March 2016 – Page 2 – Bus Driver Jim

Laughlin

Next Friday morning I’ll be pulling out from my driveway at 0500 in the dark of the damned daylight savings time bullshit. I will travel through projected snow roads with street treads until the sun comes up, avoiding wildlife, and arrive ten hours later at the Virgin River Hotel/Casino in Mesquite, NV for a one-night layover.

I’ve got an outside bottom room booked at this sprawling hotel where I can park my truck next to the door and blast out quickly in the morning. Saturday I’ll arrive at Laughlin, NV where I have a four-night stay reserved.

On Sunday, I plan on hitting up the great swap meet down at Lake Havasu, wander around down by the London Bridge, try to get my picture taken with a bunch of scantily clad summer breaking college girls, and then head back to Laughlin to find an Easter dinner to consume.

That’s the general plan, after that, who knows…

It’s 800 miles from Driggs, ID to Laughlin NV, in case you’re interested…

VPN

I signed up with a VPN (Virtual Private Network) service yesterday, shelling out $25 PayPal bucks for one year. I installed it on my desktop and my travel companions: the Nexus 10 tablet and my Acer Windows 10 netbook.

The primary purpose of this system is to keep me from being hacked while using public and hotel wifi connections. It cloaks your computer’s actual IP address and sends all traffic through a worldwide server of your choice (I chose one down in Utah), encrypting the data along the way.

One time last year I was using a hotel’s wireless service when my firewall caught a php program trying to sneak into my system. Hey, I write php code and I know what it can do! I killed it of course but when I walked out to the lobby later I spotted a towel-head hunkered down in the back area of their office, with a laptop. The bastard was probably intercepting their wifi hotspot and planting code on people’s computers to steal their data. I decided then and there, that the next time I travel, I wear protection.

RU Kidding

Are you kidding snow gods? I have my snow tires off, street treads on, reservations made for laying back in comfort down in southern Arizona over Spring Break, and you do this? I should just call in sick, or stuck, or something tomorrow.

The truth is, I’ve never done any of those things over the decade I’ve been employed by TRPTA, so I guess I’ll just slip and slide to work tomorrow :-)

Issues

I have hardware issues going on with my main computer. She’s been a great old powerhouse tower for many years now but is showing her age by just powering down without notice. Some part is failing internally so I’m firing off this post quickly to let my millions of followers know that I may be resorting to other options. Please stay tuned…

Update: I made a few tweaks and things seem to be alright now…

New TVM

The Teton Valley Map continues to progress towards ultimate completion. I’ve implemented Zip Code overlays that can be toggled on and off with a right-click, and much more.

White To Brown

As the snow fades to brown, the mice appear, shit’s exposed, and Piper starts shaking off her winter blues. There’s so much fat waddling mouse meat to harvest from the melting snow caves, I think she’s bored already.

Laughlin Places

I used my new program ZypDown to locate all of the cool places around my Spring Break destination: Laughlin, NV. Too many places, too little time…

Missing

I’ve been following an amazing response to a missing 8-year-old boy in Victor on my scanner this evening. Everybody was called in for this one, Search and Rescue, Air Idaho, Sheriffs Department, Idaho State Police, Fire Department and the Church for manpower. Fortunately, the boy was was found safe!

My scanner followed it all in real-time and I have to admit tears welled up in my eyes when the call came that the boy was safe in his fathers arms. I know the area involved well, and there’s a major creek that runs nearby.

Our emergency response teams are the best.

Back To Laughlin

I was using the various internet connections available to me around the Valley as I performed my route today, to figure out a landing spot for Spring Break in southern Arizona. It became evident quickly that hotels were filling up and maxing out rapidly and by the time I hit the Victor Library connection, I was ready to book!

I had one minute left to start the school pickups when I clicked submit. I booked a four-night stay at the Pioneer Hotel in Laughlin Nevada for $138.94. This starts on a Saturday and runs through Tuesday for $33.75 a night, and you can’t beat that!

I’ve stayed there before but this time I’m expanding my day trips outward to new explorations. Stay tuned during that time (end of March) and enjoy my adventures.

Kanarraville

I wish I was in Kanarraville, Utah right now, actually, just south of there, curled up snuggly in the back of my truck ready to blast through Vegas on a Saturday sunrise. But, I’m still here resolving issues to protect my kids. I’m no longer pulling up sideways at Barrels and Bins in the afternoon and letting kids fly out in both directions. Now I continue down to the Targhee Shuttle stop and unload there. Gymnastics kids go left down the walk and everyone else hoofs it back up the sidewalk. It worked great today.

As to Utah, I just checked out motels in Mesquite, NV and they’re either booked solid for Spring Break or their rates are jacked up like crazy. Screw them, I’ll just fall back on good old mile Marker 44 again ( here, here and here ).

…and here’s the new spot:

My Truth

The subject of what’s my truth came up tonight as talk radio rolled across the sound waves of my internet connected Echo. It is perhaps the most powerful question we can ask ourselves as political discourse divides our country, and I have to base my perception of truth on the life that surrounds me.

Our local schools are straining physically and financially from illegal residency.
I recently had a very disappointing experience at our local hospital, they suck.
People do not respect a bus pulled up sideways in a parking lot with lights flashing. For the second day in a row, I’ve had to honk and glare down a driver trying to come around my vehicle as kids are flowing out in both directions.
I need to retire and move to southern Arizona. I really can’t take much more of this pretentious contentious god’s country.
Nobody gets my code, I give up…
I am loved by my woman, my son, and my cat.
The memories of my past are my enemy, goodby memories…

Drumming For Tips

On my way home for lunch today I spotted these enterprising boys on the corner of Fifth and Little. I suspect they escaped from the daycare down the street, and just wanted to make some quick cash with their rhythm. Best couple of bucks I spent today!

Here’s a short video clip:

Rain

I’ve never really liked rain. When I lived in Seattle raising Riley, I endured it. Now that I live in the Rockies, rain is good. It melts the icy ruts off the driveway, the snow off the roof, and exposes the grass that’s been hidden for months by that white shit. It also opens up more mouse hunting opportunities for Piper!

My snow tires are now off, probably prematurely, but I’ll deal with it. The rain can just keep on falling for all I care and Spring can’t come too quickly.

Backing South

I don’t get backrubs these days, we just don’t seem to do those things anymore, and the hot tub has been broken for years. I stressed my back out a bit today pulling the sand bags from the back of my truck and pouring them into the wheelbarrow with a flat tire. Have you ever tried pushing 300 lbs across a garage floor by brute force?

Hot springs are high on my agenda as summer approaches and I ready my truck for travel. Filters were replaced today and snow tires are coming off tomorrow. Lake Havasu is in my sights for the end of the month and a steam room would be a nice addition to a stop, so I better get looking…

Update: Went to Green Canyon Hot Springs on Saturday with Brian and Annie. Yea!

Best Foods

I dug into the food storage container behind the drivers seat of my truck today looking for a snack, when I saw this. I guess it’s time to dump all of the edible stuff in that container, which I use for my travels. It’s apparent that fluctuating temperatures over time aren’t good for oil based crap like mayonnaise!

I’ll keep all of the eating utensils but the food needs to go. I tried one bite of some old crackers and spit it out. There’s also some dried tuna in there, bye bye…