Cast of Characters

Cast of Characters:
Me, the Boston Pobble: Indiana Jones wanna-be, city girl, carnie-at-heart; Lithus: helicopter pilot, partner in crime, best friend, husband;
Various: mechanics, employers, companies and locals we are lucky enough to meet along the way.

Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Firefighting 101

AKA Why are you LIKE this?

It has been pointed out to me that I have new readers who, while they may have a general idea how all this works ~ they are friends of mine after all ~ might also appreciate a quick tutorial on what all of this means. SO!

Every summer here in the US, the west catches fire and burns like crazy. Sometimes, it happens because of lightning strikes; sometimes it happens because people are stupid and careless. Sometimes the seasons are very bad and houses and people and animals die. Sometimes, the seasons are light and the damage is minimal. Usually, the season is somewhere between those two extremes.

What I call fire season tends to last from June through September. We stop making plans with friends or reservations to do things in May, just in case. We don't make plans until the end of fire season is near. There's no way of knowing exactly when that will be, but you get a feel for it after a while. But, this year is a good example ~ when we all left Yakima, we were saying, "see you in a couple of days" because there was no way fire season was over for us. We haven't seen each other since, because the fire season is wrapping up after all.

When the call comes that the season has started, it comes on Day 1, we leave on Day 2, and My Favorite goes to work on Day 3. It's that fast. Usually, the end of fire season is that fast, too. As I said, you get a feel for it. There's a sense of we're going to be done in a few days. We usually are.

***

Helicopters are and will be referred to by many names, including: ships, birds, aircraft, iron, heavy iron, and, indirectly, stick, as in "the pilot on the stick."

***

There are two types of contracts for fire helicopters: Call When Needed (CWN) and Exclusive Use (EU). A CWN ship is the gun for hire. They are part of the national fire resource and can be called up anywhere they are needed, for as long as they are needed. An EU ship has a contract ~ usually 90 or 120 days, but not always ~ to sit in one area or region and be ready to respond to a fire there. There are pros and cons to both, which I'm sure we'll get into eventually.

The last several seasons, My Favorite has been on CWN ships.

***

You will notice that sometimes I post super regularly. Other times, it's sporadic. Yeah, it annoys me, too. Sometimes, what I write will be humorous, erudite, and captivating. Sometimes it will be dry as dust and nothing more than a litany of what has happened recently. I apologize now for the dry ones. 

We go through periods/seasons where it's so fucking interesting and cool and there's a new story almost every day! Then we go through periods/seasons where we're in the same small town for weeks: he's flying; I'm writing; and that's all.

I think if you click "follow" over there, you'll get an email whenever I post, interesting or dull. Or not. I know there's a way to do it, but I don't know what it is. Would someone who's done it chime in? Thanks!

***

Very, very occasionally, I will run one of these through Google translate. Some of my friends aren't native English speakers (HI! I love you!). And while they're all learning English, if a story is particularly crazy, I may post translations at the end of the post. Along those lines, I may translate words or idioms. Also, beloved non-native-English speaking friends, please forgive any mistakes in your language. You know I have no idea what it says down there. 😆

***

Finally, why do I still use pet names instead of real ones? After all, the internet is different these days; no one uses pseudonyms or handles any longer, blah blah blah... Except I want to be able to post pictures and tell honest stories and swear a lot and be silly and, and, and, and I can't do that if people (businesses, our respective places of employment) can Google us and find this blog. So, everybody still gets pet names.

Hopefully, this helps. As always, I'm glad you're along for the adventure.

Turkish: 

AKA Neden böylesin?

Tüm bunların nasıl çalıştığı hakkında genel bir fikre sahip olsalar da (sonuçta onlar benim arkadaşımdır) yeni okuyucularım olduğu, ayrıca tüm bunların ne anlama geldiğine dair hızlı bir öğreticiyi takdir edebilecekleri söylendi. BU YÜZDEN!

***

Burada, ABD'de her yaz batı alev alır ve deli gibi yanar. Bazen yıldırım çarpması nedeniyle olur; bazen insanlar aptal ve dikkatsiz olduğu için olur. Bazen mevsimler çok kötüdür ve evler, insanlar ve hayvanlar ölür. Bazen mevsimler hafiftir ve hasar minimumdur. Genellikle mevsim bu iki uç arasında bir yerdedir.

***

Yangın mevsimi dediğim şey, Haziran'dan Eylül'e kadar sürer. Her ihtimale karşı Mayıs ayında arkadaşlarla plan yapmayı veya bir şeyler yapmak için rezervasyon yapmayı bırakıyoruz. Yangın mevsiminin sonu yakın olana kadar plan yapmayız. Bunun ne zaman olacağını tam olarak bilmenin bir yolu yok, ancak bir süre sonra bunun için bir fikir ediniyorsunuz. Ama bu yıl iyi bir örnek ~ hepimiz Yakima'dan ayrıldığımızda, "birkaç gün sonra görüşürüz" diyorduk çünkü bizim için yangın sezonu bitmemişti. O zamandan beri birbirimizi görmedik çünkü sonuçta yangın sezonu kapanıyor.

***

Sezon başladı çağrısı geldiğinde 1. Gün geliyor, 2. Gün ayrılıyoruz ve Favorim 3. Gün işe gidiyor. Bu kadar hızlı. Genellikle yangın mevsiminin sonu da bu kadar hızlıdır. Dediğim gibi, bunu hissedeceksin. Birkaç gün içinde işimizin biteceğine dair bir his var. Biz genellikle öyleyiz.

***

Helikopterler, gemiler, kuşlar, uçaklar, demir, ağır demir ve dolaylı olarak "çubuktaki pilot"ta olduğu gibi sopa da dahil olmak üzere birçok isimle anılır ve anılacaktır.

 ***

Yangın helikopterleri için iki tür sözleşme vardır: Gerektiğinde Arayın (CWN) ve Münhasır Kullanım (EU). Bir CWN gemisi, kiralık silahtır. Ulusal yangın kaynağının bir parçasıdırlar ve ihtiyaç duyuldukları sürece, ihtiyaç duyulan her yerde çağrılabilirler. Bir AB gemisinin bir bölgede veya bölgede oturmak ve oradaki bir yangına müdahale etmeye hazır olmak için ~ genellikle 90 veya 120 günlük, ancak her zaman değil ~ bir sözleşmesi vardır. Her ikisinin de artıları ve eksileri var, buna eninde sonunda gireceğimize eminim.

Son birkaç sezondur, Favorim CWN gemilerindeydi.

***

Bazen düzenli olarak süper paylaşımlar yaptığımı fark edeceksiniz. Diğer zamanlarda, sporadiktir. Evet, beni de rahatsız ediyor. Bazen yazdıklarım mizahi, bilgili ve büyüleyici olacak. Bazen toz kadar kuru olacak ve son zamanlarda olanların bir ayinden başka bir şey olmayacak. Şimdi kuru olanlar için özür dilerim.

***

Çok ilginç ve havalı olduğu dönemlerden/mevsimlerden geçiyoruz ve neredeyse her gün yeni bir hikaye var! Sonra haftalarca aynı küçük kasabada olduğumuz dönemleri/mevsimleri yaşıyoruz: o uçuyor; Ben yazıyorum; ve hepsi bu.

***

Sanırım oradaki "takip et" e tıklarsan, ilginç ya da sıkıcı ne zaman yayınlasam bir e-posta alacaksın. Ya da değil. Bunu yapmanın bir yolu olduğunu biliyorum ama ne olduğunu bilmiyorum. Yapan biri müdahale eder mi? Teşekkürler!

***

Çok, çok ara sıra, bunlardan birini Google çeviri aracılığıyla çalıştıracağım. Arkadaşlarımdan bazıları anadili İngilizce değil (HI! I love you!). Ve hepsi İngilizce öğrenirken, bir hikaye özellikle çılgınsa, yazının sonunda çevirilerini yayınlayabilirim. Bu satırlar boyunca kelimeleri veya deyimleri çevirebilirim. Ayrıca, anadili İngilizce olmayan sevgili arkadaşlar, lütfen dilinizdeki hataları affedin. Biliyorsun, orada ne yazdığı hakkında hiçbir fikrim yok. 😆

***

Son olarak, neden hala gerçek isimler yerine evcil hayvan isimlerini kullanıyorum? Sonuçta, internet bugünlerde farklı; artık kimse takma ad kullanmıyor, falan falan filan... Ama ben fotoğraf gönderebilmek, dürüst hikayeler anlatabilmek ve çokça küfür edebilmek ve aptal olmak istiyorum (işletmeler, ilgili iş yerlerimiz) bizi Google'da bulabilir ve bu blogu bulabilir. Yani, herkes hala evcil hayvan isimleri alıyor.

***

Umarım, bu yardımcı olur. Her zamanki gibi, maceraya eşlik etmene sevindim. Merhaba, siz ikiniz! Kartpostallar...ikiniz için...ilginç olduğundan (ama Samet, şimdi daha kolay olabilir), senin de burada olduğundan emin olmak istedim. Kartpostalları göndermeye devam edeceğim! Ama ön yüzlerini de burada yayınlamaya başlayacağım. İkinizi de seviyorum.

Portuguese:

AKA Por que você é ASSIM?

Foi-me dito que tenho novos leitores que, embora possam ter uma ideia geral de como tudo isso funciona - afinal, eles são meus amigos - também podem apreciar um tutorial rápido sobre o que tudo isso significa. TÃO!

***

Todo verão aqui nos Estados Unidos, o oeste pega fogo e arde como um louco. Às vezes, isso acontece por causa de quedas de raios; às vezes acontece porque as pessoas são estúpidas e descuidadas. Às vezes, as estações são muito ruins e casas, pessoas e animais morrem. Às vezes, as estações são leves e os danos são mínimos. Normalmente, a temporada está em algum lugar entre esses dois extremos.

***

O que chamo de temporada de incêndios tende a durar de junho a setembro. Paramos de fazer planos com amigos ou reservas para fazer coisas em maio, por precaução. Não fazemos planos até que o fim da temporada de incêndios esteja próximo. Não há como saber exatamente quando isso acontecerá, mas você tem uma ideia depois de um tempo. Mas, este ano é um bom exemplo ~ quando todos nós deixamos Yakima, estávamos dizendo, "nos vemos em alguns dias" porque não havia como a temporada de incêndios acabar para nós. Não nos vimos desde então, porque a temporada de incêndios está terminando, afinal.

***

Quando chega o telefonema de que a temporada começou, ela chega no dia 1, partimos no dia 2 e My Favorite vai trabalhar no dia 3. É muito rápido. Normalmente, o fim da temporada de incêndios também é rápido. Como eu disse, você sente isso. Parece que terminaremos em alguns dias. Normalmente somos.

***

Os helicópteros são e serão chamados por muitos nomes, incluindo: navios, pássaros, aeronaves, ferro, ferro pesado e, indiretamente, bastão, como em "o piloto no manche".

***

Existem dois tipos de contratos para helicópteros de incêndio: Chamada quando necessário (CWN) e Uso exclusivo (UE). Um navio da CWN é a arma de aluguel. Eles fazem parte do recurso nacional de fogo e podem ser acessados em qualquer lugar, pelo tempo que forem necessários. Um navio da UE tem um contrato ~ geralmente 90 ou 120 dias, mas nem sempre - para sentar em uma área ou região e estar pronto para responder a um incêndio lá. Há prós e contras em ambos, dos quais tenho certeza de que iremos abordar um dia.

Nas últimas temporadas, My Favorite esteve nos navios da CWN.

***

Você notará que às vezes eu posto super regularmente. Outras vezes, é esporádico. Sim, também me irrita. Às vezes, o que escrevo será engraçado, erudito e cativante. Às vezes estará seco como poeira e nada mais do que uma ladainha do que aconteceu recentemente. Peço desculpas agora pelos secos.

*** 

Passamos por períodos / temporadas em que é muito interessante e legal e há uma nova história quase todos os dias! Em seguida, passamos por períodos / temporadas em que ficamos na mesma pequena cidade por semanas: ele está voando; Estou escrevendo; e isso é tudo.

*** 

Acho que se você clicar em "seguir" ali, receberá um e-mail sempre que eu postar, seja interessante ou chato. Ou não. Eu sei que há uma maneira de fazer isso, mas não sei o que é. Alguém que fez isso interromperia? Obrigado!

***

Muito, muito ocasionalmente, executarei um deles no Google Translate. Alguns dos meus amigos não são falantes nativos de inglês (Oi! Eu te amo!). E enquanto todos estão aprendendo inglês, se uma história for particularmente maluca, posso postar traduções no final do post. Nesse sentido, posso traduzir palavras ou expressões idiomáticas. Além disso, queridos amigos que não falam inglês, por favor, perdoem quaisquer erros em seu idioma. Você sabe que eu não tenho ideia do que diz lá embaixo. 😆

***

Finalmente, por que ainda uso nomes de animais de estimação em vez de nomes reais? Afinal, a internet é diferente hoje em dia; ninguém usa mais pseudônimos ou manuseia, blá, blá, blá ... Exceto que eu quero poder postar fotos e contar histórias honestas e praguejar muito e ser bobo e, e, e, e eu não posso fazer isso se as pessoas (empresas, nossos respectivos locais de trabalho) podem nos pesquisar no Google e encontrar este blog. Então, todo mundo ainda tem nomes de animais de estimação.

***

Esperançosamente, isso ajuda. Como sempre, estou feliz por você estar junto para a aventura. Olá meus amigos! Eu queria que você soubesse que significa muito para mim ter você lendo aqui. Nossos textos são tão especiais, mas isso vai garantir que você realmente esteja atualizado de onde estou.

Arabic:

AKA لماذا تحب هذا؟

***

لقد أُشير إلي أن لدي قراء جدد ، في حين أن لديهم فكرة عامة عن كيفية عمل كل هذا - فهم أصدقاء لي بعد كل شيء - قد يقدرون أيضًا درسًا تعليميًا سريعًا حول ما يعنيه كل هذا. وبالتالي!

***

في كل صيف هنا في الولايات المتحدة ، تشتعل النيران في الغرب وتحترق بجنون. في بعض الأحيان يحدث ذلك بسبب الصواعق. يحدث ذلك أحيانًا لأن الناس أغبياء ومهملون. أحيانًا تكون الفصول سيئة للغاية وتموت المنازل والناس والحيوانات. في بعض الأحيان ، تكون الفصول خفيفة والضرر ضئيل. عادة ، يكون الموسم في مكان ما بين هذين النقيضين.

***

ما أسميه موسم الحرائق يميل إلى أن يستمر من يونيو حتى سبتمبر. نتوقف عن التخطيط مع الأصدقاء أو الحجز للقيام بالأشياء في مايو ، فقط في حالة. لا نضع خططًا حتى اقتراب نهاية موسم الحرائق. لا توجد طريقة لمعرفة متى سيحدث ذلك بالضبط ، لكنك ستشعر به بعد فترة. لكن ، هذا العام هو مثال جيد ~ عندما غادرنا ياكيما جميعًا ، كنا نقول ، "أراك في غضون يومين" لأنه لم يكن هناك طريقة انتهى بها موسم الحرائق بالنسبة لنا. لم نر بعضنا البعض منذ ذلك الحين ، لأن موسم الحرائق على وشك الانتهاء.

***

عندما تأتي المكالمة مع بدء الموسم ، تأتي في اليوم الأول ، ونغادر في اليوم الثاني ، وتنتقل "المفضلة" إلى العمل في اليوم الثالث. إنه بهذه السرعة. عادةً ما تكون نهاية موسم النار بهذه السرعة أيضًا. كما قلت ، تشعر بذلك. هناك شعور بأننا سننتهي في غضون أيام قليلة. نحن عادة

المروحيات سيشار إليها بالعديد من الأسماء ، بما في ذلك: السفن ، الطيور ، الطائرات ، الحديد ، الحديد الثقيل ، وبشكل غير مباشر ، العصا ، كما في "الطيار على العصا".

***

هناك نوعان من عقود طائرات الهليكوبتر لإطفاء الحرائق: الاتصال عند الحاجة (CWN) والاستخدام الحصري (الاتحاد الأوروبي). سفينة CWN هي بندقية الاستئجار. هم جزء من مورد النار الوطني ويمكن استدعاؤهم في أي مكان يحتاجون إليه ، طالما هناك حاجة إليهم. تمتلك سفينة الاتحاد الأوروبي عقدًا ~ عادة 90 أو 120 يومًا ، ولكن ليس دائمًا ~ للجلوس في منطقة أو منطقة واحدة والاستعداد للاستجابة للحريق هناك. هناك إيجابيات وسلبيات لكليهما ، وأنا متأكد من أننا سنصلحهما في النهاية.

***

في المواسم العديدة الماضية ، كانت My Favorite's على متن سفن CWN.

***

ستلاحظ أنني أحيانًا أنشر بشكل رائع. في أوقات أخرى ، يكون متقطعًا. نعم ، هذا يزعجني أيضًا. في بعض الأحيان ، سيكون ما أكتبه مرحًا ومثقفًا وآسرًا. في بعض الأحيان يكون جافًا مثل الغبار وليس أكثر من مجرد سلسلة مما حدث مؤخرًا. أعتذر الآن عن الجافة.

نمر بفترات / مواسم يكون فيها الأمر ممتعًا للغاية ورائعًا وهناك قصة جديدة كل يوم تقريبًا! ثم نمر بفترات / مواسم حيث نكون في نفس المدينة الصغيرة لأسابيع: إنه يطير ؛ انا اكتب؛ و هذا كل شيء.

أعتقد أنه إذا نقرت على "متابعة" هناك ، فستتلقى بريدًا إلكترونيًا كلما أنشر ، مثيرًا للاهتمام أو مملاً. أم لا. أعلم أن هناك طريقة للقيام بذلك ، لكني لا أعرف ما هي. هل يمكن لشخص فعل ذلك أن يتناغم؟ شكرا!

***

في كثير من الأحيان ، سأقوم بتشغيل واحدة من هذه من خلال مترجم جوجل. بعض أصدقائي ليسوا متحدثين أصليين للغة الإنجليزية (مرحباً! أنا أحبك!). وبينما يتعلمون جميعًا اللغة الإنجليزية ، إذا كانت القصة مجنونة بشكل خاص ، فقد أنشر ترجمات في نهاية المنشور. على هذا المنوال ، يمكنني ترجمة الكلمات أو العبارات الاصطلاحية. أيضًا ، أيها الأصدقاء المحبوبون الذين لا يتحدثون اللغة الإنجليزية ، من فضلك اغفر أي أخطاء في لغتك. أنت تعلم أنه ليس لدي أي فكرة عما يقوله هناك. 😆

***

أخيرًا ، لماذا ما زلت أستخدم أسماء الحيوانات الأليفة بدلاً من الأسماء الحقيقية؟ بعد كل شيء ، الإنترنت مختلف هذه الأيام. لا أحد يستخدم أسماء مستعارة أو مقابض بعد الآن ، بلاه بلاه بلاه ... إلا أنني أريد أن أكون قادرًا على نشر الصور وإخبار القصص الصادقة وأقسم كثيرًا وأن أكون سخيفًا و ، و ، ولا يمكنني فعل ذلك إذا كان الناس (الشركات ، أماكن العمل الخاصة بنا) يمكنها البحث على Google والبحث عن هذه المدونة. لذلك ، لا يزال الجميع يحصلون على أسماء حيوانات أليفة.

***

نأمل أن يساعد هذا. كما هو الحال دائمًا ، أنا سعيد لأنك على طول الطريق للمغامرة. نوران ، هذا فقط لأجلك. حاولت أن أضع اللغة العربية أولاً (أنت قبل ذلك الطالب الآخر) لكنني أجد صعوبة في إعادة التنسيق إلى اليسار إلى اليمين بدلاً من اليمين إلى اليسار. على الرغم من ذلك ، سأكتشف ذلك ، وستتم استعادة القائمة بترتيبها الصحيح.




 


Friday, September 24, 2021

More Yakima 2021

This is why I stopped writing this blog in the first place. Life moves very fast, I have a great job that keeps me very busy, and it's simply hard for me to keep up. I started writing this on Sept. 15. It's now Sept. 24 and everything is different. 

The other day, I sent Elder a text: Still in Yakima. That’s it. That’s the update. 
But we are, indeed, still here. So, let's get it captured before we move on...

The drive from Kalispell is about eight hours, so, technically, farther than I'm supposed to go in one sitting any longer (more on that soon, I promise), but not really long enough to break it up, either. I made the push ~ obviously.


The first hotel had...interesting neighbors.






So, we moved. Nicer hotel. Neighbors I was far more comfortable with.


The green vehicles are a Hot Shot crew

Plus a hotel bar. Because when work looks like this:

And this:


...it's nice to have a beer with the guys (in air conditioning) just a couple feet away from your room.
   
                                                 

Yakima wasn't a bad little town. It's much bigger than it used to be. It has a farmers market, with gorgeous flowers ~ both bought at the market and living at the airport.





Bought at the market


Living at the airport (the picture doesn't do justice to
the fact that this flower is made of black velvet)


And a pleasant surprise from central Washington...



All in all, happy for the month in Yakima.



And it continues....

 

Saturday, September 11, 2021

On the Road 2021

After being reunited in La Verne and even having a few days to take a breath and enjoy being together again, the call came and we were headed to Missoula, MT. As so often happens, it was a day of flying but three days’ drive.

In a perfect example of why I have started this blog again, I already can’t quite remember where I stopped the first night but was probably in Utah. 🤔 What I do remember is by the end of the day’s drive, the weather was so bad and the skies so dark that I called my sister and asked her to check my local weather to make sure I wasn’t driving straight into a tornado. I wasn’t, but it was windy. 


And even that video doesn't do it real justice. I was rocked back on my heels a couple times to and from the gas station store.


The next morning, on the road again to spend the night in Idaho (Twin Falls, maybe?). Wherever it was, it was pretty.




It was a mostly uneventful trip, with only a few wind-related lane changes. But truthfully, uneventful road trips make me as happy—happier? —than the ones that make for good blogging. It’s not always interesting, but hey, I’m okay with that!

And the adventure continues.

Thursday, September 9, 2021

La Verne, CA 2021





Thinking about it today, it dawned on me that the whole reason I relaunched Stilettos is because I wanted to keep track of what's happening in our lives. My Favorite and I realized that whole towns and experiences were getting lost. As wonderful as they all are in the moment, they do start to meld and even drift away after so many nights. Seems like a no-brainer, but still. 

The issue is that I'm so busy writing about last summer that I haven't written much about this summer. So there's going to be some bouncing around. It's my blog; I get to make the rules. 

The current company (that we love. I mean, love. Like don’t jinx this shit, love) is based in CA, a little outside of LA. Expect to hear a lot about that area. For now…

This was a super odd season in that My Favorite went to annual training for three days. I didn’t go with him this time, because, instead of coming home, he was going to hang out with his best friend a bit, and then come home.

Only, when he got off the plane in SLC (Salt Lake City, an airport we fly through often), there was a message. He was needed on a fire back in CA. So, he got his bags off the next flight, called his buddy, and went to the fire. And was there for 10 days.

Finally, more than three weeks after he’d headed out for eight days, he was home. 

Twenty hours later, they called him back out again. AZ had a fire. When he asked if this was the start of the season or if he should expect to stay out, nobody knew. It was early-ish, but not ridiculously so. It was small, but it was Arizona in a drought… No one knew.

So off he went, and I stayed home (for reasons I’ll explain in another post). This was May 31st. On June 29th, I went out. 

We weren’t sure where he was going to be. It was either going to be a five-hour drive, so I’d (hopefully) see him that night, or a twelve-hour drive, and I’d see him on July 1st.

Only this time, when I landed, there was a message on my phone. He was headed back to the hangar. He’d meet me there.

For those of you doing the math, at this point, we had been apart since May 17th with no warning. Also for those of you who know us well, this was a miserable situation.

Which is why, even hot and sweaty, even just sitting in the car, even tired from traveling all day, we look this damn happy in this picture.



This is the hotel. We're probably going to stay here a lot (*knock wood*) so expect to see more pictures.






And I expect we'll explore the area a lot, too (*knock wood*). But when we were there this time, we discovered a Turkish restaurant. So what did I do? I texted my Turkish friends "OMG THERE'S A TURKISH RESTAURANT!!! WHAT DO I EAT????"

And they hooked us up:



My Favorite went with chicken shawarma


I tried the lentil kofte there in the left bottom corner

For the record, the kofte would be my go-to if I could find it anywhere else in the country.

Then he finished up with Turkish baklava ~ which is different from Greek baklava, not nearly as sweet. Sadly, we ate it before we got a picture. It tastes different, but it looks the same. Picture that.

But we did get a picture of the kunefe, which is a cheese covered in shredded filo, drizzled with simple syrup. Again, not too sweet, which I loved, and addictive after one bite.


So addictive


Hopefully, we'll get to eat here a lot, too! (*knock wood*)

The adventure continues, and is tasty good...




 

Tuesday, September 7, 2021

A Quick Aside

You may notice that I define some words now, which is not anything I’ve done before. That’s because I know for a fact my audience has gone international. I have friends from Brazil, Palestine, Turkey, and Egypt reading now. (Hi!!!! MUAH!!! I'm so excited you're here!) All of them are highly literate and speak English at an advanced level, but what English class teaches words like “thrifting”?

However, yes, in spite of my best efforts, they've all learned the word fuck. Being friends with me is the same, no matter what language you speak. 🤣


Monday, September 6, 2021

South Dakota

 The good news is the garage in Elko hooked me up. I had stopped immediately so there wasn’t engine damage, and I made it to Custer, SD. 


The bad news is, we were there

a. during a global pandemic and

b. during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally (commonly known as Sturgis)





I posted this picture without telling the story of why these two guys are on here. They looked about 22 years old. If you notice, their "motorcycles" are barely motocross bikes. Their plates are from Oklahoma and the kid's t-shirt is Tyler, Texas. Before they ended up in front of them, we were stopped next to them as they were trying to merge into traffic. They had that part-thrilled, part-terrified look we all get when we're somewhere we're excited to be but that just might be more than we'd bargained for; when we're not 100% sure we're not in over our heads, but by god, it's exciting to be trying to swim with the big fish!!!! The one in the white cap pulled out, but the other either wasn't as assertive or truly didn't have time, I don't remember now. But both of them looked panicked. White Cap pulled over at the corner, both of them looking at each other, trying not to look like they cared and failing pretty badly to anyone who looked. Finally, Dark Cap was able to get out into traffic (a certain pilot might have let him in, but I'm not making any claims) and White Cap pulled in next to him as the light turned red. And you know ~ you know ~ these two young men went back to their small towns in Oklahoma the victorious heroes. The ones who Went to Sturgis. This was big shit and they get to talk about it at the bar on Saturday nights. Guys, whoever you are, may this be the first of many. And if it's not, by god, you went to Sturgis!


So, on My Favorite's days off, we went to Deadwood and drove through the event, but did not stop or get out of our car. 


For many reasons.





Then we went and explored elsewhere. Sturgis isn't the only place in South Dakota!








Appropriately enough, the name of the next small town is simply Hot Springs, ND. It was truly lovely.











Being us, we made some friends....







...did a little thrifting (thrift shops are where you can buy used goods; they can be ordinary stuff like clothes and kitchen glasses, or they can be antiques and finer items. Shopping at them is known as thrifting.)




...and of course, found a coffee shop.



And the adventure continues...





















Saturday, September 4, 2021

Elko, NV 2020




Last year, one of my last posts was wondering if I would go to SD or not. The answer was YES! So, I jumped in the silver Impala and headed out. Found a route that would get me there in three days without too much hard work.

Only, in spite of a clean bill of health from a Medford Midas, on day 2, my radiator temps started climbing. I kept coolant in her, rested her more often than I had planned on, but was making time. Until just outside of Elko, NV.



Yep. The gauge went deep into the red and I pulled over. Called AAA, and got ready to hike into town if needbe. Luckily, the tow truck could get to me within 30 minutes, so I was able to wait. And! I had pulled over fast enough that there was no damage to the Impala! But it did make for an interesting 3-day layover in Elko.

The adventure continue(d)… eventually.

Friday, September 3, 2021

Yakima, Wa






Fire season 2021. He’s been out since May 18th when he left for annual recurrency training and only came home for 24 hours on May 30 before they sent him back out again. Started in CA, hit AZ and NM. I joined him July 1, back in CA. Then Missoula, Whitefish, and Kalispell, MT. Now, Yakima, WA. My PIC at work! 🖤