Same Kibble, Fresh Bowl

Posted on April 16, 2021 by Waldo

~ Jef Mallett

I got my new bike a couple weeks ago. I’m liking the 27.5 x 2.8 tires on this bike. Rolls over a lot of things my 26 x 2.3’s can’t tackle. The motor makes it way more fun too!

The Easter Bunny was out hiding eggs on the trails and I found one! YaY!

Polly, Kai, and Mikel swung thru Fruita last weekend and we re-rode the Ribbon Trail. I remembered all the kewl parts and forgot all the parts where we had to hike-a-bike. Took the wrong steed, have to remember to take a 25-pound bike next time

Check out the “scoops” over the roof vents. That’ll blow the fart smell out of the bathroom

Sometimes I see the strangest things in this park. Vent covers on backwards is a first though. Later the owner went up and changed them around so they didn’t get ripped off

I took a little drive up to Rangely on a rainy/ snowy day last week. Cute little town built around ranching and the oil patch. Seems the oil boom let go and then COVID kicked the legs off the stool. The True Value and the Family Dollar are still open. The Italian restaurant was busy at lunch-time, but a lot of main street is vacant store-front

Cats are weird

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Home Field Advantage

Posted on March 18, 2021 by Waldo

The boiz and I made it over the big hill between storms. We got to Fruita a couple weeks before the big storm shut Denver down. It’s been cold here so not many peeps coming to ride the rides. Park is nice and quiet, mmmm …

Got the mini and diggin’ some sewer line

We started right in on the big projects. Sewer line, new intake for the irrigation pumps, new fence. It’s like a big remodel here. Champagne taste – beer budget!

The spare tire has been too close to the new 4″ exhaust for awhile now. So I built a heat shield

I’ve had some time to make improvements to my stuff too. Built a heat shield for the spare tire/ exhaust pipe and got a new block heater. Between that and a trip to the Vet I spent my $1400 stimulus payment. I hope you feel stimulated now!

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Mistakes were Made

Posted on February 14, 2021 by Waldo

Sunrise a little north of T or C New Mexico

The views on the way to Colorado were nice. We did have to beat into the wind the entire way though

Mistakes were made. The temperature has been varying between -5º and 5º f all weekend in Denver. It’s 56º in Oracle, AZ

I keep making the mistake of coming to Colorado in the winter. I need to smarten up some

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North to Colorado

Posted on January 29, 2021 by Waldo

North is typically associated with snow and cold, but this season snow and cold came south to Oracle AZ and found me! I have been roundly snowed on every year since I started this epic road-trip

About 3″ of the white stuff fell from the sky

After the snow had a chance to melt the boiz and I struck out into the wind (about 30 mph!) toward New Mexico. We got as far as Hatch where we found a vacant lot near the memorial park. Lots of brightly colored flowers and do-dads adorned many of the resting places. At night the solar-power lights came on and the park looked like houses lit up with fancy lights for Christmas

Camped near the memorial park in Hatch NM

The next day was a short trip up-valley to about 25 miles north of Truth or Consequences NM. Met and old rancher who said he’d been around here 75 years. He told me there have been a lot of people moving here from CA and WA. Getting away from fires and rain he said

North of T or C New Mexico. Plenty of brush for everyone

Found a place to let the boiz out

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Over the hump

Posted on January 16, 2021 by Waldo

We’ve turned the corner and the days are getting longer! It’s still winter everywhere north of here, but we’re getting antsy to hit the road

72 Hours at Old Pueblo

Posted on December 8, 2020 by Waldo

Just to break up the week a friend and I went out to the 24 hours of Old Pueblo Race area and rode all the trails

Except for the pallet-nails everywhere this is a nice spot

It took me three days, but I rode all the rides! I was told the winners finish this 24 hour race with over 225 miles behind them. I did it with only 36. I win! (low score wins – right?)

Cacti to the left of me, Cacti to the right. Here I am!

Everything pokes, stabs, or slashes. Only the gravel is soft

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Pesky Leaks

Posted on November 28, 2020 by Waldo

I’ve been living with an intermittent coolant leak for a couple years now. Just waiting for the right time to BLOW all the coolant out on a big hill, YIKES!

Big ole crack in the aluminum part which holds the plastic tank onto the radiator core

So, now that I have some free time and some helpers I decided to tackle those pesky leaks and skip over the part where I’m stranded on the side of the road waiting all day for a tow truck. My friends and I managed to replace the radiator, water pump, fan clutch, and fan belt in about half-a-day. I decided to replace all the mission-critical stuff behind the radiator because it’s just so easy when the radiator is out and so hard when it’s not

And the propane hoses stared leaking just a week before the regulator died.

Out with the leaky, in with the new (again)

The propane regulator is the second one of that brand to die and all the hoses (4 of them) ended their lives with a leak. Thanks China

I bought what I hope is a better regulator and hoses from PPL motorhomes. Time will tell. I set it up the same way as I did them before without the double bend in the hose.

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Panaca to Valley of Fire State Park, NV

Posted on November 13, 2020 by Waldo

Slot Canyon in Valley of Fire State Park

Old man winter has booted me out of Nevada. Just too much arctic cold!!!

So now we’re heading south to 70*F country. We stopped at Valley of fire to see the slot canyon and we saw it. Done.

Valley of fire is like a miniature Arches Nat’l Park just a few miles north of Lost Wages NV. Also very close to California judging by all the CA license plates. The campgrounds were mostly full when we arrived at noon. There were a few spots left until about 2. Popular place

Valley of Fire to Somewhere in the desert south of Kingman, AZ

Down the paved trail to an overnight camp spot an hour south of Kingman. We camped among the saguaro cacti and it was only about freezing come the dawn

Cacti camp to Oracle AZ

More pave eastbound across Phoenix. Seventy miles of city-driving. Yuck

Now we can sit at friends place and get some projects done! YaY!

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Escalante to Panaca, NV

Posted on November 7, 2020 by Waldo

Got Rain?

The Escalante River failing to get to my pant cuffs

The Escalante River in Escalante is not even deep enough to get my socks wet! To be fair we’re only 15 miles from its beginning and it’s November. Even so, the west needs rain!

A few weeks ago friends and I were looking at a map of the western US and wondering where it still rains. Turns out not many places are without a drought

I also looked up the average annual rainfall in the US and it looks a bit like the drought map. If I want wet socks I’m going to have to move out of the desert

Cathedral Gorge State Park, Nevada

Slot Canyons in Cathedral Gorge State Park, NV

What a delightful surprise this place is. Plenty of slot canyons, cute little campground, and sand. Again with the sand. It was discovered by settlers in the late 1800’s along with the mining boom and became one of Nevada’s first state parks in the mid 1930’s. The campground has electric hook-ups and Verizon wireless service. Nice

So many slot canyons within walking distance of the camp spots

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Fruita to Escalante, UT

Posted on November 1, 2020 by Waldo

I-70 west from Fruita is the same as it always is. We turned onto Utah Hwy 24 West of Green River like all the peeps going to Powell but at Hanksville we struck out west to Swing Arm City OHV area where we ate dinner and watched the sun set.

Next morning we took on the wyndy blacktop through Capitol Reef N.P. and on to the Dixie National Forest. From UT 24 we jumped onto UT 12 and it got twisty and wyndy! This road would be SO much fun on a motorcycle! After 3.5 hours of slow climbs and descents we rolled into the Utah State Park in Escalante.

The park is small, the spaces are small, and the visitor center is just a wood-framed skeleton. Looks like it will be done for the 2021 summer season.

One of the boys is white with orange spots and I’ve always wondered what background that would be camo on. Now I know!

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Ask Mike Moore

Wandering ~ Pondering ~ Wondering