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CleverNickname

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Everything posted by CleverNickname

  1. Only have 35ac. Wildlife ag exempt. Very much an excuse to drive pickup to there, sweat my ass off, drink beer, and generally waste time. I say "I'm going up to the ranch."
  2. I also really like Driggs. Spent a few nights there when doing the Tetons. High was like 77 in July. Decent Tex Mex (or maybe just because we were hungry from hiking - I swear there was dusting of parmesan on my beans, but it was good enough and they had a bouncy house for the kids). I always laugh at the amount of potatoes they shove into TexMex up in the UT/ID/MT/WY area. The grocery store is pretty great for being in the middle of nowhere. I don't fish, but I imagine it would be great fly fishing. Drove into Driggs for the first time coming from Yellowstone. It was dark, one of those late afternoon summer storms. Kids and wife were asleep. Isbell's Traveling Alone came on as I neared the top of the pass. Bliss. Yellowstone is my favorite place on earth. I can't imagine blitzing it in a single day. Better than never seeing it, I guess. I remember pulling off a road just past a little bridge, I forget why. Maybe so the kids could stand on a pile of snow or something. There is snow in the passes through July. Anyway, under the bridge was a steaming fumerole. Not even marked on the map or had a sign. But a steaming, gurgling portal to hell itself was there, belching sulfur and a rivulet of hot water made pink and red and orange mats of thermophile algae. Like there so many crazy geological features that what we would have built an entire state park in Texas around is basically forgotten. Hot springs are amazing. Geyers are fucking double amazing. Mud pots, fumeroles (dragon's mouth - holy shit) are amazing. Flowstone deposits are cool as hell. You'll be walking along some boardwalk and a geyser will erupt and holy jesus fuck! Maybe it erupts every couple hours, but if you walk by hundreds there's a good chance you'll see one go that only does it every week or so. And you saw that, something that might just be a little placid spring for hundreds of other folks. The evolution of the springs and fields is also amazing (article link below). You may come back a few yeas later and an entire new area is becoming thermally active, and yet an old area is losing its fizz. And just when you get mildly used to those, you realize you are in the middle of this gorgeous boreal wilderness. The river and gorge and waterfall is tremendous. Taking a picnic along the Snake and swimming in a hot spring. Washing your hiking sweat off in the Boiling River swimming area. Elk and buffalo and bears. So many bears. And wolves. Hell, even Thermopolis is pretty rad, IMO. The lake is so pretty, and you gotta love the thermal features under the water. Seeing where the old wildfires were, and where the new growth is. Repeating the same dad lecture to the kids on how interesting the Continental Divide is every time you cross it (you cross it so many times). Hydrological basins are interesting as hell. It's super weird that the HEB on Spicewood drains to the Brazos, but one block over the storm drain goes to the Colorado. Its like that, only a different fucking ocean. One day I'm gonna hike to Two Ocean Pass, eat an edible, and figure it all out man. "Hey kids, were not in the Pacific hyrdological basin. That's a different ocean from back home. Oh wait, back over the divide. Now a cup of water poured here will flow all the way to the Gulf of Mexico!" They hate that, except that they secretly love that. If you are there for 5-6 days you can take some hikes to geyser fields and despite the crush of buses and whatnot, you might be the only people there for a couple of hours. I even (especially) love the signs with the parboiled child fucking dieing. Here's a crazy article that makes me want to get in the truck, drive 24 hours, get a backpacking permit and fucking go: https://www.usgs.gov/center-news/yellowstones-newest-thermal-area-close-and-personal-visit?qt-news_science_products=4#qt-news_science_products And shit, I forgot Quake Lake! That shit is lit!
  3. Preach, brother. I've always rolled my eyes and cops who want to pretend they are playing GI Joe. But only now do I associate that kind of cosplay with systemic racism. Two years ago my kids elementary school had a fall festival and the police showed up with some armored surplus vehicle. I pointedly thanked the cops for coming, but pointedly told them "next year, please bring a regular squad car." I don't my kids thinking an armored division is 'normal' for police. To their credit the following year they did.
  4. Plans thus far: • Swam, kayaked, and SUP on Lake LBJ this week for a bit. My in-laws have a place in Grabite Shoals in the water. May go back soon hit the Slab near Kingsland early on a weekday soon while the Llano is flowing. • Will walk the South San Gabriel off 183 next week on a weekday, before the summer dries it up. Dino tracks and wading. • Got a cheap place for a couple of nights on the Dry Frio in June. Just me and the family. Already have day passes for Garner and Lost Maples. • Day pass for Guadalupe River State Park for late June. • Locked up 3 nights near Hunt on the Guad for July. • Got 5 nights on the Frio near Leakey in August. Splitting it with my sister in law. The cousins have a ball together. Will do day trips and passes from there. • Still pending: Perdanales SP and Colorado SP. Maybe Blue Hole in Georgetown. Been meaning to check out Hancock Springs in Lampasas (currently closed for out of county residents). May pass up the Wimberly area swimming holes this year. I figure they may be too crowded. Ditto for Guad and Comal near NB. Might check out Devils Watering Hole. Not sure if the kids would hime to Barton Creek greenbelt places (and they might be busy).
  5. Nabbed park reservations for Lost Maples and Garner for next month!
  6. I nabbed a couple of nights in June at a place with shared Dry Frio access, and am sharing a bigger house with SIL and nieces on West Frio north of Leakey just before school (hopefully) returns. But I can easily take off more days and pop down a time or two. Plus when we they are there for a week I am willing to brave a popular float with some of the kiddos.
  7. Our usual far flung national park road trip is likely scrapped. I'd like to make as many Texas river frolics as possible. I'm pretty ignorant about the most fun swimming holes and float areas down that Frio/Nueces/Sabinal area. My kids (8 and 10) are decent swimmers, although I suspect they will prefer running water over shallow rocks to calm and deep holes. That may be me projecting my fear of slimy river bottoms, I dunno. What are your favorite places to go? What are worth fighting the crowds and what out of the way places are worth exploring?
  8. Question for RV people. Do you like to RV because you are an introvert and prefer your alone time, or do you RV because you are an extrovert and like meeting new people?
  9. NE running kinda fizzled, enabling extra time to clean out a gutter.
  10. I think when the Martians first attack Tom Cruise's row house in War of the Worlds?
  11. Haven't canceled the family summer road trip yet. Planning on Grand Canyon, Zion, and Bryce. We can easily just eat out of the car and skip restaurants. I'm a cheap bastard anyway. But hard to avoid hotels.
  12. So is the plan: (1) we shelter in place and keep it so few ever get Covid19, stalling until a vaccine or excellent treatment is available? Or (2) we shelter in place, knowing eventually most will get it, but doing enough to "flatten the curve?" Because if its #2 I will volunteer for variolation trials. If I am going to get it, give me a lose dose exposure in controlled circumstances.
  13. Question: it appears we can social distance well enough to flatten the curve, and not slam hospitals so bad that they get overwhelmed. But over the next 18-24 months... like 70% of people are still going to get the 'rona, right?
  14. Not major staples. But things like the kids preferred cereals, the good quesadilla cheese, pita bread. I kinda worry that if I wait 7 to 10 more days then we'd be really out of some stuff, and then it's not just mildly inconvenient but a real bummer. Like, why let get things get too lean?
  15. Last 2 curbside / instacarts have left some big holes they they couldn't fill. We could go another week without shopping, but it would mean kids bitching about lack of salty snacks, etc. So... should I just mask up and get it done, or endure sub-optimal food for the duration? I'm not really understanding what the guidance is at the moment.
  16. Think my yard guy (crew) comes today? I'm guessing they are considered or consider themselves "essential sanitation" or something. I may not be a rich man, but having somebody else mow my yard makes me feel like a rich motherfucker.
  17. Literally in the Basin right now. Park is effectively in government shut down. No visitors centers. Little store is open, but they have a cap on number inside. Basin restaurant is basically take out only plusbthe 4 outside tables. We've eaten 100% of our food from our own stores. I saw only 1 other truck in the state park yesterday. Today may be a little busier - grapevine hills and walking tornillo creek.
  18. Last laugh on those "asymptomatic" millennials when it turns out the virus attacked their testes and they are infertile.
  19. I have not. I asked as a "non urgent" question. Frankly I dont really expect a straight answer. I expect a "no one really knows."
  20. I sent a message to my doc to ask if I should taper from losartan 25mg that helps with my mild hypertension (120/90 with meds). Some thought that ace inhibitors might increase severity of covid symptoms.
  21. Health plans can waive cost sharing, but they can't force a provider (facility or doctor) to not collect the piece of the pie owed them.
  22. So over at King County WA Life Care, covid19 has killed 19 of 120 patients. That's already 16%. And I read the other day that they had 11 deaths before the first diagnosis, and usually they'd have 5 or 6. 16%. Not Great. Not Terrible.
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