Teeth

Day 82

Aloha Dental

8:15am:

Tránsito transported George to Aloha Dental for a teeth cleaning. George stopped going to dentists after his doctors advised that Old Man Death would be visiting soon. That was about 2001.

Well, Old Man Death never showed up! And the years passed by with George still not going to dentists. For one thing, he gags easily and dentists make him do X-rays. For another thing, hygienists love to polish teeth at the end of cleaning and George hates that.

The Fixer

Day 81

Water Leak

8:59am:

This morning we are back at Beaverton's lovely Fountain Park. Yes, this is the place that I got arrested and hand cuffed on July 21st!

The Scampy RV Team is going to repair the leak in our fresh water tank assembly. In order to do this fix, the bench seat covering the fresh water tank will be removed. 

Initially we figured that removing the bench seat would be difficult. However, on an RV forum, we found out that this is an easy task.

Punch list

Day 80

Charging Right Along!

12:02pm:

As you may have suspected, I'm a dogged kind of guy. My nature is keep to going when I have a goal in sight. On and on and on. Overcoming obstacles. Charging right along.

Since before the day that my course changed in September, 2016 from a retired senior living at Guava Gardens Apartments to an RVer once again, I have charged along without slowing or stopping!

Several times, I've changed basic elements of what I am doing:

2003

Day 79

The Goal Of Tioga George

9:42am:

Back in 2003, shortly after MsTioga and I began vagabonding together, I published here in my Blog, my RVing goal:

"To be of help to my fellow RVers"

I accomplished this goal on the RV.net forum site by sharing my skills and knowledge. Back in 2003, I was doing things that had not yet become common in the RVing world:
▶︎ Levelers

▶︎ Internet connection everywhere we traveled

▶︎ Solar power

▶︎ Vagabonding, dry camping [Living away from the RV park]

9:57am:

My travels

As MsTioga and I wandered the roads of the Western United States, Canada and Mexico, from our windows, we saw stuff from a different perspective. Stuff that the regular world folk did not see.

One afternoon, many years ago, we were Afternoon Camped in the fabulous City of San Diego. MsTioga was in a commercial area. Next to a restaurant. There bushes growing around the restaurant, big enough to camouflage homeless persons squatting down inside.

I was stretched out and lying down on MsTioga's upholstered swivel chairs. My head and back on one chair. My feet on the other chair. Sort of lying down, so that I was not visible to the persons squatting in those bushes. I was close to them them though. Close enough to hear their words!

The three men were conversing the challenges of obtaining government aid:
▶︎ Man #1: I lost my address that I had with a guy who has an apartment. Now I don't have a way to receive mail.
▶︎ Man #2: How you gonna get welfare?
▶︎ Man #1: I'm screwed.
▶︎ Man #3: Why doncha set up with rock?
▶︎ Man #1: What's rock?
▶︎ Man #3: Rock Church. Over on Ward.
▶︎ Man #1: What they do?
▶︎ Man #2: I heard about Rock. Never been there. Yeah! What they do?
▶︎ Man #3: Lotsa things. Give you a street address. Meals too. But you have to put up with the Jesus thing that they do.
▶︎ Man #1: How about showing me Rock?
▶︎ Man #2: Yeah, show me too.

All three men left the bushes, and headed over to Rock. For a long time I just stayed right there. Lying down in MsTioga's swivel chairs. Mesmerized by that conversation that I overheard of the three men in the bushes.

I would re-hear that conversation in my mind's ear many times over the years.

2:28pm:
Registering Tránsito
It took about a month to figure out where to register Tránsito.
➜ Oregon?
➜ California?
➜ Another place?

In the end, California was the winner. California got $1,169 bucks of my hard earned dough. Bet Jerry Brown is happy.

I downloaded a DMV form, took it to Office Max on a travel drive. Printed out and filled out the form. Then down to the US Post Office to mail:
➜ My check

➜ Tránsito's pink slip
➜ The filled in form .......to DMV.

As Forest Gump would say: "One less thing!"



4:43pm:
Apple Store
When I got out of Tránsito at the Post Office, smoke was billowing out about half-way down the inside of the driver side door!! The smoke was coming from a little Apple cable.

The Lightning to 3.5 mm Headphone Jack Adapter.

iPhone owners have been complaining about the quality this little cable. And rightly so. If Steve Jobs were still around, he would be kicking butt about this terrible idea of a low quality cable adapter.

But why did Apple produce iPhone 7 without an audio output?

Apple must have known that audio is one of the favorites things of iPhone users. Dumb, dumb......dumb [With salt on it!]


5:49pm:
Home Depot
We are sitting in Scampy going over the projects for which we will be buying material at Home Depot. There are dimensions that we have to put down on our notes list in order to know what to buy.

One of our projects is to resolve a way to keep Scampy's bench seat cushions from sliding forward. Often when I am sitting on a cushion, it simply slips forward. It's a real pain to be sitting on the cushion and have it slide forward.

I was thinking of using a metal or wood keeper that would stop the cushion's movement. Then, Velcro popped into my head!

One of Scampy's bench seats.

10:28pm:
Carl's Jr
We hardly ever go to a burger joint like Carl's Jr, Wendy's, MeDonald's. This evening we are here because of circumstances beyond the control of the Scampy RV Team!

And that, is a huge loss of control! Mere mortals may find it almost impossible to grasp a loss of control as great as this one!

It would be like the Pacific Ocean rising up and flooding Denver! Well, that example may be stretching the bounds of reality a smidgeon.



Water, water, everywhere!
Scampy's fresh water tank was checked this morning. There is no water level indicator. Just open the bench seat cover and look down at the tank. So, George entered a entry in his tiny notebook to fetch water.

Earlier this evening we were over at Home Depot shopping our heads off. We knocked so many things to buy off the Project List, that we were getting giddy with excitement!

All of our Project Stuff has been crossed off the list because they are complete. All that remains are research items and minor projects:
★ Why do police cuff persons who are not dangerous?
★ How should a successful rebellion be organized?
★ Mount a volt meter on the cover of Scampy's battery box.

When we pulled out of the Home Depot parking lot, we headed for a Chevron Station. Chevrons our usually good for filling the fresh water tank. One of the gas guys walked us over to their water hose, and turned on the water.

We have discontinued filling fresh water all the way up. Do you recall that we Blogged to about the leak? At first we thought that the leak was in the tank's bottom. But when the water level went down a bit, the leak stopped. That meant to us that the leak was near the top.

So, this evening we filled the tank to only about 3" below the top. When we returned to go inside Scampy after bringing Chevron's hose back to its place, there was a ton of water all over the floor. And it was continuing to flow to the floor!

We got out our super duper special magical Rubbermaid mop. The mop that picks up water from a flood. It worked! Picked up the water like magic. Of course it would do that. Because its a magical Rubbermaid mop.

We went across the street from the Chevron to Carl's Jr. We left Scampy parked on an incline with the fresh water tank at the low point. Water was draining out slowly as we walked away to Carl's.

---

Nite Camp Location Map
Elevation: 222 feet

,

Training

Day 78

Baby Boid Is His Own Teacher

9:06am:
Boid has, on his own, taught himself to be my friend. Boid has no fear of me. For example, often when I'm typing on my Mac, Boid will walk around on the keyboard. He pecks at whatever he finds interesting. Like the computer's keys. Or my fingers.

Boid has learned to connect my saying: "Jump Jump Baby Boid" with his cage door being open. Also, he connects that phrase with his being able to fly around inside Scampy.

Scampy loose

Day 77

Trailer Hitch Happenings

Yesterday afternoon:
We were passing a Mercedes dealer, and on a whim decided to go in there and see what a Mercedes Sprinter Class-B would cost us if we traded in Tránsito and Scampy.

Now, this is not a serious thing. We just were going into the dealer to see "what-if?" So, Tránsito decided to go around the block in order to get back to the Mercedes dealer. 

But something dramatic happened on-the-way. We went slowly over some railroad tracks. Suddenly, Scampy came un-coupled!! Man-O-Man! Double wow with salt on it!

Legal

Day 76

Coming Out About My Arrest

2:00am:

My intended lawyer advised me not to Blog about my arrest, lawyer stuff, trial, etc. But, this evening I was going over my over-the-phone appointment with this lawyer guy in my mind. And I decided not to use him because he is:

#1: Too argumentative

#2: Too expensive [$3,700 retainer to take my case to the point of a trial. $3,700 to go to trial. Other expenses too.]

The charge against me is:

Improper use of emergency communications system [911][Link]

Here's the story:

Salem

Day 75

Key, Door, Battery

8:34am:

This morning The Scampy RV Team is heading out of the City of Beaverton. We are bound for the City of Salem!

Tránsito has a 10:30am appointment at Skyline Ford to be outfitted for a backup coded ignition key. Also, Tránsito has been complaining that his driver side door does not stay open for George during exiting.

Journey

Day 74

Scampy's Future

9:49pm:

Making Plans

Us old guys have a tendency to tell the same stories over and over. So please forgive me if I've Blogged about this before.

Although Scampy and Tránsito do talk together about where they are heading, at the beginning a day, neither of them knows their destination. Actually, nobody on the Scampy RV Team really wants to know!

Fixing

Day 73

We Want Stuff To Break

9:59am:

Have we Blogged to you before about loving to have projects to do? MsTioga used to ask me, "Do you sometimes break something, just so that you will be able to fix it?"

Fixing stuff has been coming to mind lately. Because Scampy and Tránsito are getting sooooo close to being completely squared away! No longer are there piles of jumbled up stuff here and there.

Power Crazy

Day 72

California DMV

8:17am:
The primary job of California DMV is to invent, create, formulate, think up new ways to confuse California car drivers. And DMV is excellent at their job!

When I bought Tránsito, I was traveling in the State of Oregon. I needed help in doing what California DMV requires. I would NOT in any case do this stuff myself.

Vagabonding

Day 71

Ultimate RVers

7:01am:

In the vast history of the World of RVing, there have never been an RVing Team greater than the one of Tioga and George! 

Back on March 15th, 2014, George's heart stopped beating while at the wheel of MsTioga [Link]. George was unconscious as MsTioga careened off Interstate 5 into a farmer's field in the City of Bakersfield, California.

Tránsito

Day 70

Not Perfect Anymore

8:53am:

Late last nite I was driving in the parking lot of 24 Hour Fitness in Salem, Oregon. I heard a sound like something dragging under Tránsito. 

I believed that I was now stopped, because I put Tránsito into park. But Tránsito was NOT in park! Tránsito was in REVERSE!

When I went to get out to see what was dragging, my feet began to be dragged on the parking lot pavement. For a second, I did not comprehend what was happening. When I realized that Tránsito was moving, I tried to brake. But because my feet were being dragged, I was not able to quickly brake.

Moisture

Day 69

Scamp Plumbing Leak

7:38am:

For several days, Team Members returning to MsScampy have noticed moisture on the kitchen floor. We looked for the source. Something leaking in the fridge? The shower?

When the leak source was not found, we cleaned up by mopping the kitchen floor and chalked this moisture up to an unnoticed spill.

Clothing

Day 68

All The Laundry

7:38am:

Down the street from our Nite Camp, is the best coin laundry ever! Wonderful machines. Both washers and dryers. Today we are at that coin laundry. And are going to wash every single piece of clothing, towels, rags, etc. 

When I went into the coin laundry, there was a guy there sweeping the floor. This guy was wearing a kippah, worn by Jews to fulfill the requirement that the head be covered.

We are good

Day 67

Scampy Team In Great Shape

6:42am:
We are in The City of Beaverton's Fountain Park. The park does not open until 8am. That time isn't enforced. In fact, all over Oregon, regulations on parking and sleeping in a vehicle [ie; RV] are not enforced.

Yesterday

Day 66

Finishing Friday's Blog

12:38am:

Here's the story! We must finish Friday's Blog today [Saturday].

2:16pm:
I've just finished publishing my Blog for Friday, July 14th. [Finally!]

Fan

Day 65

Mac Making Sound

9:15am:
Mr. Mac Air is such a steady guy! Never gives us trouble. Just goes along forever!

This morning, Mac Air's fan began moaning! The fan stops and starts! Do you think that we should send Mr. Mac Air to the Apple Store for doctoring?

9:40am:
How do we know if a Scampy Team member is a boy or girl?

Lincoln City

Day 64

Back In Salem

9am:
Yesterday evening we headed out from Lincoln City and arrived
in Oregon's state capitol of Salem. The main reason that we are here in Salem is to square away Tránsito's vehicle registration with Mohr Motors [We bought Tránsito from Mohr].

Of course we want to go shopping for our Tweaking Projects. Tweaking seems to be our drug of choice. We are definitely addicted to Tweaking! 😎

Mystery

Day 64

Solve The Mysterious Image

2:30am: Yesterday I deleted some files that appeared to me to be corrupted. Anyway, I did not know what these files were. So, I sent them to trash.

Right after that, a very strange image appeared in my Chrome and Safari browsers. An extremely tiny image. The image is located just to the right of the word "Campaigns" in the pic below.

Battery challenged

Day 62

Just In Time!

7am - The Scampy Team's solar battery charging system has come together in the Nick of Time!

This morning when we were getting out of bed, we heard the ominous alarm squeal of our Samlex Inverter! This meant something was wrong either on the input or output end of the Samlex.

We knew that it was almost 100% that it was on the input! Scampy's deep cycle battery was too low! 

Comments 2

Day 61

 Reader Discussions

On July 7th, 2017 I Blogged to you:

7am - First off, I am not turning my RVing Adventure Blog into some kind of political thing.

But, every once in awhile, I would like to present things here that may prompt Readers to comment on things political.

Keeping Cool

Day 60

T-Shirt & Short Pants Weather

7:30am - Back in the days of MsTioga, we were forever on a search for T-Shirt & Short Pants Weather. Wow! Those were the days! When we found that lovely weather, there was no need for air-conditioning. And George did not suffer because of high temperature.

Here at Depoe Bay, and likely all of Oregon's Pacific Coast, T-Shirt & Short Pants Weather abounds!

Isolator

Day 59

Install It Myself

1am - I woke up from an evening nap a little while ago, and a thought popped into my brain! "I can install that isolator myself!"

Yesterday afternoon when I was talking to Kerob, the shop owner of

Car Audio 101 in Depoe Bay, some of the things that he told me just did not ring true:
➜ It would take 3-hours to install the isolator
➜ That the wire for the installation was expensive
➜ The installation cost would be over $300

Thinking back to my conversation with Kerob,

J's Fish

Day 58

Lincoln City

7am - Yesterday afternoon, the temperature in the Capitol City of Salem got a bit high [85℉]. So we headed toward Lincoln City on the Pacific Coast.

You may know that there is more than coolness in Lincoln City. 

There is the fabulous J's Fish and Chips!

9am - Batteries again

I've been closely monitoring both Tránsito's Engine Starting Battery and Scampy's Deep Cycle Battery. Both of these batteries are receiving a charge while Tránsito's engine is running. I put a voltmeter on the output of Tránsito's hitch cable this morning in order to make sure that current is flowing to Scampy's battery. It is.

Please click the Read more link:

Comments

Day 57

Discussions Among Readers

7am - First off, I am not turning my RVing Adventure Blog into some kind of political thing.

But, every once in awhile, I would like to present things here that may prompt Readers to comment on things political.

I know that for myself, sometimes I get a little lazy about my responsibility as a citizen of our Republic. And, sometimes I get to thinking, "What's the use?"

Please click the Read more link:

PayDay

Day  56

Lucas and Little Honda

10am - We have an appointment with Lucas, Little Honda's new owner. We're going to the bank with Lucas.

AT the bank, we will exchange Little Honda's Pink Slip [Certificate of Title] for a check.

It is PayDay!

George, Lucas and Little Honda

Please click the Read more link:

Bankrupt

Day 55

United States of America 

At 241 years

How is the US doing?

In my opinion, our country on its 241st birthday is in terrible shape. The Federal Government has been driven into bankruptcy by what is known as the Federal Reserve Bank.

Do not believe what the government creeps tell you. That it is impossible for our Federal Government to go broke. The Federal Government can go broke. And will go broke. That is an absolute certainty.

The Federal Reserve is extremely easy to understand:
➜ A Central Bank had its roots around the beginning of our country, 1776. In order to finance our Revolution, the Continental Congress printed the new nation's first paper money. Known as "continentals," the fiat money notes were issued in such quantity they led to inflation.

➜ The baloney behind the creation of the Federal Reserve was that the FR would be able to control financial panics.

➜ A financial panic comes when people who have money in a bank go to withdraw some of their funds and their money is not there!

➜ What happens is, banks should keep a large amount of their depositor's funds on hand. Cash, in the bank. Maybe 80% +. These funds are called reserves.
➜ However, bankers are [In my opinion] crooks. They gamble with depositor's money and lose. Then the money is not in the bank for customer's to withdraw. And what do they do then? They close the bank's doors! That closing creates a bank panic.

Jump from 1913 to 2009
The Federal Reserve Bank was created in 1913. Let us jump forward in time from 1913 to 2009. Somewhere around 2000 to 2007, banks began to act very irresponsibly by gambling with their depositors money.

What those banks did, was to lend money out to unqualified borrowers. Why did the banks do such a stupid thing? Greed! The banks wanted to earn the fee that they received when they made a loan. Sub-prime mortgages became the in thing!

In 2008, when unqualified borrowers went belly-up, the mortgage loan market collapsed. Thousands of these mortgages went bad. $2 Trillion Dollars! Up in smoke. Gone!

But that was not enough for the banks! The invention of "bundled mortgages" led to the ability of banks to sell their mortgages. With those sales, lenders now had funds to create new mortgages. These bundled mortgages were labelled: Collateralized Debt Obligations [CDOs].

Who did the lenders blame? The US Congress!

Derivatives exploded uncontrollably: Collateralized debt obligations [CDOs] provided the first “infinite market”; at the height of the crash, derivatives accounted for 3 times global economy!!!!

Note: A derivative is like an insurance policy which guarantees that the value of a financial investment does not decline. 

Bottom Line

So, what is going to happen? A banking crisis is coming. When? Who can tell?

But the next time banks fold, there will be no Federal Reserve Bank to come to their rescue. Because the FR spent all their $dough$ and more to save the banks from the mortgage crisis of 2008. The FR is broke! As shown by the federal debt that the FR created which is now over $20 trillion bucks up from about $10 trillion in 2009.

The *shit* will hit the fan.



Yesterday - Searching for White Mountain
We have caught glimpses of a very large white [snow covered?] mountain to the north of Beaverton. But we could not get a clear view!

In Beaverton, there are sooooo many trees, that getting a clear view of White Mountain is pretty much impossible. But that impossibility does not stop The Scampy RV Team! No siree!

Around 7pm yesterday, we set out to take a pic of White Mountain. We knew that we had to head north, searching for higher ground. There had to be a clear place where Little iPhone could capture White Mountain.

On and on we searched. We came across private property that appeared to have the clear view we sought. But, we could not trespass!

Then we came to a cemetery. And there it was! A clear view of White Mountain and a surprise Big Mountain too!

White Mountain
Mount Adams

Big Mountain
Mount Saint Helens

Note: We are The Scampy RV Team. We are intrepid! When we set our minds to something, we carry on no matter what! 😎



9am - US Strategy in Eastern Syria
We are wondering what would happen now, if Barack Obama were still our President? President Trump's strategy is very aggressive unlike President Obama's passive stance.

The downing on June 18th of a Syrian Air Force SU-22 by a US Navy F-18 Super Hornet over the skies of Northern Syria would almost certainly not have happened under Obama.

Now, if you are OK with Israel going down in flames, Obama is your man. But if not, perhaps you should have a second think about Obama.

Click [Here] to read about what happened.

10am - Found a Rock!
We found a rock in a planter at the U-Haul in Salem. The rock is gorgeously painted.

3pm - Boid & George outside!
Baby Boid and George never even considered Scampy's awning as useful. But that was during the cold of Winter.

Now, it is Summertime! Inside Scampy it is 83℉. Outside under Scampy's awning, a lovely cool breeze is wafting by!

Ah! This is the life of a fulltime RVer.

Baby Boid and George under Scampy's awning
Rear-Fred Meyer Parking Lot

7pm - Fireworks!
While we were still at our Fred Meyer Afternoon Camp, we searched Google for best Salem fireworks display. We came up with Riverfront City Park.

When we arrived at Riverfront Park, the place was packed with persons also wanting to see fireworks.

Looking at a Google map of the area, we spotted the West Salem Boat Ramp across the Williamette River. Perfect!

We headed over to that boat ramp. We are here now. The fireworks display begins about 10pm!

Click [Here] to view our location at the boat ramp.

Riverfront City Park across the Wiliamette River
From the West Salem Boat Ramp

The Finale!

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Nite Camp Location Map
Elevation: 213 feet

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Charging

Day 54

Battery Challenged

9am - Reader Nick Gatel commented a couple of days ago:
"I recommend you have the battery "load tested."

The Scampy Team was heading over to Fountain Park in order to put Scampy's Deep Cycle battery on charge again [The Park has live electric power outlets]. On the way [Strangely enough], we were passing "Battery Xchange" [A place that sells and services batteries]. Remembering Nick's advice, we pulled in.

The guy there first checked Scampy's battery with a hydrometer. The hydrometer check showed the battery to be about 75% charged. Then he hooked up the battery to a load tester. Without me asking for a load test!! Would you believe! 

The guy reported that the battery has good load capacity. And then he advised, "Put the battery on charge for 24-hours at a 3-amps charge rate. If you charge at high amperage, the plates in deep cycle batteries may get warped!

I've been RVing since 2003 and have always had deep cycle batteries. I never knew about this 3-amp charge rate thing!

Charging up in Beaverton's Fountain Park

3:30pm - Sorted Tránsito out
We just finished putting away the big jumble of stuff that was tossed into
Tránsito's storage. 

Guess what happened then? We found that the wood cabinet drawers that we were going to install into Tránsito are not needed!

Note: A few readers figured this out awhile ago and emailed that this would happen!

Everything sorted out!

Out with the wood cabinet drawers!

Yesterday - Mexican food with Rowena
A few days ago, I invited my friend Rowena [Weng] out for supper. We went to a very nice place named, "Mazatlan Mexican Restaurant" in downtown Portland.

I first met Rowena in Aticama, Mexico. That was 2009. Now, we are very good friends!

Rowena!

PS: I am enjoying my leftover Mexican food right now for supper! [10pm]

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Nite Camp Location Map
Elevation: 204 feet

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Love

Day 52

My Friend Boid

7am - As you may already know, it's a lovely thing to have an animal who is your friend. Trust is the most important thing in this friendship. And friendship takes time.

Teaching Baby Boid involves finding out what Boid likes to do, and using that thing to communicate. 

Boid likes to go out of his cage and make nice on a small sticker affixed to Scampy's rear window.