Marty's Travels

My house has wheels

Fires

I spend a lot of time on US101 and in the communities that are burning now in Northern California. Following this disaster is very, very disturbing because I know the highways and roads and the terrain so well. I watched all night when the Kincade fire started and was shocked, but that was nothing compared to the last several hours. Seeing what 70mph winds do to a fire is downright scary. For 24-hour live coverage, try . Now, overlaid on the...

Yuma

I'm in Yuma now, at the VFW/BLM spot. I intend to get a few errands done, and find someone to do some RV work. It remains to be seen whether I can succeed at everything I want. But I figure I'll be here about a week before deciding on my next step.

A Quartzsite Pot Shop?

Not in Quartzsite, but in Blythe, California. I've been waiting since CA legalized to see where the nearest store to Q would be, as it would get a lot of business in December and January. The Prime Leaf opened 2 months ago, just behind the Albertson's on 7th. It's the first fully-legal shop on I-10 when traveling eastbound, and has easy on and off freeway access, plus adequate parking. Arizona is a medical state, a very weak medical state, but...

Wha?

Columbus Day, the holiday, has always baffled me. At one time I got the day off from work. Now I see that according to Google maps Interstate 10 is the Christopher Columbus Transcontinental Highway. It completely escapes me how Columbus has anything to do with that road.

Baker, CA

Baker is along I-15, halfway between Las Vegas and Barstow. It's a great entrance to the Mojave National Preserve, a large piece of desert. I've never set foot on this preserve, and don't know much about what a preserve even is. Presumably any protection or conservation of the area is at risk in favor of oil and gas extraction, so I'm looking forward to seeing it now.

Vaping

At this point we don't know what is causing the illnesses "associated" with vaping. We don't know if it's e-juice for nicotine devices, nicotine cartridges or pods, marijuana cartridges or pods, or whether it's the oils or flavorings. It's not very comforting to see our elected leaders jump on banning vaping or flavors or anything without knowing one iota about the facts. Worse is those leaders completely neglected the ramifications and...

Life in Death Valley

The expected storm did come through, but not as bad as was forecast. I got dusted, but just a bit. Tomorrow I go "topside". I've observed there are about 5 times as many rental RVs as owned units here. That portends a lot of Euro and Asian tourists in the Southwest parks this year. The park doesn't officially start operating until next week. Meanwhile there are limited human resources, notably park rangers. I haven't seen a single one since...

Furnace Creek

One wouldn't normally select Death Valley as a place to wait out a storm, but I'm doing just that until maybe Friday. It's in the 90's right now, but tomorrow the wind will pick up (50 mph), kicking up a lot of dust, but dropping the temps a bit. I had a hard time getting my modem to find a phone network, which can happen here but I'm near the visitor center and expected to get at last something. I finally forced the Mifi to look for a 3G...

Bishop, CA

I'm near Bishop in a BLM campground for a night. 395 is always an interesting and scenic drive, one of my favorite routes. Tomorrow I head to Death Valley. It will be 101 degrees when I get there, but on Wednesday a cold front will come through dropping temperatures down to 79. I always enjoy DV, and this time I'll try to find a parking spot at the Furnace Creek campground which is no-reservation until next week when the official season opens....

Reno, NV

Actually, I'm closer to Carson City at Washoe Lake State Park, an old favorite of mine. I got an early start and the weather and traffic was good so I kept going through CA without even stopping for gas. I did get stopped at the CA Agricultural inspection station, and my RV and refrigerator searched, the first time that has happened to me. I had stopped in front of a dumpster, so I took the opportunity to grab my garbage and empty it. "Sir, the...