Cots, and what fits in a bear box…

I go camping in a couple of weeks. Car camping… so weight isn’t the issue with the highest priority… The Escape can handle 500 lbs of stuff… While the following statement may seem weird to some for whom camping is torture… comfort is a high if not the highest priority…

I have a bunch of camping stuff in the attic… stuff I can grab, load in the vehicle, and go… (in a very few minutes if need be) stuff including a tent, an awning, a box with a stove, pots, pans, dishes… a lantern (maybe two) a cooler… a couple of folding chairs and cots… camping stuff.

Richard asked me if I had an extra cot… This was an unintentionally loaded question…

For Richard (companion on this trip, the wives, our wives, Jenny and Tina, having too much sense and other priorities, like jobs to join us on this adventure… ) comfort is important… 39 years ago (circa 1971) we (Richard and I, and even then Jenny, but not yet Tina) were fine, at least we (Richard and I) told each other we were fine, with “insolite” pads… thin layers of closed cell foam pad… on the cold hard ground… (Richard even spent several weeks in an official Forest Service Disposable sleeping bag while working a fire in Monterey… He now owns nomex underwear pants as a souvenir of the experience…there are stories involving the nomex pants...) have grown up since then, and while that might work in theory on a back pack trip, for this trip we are car camping… and we expect better… we want better, desperately... we want cots...

This trip we will have cots… more and more I always have a cot… this presents its own issue… I have cots, of course I have cots, what kind of camper do you think I am, we have already established that I have cots… I strive to be a happy camper… a happy camper who doesn’t have to sleep on the cold hard ground on ½” of insolite… But, (there is always a “but” in blogging… you might have noticed this) my cots are old, possibly older that either of us… old cots, probably army surplus… wood and canvas… comfortable yes, if in good condition, but these cots are old, older than us (we have established this earlier…)

My cots are old… they are not wearing that age well… a few years ago in Yellowstone I turned over during the night, concentrating my weight (a greater weight than some 39 years ago) and the cot ripped… the very fabric of the cot ripped… failing under my increased weight and its age… and failing brittle weakened fibers… Last year at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon I turned over and the tacks holding the cloth to the wooden frame pulled out… I blame dry wood and age (the cots, not mine.) A couple of days later I visited a hardware store in Cortez Colorado (a really good hardware store… if you need a hardware store and by chance are in Cortez I can suggest a place), to purchase upholstery tacks, which that evening I used to repair said cot… The cot worked (i.e. supported my weight) for the next couple nights, and would likely do so again… but a new cot was on “the list” before the next trip (even with a loss of 25/30 lbs I don’t trust the old cot… and sleeping on the ground is soooo 1971.)

“The list” means that for the last year I have been looking… looking for a consumer opportunity… So far REI hasn’t included cots in there catalog, (sent to my home every 2 weeks or so, at least it seems so) (once REI was REI Co-op, but that was apparently a bit too leftist/socialist/politically incorrect, so now it’s just REI, and gives rebates… (a lot like tax rebates...) I have a day pack and a backpack marked “REI Co-op” but I am probably politically/chronologically incorrect)

Now, a little over a year later Richard and I are going camping… Richard and I need cots, so I am in search of cots… new cots, reliable cots… not the old crappy worn out ones residing in the attic… I am finding cots hard to find… apparently modern campers, (those less than 50 years old) are sleeping on inflatable mattresses, that in my experience deflate at least twice during each night… depositing the sleepers on the previously discussed cold hard ground) So I chose a cot rather than a mattress… I am just weird that way… So Big 5 finally had a sale… I now have two new cots… Coleman Cots… Coleman being a great American brand, of course now made in China… but I digress… constantly… (If you haven’t noticed you are not paying attention, or very probably are functionally illiterate.) Now I have found and procured new, metal framed cots, each with its own carry bag… I win.

The cots will join the equipment pile… the tent, the awing, two cots (yes, THOSE two cots, not the old wood frame cots) a cooler (which one?, there are 5 up in the rafters, aka attic) which collectively will fit in a NPS Standard Bear box…”One bear-resistant food-storage box provided at each campsite: 47" long x 33" deep x 28" high.”) along with a dry box (full of pots and pans and dishes and dish soap and aluminum foil…) and a supply box (food, anything that isn’t in the cooler…)

And fire wood… fire wood is important… really important when camping… not for functional reasons… we are not cooking over the fire or trying to keep warm (but we may be) but for the fire… the fire its self… and briquettes… these for cooking, and white gas, for cooking too… We can pick up fire wood along the way at most stores that cater to campers (happy or not) but the local fire wood is likely soft wood… (easy lighting, quick burning wood)… I have access to better hard wood (long burning, good for developing coals… good camp fire wood) so wood must be gathered and packed, along with a bag of good charcoal…

In the mean time Railfair at Ardenwood has arrived, and I am distracted…

A nice lazy Sunday…

Its Sunday… a nice kind of lazy Sunday so needed to recover and recharge before returning to work tomorrow…

The weather in nice… not hot like last weekend (the first hot weather of the soon to be gone summer) but nice… sunny but not too hot. I retreated to the garden to weed, water, and harvest the rapidly ripening tomatoes… The blackberries are everywhere… I declared war on blackberries with their runner and thorns… I did damage to the blackberries, but their advance continues… I am considering napalm or some other weapon of mass eradication… So far none has been identified…

Having a variety of tomatoes, we decided to have a tomato tasting… we tasted three kinds of tomatoes… Stupice, San Francisco Fog, and Early Girl… Early girl had the best texture (as should a tomato developed and patented by Monsanto) Stupice, a Czechoslovakian heirloom tasted best. All had suffered a bit by lack of heat followed by lots of heat last week… all were good… Next year I will probably skip the early girl and try a couple of other early tomatoes… but will definably plant Stupice and SF fog…

With the heat, the grapes are ripening… We have four Zinfandel vines growing across the back of the house… our local raccoons have discovered the grapes… its not a surprise… they patrol the yard in search of loose cat food and other edible delights (edible is frequently species specific) unfortunately, we both agree the grapes are edible… and they like them less ripe than we do…making it more challenging, Zinfandel are notorious for ripening unevenly… giving the raccoons a much greater window to feed… They spent much of the night tap dancing on the roof, but did take time to blunder across the back of the house, fowl both fountains, and generally make a mess… The long term solution seems to involve napalm and other seriously destructive strategies… it’s a lot like the black berry issue…

This afternoon T. & I drove over to the coastside… to Half Moon Bay and Princeton Harbor as we do many Sundays… only 7 miles away by air, it is 20 or so miles by road (I think we have discussed this before.) The coastside is rural, it is the coast (hence the unapologetically simple name, “the coastside”…) It is metaphorically a very long way away from here (the suburbs of San Francisco.) We ended up at Sam’s Chowder House… A restaurant and bar overlooking the harbor and beach… it’s a classic New England sea food shack on a California beach… the patio is dog friendy, but we didn’t bring Emma today… they have live music on weekends… They have a lobster roll which Today (the NBC morning TV show) identified as one of the top 5 samwiches in the US… We agree… We ordered two, plus some oysters, a beer for me, wine for T. … We followed with desert… Tina had a homemade ice cream sandwich, I had soft serve ice cream with olive oil and salt… both dreamy… (olive oil on ice cream tastes like butter on ice cream… the salt is texture and bite…)

Found a batch of abandoned green houses. Broken glass, torn plastic sheeting, overgrown with weeds… a weird juxtaposition of indoor and outdoor space. I took photos… Enjoy…

Randy

Road trip planning… again.

The road trip is taking over my thoughts… as it seems to so often.

I am negotiating at work... someone needs to cover my section... I need to have staff scheduled...

A road trip means a vehicle... The Escape (a car) needs work… it’s now 8 years old… with 196,000 miles. It continues to be the most trouble free car I have ever owned… Last year I had most of the hoses and belts and water pump replaced… this year there is more work needed… I suspect an engine mount has failed… and the check engine light came on Monday… Now the car is having trouble finding its idle… I will turn it over to the mechanic next week… for them to do their magic and deplete the bank account.

Back to the plan… The plan is coming together… again, this year, the target is southern Utah and northern Arizona… the land of the Anasazi, the old ones… builders of cliff dwellings…

This trip will be different a significant way… usually my road trips are solo adventures… I am comfortable being alone at times… but this will not be… a close friend… a friend for close to 50 years… the best man at our wedding… a person who I haven’t spent time with for some years will be along… Our last adventure was a Yosemite backpacking trip about 1984… 26 years ago. This trip will be a reunion as well as an adventure…

Richard is fluent in the culture of the area… he likes Navajo tacos… He likes to camp… In the past he collected Navajo rugs. He is also fluent in the works of Monty Python and Groucho Marks…

This time I head south first to Pasadena… to pick up Richard… to spend the night… then east through Zion, to Kanab… to spend the night in a motel… from there we go on to Navajo National Monument… we have a reservation for the Keet Seel hike… 16 miles plus round trip… We are old farts… Some years ago 16 miles would be an afternoon hike… Probably not anymore. The Keet Seel hike is the core target for the trip… The entire trip is built around the hike… Trips always have core target, a theme… last year it was Mesa Verde… The year before it was following Clara Patterson around Yellowstone… the core or theme is not rational… but it is a target around which a trip evolves…

The National Park service suggests making the trip an overnight… camping at the ruins. They also require you carry a gallon of water a day… a gallon is 8 lbs… two gallons is 16 lbs… with a sleeping bag, a stove and some fuel, and two lbs of food you are carrying a 30 lb pack… Instead we will sprint in and out… with 15 lb day packs…

We will camp a second night at Navajo National Monument, then drive to Mexican Hat Utah, through John Ford’s Monument Valley… to Mexican Hat, for the night, then beyond to explore ruins and petrogyps and sites along the San Juan River, then back for dinner at the Swinging Steak and a motel with a shower… (The occasional shower is more important when you get old... )

The next day we will continue along Comb Ridge and Cedar Mesa… we will try to find Wetherill’s Cave 7… the holy grail of Anasazi sites… I think I know where it is…
The day will end camping, probably at Natural Bridges National Park… then via Hall’s Ferry across Lake Meade, and up the dirt track called Burr’s Trail for Bryce National Park for a last night of camping before heading fast for LA.

Again, I have most of the gear needed… I only am looking for a new cot… I have three in the rafters… one is OK, two pretty far gone… we need two… I have a lantern with a case, and a second but need a case for it. I will set up a new dry box for this trip… of course, I need some stove fuel, and some tie down rope… of course I will need ice and food, but those are supplies…

This trip will be about the photos… more than most… I will take the two Nikon digitals… but I will also take a couple of Canon F-1’s and my last two rolls of Kodachrome… “They give us those nice bright colors, They give us the greens of summers, Makes you think all the world's a sunny day, Oh yeah”… with a couple of rolls of B&W… all will be good.

We will explore unknown ruins… We will take pictures… We will drink beer, wine, and whiskey… we will sit by fires… we will stare at the stars in the sky…

Summertime has arrived

After complaining saturday about a lack of seasonally appropriate sun and heat, Summertime arrived today… At dawn it was sunning and warm… The garden is bright and colorful… the birds are calling… It’s a good day to be alive…

T and I decided to do lunch… we considered a couple of places downtown (we have a vibrant and thriving downtown, but not on so much on Sunday afternoon…) but finding our range of choices limited we instead followed the age old advice and headed west.
We live in San Mateo on the San Francisco Peninsula. To the east about 100 yards away we find the San Francisco Bay. About 6 miles to the west (as the crow or more likely racing pigeon flies, assuming the crow flies in a straight line… the pigeon being more dependable and having the better sense of direction) lies the Pacific Ocean… of course it’s closer to 21 miles by road, because we apparently don’t drive straight like the aforementioned birds to get there…

It was sunny at Princeton… (we knew, we had checked with a local restaurant’s web cam… isn’t technology great) the local small boat harbor, and site of the Maverick’s surfing contest… So off to the coast we went, windows open with the dog happily sticking her head out the window..

We end up at the local microbrewery… They have a patio that is dog friendly… there were dogs there, a great variety of dogs… We lunched, the dog enjoyed herself… Afterward we walk on the beach, then drove home… It felt good, but the day wasn’t over yet…

Last Thursday someone at work offered concert tickets for John Hiatt and Los Lobos… not just any tickets but really, really good concert tickets with VIP parking and access to the special VIP lounge at the Mt Winery… Tina was the fastest to reply, and scored the precious tickets (apparently it took something less than 60 seconds from offer to award, I married a fast woman…)

So we spent a warm summer evening watching really good music as the full moon rose in the west…

Today is expected to be hotter...

A Surplus of Tomatoes in a Weird Cold Summer…

Here in the north end of The Land of No Snow, and Endless Summer we are suffering… from a lack of summer… It’s not snowing… it’s not really cold… but it’s not hot… it’s foggy and cool… But it’s less foggy and cool where I live than where I work… such is the nature of microclimates in the San Francisco Bay Area…

We live on the San Francisco Peninsula, 20 miles or so south of The City, aka San Francisco… This is not a good place to grow tomatoes… (aka tomatos or potatoes, thanks Mr. Quale, oh, yea, he wanted the extra “e”, and HE WAS the vice president… so he must be right) Tomatoes need heat to set flowers and develop and ripen fruit (aka red tomatoes).

Here in a place where we don’t expect sun and heat, we should (If we understood) plant short, cool season tomatoes… Not the beefsteak of BLT legend… but instead the smaller “San Francisco Fog” or “Early Girl” (Monsanto’s contribution to better living through chemistry and biology, they do corn and soy beans too…)

I, understanding my micro-climate, have planted Stupice (a Czechoslovakia Heirloom) San Francisco Fog, and Early Girl… The play is working… It’s a cold summer… one significant weather issue where I live is fog… Marine fog, pulled inland in the afternoon… with a cold summer we are having less fog in sunny (not) San Mateo… My Stupice and SF Fog tomatoes are thriving. I am getting bowls of tomatoes… and other veggies… while those in the hotter inland areas are so far not getting anything… I win!!!

So, I take bowls of tomatoes to work… for others to take home… I also get to enjoy fresh tomato salads with fresh basil, also from the garden…

Summer is good… and, Oh!, we have cucumbers and squash too…

Bye for now, Randy

Take this job and shove it, but don’t forget to grab a couple of beers on the way out…

A couple of weeks ago, the hot news story concerned Steven Slater, a Jet Blue flight attendant, who having put up with one too many rude passengers, effectively resigning his position is a somewhat spectacular manor… After the plane reached the boarding gate, he cursed the passenger over the PA system, grabbed two beers, deployed the emergency slide, and exited the airplane… He then drove home, where the police found him and arrested him for criminal mischief. How can anyone who has flown much (at least those of us who fly “economy”) not smile when we hear the story…

If anything, it is a wonder that this doesn’t happen more often.

In the 1950’s airline travel was glamorous… In the 1960’s it was still exciting, and for most of us a bit exotic. Today it’s more like an exercise in packing sardines… particularly for those of us who fly coach playing the part of the dead fish…

In some ways we share the blame… we all want to fly for as little as possible… we don’t want to pay baggage fees (and are apparently too stupid to compare advertised fares that do and don’t include a fee for luggage or taxes or what ever new and exiting extra fee the industry is currently charging for basic services) or wait for bags at the luggage carousel. So we accept the tiny seats, too much oversize carry on luggage and clamor for the coveted emergency exit row seating…

In the last year I have been on several flights (in this case both Northwest) where guests were forced to “gate check” luggage either in the jet way, or once aboard the flight, because the overhead bins were filled with oversize wheelie bags roughly the size of a Victorian steamer trunk. Not just the last few guests, but fully one third of the guests were forced to surrender their precious luggage. Making the whole thing more uncomfortable was the informal process and lack of receipts for the bags surrendered in the jet way, or even better, once aboard, the stewardess walking down the aisle offering baggage tags to anyone who asked… proof of having checked a bag not required… Some ended up with extra tags, others without… fine if the bag is waiting for you when you arrive, but not so fine if your bag has been sent on a trip to Peoria by itself. Conversations with the flight attendants suggested that this was not a unique event, but instead happened every time… making the flight late, and both the passengers and crew grumpy. By the way, the same folks who had to surrender their bags also found a shortage of pillows and blankets…

On two recent occasions my flight (in this case both on SouthWest) has been delayed as passengers were fighting over seats… really... screaming, yelling, threatening physical violence and stomping feet... once we even returned to the gate, where we were met by the police, three passengers were lead off, and after an investigation one was allowed to return to the plane… the primary aggressor was a 60 something not-so-sweet little old lady, with support from her somewhat doddering husband… Flying has gotten so bad that we are driving grandma postal… and shame on South West for not assigning seats in advance, and creating the stamped for seats as well as luggage space… The other airlines have figured out how to do it… you don’t even have to account for the numbered check in tags anymore now that you have trained us all find a computer exactly 24 hours ahead to print our own boarding passes so we can line up in numerical order. In both cases the flight attendants were on the PA asking for us to all stow our luggage and find a seat so the “flight can leave on time” even though we has been delayed because out plane wasn’t at the gate at boarding time…

Not all bad situations are the airline’s fault… but that doesn’t make it any better when you are the passenger seated next to Charles, age 8, flying alone from Tampa to Denver… Charles was bored out of his skull and entertained himself for some time by poking me and saying “I’m not touching you.”

Once aboard and hopefully seated, it appears that many people don’t follow rules as well as we collectively once did… This is an issue when flying. Airplanes are full of rules, well though out rules, Federal rules, to make it safe for those of us who chose to be strapped into a sardine can and streak across the sky at speeds above 500 miles an hour… we have to sit down, buckle up, seat backs in the full upright position for takeoff and landing… There are lots of rules, and the flight attendants are the enforcers… They are also supposed to get us coffee and drinks, peanuts and snacks, sooth our fears about connecting flights, and in the event of an emergency, evacuate the plane in under 2 minutes… all while being cheery and hospitable. They have a lot of duties and don’t need to referee a fight between grandma and the man sitting in the seat she wants, and defiantly shouldn’t need to remind adults to stay seated until the plane reaches the gate…

In fairness to the industry, I have had a some pretty good flights in the last year… several on Delta, particularly a couple of international flights (to and from South America) and of course, every time I fly my beloved Virgin America…

Having made the obligatory compliment, I have to say that charging for the first checked bag is the worst idea that the airlines have ever had… I understand the need for additional income… I have to believe that many of my fellow travelers are too stupid to know that a $200.00 flight on United (and most other airlines, including my beloved Virgin America) really costs $225.00 with a checked bag, while the $200.00 Southwest flight really costs $200.00 (unless you want early bird check in, so you can find a nice seat and a place for your steamer trunk, in which case it will cost you $210.00.) Do the airlines not understand that the checked baggage fee encourages people to drag on to the airplane a volume of luggage slightly smaller than the baggage train that accompanied Napoleon’s army when he invaded Russia? No wonder there is a shortage of space in the overhead compartment. Yes, charge for overweight bags, yes, charge for the second bag, add $10.00 to the price of a ticket, enforce the carry-on rules… but don’t charge for the first checked bag…

I wouldn’t be surprised to see another Stew or two tell her employers to “Take this job and shove it…” as they slide down the evacuation slide while drinking a cold one… hopefully they have read the emergency card (located in the seat back in front of you) and have remembered to take their shoes off first… Enjoy the beer

Monday, August 2 – Sunday August 9, on the road again…

I am off again… this time to Florida to visit the parents. The trip is different, this time I am flying cross country during the day… I prefer red-eyes… overnight arriving early the next morning… normally I sleep, this time I can’t… So I will read, maybe work on the blog.

So its up early, Steph dropped me at the airport… wait in line to check a bag… then a line for security… really a line to have ID checked, a line to put your stuff through the scanner, a mercifully short line for the metal detector, then wait for the stuff to emerge…

Now that we have to remove belts as well as jackets and hats they need to increase the space at the exit, to give people more time to reclaim their belongings and dress… As we approach boarding time I not that there isn’t a plane… it arrives a few moments later… just a little late…

Southwest asks you to line up in boarding pass order… but doesn’t provide room, people push through those already in place… with roller bags and large dufffles. Practice for the chaos once we board, scrambling for the best seats and a place to stuff our luggage.

While the boarding passes have a neat little dashed line carefully marked “fold here” everyone, really everyone folds the paper in the middle… a half inch below the neatly and carefully marked line… they could just reformat the boarding pass, to place the line in the center… but that would reduce the amount of space available below for advertizing…

Once aboard, the flight attendant (formerly when flight was more exciting, the stewardess) announces “We would like to get you out of here on time…” (which begs the question, why wasn’t the plane here on time to allow us to board…)

The flight was fine… but a bit weird… I don’t usually fly eastbound during the day, preferring red-eye flights… so its difficult to sleep… Unlike my favorite airline, Virgin, Southwest does not provide entertainment beyond trying to beg more peanuts from the flight crew… I read, a try to nap… we land at Phoenix… I rush to make my connection… we fly again… I read, again, I nap, this time with some success… I stare out the window… the Mississippi delta passes below… I can see the oil containment booms… across the gulf, into a thunder storm, which prevents us from landing at Tampa… we approach the coast, turn away, approach again, then turn away again before proceeding in for a landing.

Once on the ground I find Dad waiting… together we wait for the bag… the storm has delayed many flights and no less than 8 Southwest flights have landed in about 5 minutes… so the bags are slow in appearing on carousel.

Dad is fine, if a bit deaf… but well. We drive to their house… Mom is not the lady I remember… so much older, so much smaller, frail, unsure of herself… but thankfully still Mom…

My borther arrives the next day. Together we spend a week with Mom… A good week… We cook dinner each day… we take her out a couple of times… We spend time looking at old photos… many are packed to come home…at the end I feel better…

Now It is Sunday, and I am at the Tampa airport… with a beer, waiting for my flight home… It is raining… a heavy tropic downpour… thunder and lighting… The weather has been this way all week. My flight to Phoenix was over booked, so I volunteered to take the bump on my flight, and am leaving an hour late, flying through Denver instead of Phoenix… for an hour of my time I received a $600.00 flight voucher… not a bad trade. I will be here again sooner rather than later... Better yet Tampa’s airport has free wifi, so I finally get to blog…

The lighting continues… the thunder suggesting the storm is directly overhead… the cable TV is out, a victim of the storm…