Month: August 2021

It was a pretty uneventful 1,100-mile slog back to Mesquite from the Oregon coast. The RV and the dogs did well, Charlie got to read a bit, and I got to examine a lot of (for the most part) desolate countryside from the driver’s seat.

It is enlightening to observe the various sectors of America on a journey through the great outdoors. Most of our route was through lightly-populated areas, with beat-up cars, dilapidated houses and barns, no Starbucks, lots of “out of business” signs, crummy roads, and a few “Trump Won” signs being flown by hardscrabble diehards. The landscape is dry and becoming drier, lake levels are down, and crops are thin in many areas. The overwhelming lushness of the Oregon coast stands in stark contrast to the hundreds of miles of sagebrush and dirt that we traveled through.

The air quality during the ride home was atrocious, due to the massive forest fires occurring in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. The smoke was especially thick from Reno to Tonopah. At Walker Lake, near Hawthorne, Nevada, I could hardly make out the lake (which is a huge one) despite the fact that the highway is only a few hundred yards above the shore. People with respiratory issues in that area must be suffering big time. Firefighters, like medical professionals during the pandemic, have to be bone weary.

We’re relaxing here in Mesquite for a nine-day breather before we head south on I-15 to Oceanside, California (north of San Diego) to set the rig up for a 30-day stay at Paradise by the Sea RV Resort. We’ve been going there for years: it’s right by the beach, the weather is great in September and October, and it is close to friends and family. It is expensive to stay at Paradise but I’m really looking forward to riding my bike along the shore from Oceanside to Torrey Pines while watching the surfers do their thing.

We came home five days early so that we could get some projects done. Priority One was the demo of our master bedroom walk-in wardrobe closet. Our son Jonathan (an ex-cabinetmaker) will fly out here from Lexington while we’re in Oceanside and will install $11,000 worth of woodwork. I spent the past two days tearing out the existing woodwork, spackling the walls, and painting. It now looks good as new, ready for Jonathan.

We’re so lucky to have him in our lives: he’s Charlie’s business partner (bookkeeping and taxes) and is always willing to support us in any way required. Jonathan and his wife Misty and daughter Autumn are all hard workers, never complaining, always pushing the ball forward. They seem to like living in Kentucky and are doing fine financially.

Charlie and I have spent several days on the phone with Microsoft and Intuit tech wizards trying to resolve some issues with our laptop computer that we take with us on our road trips. Yesterday, Charlie spent about six hours on the phone with some Philippino gal trying to fix a glitch in Windows, and then I spent another couple of hours in the evening working online with a guy named Abiola from Estonia to de-bug software. It was very frustrating, to say the least, because these foreign techies speak English with an accent. They were nice, but it seemed like both of us spent a lot of the time asking the technician to repeat what he/she had just said.

Speaking of foreign stuff, our good friend Lloyd has relocated to the Yucatan Penninsula of Mexico. He was just settling in when Hurricane Grace blew through the area and knocked down buildings and power poles. Last week he signed a lease on a dwelling in Progreso (on the Gulf coast) and his girlfriend Juanita arrived from South Africa. Hopefully, they will enjoy each other and the Mexican adventure, although the climate there is hot and humid; it’s definitely something that takes getting used to. As does the Mexican culture, where Support Your Local Police means paying “la mordida” (the bribe) for a parking spot or making a traffic citation disappear. Hopefully, Lloyd will adjust.

We are getting our annual flu shots tomorrow and we’re scheduled to get a Covid-19 booster (Moderna) in a few weeks while we’re in Southern California. My sister Claudia arranged that: how nice of her!!!

Speaking of the pandemic, mask-wearing is coming back into style what with the flu season approaching. It continues to baffle me why so many people are not getting vaccinated and why so many elected public officials continue to play politics with this serious medical issue. Over 600,000 Americans have died already from Covid-19…and flu season approaches. It is a shame that politicians are playing games with peoples’ lives.

Speaking of political games, it is interesting to see the blame-throwing about the end of American “occupation” of Afghanistan after twenty long years. Both political parties are responsible for this longest war in American history, another “undeclared” debacle (like Korea and Vietnam) that had dubious justification, thousands of killed and injured U.S. soldiers, and cost our Nation hundreds of billions of dollars. We should have gotten out of Afghanistan long ago, but no President had the cojones to do so until Biden came along. He’s now taking flack because the last troops were shipped home on his watch, something that former President Trump committed to and then, failed to accomplish…probably afraid that he’d take flack like Biden is now receiving. Trump dodged the war in Vietnam and then dodged ending the war in Afghanistan: he is and always has been a coward.

By the way, shouldn’t war be a last resort? Unfortunately, some politicians like to flex muscles and the American military-industrial establishment likes to build rockets, tanks, submarines, fighter jets, guns, and ammo. In the absence of real threats to our national security, politicians find it necessary to invent them. The United States of America has sadly become a bully looking for a place to pick a fight.

It’s sickening and it’s shameful.

I returned home to find a lot of accumulated mail…including Sports Illustrated magazines which, for some reason, Charlie subscribed for me awhile back. I used to be addicted to sports but have lost the passion, for sure. I followed many sports back in the day when “news” was primarily about competition, banner achievements, and record-breaking individual endeavors by premier players. I could relate, somewhat, due to my experience as a middling athlete in many sports and the respect I had for great performers. Nowadays, most of the sports “news” pertains to athletes’ contracts, shoe endorsements, social media gaffes, extra-marital affairs, drug use, after-hours revelry, and criminal behavior. (Or who didn’t display “patriotic” behavior during the National Anthem.) It’s as if performance on the field is secondary to the other crap. I’m fed up.

One of the Sports Illustrated features that I glanced at this morning concerned sports gambling and the fact that it is becoming more prevalent and…surprisingly…sanctioned by professional leagues and many states.

Gee, I seem to recall Pete Rose being banished from Major League Baseball for doing some innocent gambling. The greatest pure hitter in the history of MLB is not in the Hall of Fame because he bet on baseball games (not against his team) while he was a manager. Football Hall of Famers Paul Hornung and Alex Karras got suspended from the NFL for doing similar stuff. It’s okay, now, I guess. Maybe Rose, Hornung, and Karras were right all along? Will MLB now un-banish Pete Rose?

Conspiracy theorists are going to love proliferated sports gambling:  When some doofus running back fumbles the ball with a few seconds left on the clock, with the game on the line, there will be accusations that he did it on purpose…to affect the “spread”, thereby screwing a lot of gamblers out of tons of money. Who’s to say he didn’t fumble on purpose? Even the GOAT, Tom Brady, sometimes throws unwise passes that end up in the hands of the other team; was it an accident or was he paid to throw a wobbler, in trash time, at the end of a game that his team was winning?

I think legalized gambling in sports will lead to more polarization (i.e. enraged, unruly, maniacal fans), demands for investigations, and possibly violence perpetrated against players who are perceived to have tanked the “spread”. Not a good thing, in that the outcome of the sporting contest will be overshadowed by the antics of non-athletes trying to beat the system for personal gain. So much for “winning one for the Gipper”.

It’s a weird world that we live in, and it’s getting weirder all the time.

Thank goodness that I’ll be dead soon (enough). We’re circling the drain, Folks.

We’re still on the Oregon Coast, enjoying cool weather and breathable air, while our neighbors in Mesquite, Nevada are suffering from 110 to 115 degree heat supplemented by the smoke generated by all the fires in central California.

We almost feel guilty.

We had a nice time in Charleston (Coos Bay) at Oceanside RV Resort. We were there for almost one month. It was cool, foggy, and breezy a lot, with maybe one third of the days featuring sunshine.

Our site (20) sucked, as it was a bit short for our rig and was not level. However, we soldiered on and overcame the annoyance. After all, we’re on vacation: it’s all good!

Our Mesquite neighbors, Galen and Sherry Carnicelli, came and went and then we were joined by our good friends Dan and Peggy Quinn, who stayed at another RV park in the area. We visited each other’s campsite, hosted meals, went to the street fair, let the dogs play (they also have a Boston Terrier named “Katie”) and we went to a few local bars and eateries. We like socializing with them: they’re fun.

The Quinns’ Boston, Katie, likes to go crazy with our dogs.

We had a Boston Terrier play day at the Quinns’. Another Boston, a reddish brown one, joined in the scrum.

We grilled some ribeyes and potatoes on Dan Quinn’s Big Green Egg cooker.

Dan gave me this cool shirt:

We went to the Coos Bay Farmers’ Market one morning. Dan bought this cutting board:

We also visited our favorite local dive bar, the Silver Dollar. Lots of low life women must visit there in the evenings because this sign hangs behind the bar:

We had to replenish our THC night-night gummies at the local marijuana dispensary. Actor/comedian Jim Belushi, who has a commercial pot farm in Medford, maintains a presence there:

After Oceanside, we killed a few days at another Coos Bay RV park called “Alder Acres”. It was actually a clean and well-managed place, centrally-located in Coos Bay, close to downtown.

Photo of “Pre” on downtown Coos Bay building:

About one week ago we moved 100 miles down Highway 101 to Brookings, which is the southernmost city in Oregon. We are staying at Driftwood RV Park, which is located adjacent to the Port of Brookings harbor.

Lots of commercial fishing happens here, so the seafood at local restaurants is very fresh. One of our favorite restaurants is “Catalyst”, which is named after the company fishing boat. They have the best calamari (fried squid) that we’ve tasted on the Oregon coast.

The coast along here is rugged, with lots of rocks out beyond the surf line. The beach is strewn with logs and driftwood, due to the logging industry that keeps this city afloat financially. It could be the world capitol of driftwood.

The beach where I walk the dogs is a couple of blocks from our RV park. Baby and Bonnie love the beach.

We met a couple of French Bulldogs down at the beach one morning. One of them had a “merle” coat, which is an unusual dappled brown and grey combination.

Our “cheap” Boston Terriers cost about $2,000 less per dog than the Frenchies!

Our friends, the Quinns, havae relocated to Brookings and are staying at another RV park (“River’s Edge”), which is just up the Chetco River from our location.

Charlie and I went to the annual Pirate’s Festival down in Brookings Harbor last week. Lots of vendors, food, and lively Celtic rock n’ roll music.

On Wednesday we visited the local Farmers’ Market with the Quinns and then had lunch at Zola’s in the harbor.

One our last outings with the Quinns was at a local distillery/restaurant called “Superfly”. The food was good and I got a tee shirt.

The dogs do well babysitting themselves in the rig. BonBon is the designated “lookout”, always alert to any fishy goings-on near our rig.

We found out yesterday that Charlie’s sister Theresa may have to evacuate her home in Pioneer, California due to the large Caldor Fire that is incinerating the Sierra Nevada foothills near Lake Tahoe. Also, my good friend Lloyd, who has relocated to the Yucatan Penninsula, is dodging the effects of Hurricane Grace.

We’ve rejiggered out itinerary and will go home about five days earlier. This is because Jonathan is coming mid-September to install cabinetry in our master bedroom wardrobe closet and I must demo the room prior to his arrival.

So, we are going to skip Grants Pass (Oregon) and motor south beginning on Tuesday.

Our last to-do-list item before we leave Brookings will be replacing a ceiling vent fan. A local RV repair guy named “Ryan” will do it today. It will help when we stay in hellholes like Weed, Reno, and Tonopah on the way back to Mesquite.

It has been a great trip.

The Coronavirus pandemic is still with us.

Most Americans would like to think that we are “over” this plague and can resume speed, pretending that all is well. Evidently, we are still at risk…as variants of the Covid-19 virus are popping up all over the world and are infecting lot of people including those who have already received the vaccine.

Oh, Boy!

However, scientists have predicted many of the things that have occurred, like wave after wave of infection. This is because this particular virus was “novel”, in that it had never been seen before, the transmission mechanisms were unknown, infection and mortality rates were a mystery, and no off-the-shelf medicines or vaccines were available to treat or prevent infections. Epidemiologists predicted, from the very start, that we were in for a long battle in which the learning curve (by epidemiologists and the public) would have peaks and valleys.

Like any virus that is not killed off completely, Covid-19 will mutate over time and the fittest version will survive to continue its biological work. We are seeing that now with the U.K, Delta, and Lambda variants that appear to be more infectious and lethal than the early 2020 variety. It also appears that individuals who have been inoculated against the original Covid-19 virus can contract the virus and pass it on to others. It is possible, as well, that current vaccines may not be effective against new variants.

Oh, Boy!

It is looking increasingly likely that the familiar, detested public health measures (business restrictions, masking, social distancing) we all suffered through in 2020 will be coming back to annoy and enrage us in some form or another.

The folks who will be most upset about this will be the partisans who ignored public health officials last year and who have refused to become vaccinated. We are now headed into the Fall, when flu season normally begins, and a number of “Red” states are experiencing rising infection rates because their governors have spent the past year trying to make political hay out of their “tough” stand on individual liberty, distrust of scientists, misinformation and lack of leadership on vaccinations, and Trump-like machismo (“ignore it and it will go away”).

Yeah, as if.

The Spanish Flu pandemic that smote mankind a century ago lasted for about three years. If that is any indication, we might only be half-way through the current plague. And the irony is that our ancestors had no vaccine…but we do. What a shame.

There are too many know-it-alls, amateur scientists, self-serving politicians, and rabble-rousers shooting their mouths off right now, lending nothing to the solution and confusing the Hell out of many Americans who could get a vaccination today…for free. It’s amazing, really. People in Third World countries would literally give the shirt off their back for the opportunity to be protected. Once again, the United States is a laughingstock.

Oh, Boy!

My heart goes out to the medical professionals who have busted hump, and risked infection every day for the past year…and had to endure the carnage wrought by Covid-19 up-close-and-personal. They must be emotionally wrung out and pissed off, to boot. Vaccines are available, people aren’t using them, and are showing up at hospitals in bad shape, expecting thorough and compassionate care from the beleaguered hospital staff.

Ironically, the heated political debate surrounding Covid-19 (“it’s no big thing”, “masks equal tyranny”, anti-vax hyperbole, “it’s okay to thin the herd”, “Fauci caused the virus”, etc.) has even caused many medical professionals to refuse the free vaccinations…despite being at high risk of contracting the virus.

Go figure.

Our Mesquite friends, the Carnicellis, are calling it a day, skedaddling back to Nevada several weeks early: they’ve had enough RVing.

Charlie and I are going to dinner with them tonight in Coos Bay, sending them off with an Italian meal and a fond farewell.

I think that their purchase of the fairly new Coachmen Mirada motorhome and the extended trip to the Pacific Northwest on their very first “big” trip was a mistake for several reasons.

First of all, they bought a Class A motorhome with a Ford V-10 gasoline engine. It doesn’t have the power it needs, something that Galen complained about when he arrived here (“high pitch whine/high revs/low speed going up grades, automatic shift into low gear/more high revs/low speed going downhill”). And they aren’t even towing a car behind their relatively light motorhome! I warned Galen about the V-10 gas engine idea, but he was apparently enamored by the price.

Second, the motorhome tires didn’t have air pressure sensors. So, when an inner rear tire blew near Tonopah, Nevada they were unaware until the exterior tire, which then took on all of the rear weight on that side, also shredded, causing damage to their coach bumper and propane gas line. They’ve been in Coos Bay for more than a week without propane for their heater, stove, and range. That sucks. (Of course, the five-hour delay/expensive emergency road repair/replacement of two tires also sucked, as well.) As the saying goes, Shit Happens.

Third, Sherry (Galen’s wife) is recovering from a catastrophic ankle injury that required a complex surgery only three months ago. She’s wearing a “boot” and can hardly get around, let alone climb in and out of the motorhome with ease. Poor Sherry can’t do much on this supposed “vacation”, so she’s in a crummy mood. I don’t envy Galen. She should have never agreed to this trip: they should have held off until she could walk comfortably. I hope coming was her idea, not his, or he will never live it down.

Fourth, the Carnicellis dog, a lovable Lhasa Apso named “Bear”, is an inappropriate dog to own when roughing it in the Pacific Northwest. Bear is a huge fur ball who attracts burrs and thistle “sputniks” and who can’t enjoy the beach because he would (according to his owners) become loaded with sand deep within his two-layer coat. So, no beach, no hikes in the woods, nor much fun for Bear and his owners. Galen takes Bear on a few short walks each day, on asphalt or concrete, where the lad can pee and poop. Not much of a vacation for Bear, that’s for sure. I’m sure he’s miserable.

And, lastly, the Carnicellis are, to be perfectly honest, worry worts who spend a lot of time anticipating trouble and then seem to revel in it (by complaining) when something goes awry. They are not enjoying this trip (see items one through four above) and have decided to return home because of the alleged “crappy weather”. Surprise, Folks, it’s cool and foggy on the Pacific Northwest coast and has been for the past million years! (That’s actually why the Mannings come there in the Summer…to escape the scorching 110-115 degree heat in Mesquite.)

Upon arrival in Coos Bay, our friends related their harrowing drive up “Shinglehouse Road” and have whined about it ever since. In reality, it is a pleasant drive through the woods with little traffic and is easily driven at 40 mph. The Carnicellis almost fell over themselves with glee when there was an Alaskan 8.2 magnitude earthquake reported yesterday with potential tsunami heading this way…until I told them that their report was 12 hours late and the tsunami alert had been canceled. Too bad: one less thing to complain about.

Their last complaint, before deciding to forego their visit (with us) to Brookings, Oregon was that “gale force winds are forecast”. Our joint visit to Brookings was about two weeks out when they came up with this one. It’s funny that they woulde glom onto some bogus wind prediction to justify their actions but it’s not surprising when one considers that they have not opted to get Covid-19 vaccinations…because of some phony medical reason. Too much Fox News and Dr. Oz, I think.

I wonder if they’ve already privately pulled the plug on the RV lifestyle. The couple purchased the $93,000 rig shortly before this ill-fated trip and could probably recover most of that if they sold it. They probably should, because RVing requires participants who can “improvise, adapt, and overcome” rather than bitch and moan, requires making lemonade out of lemons, and so forth. I’m not convinced that they have the grit required.

Charlie and I have been doing this RV stuff for quite a few years now. We’ve endured lots of mini-catastrophes, made mistakes, experienced bad luck, coped with mechanical and health issues (personal and canine), and dealt with annoyances that got us pretty worked up. There’s always some trouble a-brewin’ and we deal with it. It’s a real test of the strength of one’s marriage, living in close proximity for months on end and finding solutions to problems…before you drive your partner nuts. We’re pretty good at it and so are our dogs. And it’s an expensive lifestyle, to be sure. If Charlie didn’t have supplemental business income, we probably couldn’t afford it. I hope Galen and Sherry have a safe and uncomplicated return home. They are nice folks and deserve to be happy. Hopefully, they will chalk this trip up to experience and come up with a hobby that better suits them.

(Sunday Update: Charlie heard from a Mesquite neighbor who is close to the Carnicellis that they are going to sell the RV.)