All over the place

Blogging from the road…..
I set up another blog just for the travels, but then I apparently gave this blog address to her…. So it is no longer totally uncensored…
The best laid plans….
OK so the other blog gets stuck here…
Followed by my new stuff…
I am writing this off-line, so I don’t have any idea what preceeded it. I willjust pick up where I remember I was… at home…heading east.
Actually South to go east – 101 to 166 to 33 to 119 to Bakersfield. The pop-up tows very easily. But I worry. Constantly in the mirrors, making sure I don’t slow down the cars… feeling like a trucker, until I pass one and know they look at my little trailer with …disdain..derision…no..they don’t even look. Wish I had a CB.
I do have my PC on a custom built table, plugged into the new 400 amp inverter, along with the phone recharger, the Bluetooth headset recharger, the powered speakers plugged into the PC to amp the sound from the ripped CD’s so I don’t use the batteries on the MP3 player.
Somewhere…at about 115 degrees in Nevada, the inverter started screaming for air..then shut down. I unplugged the speakers and the whole shebang recovered. Guess speakers draw a lot of power.
Pulled into the gas station at New Cuyama, and then realized it was boarded up, but saw a Porta-John and headed there and saw a sign taped on it that said “Fire Fighters Only”. What? Civilians don’t have to pee? Here comes Super Fire Cop from his recliner in the shade… I apologize, in totally non-aspy fashion…I can do that well…wheels spinning…I ask about the fire… Is this the same fire from months ago that started over by 154? (Knowing it was) He’s hooked. After about 10 minutes of kissing the ass of all the fire crews that ever lived, and being amazed at the size of this fire (biggest in California history-size counts) and patiently listening to all the descriptions of the fire scene (a moonscape) and the history of firefighting in the area – should have let it burn 20 years ago, I cross my legs and beg for a free pass. He accommodates.
To Bakersfield I go, waving at my house in Taft (which has a new fence) as I go by. In Bakersfield I go 10 miles north of my planned ….

Time out… I was supposed to check the refrigerator …not cold…check the outside…not lit…probably out of propane on tank one. Switch to tank 2 and relight… wait an hour…back to blog..

Where was I…in Bakersfield…OK so I went 10 miles north to fill my half empty propane tank (no coincidence – why do you think I remembered the fridge?) because it was Delta Liquid Energy, and I had my tank filled at Delta in Arroyo Grande, because they fill the tank at home. Frankly (enter Aspergerishness) it has to do with minimizing the number of new parameters I have to deal with. I don’t know how you get propane… Can you do it without removing the tank from the popup? What will it cost…what is my conversation going to be. I had those questions answered at the AG Delta, so there is a slim chance that they will work the same in Bakersfield. I know it is slim, but I’m willing to try it, even at a 10 mile detour.
Pull into Delta. Door says closed…I stop anyway. Closed for lunch 12 to 1. Guy at desk with napkin tucked in collar (Really!) We holler through the door, but I can’t hear a thing and he’s not cracking that door. He’s pointing east to the back of the lot or the Sierras. I say “No Problem….just wanted a top off…and I skedaddle. I see a few other propane signs, but I’d rather freeze on a mountain top or have all my food spoil at this point. I assume I have a couple of days to recover and get propane before the second tank is done. That’s a Randy Asperger Meltdown. Well hidden, but still disabling.
Off I go to the east…one finger punching buttons on my PC, checking the Steets and Maps directions, the other checking current location on the GPS, adding CD’s to the miz and still on the PC for music( the inverter cries later).
Pahrump Nevada….across the bla6zing desert. No kidding. 100 plus. Plus a lot. According to Billy in Pahrump, probably plus 18. It seemed like 120. AC going, but I don’t want to waste fuel, so I use it intermittently. First I get really sweaty. Then I close the windows and crank it up. Then I get sweaty again. Is this healthy?
Pahrump is a typical Nevada border town. Welcome-Casino. Where’s the RV park? I remember Terrible’s is a park with a Passport America discount (50%) and I pass Terrible Town Casino and RV Park. I stop and check the PC for a number, and call and they have space and I say be there in 1 minute.
In the parking lot, and no RV park and I call and she says she thought I might be in the wrong Terribles. Dirrections to the right one, miles away. As I head into the desolate desert, I call again and say “Are you sure?” She assures me it is just ahead, and it is and I stop and Billy the night security guy checks me in and I set up…
And I step on the plastic bag with the tomatoes from the garden.
And I decide that diner better include squashed tomatoes. Four squashed tomatoes. With salad dressing. I’m full. I checked out the buffet(and the casino), but I’m full.
Back at the camper, I have a dad and two daughters fishing at the lake (a really, really nice RV park) and decide to try my luck. Got a bluegill but none of the big bass Billy promised me were there.
(aside – just realized I can listen to music on the PC while typing…It’s 9:00 on a Saturday and the regular crowd shuffles in..)
I just forgot what state I am in!
Navaho Country…ARIZONA/Utah.
In bed at 9:00 pm, exhausted trying to figure out what regular folks do. Easier to just say “I must be tired…I drove all day.” No real sleep until early morning hours.
Got the coffee pot out, but couldn’t find the filters and decided that was an entrée to the mini mart. Who the fuck needs an entrée to a mini mart? Me. Got coffee, and gas and there’s a big ol’ propane tank with a big ol’ “PROPANE” sign, but I can’t yet. Mentioned to time this particular melt-down. But I did handle the first pump with no display, and the the backed up to second that refused my card and the clerk who didn’t understand, and the requirement that I name an amount because “fill-up” is no good, but I’ll only be charged what the receipt outside says and then the machine says see clerk for receipt which I got, but I have no idea whatsoever what it said and I’m afraid to reach in my pocket to see. I looked and I don’t have it. Whew!
How many hours thinking about the fact that a trailer with two wheels is less stable than a trailer on an 18 wheeler with 12 wheels. And gas mileage and AC and surfaces of highways and the occasional thought about sand in the desert. Skip lunch to put the miles on or to avoid the decision of what to eat?
Day two was a lot like day one. Miles and gas stops and maps and music and traffic and worry about whether there will be a camping space when I get there, wherever there is. I’m pretty sure I’ll drive all night before I try something new.
Navaho Country. Tuba City. Called from the road so I had a space reserved. Pull in and register and pay the $5 deposit for the handle to turn on water at the site, and yes I do need a card key to the bathroom. Setting up is hard. I must be tired. Levelling is tough. All set. Unhook. Watch the trailer run about 5 feet because I forgot to chock the wheels. It stops. Back 5 more times to hook up again and move it, to find it is too far from the water for my 25 foot hose so I hook up again and back it up and up on the blocks to level and CHOCK THE MOTHERFUCKING WHEELS and unhook and the electric cord is too short but I have an extension cord and now it’s time to cook!
Restaurant sounds good, but that’s people and decisions and fat.
Chopped veggies and salad and a couple of franks with some cheese. I’m OK now.
But the fridge wasn’t lit! It’s 8:00 and I got here at 4 pm…I’ll check it several more times before bed.
Getting tired of writing. I’ll head to the front office where there’s a wifi connection and post this.