Frozen Water & Frozen Buffalo

After saying goodbye to everybody in Texas I left for Denver. Originally I was going to head due north until Kansas then head west, but it seemed like the makings of a boring drive (all interstate). So, I headed through Dallas before cutting northwest towards Amarillo. I drove a fair bit my first day. The weather didn't look good all day and it got worse. At first it was raining then it started snowing a bit. About 90 miles before Amarillo I stopped at a rest stop for the night. Note to self: Texas has the best rest stops I've ever seen anywhere, hands down. The rest stops are big, with plenty of amenities. The building at the rest stop is open all night, and is heated (I assume in the summer it's air conditioned). It's equipped with free WiFi, well stocked vending machines, plus all the tourist and local history information you'd ever want to know. The rest stop I was at had some kind of highly engineered sewage and water system. I don't remember the details, but I understood that it's water and sewage system were off grid. A set of diagrams explained how it all worked. I didn't see any signs that said you couldn't spend the night at the rest stop, but given what I know about the Texas character I assume the local law enforcement agency doesn't care as long as you don't cause any trouble (which in Texas is best that you don't).

I woke up early the next morning. Since I couldn't sleep anymore I decided to get going. Unfortunately the Buffalo wasn't cooperating. The engine wouldn't turn over. Fortunately, I had parked near the top of a hill. I pushed the Buffalo to the point where it started rolling by itself, jumped in, popped the clutch, and the engine started right up. On the drive up to Amarillo I turned the engine off and then tried to crank it while going downhill (so that I could restart by popping the clutch if I needed to). Still no cranking. I was going to be forced to stop in Amarillo to gas up. Luckily the Buffalo restarted after the forced stop in Amarillo. It had been very cold that morning, but by the time I got to Amarillo it had warmed up. I chalked up the problem to the cold (aren't water buffalos tropical animals?), and kept driving. I cut across the NE corner of New Mexico in a snow storm before gaining the main north-south interstate through Colorado. The weather cleared up some and even got sunny as I arrived in Denver. I spent the first night with the family of a high school friend. The next morning the Buffalo wouldn't start again until it got warm out. Since the NavUnit and Tim were flying in soon and we were planning on going into the mountains I figured I'd better get the Buffalo looked over. I took it to a shop my friend had recommend which was just a couple of blocks from his house. They diagnosed the problem as a loose power cable. They fixed it (for a very reasonable price) and I haven't had any problems since.

My first full day in Denver was consumed by finding, configuring, and restoring a new laptop for the bakery. The old one was, at best, in intensive care. All of the bakery's critical customer and order data was on it. I did what I could in the time I had before overnighting the new laptop to Nina. (Thanks T.O. & family for the help.)

On a Friday I picked up Tim and the NavUnit at the airport. I wasn't exactly sure what we were going to do, but we were equipped for ice, rock, alpine climbing, snow backpacking and snow camping. The NavUnit was using the latest in navigational equipment to make sure we wouldn't get lost. It seemed we could pretty much go anywhere we wanted to go. First stop was Boulder Canyon, a place we had visited on a previous climbing trip. We climbed a couple of flows near the road before leaving for the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. The next day we drove into the park and snowshoed to a basin at 11,000 feet. Our goal was to climb the nearby Grace Falls. It took more time than we anticipated to reach the basin. The snow was deep in places and we had to break trail, which is very exhausting and time consuming. We found a camp site near the falls and after dinner bedded down for the night. I think we all slightly regretted having eaten most of the Girl Scout cookies (purchased from T.O.'s oldest daughter) the night before.

The weather hadn't looked good all day. It was snowing on the hike in, and our camp site was pretty windy. The fact that we were above tree line made things worse. We all slept in the NavUnit's tent. In order to fit three people in the tent the person in the middle (me) had to lay down in the opposite direction of the other two. A snow storm raged most of the night and continued into the morning, dropping about a foot of snow. It got pretty cold out. I'm guessing it was significantly below zero, and far below zero with the wind chill. A local later told us it was the worst storm to hit the park so far this winter. As our luck would have it, we had spent the night out in it. We all managed to stay mostly warm, but the weather still looked bad the next morning so we decided to head back down without having climbed anything. On our way down the weather got better and eventually cleared completely. We found an ice flow to climb that afternoon. The next day (also a clear, sunny day) we found another ice flow, which turned out to be the best one of the trip. The following morning I dropped the boys off at the airport.

By our standards (which are quite low) it had been a good trip. The right mix of suffering, fear, and foolishness had been achieved. I for one was pretty wiped out. Heading back towards Denver after our last climb I admitted to the NavUnit that I was having trouble lifting my right foot from the gas pedal to the brake pedal. I realized only later that maybe I shouldn't have told him this while we were heading down the Front Range of the Rockies.

After dropping off the boys I headed back to a friend's house in Denver. I had left some of my belongings with him while I was out with the boys. My friend and his wife were pretty interested in our outing. I told them what we did and showed them some photos. After packing up my stuff I said goodbye and continued with my trip.

I wound up taking what I thought was the fastest route back to Oregon. I headed north into Wyoming before turning west, crossing Wyoming, cutting through northeastern Utah, crossing Idaho, then finally crossing most of Oregon before arriving in Corvallis. The weather hadn't been nice for most of the leg from Denver, but I didn't encounter any significant storms. The Buffalo didn't like the cold high hills of Wyoming. It seemed to lose power for an instant at irregular intervals. I started wondering how challenging it would be to get a 23 year old VW fixed in Wyoming. The Buffalo pulled through though. Once I'd crossed the Rockies and descended it ran normally. The remainder of the trip was uneventful. The best weather I encountered on the entire trip was in the Willamette Valley, where Corvallis is located.

I'm back in Corvallis now, still expecting to start work on March 1. Nina reports that she had a busy weekend over Valentine's day. The new laptop arrived and after some struggle the customer and order records were successfully transferred to the new machine. The Buffalo seems to have survived the trip pretty well. Some external weather stripping is falling off. I think I'll glue it back in place. The faucet for the sink is working again, probably because the water inside it is no longer frozen solid. The potable water level sensor seems to be non-functional, but that's a pretty minor problem. Ann's in the last several hours of her six month exercise challenge. Her fat cat is still fat, and her mean cat is still mean. Weather here is great!

Photos from the trip are here. The photo at the top is of the NavUnit on our last ice climb.

Drowning In Cookies

I've been pretty busy since my last blog entry. I flew back to Oregon over New Years for a few days to visit Ann. It snowed the night I arrived, but otherwise was the typical cold, rainy winter weather we get in the Pacific Northwest. Ann and I went to the coast one day to do some hiking. It was warmer and less cloudy than it was in Corvallis. Ann's been keeping up with her six month exercise challenge (one hour per day). I saw the guys (Chris, Matt, Tim) as well. We went on a couple of bike rides and played some sort of X-box game one night which involved massacring zombies. It was good to see Ann, the boys, and Ann's chubby cat.

I had considered taking a trip to Monterrey to visit relatives and get a copy of a certified birth certificate but decided against it when I learned that my mom had a certified copy. Nina was keeping me busy at the bakery anyway. In late January she got an order from BP, one of the local oil refineries, for 7500 cookies they needed for a town hall meeting. It was the bakery's largest order yet. We only had a week to get it done. A third of the cookies were decorated sugar cookies, which is a rather complex and time consuming type of cookie. There were some late nights, and we had to temporarily more than triple the bakery's workforce, but it all came together very well. The community really helped out. It was the owner of a local restaurant / catering service who helped us land the order in the first place. When the call went out for extra labor some volunteers and several high school girls showed up. We needed to temporarily store dough in a freezer, but had run out of freezer space. A restaurant and local grocery store allowed us to use their freezer space. At one point the entire bakery looked like a sea of green and yellow as every elevated horizontal surface was commandeered for use as drying space for the iced cookies. We baked 5000 cookies in one day. Best of all, BP loved the product, including the "thank you" cake we threw in. The lady who was our contact hugged Nina and seemed to be on the verge of tears. I got the sense that we had bailed her out of a predicament. We already got another quote request for a 1000 serving order from BP due on Valentine's Day. The local newspaper found out what we'd done and decided to do a story on us (see link), in addition to a second story they're going to do for wedding cakes. The only thing that could have made it better is if BP had paid for the order. As with other large corporations I'm familiar with, making payments is a bewildering and time consuming process. Our contact seems to be doing what she can to get the payment made.

Most recently one of a my older sisters (Conchita) flew in from Chicago for a visit. A niece (my oldest sister's daughter) also came down from Austin for a visit. I hadn't seen either of them for years, so it was great to catch up. Nina (my youngest sister) wasted no time in putting them to work at the bakery.

I'm loading up the Buffalo to leave Texas City. I told HP I'd be back to work no later than March 1st. I feel like I've accomplished what I wanted to accomplish during my stay here, and if anything it's worked out better than I could have hoped for. Chris and Tim are flying into Denver over the Valentine's Day weekend. I agreed to meet them there. We're going to head into the Rockies to do some climbing. I'll also be visiting friends who live in Denver. Climbing in the cold high mountains will be a welcome change from the coastal flatlands of the gulf coast. The weather here will soon start getting hot and humid. No doubt the mosquitoes will be back out in force too. I miss Ann. The universe seems to be telling me that it's time to leave. Although I feel a bit guilty leaving Nina to fend for herself (managing a high growth business with three children and a husband who works full time isn't easy), I can't completely abandon myself either. Besides, as Nina would readily admit, she asked for it.

The photo at the top is from a hike Ann and I took on the Oregon coast. More photos (including some of the bakery in the midst of fulfilling the 7500 cookie order) are here.

Tasting The Town, Christmas Parades, & Victorian Festivals

Since last time we've finished a promotional campaign for the bakery. We started with a newspaper advertisement promoting "free cupcake day." Next was Taste of the Town, organized by the Chamber of Commerce (which the bakery had joined). I'd never even heard of this event. It's held in a local mall. It turns out to be a big social event. Businesses (mostly food establishments) set up booths in a local mall. People pay $15 to get in. In return they get to sample food from the various booths. They also had wine and beer (free with the entry fee). At the end there's a charity auction. The event was held on a Sunday evening. The ladies did a great job with the booth decoration. Before hand we had made a bunch of cookies and cake balls for samples. I set up a flat screen TV to run slides of some of the cakes we've sold. The event was well attended. A few people (I wasn't one of them) had really taken advantage of the beer and wine. One lady that showed up at our booth was uttering profanity, saying how good our product was, while she stuffed her pockets with samples. One of the Chamber of Commerce employees dropped by before the auction started to tell us that our booth had won the best of show award. It was great to be recognized. Nina was very happy. They called us out on stage to receive the award at the start of the auction.

Next up was the local Christmas parade. We decided to make a giant cupcake for the parade. I was in charge of building the support structure. It took me about a day to build. It was made out of wood. The central structure was 2x4s. Surrounding this was a series of octagons made out of smaller diameter wood which gave the cupcake its form. Plastic chicken wire was stapled to the outer frame. The plan was to paper mache the exterior. Things didn't go quite as planned. The bottom part of the cupcake sloped inwards, so the paper mache would fall off. Nina and Ms Gracia quickly came up with an alternate plan which ended up working quite well. The bottom part (the cup) was made out of a metal coated plastic insulation material, stapled to the frame. The top part (the icing) was made of flexible plastic tubes stuffed with paper then wrapped around the frame. Large purple Christmas tree ornaments were hung on the icing as sprinkles. One of Nina's friends drew a couple of logos for the sides. We threw a large bow on top. The cupcake had a maximum diameter of over six feet. The total height must have been around seven feet. The interior was lit up with a bright work light which gave the cupcake a glowing effect that looked really cool. We loaded up the cupcake at the front of a trailer (everyone got a kick out of seeing me walking the cupcake from the inside), decorated the trailer and my brother in law Jesse's truck, threw some blankets and kids wearing pajamas in the back half of the trailer, and called it good. A generator was loaded in the back of the pick-up to power all the lights and the outdoor speaker which was playing Christmas music. The parade was another big event. The were 120 floats. The route was packed with people. Nina and her mother in law were in front, carrying the bakery's banner. I was driving the truck, with my mom in the passenger's seat. The kids were in the back of the trailer, and a couple of other people were walking next to the trailer waving and throwing candy. Driving slowly down Texas City's main drag I could see the kid's eyes get big when they first saw the giant cupcake. Many asked if it was edible. We walked away with a trophy for the most original float.

The most recent event was Dickens On The Strand. This is a two day event held on Galveston Island, a 15 minute drive from Texas City. The event is located in the old part of Galveston (called the Strand), which is filled with buildings built during the 1800s. Several blocks are cordoned off to traffic. The idea is to create a Victorian England era atmosphere. People are walking around in top hats and elegant dresses, there are beggars dressed in rags, and police walking around with billy clubs. There are a variety of mini events held over the course of the festival, including a parade, Victorian bed races, magic shows, juggling shows, and puppet theaters. We had a booth set up to sell cake balls, cookies, and muffins. I was pretty familiar with this event, having attended on multiple occasions as a kid. Back then I played the part of a beggar / pick pocket. I remember being offered $20 to lie down in horse poop once (I did it). This time I played the part of a merchant, wearing a top hat, tie, and pants I'd picked up at Goodwill. Nina and her helpers were dressed as bakers while I drew in people by walking around with a plate of samples speaking in an English accent and occasionally saying funny things. One of Nina's helpers called me the "cake ball hustla." I had always liked Dickens because it was a chance to act in a role. Acting was something I've enjoyed in the past but haven't really pursued. Dickens was an outlet for it. I think people enjoyed my act. Some of them requested pictures with me. I have to say being a beggar was more fun than being a merchant, though I enjoyed both.

Although it was a lot of work the campaign and store front seems to have paid off. November sales were more than double the previous monthly sales record and Nina hired a third employee. I'm enjoying a short break now. I think Nina and her cohorts are planning some more events. I heard her say something about me dressing up as Santa and decorating the Buffalo as a sleigh.

Other than the bakery I've continued kayaking. I finished exploring Moses Lake. The eastern end, the last part I visited, proved to be the most interesting. It's a dense marshland of grass, with a maze of narrow channels (barely wide enough for the Pelican) and hidden lagoons. Many times I'd round a bend to discover a lagoon filled with waterfowl. Having seen all of Moses Lake I've moved north to explore the next bayou. My most recent solo trip was out of Dickenson Bayou. I headed out of the bayou into Galveston Bay, visiting an island made entirely out of sea shells. Most recently I took my nephew Cortez out on a trip with me. He really enjoyed it. The photo at the top is of Cortez on the Pelican in a backyard pool.

Nina's slacked off on her running. Between the bakery, kids, and a Thankgiving trip her family took she hasn't had a lot of time. We had worked up to a 40 minute run. We both forgot about the 5k run we were training for. Hopefully we'll have some time this week to get going again. I bought plane tickets to Oregon for the week after Christmas. I'll be there for six days. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone up there. Photos are here.

Pelicans & Tasty Eyeballs

Since my last entry I acquired a kayak and helped open a store front for Nina's bakery.

My motivations behind getting a kayak were exercise and as a way to "get away from it all" without having to drive long distances. It's a kind of substitute for mountain biking in Corvallis's hills and forests. A kayak seemed like the ideal solution for Texas City. The city is bordered by bodies of water to the north and east. North of town is Moses Lake and Dollar Bay. Although they have two names it's really just one body of water, which I generically refer to as Moses Lake. Moses Lake is a saltwater bay which extends into a marshy bayou to the west. Eastward the lake is bounded by a levee which protects the city from flooding. The levee has a floodgate which serves as a gateway into the much larger Galveston Bay. Galveston Bay extends northward 50 miles inland towards Houston and empties into the Gulf of Mexico on its south side. Galveston Bay forms the eastern boundary of the city. The city's petrochemical port is along the bay, towards the south.

I've never owned a kayak, although I've rented one on a few occasions. My main criteria was price and the ability to haul the kayak inside the Buffalo. I ended up buying a basic 10 foot model. It has the word "Pelican" on it so that's what I've taken to calling it. So far I've mostly paddled it in Moses Lake. My first trip was a lesson on the effects of the wind on a small watercraft. The windier it is the more choppy the water becomes. (I know, it seems obvious, but like many things it's not something you think much about until it effects you personally.) In such a small craft the wave action is a major consideration. Heading crosswind in high wind is most exciting, since it tends to induce rolling. So far I've managed to prevent myself from tipping over, but I've gotten pretty wet on a couple of occasions. I found getting through the floodgate to also be a bit challenging. When the tide is coming in or going out the flow through the floodgate is substantial. Standing waves form on the outgoing side. You have to paddle hard and focus on staying parallel to the flow if you're going against the tide. The marshy bayou at the west end of Moses Lake has the best wildlife, mostly various types of birds. I've seen a few flamingos there. I'm planning on taking one more trip into Moses Lake before I start exploring the Galveston Bay shoreline.

The weather has been pretty nice lately. When I first arrived it was still rather hot compared to what I'm used to. The mosquitoes were still out in force. Since then the weather has taken a decidedly fall-like turn. Most days it's clear and sunny. Warm in the middle of the day, but not hot. The mosquitoes have abated. There's the occasional thunderstorm, but they roll through pretty quickly. It's a welcome change from the seemingly endless days of cold misty rain which I associate with Corvallis for much of the year.

Other than that I've mostly been helping Nina out with the bakery. The display case arrived about a week and a half ago. We had to remove the front door and partially disassemble the case to get it into the building. It's a nice case, especially considering that it's used. Opening day was last Friday, the day before Halloween. The case was stocked with cakeballs, cupcakes, cookies, and brownies. The brownies (which were a special diabetic friendly recipe Nina came up with) were the first to go. The cakeballs have also been popular. Nina and her two employees made some that looked like eyeballs, which were pretty cool looking. Overall the first two days exceeded expectations in terms of display case sales, so it was encouraging.

Nina consistently hears from the bakery's customers that they didn't know the place existed. One said she found the place when she got lost. So, a series of promotions are planned for the next few weeks. First up next week is a free cupcake / cakeball day that's being advertised in the local paper. Then there's an event called Taste of the Town. We're also to making a float (in the form of a giant cupcake) for a city parade in early December. Lastly, we're signing up as a vendor at Dickens On The Strand, a Victorian festival held in Galveston. Between that and the normal orders for custom cakes the bakery will be pretty busy.

Nina and I have continued running. She's broken her record for longest continuous run a few times now. Her record now stands at 30 minutes. In a couple of weeks we'll be running a 5k. The aspirational goal is to run the entire distance. I saw my brother Jose and his two kids on Halloween. The Blur has been relegated to commuting duties, as the nearest hills are a few hours drive. My mom has been busy sorting through my clothes, unceremoniously tossing anything which she deems too worn to keep wearing and replacing it with something she considers more appropriate. I suspect my old North Face climbing t-shirt was one of her victims. Her eyes got pretty big when I answered her question "When was the last time you washed your backpack" with "I've never washed my backpack." Nina talked me into filling out a contestant application for the TV show Survivor. One of the questions on the form was "Which previous contestant do you most identify with." My answer was none, since I haven't owned a TV in years and I've never watched the show.

Hope all is well wherever you are. Here's a few photos.

Back On The Bayou

It's been a few days now since I arrived in Texas City. After leaving Yosemite I headed east, crossing Nevada, southern Utah, then cutting the southwestern corner of Colorado before heading south and then east into the Texas panhandle. After stopping in Dallas to look at some equipment for my youngest sister Nina I headed south towards Houston and eventually Texas City on the gulf coast.

I pretty much drove straight through until I arrived in Colorado, where I visited Mesa Verde. Mesa Verde is a series of canyons cut into table top mountains. The area is known for it's abandoned pre European cliff dwellings. The national park service operates tours of the dwellings. I spent a day taking the tours before leaving. I was hoping to do some backpacking while there but the park service doesn't allow it. The dwellings are similar to ones that I came across in Arizona during El Viaje #1, but larger. They're located under overhanging rock, so they're well preserved. The prevailing theory is that they were abandoned because of climate change.

I still wanted to get another backpacking trip in before leaving the mountains. I found a wilderness area in northwestern New Mexico called Ojitos which was near my route, so I stopped there for a few days. After exploring the canyons and mesas (including another outing without food) I left the mountains for the flat lands.

I've been pretty busy since arriving, mostly helping Nina with the bakery. She's been wanting to open up a store front for a while now (so far she's been operating on a bake to order basis) but hasn't had the time get everything together. After visiting multiple vendors I found a good used display case which is now on order. We're also upgrading the signage in preparation. Just this morning we settled on final design for the building's sign. The store front should be ready by the end of this month. Nina's given me a couple of lessons in baking and cake decoration. I'm not a natural at it. Fortunately she just hired another employee, who does have a talent for it.

I've lined up some tastings later this week with a few venues in Galveston, a nearby resort town. One of the venues is the San Luis, which is the premier resort on Galveston Island. Hopefully it'll go well and drum up additional business.

Nina's done a great job with the customers and her products. All the customers I've spoken to have been impressed with her work. "Bad ass" is a description I've heard uttered on more than one occasion. I think she's got her recipes and decoration techniques down pat. She'd probably disagree with my assessment, but that's why she's good at it.

There are a series of operational issues that we're working to address as well. In HP wafer fab parlance, rework rates are high. Pans end up with too much or too little batter, ingredient quantities are miscalculated when they are scaled, and ingredients sometimes run out in the middle of a recipe. It all leads to inefficiencies, both in terms of time and ingredient usage. The solution we're implementing is a combination of characterization (figure out exactly how much batter you need for each combination of recipe and pan) and tool development. The idea with the tool is that you input the pan size and recipes, then it calculates the ingredient quantities for you based on a database of recipes and the characterization data. The tool will also output how much batter to put into each of the different pans based on the characterization data. Hopefully it'll cut down on the waste. We're starting out with her two most popular recipes and proceeding from there. If it works out I'll eventually add a supplies management component. Since the tool will know how much ingredients are being used it should be able to track the amount remaining in inventory and raise a flag when quantities are low so that orders can be placed for additional ingredients.

I started running again since arriving. My leg still hurts a bit but I'm managing to keep up with Nina. She picked up running after she was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes earlier this year. With a change in diet and exercise she's lost 40 pounds so far. She had stopped running for a couple of weeks but is back at it again. We're hoping to break her record for longest continuous run later this week.

Other than that I've been hanging out with my nieces and nephew, my friend Elmo, and enjoying my mom's home cooked meals. I haven't seen my brother Jose yet. At some point I'd like to get a kayak and take it out on the bay. Since there aren't any hills here I need to find some other way to get my thrills.

Photos from the most recent leg of El Viaje are posted here. The photo at the top is the inside of kiva, a type of underground dwelling which the Mesa Verde residents used for their religious rituals.

Bears and Pigs

Just left Yosemite. I entered Yosemite via the eastern entrance. Most visitors enter the park via Yosemite Valley, which is a western entrance. Yosemite Valley is the most visited part of the park, but it's only about 5% of the total park area. My plan was to backpack across the park from the eastern entrance to Yosemite Valley, then take a couple of days to see the valley's sights. I picked up my bear resistant container and a wilderness permit at one of the park offices. I immediately named my container "the pig" since it was heavy and I was going to eat it's contents. I filled it with a week's worth of food and started walking.

My first impression of Yosemite was that it gets a lot of visitors. Even on a weekday in the backcountry of the park you can come across a lot of people. Many trails look heavily used. If you're on a popular backcountry trail you may be sharing the good campsites with 100 other people. Supposedly I was visiting during the off season, so it must be even more crowded during the peak summer season. The closer I got to the valley the more people I saw. These were day hikers who had entered the park via the Yosemite Valley entrance. At some point I started feeling like I was in Los Angeles. I remember seeing guys that looked like gangsters from south central LA hiking up a beautiful canyon with a tall waterfall. It felt even more like LA when I got to valley floor and hopped on the free park bus. It looked and felt like a city bus, but people were dressed a little differently than you would see in a city bus. I remember hearing that Yosemite had begun offering the free bus service within the valley to combat smog from visitor's vehicles which was ruining the views. Since I had left the Buffalo at the east entrance, and my feet were tired, the bus service proved handy for my explorations of the valley.

The valley itself is a dramatic landscape of thousand foot cliffs, waterfalls, big trees, and beautiful meadows. I didn't even try to take photos that would do justice to the place. It seemed like a futile endeavor. The first day I used the bus to visit various parts of the valley. I learned at the visitor's center that the word "Yosemite" means "Those who kill." I wondered who or what "those" referred to and who they killed. The second day I rented a bike (which seemed to have become a popular way to travel in the valley) and day hiked a bit. That afternoon, while packing up, I saw a bear. I was in the backpacker's camp in the valley at the time. My belongings were sitting on picnic a table. I had just put the pig in my backpack. When I first saw the bear he was some distance away, but moving in my direction. I managed to get a couple of photos of him before my brain became too occupied with other matters. I was standing between the bear and the picnic table. I was surprised at how close he got to me before stopping and staring at me. It was close enough for me to see how big he was and to notice his long dagger like claws. I quickly realized that he could do a lot of damage to me. I wasn't sure what I should do, so I swung around to the other side of the table. The bear was now on the opposite side of the table from me. He started moving towards my orange snack bag on one end of the table. I quickly snatched it from right in front of him, then retreated a bit in case he tried to attack me. The bear then went for the backpack. He pushed it over and started looking for a way to get to the pig. I didn't want him to destroy my pack, but I still wasn't sure what to do. Fortunately there was another guy in the camp behind me. I asked him if he knew what I should do. He said to spread out my arms and make loud noises while moving closer. So that's what I did. It started to work, then the guy behind me joined in, and it worked even better. The bear gave out a loud snort then ran off into the forest. The pack had suffered only minor scratches and a wet spot where the bear's snot had landed. Later I learned that these bears can weigh up to 350 pounds and lift three times their own weight.

Having survived the bear encounter, I made my way to the bus stop. I was planning on taking a regional bus back to the east entrance of the park. It was something like $8 for the two hour trip. I got back to the Buffalo late. After a good night's sleep I decided to head out for another trip into the Yosemite backcountry. This time I was going to do some cross-country hiking in less popular areas of the park. I decided to do this trip thin. I didn't bring any food at all, which also meant I had no need for a stove, fuel, bear canister, or cookware. It saved a lot of weight. I headed off again. It had gotten colder and cloudier. Up to this point I'd had clear sunny skies every day. There were less people, and when I headed cross-country there were no people. I spent a couple of days checking out high alpine lakes. There were many of them at the higher elevations. On what became my last day out it started snowing. I had found a wonderful shelter underneath a huge boulder that was near a good water source. Staying dry and warm were not going to be a problem. Even with no food I could easily stay out for many days. However, hanging out under a boulder for a whole day or more didn't seem terribly entertaining, so I headed down. By the time I got back to the Buffalo it had gotten nastier and I was glad I hadn't stayed out longer. Soon enough I was making my way across the sunny, dry deserts of Nevada.

Right now I'm in southwestern Utah, a couple of hours northeast of Las Vegas. My plans are to continue east through southern Utah, eventually crossing into southwestern Colorado. While there I'm planning on visiting Mesa Verde National Park. I just spoke at length with my younger sister Nina and decided that I should expedite my trip a bit. Potentially I could arrive at Texas City in a week or so.

Photos from the Yosemite leg of the trip are here. Unfortunately I forgot to bring the camera on my second outing in Yosemite.

Searching For Yoda And A "Bear Resistant Container"

The last couple of weeks seem to have been filled with send offs and visits with people I know from living in Oregon. It was great to see everyone before leaving for a while, and I enjoyed all the send offs. The Willamette River float was especially memorable. Amongst other things, the boat got dumped, Matt got sick, and I got to play around with a beautifully made staff that I received from one of my older sisters.

After leaving Corvallis I headed up towards The Dalles. Ann and her family were having a get together over a long weekend. I had been invited. They had rented a house along the Columbia River, which separates Oregon from Washington. The house was really nice. More of a property really. The property was well manicured, had a main house, two guest houses, a boat house, and even a small private beach. It was right on the river. Ann's nephews, Henry and Owen, had come along. I watched Star Wars V with them. Later we went for hikes in the gorge, looking for a Jedi master named Yoda. We visited waterfalls along the gorge on the first day. On the second day we took a tour of the orchard country just south of Hood River, followed by a visit to Timberline Lodge on Mt Hood. After saying bye to everyone I headed south into central Oregon along the east side of the Cascades.

While driving through, I stopped to visit Cliff near Bend. We had arranged to hang out for a few days, but I wasn't sure what we were going to do. At some point I decided I'd just do whatever Cliff wanted to do and see what happens. In GW Bush parlance, Cliff was the decider. Cliff's idea was to climb Mt Thielsen, one of the Oregon Cascades crags, over the course of two or three days. I'd never climbed Thielsen and it's always fun to spend a night or two out in a wilderness area, so I was all for it. Cliff made a good decision by putting me in charge of deciding what technical gear to bring. I brought a full rope, a set of nuts, some draws, and some slings. I was sure it would be overkill given the route description, but Cliff was still a bit new to this stuff and I'd hate to get him hurt. We set out in the early afternoon. Our plan was to hike in until we got tired or found a good place to camp. By the time we got to the base of the route we realized we hadn't brought enough water. We had hoped to find a creek or a melting snowfield, but had seen nothing at all. We only had a liter left between the two of us. The nearest guaranteed water we knew of (Diamond Lake) was four miles away and pretty far down. After a good amount of discussion we changed the trip objective to something that involved spending the night at Diamond Lake. Down we went. We set up camp some time after 9:00. The next morning we filled up on water and headed back to Cliff's truck, taking trails near the road and sometimes bushwhacking. On our second night we car camped at Miller Lake, a high lake east and a bit north of Thielsen. We then headed back to Cliff's house (also a pretty nice place). I spent one night there then left in the morning.

After driving all day yesterday I find myself in Bridgeport, California looking for a "bear resistant container." Bridgeport is on the east side of the Sierra Nevadas close to the Nevada border. I should be less than an hour's drive from Yosemite, my next destination. I'm planning on some backpacking and hiking while I'm there. Apparently you're required to carry anything that a bear might like in one of these containers if you're going to be in the Yosemite backcountry.

Here's a link to some photos. The photo at the top is from Miller Lake. I was fascinated by the dance of the light on the rocks.