Category: Vacation 1

I’m back in Kent, WA for the third time this summer. I dropped Steph off with her family in the south end and I’ve been driving around trying to figure out my encampment spot for the night.

The Green River is crazy with swimmers and there’s way more people in this town since I moved away seven years ago, and Cornucopia starts tomorrow in downtown, bringing in even more.

Then, I was struck with the brightest place to camp idea that I’ve had this summer! The city designates a cool stretch of shaded grass for the vendors to park their campers while they’re here for the four days of Cornucopia. Guess were I am? Parked right there with them, and I’ve got internet…:-)

I’m also right next to downtown. I’m heading there now to get some pictures of the streets before they setup tomorrow.

Update: Grabbed some photos and a cocktail at the Shindig Martini Bar which is right next to the sadly now defunct lesbian bar. Had a nice chat with the Shindig’s owner, Dave. Very nice place, recommended!

One final note about that bus stop shot, I used to supervise those two Dart bus routes…

SlideShow (Exit 58)

The Noise has been fixed! Turns out it was a thing called a carrier bearing, which hooks up to the front u-joint. Erin at Driggs Tire said it just fell apart as he removed it, with bearings flying everywhere.

I asked him whether it could have failed at any time (I’m thinking back to the middle of the Nevada desert last week) and he said “Oh yea!”

For those of you who think I just need a new truck (Sally?), I don’t. This little sweety is now in great shape and only has 89K miles on her. Considering she’s an ’88 that’s about 1000 miles per year. She could use new shocks but that’s something I can do with Riley when I see him in Seattle next week. Keep on rocking…

Made an appearance at the Huntsman Springs Celebrate America event today…

I have some sad news to announce regarding my blog. My visual capture device has developed it’s spot issue again. I sent it back to the factory a while ago and they fixed it, but it took months to get it back… This is summer vacation so I’ll live with it. Consider the little dark spots my own form of watermarking…

Update: No, I’m too much of a perfectionist to allow those spots in my photos. I’m pretty pissed off actually. The Panasonic DMC-FX78 was a state of the art $350 point and shoot when I bought it a year ago. Six months in I had to send it back to fix the spots. It’s a bad design issue as the camera draws in dust specks as the lens detracts. And, there’s no way to clean the internal mirror other then sending it back to the factory.

I shot the Balloon Launch today (7/2) and had to crop each image. I’ll do the same for the Victor parade Wednesday, but after that, I don’t know…

Here’s some leftover photos and videos from my most recent adventure…

I’m home. Drove up from Elko, NV this morning to attend Celebrate America on Saturday, watch the Victor Parade on Wednesday, and get The Noise fixed.

I chatted with Riley last night via Skype and we concur that it’s probably the exhaust manifold. It’s a throaty sort of rumble that is apparent in this video which I shot today, on the last two miles of my latest adventure, heading home.

The Noise has affected my Scheme, which was to travel down the Pacific Coast to San Diego. It’s still a long hot summer and the wheel in the sky keeps on turning… :-)

Dropped into Elko, Nevada today after an interesting drive through the desert from Reno. I started to say grueling but compared to the pioneers and cowboys that used to make this trip, I’m not complaining a bit…

I spent Sunday night in Eureka, CA. It’s a pleasant little town on the Northern California coast with a tragic amount of homeless people interspersed with latte drinking working class. I hoteled it just to shower and regroup…

The next day goal was my home town of Paradise, CA. I’ve always called it that just because I spent my high school years there in the early sixties.

Headed east in the morning on Hwy 199 to Reading, CA. The sign said about 100 miles so I assumed an easy first leg. What a dumb shit! Next time I’m going to Bing Map a road I’ve never traveled.

I lost count of how many mountains I climbed, crested and declined. Tight turns, constant shifting, big trucks and two major construction sites later, I arrived in Reading, and kept going…

Hung out in Chico a bit, still the same but bigger. Drove up to Paradise and everything seemed familiar but different. I swung into a place called Fosters Freeze for lunch, again vaguely familiar. I asked the girl how long this place had been here and I thought she said 7 years. “Seven years?” I asked. “No, Seventy years” she replied. Memories came flooding back…

It was midday and Jill and I were in a driving mood so we headed South, and somehow I’ve ended up here in Sparks, Nevada, just east of Reno. No internet, I’ll post tomorrow.

SlideShow (Oregon Coast)

Quite a day on Saturday! Drove north from Ontario Oregon to Kent, WA to visit with my boy Riley. I showed up at his house and they were out and about so I sat outside and tried to connect to his wireless network (which I had setup), and it was gone. I should note that I’m traveling without a cell phone so I rely on Skype, Google voice and open wi-fi networks to make calls.

I drove down to Target and hooked up with the Home Depot free wi-fi across the street and called him. He asked were I was, I told him, and within 30 seconds they pulled into the spot on my left with big grins on their faces. Turns out they were mobile in the Target parking lot :-)

Went back to their place, showered, visited, and then got out of dodge as they were hosting a birthday event.

I controlled a temptation to check into a downtown Kent motel and go bar-hopping (it looked like the lesbian bar was setting up for a live band), fueled up and drove south. The weather sucked in the Seattle area and I have to say it’s beautiful here on the Oregon coast at 9:30pm :-)

Yep, I’m a driving fool. I hung a right just before Portland on Hwy 26, dropped down through a beautiful forest on Hwy 6 and landed just north of Hebo.

It’s Sunday morning at 0640, I have coffee, internet, an oldies stations blaring 60’s music and I’m just miles from the ocean.

I raise my gaze to the sky and say thanks!

SlideShow (Lime)

Jill and I are on the road again. The first trip shakedown exposed the flaws and they have been corrected, both mechanically and logistically.

As long as I can score an internet connection, this blog will continue to rock. On Saturday, a quick visit with Riley in Washington, Sunday the Oregon coast!

Shot from Hwy 33.

On the backside.

A cool watering system.

Rock formations like this were all over the place.

Oh yeah, my new windshield!

SlideShow (Menan Buttes)

This is a screen capture of the current gas prices in the U.S. as of this morning, provided by gasbuddy.com. Click on the map to go there.

It accounts for my $100 a day gas habit as I recently bounced against the Pacific Coast.

I need to rethink my timing. I’ve heard gas prices are going down as the summer progresses and this site is my new best friend. Also check out my new menu option Fuel.

Having come within one hour of the Oregon coast, I’ve ploted a straight line from Driggs to it’s exact vertical position on the coast, and I’m making that my special destination…