The wind kicked up today in Quartzsite. Not at all unusual, what's unusual is that it's been calm for a long time. Then it gets cold, freezing at night, for the next week. I went down to Yuma last week for a few days, then came back up to meet Steve and Sandy who were passing through. It's still relatively quiet in town, but after christmas things will pick up fast. Tomorrow I'll move into one of the bigger areas, my "usual" spot.
In a few weeks, pot will be legal and regulated in California, which marks an important benchmark in the history of de-prohibition, if not the most important. It will take 5 to 10 years before we can even see the impacts, intended and otherwise. The California rules for a large part are innovative and haven't been tried anywhere else, but I think one of the biggest "inventions" was to push down specific conditions and approvals to the local...
I'm an advocate of regulated legal marijuana and have been waiting to hear of illegal grows uncovered in the state. Yesterday 50 illegal growing sites were raided in southwestern Washington, yielding 32,000 plants worth $80 million dollars. Chinese nationals were implicated in an organized crime manner. 32,000 plants occupy a bit over an acre of space. A legal "large" grow in Washington is about 2/3 acre, and there are around 400 of them, so...
I was looking for some strange behavior from my electrical system and found it in a bad battery. Those batteries are about 11 years old, more than I expected to get. I'll replace the 4 next week. Meanwhile I'm fine on 2 batteries, especially since sunny is the forecast forever. Naturally I'm at VFW/BLM watching trains.
It's quiet here, just the way I like it. For those not yet in the southwest, the sunrises and sunsets have been spectacular this week; I come to the desert to see colors in the sky that are no where else. The RVs and vendors are dribbling in everyday, and about half of the seasonal businesses have opened. This is my chance to check out the stores before they get busy and eat at restaurants which will be packed in a few weeks. Gasoline is now...
In 2016, 8 of 9 states that had citizen initiatives for either medical or recreational marijuana passed them, but the initiative in Arizona to enact fully legal cannabis failed by a small margin. Kevin Sabet of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, a professional opponent of all things cannabis, took on the state and won. He was greatly aided by a $500,000 contribution from John Kapoor, founder of Insys Pharmaceuticals of Chandler, AZ, and noted for...
Well, here I am again. I did the desert from Vegas to Q, which I think is the least interesting place around. Big solar farms, though. I'm not sure what my plans are, but I'll hang out here for a short while anyway.
All of a sudden I had twice the living space I had grown accustomed to over the last 7 weeks. Schmidt RV Repair took care of everything while I was sitting here in dry camp. It now works even better than it did when it was new, and I no longer have to fight it every single time like I have been doing for a good 8 years. I like dropping in on Pahrump, but it gets old real fast. I'll be happy to get out of here. I'll be stopping somewhere around...
Besides the state itself, more than 500 other government entities are now working on local rules that govern the commercial cannabis market with a January 1 2018 implementation date. The state itself has already admitted it won't be finished, but will be issuing temporary licenses. For those locales that can't finish, they usually opt to ban the whole market until they can get around to it. I'd be surprised to hear of another plant species that...
I discovered my slide problem the day I left Chimacum, coming up on two months ago. Once I figured out I could travel without using it, I looked for a repair place that met these criteria: 1. A town I liked. 2. The weather will be good while I'm waiting for parts. 3. Somebody actually wants to do the work. I hit that combination here in Pahrump, so I'm in for the game. One of the techs lives here at the SKP park so he can't forget me, and it's...
After a day one of my trailer tires was flat. I figured a slow leak from a nail, aired it up and took it into Big O. The problem was a cracked wheel, likely my fault for hitting a curb on a turn. I have a spare wheel that matches the broken one, but had to buy a generic wheel for a spare. No biggie, but I've been enjoying a long stretch with no running gear problems. I have an odd rig parked next to me. It's a Lance travel trailer about 25 feet,...