December 28th, 2018 – Slide Out Topper Replacement

Moving on to San Dimas

Before leaving Desert Hot Springs, after nearly 5-years… whipping in the wind… our driver’s side Full-Wall slide out fabric topper finally began ripping to pieces and we joyfully discovered the “topper replacement Industry” is alive and well. Measuered it one day and replaced it the next… beautifully… for a reasonable price.

Enjoyed a week in dense LA area; San Dimas/Pomona. Our elevated RV sight, overlooking the Pomona area; NHRA Home ¼ mile Drag Race Track and County Airport. Got a WHOLE bunch of Round the Airport Race Walks in… good stuff.

And then on… to our official Winter Hangout… Mission Bay, San Diego

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December 21st, 2018; More Desert Hot Springs

Jimmy, Cathy & I Chat on MeWe

Christmas is coming

I say, “See, you have a somewhat “normal” family. You do all the “natural”, “storied” Family things.”

“Yeah, I’m much more vanilla in person than I am online.” [Truth is, Jimmy is pretty much vanilla online, too!  LOL]

And then I go, “I have always noticed such people… groups of people… happily assembled and active, in restaurants, parks, museums… laughing, talking… enjoying life… and wondered, ‘How can anybody DO that?'”

I remained mystified for years about how people behaving normally DID so.

Explaining further to Jimmy, “You see… I grew up like the other half of the population.
That half who’s family wasn’t like that. Our gatherings were intended to be like that… but never succeeded.  Our gatherings evolved into drunken brawls, or shouting insult-fests.
Abandoned children, broken furniture.”

“That’s sad.”

Me further, “No… I have no interest in any of that.”

Jimmy replies, “I didn’t feel that dynamic during our time together or here online.”

“It’s not really sad, Jimmy. It’s just different.  You were/are a loving, handsome, and articulate man.  Seriously… we animals learn to adapt… learn to survive.”

“I have to be careful not to quote you too much to Suzy or she’ll know.”

“MyGOD I always knew i loved you. LOLOL”

“I think your comments on calm driving might actually save my life. It made so much sense.”

Then I continue, “Seriously, though… a huge percentage of people have never lived such circumstances as are bandied about the airwaves as ‘home for the holidays.'”

Jimmy continuing on about driving, “Not that I hadn’t heard it before but let’s just say I was very receptive to everything we talked about on the drive home.”

“I’m glad for that, Jimmy.”

Me going on, “I still experience difficulty with assholes tailgating me aggressively, communicating anger and entitlement when there is really NOWHERE to go but an upcoming stop sign.”

Jimmy says, “I try to ignore them, I know they could easily get me to my flashpoint.”

“That’s it… it takes effort to remain disengaged with them.. they are communicating right into our faces, it seems.  Meanwhile their fuel gauge shows 18mpg while mine shows 22.
Revenge.”

Jimmy again, “I often comment that they are really testing the karma theory.  And I say way too much, they are their own worst enemy.”

Me finally, “Thanks for all you say about me… It feels extraordinarily good hearing YOU say flattering things about me.. because I have such respect for YOU.  I agree with those last statements.”

Windy here.. Partly Cloudy… going out for a short Race Walk… did a monumental 5-1/3 yesterday, 1/2 uphill gentle slope, 1/2 down. Getting ready for the 50k.

***********
We’re headed with Thelma and Mark (Louise’s visiting highschool friend and husband) down the Coachella Valley, past the Salton Sea to Slab City, where their other High School Photographer friend lives, Bobby Zahn. Gonna meet for lunch and a look see at his very FUNKY place down there in NoMan’s Land, Slab City.

He’s trying to get gallery time in LA. I think he succeeded with one a while back.
The guy is undeniably professional.. pro equipment and skills AND he has some kind of weird chemistry with people….  a couple of hours of lunch and a visit to Slab City.

OMG what a wonderful, amazing time yesterday. Slab City, it turns out, is totally worth a visit by anybody. It’s a Living Museum.  Met with Bobby… ate lunch in a really wonderful FUNKY cafe… and then he lead us through a “tour” of the “city”. Visited the “Sculpture Garden”… an old bearded hippy greeted us at the gate and told us the three rules; “Don’t stay on the rugs [paths], touch everything and if you break something, claim it was broken when you got there.”

The displays are artful piles of various junk. Colorful junk, imaginatively assembled… very often with a windmill or turbine of some kind, soaring yesterday because of the steady wind. It is a miraculous place. Free spirit, loving place… at first glance anyway.

December 17th; Desert Hot Springs

Sally, Thema & Mark and the National 50k Race Walk Championships

Desert Hot Springs is the poor people’s Palm Springs… our RV park is located across the valley and up some elevation from the heart of Palm Springs. Rather be here, to tell you the truth.

Hooked up, except for WATER.. the water hose failed while hooking up. I’m looking for another fitting.

Sister Sally is here.

Goin out for a Long overdue Race Walk. I’ve signed up for the USATF 50k Race Walk National Championship to be held in Santee, California on January 26th. Let’s be clear… I am NOT racing the 50k. Simultaneous STARTS at the starting line, but race a 5k, 10k (me), 20k, 40k, or the full Monty.

Anyway… it’s been years since I raced in a sanctioned / judged event. I am energized… excited… focused… Really happy and excited. I’ve got enough time to put together a training schedule to tone up enough to do well… so that’s what I’m gonna do. I’m hoping to Walk the 10k in 1hr, 10min or better.

Jimmy offers, “Wish I could watch you race walk again.”

“Yeah well… There are lots of flights, Seattle to Dan Diego, Jimmy!”
********
Today, with sister Sally, again… headed out for another hike… a California Wildlands Conservancy property not far from our RV park: Mission Creek Perserve.

Yesterday was a marathon… something like a 100mile Loop up into the mountains overlooking Palm Springs/Coachella Vally… Lunch up in the high elevation vacation town of Idyllwild, California (Fairy-Tale-like Town)… across and down into Banning on I-10 and back to the park. Beautiful.

December 10th, 2018 – Down the Colorado

The River and Relationships continue to flow…

Hi from Ehrenberg, Arizona… on the Colorado River… in the Mojave Desert. We’re about 100mi North of the Yuma, AZ… and the Mexican Border.. and the California border. This is the hottest, Driest Desert in North America… and this motherfucking HUGE, BLUE RIVER is flowing right over there, see?  (Note this has been one of the Wettest Winters in memory)

Course, by the time the water in this river reaches the border in Yuma, there’s usually not much left.

Just north of us there is a Tap… a huge DRAIN… called Los Angeles/Colorado River Aqueduct which feeds LA. And then, the river flows through Imperial Valley, beginning just South of us. And there’s the vegetable growers in Yuma.  There’s LOT of people want water.

That’s your geography lesson for the day.

My computer is running well… things are looking up… We had a beautiful, event-less trip down. The coach is still a DREAM machine.

Louise is working… and over the past few weeks I’ve managed to do what y’all have known I must do… relax… embrace reality and accept what is and LOVE her because she deserves it.

Little trick of mind, isn’t it? Instead of approaching life, and HER with a negative preconception, turn it around.

Jimmy says, “It really works. I often think that the perfect marriage is one where two imperfect people never give up on each other.”

Yeah, well.. that’s it right there.

I mean, there’s GOT to be certain similarities… got to be some commonality and harmony and synchronicity. You, the musician surely agree with that.

Of course… we HAVE that…. certain kinds… it’s the kind we LACK that is more annoying.
Question becomes… do you give up ALL THAT YOU HAVE to get the little you don’t?

Again, Jimmy says, “In today’s wild and wacky world I’d say no, you go with what you have. But then that’s just me.”

And I reply, “…no… it’s NOT just you… It’s me too. Xxoo :-0”.

Yesterday, Louise suggested we go to Cibola Wildlife Refuge… appeared to be nothing new, really… been to lots of them around the country… mostly interesting… but rarely FUCKING AWESOME like this one.  Unbelievable… even if the photos don’t do it justice.
Set 20mi south of Blythe, California, in the heart of Agriculture Country (Near Imperial Valley) Along the weary Colorado River, exhausted from its trek through the Grand Canyon, Bolder Dam… headed south towards Yuma and Mexico… it’s a fucking oasis Wonderland.

December 7th, 2018 – Dell “Fixed” My Computer

Never Again.

Social Networking deferred right now… I finally got my computer back from the Dell Warranty station. It’s a mess…

Those Dell motherfuckers reinstalled the operating system, which, of course means they formatted my hard drive… everything gone. Except… wait for it…. This computer operates on a solid state drive, but has a +Gigabite regular Hard Drive for Data… and I set it up Correctly at the beginning so that… Seems I’ve pretty much rebuilt it… AGAIN.
Glad I’m motherfucking Retired.. cause the time I’ve spent on Computers in the past six months, I’d be broke and alone.

Also, glad I’m as technical and clever as I am… setting things up right.. backing things up and taking the time and trouble. Life is coming back in order.

Okay… everything went hunky dory… Finances… social networks… all check. Over the next week or two… continued tweaking…

Right now, however… we are uplugging… preparing our move South outta Las Vegas, down to the Colorado River at I-10… still in the Mojave Desert… a week there and then on to Desert Hot Springs.

December 1st, 2018 – Where the FUCK Did My Birthday Go?

Back to the Blog. That was the Whole Idea…

Where we are now?  Vegas, Baby!

Arizona Charlie’s Boulder RV Park, Las Vegas, NV. Cool temps, blue sky, purple mountains. Race Walked a modest 5k this morning; way out of shape from our erratic travels.

No intention to visit Vegas, but the AquaHot Broke while in Death Valley!  Winter gets cold there at night.  Need Heat, and Showers!  So we booked a repair at Findlay’s RV Shop.  Needed a new circulation pump.  Did a good job.

Three weeks ago we serpentined our way down US-101 from Steven’s clear blue Humbolt County to our RV Park in Ukiah but by 1:00pm dark, smoky skies from the East caused me to use a flashlight to hook up. People felt threatened, pointing and murmuring “How close is the fire? Do you think we’re safe here?”

That sick, orange smoke smothering the sun contained ruined lives from Paradise, California – over a hundred miles away in the Sierra Nevada’s; the worst wildfire in California History. And it spelled death to our Thanksgiving plans in Wine Country and San Francisco and attending Matt’s Award Dinner. We did find a good RV Satellite guy who fixed our ailing TV before moving further down US-101 into Petaluma for one more night under choking skies before deciding to bail out altogether and head South and East over the mountains, into the Mojave desert; away from the smoke. It was a choice we don’t regret making, but completely missing friends and family hurt. Still does. In two days we were through Tehachapi Pass under clear skies, in Barstow.

But that said… for the 2^nd year I’ve missed my Birthday Blog opportunity. October 27^th, 2018… embarking on my 73^rd year.

Birthdays are a “categorized” thing, packaged and marketed by other’s. FUCK that. It’s MY Birthday. It’s a day of personal respect and reflection.  So here goes.

72^nd Birthday overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Brookings, Oregon. Dramatic Weather. Hugely beautiful Race Walking. A meditation of eternity; the persistent pounding Pacific, seabirds and sand, the Oneness of us all.

I think I grew up. While clinging to whatever vigor and youth remain, I think I’m getting “old” – Wise – Mature. Don’t HOLD me to that… just feels that way.

November 5th, 2018 – Day Before Heart Pounding Mid-Term Election Day

My Rich Nephew, Stephen Archibold…

We’ve moved on down the PCH to Garberville, CA… Pretty much in the Heart of both the Giant Redwood AND Pot Growing areas of North America. It’s a neat KOA by the river here. Beautiful country and we are overjoyed with this off-season, time out before our looming descent into Density Hell of Wine Country and San Fransisco.  Worth seeing, of course – especially Family plans – that’s why we’re going, but it’s anticipated crowds will be unpleasant.

Upon arriving here we were quickly found by my fantastic “Hippy” Nephew, Steven, riding his FANCY-WOW new BMW Bike, who, back in the early 90’s after touring the country following his beloved Grateful Dead, making his living operating his Food Truck, settled down in these Back Country, Hidden Coastal Mountains, bought a rough piece of property way back up and away and spent 20yrs building an off-the-grid homestead, including veggies and pot farm, providing for his own services. Very comfortable life by now. He’s known as an O.G. ’round ’bout Miranda, CA. He’s the Wednesday-through-Saturday Cook at the Miranda Cafe, and has been for 20yrs now, carving out a living with his Beautiful Wife, Shana, and Son, Jonathan.

It was a joy spending time with him.. A fucking joy.

He’s spent most of his time among a community of Outlaws; pretty much how 90% of the residents think of themselves. But since the recent legalization of marijuana here… he admits to suddenly feeling a little lost, as do his neighbors. Some are going the “legal” route, growing and distributing pot under license, but he explains it’s not popular. The economics don’t work for these small, black market types, but rather favor the Giant new growers in the agricultural valleys.

He and Shana have always dabbled with up to a dozen plants each year, but never really to sell it.. .they have, now and again, but don’t rely on it. They wisely depended on their employment, socking away IRA money and funding their social security. He’s debt free and doing pretty well.

Anyway… that’s the insider report from Humbolt County.
Tomorrow we’re meeting one more time for lunch… and then, Thursday, moving on again further south.

Oh… and… we do have RV park Cable attached and we do get MSNBC.. so.. there’s that.
Tomorrow morning I’m going up on the roof of the RV (or try to) in hopes of repairing the problem we’ve developed with the Satellite Antenna.