Month: February 2013
Thoughts On Two Possible Routes North
Rather than keep hashing this out in the comments to my post about Wyoming, I thought I would present the two routes I am considering so as to get input on them. One route has me shooting straight north and then northwest through the Dakotas. The other has me going northwest from Austin and then straight north from New Mexico.
There are two factors I would like folks to keep in mind before they give me their thoughts.
1) Weather
I am going to be leaving Austin in very late March or very early early April so as to give me a full five weeks to get to Saskatchewan in case the weather gets ugly along the way. Either route is going to take me a week to do at a comfortable pace, but regardless of how quickly I travel or not, I am going to be traveling through one of the iffiest weather periods of the year in some of the most isolated areas of the US. Facilities may be closed or offer reduced services.
2) Elevation Changes
It’s my belief that the second route is going to have more elevation changes than the first, which could also impact on weather. I also do not want to face any really steep grades. I just want a nice easy lope back to Canada.
Here is the direct route:
This route mostly takes I-35. I believe that elevation changes would be a non-issue as I am mostly going through the prairies. I have found an abundance of places to overnight along this route, even in the wilds of the Dakotas where you can stay overnight at a rest area.
If I was just focused on getting back to Canada, this route would be a no brainer. But I’ve already been through most of these states.
Here is route two:
This route mostly takes I-25. It would allow me to add several more states to my map. I am concerned about elevation changes. Most of what I remember of Denver is a 10-lane highway, so driving through that city sounds a little unnerving and there doesn’t seem to be a good way around, but RV forums say to just drive through outside of rush hour. I have found fewer overnighting options on this route, and none that sound like a sure bet in Wyoming.
I like this route because of the additional states I’ll get to add to my map, I really want to see Colorado again, and I’ve heard that Wyoming is gorgeous, but it doesn’t sound like a sure bet in the shoulder seasons.
Both routes are about the same distance and terminate at the tiny Scobey, MT border crossing near my property.
Thoughts?
I don’t want to go back. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.
Pastagate
I’ve following the Pastagate situation in Quebec closely. In short, the language police got a complaint about an Italian eatery’s menu being mostly in Italian rather than French and ordered the owner to change the menu to French or face steep fines.
There has been some outrage over this, but it’s mostly of the humourous kind, as though this was funny when it is actually terrifying.
It never ceases to amaze me how the world turns a blind eye to the fact that Quebec is overseen by a totalitarian and xenophobic government that uses fear and oppression to subjugate its citizens.
That Canada allows any of this to happen is no surprise. After all, Canada got a failing grade in human rights from Amnesty International in 2012. If it allows people to be deported to countries where they will be tortured, why would it care that a bloodless genocide is going on within its borders?
A Homey Day
Today was really low key. It’s a chilly and windy out there, so I’ve stayed in. An invasion force of pterodactyl-like pelicans landed this morning and have been providing Neelix and me with entertainment all day.
Caroline and her husband came by in the afternoon to tour the rig. Her husband gave me his thoughts on how and where I could add a giant monitor to my office setup. The number one thing keeping me from doing so is that I want to run the monitor off DC, not AC, so that I don’t have to turn on the inverter. He said that it’s doable so I’m going to do a bit more research on that.
Caroline had a nice present for me, a cross-stitch project that she’ll never get to, so I’ve already started on that and will continue tonight with a movie. I found a DVD with eight surprisingly good movies on it for just $5 at Walmart and have been watching one a night. It’ll be nice to have something to keep my hands busy in the evenings now.
Nopal
Tonight, I cooked up the nopal, or cactus paddle, that I bought the other day.
I took Melissa’s advice, cut it up like a fan leaving the bottom attached, and then seared it in my cast iron pan.
Removing the spines wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I just scraped a sharp knife along the top and then wiped the nopal on both sides with a damp paper towel.
Searing nicely next to a really good pork chop.
Tomate, carne de cerdo con limón y pimienta negra, nopal y arroz.
I thought that my palate had been around the block once or twice, but it had never met nopal before. My first reaction to the stuff was that it could not possibly be of this world. Both the texture and taste were complete alien. The texture is so odd, both mucilaginous (slimy, like okra) and crisp. The taste doesn’t even come close to green beans. It’s fresh, but a little sour.
Truth? I have no idea what I think of nopal, but I was not able to finish what I had on my plate. My taste buds were in complete overload.