Walt's Corner

To prepare for one of this year’s road trips, Spring Break 2023 we’ll call it, I parked the runabout in the front yard the weekend prior. Gives us plenty of time to slowly pack during the week. Do the grocery shopping, etc. I left the task of filling up the fresh water tank to the day of. Keep that water fresh. Just our luck the fire department decided to play around with some of the hydrants in our area, turning the water murky. We had to let that run clear, but eventually still shoving off before 5PM, Friday, March 10^th. I enjoy traveling in around 200 mile increments. Keeps it fun without being exhausting.

Final destination for this adventure was Black Rock Campground, Joshua Tree National Park, next to Yucca Valley, CA. The plan was to slowly and comfortably make our 733-mile trek for a Monday check-in. I refer to our travels as jumps. I travel someplace in the Lance, park, slide out, stay at least one night, slide back in, and go. That’s a jump in my books. This adventure consists of Jumps 191-197.

Jump 191. Friday night was to be in a nice New Mexican rest area with shelters. Pretty much a campground built into a rest area just west of Deming, NM along the I-10 corridor. It’s a perfect stop for the night if we leave El Paso in the evening. Gives us a good 150-mile head start on the trip instead of leaving Saturday morning. This time around that west-bound rest area was shut down due to highway construction along I-10. The east-bound counterpart was still open and spaces available so we ended up turning around at the next exit and a spending the night on the I-10E rest area. Waking up whenever we do, usually around 7AM thanks to the fur-babies who have an internal clock. Pour-over brewed coffee with a toasted bagel smothered in some garlic cream cheese for breakfast. Leaving Saturday morning we only had to backtrack about 4 miles before making forward progress again.

Jump 192. Saturday’s plan was to stay at Picacho Peak State Park, AZ, just north of Tuscan, AZ. No such luck on this Saturday of Spring Break. I figured. Tried to make reservations a few months ago online but no dice. They do have some sites that are not for reservation and we can usually get one one of those. When we turned off the exit for Picacho Peak, it was an immediate line to get into the park. Then we noticed the sign that said the campground was full. Went down the road to an RV-Resort only to be met with a “No Vacancy” sign. Back to I-10W. About 10 miles down the road there was a KOA. Exited. Made our way to the kampground. There wasn’t a sign that said No Vacancy. The office was closed for lunch. Ended up getting the last site available. The staff told us it was only a 20amp hookup, no water or sewer. I said that was perfect. Had no intention of using any electricity or water. First time readers can get an idea of our solar array/battery power here – we don’t require any power, fully self contained. We just wanted a nice spot to stay for the night. It’s an award-winning KOA. All the usual amenities you’d expect from a $50/night KOA. Same morning scenario – wake up when we wake up. Pour-over brewed coffee with yogurt then hitting the open road again.

Jump 193. Sunday was supposed to be around Quartzite, AZ, and didn’t disappoint. There is plenty of BLM (Bureau of Land Management) area here. I had intended on staying at the Hi Jolly BLM (top-rated, according to google maps) but somehow had saved the coordinates in the GPS for the next one north – Plomosa Road BLM. Even better. Disbursed camping. This left us about 160 miles to our final destination. The campground host was off until Tuesday. We were only there for 1 night. I guess it’ll be like we were never there. You’d think they’d have a self-registration table set up for when the campground host is off. Beautiful sunsets in Quartzite. Woke up with the dogs. Pour-over coffee with pancakes for breakfast and back on the road.

Jump 194. We were at our final destination before 1300 on Monday. Confusing layout of the campground, especially when they publish the map with north pointing downward. The fuck is that all about? Site 76. Larger RVs with slides are not recommended due to the Joshua Tree in the site but we fit perfectly in our 23 foot Lance. Site is not level but easily leveled with our Anderson Levelers. Dumpsters are conveniently located throughout the park as are fresh water spigots. Roads are very narrow but passable. It rained Tuesday night through Wednesday but Thursday was a beautiful day. Plenty of hiking opportunities abound. There is a dump station with fresh water. We dumped and filled to 2/3 on the fresh water side to last the rest of the trip.

A few years ago we stayed at the interior of Joshua Tree at the Cottonwood campground. A whole different experience. That was a sandy desert. At the spot we stayed this year at the most north-western portion of the park, the elevation is much higher. More moisture. Cooler temps. The Joshua trees are the biggest in the park. We were able to get some good hiking in – between 4-6 miles per day.

Jump 195. We began our journey back home Friday, March 18. Allowing for a 3-day travel instead of 4, like we took to get here, these stops were a little more than my usual 200 miles per day self imposed limit. 1^st night was Constellation Park Campground in Wickenburg, AZ. 243 miles from Joshua Tree. Seemed like a nice spot to stay based off All Stays app. Designated as a community/city/county park with 32 back-in sites I think. First come, first serve. No hookups or even central water but many spacious, beautiful sites. A couple big trash bins at entrance and exit from the park to conveniently dispose of your trash on the way out. There are a few sites designated as equestrian. $8 and $12 per night for the regular and equestrian, respectively. I thought I saw a sign that said there was a 7 day limit. I could see easily charging double what they do. It’s that nice. Most sites appeared almost level. We managed to be level enough without any assistance from the Anderson Levelers. The road through is certainly not. Ups and downs!

Jump 196. 2^nd night traveling back home was the longest by far, and that was back to our regular New Mexico Rest Area we stayed at on our way to Joshua Tree. That was 363 miles, setting us up for an early arrival back home the next day. That night was windy and cold.

Jump 197. Sunday we rolled into our home city of El Paso. RV dumped, drained, and stored by noon. Another successfully planned/executed road trip across this beautiful nation of ours at 10 days/9 nights.

Time to start planning the next big trip as well as prepping for an additional component to the power system – a 60 amp DC to DC Converter. Happy Camping!

 

 

 

 

 

I love those people. They’ll knock on my office door and say, “I’m John. The one that emailed you yesterday?” Like it’s a question or something. Or, “I’m Jane. We talked on the phone last week.”

Really?

<checks email>

243 emails last week. Just at work. Yeah, I ain’t gonna remember you.

The best one happened today though. Phone rings. I answer.

Stranger: Is this Mr Walters?

Me: This is Walter Basil.

Stranger: This is Joey Bonniefoofoo. <changed name to protect the stupid>

Me: How can I help you Mr. Bonniefoofoo?

Stranger, er… Joey: It’s me, Joey Bonniefoofoo.

Me: <rolls eyes, Robert Downy Jr. style> Yes?

Joey: You gave me your business card in 2009. I had asked you about….<edited to keep you from dying of boredom because this is some really boring, complicated shit about the relationship between some federal-in-nature money and non-federal-in-nature money and… see? Your eyes are glazing over right now> …and anyways, I was just going through my wallet and found your card and wanted to call up and see if you are still there!

Me: Yup. I’m still here.

So this guy really thought I’d remember him from 2009. Buddy, I won’t remember the dude I saw this morning out of the 17 phone calls, 24 emails, and 14 in-person clients* I took care of. Unless you slapped me. I’d remember that motherfucker. Just asked Chris Rock.

*Actual statistics from before lunch today.

 

Seen on the internet recently. “I find atheists confusing. It’s like going to a restaurant and believing there’s no cook in the back.”

To which, an Elle Pohl, Me bless her soul, allegedly responded, “It’s like going to a resteraunt (sic) and ordering food, but it doesn’t come. And the waiter tells you to keep ordering because the cook will hear you and your order will come. But it’s been hours and your food still hasn’t shown up and the waiter tells you you’re not ordering hard enough. And also sometimes the waiter is inappropriate with kids.”

This wins the internet for the day. Bonus points: the waiter being inappropriate with kids is a super tasty icing on the cake.

ITunes Love

Yeah, I know it ain’t called iTunes anymore. You’ll just have to get over me calling it that. Old habits die hard, and that one is not dying at all in my vocabulary.

Been reading a lot of iTunes hate recently and I’m sure for good reason. I guess I just don’t use it enough to feel that way. At one point, I had my entire music collection ripped from my CDs. My CDs had replaced all my tapes, records, and 8-tracks. Eventually, all my new purchases were digital until there were no more purchases to make. Now that we’ve got Apple One (under one name or another) I no longer buy music.  I gorge myself on the media highway for a couple low monthly costs. I’m lazy. I don’t want to have to take the time and minimal effort of choosing something. I want something to choose it for me most of the time.

I had it all digitized, the CDs went into cold storage. After 5 years of cold storage and not once needing to grab a CD, they went into the trash. The CDs were just taking up real space in my house. I have yet to regret that. 

So how do I consume my digital music? Mainly via SiriusXM. Satellite radio. Because a 3^rd of my year is spent in areas where there is literally little-to-no cell phone service as well as no radio stations to pick up other than NOAA stations – and I’ve got them covered with my GMRS. That’ll make a music lovin’ mufucka mad af. That is why I subscribe to satellite radio. 

Since I have that satellite subscription, I also use it at the house to stream my music at night whilst sitting in my cigar lounge sippin’ whiskey and smokin’ a stogie. Channels I frequent and have programmed in the truck and favorited in the app: NPR Now, 70’s on 7, Classic Vinyl, Watercolors, The Coffee House, Symphony Hall, Octane, and Liquid Metal. Classic Vinyl and 70s being my favorites. 

While camping I’ll use iTunes on the iPhone. I’ll have it steam via bluetooth to the stereo in the RV and play over the outside speakers. Always have downloaded music on there. Until it isn’t. Sometimes songs will just disappear from a downloaded status. Uh oh.  Have I found a reason to hate on iTunes? 

Maybe 5-10 years ago, an ex-friend asked me how I used iTunes. He had music unlimited, but also subscribed to some other streaming service I don’t recall. Spotify. Pandora. Something.

So how or what do I use iTunes for? New music I guess. Remember New Movie/Music Tuesdays back in the day? I find that new music gets released anytime now. As I light up my stogie and pour my 3 fingers of my favorite bonded whiskey, I’ll check out the latest releases. Sometimes they’ll show up, sometimes they won’t. I’ll notice them months after they were released, and see they were released months ago, but they never showed up on my “Listen Now” tab. But that’s about it. After playing something new I’ll revert back to a satellite radio.

I might have a hankering for a particular artist, whether it’s old school Chicago, KC and the Sunshine Band, or Slayer. I’ll go to an album and play. iTunes will take over and continue to play like songs after finishing the album. Sometimes I’ll just let it run through whatever it decides to feed me until I’m done with that cigar and whiskey, generally 1.5-2 hours a night. Other times I’ll switch back to satellite.

Everyone has their own music preferences and where they feed those preferences from. It’s all good. Variety makes the world go ‘round.

Then there are the other 2 apps that spawned from iTunes – podcasts and TV. I have only listened to 2 podcasts. The first was called Angry Mac Bastards and can no longer be found. The 2^nd is the God Pod, which is still in production. A highly irreverent and blasphemous podcast, so of course I love it. The TV app? Rarely used. We use Amazon Firesticks for our video consumption. We cut the cable years ago and only stream our TV via streaming services and directly over the air.

I’ve always been an avid reader. The first story I can remember reading that was not a children’s book in the sense of The Velveteen Rabbit or Charlie the Choo Choo, was My Side of the Mountain, by Jean Craighead George. 4^th grade I think. During the afternoon, our teacher would pull out her book and read. Us students would pull out our copies and read along. She’d get us started and we’d run down the rows of desks, each taking our turn reading a couple pages out loud. This would go on for maybe 30-45 minutes. My favorite part of the day.

This  book is about a boy who runs away from home. I can’t recall the reasons why or anything. But I do remember he makes his way into a forest on a mountain, hollows out a huge tree to live within, and ends upraising a baby falcon. Him and the bird of prey develop a bond and together they live off the land. That’s about all I can remember from it but has stuck with me ever since. Perhaps this was a catalyst for my love of the wilderness, along with my father.

There are many opinions on the story. You either hate it or love it. “That could never happen,” being the most used excuse. To which I say, so what. It entertained me. It led me through a fantastic journey of the mind, which is the fundamental goal of any good story.

About once a decade, this book makes a reappearance in my life. This was one of those times. This particular fellow also read it as a child and dreamed of having his own falcon one day. His dreams have come true. Well played, old man. Well played.

My current adventure is Grady Hendrix’s How to Sell a Haunted House.