Marty's Travels

My house has wheels

1999

I lived and worked in downtown Seattle during the WTO meeting and riots, and know the history quite well. As I write this I'm watching the riot grow in Seattle. I can tell you what will happen for the next few days. They are starting in the same spot and breaking the same windows as they did in 1999. Seattle took a lot of lessons from that experience. One was to not let the police try to win. They can't, they are grossly outnumbered. So far...

Promises made

I know I said I'd write more often, and every morning I wake up intending to write about what I'm doing or current events. And then the day proceeds in yet another surprising way and I end up completely confused again. It's been that way since April 1, every effin day. Every day I think things should calm down a bit, and then comes more bullshit. Please Dear Leader, shut the fuck up. Meanwhile, our county is opening up a bit as it hasn't had...

The Times We Are In

All things considered I'm in pretty good shape. I'm parked on my leased lot at the Escapee Cooperative in Chimacum, close to family way over there in Seattle, and it's nearly impossible to spend money around here. My days are spent reading, playing video games, listening to the radio, messing around on the internet, and I added cable TV to the mix. I haven't watched TV for many years (except major sporting events) and am discovering what others...

Chimacum

I drove 8 hours straight from Bandon to Chimacum, got parked and am now wondering how long I'll be here. The Escapee park is closed to travelers, open only to leaseholders. The buildings are locked up so there's little chance of contact with other people. Downtown Port Townsend looks like a scene from Twilight Zone: A perfectly set-up tourist town ready to go but without a person or vehicle in sight. The grocery store was about usual, except...

Stopped in Bandon

Getting hung up on the Oregon Coast is actually a privilege. I can get to Chimacum in one day, which means the truck in "D" for 8 hours. Or I can find pull-offs for sleep in truck stops or Walmarts or the like. I want to do neither in a rain storm. The next rain break looks to be Wednesday, so I signed up to stay here until then. This is a super RV park. I've jacked them around all week as I changed plans almost every day since I showed up. You...

Hung up

My plan was to "do" the Oregon coast at favorite stopping places, but now everything is closed, including RV parks. The state parks are closed, leaving no place to put an RV safely. So I signed on for a couple more days at the RV park I'm in to see what happens next. Things change by the hour. I want to do 101, but if necessary I can bail and head to I-5, and do the truckstop thing back to Chimacum. I'll decide in a day or two.

Bandon, OR

It's a rain event for a few days then I'll move northward. I'm bored. Bandon is slow this time of year in the best of times, but now the place is dead. It's a bummer not to be able to get fish and chips and sit wharfside watching sea gulls. Luckily I have a rather dense history book (Catherine the Great) which is perfect for killing time. Unluckily a video game I had didn't appeal to me, so I need to download another one So I'm moving on the...

Crescent City, CA

One night here, then to Bandon, OR for a few nights to wait out a rain event. I'm trying to pick up my pace a bit to get to the peninsula sooner. Not many people around. Yesterday I went to Murphy's market in Arcata to get a few things and it was very slow. Their schtick was singing: all the employees, shelf stockers, butchers, deli, were singing as they worked. Then, the checkers were telling jokes. One thing to be done right now is the media...

California Restrictions

Bars are closed, but pot shops are "essential" and open. I can think of a couple of bars that are essential to some of their customers. To the advantage of everyone in the community, bars need to be regulated like pot stores, open but with proactive social distancing rules. Otherwise, back doors will open, speakeasys will appear, public consumption will increase.

Eureka

I'll be here for three nights. After I got parked, there was a 5.2 earthquake. There was a 5.8 about a week ago. No biggie but it makes you look up. RVs are always good places to be in quakes. My plan for moving north seems to be working. Bars and restaurants are closed, but groceries and gas stations are open. Other stores seem to be hit and miss. The groceries in Fort Bragg weren't any problem. I am very anxious to hear why toilet paper was...

Panic

Looks to me like a panic is starting. For the record, I do not trust Dear Leader at all. Luckily I have plenty of other sources for information. I am continually examining my strategy and will remain with my, usual, drive up 101. Gasoline is a resource I require at regular intervals. I can imagine there will be ideas about cleaning gas pump handles, but then that concept has never ever been considered. Notwithstanding, I'll make an effort to...

Surf!

I'm in Fort Bragg along CA-1 at an RV park on a point over a tiny bay of the Pacific Ocean. The weather is exactly as I'd expect in the northwest along the coast: sun now, rain later, then sun, then rain, etc. The Mendocino coast is beautiful even in bad weather. Regarding coronovirus, Mendo has reported zero cases, the counties here are excellent at communication, local public radio is excellent at getting the word out, I couldn't get anymore...