Occupation of Independence

Why did it take so many years to learn how to warm up in the morning, after camping through a chilly night?  Shrugging the neck and shoulders works wonders.  I have already done that a few times this autumn. Consider this humble accomplishment as encouragement to find other ways to improve winter camping.  What else have I overlooked?  Every autumn I talk tough about camping in cooler locations in order to avoid the overcrowded camping locations in the Southwest that are known to everybody.  And then I surrender to the inevitable: the same old places, with a van every 50 feet slamming their door 50 times a day; or a giant 5th wheel trailer, with its Harbor Freight 6 Kilowatt generator roaring away.  Gawd, I hate neighbors when camping. Every winter, the superb weather of the lower Southwest grabs me.  It is still possible to find camping that is tolerable, if not exactly inspiring. At least I have surrendered on a reluctance to use propane heat.  A Mr. Buddy heater works well enough. A

It must be a real disappointment to most new RVers to see how suddenly the world snaps from hot to cold.  Most people probably fantasize about moving their wheeled house to make autumn last for a couple months.  They would like to think the perfect temperature can be dialed-in by moving their RV 100 miles at a time. But planet Earth doesn't work like that.  I was astonished by that fact during my first winter of RVing, and it still disappoints me, after all these years.  Currently I am surrendering on my planned slow-migration southeast to the Green River and then south along it.   In the West a slow migration south is undermined even more by the higher altitudes you find along the way. Can lemonade be made from these lemons?  Perhaps not -- if practical travel plans alone are considered.  But a general can lose a battle and still hope to win the war.  Tactical versus strategic.  Short term versus long term. Analogous to that, travel can be looked at on a philosophical level, rathe

  Caitlin Johnstone has been on fire lately, making fun of the seriousness the presidential election is regarded with.  She doesn't see the big deal about whether America becomes the enabler of genocide in Gaza with a MAGA hat on, or whether it goes on as the enabler of genocide with a rainbow flag.  She is right.  All this election will settle is who the next Zionist-in-Chief will be. What if there were a candidate who described Israel as 'Satan's chosen people?'  Would that be considered hate speech?  Indeed, it  is  -- against Satan. No matter who the new president is, America will drown in debt, suffer years of high inflation, and fight wars around the world in the name of 'freedom and democracy,' as it becomes less free and democratic every day. Is that too pessimistic?  When a country as prominent and large as the USA can only produce candidates like these two fools, how can anything be too pessimistic?

There is nothing like being up to my old tricks.    High altitude hills, covered by sagebrush and grass.  Close to forested mountains, but not too close.   My eyes always go to the copses of trees that grow island-like in the sagebrush and grass.    Many times the copses sit on the north side of a hill or in gullies.   The trees are stunted and not too healthy looking.  One of the reasons to look forward to September is that it is cool enough to camp on these sunny lands: I suppose the appeal of this land is the same appeal as shorelines and islands at sea.  It is the complex and surprising geometries that are fun to look at.  A uniform, straight-line coast is rather boring, as are completely treeless plains or thick, monotonous forests.

You hear people talk about Route 66 or US50.  Those highways are OK.  But it is US30 that I really love.  In southeastern ID and southwestern WY, US30 overlaps with the Oregon Trail.  There is something about the lay of the land that I love. There are lots of mountains nearby, but who cares?  Mountains are barriers to travel.  In this racket, we are not interested in obstructing travel and freedom.  This is especially true for somebody who pedals a mountain bike and pulls a trailer.  The magic of this land is that it   exudes passage and freedom -- that is, transportation and movement.  I want to pedal without losing traction or going over the handlebars.  I want to level my trailer in less than twenty minutes.  It is funny how practical issues can insinuate themselves into a person's notion of beauty. A railroad goes through this land, as you would expect.  I am camped about three miles from the railroad and enjoy its sound.   There are decomposed wooden farmsteads in this area. 

The inland Northwest is no prize when the smoke season starts.  I have yet to deliver on my promise to abandon it when smoke dominates life.  That may happen today. It is true that a person can develop a tolerance for smoke from forest fires.  Yesterday the smoke was quite bad.  Then a dry thunderstorm blew up.  After an hour the sun came back out. And the sky was clean and blue!  How could that pall disappear so quickly?  I was impressed.  Still, it might be time to head southeast today, being careful to stay clear of Yellowstone.   It is over 50 miles to the nearest grocery store from Leadore, ID.  How do people live around here?  Do they drive to Salmon once a month and load up on canned vegetables, beans, and rice?