A Different Life II

[Foiled Again]

Hi Maggie, add one more thing to go with your tire gauge a valve tightener. Normally one just screws onto a tire valve, replacing the black plastic cap. If a tire is losing air, you can tighten the valve inside the valve stem and then fill the tire. If it still loses air, take it to the shop.
(If you ever need to stealthily delay someone from driving away - say because they are drunk - you can loosen the valves on 2 or more tires. This is not really legal, so consider carefully first.)
My dad put one of these on my Schwinn when I was 7 or 8 along with 2 extra replacement valves because there was one local delinquent who would regularly sabotage girls bikes.

[Lily&Me]

Hi, Paula, and thanks for that tip!


Stopped at a Joann Fabric in Missoula yesterday to pick up a couple of yards of fleece to make a crochet-edged blanket for a young man from the Fire Tower project…who asked if I would make him one, and I of course said yes.

I need a #1 crochet hook for the hole-poking and first row of that edging, and found yesterday afternoon that I had not brought anything smaller than a #2…which is fine for the crochet but too big for the hole-poking.

Rather than buy another hook, having several this size at home , I dug around in my little tool bag to see if there was something smallish but sharp that I could poke thru fleece with.

And what do I find in the very bottom but a set of Stainless Steel Probes, one of which will do quite nicely.

When, where and under what circumstances these were acquired I have absolutely no idea, but they look like surgical, perhaps dental, instruments, to me…and why are they in my little tool bag?

No tire gauge in there when I needed one the other day, but there is a Probe Set.


We spent last night in a very nice little forest service campground, with no amenities but pit toilets and water, but the sites and roads were paved and we had an inexpensive, shaded and quiet night.

Just settled into a fairground campground til morning, plugged into electricity before looking tomorrow for a forest spot where we can sit the weekend.

The view out the rear doors…

[mimiandrews]

Glad you've acquired that skill. I agree with Paula that you should learn how to tighten a valve core. Often you can fix your own leak. Testing the valve is also easy. Simply put a dab of spit on the end of the valve stem and watch for bubbles. That will spot a leak. Tightening the valve core is simple if you have the tool. They are cheap at auto supply stores.

[Lily&Me]

Okay, Mimi and Paula, I will get one of those.

I know you are thinking, Mimi… “learning to test tire pressure is sooooooo overdue, Maggie”.

And, you are right.

Some tasks in the after I have plowed into and thru, other things I have resisted learning to do myself, is the truth.

I met a woman a few years back, however, who had a mind-boggling approach to travel and camping, in my opinion.

She could not back her camper into a site, and had no intention of learning, asking whomever was handy to do that for her every time she pulled into a campground.

She also carried no tools of any kind…not a screwdriver, pliers, duct tape, NOTHING…her plan being to ask someone for help for all things.

She’d been traveling for a couple of years like that, she told me.

Maggie

[Foiled Again]

I was perusing Facebook Marketplace this morning and there was a beautiful China tea service decorated in roses which made me immediately think of you. It was dirt cheap, and something a well off hausfrau would have killed for in the 1950's. How times change. Florida is awash in beautiful antiques that no one wants today, silver plate and even sterling, crystal, China, furniture all for 5 to 10 cents on the dollar. If you wander down to Florida this winter and want to hunt for beautiful things let me know.
I gotta get back to watching the lady sheep shearer work on an alpaca.

[Lily&Me]

Wow, the rose tea service sounds beautiful, Paula!

In my next life, I will have one of those.

I am trying to rid myself of things I don’t use, and not buy too many new things…tho the occasional coffee mugs seem to especially call to me.

I have started a box of mugs for the grands, ones I can’t bring myself to part with, as they will soon have their own places and need mugs for themselves as well as for visiting friends.

Too much stuff, which will eventually have to be dispensed with.

Maggie

[FLCoast]

I enjoy these posts. They are usually so relevant. Paula’s right, China is pretty much unwanted here. When we downsized most of what we thought would be wanted was not, and that we thought we would end up donating had us wishing we had asked more. And there is no limit to the pleasure of digging in a tool box looking for something that’ll work and coming across the perfect instrument. That probe set (dental tools) would’ve commandeered a special place in our tool box. When I joined the service my father told me to seek out the dentist and ask for their discarded tools. They are great for electronic repair. My father passed about the time we were downsizing and I inherited his tools. I’m still amazed at some of the things I come across. And yes, we like coffee cups from places we visit. I’m getting better. I came away from our recent trip to Africa without any.
Rick

[Lily&Me]

Hi, Rick!

There’s something about a nice mug that just makes the coffee and tea experience so much more self-nurturing.

A small thing that we do daily for ourselves and others.

Maggie

[Lily&Me]

We have been poking our way thru Montana in recent days, and last night stayed in a forest service campground that could best be described as in a meadow overlooking a river.

At least a half dozen different wildflowers, a heavy rainstorm late yesterday and rigs of all sizes filling the sites when we walked this morning.

And, at altitude of 6,000’ or so, very, very comfortable temps.

Now in Idaho, doing laundry and looking for a place to empty my tanks.


I have the blanket I’ve been working on nearly finished, and it has an interesting feature…the origin of which one can only guess, but I’d like to think that whoever bolted up this fabric in Sri Lanka or wherever decided to leave their mark.

2 apparently cut holes, as for eyes, in what clearly looks like an owl, just below the 1 1/2” or so wide, white selvedge that I trimmed off.

Given that owls are a positive sign, I decided it would be bad juju to cut off a strip wide enough to eliminate the two holes, which would then slice the owl about in half.

So, I decided to work around it, give him ears and make him a unique part of this blanket.

[tallytwo1994]

Originally Posted by Lily&Me

I have the blanket I’ve been working on nearly finished, and it has an interesting feature…the origin of which one can only guess, but I’d like to think that whoever bolted up this fabric in Sri Lanka or wherever decided to leave their mark.

2 apparently cut holes, as for eyes, in what clearly looks like an owl, just below the 1 1/2” or so wide, white selvedge that I trimmed off.

Given that owls are a positive sign, I decided it would be bad juju to cut off a strip wide enough to eliminate the two holes, which would then slice the owl about in half.

So, I decided to work around it, give him ears and make him a unique part of this blanket.

Maggie,
Some of us want to see the whole blanket, owl included.
Carol

[Lily&Me]

Hi, Carol!

I finished the blanket yesterday, and this is a better view of it.

I got two yards of fabric for it, and there really isn’t any place in here to spread it out.

His favorite colors are fuschia and lavender, and this is what I found.

A bit of a psychedelic print, but he seems very much a free spirit so I felt it would suit him.


We have had very good luck finding campsites on a day to day basis, and pulled into this USFS site overlooking a reservoir early yesterday afternoon, where we are going to stay again tonight.

Lots of activity in the water yesterday, with watercraft of all sorts, and most of the sites here include boats of some kind.

No driving today, which Lily will especially like , tho we have only been doing maybe 200 miles most days.

No amenities but water and pit toilets, but I filled up my solar shower yesterday, in a couple of hours it was hot and I scrubbed my head thoroughly.

Felt soooooo good!

Then “showered” using a half gallon of water, also heated in the sun.

Sun heated water has become my go-to, unless in a campground with showers, because why not?

No propane necessary to heat the water, no water used to adjust temperatures, so minimal filling of the grey tank.

[tallytwo1994]

Originally Posted by Lily&Me

Hi, Carol!

I finished the blanket yesterday, and this is a better view of it.

I got two yards of fabric for it, and there really isn’t any place in here to spread it out.

His favorite colors are fuschia and lavender, and this is what I found.

A bit of a psychedelic print, but he seems very much a free spirit so I felt it would suit him.


We have had very good luck finding campsites on a day to day basis, and pulled into this USFS site overlooking a reservoir early yesterday afternoon, where we are going to stay again tonight.

Lots of activity in the water yesterday, with watercraft of all sorts, and most of the sites here include boats of some kind.

No driving today, which Lily will especially like , tho we have only been doing maybe 200 miles most days.

No amenities but water and pit toilets, but I filled up my solar shower yesterday, in a couple of hours it was hot and I scrubbed my head thoroughly.

Felt soooooo good!

Then “showered” using a half gallon of water, also heated in the sun.

Sun heated water has become my go-to, unless in a campground with showers, because why not?

No propane necessary to heat the water, no water used to adjust temperatures, so minimal filling of the grey tank.

Maggie,

That’s pretty fabric and I can now see how an owl appeared. Lol

What a nice campsite and I agree about the sun heated water, much easier than dealing with the propane too.

I’ve enjoyed your recent trips and look forward to seeing what’s ahead.

Carol

[Lily&Me]

Yeah, there’s a story to those eyeholes poked in there, I feel, tho not one I will ever know.

It just felt right to work around him and accessorize a bit, rather than eliminate.

It has been a good year for trips, really, and I’m grateful.

Maggie

[Lily&Me]

Get up early, take care of business and get on the road.

When you find a nice site in a forest service campground, snag it and stop for the day.

Rinse and repeat.

On the road about three hours yesterday, found this just-emptied site alongside a river and even after some in-town errands were stopped for the night shortly after 10 am.

Others coming in and doing the exact same thing, and all the prime sites overlooking the River in this campground were filled by noon.

And the camp host was friendly, helpful and completely unbothered by early check in.

A spot we settled into early one day last week had the camp host coming by late morning, eyeing my tag and looking at his watch while looking and scowling at my rig.

He didn’t come to the door and say anything, tho what could he say?

Check out is usually pretty firm, but first come, first served federal sites are there to be grabbed at least as soon as they are emptied…and sometimes are tagged by the next before the current resident has left.

Like we’re all supposed to line up and not begin to drive thru until 2pm.

It’s the way it works.


And when one is on a highway out here, not a Free Range area, and one sees cattle in the road one calls 911.

This morning, a lone female, tho huge, in the road as I came around a curve at 60 mph and narrowly avoided hitting her.

I stopped and called 911, the dispatcher asked was I near the school in the small town I had just come thru, which I was not but where two loose cattle had just been reported.

This girl was by herself, if she’d been with friends they’d split up to avoid capture.

Stopped at the side of the road, she was able to locate me from my cell signal and said an officer was on his way… also that “the ranchers” had been notified.

Travel in cattle country…I love it.

On my agenda today is purchasing a Wyoming tshirt of some sort, and one of their bucking bronco motif stickers for the Interstate…I love Wyoming that much.


I have continued this trip to read most every day, tho the very busy HC times, long travel days and no-signal times have made it difficult to post books I have particularly enjoyed.

I just finished, however, “The Friends We Keep”, by Jane Green, and it was very good…

30 years or so in the lives of three close friends from “Uni”, complete with their imperfect, good, bad, hugely blemished relationships, decisions, lifestyle choices, etc.

But in the end, they adjust and adapt, reach back to the bond they originally forged, forgive and move on, and it felt very real life, to me.

Worth a read.

[Nelson428]

Beautiful site I would have snagged it as well.

[Dingo Girl]

I like your stories.

[Lily&Me]

Thank you, both, and I have another story.

We drove into Pinedale, WY, this morning, me thinking maybe I could find a place to trim my hair…it having been nearly 2 months since last tended to by my fabric-of-my-life hairdresser at home, who has been cutting my hair 30 or so years.

At any rate, I go into a place that showed up on my PocketEarth app in this town:

the owner and I share the same first and middle name

she immediately spied the RV, asked if I had a place to park for the night and offered me to stay behind their building, under a massive tree, backing up to a natural area and trail that run thru town, with a little patio, WiFi, and the use of their bathroom/shower.

and, an appointment for a trim for me late this afternoon


How could I say no to that? Tho I washed my sweaty head again yesterday and otherwise cleaned up , she is an avid camper and understands the luxury of a hot shower.

She couldn’t do enough, and was so sweet.

I pulled out my bag of crocheted dishcloths and potholders, gave them all their pick, stayed to chat for a bit and we have since been enjoying Pinedale a little.

The sign coming in says “Pinedale. All the Civilization You Need.”

I would agree…restaurants, a grocer, laundromat, hardware, clothing, liquor stores, gas stations, car wash and hairdresser.

I was directed to Altitude Drug, where I found a nice tshirt and bar of homemade goat soap, washed the Interstate…again, I know, but between the bugs and the dust out here, the front end gets pretty filthy very quickly… topped off the fuel tank, we have walked a couple of times in the lovely little city park and are now under a nice shade tree until my appointment.


What could be nicer than this day, really?

I am especially grateful today for good and kind people, with generous hearts.

Their are really lots of them out there.

Maggie

[DaveP]

Thanks to you, Maggie, HistoriCorp has a new volunteer! I was scheduled to work a Habitat build in Pagosa Springs CO the first two week of September, but it was cancelled due to material shortages from a key supplier. I am on the HistoriCorp's email list and decided to apply as a volunteer for a project to restore a gold rush era cabin west of Nederland CO. I start the second week in September. Thanks for your leadership!

[Lily&Me]

Good for you!

They are a very, very good organization, in my experience, and I hope you have a great time.

Now that you’re signed up, you will get notified of all volunteer projects, and will hopefully find more.

They have had more projects this year than I have ever seen before, and seem to be growing by leaps and bounds.

Thanks for sharing this, and have fun!

Maggie

[Lily&Me]

After an excellent shampoo and trim by Brett, more conversation with she and owner Margie at Hair Outfitter & Spa in Pinedale, WY, we had a very quiet night parked next to their building.

Stopped at Ridley’s to pick up some more drinking water and noticed a puddle underneath the engine area.

I thought it was oil, it is diesel fuel, per Ian at AutoDoc, also in Pinedale.

He quickly determined a worn hose, carefully showed to me what and where the issue is and is working on replacing it as I type.

Part of privilege of travel, maintenance and upkeep of our rigs.

Glad I saw this before I headed out into the mountains this morning.

On edit: the hose was okay, was a small crimped connector of some sort, now replaced.