I love the coast, despite its dampness. It’s cooler in summer, no bugs have been bothering me, and the people have been pleasant enough for me to rethink my aversion to cities. But it’s time to head to central Oregon to spend the 4th with friends who’ve said something about me dr … | Continue reading
I was in the Rolling Steel Tent researching possible boondocking spots for the rest of my trip through Oregon and Washington to Vancouver Island. I was so deep into Google Maps, iOverlander, and Adventure Know-How that when I finally looked away from the computer there was a half … | Continue reading
Some views from Crescent City on a lucky sunny day. I think that’s Oregon in the distance | Continue reading
Artist’s/driver’s depiction (hell, I wasn't going to stop and take a photo) In the northern part of Redwood National & State Park I drove into thick fog on a curvy two-lane section of US101. Really thick fog. On a tricky part of the highway. With no shoulders. With redwoods right … | Continue reading
Hiller Park in McKinleyville (a town named in honor of the assassinated president) is probably not mentioned in the travel press. It’s mostly ball fields and a dog park. But there’s a network of footpaths through the woodland between the park’s fields and the Mad River. It’s a ve … | Continue reading
It seems to be a near universal pattern. New nomads want to go everywhere and see everything. Constantly. Then that compulsion fades and we start returning to favorite or convenient places with less time and energy spent seeking the new or moving for the sake of moving. Then some … | Continue reading
When I streetdock in a city I like to change up my overnight locations so people don’t think I’ve come to live in their neighborhood. Therefore last night I parked at the Arcata Sports Complex. I stayed there a few years ago. There are usually a few other vehicle dwellers there. … | Continue reading
I checked Google Maps street view and drove around Arcata yesterday until I found a good streetdocking spot. On one side of the street was a self-storage facility, a small house with a box truck parked in front, and some apartments. Opposite was the windowless side of a two story … | Continue reading
In 1955 the small city of Arcata, California, started buying up contiguous tracts of redwood forest on the edge of town. What were they going to do with it? Nothing. They wanted to let the forest return to being just forest. Until logging messed the place up, three creeks running … | Continue reading
Well, standing on the dock, actually. But it is a bay — Humboldt Bay by Eureka CA. I only had to pay the gull two french fries to be in the photo. But it wouldn’t sign a model release form, so I’ll probably get sued for posting this. | Continue reading
This morning I woke at about 5:15, peeked outside, and saw I was wrapped in thick fog. “So this is the type of day it will be.” I tried to go back to sleep but kept thinking about the drive I was going to make. Away from the ocean and over the mountains on a squiggly road I had b … | Continue reading
I was here in 2015. Why didn’t I return sooner? Other plans, I guess. | Continue reading
In 2020 I wrote about the stereo deciding not to work now and then. I’d need to pull the perfectly good fuse from the main fuse block in the engine bay then reinsert it. Presto, music again. Cutting power to the stereo would reset something. (Like the tech guys say, “Have you tri … | Continue reading
The clothes I wear end up on the top of the stacks. Off-season clothes end up on the bottom. Clothes I haven’t been in the mood to wear are at the bottom of the bottom. My travels the past few months scrambled things up a little. It was hot in southern Arizona so the winter garme … | Continue reading
The very nice Harvest Market at Mendoza’s here in Mendocino didn’t have a couple of things I wanted, so after I had some perfect biscuits & gravy at GoodLife Cafe & Bakery I drove ten miles to the Safeway in Fort Bragg. The first time I was ever in Fort Bragg was, oh, 1983. My th … | Continue reading
Friday, June 7, 2024 If only I had room for a kayak Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest 4 comments: MFHJune 7, 2024 at 11:18 PM Don't you? On the roof?ReplyDelete Replies Barney, The Old Fat ManJune 8, 2024 at 8:51 AM I thought Al had solar pane … | Continue reading
It’s a good thing my plans are made of Silly Putty instead of stone, otherwise I’d be roasting in Santa Rosa instead of mellowing in Mendocino. I wanted to end up in Mendocino eventually, and the most direct route from Point Reyes Station would be to continue up Highway 1. But it … | Continue reading
So, among other things, I took a walk in the marshlands at that feed Tomales Bay. As I walked I thought about how I was disappointed it wasn’t Tamales Bay. But oysters are the thing here, not tamales. Hmmm... oyster tamales? | Continue reading
Yes, it’s June Gloom time. Yes, cold, moisture-laden north Pacific air is sweeping down the West Coast. Yes, it was foggy and a little drizzly when I headed to Point Reyes National Seashore. But it would clear up a little later, right? By the time I got to the lighthouse, right? … | Continue reading
The first time I became aware of Soledad was while watching TV or a movie or a movie on TV. Some thug said, “I just got out of Soledad,” which I understood to mean the same as, “I just got out of San Quentin.” Ever since then Soledad = prison town to me, as if that were the only … | Continue reading
Highway 1 is one of the most scenic drives in the country. I’ve driven its entire length a few times. (It’s much more fun in a nimble car than in a wallowing van.) The trouble is bits of it tend to crumble away into the sea. So there’s always road repairs, closed lanes and delays … | Continue reading
I enjoyed my time in Cayucos (which I learned is Spanish for canoes). It’s a nice, well-kept, laid back little village. I streetdocked at a park, by a stream, in a quiet corner of town. During the day I parked — for free — right at the beach. I watched dogs having a crazy fun tim … | Continue reading
The first time I visited Spooner Cove in Montaña de Pro State Park I noticed this neat little photo-worthy arch. When I returned the other day… Wait. What? I’m pretty certain there was an arch here. Well, just before Christmas in 2021, after a huge storm, it collapsed. Nature giv … | Continue reading
What a difference 13 miles (as the pelican flies) and 22 minutes (as the van rolls) can make. | Continue reading
It’s one of those gloomy days when the birds don’t want to go out either. | Continue reading
Sunday, May 26, 2024 Down to a tide pool this morning Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest No comments: Post a Comment Newer Post Older Post Home Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) Help keep the Steel Tent rolling Search This Blog Blog Archive ▼ … | Continue reading
This is where I’ve “camped” the past couple of nights. In this beach town it’s not necessary to be stealthy or to hide in the shadows. The locals are cool. The down side is this is the town’s main drag and it’s only a fence and some bushes away from US101. So there’s traffic nois … | Continue reading
I noticed stairs at a cove about a half mile from the seaside park I’ve made my day camp. “That’s a lot of stairs,” I thought, “but, come on, don’t be an old man. Give it a try. And if I have a heart attack, hey, it’s a lovely place to die.” I took an elevation reading at the top … | Continue reading
During my last (for a while) few days in the desert I had to deal with bugs that were intent on bugging me. Flies in the day and a variety of nocturnal insects that were drawn to my lights and, most annoying, to my laptop screen. But now that I’m along the Pacific coast, where al … | Continue reading
As I drove from the small town of the past few days to the small town of the next few days I stopped in a good sized city between the two so I could stock up at Walmart. Among other things, I needed some socks. The laundromat dryers have been eating too many of them. I had experi … | Continue reading
I had a mystery yesterday. While driving the lovely Pacific Coast Highway, with the sun finally peeking through gaps in the cloud layer, I heard a KLANK-tink-a-tik from somewhere in the Rolling Steel Tent’s living quarters. And then a little later KLANK-a-DANK-tink-a-tik-foop. Th … | Continue reading
I was enjoying my time in Orange County and thought I would spend a couple more days there. But as I considered my plans for continuing northward, I realized a huge roadblock — figuratively and literally — loomed ahead: getting through Los Angeles. Oh. Yeah. That. Traffic in the … | Continue reading
I hadn’t streetdocked since October of 2017 (I had to look that up). I was never able to relax, always worried about The Knock. Sleeping in vehicles is tolerated some places and illegal in others. Enforcement can be nonexistent to sporadic to draconian. Since then I’ve stuck to p … | Continue reading
Just about any journey along the California coast will pass through or near the places I once called home. Today I’m in Orange County where I lived in Costa Mesa, Corona del Mar, Irvine and Huntington Beach. There have been many changes since I first arrived here in 1976, fresh o … | Continue reading
Opinion 1: Not every day is a perfect beach day. Opinion 2: Any day at the beach is perfect. | Continue reading
I had it all figured out. I would spend time with a friend in Flagstaff, travel across the Navajo Nation, then turn north into Utah, explore Butler Wash and the canyons of Comb Ridge, then go northwest to Goblin Valley and more canyon hikes, then north to the Wedge and Little Gra … | Continue reading
I don’t try to be well known. I don’t have a big social media presence. I just write this blog and keep family and a few friends updated regarding my whereabouts using Facebook. Yet there I was, in a Walmart parking lot, having lunch and goofing around on the computer, door open … | Continue reading
Last night, in May for Pete’s sake, we had more frozen stuff fall from the sky. I thought it was sleet but my full-of-information friend Karin explained these snow pellets are called graupel. It’s from the German for pearl barley. I think the weather gods knew of my plans to head … | Continue reading
I strolled around the new campsite and noticed some interesting things. Atop an old Ponderosa pine stump were the remains of a squirrel’s pinecone snack. I never would’ve imagined they peeled the husk from pine nuts. Or maybe this was just one picky squirrel. Then I saw the remai … | Continue reading
The folks I’ve been camping with had already been at the dispersed Forest Service campsite a week when I joined them. Now, a week later, their 14 days were up and they needed to move. So I followed to the new site where we have a view of Humphrey’s Peak. Not bad. | Continue reading
The snow is almost all gone, the carpet of pine needles is dry, and it’s warm enough to wander in the forest without a jacket. So off I went. | Continue reading
Yesterday slush and mud, today just dampness. | Continue reading
It warmed up enough today for most of the snow to melt. That leaves us with slush and muddy wet patches. I try walking on the snow because it’s cleaner, but the places I step — like outside the van door — just become mud sooner. Everything is going to refreeze during the night th … | Continue reading
The previous snowfall had melted down to almost nothing but we knew a bigger storm was coming. It started sometime during Friday night and by the time I woke up Saturday morning there was a brand new coating about eight inches deep. Although I have plenty of battery power, and I … | Continue reading
Yesterday afternoon: This morning: | Continue reading
Horse? Unicorn? Greyhound? | Continue reading
The goal for today had been to camp in the forested mountains on the south side of Prescott, Arizona. It would be a change from the last several months in the Sonoran Desert. Cooler at about 6,000 feet. Shadier with big trees. Yes, gimme some of that. I had researched potential c … | Continue reading
Mr. Paranoia stopped by the Rolling Steel Tent this afternoon. He wanted to know why I was here, what I was doing, and who was paying me to do it. He pointed to my cellular antenna and claimed I was monitoring him and/or jamming his signals. He went on and on about being a law-ab … | Continue reading