Crater Lake RV Campground

 Was on my way to sisters but the drive was taking forever.  I had ran across Crater Lake RV campground when I was doing research and I had called them.  They told me "our Internet Sucks" over the phone and so I had crossed it off my list.  Since I was literally driving right by and I really wanted to stop by Crater lake and do some hiking I decided to make a U turn and go back.

I spoke with Tom who explained that the camp's Internet did in fact "suck".  Tom was clearly the guy who got the complaints about the Internet. I was surprised that the camp had a 10mbps connection, but horrid ping times, and about a 2mbps upstream.

The wifi name is "CraterLake-NoStreaming" lol. Anyway after some tests I concluded that it was acceptable latency to do my work and the fact that my cell phone had no reception meant I couldn't waste the night on tinder.

Tom helped me back the trailer into it's spot, here's a picture:

 

 About 5:30pm I put the leash on Gravy and went for a run.  I ran around the lake which is adjacent to the campground, and then the town of Prospect is only about a mile away so we ran there.  

Here's a picture of Gravy standing in front of the Prospect Inn -- this is where Liz and I stayed last October.

 

We made our way over the Personey Falls Nature Trail. 

 

At this point Gravy is pretty worn down, we've run about 3 miles and he knows we're only halfway.

Eventually we made it to the falls.  I took a little video:

I didn't realize quite how scruffy or sweaty I was, but it was a really cool spot. I need to get a selfie stick or something.

Planning to work tomorrow, and then head up to Crater lake after work, possibly again on Thurs. before finally heading off to Sisters, OR. for some mountain biking.

Leaving the Jackson Wellsprings

As I set off heading towards Sisters Oregon for some mountain biking,  I find myself wondering if I'll find a place is cool as the Jackson Wellsprings. (http://www.jacksonwellsprings.com/). 

 

I didn't take many photos because it had an aura that could not be captured through a camera lens.   Really, the place had such an amazing community spirit, the interaction with everybody was so pleasant, it was such a joy.  Every day I was there I discovered myself liking it more and more.

To all the friends I made Krista, Meghan, Hulez, John  ("Tron"), Rachelle and all the other random hotsprings visitors who made it such a special and memorable time -- I would just like to say thank you and I will miss you all a lot! I hope to return very soon. Thanks for such a special time.

Price:

$215.00 for my 7 day stay  (buy 6 days, get the 7th free), that price included Gravy who was an extra $5.00/day, and also admission into the hot-springs.

Wifi Summary:
Spot #53, 70ms ping, 3mbps max throughput.

I used a dual 9db high gain antenna to connect to the pool.

Office is closed on Mondays and of course that was the day the Internet wasn't working. 

Note: Long term residents can get their own DSL service, and many residents share a wifi connection.  Water smells like sulfur (rotten eggs) due to the high mineral content, just let it sit for a moment before drinking it. :-)

Airstream "Mostly Vegetable" Skillet lasagna

 

Made this tasty "mostly vegetable" skillet lasanga last night.  (it does have 1/2 lb of ground beef, that's basically a hamburger's worth of meat spread across 5 meals)

 

I bought some bulk lasanga noodles at Winco, probably about 8 of them. 

I lit the pilot on the oven and turned it to 400 degrees.

Broke the noodles in half, and boiled them in a sauce pan till they were soft and drained the sauce pan.

 

While the noodles were cooking I mixed about half a can of ricotta cheese, with some freshly grated mozarella cheese I had left over from making pizza. 

I then started a little bit of ground beef, about 1/2" lb (one burger) in a 14" iron skillet.

I seasoned the beef with Pizza topping, and then added in a copious amount of mushrooms and bell peppers and let them cook down in the beef.   

I took the mushroom, bell pepper and ground beef mixture and put it on a plate, and wiped up the remaining grease with a paper town leaving just a thin coat on the cast iron for seasoning.

Threw down some Newans Own marinana pasta sauce at the bottom of the iron skillet, then some of the wet noodles, I needed to make them they the pan but still covered.  Lasagna is not an exact science, but I threw down the cheese, then the meta stuffing, a layer of noodles, and some more cheese and meat, then some marinana, the remaining noodle pieces, and threw a couple of pieces of provolone on the top for good measure.

Threw it in the oven (with the cast iron skillet lid) for about 15 minutes, or approximately the time it took me to clean up and do the dishes while not tripping over gravy who was intensely interested in what I was making "us" for dinner, especially since the ground beef had made the airstream smell amazing.

It ended up making about 5 meals, which was two dinners, and three lunches. Although it was so good I ate one of the lunches for a late night snack. :-)

 

 

The moment of delivery.

This is the first picture we took of the new truck, attached to the new trailer.

Just like most new trailer owners, I had no idea what I was doing.

 

I don't know at the time I really understood how much my life would change, or which direction it would go in.  There were so many things I wish I had done differently, but I'm happy it all worked out.

Starting the blog

So tomorrow I leave for Oregon, the first real roadtrip by myself.  Since purchasing the Airstream I've reconnected with both my parents and daughter, as well as countless friends new and old. 

So many people have told me I need to start a blog, so tonight, on the eve of the trip I decided to do that.   I've back-dated a few posts with memories that explain the lead up.

I have a persistent cough, the trailer is muggy and it was raining today.    Big projects due can't work on the blog too much, but at least now I can update it on the road.

I had lunch with Fred and Las Brisas mexican food in San Marcos, and got him put as a signatory on the Elastic Ventures account.  I haven't seen Fred much since we closed down the office, it was good to reconnect.

I bought an X-box one from Fry's, but I think I'm going to return it and just keep the playstation 3 in the Airstream.  I don't really want to spend my time with a lot of video games, I'd much rather be reading.

Zane called me about the vita project and I've been grinding on that.
I'm supposed to work with Rafa on some MyAllocator stuff at 4am, not the best start to a roadtrip.

Kim and Jay

Snapped this quick picture before I left. It's the first one I have of them as a couple, we spent the night talking about weddings. There are few things more surreal than talking to your only child and her fiance about planning their wedding. 

This is the last time I would see Kim before leaving San Diego. Although being on the road I find myself talking to her and the rest of my family more than I did when I was living in town.

The airstream office

 

I'd been sitting in Valley Center, and the heat outside had made the trailer unbearable.

I decided I should head to the beach and try boondocking. 

I also had a tinder friend who wanted to checkout the trailer, so I thought that the overlook at Seaside would be a cool place to hang for the day.

She ended up getting tied up at work and came over for dinner.  Time passed quickly.

At around 9:30pm the cops came and asked us to move the trailer, apparently the neighbors with their multi-million dollar anchored homes didn't appreciate my airstream blocking/mocking their view.

I had forgotten to unplug the truck (a rookie mistake) and so it had been running the laptop, fans, fridge, etc. off my car battery which was dead.  Ended up getting AAA to come out and jump the truck and then was able to get moving.