Green grass and high tides
Left Friday morning for SoCal and made the Oregon/Cali border easy that afternoon.
Even made a lunch stop at In-n-Out in Keiser on the way. Can't wait til they bring one up to the Portland/Vancouver area.
Spent Friday night off road in the snow on the flanks of Mt.Shasta.
Saturday night was on top of a hill overlooking the San Joaquin valley a few dozen miles north of Sacramento.
Made Lancaster by noon Sunday.
Oregon was so green, all the way to the border. The trees had mostly lost their leaves. But the grasses and evergreens were beautiful.
As soon as we hit California it turned ugly.
Fire damage was extensive and destructive. What didn't burn was killed in place by heat and there was no greenery anywhere.
Even the mighty oaks were brown caricatures of trees looking more like rusted iron imitations.
What fire missed, extreme heat waves finished off or lack of rainfall/water.
I grew up in Southern California, and I've never seen it like this before.
And yet the new shopping centers and tract homes continue to explode everywhere.
I'm so saddened for what has happened to California. I had always thought as a kid it was the best place in the world to grow up in back in the 50s/60s/70s.
Saddened even more that I could never live here again.
Don't even want to talk about the gas prices.
Or the condition of I-5.
Open Thread. What's on your mind?
Comments
Oregon sounds nice, California not so much
Enjoy your journey and thanks for the updates!
question everything
good tune
Hey Capt.!
Man you are Johnny on the spot with the songs!
Thanks for the Bare Trees the other day...
I saw these guys when this was big. They were good. I did not like how the guitar player pulled a Ritchie Blackmore and threw his strat down on the stage at the end of it to act like a badass. I was saving for a guitar and the time and that shit always really bothered me.
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein
Thanks for posting
that little ditty, Captain. Exactly what I had in mind. Great album. Have played hours of air guitar to that tune.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
I love the California oaks
.
I loved driving around the back roads in the foothills or over in Marin and taking pictures of the oaks. Very sad to hear that they are suffering. I hope you will post some pictures of your trip?
Boy it’s a good thing that Israel bought our government.
Imagine if any critter tried to make it illegal to say bad things about Russia. Think that bill would pass? Just what part of the first amendment doesn’t congress understand?
Somewhere in Marin county from one of the days I took a road without knowing where it would go or where I would end up. Back in the days when I could wait till after 9pm and the freeway was open to back home without any traffic.
Legislators have been trying to codify issues
and pass anti-BDS for years, but run into freedom of speech problems.
I would hope a similar fate for the anti-Zionism push.
question everything
Will try to post some photos
Hard to do with a cheap smarty phone and on the road, but will post some on the way.
As far as Israel is concerned, we need just one brave congresscritter to offer up a bill that makes it a capital crime to even utter the world Israel in public.
Just run it up the flagpole to see who salutes.
And if Americans cannot get outraged with that, then perhaps we deserve everything that happens to us going forward.
Come on man, something has to jar these comfortably numb retards out of their stupor.
Thanks for the post.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Yeah, man
If the legislators wanted to do something meaningful,
they might consider making it illegal for foreigners to
fund electoral seats and foreign lobbies to pay for
legislation. But biting the hand that feeds them is not
a high priority. Perhaps a public vetting process for foreign
aid expenditures would be an improvement as well?
question everything
I haven't travelled to California
since 1983. It was a scenic wonder.
I know Snoopy has described tract homes ruining SLC, but for now, I am not seeing anything like that in Texas. A couple of new subdivisions here and there, new apartments being built near college campuses, but nothing that destroys bodies of water or hills and valleys.
The fires are just a tragedy for which I have no words.
That said, I cannot resist considering information regarding geoengineering. Our government has some involvement in the development of the technology, so it isn't tinfoil hat territory. I am still floored Lahaina stopped burning at the property line of Oprah. Man, she was lucky, wasn't she?
Like all conspiracy theories, they become conspiracies when the truth is finally revealed.
At any rate, e1, I hope your trip was enjoyable, and at least some good memories of your past were triggered.
Thanks for the OT, friend.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Ogden has 3 main roads going north to south
and every one of them have apartments with balconies facing the road just feets away from them. One I saw yesterday is basically 5 feet from the busy road. Now who would want to sit on their balcony at any time and watch and listen to the traffic? And most of the balconies are so small that all they can fit are chairs with no room to stretch your legs. And absolutely no greenery around them. Nothing but concrete and asphalt. Oh yeah and some of them don’t even have balconies.
I agree that there is something up with the geoengineering and what is being sprayed from the planes. People all over the world are seeing the trails they leave and they even show up in pictures in magazines or news sites.
One afternoon this weekend,
I counted 18 of the streams in the skies.
I had read that Gov. Abbott was trying to prohibit them in Texas skies. We shall see.
Yeah, the apartment complexes in Bryan-College Station, in Austin and its' suburbs, are right at the edge of the busy highways, tiny balconies, and I have yet to see a single person sitting or standing on their balcony, listening to the cars go by.
Still, the construction around rivers is totally different. Our state government protects waterways, and tourism and parks are always a huge economic boost to local communities.
Texas gets very few things right, but just this once, they did the right thing.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
They have been here earlier
and now the sky is clouding up from the trails. I look west when I’m at the cemetery and I know the flight path for the SLC airport and the planes I see are flying from other directions and hap hazardly and cross cross each other. I’m seeing another one coming from the southeast out of any pattern I know.
Our government has no right to do this to our air, but of course it doesn’t answer to us. I wonder if Martha vineyard sees this? lol I crack myself up sometimes.
Gates says we have or will
be adding aluminum particulates to the streams to beat back the sun. Iirc, we have done that, but do not quote me. I have slept since I read that.
Seems our military has a special force that is studying the use of geoengineering as a warfare tactic. They are expanding on their jungle fires tactic from the Viet Nam conflict. Destroying good weather can destroy the enemy soldiers, according to their playbook.
I also have a friend in the Army Space Force. He laughs, says if he told me what he was doing, he would have to kill me.
We change the subject to golf.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Didn’t the military use weather modification back in the
Vietnam war and made it rain more often? Iran accused another country of stealing its rain by weather modification too.
Too bad that your friend is going along with nefarious schemes instead of blowing the whistle on it. I think it’s just as bad as people who join the military and get off on killing civilians there and worse. Seems like the only person who got punished for the Australian troops who murdered people in cold blood was the guy who reported on them. Just like Assange and Manning got punished for the collateral murder tapes. And the CIA got away with torture and then they erased the tapes…and…
We have been able to seed clouds to make it rain
for a long time, but the technology was first used for warfare in Nam.
These young guys join the military for a job, then get very indoctrinated, drenched in patriotic dogma, and yes, they have now and again, told me of their exploits, how proud they and their follow soldiers were of "kills". The friends that I have who were in security, highly secret, retired early, got extremely high paying jobs in the private sector. This young Space Force guy will one day get rich. He won't risk that to blow the whistle.
If they start the draft again, we will get in some young men and women who just might not fall for it.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Don't know what the latest
demographics reveal, but we are seeing a flood of Texas plates all up through Oregon and Washington. Our trip down the I-5 into California shows even more. So much so that earthling2 and I have switched from counting Teslas to counting Texas plates.
Seems like everyone is moving out of Texas.
I will say Cali has a shiton more Tesla charge stations along the 5 corridor. Quite visible too.
Must be nice traveling for free. Although some newer Tesla owners have to pay for charging now.
Something like 3 - 5 cents a mile, depending on model and the weight of your right foot.
Thanks for stopping by.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
My guess for all the ex-Texans
would be the flood of immigrants, and the extreme rise in crime. Now, I am a big believer in our country welcoming ex-pats from the world over, people who come here legally, strive to become citizens, and to our culture and enrich our society. The 10k immigrants that came over Monday night along our borders are not the class of ex-pats I welcome with open heart, open arms.
Just as an example, I have never been to Big Bend National Park, one of the very few National Parks I haven't seen. The main reason is the long drive goes through stretches where there is no guarantee you can refuel. I never wanted to go there alone. Now that I have Dear One ready to travel the state, I check the park's website, and portions of it are closed by the park rangers as being too unsafe to enter. Those sections are full of immigrants permanently living there, which is illegal. They are viewed as dangerous.
I have had numerous clients recently move to Oklahoma. Also, Missouri. They do not want to live in retirement here.
I am lucky to be in East Texas, although some "colonias" are being developed fairly close by, and the crime rate, especially murder, illegal drug running, etc...are simply off the charts.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Absolutely no self reflection from Blinken
.
From now on countries can laugh off America scolding them on human rights after they have given Israel a pass for what it’s been doing for the recent 2 months. But countries should have been calling out our hypocrisy for doing what it scolds others for doing.
Just need one brave reporter
to blurt out: "Are we talking about Russia or Israel? I'm confused".
Sorry. I used reporter and brave in the same sentence.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
California and droughts
Thanks E1 for the OT!
And for the great trip report! Sad to hear as it is.
Sure glad we bailed. Saw it happening. Left Org. Co. for LA. Co in 75, couldn't stand what they were doing to it and my beloved childhood Huntington Beach. Mrs. d and I left LA in 82, lived in Jersey, Mass., Texas, and ended up back in LA in 89. Didn't recognize it, in 7 years. Took 14 years to get out that time and back to actual civilization, timbuktu texas where much is still like it was 50 years ago. Where everywhere you go everyone knows your name. If I forget my wallet, at the store I can just say 'write it down' please.
California is rather development obsessed. Anything new, everything, all the time, looks all the same, If it is 50 years old it must be torn down and modernized. They call it improvements... which destroyed the place. I too thought (my Hunt. Bch.) it the best place a kid could grow up the 62-72 that I lived there, age 7 to 17. I credit it with my best bad habits.
Droughts wreak havoc on environments. Plants are down, bugs are down, lizards, spiders and birds are down, everything collapses. Unfortunately droughts are measures of hydrology not biology. The effects of D3 or D4 droughts persist for many many years after hydrologic 'the drought is over' is declared. Not for the plants and animals. It takes years of good times for them to recover.
That is why they are going to grow bugs for us to eat.
Have a great trip E1! Can't wait to hear about the ride back!
Remember all, stop and listen to the birds.
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein
Lol, Huntington Beach
Knew it well.
When to high school at La Puente High. Five Wells was our go to surf spot.
For those of you not familiar, it was about a mile west of downtown H.B. and sported five oil wells.... right on the damn beach. Wonder if they're still there?
We left Cali in the late 90s.
In the 1200+ miles we've driven so far only a couple of bug splats on the windshield.
Can remember a time when we had to scrub 'em off at every gas stop.
Nothing now.
Thanks for the post.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
I noticed no bug splats 2 years ago
when I traveled up Weber canyon. They used to be so bad. Got a lot of them this summer going through Wyoming, but still not as bad as they used to be. It’s very noticeable.
Same thing with less bird song and birds at the cemetery. Mostly black crows, but even they are much less than normal.
My brother and I got drunk in HB right after he moved there
He got arrested but I was allowed to go to his empty apartment and take a taxi to the jail to pick him up. I had given up alcohol for lent and went wild after buying a jug of wine at the grocery store. Utah has state owned liquor stores and I thought that was great. Fond memories of the pier spinning.
2nd trip was much better. My cousin owned a sailboat and we set sail for Catalina island. 3rd time was the best because of who I went with. We took a boat to the island and spent the day walking around the town and the beach. Yeah I can see how it would have been fun to grow up there.
@snoopydawg Hey SD!
Hey SD!
Well,
I hope you learned your lesson about giving alcohol up.
Yeah me too, mostly probably chemically induced...
Caught a lot of fish off it in the 60's. Surfers would walk out the pier past the waves, toss board in and jump in after it. They put the kabosh on that eventually. Beat the heck out of paddling out through 'em.
Used to sail a fair bit too, Avalon on Catalina is a neat place, only 'city' on any of the socal channel islands. The rest are military or Channel Isl. National Parks (where you can camp with permits). I have set foot on five of them. Wonderful places.
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein
Heh…yeah that was a dumb thing to do
The pier spinning was definitely chemically induced.
I agree that Avalon is a fun city to visit. I can’t remember what all we did there, but visited the museum and looked at the boats when people could still walk out the dock. 2nd trip we spent at 2 Buffalo harbor.
Did you ever go to Alcatraz or Angel Island? I’d love to go to Angel Island and loved the visits to Alcatraz.
I loved living in California except for the city I lived in, but it was central to so many other places. 1-2 hours and I could be in the City of SF, at Bodega bay, Yosemite, the foothills either east or west of me. 3 hours to Mammoth Lakes. Oh man that place sang to my soul.
Let's see if this works:
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
great blues cat
not sure if this is good or not:
US border control bill collapses.
-
Per John Cornyn, R
https://www.rt.com/news/588542-us-senate-border-security/
question everything
Sounds good to me.
I have represented countless illegals over the last 37 years. Virtually all of them traffic violations, divorces, public intoxication, things like that. Nowadays, these young people with fake IDs and a car trunk full of drugs, no job, plenty of cash to make bond and hire me, can just walk on by. The less I know about the inner workings of the cartels, the safer I am. Just representing a bunch of them in felony cases would bring me under scrutiny by the cartel and the cops.
Google Colony Ridge near Houston. How is that helpful to either Texans or the immigrants?
We have tossed away our money and tanked our economy in the losing proxy war in Ukraine, and we are losing all moral standing we ever had, all respect we ever had, in countries the world over because of our enabling of genocide in Israel.
Cornyn is from the Houston area. He is seeing what I see, regarding immigration. If he wins on that point, I doubt he would hesitate to fund the wars, though.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Gotta wonder about CA/or wine production/quality now
I spent some time in Boston, actually South Boston. One thing I learned is that people out east do not know good wine. I was overjoyed to find any CA or Oregon wines--even the lesser cost wines from Columbia river wineries. But in Boston at least, they know how to make seafood--even the bars in South Boston would have good seafood dishes. But wine? Fourgettaboutit. I think wine for them was Bud Lite.
southie is an interesting mix
agree with the thin wine choices generally available in the NE
even Columbia River varieties are hard to find here
but we do have lots of Port, mostly from Portugal
question everything
I'm seeing
a huge increase in new wineries in both Oregon and Washington. After what we have witnessed on our trip down through the San Joaquin Valley I can imagine all wine production moving north due to water and climate changes.
I know that grapes are a weed like plant and will grow in the desert if giver enough water. But doesn't make good wine grapes.
I had 40 grape plants at one time in SoCal. Both Bridgeport and Thompson seedless, growing at 4000 ft. elevation and very dry climate, but didn't produce wine quality grapes. Good table grapes though.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Cali cab savs
Usually even the cheap California Cabernet savs are absolutely acceptable. There is one called Smoking Loon, first my brother sent me one, then I got it at the HEB texas grocery chain here in timbuktu! Now why my brother would send me that, I don't know...
when mrs. d. and I lived in NJ 82-84, and around Boston 84-85 there was no Mexican restaurant, or the ingredients to make any in the stores! No tortillas! We wondered about those people...
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein
I hear ya
on the Mexican restaurants on the east coast c. early eighties.
My Sheriff cousin fled SoCal after the Landers quake with a tortilla making machine and moved to Hickory, N.C.
Wound up supplying the east coast with fresh tortillas and eventually added other Mexican condiments. Turned into a thriving business.
He decided to build a bigger building and expand the business and, unfortunately, borrowed from the wrong "wise guys" and eventually lost the entire business to them. He fled again to the Philippines and later died under mysterious circumstances.
But he lived large for awhile.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.