Kevin Standlee: Fandom Is My Way of Life

Nothing going on here today to speak of, so here's another photo of the overbuilt power lines near Mehama that we think are evocative of Girl Genius-like sparky stuff.

( Power Lines to Nowhwere )

Remember that the full-sized power transmission lines to the left in the distance are what was used to feed into the (now removed) substation to pump it up to a million volts AC.

Lisa and I had a vast number of errands to complete on Monday. In retrospect, not only am I very relieved that we started in the Lake Oswego area rather than backtracking from Stayton/Sublimity, but I rather wish we might have stayed a little further north the night before, possibly at the HIX in the NW Industrial Area of Portland.

( Kevin & Lisa's Tax-Free Tour of Oregon )

Finally, around 4 PM, we got to Submlimity, where we checked in to the hotel. We didn't unpack, however, but simply confirmed that we had the hotel room, turned up the air conditioning because we knew we were going to need it later, and headed on to Mehama.

( Return to Mehama )

I took a whole lot of photos of Mehama, and will try to take more on Tuesday on our way out, but there isn't enough bandwidth on the wi-fi here for me to want to try to upload them all. Maybe if we have a better connection at Klamath Falls Tuesday night, I'll get the photos online at Flickr.

Due to roadwork over OR-58, we've decided to take the slightly longer-and-slower (nine miles according to Google Maps) route over OR-22/US-20 through Bend. This will, however, make it possible for Lisa to possibly have a better chat with her father if her sister will allow it.

Our original travel plans for this period included driving from Seattle to Sublimity, Oregon (the nearest motel to Lisa's father's home in Mehama), renting a large U-Haul trailer there, then driving back to Camping World in Wilsonville on Monday to collect the new RV refrigerator we've ordered from them there before going to Salem for errands and then out to Mehama to get the last of Lisa's stuff.

( Plans Change for the Better )

The change of hotel and travel plans means that we have a fair bit more time tomorrow, and Lisa is cautiously optimistic that we'll be able to get everything packed into the trailer in Mehama on Monday.

This morning, we went into Salem and picked up the rental truck, it being the largest truck that I can drive on a personal driving license that Budget rents. We then went back to Mehama and spent most of the day until after dark (Lisa rigged up lights so we could work after dark), stopping only for meals and brief rest breaks, and succeeded in moving nearly everything except some loose bits that don't fit in the boxes we have handy into the truck. That's not everything that has to go, but it is the largest piece.

Lisa had spent much of the past couple of months putting everything she could into "bankers boxes" and that made a very big difference today, as I can move four boxes at a time from the storage container into the truck by trundling it up the loading ramp on the hand-cart. (With Lisa guiding me, I managed to get the truck backed up close enough that the ramp lands inside the container, so it's relatively easy to roll stuff from the container into the truck.) I didn't keep track of the boxes or take pictures, but it's a lot.

Tomorrow we have to see if we can find boxes big enough for the stuff too big for banker's boxes, load other things that were not in the container, get some very heavy and large things like the engine hoist into the utility trailer that I will tow behind the rental truck, and move everything that won't fit in either the truck or trailer into the cargo container, because Lisa is taking for granted that if it is not in the container or in the truck or trailer, then it's gone forever as she expects her brother and sister to throw everything else away. She keeps beating herself up over what a mess she's leaving the old house, but I keep telling her that her brother has brought it upon himself by forcing Lisa out so quickly. You don't live somewhere for twenty years and then suddenly up and leave in a few weeks easily.

Besides all of that, of course Lisa has to finish securing the travel trailer for moving, as she'll be pulling it behind her truck. She's rigged one of her CB radios in the moving van so that we can convoy more easily. If all goes well, we'll be pulling out of here sometime late tomorrow afternoon. We'd like to get as far as Klamath Falls, but I'm checking out hotels in Chemult as well, just in case. It's at least five or six hours from Mehama to K-Falls, especially as we can't exceed 55 MPH while towing even on the freeway, Lisa wouldn't want to go any faster even if she could, and I'll be surprised if I can maintain even that speed over OR-58, especially after Oakridge.

Lisa and I will end up needing to spend at least one hotel night on the road during the shuffling back and forth between Reno/Fernley and Mehama. On the way from Reno to Mehama the day after Worldcon, we hope to get as far as Klamath Falls. I'm considering using some of that pile of Priority Club points I've earned there at K-Falls, since I don't need to earn any more this year; I'm already Platinumized through the end of next year.

Driving south, we'll be in convoy, with me driving the 24-foot rental truck with a couple of tons (literally, according to our calculations) of stuff in it and Lisa pulling the trailer with the Big Orange Van. She's done some test pulls of the trailer, and it seems to be moving properly. The brakes work, which is good. We'd hoped to get the trailer up to Camping World for a brake/bearing service just in case, but they're backed up badly and wouldn't be able to get to it before Lisa has to leave for Reno this weekend. We probably won't need a hotel night on the way south, since we should be able to stop somewhere (either a rest area or an RV park) in the K-Falls area and sleep in the trailer before continuing on to Fernley.

The schedule is still pretty tight, though. Lots of things have to happen and not slip.

Today's headline task was to use the rebuilt utility trailer to haul scrap metal, including four old engine blocks, to the Marion County Waste Transfer/Recycle Center. They accept scrap metal for free. So this morning I drove my van over to near the site of yesterday's Towing Travails and backed it into place. Lisa cranked the trailer down on the tow hitch and plugged in the connector. The running lights didn't work.

( Are there ANY easy jobs around here? )

Unexpectedly heavy rain began to fall as we headed back toward Mehama, which washed out plans to do some more mowing and get the Big Orange Van unloaded in preparation for having it towed to Portland for repairs. As usual, nothing happens quickly around here. But it's good to get that utility trailer moving again, because I expect this won't be the last trip we make with stuff for the recycle facility, or even possibly more trash beyond the capacity of the dumpster here.

This week has been very busy. The weather relented somewhat, which made it possible to move forward on various weather-delayed projects like the burn pile and mowing (we mowed a lot of grass yesterday evening). But the big event was the Cargo Container.

( The Old Garage Site Transformed )

Initially, this container will be temporary storage for Lisa's things as she consolidates them from various places on the property. After she moves out, then it will be a new storage shed for Lisa's father, who paid for the gravel and container with the approval of Lisa's brother.

As I mentioned a few days ago, Lisa cleared the site of the old demolished garage in preparation for getting a storage container. Yesterday, it finally stayed dry enough that we could try setting the pile of wood debris on fire. After work, I checked to confirm that it was a burn day, donned my coveralls, got out the tools, and went with Lisa to commit burning.

( Burn pile, baby, burn; caution: lots of photos )

The full set of photos are over on Flickr. I'm happy to have gotten this task out of the way. It's one of many things that needed doing while I was here.

We bought the wrong kind of RV batteries yesterday and had to take them back to Salem this afternoon. It continues to be too wet to get many of the things we need to get done on this property. Worse, it's soaking the pile of wood that we were going to burn so that we're going to need several days of dry weather so that the pile will dry out sufficiently to burn before we can light it off.

We made the round trip to Wilsonville with the other three tires today. (Lisa got a second jack so that we could have two wheels off the ground simultaneously, and we installed the two new tires on the rear axle.) Just a few minutes after we got home, however, a massive thunderstorm hit Mehama. I don't mean the usual Oregon rain, but really nasty, noisy stuff with thunderclaps so close that I thought the church across the street had been hit.

( Here's what it looked like )

We're hunkered down inside hoping the storm will subside before it gets dark so we can install the new tired on the forward axle and so Lisa can install the new breakaway switch. As we started the get-the-trailer-roadworthy project by taking off wheels, Lisa wanted to check the trailer brakes, and pulled the breakaway plug. Nothing happened. This is bad, of course, since the brakes should automatically engage when this happens. Lisa eventually determined that the brakes were okay, but the switch itself had broken. While we were at Camping World yesterday, she asked for a new switch, and the guy behind the counter handed us what was handy — more cheap Chinese junk. While we were waiting around to pay for the tires, Lisa found a better quality (metal instead of plastic) American-made switch, and we had them swap it into the order. It's only a few dollars (this isn't a terribly expensive part, particularly when you consider the stakes involved), and we'd rather pay for top quality for parts on which you may be betting your life or home.