Visit to Troutdale…

Posted on October 15, 2023 by Jim@HiTek

Eventually decided I’d finally go visit my friends over in the Portland area. It’s been 7 years since I’ve seen them but I do keep in touch with Facebook. With my newer travel route putting me here in the Walla Walla valley for both convenience and savings, I’ve slacked off heading to the Troutdale area. I used to spend most of the summers over there.

I found a used Dell 15″ laptop for sale on FB Marketplace that is one of Dell’s prime, top-of-the-line devices. Or it was back in 2006 when it was made. Still quite useful and had very few hours on it. The owners paid around $999 for it back then and it just sort of sat on a shelf most of the intervening years. Or so the seller said. I paid the seller $125 for it. Dell still makes that model, updated of course. This one has all the goodies, touch screen with very thin screen surround (more screen, less plastic case), multiple cores for seamless video watching, Bluetooth and Wifi, tough metal case in a slim design, all designed for heavy use. I plan on using it when traveling.

I don’t know if my readers remember but last time I mentioned how some guy sat next to me on the plane on the flight back from Costa Rica with a 15″ screen watching movies on the onboard Wifi and my little 10.5″ screen just didn’t compare. I was jealous. So that’s why I bought this Dell. It’s lightweight and has a much larger keyboard then my 10.5″ unit. Which I just sent to my friend over in Iowa so she’d have something to use since her’s broke. But the Dell is fine for travel, and if it gets stolen, or dropped in the ocean or something, I’m not out much. I do keep my receipts when I travel and enter them into a spreadsheet and this bigger keyboard will be very handy.

Anyway, here we go on the way to Troutdale from Milton Freewater taking the Walla Walla River road that connects to I-5 a few miles just past Irrigon, Oregon. I only took this route because it’s scenic and I get tired of freeways. If I’d headed due south instead I would have gotten onto I-5 just outside of Pendelton, Oregon. Here I’m heading west towards the Columbia at Wallula Junction.

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Settled in at Milton Freewater…

Posted on September 13, 2023 by Jim@HiTek

It’s been over a month since my last post. Sorry about the delay, no excuse, I’ve just been a bit lazy lately. 

One thing that happened was I had a 10 day cold! This is rare for me and my immune system is rather strong and I wasn’t laid up really, but I did wear my mask when out, and tended to stay home so as not to infect anyone else. I haven’t had a cold for several years now, but this one reset that clock. Ha. I did take the Covid test and that came up negative.

And then, here at the RV park, we all got notice that the park has been sold. Sort of expected it as the owner Darrell is 97 years old. He has family but I guess none of them wanted to take over all the lands and projects Darrell had going on. I was willing to help him on one of the bigger developments he had going nearby which would have been managing the creation of 100 home sites, but he may have dropped that project, but I haven’t gone to visit him since the sale in late May either.

Shortly after I arrived in Milton Freewater and got set up, I started work on the heat pump (HP) which I mentioned back in Winnemucca as not cooling anymore. I bought 2x 5 gallon buckets from Walmart and an 8 foot length of 2X6 and had it cut in half. Made a bench out of it like I did years ago for work on the HP. There’s a picture later on.

Had the young men from next door help me pull it out of it’s basement compartment, opened the top and found that the outside motor had gone bad. Pulled that out, went to a motor repair shop in Pasco (55 miles away), they determined it wasn’t worth fixing, so I decided to just forget it and buy new. Sadly it was during the height of the inflationary period we had so I paid 48% more then if I’d purchased a few months previous. Gouging by Coleman. Cost me $4,000. If you’re interested in the entire story, click HERE. I see that Hebron no longer has stock of that model.

But I did make that trip to Pasco so I’ll post a few pictures. I must have driven this route more than 1,000 times over the years. And here I’ve already reached the Columbia River after following the Walla Walla river 30 miles or so due West. This section of the road is heading due North.

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After John Day…

Posted on August 11, 2023 by Jim@HiTek

Didn’t take long after leaving John Day to arrive in Milton Freewater and my home base RV park. But first, leaving John Day…lots of water here too this year…

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On to John Day…

Posted on July 27, 2023 by Jim@HiTek

I really need to find a different route to Milton Freewater, just for the adventure. But I do enjoy visiting in John Day, which is where I headed when leaving Winnemucca.

So here is the river that passes through downtown Winnemucca I mentioned last article. There is a homeless encampment off in that direction under the bridge I cross after this one. Encampment is kind of a mess, even has an older RV sitting there.

And there’s the ‘W’ for Winnemucca. It’s got some interesting buildings way up on top of those hills over there that I wonder about. Probably some commie secret spy ring put them up there. Or the local Boy Scouts. Ya just never know.

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Visit to Winnemucca…

Posted on July 3, 2023 by Jim@HiTek

You may recall from my last article that back on December 30th my RV went into limp mode, and I limped into Winnemucca to a Diesel shop where they replaced the fuel/water separator and I also had them do some extra work. I liked the shop and the work they did for me, so I planned on coming back and having them do the other work I needed when I past by heading north.

“Usually I’m traveling 55-60 MPH and it’s only a 6 hour drive to Winnemucca, but as I got closer to McDermitt OR, I couldn’t get the RV to move above 55, then 45, then 35, etc. And then the snow started getting thick. And by then I couldn’t get the RV above 25 MPH anyway. Definitely something wrong.”

So I stopped at an older RV park (that I’ve passed many many times in the last 19 years of RVing) right at the state line between Oregon and Nevada and paid an outrageous price for a spot with just 30 amp for the night. With 6″ of snow on the ground, more falling, and an RV that was limping, I didn’t want to mess around trying to find a bargain so that was where I stayed. There is a casino parking lot just across the border around 1/2 mile away but no power and I didn’t want to run my generator all night. Here’s that story if you’re interested in more detail about battling the weather and then the engine going into limp mode…Back in the USA… 

That was Dec. 30th, 31st of 2022 and to pick up this story thread again, it was now mid-May of 2023 and I was heading north after staying 4 months in Tucson. I’d called the shop a few days prior and was informed that I could bring it in for what I needed.

I arrived in Winnemucca late afternoon before a weekend, after driving for nearly 9 hours and signed in at the Model T Casino and RV Park. I’ve meant to stay here for years but never have. I thought I knew which one it was as the first year I was RV’ing, 2004, I’d stopped where I thought this park was, and it was just a small parking lot across the street from a casino in downtown Winnemucca with 30 amp on power poles. And no other services like sewer or water except places to dump and fill. Turned out I was wrong for many many years thinking that that place was the Model T RV park. Actually, that’s a different park, the Model T is a large RV park (undergoing a remodel right now!) on the edge of Winnemucca so the traffic isn’t all that heavy, and it’s just an easy mile off the freeway. Not even sure that other RV park is even there still. The Model T is easy to get to BUT…fair warning, this place insists on seeing your RVs registration AND your insurance documents at check in. WTF?

So I arrived at their RV entrance and there’s no one in the RV kiosk. So I trudge (‘cus I’d been driving for 8 hours) way over to the casino around 75 yards away, wander around until I find the motel lobby way in the back, hidden behind all the gambling machines, find I have to have my reg and ins cards so trudge all the way back out to my RV, dig those out, trudge way back inside, they make copies of those AND my DL, I pay for 5 nights, then trudge back to my RV, drive to a nearby shaded spot, and park. I’m getting exhausted. Minutes later, the office gal comes out and tells me I can’t park there because that’s the row they are remodeling (entire row was empty, but this first spot in the row still had water and electric, nearby spaces were torn up). So I had to de-camp and move. Dammit. Here is where I parked, 50 amp, W&S. No shade. This row is for big rigs. Pull though too. That’s the casino way in the background. What’s funny, and one thing they show on their website is that they are a 30 amp park. But they have entire rows of 50 amp service. Why they haven’t fixed that mistake on their website after upgrading what must have been 3 decades ago I’ll never know. Keeps the traffic low maybe? So they don’t have to deal with RV’ers to much?

Remember that my AC had died just a few days before but getting this far north in mid-May meant it wasn’t all that hot, in the mid-70’s. And at dusk, the temps dropped quickly. So, overall, I was comfortable even without shade.

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RV Adventures…

Posted on June 13, 2023 by Jim@HiTek

After being released by the Tucson VA doctors, it was time to head north to get away from the heat that was heading to Tucson. I had thought of stopping in Yuma for a couple weeks but shelved that idea when it had gotten up to 100 F daily there when it was time to leave Tucson. So…I changed my plans and headed up to Pahrump, where it was just in the 80’s.

On the road again…

Goodbye Tucson.

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And more…

Posted on May 29, 2023 by Jim@HiTek

And then it was April…as I said last article, the VA came through with permission for me to get the eye treatment I needed for the corneal ulcer I had developed and I wanted to stick around Tucson just a few miles from the VA hospital with their 2-3 ophthalmologists on staff. So I was medically stuck there in Tucson for 2 months plus followup. That would take me into May, which is when the area would start heating up big time. But the timing did put a crimp in my plans of heading over to Yuma (even lower so even hotter then Tucson) earlier and walking into Mexico for dental cleaning and any necessary work. Once it got above 85 F there in Yuma, I would want to avoid the area. Just too uncomfortable.

One of the benefits of hanging around Tucson was that I had someone to hang out with. John and I would sit in the shade of his garage and sip beer for an hour or so messing with the dogs and enjoying the mild weather (for most of March and April) and speculating about what the distant neighbors were doing on the other side of the freeway. It looked like they were dragging bodies out of their van on the regular and tossing them in their below ground hole that may have been for a swimming pool. I was pretty sure they are vampires working for Mexican cartels. Except they came out during the day time…hmmm, weird.

The dogs are named Boo and Poppy. Boo became my friend pretty quickly. Probably because I gave him tastes of my beers and he loved them. Turned out that he would get the squirts shortly after so I had to stop doing that.

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Even more from Tucson…

Posted on May 8, 2023 by Jim@HiTek

It’s now March ’23 in blog time and I was still in Tucson. And on March 2nd, I woke up in the morning to…

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Winter in Tucson…

Posted on April 12, 2023 by Jim@HiTek

Those that are aware of my eye trouble know I was granted the right to save my eye by the VA, perhaps because they know that *something* happened during my last surgery at the Tucson VA Hospital that could have cause the problem. And the problem is a corneal ulcer. Which eats away at the cornea and can lead to blindness. And in a very few cases, the loss of sight in one eye can cause the brain to shut down sight in the other, healthy eye. No one knows why.

After weeks of traditional treatment, which amounted to 3 anti-bacterial eye drops, 2X or 4X per day, the ophthalmologist recommended Oxervate. This is a newer drug approved by the FDA that magically regrows nerves in the damaged cornea and potentially can save my eye. Took 2 months for the VA to approve it. And I’m on the 6th week of the two month treatment now. Just 2 weeks to go. I use a plastic syringe at 2 hour intervals and flood the eye with the solution. Every day. I have noticed that my eye is pretty comfortable now after 6 weeks of treatment. I hasn’t burned for a week or two and burning is a sensation caused as the nerves regrow in the ulcer area…so it’s a good burn. And every once in a while I notice I can see clearly out of that eye. Of course I’ll need a new prescription for lenses for that eye here soon. But it seems to be on the mend. At least I hope so.

Curious about it, I looked up the drug. Retail price is $48,000. For a 2 month treatment. I flood the eye using a syringe with the solution 6 times a day at 2 hour intervals. It costs $133.33/syringe which is $800/day, leading to $5600/week. I suspect drug companies are still calling it *experimental* to avoid having to pay for it for their insured. I have no idea what they are charging the VA for the treatment though the last I read several years ago, a GOP controlled congress passed a law forbidding the government from negotiating drug prices. Not sure if that’s been changed or not. My cost is ZERO. Or at least I think it is. They are slow letting me know about drug co-pay.

I have my fingers crossed that it works.

Near the end of January I left Pahrump and headed for Tucson where John is kind enough to let me stay at his home in a RV parking space that’s there that we wired up for electric last winter. I do pay him $425/month for the privilege. On the trip down I stopped for the night in Quartzsite and had another delicious Silly Al’s Pizza.

Next day drove straight to John’s property and I wasn’t feeling my confident self when I arrived and the steep hill the property is on was giving me anxiety so I asked John to park the RV for me. My reasoning was that the property was steep but he owned it and parked his RV there so he’d know best how to safely park a big rig. Well, he backed up onto a big rock and when the RV came off of it too quickly, it whipsawed the RV so most of my carefully collected Corel dishes whipped out of the cupboards and shattered on the floor. Along with 3 glass bowls and some cups and glasses. Dammit. And I now had a dent in the water bay door frame. Doesn’t prevent opening it, but it’s there.

So what I learned from that, since I’ve whipsawed the RV myself two times before and shattered dishes, is that I need to lash the cupboard doors so they can’t open. And I found a Velcro strap to do just that so now when I travel, I strap the refer doors and the cupboard doors to prevent whipsaw damage to table settings or food flying out of the freezer.

So I’m still here in Tucson where this eye issue first showed up back in Feb. of 2022 (remember it’s now Jan. ’23 in blog time) as I said earlier I’m staying at my friend John’s property. It’s a large lot, like 1/3 to 1/2 acre, with a nice manufactured home, partially fenced lot because he has two dogs, a detached garage, and a long cement driveway. And when he’d bought this property, it already had two flat graded and graveled spaces set up for RV parking by the previous owners. It has lots of cacti as its the desert, and a difficult to traverse road if an RV wants to park here. And mine did! His was already here when I arrived of course, but we decided we could easily put in another power outlet for mine.

He and I installed a 50 amp power setup in December of ’21. At that time there was only a 30 amp outlet and breaker so we’d upgraded that by adding the 50 amp setup, then there was a sewer connection and a dual water connection already there when he bought the place. The power source is at a nearby power pole so it was a low cost installation, no long wire runs needed. When we finished it is two powered RV spaces just like at an RV park, with water and sewer.

Shortly after I moved in the first time back in Dec. ’21 the neighbors complained to the county and so we’ve been going round and round with a Karen type behind us bitching to the county about my RV being here. That has come to a head and just recently John had to go talk to the county and as we suspected, it’s a complaint driven setup. If no one complains, we could have had both our RV’s here forever. But s/he did complain and last year the county came out, inspected, took pictures, but never sent a letter of non-compliance. And I left in April. The complainers home is behind my RV by 100 feet, there’s a wrap around porch there but they never use it for lounging. I’m not blocking their view to the N-S or W and the AT&T cell tower right there on the left in the next picture is in their way looking east anyway. John tried to talk to them but they are just your typical bad neighbors who think they own the entire county and that everything should be to their liking or it has to go. Fuk’em.

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Hanging around Pahrump…

Posted on March 23, 2023 by Jim@HiTek

Let’s back up a smidge to the trip from Tonopah to Pahrump…and it’s 2023 now in article time.

Here’s what the road and valleys looked like as I neared Tonopah. I had left the snow free Winnemucca area and the shop just a couple hours previously. Stopped 60 miles later in Battle Mountain for fuel, but where the wind was howling and it was bone chilling cold. Even wearing my heavy shirt along with a jacket it was uncomfortable standing there holding the fuel nozzle, even wearing gloves. I was happy I had a hood on that jacket as it was needed for sure. It is beautiful down the road an hour later though.

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