Driving and camping

I'm driving. Subtle, but always in the background once you're attuned, is the hum of the fuel pump. At least, that's my guess. If I had perfect pitch I would tell you the key of that sound.

The interior fan is on the highest speed, blowing air as fast as it can. The lower speeds don't work. Gotta get that fixed.

I like to imagine that there's a taint of coolness to the fan-forced air with the a/c on. Realistically, I wonder if it's my imagination. Possibly, probably, there's no cool at all. The a/c was adequate when I got the car over a year ago. I'm sure a check-up and a re-charge would restore it. Oh, ambient temperatures reached the 80's that Wednesday.

That was my driving experience this year as I drove to and from Tumalo State Park in central Oregon, near Bend.

Why do I not do more camping? Oh yeah! For one thing, I'm tired of dealing with air-mattresses. Even when you get one that holds air, I seem to pop it. I don't seem to be any good at patching them, either. They always seem to go flat overnight. I tried foam padding. If you get the really thick stuff and double it by stacking it on top of each other, it does work pretty well.

But, I finally bought myself a cot this year. Been meaning to try one for awhile. It's fantastic! Not only is it comfortable for sleeping but it's also nice to sit and put your shoes on, etc. I actually could have camped longer. That cot is the single biggest improvement to my camping experience in years. Now, though, I need a slightly bigger tent to accommodate it. Which I've been wanting anyway. Here's my excuse.

Anyway, the scenery... I'll always be very fond of the beautiful forests of central Oregon. Camping, hiking, snow trips... all kinds of memories of these forests and hills touched on my awareness. There were many trips with family, friends, or the church youth group over the years, many of them occurring on these roads.

How do you feel about nature? There's something about the grandeur (that's the only way to describe it) of the mighty forests that just gets to me. I like exploring during the day and I especially love the forest at night. The wind never stops. Although there are people and cars and music and all kinds of sounds during the day, at night you can simply listen to the trees as the wind blows around and through them. It soothes me.

Of course, during the day the wind DID stop. We wanted wind. Or fans! The temperatures gradually rose each day until it was in the 90's. Fortunately Tumalo offers free showers which I took advantage of every evening. There's also the Deschutes River adjacent to the campground. There are a couple different swimming areas, neither of them too deep. But the one we found farther downstream was mostly shallow and really good for just walking out and getting your legs wet to cool down. The kids all loved it, of course.

Oh yeah... I got to meet my new cousins. I won't try to quote all their names but there are several. Now my nieces will have peers to play with at these occasions. That's good because they can wear me out. I can't imagine full-time kids in my life but I sure love them for a few hours or days at a time.

I decided to leave right after breakfast on Saturday. That ended up being around 9:30. I didn't get home until nearly 5:00. That was too many hours without a/c. If I go next year it will be in a different car and I plan to have working a/c, whatever it takes.

Generally enough relatives attend these trips that I can share a site with one of them, if not my immediate family. Well, this year not as many people were able to go. Also, the campground filled up pretty well. I ended up having to reserve 2 different sites and moved from one to the other on Friday. I shared with my aunt and uncle as they hadn't made reservations soon enough either. It worked out well. It sure helps to split the costs. Camping has gotten more expensive but it's worth it to me if there are nice bathrooms, showers and hot water included.

Plus, I'm all registered with the reservation site for future trips. I look forward to them.

Follow up and miscellany

I never did follow up on a couple postings and I feel that now's a good time. Starting with the old house, my former residence. One day in, ummm... November or December? Oh brother... well, let's say November. My (former) roomie said that the roof was gone and I should go take a look. Now, she didn't mean the shingles. No... no, they weren't planning to re-roof the house. She meant, literally, that the roof was GONE. I never had a chance to get a picture of it in the daylight. But I drove by that evening and sure enough... if you'd been standing in the house looking up you'd see sky.
Then, a couple days before Christmas, she mentioned that the house was torn down. I haven't followed up at all. I mean, as far as doing a drive-by to look at the dirt or rubbish or whatever. But I want to. Maybe it's already cleaned up and they're starting on a new building. The neighbors on both sides were very disappointed about the whole thing. They've lived there for years. Long enough to see the little Christmas tree in the front yard grow to its' current (if it's still standing) mighty stature. Admittedly, that was the one thing nobody would miss. You can't believe how many pine needles that tree put out in our yard and the neighbors and probably across the street! Yeah, that's all I know about that.

I never did have the heart to go back to Discount Tires and get the rotation I needed on the Neon! It's okay since I'm driving the Contour for a couple more months until I switch the insurance back again. Anybody wanna buy a '99 Ford Contour?

West Seattle has turned out to be a nice area to live in. It's true what 'they' say. I'm still not convinced I'm in the best living situation but it'll do for now. Oh! The window leak... that happened only because of the extreme rain / wind storm we had. It's never leaked before or since so unless we get record-breaking rain I think I'm okay. The carpet seems to have dried out fairly well but it needs to be cleaned. It's dis-colored where it got flooded. Of course, it was dirty water leaking in. I'm assuming it will shampoo right out.

My Christmas drive to Oregon went well. I truly enjoyed spending time with the family again. It was a whirlwind of a trip and I'm ready for a 'real' vacation now. I think the lack of sleep and eating all that unhealthy food (and so much of it) contributed to my being sick. I managed to work today and if I can make it through tomorrow then I'll have the weekend to recover. I'm not sick, like contagious, but it's more of a stomach thing. I have issues and holiday food is a big contributor.

Hmmm... that's all I can think of. I have the house to myself this evening and it's been nice. WOW! It's 9:00. No big deal but the last time I looked, which seemed like 10 minutes ago, it was around 7:45.

G'day

New Cars

So, be it good or bad, I tend to be a greenie. As in recycle, get good mileage, don't pollute, tread lightly on the earth, yada yada yada. That being said, what's up with the new cars?

For several years I've been pondering the day I could drive away in a Honda Civic HX. It was a non-hybrid Civic with mpg ratings in the mid 30's in the city and low 40's on the freeway. Great mileage from a 'normal' gas engine with 117 hp and powering a great looking coupe! The engine was full of requisite technology such as 4 valves per cylinder and variable-valve-timing.

Of course, they stopped making them. I guess they want people to buy a hybrid, instead. A hybrid that might not get much better mileage:
http://www.automobilemag.com/reviews/sedans/0604_honda_civic_hybrid/

Many drivers certainly WILL get much better mileage. But is it worth the $7,000 price difference? That's a lot of gas. The mileage numbers in the newer, smaller Honda Fit are significantly lower than the Civic HX. The freeway rating is down to 38 mpg.

Don't even get me started on the Aveo!

On the other hand, Toyota used to sell the Echo. Sure, kind of homely, but with mileage ratings similar to the Civic HX. It also featured similar technology in the engine department, such as 4 valves per cylinder, variable-valve-timing, and even dual-overhead-cams. That technology enabled those cars to get stellar mileage while also maintaining reasonable emissions. Admittedly not an easy combination.

At least Toyota didn't let their hybrid bury the second-best mileage car in their lineup. They now offer the Yaris which runs much cleaner and still gets nearly the same mileage as the Echo did.

I'd hoped that at least one American car maker would be able to compete. Saturn, perhaps? But they've moved in the other direction. Until 2002 you could buy an SC1, a stylish car capable of high 20's (mpg) in the city and high 30's or 40'ish on the open road. Now you get the Ion, a more vanilla, mainstream car in every way. Including reliability, from what I hear. Saturn used to be more unique and innovative than the rest of General Motors but it seems like they've been absorbed into the corporate giant. As of this year, the only choice for a real mileage-oriented person (such as myself) who can't afford a hybrid (like me) is the Yaris. Will future years bring more options rather than less? I hope so.