Day one. I hit the highway to the venue with nine miles to go at 12:15, and at about ten miles per hour or less called it good at 3 PM. Not bad. First order of business was to help Jim, a first-timer, set up his tent. In the wind. With near-zero visibility because of the dust. Jim was very creative in packing his Lexus, but the stuff he brought won't survive the week. Day two. The rain woke me at 3 AM. 5 vehicles were parked at my front door,...
The gates open a day early this year, and I'm only about 2 hours away, so I'm heading there this morning. As usual, I don't know what kind of internet there will be. I might be able to see email, but may not post on my blog. My plan is to land in Fallon next Sunday or Monday. Weather looks very favorable for the week, but dust is always present.
I wanted an extra day in my travel to Burning Man in case fires delayed me or forced a long detour, but that won't be necessary so I've got a day in La Pine. There is a lot to do in this area, basically the caldera of a huge volcano. This is classic Oregon high desert, it will be below 40 tonight. A nice break up in the mountains before returning to the hot Nevada desert. As a reminder, Burning Man takes place in the Black Rock Desert in the NW...
I spent the day just driving the valley, looking at the crops that flourish here. Apples, of course, then pears, peaches, corn, tomatoes, melons, hops and mint. The nice thing about Yakima is that it's at it's best growing food for humans, so the corn is sweet corn. I see more hop fields this year, perhaps displacing grapes. There are fewer wineries than in the past, a couple of my favorites aren't there anymore. Last week the two big hop...
Always a favorite place of mine. The first stop is always the tavern to see many old friends and my brother. It doesn't take a lot of beers to get caught up on what's going on in Yakima, as things move pretty slow here. Jo and Ken were in the SW with their motorhome last winter. They had sold the tavern where we gather at and bought the RV a few years ago, and we've been chatting about the lifestyle since then. After this winter they decided to...
It's been an eventful summer for me: I gained a new granddaughter, got a lot at the Escapee Park, bought a boat, and enjoyed a week at Point Hudson. On Monday I go to Yakima for a few days, then head to Burning Man near Reno. I'm looking forward to Yakima, Toppenish is where I park, and it's farm fields filled with the freshest and best fruit and vegetables in the nation right now. And the valley is flat, surrounded by brown hills with no trees....
For seven years I've traveled with absolutely everything I own in my house on wheels, or in my truck. If something new came in, something old had to go out. It was very simple and worked very well. Then I got a lot with a shed. Now the stuff doesn't haven't to go out never to be seen again, it can go into the shed! That leaves a surprisingly large amount of space in my house that I can fill with stuff!. Then, move it to the shed next year! With...
The Washington law is quite thorough, even onerous at times. There's one clause in it that everyone recognizes as insane: A person is allowed 72 ounces of marijuana-infused liquid. This was likely a copy and paste clause from the liquor rules. Generally speaking, a marijuana infusion is a concentrate, and a concentrate is the ultimate molecule without the plant matter. In Yakima, hops and mint are processed to concentrates, the valuable...
The Liquor Control Board has issued 164 grower's licenses, and 43 retailer licenses so far in Washington State. Few of those store licenses have actually opened, and when they have there is very little product available for sale. So why has it taken so long, compared to Colorado? Colorado had a licensed medical infrastructure in place which they felt was under control enough they could just convert them to retail. Washington did not have a...
Writers from Colorado are referring to Washington's process of regulating as failed or botched, and I can see why they think that. Coloradans voted to legalize in November, and by January product was for sale everywhere in Colorado. The first and only retail store in Seattle opened in July, and since has sold at best just a few pounds. Colorado had a lightly-controlled, loosely-regulated medical marijuana industry in place, and the powers that...
The New York Times has been running a series on marijuana, which I highly recommend as excellent background on the business of legal cannabis products. The comparison of existing regulations in WA and CO is especially good to highlight the differences in how regulation might be done. I would add one other point to the comparison: residency requirements. WA requires licensees be residents for 3 months, while CO requires 2 years. I think WA was...
The membership meeting was today at the SKP park, quite entertaining though I would have gladly missed it. As it, most of the agenda items got pushed off into September and I won't be here for that one. Someone proposed we remodel the kitchen, but only a few people voted for that because we don't have the money to fix our broken septic systems, much more important to us right now. That saved me a few hundred dollars. And we jiggered the books to...