Marty's Travels

My house has wheels

A run through Nevada

It's cold at night around here (Reno), and the weather service is warning of a winter storm coming in later this week. Time to head south. The goal is Pahrump, NV where I can dry-camp at the SKP park there. I've taken this route a few times; long and boring, but a lot of cheap or free places to park along the way. Pretty much the ultimate in Nevada desert driving. Weather is perfect...

Pot in Nevada

Cannabis grows best when nights are cool (not cold), days are warm (not hot), the air is damp (not dry), and irrigation water is readily available. Technology can compensate for the deficiencies, but at a potentially huge hit on natural resources and money. The Pacific Northwest is the standard for ideal conditions, Nevada has to be the model for the worst. But cannabis is retail-legal here, though stores are very scarce state-wide. All efforts...

Books in Grass Valley

Grass Valley has a bookstore that's different from others I've seen. BookTown Books is a single storefront with about 20 smaller stores within it. Like an antique mall. Each of the sellers is quite sloppy with their organization which makes finding anything specific damn hard. Then, each tends to some eclectic genres, or unusual collections. Come prepared to browse for a long time. I actually found a title I've been after for some time, so it...

Pot regulation in Washington

For some dubious reasons, Washington state wanted to replace it's seed-to-sale tracking system for the marijuana licensees. After some more bungling, the contract for the old software expires on the 31st, but the new software won't be ready then. All operators will need to keep manual records, and submit them later. This is going to be a master screw-up. Seed-to-sale tracks every gram of cannabis from the time it's a seedling to the package in...

Grass Valley

It was a great drive into the Sacramento River watershed, a monstrous area kept wet for the migrating birds. Millions of birds. Now I'm climbing the Sierra Nevada, and hanging for a few days in Grass Valley. The town is cute and thriving, and I'm staying at the fairgrounds rv park which is quite nice. Unfortunately cannabis is not an appreciated plant around here, which seems to be an opportunity missed.

Warmth

After a week of rain and cold, I'm in Red Bluff where it will be 90 tomorrow. I'm interested in getting out of CA as quickly as possible to Reno, but if the weather is good I'll take in some scenic routes in the mountains.

Grumbling Locals

Wherever you go in this part of the country (cannabis farms) you hear complaints from the citizens about the "trimmigrants", casual labor that follows the marijuana harvest. I have to admit I can see their point here in Ashland. There are a lot of "different" folk hanging out downtown, camping in the woods, and parking their crappy rv's and campers on the streets. Actual disturbances by them are minimal, though not zero. I prefer to call these...

Some Pot Numbers

Though all numbers about marijuana are guesses, some are better than others. California produces about 13 million pounds of marijuana a year. It itself consumes about 3 million pounds. That ratio is about the same in Oregon, though the quantities are a bit lower. The in-state consumption is regulated as "legal", the remainder is exported to the non-legal states. In California, about 10% of the known operators are expected to become fully legal...

Ashland, OR

My favored spot, a county park just out of town, was booked by a group. After some looking around I landed in an RV park I'd never pick next to I-5, and it's pricey to boot. The idea is to wait out the rain for a few days, maybe several. I'm ten miles from Ashland, and ten miles from Medford, in Phoenix. It is the exact geographic center of the most productive marijuana county in Southern Oregon. You can't tell, except there seems to be a lot of...

A Change in Plans

I can dodge the rain for a day or two if I head to I-5 sooner rather than later. So tomorrow I go to Reedsport then cut east to Sutherlin, where I'll dry camp for the night. Then, maybe go to Ashland, where the rain will catch up with me. The idea is to avoid Northern California on 101. There aren't any imminent fire problems, but until they get rain, I'll go around.

Newport, OR

While I decided to avoid the Northern CA thing because of the fire danger, I'm looking now at routes over the Coast Range to avoid some rain. I think I've got a day of nice weather to see the touristy spot here, then the game becomes dodging rain storms. Every ten or fifteen minutes along 101 in Oregon brings another breathtaking view. I've seen them many times, but every visit is different because of the weather. Tillamook Bay was filled with...

Garibaldi, OR

Garibaldi is a sport fishing town on the north end of Tillamook Bay, a very different place than the tourist spot of Seaside. I'll spend the weekend here then head to Newport. I've been watching far too closely the fires in Northern California. It was looking pretty good this afternoon, but the forecasts called for increased winds. There've been some great rain showers around here lately, I wish they would move south...