More photos recovered from PhotoBucket. The blog is a good place for safe keeping.
Isam, our driver in Khartoum, Sudan:
Cell phone store in Khartoum:
Posting miscellaneous photos from PhotoBucket.
Finial approach for landing EIOB in Sub-Saharan Africa (North Sudan)
Several years ago Photobucket changed their terms of service and slapped a "Photobucket" logo across the stored photos unless you paid a fee to download your photos. I figured my stored photos were lost as I refused to pay the fee. I don't know what changed but recently Photobucket is allowing the photos to be downloaded without the logo.
I've downloaded many of the stored photos. It is still a slight problem because of the extension, Gimp does not recognize the file as a photo but at least I can view the photo and even publish them. Over the next few days I will post some of the recovered photos.
Maggie in Rocky Point, Mexico asking for anybody to play her game:
Is Sawmill Creek woodworking site dying? While I do not spend a lot of time checking on it every time I do there are very few folks logged in, lately around 50 or so. Of course I check infrequently and it may be the times I do check but that's not a lot of traffic.
In any Eden there is usually a serpent. Good management will take care of the problem before the apple is eaten. Makes you proud to be associated with the system.
The girl child, hubby, and first grandchild have joined us for several days before they head back to Houston. MsBubba is in heaven.
I've been looking at older 40' ForeTravel motorhomes. If we do end up doing this Guest Hosting gig full or near full time I expect we will step up from 34' to 40'.
We had a Park Host spaghetti pot luck dinner last night, what a great group of folks to work with. One of the problems with getting old is over time losing social life. Jobs end, friends die, move on, and change. John Prine wrote a song (I believe called "Hello in There") about getting older that brings tears almost every time I hear it. The Host Family is from many walks and places and changes often but is very tight and often visit other parks and of course return from year to year.
See you on down the road,
ken
This year's Cape Lookout gig is one week shy of half over. Time flies.
Today is cold, gray, and windy. Here is a photo of the street where I've lived for the past two months:
On a normal July day the road would be full of kids on almost everything with wheels. It is amazing to watch kids as young as two pushing scooters, skateboards, and bicycles down the road. One group has an electric "jeep" that I've seen carrying seven and most had bicycle helmets on.
With retirement I no longer wish to afford the $50+ US dollars a month that Adobe charges for the "Creative Cloud". Instead I'm using Gimp instead of Photoshop and Light Room. I've used Photoshop almost from the first of the digital age and know it, Gimp not so much. If the page or photos load too slowly let me know so I can dig around in Gimp and fix the problem.
ken
For some reason my black water system has been plugging up every two or three dumps. Not sure the reason. Our routine hasn't changed, the TP is RV approved but it could be different, the brand changes often. Other than that not a clue. But whatever it has been a PITA.
One of the things I will try is dumping a little earlier at a little more than half a tank so I can run back wash water a little longer. In other words I'm lost as to a fix.
In a week we will be half thru the Cape Lookout gig, it sure goes fast. Humbug Mountain the month of October then November and December up near Coos Bay. We are booked to return to Cape Lookout next year. We are not sure about January to May, maybe Tucson or Texas.
See y'all on down the road,
ken
I'm reading Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth. If you have any interest in the history of Texas it is a great read. As I have posted before my family was in Texas before Texas was Texas and BTW it wasn't that long ago. The book is an example of CRT and makes the case that preserving slavery was the driving force behind Texas leaving Mexico and and becoming an independent nation for 10 years before joining the States as a slave State. Of interest to me as I've always been proud of my family history of civil rights work is were the early Maverick family slave holders. I have doubts as they were ranchers in the San Antonio area and the slave holders were mostly cotton farmers on the coastal bottom land of Central and East Texas. But I did grow up on the family West Texas cotton farm.
Last night we walked to the beach shortly after Sunset. The Sun was still lighting the scattered clouds and a New Moon was setting with Venus just below the Moon to the right, breath taking beauty.
ken
This is our Host Site at Cape Lookout:
It is a very short walk to the beach from our site. Once on the beach Cape Lookout is to the left and it is a half mile or so walk to the base of the Cape. When the tide is out there are deep pools along the base of the Cape. The pools are Sweet Maggie Dog's favorite place to swim and dive for rocks.
To the rear of the coach is a fire ring with enough room for two couples and Maggie Dog to enjoy the fire with drinks and telling stories, some may even have an element of truth.
Living in the coach is like living in a small one bedroom apartment. It has everything needed,. About the only thing I miss is no dishwasher but even that is no biggie. One of us has to wash dishes several times a day to keep the mess down.
The current motorhome is 34', if we end up doing this full time or near full time I expect we will go to a 40 footer. It is not needed but the extra space (and a dishwasher) would be nice.
See y'all on down the road,
ken
For the first time MsBubba said "it may be time to sell the Tucson house". The nomad life ain't too bad if you can stay in State Parks for a month or more at a time.
One of the things I'm figuring out is packing for a trip with multiple stops and short stays is different from the needs when there are few moves and long stays in one place. Kitchen needs are one of the big differences. With short stays, sandwiches and a bag of chips works but with longer stays more kitchen gadgets are needed to stave off food boredom. BTW, we had great fish and chips for lunch cooked on the new from Amazon outdoor propane burner. Desert was a homemade mincemeat pie, mincemeat also from Amazon.
That is one of the advantages of longer stays and Amazon, Amazon can catch up with you and most of the things you didn't pack can be had in a day or two. For now we can store excess "stuff" under a 10' EZ-Up, next year or later this year we could need a second one for use as a shop.
The one thing Amazon can't fix is not bringing the workbench. Oh well, next year or after a pass thru Tucson whichever happens first.
See you'll on down the road,
ken
Heat in Canada, can you believe 118F.
By shear luck we are parked in one of the few places in the West were the Temps are livable. We were originally booked to spend the month of June in Rouge River State Park just outside Medford, Oregon where it was well over 100F over the weekend. I'm not sure how hot the weekend was here but it was very comfortable both day and night. Just over the front range a totally different story.
Over the weekend Cape Lookout State Park had to close the day use area before noon and only let in new folks as others left. Many Oregon homes do not have AC and the only good options are to head for the coast or a hotel.
It may be time to sell the Tucson house while we can.
ken
While Portland, Oregon is forecast to be over 100F over the next few days, on the coast not too far West the WX is cool and close to perfect. Here is a photo of the coast to the North side of Cape Meares from close to the Lighthouse.
Maggie loves it here with daily walks on the beach. Her favorite activity is retrieving rocks from tide pools.
She is showing her age, this my be her last rodeo. Where before she could retrieve 10 lb rocks now about the heaviest is 4 or 5 lbs. Whatever she is having a great time and we are enjoying her joy.
MsBubba and I got a kick out of a "heat advisory" for Pacific City when the forecast high for the day is 77F.
ken
It is finally here. Although I've advocated for a Juneteenth holiday for years I never thought I would live to see it happen. Oh happy day!
I was first aware of Juneteenth because back in the 50's My Dad's shop handyman always had June 19th off. When I asked about it I was told Juneteenth was a Negro holiday. I didn't think too much about it at the time but once in college I learned Juneteenth celebrated General Granger freeing the Texas slaves a couple of years after the end of the Civil War.
In a just world June 19th would be on a level with July 4th because like July 4th celebrates our freedom from British rule, Juneteenth celebrates our freedom from the rule of slavery, of our nation taking the first step towards living up to "The Declaration of Independence".
Happy Juneteenth everyone,
ken
I'm not sure how other states approach volunteer Camp Hosts but with Oregon it is a pretty formal process with background checks and lots of online learning. Once on the job each State Campground sets the job as needed for that Campground.
Our current assignment is Park Maintenance and cleaning Yurts after use. I have a nice "Zero Radius" mower to ride and the Yurt cleaning is about 15 minutes per. We usually spend 3 to 4 hours a day piddling at both jobs. One thing stands out, about 95% of the campers leave the camp sites and Yurts as found, the other 5% or so not so much.
One of the major reasons I did not bring the workbench this time was the time needed for Camp Host duties, it was a smart move. The Host duties take just enough time to care for boredom but not enough to be a problem and the social life among the Hosts is very nice.
For folks of a certain age (retired) it is a great deal. First, you get a prime campsite with full hookups for the duration of your hosting duties plus free sites while in-route. One of the big problems with RV'ing is both the cost and availability of parking places. Last Summer we had to move sites every second or third day and a few times every day even while remaining in the same campground. While changing sites in a motorhome is easy compared to other RV's it is still a PITA.
Bottom line there is a chance we may become "full timers" and as one of the hosts put it "follow 60F to 70F WX around the States", camp hosting where we can. If you enjoy social life and do not want the solitude of Boondocking, Camp Hosting can be a cheaper way to full time RV living.
See you guys on down the road,
ken
When we first started planing the Summer trip, our plan was to Camp Host for a month in five different Oregon State Parks. That changed once in the Cape Lookout State Park. The Park Ranger offered us four months Camp Hosting in the same camp site. A beautiful place with cool WX even mid Summer, no diesel fuel to get to a new camp and no breaking and re-setting up camp for four months. Yes was a no brainer.
The view of Cape Lookout from one of the cabins:
Back in my old stomping grounds. There are still two days before we need to be in Cape Lookout State Park so last night was spent parked in the Evergreen Air and Space Museum's parking lot. The Museum's parking lot is a great place to almost boon dock. Last night we had Grilled Salmon, rice and a nice salad on the tarmac next to the RV.
Evergreen was a love/hate job, I loved the work, hated the company. The flying was the most interesting of any job I had but the company was the worse managed of any company I worked for or even knew of. I flew both the GIV and several different LearJets for the company headquarters. You never knew where or even which part of the world you would be in next, many times the destination decisions were made at the last minute before takeoff or even while airborne. Dale Smith (RIP) was one of the last of the old school aviation pioneers. Dale was a brilliant innovator but a total asshole to work for, the old saying at Evergreen was "you were fired the day you were hired, You just didn't know the date yet".
If you have any interest in aviation you owe yourself a visit to the Evergreen Air and Space Museum if for no other reason than the 747 water park slide and a chance to climb over the Spruce Goose.
While the trip up is long and slow, this time we came a different way. Up through the Nevada desert instead of either Hwy 99 or I-5 thru California's central valley and nearly 700 miles of some of the worst roads in the States. We did 500 miles the first day and spent the night in a rest area north of Vegas. The second night was after another 400 miles of mostly desert in a Susanville, CA Walmart parking lot. As bad as that sounds, it was one of the better places to spend a night.
After The Susanville Walmart we made it to southern Oregon and spent a couple of nights in a commercial RV park next to Fish Lake, mostly so we could "dump" the black water tanks and use shore power.
Tomorrow starts a two month assignment as Camp Hosts in Cape Lookout, Should be interesting.
There will be little or no woodworking content for the next five months. We leave for Oregon on the 24th or 25th and if things go as planned will not return to Tucson until the second week of November. Because of the length of the trip I have limited room to haul tools and workbenches so that part of the packing is still to be decided.
Over the five months in Oregon we will stay in four Oregon State Parks and Campgrounds. Two of the Parks are inland on either a river or a lake and two are on the coast.
It should be interesting, I hope MsBubba and I do not kill the other after five months of living in a motorhome. It could be touch and go.
ken
I was up and having morning coffee in time to catch some of the Saguaro blooms.
ken
Saguaro cactus only grow in the Sonoran Desert. Our house is on the edge of the Saguaro National Park, West, so there are lots of Saguaros cactus in our neighborhood. We only have one on our lot but in any direction you look out over the gully, it is covered with Saguaro's. This is the time of year when the desert cactus bloom and set fruit. It is also feast time for all the critters as well as the indigenous folks that lived in the desert. Early American Use of Saguaro cactus
Anyway, a lot of BS just so I can show a photo of our Saguaro cactus blooms on one of the arms, each arm will have a like ring:
The buds open at night to the early part of the day revealing the white flower with a yellow pollen ring on the inside. Once the flower opens it is feat time for the birds and bees. I forget to add the Bats which share the range of the Saguaro.
The SIL wants me to make four box like things for him and he gave me the wood to use. There is no problem with making the box like objects but the wood is some of the softest Ceder I've ever tried to use. You look at it hard and it tears out. I keep telling myself it is not furniture, just four small box like "things".
ken
MsBubba hates to go anywhere by car or truck that is more than a couple of hours, so she flew to Houston a few days before Sweet Maggie Dog and I drove down in the truck and will fly back on the 20th. It is not a bad trip, close to my maximum for one day, about 16 or so hours if you are not pushing hard and pushing hard is difficult when traveling with either MsBubba or a dog. It is strange, on a motorcycle 24 hours or more is a piece of cake but in a nice A/C truck with no wind or noise and 15 hours kicks your butt. Go figure.
It was good to see the two peanuts that are no longer peanuts, damn they grow fast. Sweet Maggie Dog got to swim in the Gulf, I tried to deplete the boy child's liquor stock, which is impossible as his day job is selling wholesale liquor, but is fun to try. I also did most of my usual Texas food hunts, not as many as I wished but still enough to hold till the next trip.
The one downer and it had nothing to do with the trip, both the boy child who has only had one of the two shots and Abby have tested positive for Covid 19. Abby was exposed by her day care. Even though I've had both shots I will quarantine for the next 6 days.
I did bring a wood working project home, The son-in-law just installed four metal beams to hold a roof over the back patio and wants four small wooden "boxes" to cover the mounts. He had the wood and showed me his tools, I bought the wood home where there is at least a chance to project will work. BTW, he did have a chisel, a block plane of some sort, and a plastic handled backsaw for working wood. He does a good job with metal but needs help with wood.
