I left Spokane 7 years ago starting this odyssey. 7 years of small living in a 6’X12′ box on wheels. It has just happened. Time passed, adventures accumulated. New places ridden. Old familiar haunts revisited. Reconnected w/ friends I have made on the way. And made new ones. I’m a professional time consumer, don’t try this at home….. unless you want to or are already doing what you want. 52 weeks a year times 7 years = like 364 weeks of vacation. Chasing the dollar leaves us w/ so little of our own time. I’m getting mine and the future looks like more of the same. Get some yourself.
The pain in my calf caused me to put my conditioning on blocks and allow the muscles to heal. I used the foam roller on the sore muscles. each day the pain was less and walking was less painful. Today, Sunday, I took a short hike at relaxed pace feeling my leg. The pain seemed to be caused by walking. Short loop. I stayed all day in my camp spot. I did the strengthening exercises appreciating the strength I am getting. I sat in the sun in my Strongback chair reading Getting Off, an off price book I bought @ Barnes and Noble. Written about a woman written by a man. Another sun burn.
After my walk I decided I needed to ride my bike to learn what pain would occur. I rode the gravel back here. No pain caused by riding. Tomorrow I ride again.
I bought the hiking guide for the OR and WA sections of the PCT. There are 190 miles between Stevens Pass and Manning Park in Canada that I haven’t hiked. I have done some planning and figuring. You need a passport or an enhanced drivers license because I am licensed in WA to get back into the US. I plotted a time flow to acquire one. It is 117 miles to High Bridge and a shuttle ride to Stehekin and the Lake Chelan boat ride back to Chelan for a bail out. Trail goes thru the Glacier Peak Wilderness that is pretty tough hiking. Desire to finish still burns.
Drove down Friday to La Pine to allow Karl to fix my furnace then meet w/ a realtor to learn of La Pine’s secrets. Karl filed the ignitor points that had some build up. He hooked up his home made propane pressure gauge that when connected to my propane system the pressure was less than the furnace needed. He corrected the pressure by opening the regulator. He turned the control button to start the furnace. It caught. We let it run several minutes then shut it off and allowed it to cool. He told it to start and it did. Appears to have solved it’s not lighting. Sat AM was cold enough to enjoy hot air if it started. It did. May it now work the way it was engineered. I texted Karl my thanks.
Next up was the realtor, the same one Karl used to find his place. She asked me my criteria for land that she entered into a MLS query and gave them to me. I am looking for about an acre for $15,000 which is now a dream, land is 2X. She gave me a local map where I located the selected properties then drove off checking them out. Land is dead flat, tree cover is almost all lodgepole. Land was all subdivided and plotted. Most plots are an acre there abouts. Most are gravel roads, some are almost tank traps. I found several that I will return to tomorrow prolly. Next is to learn the offer process. Pieces require a septic feasibility study. An offer would be contingent on a conventional septic system. Wells appear to be shallow.
Gary and I finally made a beer drinking meeting. I met him back in Fruita and several times and places on the road. He lives here.
I checked out hiking boots at REI. I learned that not all boot companies make my 7 1/2 size. I am using one pair of Smart wool socks giving up on the liner and heavier outer sock system.