Occupation of Independence

I am curious whether this summer will show more than the usual tragedies or just dumb stunts by tourists in national parks.  It seems like it would.  After all, You Tube is full of videos of wild animals acting like cutesie-wootsie pets, or acting friendly to different species.  Videos also promote tourists getting stuck on rough roads they have no business being on. We are all prone to anthropomorphizing wildlife.  But I fight it unless it seems harmless.  I was camped on a road that had short and sharp hills on it -- just high enough to block your view of what might be on the other side. Once an adult deer came into view.  I tried as hard as possible to freeze my motion.  The Little Cute One was silent and stationary, so she apparently didn't see the deer.  I'll be damned: it worked.  The deer just stood there and stared at me for the longest time. On another day we crested a hill and saw a fawn about 30 feet away.  He seemed a little startled of course, but to me he seemed

 It is still great sleeping weather, this close to mid-summer!  Is there a nicer pleasure?  During the day, a breeze is almost as good.  Strangely I instinctively dislike the sound of wind at night, as if it were still winter in the desert.  Come on!  Adjust to the seasons. It is a different world here in the summer at 6000 feet of altitude, in eastern Oregon. Where did all the brown go?  The rubble, the cholla, the extreme aridity and cloudless, monotonous skies.  Things are actually green and alive here.  The Little Cute One is going crazy over all the rodents and deer: They even build houses out of wood here, instead of stucco: It is ironic how a "mountain biker" like me doesn't camp or ride in the mountains proper.  You can't camp on a 20% slope, and if you bike there, you move at walking speed in your lowest gear.  Then you coast back down, while turning your disk brakes cherry red. Instead I seek out high ridgelines and their sacred breezes.  A tourist might loo

  The first thing that you might notice about Oregon is their low speed limits on the road.  Great! especially for bicyclists and pedestrians.  It means I can drive my usual slow speed without getting honked at, or getting 'the finger.' There are other differences.  The strangest is that a motorist is not allowed to pump their own gasoline, although that rule is changing.  If you are careful to preface your question with an "I'm not from Oregon, so why...", you can ask the gasoline pump attendant why Oregon has this strange law.  One of these guys told me it was for 'safety' and to preserve jobs. 'Safety?'  Well, if you go back in time a few decades, when smoking was more common, the 'safety' argument makes more sense.  But today? And as for the 'job preservation' argument, I also got that as an answer to my question why the grocery store didn't have a self-checkout lane.  Couldn't one just as well argue that buying food at

About 3 a.m. I heard an owl fairly close to my camper.  What a wonderful sound!  Perhaps their notifications are more common than we think -- it's just that we sleep through them.  I don't know why an owl's sound seems so pleasing.  I am just glad that it does. Earlier, the sound of slow rain was soothing me.  That is easier to explain: every drop of rain goes into a "savings account" that the inland Northwest will start drawing down, relentlessly, when the dry season arrives in July.  When the savings account has been emptied out, the forest fires will start.  The smoke, the haze.  I will try to be a good sport about it, and leave for the Southwest if they are having a decent monsoon season. This summer is starting to establish a semi-unique identity, and that is certainly a good thing.  Otherwise, geographical repetition would dull the liveliness of a full-time RVer's career.  By stressing subjective experiences, this lifestyle can remain fresh and challengi