After having my pressure cooker lid welded at the local Napa Auto Parts store, I took some time to read my pressure cooker manual, written in 1954. This was an age pre-dating political correctness in that the Presto Pressure Cooker manual addresses itself only to American females of the era with little thought that male hermit boondockers would join the “millions of housewives getting new homemaking thrills from their exciting Presto appliances”. As the lid on my cooker is quite hard to turn at the best of times, I’m thinking that those ladies of the 50s must have been fairly robust of arm.
The same visit to town brought about another scrabble loss. It seems that my “personal best” of the previous week may have been a career high with the remainder of the season being all downhill. Speaking of which, the Arizona Republic of a few days ago had an article focussing on the glitches associated with the Vancouver Olympics. I’m sure that you are all familiar with the Olympic flame cauldron arm that failed to rise during the Opening Ceremonies, not to mention the Zamboni problem at the Speed Skating Oval (what exactly was that? Reports talked about the wrong machine being on site and that the correct one had to be imported from Calgary). These, and several others, reminded me of my days at Lake Louise and those (rare) occasions when lifts broke down. It was often a mystery as to why auxiliary motors refused to start, despite regular testing – with the result that people had to be evacuated by the Patrol. Anyway, my general impression of everything at the Olympics, except the weather, Gretzky’s ride through the rain in the back of a pickup truck to light the Harbour cauldron (now fenced – another glitch?) as well as the tacky looking Mounties, beaver and moose at the Closing ceremonies, has been quite positive. Seeing Cypress Mountain one day with zero snow and the next, holding mogul events, was impressive, I thought – also the near perfect condition of the Downhill runs after days of cancelled training due to soft snow had to be admired.
Hugh R. arrived with an American Scientist magazine in hand, the reading of which brings one into contact with some great thinkers, none of whom I can fully understand. For several days, I have, without much success, been trying to master the math behind construction of Apollonian gaskets. I think my time is better spent reading historical novels.
The BBQ drama has not quite ended. At one stage, I had it repaired, or so I thought. After inserting a tube to connect propane bottle to the Q, gluing with Gorilla Glue and covering with a coating of marine putty, I propped up the connection with a piece of 2” X 6” to give it some solidity. Imagine my surprise when looking out the window to see a huge glow as the wood caught on fire and everything went up in flames. Luckily, only the bare earth got singed as I tossed the flaming wood into the firepit. Everything has now been disassembled and rebuilt again without wooden components. It was a good thing that this little glitch occurred out on the desert floor rather than next to the trailer or even on the deck at my cabin. Marine putty, by the way, is a remarkable product. For those who don’t know, it comes in a stick, is made of two chemical elements the consistency of playdough which, after a section is broken off and rubbed together, can be molded to any shape and then hardens into a tough skin. I think that it might also work under water but am not really in the right environment to test that theory.
Following information received from Hugh and Christine, I dropped in at a used-tool shop on the main street and bought a short pick for digging trenches under the upper-side trailer wheels, plus a flaring tool for making copper pipe connections (not sure when I’ll use that) and some pop rivets, all for $17.00.
Hugh and I took two trucks out into the desert to obtain firewood from a site that I found on the bicycle. BLM regulations state that, while fires are allowed, wood should only be gathered from “dead-fallen” timber as opposed to “dead-standing” timber. There is plenty of wood that appears dead but is still erect and may not really be dead – simply waiting for enough rain to bring it back to life. Anyway, we sawed up two truckloads of legally acceptable wood for our respective campfires and had ample amounts for a couple of weeks.
Tom Wenger arrived at MM Road approx March 1st. Tom is a friend of Darch from Calgary days. His trailer (Jayco Designer) is 35’ long and did some scraping on the road-dips on the way in. When all slides are out, Tom’s trailer is huge with center slides opposite each other. He has a 32” flat-screen TV, mounted on a flanged post that he made, installed with swivels on a cupboard shelf. This TV weighs very little and is only 2” thick. On the normal crank-up antenna it receives free off-air broadcasts by making use of a “black box” converter that changes signals into crystal-clear digital pictures. Surprisingly, here on MM Road, he received 11 channels, mostly from Tucson, so we watched many Olympic events in his rig. Darch went to town and bought a box for himself at a cost $30 at the New and Used store, the same place where I had bought several odds and ends. I am thinking that perhaps I should also get one of these boxes for occasions when, while in transit, I don’t want to bother with the satellite dish. Since I had never seen this technology before, I was amazed at how effectively it worked. The two of them had identical Honda 2000 “duelling generators” competing against each other for sound supremacy in their respective RVs. Tom appeared to enjoy what was evidently his first foray into the world of Boondocking and may be a future convert to the solar lifestyle. On a trip to town, Darch bought himself a 45 gallon bladder for hauling water. Despite instructions that were specific in their warnings about carrying this bladder on the roof of his Suzuki “toad”, Darch filled it up, watched the car roof sag, and had to empty half the contents out before returning to camp. In principle, bladders are an excellent way to carry water, if one has a vehicle that can carry the weight. I’m sure that there will be some system redesign prior to the next water mission. My own acquisitions at the local hardware store included some ¼” brass fittings with which to continue my education and practice in assembling copper pipe connections using the flaring tool. By the time I get home, I should be able to repair almost anything related to water lines and copper connections.
Surprisingly, there are still no flowers blooming in the desert - this despite significant amounts of precipitation in December, as well as the first two months of the year. Nearly all plants (even the ocotillos) have a green covering of leaves, however, so one would have to thing that the flowers aren’t too far behind.
March 3rd – Tom and Darch left camp for points north, Darch is going to meet Catherine and then run in the Las Vegas Marathon (hopefully, his substantial research into the neck of my brandy bottle didn’t excessively impact on his training regime). When I drove down the road an hour or so later, it appeared as if a grader had been at work as Tom’s trailer dragged earth into the dips.
Back on the podium as I squeezed out two scrabble wins in Ajo at the Weyers’ house. This time, I think a combination of my good letters and poor ones for the hosts, plus a deliberately “thrown” match on compassionate grounds by Gayle, were the contributing factors, rather than any particular proficiency on my part. March 4th, I cycled down to the Richards/Lewis campsite and got invited to supper. Concerns about riding the bike home in the dark (I had my headlamp) on a road possibly teeming with smugglers and other scoundrels resulted in a ride home in Hugh’s truck. One night, Gerry Percy called from Why. They are en-route to Algodones for dental work and will camp at the gravel pit north of the Veteran’s Camp off Highway 95 outside Yuma. I also plan to go to Algodones to look into buying a spare pair of glasses - Tom got a pair of bi-focals with frame, lenses and sight test for only $59.00. My thought is to leave MMR tomorrow – will do a weather check first as I don’t wish to be blown backwards along the freeway to Yuma
In the paper, two articles of note stood out this past week. In the first, a group of illegal immigrants were attacked by smugglers out in the desert but retaliated, killing one of the assailants. All parties (including the dearly departed) were then returned to Mexico, there, no doubt, to continue their dispute. Another story discussed the new US Air Force F-35 replacement jet fighter for the “venerable” F-16. Hearings are being held in Tucson to protest use of this plane at a nearby Air Base because, apparently, it makes anywhere from two to four times as much noise as its predecessor- which is a lot of noise, based on my observations of the flypasts overhead every morning as planes fly out on training flights. The Air Force refuses to issue actual statistics on the noise issues, claiming national security concerns and Real Estate people, who wish to develop adjacent lands, are unable to obtain permits while the whole process is tied up in the courts.
Mar 9th MM Road
For the last night on site for Hugh and Christine, as well as Gail and Dave, we had a BBQ in a strong storm. Normally, one would use the firepit but, with heavy winds and rain again, Dave had the Q operating in the lee of his fifth wheel. While others bring steaks for these events, I usually bring a “chunk” of meat, chopped from some economy roast. These are usually quite tender after a day of marinating. On my way home up the road, washes were running with water but not too deeply. Of the several years that I have travelled in the south, this has been the wettest by far, probably also the coolest with temps rarely exceeding 65 (we should really be in the 80s by this time of the winter). Every month has experienced a significant storm with high winds and heavy rains which, to date, have contributed the annual average rain to some parts of Arizona with snow at higher elevations
I haven’t quite decided which route to take home (up Nevada # 95 or possibly west to the Oregon Coast being two options). The plan, in any case, is to cross the border on March 31st, when travel insurance expires. JW
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