Occupation of Independence

  Western Idaho .  Bears , mountain lions , and turkeys .  That's what the guy said they were hunting.  It seemed like an odd combination.  But that was the reason for the higher traffic on my new road. With all the distressing news these days, it is important to focus on things that might cheer you up a little.  Years ago I joked that, if motorsports-morons ever switched to electric side-by-sides , they would mount sub-woofers the size of a bale of hay in the cargo bed of their vehicle, and then use 250 Watts of power to pour out electrically-generated engine noise from the speakers. Well, I never miss a chance to ridicule the motorsports industry , even though I usually have friendly conversations with individual motorsports people. Recently I learned that Polaris , the biggest side-by-side producer in North America, now sells the " Kinetic " model, a real electric side-by-side.  It's about $30,000.  There are several You Tube videos on it....

There are times when a person shouldn't over-think the situation.  Nobody needs me to say something profound. There's a time for just wallowing in the satisfaction of water, vegetation, food, and cool breezes.  And no rubble. No thorns. Southeastern Oregon hills, early summer  

 I can't quite explain why meadowlarks are so enjoyable to listen to.  They are difficult to see because they run around on the ground or perch on low branches of sagebrush .  But I finally caught one of them, singing an operatic aria to the mountains of western Idaho . My little dog runs merrily through the grass, looking for critters: I think you can expand the photo with your fingers to find the little cutie in the center of the photo. A local ranch hand stopped by and chatted.  I love to soak up information, and hope that I don't overdo it and scare people off.  He said the yellow flower that grows all over the place in the spring provides a lot of protein to the cows.   Things like that are so important to somebody whose interests have shifted from scenery to Life.  Life needs Food and Water.  The grass around here is lushly green and has big seedheads.  You'd think seedheads would wait until late summer. At any rate, with such thi...

 There are times when Nature comes on as an irresistible force.  There is a violence to it.  It is relentless.  Only a few North Americans experienced the volcanic event of Mt. St. Helens .  More have experienced floods , hurricanes , tornadoes , wind, or ice storms . Recently I experienced the weird Trickster-God of nature: wet clay .  You can't necessarily see it coming from a distance, unless you see the deep tire ruts that somebody else put in it.  But the second you touch it with your feet, you just can't believe it. For one thing, your motor vehicle is stuck.  You get out to work on the situation, and you immediately have 3" of mud stuck on the bottom of your shoes, which you then track into your RV or motor vehicle. That happened to me recently with my RV.  It required a call to the towing insuring company .  It helps to remember that your insurance company might not cover you unless you are just off pavement or a maintained, gra...

 It makes good sense to feel sorry for certain countries whose livelihoods and standard of living are being run into the mud by the Israeli/American war of aggression against Iran.  It was not the fault of the people of Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and other countries in southeast Asia.  But they suffer nonetheless. Europe?  I don't really care about Europeans. On the other hand, Americans deserve to get it, good and hard.  Let's wallow in some schadenfreude if the American pickup truck market crashes.  You could say the same of RV s and side-by-sides .  I will feel content just to see these frivolous and stupid motor vehicles marked "For Sale" and parked near some highway or in a grocery store parking lot. If that makes me a bad guy, well, don't wait for an apology.

 Camping near water makes it seem like you are on a different planet for some campers (like me) who only do it once or twice a year.  A few feet away is the upstream end of Hell's Canyon .  The Snake River is blocked by dams of course. A reservoir of water brings boaters with a furious sense of urgency, even off-season.  What is the great attraction to water?  This is not to run their sport down.  It is just a chance to crawl into their heads. Driving a motorboat across a lake seems interesting for 3 minutes or so.  It just isn't all that exotic compared to driving a car to the grocery store.  Of course, on a hot day in July or August, getting wet is a great way to cool off!  Maybe much of the appeal of water doesn't come from its liquidness, but from it being public space.  Back in the city, the boater is boxed in by private property, traffic, rules, etc.   The camping here is pinched between the reservoir and the road. ...

 When it actually rains in a western state, you'd think the locals would declare a holiday and close schools for a day.  I usually rhapsodize over the rain.  But a long day of rain is quite different than a brief shower or rain at night.  I got two days in a row of all-day rain.  It has been about 3 years since that happened. There are ways to deal with this situation.  First, don't spend too many hours in bed or sitting in a chair.  The chair should have lumbar support .  Stand up and walk around in your RV every time you can think of an excuse. Adjust and adapt your clothing.  I have really benefited from the rubber " mud boots " I bought a couple years ago.  Dry feet can really encourage you. Last year I bought the first " rain suit " ( = jacket + pants) in years.  What really makes it work is its ability to slide over shoes.  Taking shoes off is too inconvenient.  It is surprising how small details help in the design ...

Compared to the amateurish impulsiveness of the Trumpanyahu regime, countries such as Russia or China have strategic patience that seems almost superhuman.  But what if Israeli-American helicopters lower special troops down on ropes onto the deck of a petroleum tanker bound for China, and commandeer the tanker?  Will Chinese patience finally fray? If I were China, I would use that opportunity to blockade Taiwan.  You'd think the Chinese government would have become so frustrated so long ago with the ambiguity in Taiwan's status that it would be a relief to end it.   What could the Israeli-US Navy do about it?  It has its hands full in the vicinity of the Hormuz Strait .  At the same time, it is time for Russia's spring offensive to get serious and finish off Zelensky's government in Ukraine.  Ansar Allah in Yemen could block the Red Sea .  Unity of action -- if the countries in question had any backbone -- could finish off the Trumpanyah...

 Considering how long I've been at this RV traveler gig , if I still flutter my eyelashes and rhapsodize over certain things, I must be doing something right.  It is hard to resist becoming almost euphoric to escape the barrenness and brownness of the American Southwest , and come to the greenness and moisture-paradise of the inland Northwest .  But later in summer, it will be as dry here as the Southwest in spring.  That's why you must do what seems almost unnatural and force yourself out of the Southwest by, say, 15 March. So here I am, in green grass and pretty clouds, along the Oregon Trail . I don't know why the hills look greyish rather than lovely green in the video.  Depending on where you live, you might not think of pretty clouds as miracles of nature.  But I do. I ran into something that was quite rare: a low-budget and sensible visitor area run by a government agency.  It had just the sort of improvements that added to the visitor's enjoyme...

 Leaving the Southwest makes you first think of being cold, but that really isn't true along the Snake or Columbia rivers .  I've even managed to enter Oregon without suffering the indignity of being in the Pacific Time Zone .  Perhaps this results from southeastern Oregon having a mindset that got established back in the Oregon Trail days. It has been warm enough to get my first insect bite and to see the first snake of summer: Photo doesn't show him sticking out his forked tongue at me.  He was one little pissed-off snake. The Oregon Trail passed along these sandstone bluffs .  My little girl has played here a couple years ago.  She likes sand. Ahh, what a smooth road went along the foot of those bluffs!  A cross-country-style mountain biker like me can really love smooth, flat, and fast, as the pioneers no doubt did. A couple geese were pocketed in those bluffs.  They were easy to hear, but hard to see.  They got a rhythm going that remi...

 'How to' camp is not something I write about much in this blog.  It is an over-rated and unnecessary topic that You Tube channels discuss incessantly to make a buck.  But this blog is not monetized. There is an occasional exception to every rule.  I was surprised when my 2-month-old van battery would not start the engine in 34 F weather.  And it was nearing the Easter weekend in Nevada , with few car parts stores. I have always had jumper cables, but in my camping location only one pickup truck went by per day!  How would I wave him down?  And would he even want to help me?  That would mean a long wait for a tow truck.  But what if I had had no cellphone signal? Fortunately last year I bought one of those " portable jump starters ," that is, a battery powered jump starter.  There are a zillion models to choose from.  I was surprised how easily it started my engine.  What a relief! Because I could safely travel, I kept going n...

 Most commentators think that a ground invasion of Iran by the Netanyahu-Trump regime won't happen because it is unlikely to succeed, and that it is just a bluff or bargaining chip. Tactically, this makes sense. But Trump has a larger overall problem: it is an election year and his war is unpopular in the USA.  He must make it more popular.  Ironically, a serious 'blooding' of American soldiers could help the voters to rally 'round the Flag and the president, regardless of how reckless the president was with soldiers' lives. Imagine the programing on television: every few minutes there could be a movie clip or old World War II newsreel showing the Marines "taking that beach."  Remember that famous photo of General MacArthur wading ashore, a year after his famous "I shall return?"  Then the politician can say, "You want to pull out of this war?  Then all our heroic Marines who died on that Iranian beach/island will have  died in vain. " ...

 Isn't it terrible how the world cannot act in concert to oppose the Trumpanyahu-Epstein-Adelson regime?!  Why doesn't the United Nations simply shut down -- it is a giant waste of money. Canada and Europe are pushing back some, so there is reason for hope.  I hope the recent experience with Trumpanyahu's war against Iran has taught Japan, Taiwan, South Korea , and the Philippines a good lesson.  They could do a lot if they would oppose the Regime. I hope the Republicans are beaten so bad this November that they learn a lesson and seriously reform themselves.  Sometimes countries and institutions have to get their back against the wall before they come back strong and save themselves. In the mean time we must resist the propaganda machine and NOT rally 'round the flag , nor support "our" troops and president.  Our loyalty must be to constitutional principles , not to the military-industrial-complex , nor the CIA , nor the Israel lobby.

 This certainly was the week to swing from one extreme to the other, in the dog world.  After the rez dog experience, I was surprised to encounter a young black-and-tan coonhound on a bike ride in the ponderosa forest .  He was not completely trained yet, despite his radio collar and antenna.  He came over to the bike to make friends with my dog. My, what big feet he had!  Soon I saw his trainer working three adult hounds.  They and their trainer were 95% business, with no time to socialize.  The trainer said that he had just found a deer that had been killed by a mountain lion , perhaps the previous night. It is easy to admire dogs who are amazingly trained, no matter what their specialty.  But I have never been tempted to own a 'specialist.'  I prefer a well-rounded, companion dog.  My little girl was confused by the size of the ponderosa log that was blocking our road: And she was delighted with the deer antler found near camp: Po...

 An English-speaking North American doesn't get too much of a chance to experience drastically different cultures while traveling in North America.  So when that traveler goes through an Indian Rez , it can be seen as a long-overdue chance to experience a different culture.  New Mexico has quite a few Native American reservations . There are people -- usually from blue counties on the coast or Europe -- who think there is something chic about the Rez, with all the art and handicrafts.  That was particularly true in the tourist town I was in.  I am not so taken in by all that.  I expect theft, homelessness, and pitiful dogs hanging out at gas stations. So there are at least two ways to see Reservations.  My purpose here is not to decide which viewpoint is the correct one, but rather, to use the tension between these two viewpoints to have a more interesting travel experience. An uncollared dog was walking around the parking lot.  The nearby high...

I will spare the long-suffering reader my stump speech, and write only about fresh manifestations or embodiments of it.  A great example of that happened lately in a small mountain range in southeastern Arizona . There was a secondary tourist attraction nearby.  The rocks were fun to look at.  And there was a little bit of history, too. I avoided most of the visitors, and chose a nearby area that featured a different kind of scenery.  The grass had big seedheads on it -- it looked like a kitchen scrub brush.  This grass was tawny and was left over from the last monsoon season .  Just imagine how lush it seemed at the end of last year's monsoon season -- it is no exaggeration to call it a miracle. And there were water resources in my hills, as well.  That is no small thing in Arizona.  The hills were soft, feminine, and useful: I sighed with relief when thinking about these things.  And so I want to know: do other long-term travelers out-grow...

What luck!  I like the 1964 movie, "Becket", and while searching for it on You Tube they suggested a new digital restoration of the movie on the Shakespeare Network.  The movie had twice the effect on me because of Khamenei's murder in his home, just a couple weeks ago. During the movie, analogies came to mind between the victims of King Henry II (of Normandized England) and Iranians' attitude towards martyrdom.  The analogies fizzled out quickly and then reappeared.  It was all quite tantalizing. The characters in "Becket" were always talking about honor.  King Henry II claimed an aristocratic woman (who was in love with Becket) just as a test of how loyal Becket would be when the chips were down.  Would Becket live up to a previous promise to Henry II by turning the woman over to Henry? When the woman learned that Becket was relinquishing her to King Henry II she said to Becket, "You've not found anything in the world to care for, have you?...

Somewhere in Arizona I saw this protest message.  It is probably caused by requirements for expensive, replacement, gasoline, storage tanks at gasoline stations, such as in California?  Well, I have long ago confessed to being a geo-bigot and love to make fun of California politics and culture. Be that as it may, shouldn't the protest message really say something like: "Keep Trumpanyahu's war policies out of Arizona tanks."  My goodness, this could turn into an expensive travel season.

 Ahh dear, the premature heat wave!  But there was some good news on this morning's ride.  For one thing, the discomfort made the experience less touristy and more authentic.  Also I actually encountered a well-designed gate on some BLM land .  Yes, I know that it sounds silly for a grown man to get excited about such things -- but I do! This isn't so silly when you consider how I struggle with these gates from time to time.  And how you go away with torn clothes.   And can you believe I was admiring something as simple as a lone, yellow flower that was different than the yellow/orange poppies you expect at this time of year: My goodness, I am becoming too easy to please!  But, back to the gate issue.  I rode down a small hill, and not too fast, because I was feeling hot and thirsty and a little punch-drunk.  It was only the last few feet that I realized that this gate was semi-invisible: I managed to get stopped, but just barely. T...

 There is a way to find an 'off-ramp' to the geopolitical crisis brought on by Trumpanyahu's attack on Iran and their murder of Iran's leader. 1. Eliminate all American sanctions against the nation of Iran. 2. Remove American military bases from Iraq and the Persian Gulf. 3. Make Israel submit to international inspection for nuclear weapons. These three things are all feasible.  And they are no threat to the American economy or military security.  So what's the problem?  We would simply need an American president who was loyal to America.  Is that asking too much?