Occupation of Independence

  In the winter I love taking the time to praise chilly mornings, with their glorious warming sun and with absolutely no wind.  It is impressive how perfectly opposite summer can be. A breeze is such a relief in summer.  Typically you only get it in mid-day, but that is when you really need it.  I still have to pinch myself to break out of the "wind is bad" mode of thinking.  Granted, forests tend to suppress the breeze.  At the moment I am camping at 6000' on a bald stony ridge with just a few trees.  It is necessary to keep the trailer hooked up to the van, in order to dance with the shade from those trees.  After two hours of sun on my solar panels, I chase the shade the rest of the day, with about four relocations. Maybe a summer camper should think of sailboats: they are completely dependent on a breeze.  A sailor is miserable on a calm day. The breeze held strong the entire night, last night. A "breeze" in the Southwest.

Perhaps the reader has known a walking-encyclopedia of flower or bird names.  I have.  Such people really are quite impressive, in a slightly obnoxious sort of way.  And yet, I have never made much of an effort to emulate them. My mind is already too full of trivia -- that is, useless and arcane knowledge  -- usually of the historical kind.  I just don't have the heart for more memorization of that kind. Still, it gives me pleasure to know that this flower is probably called a trillium: These were rather small.  I walked by them for a week, a few feet from camp, before I saw them! You hear so much about "AI" (artificial intelligence) these days.  Perhaps somebody will put AI to good use by making it easier to identify birds, flowers, and trees while you are out walking around.

 I am trying to keep an open mind about videos in this blog.  Is there really a need for moving pictures when hardly anything in a landscape moves?  Still, it is fun to play around with new software. The first time I saw footage from a helmet-mounted camera on a mountain biker, I was dazzled.  But after the novelty wore off, it seemed that the trail could wiggle left, wiggle right, go up, or go down.  Nowadays I never watch such videos.  But it is impossible to shoot videos from a moving bicycle with one hand on the smartphone and one on the handlebar!  As I found out.  No wonder the GoPro camera was invented There are few outdoor experiences more wonderful than a good breeze in the forest on a warm summer day.  But does a moving picture really add something better than words or a still photograph?    Despite being the end of their season, a few wild roses are still opening up: Mountains and plants aren't great subjects for a moving picture, but clouds could be if you speed up the

 A camper is doing everybody a favor to check out potential campsites before a national holiday.  It takes quite a bit of skill, experience, and luck to avoid weekend/holiday crowds.  I have put a lot of work into it on previous holidays and then seen it blow up in my face.  'No good deed goes unpunished.' There are specific criteria for making this work, but the most important idea is to put yourself into the mindset of the mass-tourist, and then multiply everything by negative one.  Avoid: 1.  Lakes. 2.  Loop roads. 3.  Iconic viewscapes of red arches, national parks, tourist name brands of any kind.  Anything with name recognition. 4.  Colorado. 5.  Proximity to huge urban hellholes such as Phoenix, Denver, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas/St.George, and Boise. But I have always done that, and still been burned.  I hope I am not jinxing myself to declare victory in eastern Oregon this year.  (And that doesn't mean Bend.) Livin' the dream!  This photo was taken many years ag