Trip Date: 8/11/2021
Find this SpotThis was the second trip we had put on the calendar, some time ago, for a possible trip. The first was my birthday trip, which turned out to be just about a perfect gathering (other than Kevin and Steve getting Covid and all of us having to be tested). Be that as it may, coming back up here for the Perseids meteor shower seemed like a splendid idea at the time. Unfortunately, 2 massive wildfires, Dixie around Chester and Bootleg in Southern Oregon, and several smaller ones in the area, made the air unhealthy to breeze, and the atmosphere one of cataclysmic destruction. There was no joy in Muddville.
The boys backed out one by one, and even with the horrific air quality, and the sadness for all the people that lost homes and property, and whole towns like Greenville being lost, I really wanted to get up to the property, just to check in. We cancelled the “family” trip 2 weeks ago when Haley and Brett were going to help work on the cabin, so it had been almost a month since my last confession. It was time for an act of contrition and get on up da hill. I had been feeling very poorly with very little energy for about 3 weeks, so my preparation was poor. I didn’t really get stuff together until Sunday, and Monday started off very slow. I was still loading Tuesday morning after deciding I would not be able to get an early start. It just wasn’t in me.
Nonetheless, I had my stuff and 75 gallons of water heading up Highway 80 a little after 9:00, and arrived at the gate by 2:00 or so. I was impressed by the pile of Juniper along the fence and the boulders lined up opposite the brush on our side of the fence. It looked daunting. I was super stoked to see the new gate and fence mid slop up the hill. It was exactly what I had wanted and was in the perfect place. It was a minor nuisance to have to get out again, open the gate, drive thru, get out and close it, then proceed, but hopefully it will prove to be a major cog in our successful defense system.
Up top, I was pleased and relieved to find everything as it should be. I opened up the cabin and trailer and started to unload. Even with a minimal load, it takes time to offload everything and get it in its place. It was nap time by the time I was all unloaded and had everything set up in the kitchen and the bed made and the cooler stocked. Since I was determined to get up in the middle of the night for the meteor shower, I decided to power thru and stick with the plan of going to bed early. The smoke was pretty bad, but I focused on the part of the sky that was the clearest and sat in the shade with a beverage.
I decided on reheating the eggplant parmesan Kristen had made for me. I made a water batch to heat it up and then I refried some of the breaded zucchini disks she also prepared. They were both delicious. I ate well, cleaned up, and headed off to bed as soon as the cabin had cooled down. I slept fairly well considering I was excited to wake up and be outside in the middle of the night. Sure enough, my phone alarm went off, and I was dressed and sitting outside at 3:15 am. It was really warm, and I was plenty comfortable in my shorts with my thin rain pants on, warm socks and shoes, and a long sleeve cotton shirt. My eyes adjusted after a bit, but I would guess only about 25% of the sky was clear of smoke. I sat in the plastic Adirondack chair and gazed in one direction and then the opposite. I saw 4 weenie shooting stars and one solid one in about an hour, and that was good for me.
The best part of the meteor shower was going back to bed in the cool cabin with the sweet breeze. I slept well and awoke to a blazing orange sun and sky. Having given up coffee a month or so ago, I headed for the granola, blueberries, raspberries, and yogurt. I felt like Euwel Gibbons, but it was really tasty. I got to work on pulling out the dent in the top of the cabin water tank, rotating the kitchen water tank, attaching a hose to the outhouse water tank and adding water into the shitter hole, and hooking up the drain pipe from the trailer to the poopy pit all simultaneously. It was great fun to do one thing on one project and then have to go find a tool or some materials and wander off to do a little something on another of the projects and then off to another.
My glass holders as suction cups on the cabin water tank didn’t work worth a damn, but I was able to use a pry bar thru the 2” top drain hole and get enough leverage I popped that sucker out. One down. I found the perfect length of hose to attach to the shitter water tank and gave the hole a nice long drink. I filled up the coffee bean sack in the outhouse with fresh sawdust while I was down there. I climbed down into the new trailer poopy hole to pull out a few last rocks and was able to lay a concave juniper branch across the hole so that it would support the drain pipe below ground level. I thought that was ingenious. It took me some time, but I got the kitchen tank turned around and made some new hose connections to bring the hose thru the kitchen wall and to the sink. Stuff was happening.
I was too tired to BBQ the ribs I brought up, so I opted for a repeat of the vittles I had the night before. They were just as good the second go round. Again, I was early to bed and up at 3:00 am. The sky was basically the same, just a tad cooler. I put on my thin sweatshirt and saw a few more shooters, but nothing incredible in my hour observation. I again was somewhat joyous at climbing back into bed for a few more hours of slumber. This morning was also a bit cooler and wallowed in the comfort it brought me. The sky was still rusty brown/orange and the fires were still ravenously hungry. After my grape nuts and berries, I hooked up the new water pump and the propane to the generator, and she pumped her heart out for me. In maybe an hour or so, I had drained the cabin tank and pumped it 50 horizontal feet and maybe 15 vertical into the kitchen tank. Glory be. Now I could get rid of the 50 gallon barrel up on the kitchen counter.
I was feeling good about the pump, so I disconnected everything to move it into the back of my truck and pumped those 2 barrels up into the kitchen tank. I was stoked. Hopefully one more trip with water barrels and we will have all we need for the fall. I tried to reconnect the gutters at the kitchen, but it proved to be a 2 person job. With the truck empty now, I took my first drive out the loop road. After picking up some materials from the boneyard, I drove back over the loop road. It needs some filling and smoothing to be sure, but it is sweet to have it in place.
I counted all the boards and paneling I have for the cabin interior and measured the windows to be sure I had enough materials whenever I can get to that job. I walked down the road to take a closer look at the new gate and fencing, then I drove on down to the cemetery to walk the new SE side fence line. Dale did a tremendous job on both as usual. I came back up the hill to make lunch and prepare all my snacks for the drive home. I took a great shower at the back of the trailer just with water jugs I had left out in the sun. I was finally heading back down the road about 2:00 and although the air was awful, and the Perseids not too stellar, I was happy to have come up and been here, and happy to make some more progress on our little adventure.
As I was tooling on home, I noticed my tire pressure light flashing. Having had lots of low tire lights on, I knew that the flashing was something different. I pulled over to check the tires and they seemed fine. I didn’t notice anything weird or rough in the steering or driving, so I continued on down the road until Reno so that if I needed servicing, I could get it. I checked the air pressure at a service station and read the owner’s manual. It just said, if the lights are flashing, call Toyota. Not ideal! Rather than do that, I called Kristen and asked her to call for me while I got back to the drive home. She said she was just passing the dealership so she would stop in. In just a few minutes she called back to say the flashing just means the air pressure sensor doesn’t work anymore. The Toyota guy was impressed we got this many years out of the thing. Oh well.
Uneventful the rest of the way, I was home by 5ish. Again, an interesting and action packed trip to our Hart Hill.
Hart Hill, Solo Perseids Meteor Shower Photo Gallery
