We had a changing of the guard on Friday. Yellow Wolf sprinted on to Quartzsite. Her heater wasn’t working, and with temperatures down near freezing overnight it’s a really bad time for that to be happening. (I thought Arizona was supposed to be warm?) Fortunately, she got the problem fixed. It was just a bad hose, which she replaced and now has heat again. Meanwhile, Amanda and Matty decided to join us for the weekend. It’s fun hanging out with them outside of meetups and other events. Here, where we can just relax and do our own things. Check out their recent videos for my special guest star appearances.
There isn’t much dry wood around for campfires after several days of rain. We did what we could because we wanted to hang out by a fire. This box didn’t seem particularly happy about it, though, based on the face it was making.
After rain overnight Friday into Saturday, the weather finally took a turn for the better. The nights are still cold, but they’re far more tolerable in this van than my last one, between the improved insulation and the convenience of a diesel heater. If I wake up cold during the night, I simply press a button to turn on the heater and safely go back to sleep. The days, though perhaps not quite hitting 60º, feel 20º warmer when you’re in the sun, which helps a great deal.
I finally made a bunch of ham radio contacts with my new HF radio. I spotted myself on the Parks on the Air website, and then got calls from people in Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Washington state. My antenna was “aimed” generally east, and clearly, it was working, making contact with the east coast with just 20 watts of power. The Washington contact was an outlier, but I’ll take it. It’s good to know this setup works, and I can finally make good use of the antenna I invested in a while back. It was also a fun blast to the past on the 28 MHz band, which is where I made my first contacts ever 35 years ago.
Saturday evening, I enjoyed an online Dungeons and Dragons game. An old friend back in the Boston area who I’ve done live-action role-playing games with wrote a story and is testing it on a few victims… I mean, volunteers. I threw together a character really quick because the date snuck up on me, and I’d never met my fellow players before, but we quickly gelled into an effective team. My character turned out to be one of the most effective fighters, a role I don’t normally take, but I enjoy trying new things, and particularly enjoy this character’s smarmy personality.
Yesterday I finally took my motorcycle out of the trailer for the first time since leaving Yuma two weeks ago. It was a good day for a ride, but I wasn’t going far. I met my biker friend Dorian at the nearby Dwarf Car Museum. All his life, Ernie Adams was obsessed with building small cars, exact replicas of models from the 1940s. They’re completely handmade from scrap, replicate every detail inside and out, and are fully operational — even street-legal! Unlike the classic American iron they resemble, they’re powered by four-cylinder Toyota drivetrains from the 1970s. They’ll do 100 mph easily, I’m told.
This isn’t some memorial to a departed family member — at least, not yet. Ernie is alive and well, and still working on his creations. Here he’s trying to figure out why the windshield wipers on his latest build are stuck in the on position. Despite a lifetime of building these, he says that this car will be his final one. The museum will live on, no doubt longer than him with as many friends and family as were helping out this particular day.
As usual, Dorian and I found a local place to eat after our visit, Raceway Bar and Grill. Dorian wanted a picture by the old Chevron sign, and a fellow rider offered to take it for us.
While I was out, Lister had an adventure with Stacey. He made himself at home in her van, then went for a walk with her and Kim. It must’ve been an exciting walk since he literally ran back to my van to take an intense power nap afterward. Lister would’ve been fine staying inside my van while I was away, but it’s more fun for everyone when friends offer to keep him company.
Smokey Da Van 