until Verizon chooses to back it's marketing hooey.

Till then I'll just keep on sucking down coffee and building the next book.

Brian

***Edit/update***

After multiple tries slogging through there oh so helpful automatic phone system... I finally managed to get to the right gal... who led by by phone to the place buried deep in the computer... where somebodies update... be it Verizon or Microdud... landed an update that flipped a switch best left un-switched... arrrrgggghhhhh. and things are once again working... 

... so I believe I'll just turn the dang thing off and go kick a pig... and hope the buggers in silicone valley will stop with the updates to improve things... that only dig the hole deeper!

Funny How Those Circles Continue to Link...

I've been "associating" with some people from a "Circle" taken many many years ago... 

I started a "Thing" a couple weeks back... A VA thing... I'm torn and I'm ambivalent about it... I know I risked for and earned what I get there... it's not a charity... but just the same... I have a difficulty with it.

On top of that... going in there to get anything, I'm taking dollars out of a cruelly underfunded system. Dollars desperately needed by these young guys, and gals who've been coming home the past ten years... many of whom are in far worse shape than my wore out old kiester... I feel a sense of guilt... almost like I'm taking treatment away from them... so it's not easy.

But... the VA is my only Protection against the fines and punishments of not obeying king obama and his socialism... so I go... ambivalent and torn or not.

...and they treat me very well. Hell, they always have. I've said it before... the issues there are not found in the professional medical people at the VA who take care of us... sure there are the rare fools you find in any large institution or organization, that's just human reality... but the problem there is and always has been, the deceitful sob's the American people keep putting over us in D.C.

You want to "fix" the VA... you are first going to have to "Fix" yourselves and your own perceptions... so you can clean up that sewer you call government... don't do that... and the VA will never be repaired.

So anyway... I went in... with ONLY the idea in mind of getting my "Name" back on the active list so I'm protected from the friggin' IRS...

...and the people in this Institution, that has been getting ripped and torn and accused of all sorts of Malfeasance... have insisted (contrary to how they are portrayed)... almost demanded that I get certain checks and things looked at... Like I said... The Medico's at the VA are the best. The assault against them is a game of misdirection and lies... told to protect the lying sob's that keep lying their way into congress and the white house... enough said...

~~~~

It looks like our return to the Beet Harvest in North Dakota is a solid go... a lot of work has to happen to get there though... I discovered a lack of brakes on the Fiver on the run up to Red Feather, as in NONE... so New brakes all around on the trailer... and I'm thinking the bearings have got to be worn... so IDK... maybe have to knock over a liquor store ;)

The "wasp tent" is still active on the roof... I decided to just leave it up until I have to move the rig... or darn near. I've been checking things daily and not seeing any activity at all... but I'm playing it safe.

I did manage to get up on the roof and apply some seam/joint sealant in some spots that needed it. That had to be done before I can re-coat ... so it has time to cure first... Hoping to do a recoat in another week or two...

Still waiting on another shipment of a small tool so I can get my scooter reassembled... Hoping hard for that to arrive late in the week...

While I'm doing that waiting... I decided to try to fabricate a carrier for my phone...

More time on the new stitching horse... So far that has been pretty much a total success. Thing works better than any other I've built.

Took me two tries to get it sized right.

The first time I was off just enough I couldn't even stretch it to fit... yup... leather craft is a perishable skill... leave it lay too long and it takes a bit to get it warmed up again.

This time, with a slightly enlarged pattern... I juuuuust squeezed by.

Not sure I'm gonna be happy or "comfortable" with it though... with this humongous new phone I blundered into... It's kinda like having a small laptop strapped to my belly!

I was given the comment that I look like an "Insurance salesman or a Realtor ready to draw my phone and pull the Trigger! Bang! Bang!"

... um.... that stung!... and, No... So... we'll see how it goes. It is better than carrying the thing in my hand or having to take it out of my pocket every time I sit down so I don't crack it like the last one... but...

... it's like Facebook... I think it may be time to back away a good long distance from quite so much gadgetry... and just go back to Motorcycles, Horses and Far Country... Far More...

Off now to another VA visit... :-?

Brian

Technology, The Great Convenience In Life...

... That's sorta just like strappin' your Kak onto a rabid buffalo and hollerin' LET 'ER BUCK!...

This Ol' buster is nigh on to done with allowin' tech-NO-logy to have its hooks buried so deep in his hide. I'm bone weary of the never ending acceleration of the addiction to widgets and gadgets that's infected me as pathetically as ever'body.

There was a time that the onliest thing that this boy needed was a saddle, a bareback riggin' a truck, beer and a rodeo... and a couple of horses...

Now... I got cell phones that won't stay not broke, computers that demand internet to make my living... air cards that bleed my thin wallet into givin' me eating disorders and a churning distaste for a lot of what this world thinks it can impose on a man...

... much of it inflicted just because some infected parasitic politician thinks he's got more right to decide what my liver imbibes than I do.

Any of you Poh-lite townie types have Any sort of an idea what the consequence would be for some blustering bozo, should he go stompin' into a bunk house and declare in a loud and demanding voice; ALL YOU BOYS LISTEN UP! YOU WILL DO THIS... and YOU WILL DO THAT... and YOU WILL PAY US FOR THE PRIVILEGE!  Hmmmm?

I do... do the words ear notching, hide burning, and rocky mountain Oysters mean anything to ya?

Well that's just 'bout where my mad has sizzled up to... I don't mind payin' good money for good tools... but constantly havin' to kick in more to get less has wore out it's welcome, for sure and for certain.

I take my gol' darn'ed confabulation of intenet enabled eelek-Trawnic wizardry into town to utilize the wifi... so I can dance around the Bull Feces being pedaled by the miscellaneous and sundry wireless (and integrity-LESS) companies and what should I encounter?

Uh Huh... You guessed it... That damned drunken Murphy has hired on as the Range Obstructor for the gaggle of outfits that have banded together to make up today's modern "Land and Cattle Barons".

It's kinda like the Johnson county war all over again... 'cept this time they're pushin' an' shovin' EVER'body into the herd that they plan on milkin'... not just the cowboys and folks out on the fringes... willing or not.

Because of this and that and weird eelek-tawnick wizardry that only a Mensa Hacker could untangle... I get locked out of danged near Ever'thing. Bank, Facebook, Blog dashboard, My Amazon dashboard... It's like in that movie a few years ago and somebody pushed a button and I just QUIT EXISTING!!!

ARRRRRGGGGHHHHHH!

There I sit with somebody's kid squallin' like you hammered his foot, a fish sandwhich McDonalds starved to death bought so I can tell myself I'm a good guy and didn't "Steal" the wifi...

While the laptop locks up with ALERT! WE DON'T KNOW YOU...YOU ARE LOCKED OUT! messages from every outfit I try to log onto...

.... and when they pop up their IDENTIFY YOURSELF windows... Nada... Zip... Nuthin'... their screen sits there doin' nuthin'...

So... what's a feller to do? Wellllll... Iff'n You got a horse with a broke leg you pull out a winchester and...

Yeah... the sheriff down here thinks just 'zactly the same as ya'll do... so... now Winchesterless...

...I end up havin' to hold my right ear 'tween my left finger and thumb while hoppin' in a circle on top of a table, grunting jingle bells while waving  my right leg in the air and farting the pledge of allegiance... to get things un-cornfuzzle-ated.

... and THIS is convenience? 

You think ever'body got their shorts tangled at that American Traditional song sung in foreign tongue at the super bowl? Oh... damn... you should of heard the noise at Mickey D's!

.... sooooo... now the coffee's all gone... the fish is choked down... the internet dance is done... most of the locked out sites are unlocked... until NEXT time... and my mad is cooled out...

But... there's an old old saying...

If they fool you once it is Their fault...
If they fool you twice... it is YOUR fault...

And you know what? these lard butted turkeys have skunked me too many times... I'm kinda done takin' it quiet...

The words of an Old movie come back to me...

"I'm goin' back to who and what I was... something simple... Hard, but simple.'

Wellllll... My spleen is all sparklin' clean having been fully and totally vented... Don't I feel better!

Time is a Comin' to Poke the Badger
Brian

Are Microsoft and Verizon in Cahoots?

I swear they must be.

Micro junk keeps trying to auto upgrade my OS to win 8.1, which I understand is a huge improvement... Since it (I've heard) rolls back a lot of their improvements. ;)

The problem for me is lower horizon Verizon...

On 5gb plans... Micro dud trying to download a 3+ gb program over and over has not only used up my plan, but, because Verizon crashes it, it  is eating me alive... Overage after Overage...

Since Verizon armed robbery incorporated scammed me out of my Grandfathered unlimited...
... I'm sitting twixt the sword and the fall off a cliff.

The air card is turned off, and shall remain so. Posts will be by cellular email and occasional McDonald's WiFi until an affordable and trustworthy alternative is found.

I'm investigating T-mobile, airfire, and a few other ideas.

This child is DONE being milked. I've bit my nose to spite my face before and I'm much willing to do'er again! Grrrrr.

Chewing on sticks and gravel
Brian

Pushing the Limits, Dodging Bulls, an Making Ends Meet as the Sun Sets...

Gonna have to move on along somewhere pretty soon... The "14 day stay" passed my time here... some time ago.

Some folks can sit in a spot without a care until the man moves 'em along. Truth be known, that ain't me. I don't like being in a place expecting to get hassled.... so though I stretch things a lot of the time, the longer I stretch it the more discomfortable I become.

I'd rather just pick up and get gone before I'm forced into having some sort of social intercourse with the kings men... where the hell is Robin Hood when you need him?

Had a neighbor drop by yesterday. He didn't seem too awful sociable either.

When I stepped out of the rig to say hello he stepped my way a lil' too quick and, well... he just didn't strike me, the way his head was flippin'...

... as bein' a gentle lil' puppy dog.

Fact is, I don't believe, poor as he is...

... that he's feelin' all that good.

I'm hopin' that whoever is runnin' this ol' boy isn't plannin' on too many calves this next season. Not out of this guy anyway.

In his shape... he ain't gonna be gettin' much work done! ;)

So, anyhoo...

If google does its thing this month the way it's been doin' it for the past several months... I'm hopin' to be "Back in business" for a few days anyway, sometime tomorrow.

My story whittling work is coming along slowly... though I need it to be coming along like wildfire! :) I'm kinda banking on my effort being invested in my ebooks as being the way around the recent shortages... and the reliable way into the future.

Another of those times when the best way is to put your trust and reliance on yourself... and not the promises of others.

Google has become as unreliable as Microsoft. The days of small publishers producing a decent income by way of google advertising are pretty much gone. Too much work is required for a declining return.

Between google itself constantly shakin' things up so badly and creating a huge amount of work for its publishers who struggle to just keep up... and the heavy negative impact on advertising revenue that smartphones and tablets have had for the small publisher... Those glory days are slippin' away.

So... with google goin' the way of microsoft, with one blunder after another... and Smashwords and Amazon stepping up to offer me a better way... it'll be the electronic Story telling that will be the focus of my attentions for the foreseeable future.

If I can just STOP all that rattlin' and bangin' 'tween my ears that keeps distracting me from my story spinning labors!  ;)

Yup... it's time to move... the sunsets are starting to get too damn routine around here... and I need something fresh to photograph...

Not sure where I'm gonna move to. I'd been thinking of NOT going out to Bouse and that country... since I've gotta pick Heidi up at the Phx airport to transport to Tucson for the winter business trip at the gem and mineral show... for the store...

... but... life is easy out there. It's not so very far... and it is more than ten days 'tween the now and the plane landing... so I guess we'll see.

Continuing to Keep on Keepin' on
Brian

Just Sloggin' Along...

Bleh... sometimes the trail is rough and rocky...

When we left Montana it seemed like we'd worked to be set up pretty fine for the winter. With another week of work done at Phoenix International Raceway... Things were lookin' a lot less "up against it".

Well... that's what a guy gets for thinkin'...

This and that just came along quick and nasty and put us behind where we were when we pulled into Sydney for our month of hard labor. Drained that pot as fast as we'd filled it.

Sure, without that month we'd a been sitting with our feet nailed to the ground holding a bucket full of hamburger with a big ugly Grizz licking it's chops three feet away... and some damned tree lovin' monkey hollering that we'd best not hurt him!

Just 'cuz that's a true enough thing... doesn't make getting sucker punched any more comfortable.

So...

Here in the desert by myself for the past couple of weeks I've been trying to catch up on work that I, to be honest, have been finding excuses to not get done for too long.

The past few days, with good signal and the reality that frugality isn't the only thing you need... I've been hard at work rebuilding more of my main site. Knocked out 20 pages or so in that time. It's just amazing how much work and how long that rebuild is taking though.

With something well over 300 pages... and every one having to be rebuilt because of SBI's program upgrade, as well as google's never ending dance with it's system... it's a hellacious piece of work to get whittled out.

... and that doesn't even count the necessary rebuild for the same reasons on the Bike site... that I have to get after as well.

You'd think google's business plan is to make it as difficult as possible... for the webmasters that in the end, produce just about every nickle that it makes. Makes me grumpy.

Buuuuut... what with Obama's fine hangin' over my head, declining income from google (largely 'cause of my jacked up pages I'm hoping) It got to jabbin' me hard enough to get off the dime and dive into the work required.

I'll be caching the fiver in Wickenburg in a couple days and bobtailing the worn out ol' truck to Colorado for the coming Holiday... assuming that the lil bit in my pocket doesn't get me only part way to the front range. ;) It's likely to be a slow trip trying to squeeze all the mileage out of a gallon of diesel that's possible.

Along with the holiday we'll be trying to work out some ideas for the future... simple truth is... changes have to be made...

I just can't keep up with the work I need to do for subsistence as well as the wear and tear on the rig... the way things are... with income down a LOT, and everything in the world seeming to be climbing a pretty steep slope... the next year is gonna see some remodeling of "ways". Requirement of reality.

The trick is in finding the balance between the necessities of subsistence and the absolute requirements of the Spirit.

Simply it is what it is.

So... it's back to the keyboard for me
Brian

The Arrogance of Language Illuminated and Dismantled by Stephen Fry...

... He could be a genius.

I stumbled across this with a great laugh. It is one of my many myriads of Hot buttons. :) He just says it with a far more educated eloquence.

I have on occasion been... uhhhh... criticized for my not so infrequent modification of the English language.

It has ALWAYS been my opinion that the ONLY use and purpose for language was to allow one person to communicate with another... as clearly and as accurately as possible. And by 'accurately' I Mean... holding as close to the colors and intentions and beliefs of the speaker/writer as possible; NOT the reader or listener.

While a writer is wasting his time if he puts the words down in a way that makes them indecipherable; the opposite is also true. If he speaks in the voice of the reader, his OWN voice is lost in the mire of political correctness. He must strike that balance to put his meaning across.

However, it is ALSO incumbent on the receiver to place themselves in the proper "Place" to "catch the ball" that the writer has thrown.

If, they repetitively miss the catch, the problem is largely theirs to correct. They need to take the steps to expand their base of knowledge and thereby expand their ability to communicate. The push to grow and expand language cannot only be vested in the hands of writers and speakers. The audience must also invest some effort into the mix. They must stretch their understanding to keep pace.

And just think, What better way is there to expand that base upon which you build your communication... than to Travel? Talking to different people along the way, who hail from widely separated places and cultures... and opposing philosophies?

As you make those journeys keep in mind; Since Words and Language are simply sounds employed to convey the thoughts of the speaker - or writer- and if those sounds or words are assembled in a manner and context that transmits the meaning of those thoughts with clarity and understanding... (assuming the receiver has done their part) than Language has been used correctly.

... and if the receiver has NOT done their part?... then the misuse of language has not been fully the responsibility of the speaker or writer.

Grammar, spelling and societal snob approval of speech and words be damned.

I read in the comments of the following audio essay; "If I be talkin' and you be understandin', then we be communicatin'." -Booker T. Washington ... 'nuff said?

Between Booker T and Stephen Fry... I feel pretty much set free to continue stretching and... uh ... improving the language.

The audio essay I found;



So... with that in mind... I'm back to re-reading the 60,000 words of my newest deliberate abuse of the English language as we know it ;) to prepare for carving out the remaining 1/3 or so yet to be written.

It's a tough job.. Sitting in the shade of the tall trees of Oregon's Jessie Honeyman State park reading my partial manuscript that I emailed to my Kindle. :)

Reading, Studying... and Sharpening my Word Whittler
Brian

Uh Oh... He's At It Again!

Yup... things are changing all over again! :)

I'd become dissatisfied with how all my online work "Looked". It just hit me that it was cluttered and... sloppy... and a bit confusing maybe. (just goes to show, even old dodgers like me can still learn!).

I am well aware of my scattered focus ;) since I'm constantly burning my fingers on the multiplying irons I've been loading into the fire!

Soooooo... the consequence is, while I'm in the process of that full site rebuild I've been slowly working on, to fit into the "new" system my internet provider has created... I've also set about cleaning up the mess I've gathered...

I'm sure you can see the New Look on this blog... it's part of a complete housecleaning and renovation of all my online work.

You can get the details on My NEW Home page BK Gore (it's also on that new navigation widget in the upper left hand corner of this blog)

It'll take me a lil' bit... like a few days or more ;) to get everything moved around and rearranged... but I think it'll be a lot easier to understand and navigate through for all my readers.

One last Heads Up... While your bookmark for this blog should still work... the url won't change, I've decided that the Title/Name doesn't separate it from the Main RV Boondocking website... so...

... As soon as I conjure up its own name and create a new header for it... You'll be seeing that change here...

Ouch! ... Damn! Burnt my fingers... Again! ;)

Many Thanks for all your patience
Brian

*Ed Note (5/17/2013) I executed the majority of a complete site rebuild of my main RV Boondocking site this morning. You can check it out by clicking through either of the new navigation links in the upper left corner of this blog; or You can go through these links to my new "central" home page at BK Gore Home  and on to the GRVB site with the link there, or straight to the site via this link; Goin' RV Boondocking . Let me know what you think of the NEW site look!

The Second Death Valley Video Installment With #3 Soon to Come

Finally stumbled by accident onto a spot, with 4G/Four bar signal... half way between town where the signal is weak and slow and camp four miles or so away where the signal is gone... and it actually seems to be working! HooYa!

Makes me feel kinda foolish for sittin' outside the itty bitty laundromat waiting for the second Death Valley Video to load... since it only took 134 minutes! ;) Ahhhh... the lengths I go to to keep my readers happy! Kinda reminds me of Rodeoin'... bustin' bones and banks all for the glory of applause! :)

So... This second installment of our Death Valley Journey is a few shots of another Bike run down into the park and then Titus Canyon, which we explored on the way back from a fuel run back out to Beatty, Nevada.

That makes more sense than it might sound. Diesel inside the park was/is $5.44 at Furnace Creek and $5.98 over to Panamint Springs. Roll back out 35 miles or so to Beatty and it's $3.99.

Now, the part that makes it have a lil' bit of sense is that the start of the one way road down into Titus Canyon turns off just six miles or so out of Beatty... So it didn't take a whole lot of rationalizin' to make that work...

We're boondocked in the Alabama Hills now just a rock chuck out of Lone Pine. Pretty country with camps all around. As soon as I get caught up from Death Valley I'll start shippin' some pics of this country.

The weather above us in the high peaks, 14,000 feet and a bit is looking pretty stormy this evening. Though down in camp it's still 70 or around there so I'll not complain.

So here's the latest of the Death Valley sojourn. The third Video is built... just gotta get it uploaded... I'll try and do that in the morning... Charge up the laptop and the air card... fill the thermos... and come down here and take a nap while the meter goes tic... tic... tic... tic... :)



One fella already asked me if that 96 degrees in the video was real... Uh Huh... I think it supposedly broke 100 in a couple of spots that day... Juuuuust a mite warm for March! ;) but then broke right back down into the seventies the last couple of days there... so... Nice!

One benefit of being in such a poor cell reception area is that it removes any excuses to do other work and not tap away on the book. As a Consequence the #2 Ben Jensen Story is making some significant progress in working his way through the latest difficulty.

With modest luck and a miraculous application of discipline I might could have the first draft completed in another month! Ha! That's only something better than six months or so behind schedule. I'm improving! ;)

Camped Where the Movie Stars Played
Brian

The Start of Our Death Valley Journey

I've been trying hard to get on line to start getting caught up on our travels of the past ten days or so... and find myself Running Against the Wind...

We finally moved out of the valley... Thinking we'd have signal to work with... and I do... NOT.

As fabulous as our new RV Boondocking camp is, I don't have a workable internet signal in that new camp either! but... there's a Mickey D's with free WiFi just down the road a short way, so I figured to be catching up with our journey over the next couple of days there... and I need to do that 'cause our new boondock camp is pretty danged awesome!

The only trouble with THAT scenario is the less than poor performance of their WiFi... so... I hooked up my air card down there, where there IS signal... at least it shows there to be... 4G and plenty of bars... that do... Nothing... grrrrrrr.... so... I sit here suckin' up their coffee waiting on the declining Verizon performance to get the job done...

It looks like a summer of internet struggles as I hunt for a workable alternative to Verizon Wireless...

and now on to the beginning of catching up! ...

When we pulled out of Cottonwood We used the Walmart in Kingman for our first night on the road. Let's just say that it's right up there with the Wally World resort over in Winslow for ambience ;) Remember that line in Crocodile Dundee? "You can eat it... but it tastes like shit!" Well, that same sentiment works in regards to some Wallydocking too! ;) But, what can I say? Kingman, Arizona isn't exactly known as a tourist mecca. ;)

We hauled west after some goooood Mickey D's coffee the next morning and headed for Beatty Nevada up Hwy 95. That's the spot I'd picked to access Death Valley National Park.

If you come this way... top off your tanks OUTSIDE THE PARK... Beatty, Pahrump where ever you can find it. Diesel in Beatty was $3.99. But less than 50 miles away... $5.98 at Panamint and $5.44 at Furnace Creek. Uh Huh... they figure they've got a captive audience so they're gonna squeeze ya for all your worth, so top off early and fill your larder too... there's no groceries to speak of in there, and what there is... well... you won't be able to gain weight at those prices...

$14.50 for a hamburger at Furnace Creek... damn thing must be good huh? ;)

anyhoo... Hwy 374 runs south and a touch west from there and drops over 4316' Daylight pass into Death Valley. Now that don't sound like much in the way of a high pass does it? But remember... you're droppin' into a hole.

Whoooooeeee! That's a brake BBQ'n ride! I'd guess you got 15 miles or so of steady, endless brake testing grade to descend into the lowest place in the country.

I vow... as quick as you get off your five second brake application to pull the RPM and road speed down... that 19 or 20 thousand pounds under and behind you shoves the needle on the tach right back to 2600 rpm. Considerin' that 2700 is just about the come apart speed for a Cummins in compression braking... it makes for a genuine butt wiggler of a decent! ;)

I could pick up the sweet smell of roasted asbestos on the desert breeze when we bottomed out.

We were aiming for the Campground at Stovepipe wells. I thought it might make the best place to ride out from for at least the first few days... and it worked well.

It's only drawback is the same as the rest of the place. For those of us that have to make a living ;) there is pretty much zero internet access in the valley. You'll have to go off line cold turkey! They have put in a tower at Furnace Creek that provides cell service... but for whatever reason I was still unable to hook up the air card when we moved there the fourth day.

We put the Raider on the ground that first afternoon and rode down past Furnace Creek through the 96+ degrees hoping to catch some good views of Artists Palette in the evening sun... Check out the video I put together of that ride and see if you think I did.

In the morning, expecting another sizzler that we sure aren't acclimated for yet... we struck out into the Mesquite Dunes that sit a mile or so east of the Stovepipe Wells Campground...

Something to remember about Death Valley; Mid day sun is difficult to photograph under anywhere... In this valley... it's dang near impossible... You'll do best to plan your day to start early in the a.m... hide out in the shade somewhere through the middle part of the day... and then go back out to do your viewing of sights and such, in the late afternoon and early evening...

You'll get better pictures and might could be avoid heat stroke too! ;) It did cool back into the low 80's and 70's later in the week so broiled brains was less of a danger.

So... since I took so many pictures... I thought maybe building them into a nice slide show would be the best way to present 'em...

Let me know what you think...

I'll be getting the rest of our sojourn in the Valley of Death caught up as soon as I can assemble all the pics... and find the place to get 'em uploaded to you!

Camped Now Under the Snowy Shoulders of Mt Whitney

Brian

GPS... The Good Idea That Has Not Yet Arrived...

Are you thinking of buying a smartphone, and thinking you'll get that navigation system in the bargain?

Yeah? You are? Well... think again... You'll get a system... but largely it's a system that enriches apple and Verizon... costs you... and is the sort of material best applied to the dirt in a garden...

Any conversation about the damned things is filled with the unending stories about people being led by their electronics getting into places they never should have gone... past Caution Signs warning them not to proceed... but proceed they did, and all parroting the refrain; "But MY GPS SAYS...!!!"

Apple, Verizon and most all the others, Garmin included! are going to try to sell you on the superior technology of THEIR GPS navigation systems...

There is a truth hidden in there... ALL OF THEM... will only, if you place reliance on them, mislead you to a different place. Be that a mile... or 75 from where you were trying to get.

The Simple and Plain truth is...  GPS Navigation systems will only work Long enough to lull you into complacency and let your guard down... so that it can lead you and your 63', 29,000 lb, 8 1/2 foot wide rig onto a sidewalk with no turnaround, four miles past the sign that says No Travel past the point you passed 12 miles ago!

Keep your paper maps and learn how to read them... GPS is a convenient accessory to old fashioned Map Navigation... but it is an accessory ONLY. Reliance on it will cost you. Rely heavily enough on it... and it will cost you dearly.

I am one that knows the weakness and poor reliability of the things... yet I still on occassion, attempt to utilize the things. I foolishly keep trying to give 'em a second chance. I might even get successful directions three or four times in a row...

Just a fool that keeps digging after he finds himself in a hole!

Trying to get from Ak Chin to Phoenix International Raceway yesterday...across unfamiliar roads... I failed to double and triple check the "Technology"... and it likely cost me 75 miles or so of fuel... arrrrrgghhh!

(and if they are intended to simplify navigation... why is it necessary to double check, triple check, and then check again... all ending with having to out of necessity... go back to the reliability of paper map navigation???)

I had even CHECKED the navigation details the night before to see if they took me in the direction I wanted and needed to go. I pulled up the text details and yup... that's where I want to go. Great.

Well, just after lunch we climbed in the rig, I pulled those directions back up, stuck the phone to the dash and off we go... "Turn left and follow blah blah blah for 16 miles..."

EXCEPT! ... this time... punching the same link I'd checked the night before... the damned thing gave me different directions... BUT... I missed that! By the time I caught on, we'd gone too far on the new "Circuitous" route to turn back... The shortest way was to complete the BAD DIRECTIONS... arrrrrrggggghhhhh.

Hell, sitting at a red light along the way... Not Moving... the damned thing swapped three times... Go straight... Turn here! ... NO! Go straight... ???!!! 

Those GPS navigation systems might be useful for finding a restaurant in town... a hardware store in a strange town... or some other place relatively close by. Then, when it leads you wrong you've not gone very far... but to rely on it for critical, cross country navigation into unfamiliar country, far from services and communication is an action that WILL lead you to a bad day.

GPS Navigation systems, smartphone based or dedicated are NOT to be trusted as your primary Navigation system. They can ONLY be relied on as supplemental to proper maps. Sorry, but it's the hard lesson of experience and reality.

Hopefully you'll catch on before you've passed the ability of your fuel tank to get you back... hopefully, the "Bad" Place it's led you to is not TOO BAD to get out of...

I keep, every few months, trying to give it another chance ... or I used to.

I am now fully educated. It is an unreliable, untrustworthy and expensive toy that can be used as a contributing accessory... when it can be Double Checked for integrity... Otherwise... PAPER MAPS and map reading skills will be used for cross country Navigation in my Rig.

If you want a smartphone get one. Don't get it thinking you're getting a life saving, simplifying navigation system. That navigation system, whether Verizon, Apple, Garmin, Magellan, Tom Tom and all the other whizbang builders want to admit it or not STILL resides right between your ears.

Learn to Read a Map and you'll get where you're going.

Placing Value on Many of the Old Ways...
Brian

Bullied By Blowing Wind and "Bloggers"

It started raining in the night. Precious manna from heaven in this desert country. Though I'm sure folks are a little weary of the storms back east, here in the southwest it's pretty tough to honestly complain about rainfall.

*Go West! The sun still shines!*

Even when you're wedged in belly to butt and now... frozen toasties!

*Stormin' over the Santa Rita's*

I don't even complain... much... when the raindrops get converted by way of Global Warming into that freeze dried sunshine blowing over from California...

Yeah... I don't believe I'm in any danger of having to shovel the nasty stuff any time soon...

...but...

it's still cold and wet for a freshly minted snow bird!

I believe I'll just do as we did when we got clobbered by that storm a couple years back...

... and woke up on memorial day with 8" of the stuff on the roof...

... Just sit back and keep the coffee pot humming.

Yup... sit and contemplate the curiosities.

Like, how often I'm successful at gettin' somebody... to ridicule my intellect, perception or built in lack of confidence in self-aggrandized oh-thor-uh-tee.

Science... supposed to be a study of facts and data and such as can be proven... Right?

So... how many times have YOU heard 'em have to back water on something... "New data has shown our previous determinations to have been in ERROR!"

Damnation... hardly a week goes by that they don't publish the FACT that they misdirected, misinterpreted, misunderstood, made long term conclusions on insufficient short term transient data... while being completely unable to weave in the intricate affects of solar wind and beer farts in Malaysia.

... and GASP! even caught some of their shining wise men falsifying reports and data when the Inconvenient Truth :o) contradicted the Approved Determination of their agenda. ... and on and on and on the sheeple herders roll.

I've said it before. I don't know... and neither do they! The human brain just doesn't have sufficient capacity to overpower its personal agendas and truly understand the complexity of the world we live in as a whole. We can learn and understand the small bits... like if you build a dam across a river... the salmon can't get to their spawning grounds any more...

... And when you introduce a non-native, 180 pound Arctic wolf that hunts in packs of a Dozen and more... into Montana, in the interest of restoring "Natural?", rather than the closest cousin to what HAD Been There, the 75 or 80 pound Mexican Grey, that hunts in singles and pairs... You Devastate the ecology of Montana, Idaho and areas spreading West, South and East.

But they simply hate it when the damned Polar Bears refuse to go extinct because of Global Warming and they have to suppress and demonize the information, produced by other scientists, that Polar Bear population seems to be healthy and growing.

But... Here's the REAL rub... Science in 2013 is much like the Pope in 1500... any dispute of his supremacy was heresy... punishable by death. Look around the world today... that same decrepit Philosophy seems to be experiencing a pretty strong resurgence don't it?

Obey Blindly without question... or By God We'll burn you down.

Look at the way Global Warming and it's myriad environmental tentacles is being used to control land ownership and use, jobs and industrial development... modify culture and belief... every aspect and detail of life. The social engineers are in high gear.

Now... Dare to Question the authority of "science"; its methodology or disagree with the conclusions it draws from ambiguous, transient and repeatedly proven falsified-to-fit-its-agenda data... and those that support its decrees will not come back with logical and reasoned defenses of that methodology and interpretations...

... Nah... they will always come at the questioner and the unconvinced with malicious virulent insults. In tirades of colorful hyperbole they will shout down anyone who dares to be unconvinced with accusations of sociopathic stupidity, personality defect and greed.

They always immediately resort to character assassination and insult. You could set your clock by it... Never do they stand to defend their position with reasoned and logical supporting arguments.

Even the scientists that believe in and promote the Holy Grail of global warming are sweating as they struggle to plug the FACT, that their own data is telling them the earth has been COOLING for the past decade, into their prognostications of beach resorts on the arctic.

Yup... Ten years of figures applied to a 400 year total is an irrelevant anomaly while 400 years of figures... plugged into multiple eons is unquestionable fact that would only be doubted by illiterate fools...

The glaciers are melting! The sky is falling!... guess what? Those glaciers have been melting for 10,000 years. Those damned cave man and their cooking fires started a damned holocaust! I'll bet both my kidneys and half my liver that there have been times of accelerated melting and reduced glacier loss... and there will be again. It's always been and will always be... the earth changes.

Do 7 and a 1/2 billion people have an affect on the land they live on? Well doh! Ya think? But the reality is Crocodile Dundee  had it pretty right; "It's like two fleas arguing about who owns the dog they live on."

The point about it all is... We don't know what's happening people! or why. Not one way or the other; and lack the ability or wisdom to do anything about it if we did!

... and Al Gore hawkin' his books and demanding that you live in self imposed austerity... while he and his live in 11,000 square feet of mansion, traveling the world in motorcades and private jets, while burning more of the fuels in a month than we do in years... and then having the brass bound cajones to condemn us for our wastefulness... don't change a dang thing.

Watch out now... here it comes... I dared to question the validity of the assumptions produced by the wisdom of their methodology and religion... oops... I meant science.

... ya'll know 'bout assuming right?

“Insults are the arguments employed by those who are in the wrong.”

 - Jean-Jacques Rouseau.

If I question, if I fail to blindly accept the "science", that is questioned and doubted by HUNDREDS of their own "doctoral scientists" of physics, biology and oceanic whale lovers; I am bludgeoned and my words are reviled as rubbish and piles of denial-ism... Why, that's reasonable and logical debate ain't it?

I believe I'll stand with Mr. Rouseau. Sling away mud chuckers... and illuminate the debate for all to see. 

I'm even threatened with them punishing me by leaving if I don't obediently bow and grovel before the Oft Proven Wrong, masters of science and plead; yassuh massuh! don' beat me no mo' massuh! I be a good unthinking serf massuh!

Ya'll already know how this Ol' Buster responds to such pompositizin' ... Don't ya?

BYE!

... and close the door on your way out... I'm havin' difficulty affording the heater fuel to contend with the Global warming.

Yup... I 'member when Generals that were equal to God failed in their attempts to bully a cocky lil' Buck Sergeant... and they could sling my butt in the stockade... bloggers and "scientists"? You make me giggle.

Soakin' up the Liquid Sunshine in the Desert
Brian

After Most of a Month in Town Finally Returned...

...To the Far Country where I belong. We landed, out of that force of habit that threatens to become a rut ;) ... in our favored spot along the edge of the RV boondocking area on the south side of Plomosa road.

What can I say? It makes a real convenient spot for a couple of weeks for herself to use the rock shop... and the signal's good for me to get quite a bit of work done on this new laptop... more on THAT in a bit.

That's pretty much the view out my window in the morning here in Freedom Camp ;) Kinda cool huh? 'course, I took it just as sunset was starting from the roof where I was tilting the solar panels up for the morning sunrise! ... hmmmm... I wonder what nut job coulda spent so much time pilin' rocks? ;)

Got here a day later than expected. A few lil' fumbles as we were preparing to haul out set us back a day... one of which was trying to track down some bolts for the bike... it somehow lost one out of a fairly critical spot... and the Biggest Dealership I've Ever been in... didn't have the bolt! ... so... They is ordered! ... "for lack of a bolt the truck was lost... for lack of the truck a battle was lost... for loss of the battle the war was lost...".... DA DA DA DUM!    :) HA HA!

Soooo, about the new Laptop... I've been sortin' my way through this New Toshiba laptop for the past couple of days. As far as the computer is concerned, with it I am plenty happy. It does what it is supposed to and newegg.com did what they promised to, getting it to me...

... Microsoft on the other hand... continues its apparently deliberate effort to be unseated from its position as the supplier of the dominant and premier operating system.What a bunch of bozos.

Windows 8 is a discombobulated, mish mash of two different worlds all shoved together in a dis-harmonious, awkward setup of pretty tiles and confusion.

Here's the deal; Microsoft, apparently, has a psychotic obsession with getting a grip on the tablet/smartphone market that has avoided it... and continues to. Sooooo Micro crap sent out this Thing into the world. I expect, if you've got it on a tablet or phone, using your fingers and flippin' tiles around... for those minimal lil' things that you do on a tablet or phone... it works just fine.

Buuuuuuut... embedded in it is... for all intents and purposes, the old Windows 7. Only, they've taken out quite a bit of the Navigation... and made what's left kind of awkward to access... For those of us actually trying to work... and NOT playing games and fiddling with fooferaw... it's a troublesome, NON inutuitive flub.

Yeah... the guys that told me to steer clear of Windows 8 were right... I took a chance and KERWHAP! :) learnt my lesson one more time.

I'm sortin' things out and can/will over time, make Windows 8 functional/usable for what I do... but a puss gut, biker cowboy fella who just bought the New and Improved Windows 8... shouldn't have to FIX WHAT THE ENGINEERS DESIGNED one more time... should he?

I wonder, do they ever have regular people do a test run on their junk before they shove it off on folks? They might save themselves some lil' bit of difficulty, embarrassment and wraps on their knuckles for playin' the fool if they did! ;)

Soooo... IF... you get a new computer do one of two things. Order it with Windows 7... or ... seek out one of the up and coming Alternative Operating Systems that are Finally, from what I hear, threatening to give Microsoft a run for their money and a lil' competition. Microsoft fired another Dud with Windows 8.

It's cool here on the desert by Quartzsite. The crowds, if they're comin' have not yet arrived. The country layin' about our camp might not be empty, but it sure ain't filled up!

On to my chores... and a good bit of hikin' and walkin'... a month of lethargy, cooped up in town has my busted parts achin' and hollerin'. Time to beat 'em back into some sort of reasonable shape.

Puttin' One foot in front of the other... I'm RV Boondocking for LIFE!
Brian

Getting Ready to Break Our Urban boondock camp...

 ... in my sisters back yard... and run back to the desert... I wonder how many camps this makes now?... I shoulda kept track!

But, the pranks are done ;) most of the packing is done... the new laptop is here... and it's time to roll, get outa town... and get myself back to work before I starve to death! :)

Just fill with water, make a supply stop for bagels and beer and we'll head for Quartzsite... juuuuust in time for a stormy weekend/week. ;)

The packing took most of yesterday to be honest. Figured it was a good time to really sort things a bit while the sun was shining & I was waiting on UPS to show up with my new Toshiba  WORK laptop from newegg.com.

They gave me plenty of time too! According to their tracking it was loaded on the truck for delivery yesterday morning at 5:20 and wasn't delivered till well after 6PM last night. That ol' boy is workin' some hours!

 Last night a few hours were spent beginning the setup of this new laptop. Had to run up to Walmart and grab a fresh flash drive to build a recovery media... considering my relationship with Murphy!

I can already say... wow! after working on that lil' 10" Acer since... October or so... being back on a 15.6" screen... ShazAAAAMMM! It's like being in an IMAX theater! :) and nice to have a full size keyboard again too!

It'll take another few days I'm sure to get all the ee-lek-trawnik furniture arranged and remembered in my new digs. But so far, I'm liking this machine quite a bit... and it's a Windows 8 outfit!!

Yeah... I know... I resist "Change" and some folks warned me off of going with the new microsoft system... but I figured... That's where it's all gonna go eventually... so might as well get it over with now, since I gotta go through the ordeal of learning a new computer anyway.

What with having to rebuild those 400 or so website pages over the next few months, I guess I'll get a crash course on gettin' up close and personal with this thing! ;)

anyhoo... back to that packing. It took some time for a couple of reasons; The first is that over time, "things" seem to migrate around a rig into a discombobulated jumble. As that happens a variety of junk collects adding to the confusion. Then, I try... and I emphasize TRY, to live by the mantra; add something thing new... remove something old.

It's about the only way to keep a rig from bloating up into an axle busting outfit.

So... by yesterday afternoon I'd culled a few bits and pieces of plain old junk as well as one of our folding tables. The new Work Bench (The one thing new) will do the job of the old table holding the grill/stove in camp... until one of the planned projects gets completed... and then it'll just be a work bench.

Once day breaks and we get moving... unless the schedule gets changed... I should be turning off the light back in camp in the desert around Bouse/Quartzsite tonight.

Goin' in Circles but Still Moving
Brian

Is It Still Christmas in January When You HAVE to Buy New Tools?

Remember the old line about bein' a one legged man in a butt kickin' contest? Or even better... those scenes in Star Wars, when they jump to Hyper Space? and looking out the windows of the Millennium Falcon the stars all go WAAAA-WHOOOOOOSH! ??

THAT, is how I'm feelin' lately.

You might remember, back in September, maybe it was October, my main laptop went KERCHUNK! Well, its repairable for a few hundred bucks. But then, it being as old as it is, I'm still left with a tool of rapidly decreasing function considering the advance of all the other junk around it... arrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggghhhhhh...

All that was/is rolled in with the axles and tires getting whacked, the grey tank breaking, the water heater earlier in the summer, and then the water heater quit igniting just before I left for Denver... but healed itself while I was gone! ;) and a few other odds and ends to keep a pussgut, soap box preachin', Liberty Lovin', cranky old buster off balance.

So... after keeping that boat afloat... utilizing much the same mindless manipulation of dollars I don't have that the government uses! :) oooooofffffffff! SBI, my internet provider and guru... finally got around to including me in their heavy upgrade of their Website building system... compounding GOOGLE's having dropped another of its lil' bombs last summer/fall that has had the world of the blogger/website builder in a bit of a turmoil because of its impact on their traffic...

Got all that? :) so... that's why I'm feelin' a lot like the dog chasin' his tail.

Well... the bottom line is... my websites/blogs having grown to be a weighty % of our income, there's been damage of some sort to that income.

Now of course, me being me its a lot less clear than it could be! Why keep anything simple right? ;)

While my traffic...that is, the visits from all my treasured and appreciated readers is as high or higher than ever, (on both the blogs and websites) and is running  contrary (fits me huh?) to the "down" impact that many saw with Google's Panda, the income hasn't kept pace, in fact degenerating a bit.

The upstart is... I have to rebuild both my websites, RV Boondocking the Good life and motorcycle touring the good life  to fit well into the new and improved SBI BB2 system as well as address the Google system changes.

You might have seen a few weird color changes on the RV site in the past few days? That was the migration happening. I fixed the thing temporarily... but now, behind the curtain, I have to go in and completely rebuild ~ build new... something near 400 pages... and that can't be done on this lil Acer 10".

Long winded way of saying I finally bit the bullet late last night and ordered with some of that imaginary money... a replacement for the busted Dell Computer from a place called newegg.com.

It's one of those times where you have two choices; A bad choice and a worse one. My laptop(s) aren't down time toys. For me they are a carpenters tools used to make his living. I can stick by my principles and starve, or suck it up... Cowboy Up... and get on down the road.

So... You'll likely see a few changes again around this place over the coming weeks and months as I rebuild into the new system... Can you hear the growling of an  old codger who REALLY resists changes? :)

aw... it'll likely come out ok. In fact it kinda opens up the opportunity for some reorganization and refocusing I've been cogitating on anyway... and it'll keep me out of the bars!

Running 90 miles an hour with no hair left to be on fire
Brian

A Bit of Mercenary Hopefully Enlightened Self-Interest Cogitating...

Like it or not ~ The Net is changing. Many will curse and blame it on Amazon, Google, Apple, Al Gore ;) and an unending litany of players...

But the simple truth is... the power and the motivation behind the changes is YOU... the readers that give all us "Writers/Bloggers" OUR motivation.

Plain and simple, over the coming months and maybe years, many of the sites and blogs you've come to visit and value are going to disappear. It's a commercial reality.

I'm hoping that I'm not one of those dinosaurs that fades into the dust of history... at least not for a lil' while.

The current "Cause" for alarm? Smartphones and tablets. Sure, Google, Apple, Microsoft, HP... and a bundle of other movers and shakers have danced around the issue a bit. They're trying to keep the thing that has their guts squirming and turning their corporate insides upside down... kinda low key. They can't be silent about it, but at the same time, they fear creating a firestorm on the issue.

Here's the deal. The Net, like it or not, is not FREE. It takes expensive hardware and much, much time to operate. Entertaining, informing, educating, debating, communicating websites and blogs take much time and effort. For the people expending that effort there HAS to be a compensation, or the motivation to continue evaporates.

For some, that compensation comes in the form of the back and forth communication alone. For many, as this writer, economics dictates that beyond that spiritual/emotional compensation that is highly valued, and a requisite piece of this puzzle, exists the NEED to make a living as well.

Social Intercourse alone will not feed us... It's a balancing act. We either find a way to feed ourselves with our writings... or that time is going to have to be invested in something that Will feed us.  I'm not being greedy or mercenary here... just expressing one of the realities of life.

The problem has arisen with the advent of and the rapid transition of people to the small and convenient smartphone and tablet devices.

What's the problem? It's simple. It's one word... Advertising. While the feedback and loyalty of our readers is the Breath in our "Writing Lungs"... The lifeblood of many websites and blogs is advertising.

A couple of years back when we stepped off my websites and blogs were a smaller piece of our economic puzzle. As our situation has evolved and gotten ever tighter, they are now a critical piece. Without that income, or if that income degenerates further... We is in Deep Kim Chee!

As the Reader Traffic to my sites has grown significantly over the last two years, initially income grew with it. But for the past year and a bit... as the sale of smartphones and tablets exploded... and computer/laptop sales declined... so has my (and other publishers) site income.

The problems presented to "publishers" (the web writers like me) by the new compact/cellular devices from my perspective are these;

1. The advertising "systems" have as yet been unsuccessful in figuring out how to present advertising in a usable, workable fashion on Smartphones and tablets.

and #2, the built in part of that, which I believe is THE 900 lb. gorilla in the cornier that no one seems to be talking about is...

 DATA PLANS.

People who are paying high dollar to send and receive "Data" over their devices are Reticent (and rightly so) to access Ads on their devices... and use up expensive and precious minutes and data plans no matter HOW interested they might be in the product presented.

I'm not even sure they realize it... it's kind of an automatic, unspoken, built in thing. "I only have so much time I can afford to buy so I must be careful with my use..."  It is an unspoken thought floating around in the back of their minds.

It's not like sitting at their computer or laptop with broadband...

The Consequence? Though it is NOT the readers fault... the failure of the "Old" advertising system is putting heavy pressure on publishers. Many are, sadly, by force of economics, going to be forced to pursue other endeavors.

Though my traffic is at newly "High" levels... the highest ever, considering the time of year... income is down significantly. I can only attribute that to the move to the portable and convenient devices, and my perception of the "problems" inherent in that move.

So... as Google, Microsoft, Apple, HP and all the other "Big Guys" struggle to adjust to the new world that is evolving... lil' guys like me have to scramble and adjust too.

Life in the West...

I think that fellas like me are going to have to find new ways to present Value to our Readers if we are to survive. We are going to need to redouble our labors and test our ingenuity if we are to survive. Only if we can conceive of something useful and valuable to present to our readers can we justify our compensation...

Our readers are not here for our convenience. We publishers, are here for the benefit of the reader. It is that enlightened self-interest that provides our purpose and value.

... and we must find the way to present that value... through the medium of Smartphones and Tablets...

Which... for a Cowboy Biker... stumbling in confusion through a techy world... is a genuine, un-adulterated, double-rectified, box full up straight up Bust Head! ;)

With My Nose to the Grindstone...
Hunting Up Ways to Stay Useful
Brian

RV Tow Vehicle Weight Loss Program

I'll bet there's a lot of folks that wish they could lose near to 200 lbs this easy :) At least I'm guessin' that much. I KNOW it's up at 150!
 

I've been lookin' at that "Headache Rack" with a jaundiced eye for some time. Ever since I whacked my hand on it over in Utah loadin' the bike one day...

I figured it to be heavy to boot so losing weight wouldn't be a bad thing...

But... it's still one of those deals where you kinda grit your teeth as the sparks start to fly and ask yourself; "Was this REALLY what I wanted to do?!" :)

I'm waiting on some new saddlebags to improve the bike for long rides... The thing with them is that with the new exhaust pipes that went on a few weeks ago, they're gonna sit a lot lower on the scooter ~ a Good thing... but...

The current bags hang over that cargo box on the left  an inch or so and the right hand bag is up against the headache rack on the right... SO... the problem was I needed more space just to clear that...

I can't push things back because the fiver is there when we're hitched up...

The only solution was Amputation! ;)

Uh Oh... Smoke and Sparks!

Josh inherited hisself a Plasma Cutter not long ago... So, bein' a Guy... I started schemin' ways we might could put his new tool to work. Talk about somethin' burnin' a hole in your pocket! :)

Nothin' like four red necks sittin' in the driveway with a truck... a plasma cutter... a cooler full of beer... and... time on their hands...

Guaranteed to generate smoke, sparks and traditional comments like; "Watch this!"

... and; "Uh Oh. Is that s'posed to be smokin' like that?"

But it worked out pretty good. We even remembered to disconnect the battery for "Just in case" protection of the trucks electronics...

and we didn't light up the fuel tank!

And now I've got maybe six more inches of room... a whole lot less to whack my handle bars and saddlebags on...

With the side benefit of the truck is likely close to 200 lbs lighter! That chunk of steel was heavy!

Just some clean up grinding to do... some wire brushing and some fresh bed paint and I'm good to go... Oh yeah... and a pair of new Motorcycle Tie Down Points bolted in to improve and simplify the tying down of the bike when I load her!

I remember getting a new bicycle when I was maybe 8. I had that thing in pieces before the weekend was over... wonderin' what the inside of the pedal workings looked like. ;) Won't be long before this Ol' truck is scattered around some meadow up in the back country somewhere...

Curiosity can be a dangerous thing! :)

p.s. just a lil' side note. That Jetpack 4g air card from Verizon I got two days ago really seems a heavy improvement over the MiFi 2200 that was 4 years old. We're still sitting in a "Dead Zone" right on the edge of town as we finish up required "Business chores". Hard to even maintain a phone call here. The MiFi was almost unusable. This Jetpack is workin' like a champ... I'm hopeful when we get back out in the hinter lands it's performance will maintain at a high level. (fingers crossed)

Always tinkering
Brian

One of Those "This and That" Posts

Started the day off yesterday finding out that the coons have continued to outmaneuver us disciplinarians...

They keep changing their "schedule" and continue to avoid a rendezvous with destiny... That's ok... the longer they hold it off... the stiffer their discipline for chicken thieving is gonna be :-/

Editing on "Heart of a Man" is progressing... shooting for 3rd quarter of July release.

Then... the MiFi2200 air card I got back in 2009 has been sinking slowly... the battery was pretty much shot... not to mention that it being a Grandfathered UNLIMITED data plan Verizon was unhappy about... SO... they slammed us back in April and had it knocked down to Dial Up Speed... The Dark Ages of Technology for sure! Try to upload pics or videos at that!

Since I spend some little bit of time online working... something about wanting to eat once in a while :) I HAVE to have a functioning system. Well... yesterday I went down and got the newest and latest Bell Ringing air card... The Jetpack data card by Verizon... a 4g data card that does ever'thing but make coffee... yeah... right... ;)

It is a hell of a lot quicker...'course now that they have me hooked in on another two year plan and no Unlimited Data ... I ain't slammed any more either... Devious buggers... That and 4g... hmmmm... out where we Usually are parked... there is no 4g... not yet... so that isn't gonna be a big advantage... but the battery is replaceable in this one and the antennae seems to maybe function a lil' stonger... so I'm hopeful...

Having had enough "Stuff" in the past few days ... I put the Raider into the mountains yesterday afternoon... When the world is weighing on my head... putting my knees in the breeze is ALWAYS a salve on my wounded spirit.

Poudre Canyon has been off limits and closed for days due to fires as is the country up to Red Feather... The past two days the dry weather has finally broke a bit and they've gotten a handle on the burns... for a little while anyway... there's still a few hundred million acres that are going to burn... though it might could take ten years...

But yesterday... I leaned my way up the Big Thompson River toward Estes Park. There was a little thin smoke... I expect coming from the burn near Boulder... or that down at the springs... but no matter... Running along the river through a light rain the air was freshened and the day was fine.

I managed to time it right so traffic was thin as well. When you're fortunate to hit it right like that; it is a fun canyon to ride. You lean into a right hand curve and as the bike stands back up coming out you continue right over into a left hander... and then back again into a right.

 Back and forth the bike just dances as you sweep up the mountain... THAT... is a sweet ride. Not pushing fast or hard... It's just a rhythmical, dancing movement with that engine rumbling under you, the wind in your face... the scent of the river and the pines.. the cool fresh feel of the rain... The worries of the world fall away and for a time you're in that sweet place that you wish would never end.

All the things that make dogs stick their heads out the window. :-))

All the things that if you "Get It" you understand... if you don't... it can't be explained...

Today we're gonna take another run to Denver... there's a dog "thing" of some sort... but my main mission is a Surgery on the Truck...

Anybody who's been reading here for long knows I've wanted to do a major rebuild/reorganization of our rig for a bit... but dinero... or the lack of it is juuuuust a lil' bit of an obstacle ;) so... as always I'll make do with what I got for a while longer.

To that end, I'm gonna amputate the headache rack off the bed. It doesn't do anything, it's more weight I dont' need to carry around... and... with some changes I'm making on the Raider... I need a few additional inches of clearance. I can gain those if I take off those 2X4 beams of the headache rack...

Removing it will also allow me to modify, improve and simplify how I tie the bike down... all good things.

My son-in-law just got himself a plasma cutter... so I'm gon' give him something to practice on! There'll be pictures eventually... hopefully NOT of the fire that the plasma cutter started in the driveway! :)

Gotta get it done though... we should be moving off the front range again in about 8 or 10 days... 'nuff chores and business done to hold me for a while... maybe come back when I'm 83 or so to do the rest.

Time to roll. The big city awaits... ooooffffff.

Writing, Riding and Cutting
Brian





 

Smoke Signals and Updates...

Been kind of "out of pocket" for a few days.

We've been layin' 'round Mesa Verde for a few days... almost a week I guess. The FREE National Park week has little impact for us, since we get that every day ;) but the FREE CAMPGROUND worked for us!

The only down side was almost zero cell signal inside the park boundaries, so I've been fairly blocked from doin' any online work. Good and bad. It's not a bad thing to Step Away once in a while and catch your breath.

But, when a fella gets solidly hooked into makin' his living by way of Internet Smoke Signals... it's kinda tough to just have it ripped away for a while, cold turkey! Withdrawal is a painful thing!

It also keeps me from using my high tech ways of searching out a new camp.

This time of year in Colorado, finding a camp can be a lil' dicey. The Forest Service, having given away most all of its campgrounds to private interests, locks up those campgrounds in the off season. If the corporation can't make a dime off the public, the public is blocked from use of its OWN property.

That's compounded in the springtime by the weather. You've got to be a lil' careful, pulling back into high country in April and May... and make sure you've got fuel, water and groceries... You just might find yourself locked in camp for a bit if a late winter storm comes rippin' through...

... Ala Last year over in Flaming Gorge Recreation Area, when we had a foot of snow on Memorial Day! ;)

So, without any signal, I reverted to our "old" methods of finding a camp. Using the Delorme atlas and our four... weathered and worn eyes, we spotted a NF road on our way into Durango for a Pizza supper...

... on our way Home to the rig with our current front yard being  Mesa Verde... we took a short look-see up that road and found RV Boondocking Heaven! and strong 3G signal for us 21st century, high tech boondocking drifters too! HooYa!

Just a mile and a bit up that road is a small selection of Prime camps... most with a shining view of the snow capped peaks to the North.

We'll move there in the morning. I'm sitting in the truck bangin' out this post while Miss Heidi is in the Cortez Walmart, makin' sure we got the groceries to ride out a late winter storm at just about 9,000 feet altitude... should one come whippin' in on us! ;)

The last few days that I've had to "step away" seem to have proved profitable too... hiking/walking through the ruins ponied up with time away from keyboards to think... has me generating what I've taken to be some genuine inspiration.

Having hit a bit of a blind trail on book number three I stumbled upon the answer and that's now ready to take off a runnin' over the next couple weeks! :) I've got a few new website pages planned out and ready to whittle...

... and what looks to be the Final (Heidi can only hope) evolution of our rig refit has gotten sketched out.

Then... to make things shine a lil' bit... Google, this past week just put out an update to their system. For a lot of people it seems to have really busted their website traffic and caused a lot of pain and distress. A few emails on the subject managed to come through to my phone... but I couldn't read anything till I came in to the Wally world parking lot! ....

First thing I did was pull up my website analysis pages... to see how bad my traffic had been affected by the effort of google to deal with webscam "Stuff"... only to find that my traffic is the highest it's ever been since the update rollout! HooYa! :)

One more time doing "It" the way SBI taught me to has paid off! Suh-Wheet!

Well... the groceries are loaded and it's time to head back to our internet-less camp... with our next good camp I'll be able to catch up on our wanderings and such of the past week or so...

The Word Whittling Wandering Cowboy Biker Keeps on Rolling
Brian

Mixing Shining Times and Workamping Business

Before I get on to today's rambling, I've got three quick bits of Boondocker "Housekeeping" to pass on.

The first is for anyone who might be interested in a workamping possibility in British Columbia. If anyone would like to wander up that way but the cost of fuel, camps and such has you thinking no... maybe Dean Bergstrom has a possible solution for you. He sent me an email wondering if I might know how he could get the word out... hmmmm... let me think... ;)  I'm passing on most of his mail to you. If you're willing to trade some work for a place to stay for a bit while you go fishing! ;) drop him a line;

***"Trying to find a bunch of Boondockers in exchange for some trail/building maintenance etc. We have a huge clearing for the R V's with possible power, water and lockable gates all at no charge. We are 20 min. from the Skeena River which has world class salmon fishing and 10 min. from the Kitimat River which again has exceptional fishing. Our fishing on the rivers starts in June, runs till about Sept. but then the mushroom season starts in the area 4 those that would like 2 earn some cash. I should mention we have many lakes with trout and of course the rivers have lots but people usually are after the salmon there.

Moose, Grizzly, black bear, wolves and cougar is some of the wildlife in our area. We are looking for a group or family that wants to come and stay by our clubhouse which is also available. All we ask in exchange is fair value of work exchange. If you want to talk more on this please email at - deansueb(at)telus.net

The club has a website - www.snowvalleynordics.com to give you an idea of the area and see what you think...."***

***Second, for those that have been wondering, the cell signal here is weak so without help I'd have no internet connection. Out in the fringe areas we usually occupy that's often the story. Though I have a smartphone I don't use that for my net connection. I've had a Verizon air card for so long I've got unlimited data grandfathered in... lucky me! :)... so it makes no sense to rock that boat. But neither the smartphone or the mifi2200 air card will function here without my Wilson Amplifier. I'm also back to using the lil' magnetic antennae after I ripped the big trucker version off the roof up in Idaho (and haven't got around to replacing it). But, even the lil' one works well enough to get me on line in those no or one bar areas. I just lay a flat crowbar across the folded up TV antennae (so I can hope for a ground) and stick the magnet to that on the rubber roof. ;)***

The last of my 'business' messages is; I built the page yesterday that describes the campsite search method I use to find camps like this one in new country.

Now... back to the Far Country...

In behind our camp here is a drainage that at first I thought was unnamed. Only had to zoom in close enough on my google maps for the name to appear; Little Ash Creek.

I wish photos could do it justice just now. Being early in the spring the trees have just started to leaf out, so it's difficult ... or impossible if you're me... to capture the feel of the place.

 In the summer, walking down out of the heat of the open high desert country above this creek, into the shady shelter of a stream like this... aw it's just plain Sweet.

Like I said, I wish I could capture the "Feel" of walking down along this creek right now. The leaves from last fall covering the ground among the rocks...

As we walked last evening a pair of Owls, roosting in the bare canopy above us, dropped off their perches and swooped downstream away from us. Remains of crawdads lay along the bank in a couple of spots attesting to the likely fishing success of some furry masked bandits in the night.

That's something to keep in mind as you wander. Just 'cause ever'body is goin' to the big neon signed tourist attraction don't mean you've got to go there too... or at least... you don't have to Focus on that.

Sometimes... it's the quiet lil' places along the way that become your most memorable and treasured.

It's places like this that I search for. The places that take me closest to real life.

It's the small things that are very often, the best things. Like Diamonds... and like those few seconds of a sunrise or a sunset when the light is just right...

No brilliant sunset clouds. Just a few seconds of simple, fleeting, quiet, beauty here in Arizona. Beauty we'd have missed if we'd passed on by headed for the Name places...

... and more often than not, it's those times that are just Good... and not Spectacular that are the best for you. Spectacular is great... but you can't sustain that... it's the even, good, take a full-slow-breath-days that wear well.

... and maybe the occasional time when you wonder; "Will she make it or will this be another Kersplash! pic I'm not allowed to show?" :)

Down along the creek are the tracks of small cats, and lots of other critters... including either one gigantic Mutt... or those Canadian beasts have come down to winter in Arizona too!

*Through the trees along Little Ash Creek in Arizona*

Yeah... I'll go back to Yellowstone, and Glacier... and Rocky Mountain Park... and Yosemite... and most of the other big ticket tourist locations... but... for my Living... you'll find me in the hidden quiet places that most others pass by. It's here that I find the greatest part of my Shining Times.

Arizona out my door
Brian