Last night while snuggled under my summer weight down blanket the heater failed, not even flashing leds. No current to make even the blower energize. Chilly out of bed crawl to stand by cat heater which lit. After the sun provided light I opened the passenger door to access the heater fuse that was intact, no blown fuse cause. I texted the shop where I bought the heater, my tech contact. I drove back to Bend to Fit garage who installed the replacement and for possible removal. Made appointment for next week. Left voice mail with tech support. Slithered underneath van and chased the wire which appeared to be intact. Still not even blower power. I left the blower control open and somewhere on my drive the blower turned on. Van way too hot for thermostat to command ignition. Appears to have current, heater did light but switched off as van was still too warm. Sitting here in Bend with door open cooling van.
No word from ortho here. Thought came to me to check for a repair opening in ST George, UT in Dec, better to recover out of snow there than here. Scored 1st step appointment for 12/10, PA exams then determine surgery and learn when it will occur. Soon I will be leaving Bend heading south, prolly straight to Moab.
Friday the septic install company returned my contact. Learned that they are able to do all the dirt work as in septic, foundation, and electric. He said he will send me names of contractors he can recommend.
Playing weather forecast which had been calling for precip to plan ride days. Yesterday was to be wet so after Saturday’s ride I drove back to La Pine to hole up in the rain which didn’t fall until mid afternoon. I needed water from spigot in La Pine. Sunshine. I Drove off on a tourist looky loo drive. I saw on the GS map that a butte, Pistol, on the other side of the Deschutes River. The summit once was home to a fire lookout per Kresik’s book. Good enough for a hike. I drove several miles of stutter bumped all weather gravel road turning onto a less developed rd to where it started up the butte. While I was deciding to hike the forecasted squall dropped heavy downpour. I waited out the rain, sunshine. I did wear my rain parka just in case. The “road” was running runoff. Steep. I hiked and hiked forever gaining elevation. I finally arrived at site of former lookout. My land was raven fly maybe less than 10 miles away. Hike was 1.1 mile climbing 709′ took 26 mins walking which seemed to be less than I thought effort would have been. Drove back to property for the night.
On Sat I rode from rd 41 to do the same route I did on Sunday. remarkable: just 1 minute difference on a 2 hr 47 min ride. This ride generated 36 hour recovery versus 67 hours. Better conditioning. Still a big ride.
Snow forecasted later this week but won’t last.
I figured on riding this afternoon but bailed. Concern is being caught by lack of day light. Prolly stay here tonight for ride tomorrow.
Life goes on. After all, it’s just money.
Caught between lifestyle of Mountain Biking the States and taking steps to have my house built. I can put up with shoulder pain to be able to ride such that I can continue traveling. And put off building.