2-3 at best

Last friday I sat around scratching my head trying to figure out something, anything to do on my Sunday/Monday off. Absolutely none of it involved hanging around Reno. So I set my headscratcher down on the coffee table and loaded up my rig for the long haul to Santa Cruz after work on saturday. Without dragging my trailer over Donner Summit, I can drive fast and take lots of chances which makes the 5 hour drive more like 4 hours. The score of the day was a nice little parking space in a wooded neighborhood under a droopy tree that partially concealed my sleeping arrangements. It's amazing I found the spot and none of the other 73,847 epicly smelly Santa Cruz weirdos found it first. The surf was nothing incredible at all. But for a landlocked crippled dude with limited skills it was all-time.

hidden gems

Going through an old hard drive and I found a ton of randoms. Some from Costa Rica, Bybee, CartKa, Amity, Duffy, boards shaped, animals dead/alive/dying, Mexico, and Utah, and some wave action.

Old Man Winter

Took the trailer into the Sierras and got a little creepy, too creepy. I didn't really do much except drink coffee, space out, read "Confessions of and Eco Warrior", and listen to the Ducks fail in Stanford on the radio. I also spent entirely too much time just driving around checking out the South Lake Tahoe area. I sat in the car pulling a fiberglass trailer through snow and rain way too much. Kind of a wasted weekend, but it's alright. Cleared the brain a little. Storms are stacking up out there and we're about to get pummeled. My winter program is just getting started. The camper is ready and my wrecked body is starting to work like it's supposed to. My hip is flexing, I can almost do a squat AND stand up from it, and I can hoist up my leg and get my knee above my hip. On top of all this great news, I have no friends in my new town, so nobody will get in my way of weekends in Santa Cruz or Lake Tahoe without taking a shower or changing my shorts. I tried to grow a Grizzly Adams so I could realty play the part of Unibombing loner derelict, but I gave up after 2 itchy weeks.

Trailer life is the good life

Today I dropped of my Boler at the RV repair shop to have a new Atwood 8012 furnace installed. 12,000 BTU's of shear power will keep it nice and toasty when I'm camped out in the corner of Kirkwood or Heavenly's parking lot this winter. I'm also in the middle of dropping in a new stereo. Electrical shit ain't my bag, but I'm working my way through it. 35 year old wires and vintage tapedecks are getting replaced with an iPod ready setup. Holes are cut. And when I get the rig back it's the last thing to accomplish during remodel phase #1.

"youre not gonna believe this shit"

Field Notes

After hearing about a shark attack in Northernmost CA and a seal washing up in Santa Barbara with it's guts dangling out, I decided to skip Santa Cruz this weekend and head for the hills. With no real plans, 2 days off, and forgetting to bring my atlas, I got off work saturday afternoon and drove south into No-Cell-Coverage-Country ending up in Markleeville. My backup plan is always to grab a site at some organized pay-campground. But I always feel like a fat, soft American if I pay for a campground when I should be able to sleep for free. Outside town I spotted a crappy road that lead to a mellow little landing pad along some tiny, nearly empty creek. I was bear bait along that creek, but it was awesome. The temps got down to the low 20's but I was toasty inside with my new shiney insulation and a Lil Buddy space heater. I love pissing out the front door into nature. The next day I packed up and slowly cruized north-northwest towards Kirkwood and South Lake Tahoe. I needed to take a peek at the area and spy Kirkwood for winter camping and shredding. I stopped and fished along a gorgeous stretch of the West Fork of the Carson River. There were some hogs in there that laughed at my cast, I definitely didn't have the right flys. The Stimulator is my go-to, and it wasn't working either. So I snagged a couple tiny little fuckers, called it an afternoon, and drove into South Lake for the second night. Today I got back on the river early and fished a couple spots along the way home. Might have to try my hand at gold panning next time. Mother lode, bitches.

Beefing up the Boler

Seeing as I've recently been living without TV, internet, or the simple focus to sit and read, I've been finding little random projects to check off the list. Last weekend was time to drop some Pergo in the Boler. I wasn't stoked on the red, shitty, particle board tile that was in there. Plus a little snap-together fake wood floor adds a structure and class to my fiberglass butt hut. It took me less than 4 minutes to demo the old floor and scrape it clean. And another hour to chop saw and snap in the new Heritage Oak. Another 45 minutes later to glue and clamp the molding. Done and done. Later than night some asshole nicely unscrewed & stole my $20 empty propane canister. Sweet.

Old shit

New shit

Gone shit