Jim & Alice

After sitting out the last two Summers due to medical reasons (covid avoidance as well as 'other'), we will be leaving Wellton, AZ for our favorite workamping site, Hart Ranch, in Rapid city, SD. After the Summer... Michigan for a few months to stay with kids & grandkids, then Texas for family there, then back to Wellton! Life is good!

Just as a matter of followup, My wife and I got our 2nd Covid booster shots (Moderna) this week. Our shot reactions were as before, wife experienced no side effects other than a slightly stiff arm, and I had the stiffness, along with slight fever and headache for a couple days. Doing fine now! Jim

Hi, Kirk. We will get the (2nd) booster in early May, about two weeks before travel to our workamping location. Come Fall, we will see what the situation calls for before visiting family in Michigan. Thanks for a good thread!

Sure will, Kirk. Thanks for what you do here.

Thanks Kirk, for your experience. That's what we are going to do. We have a few weeks before leaving for our workamping location, so we will be having that conversation....

Probably will, Barbara, and you make good sense. But we have a couple weeks and on important things I like to check with knowledgeable people.

We're inclined that way, Barbera, but I am cautious due to what that would do to our 'positioning' for a Fall booster in response to a Fall covid variant wave.

Just to weigh in with an opinion... We are fully vaccinated (Moderna) with one booster shot six months ago. Our plans for the Summer are to workamp in South Dakota (Hart Ranch), so we are pondering... 2nd booster shot in May (worried about public exposure all summer), or wait until Fall? I have put that question to our local PCP here in Wellton, AZ. We'll see what the response is.

Thanks for sharing, Derek.

Ditto on cash-on-hand.

Thanks, 2gypsies. In our past vacation trips, our kids, nieces, nephews have scrambled all over that rock... But spending the night there in our Dolphin motorhome, during inclement weather... hinted at what those early travelers must have experienced. Lots of names, ghosts, and stories remain there.

Thanks, guys. I guess at this instance, we don't know for sure... Independence Rock/Oregon Trail is so historic in our country's story I'd hate to see it not be maintained. Besides, its a great boondock location! Wonder if anyone else has been then there recently?

We were last there in 2016. The shown parking lot is to the west side of the main parking lot, and the Trail is just beyond the fence. Sounds like you are saying the walking trail to the base of the rock is no longer there?

Independence Rock, Wyoming. We were able to boondock just a few feet from the Oregon Trail... In the quiet of the late night we could hear the ghost's of the wagons... creaking on down the trail... Love it!

Wellton, AZ... Sunny skies, temp about 50 degrees, winds in the mid 20 mph. Dust is beginning to pick up... Gonna be a dusty day!

January 13, 2013, made the trip from Michigan to Congress, Arizona. Never driven a motorhome before. Went South as fast as we could, going thru Indianapolis, Sikeston, Texarkana, then state highways thru south Texas to El Paso, then on to Phoenix and beyond. My advice would be to get to the I-30-20-10 part of the country as early as possible. Good luck!

Thanks for the link, Kirk Upvote! 🙂

Wish I could 'up-vote' all these comments... all are spot on.

I am following too, Kirk. Fascinating.

Thanks, I appreciate it, Derek. And I appreciate your commentary on my USB drives vulnerability... I figured as much but did not want to accept it because they are so darn easy to use! I was hoping you would see something I didn't. Funny, but my Air Force 'recent out' son just happened to bring up a Faraday Cage right after our posts... We may end up there yet. And, Merry Christmas and good night, Derek. Hope all is well for you. Our grandkids are in bed waiting for Santa to arrive... Grandmother (Mamaw) is tired out, and Mom & Dad even more tired out. Me? I just stay out of the way, else I might end up getting gift-wrapped and placed under the tree. 🙂 Take care, Derek! Added afterwards: Derek, I checked out your recommended book, "One Second After"... looks to be a good read, as well as written by a very credible Author. I happen to 'know' I am getting some Barnes & Noble gift cards for Christmas... Think I know where to start using them.

Derek, thanks for your well thought and documented response! It will take a while for me to absorb it... Quick question - I organize all my essential data into one high-level folder.... and keep up-to-date copies of that large folder in several places. One of those 'places' are portable USB drives (plural). Derek, how vulnerable, do you think, are USB drives, unshielded & unprotected, to EMP strikes? Thanks, and Merry Christmas! Hope you are feeling well.

Good article, Derek. Confirms some good practices... Here's what I do: Cloud backup - I perform such nightly, in addition to local Acronis backups to external storage (two types: USB drive and external SSD drive. Passwords - I use a password manager (Roboform), for my desktop and for my laptop. All things are encrypted, synced, passwords generated... 2FA - still hit or miss on this... but for all Financial sites and 'other' sites of importance, I use multi-factor authentication. Tweaking... - I have pretty much given up on this... just too much trouble for questionable gain. Updates - Serious & Religious attention to updates, for all significant software. Antivirus - Not ready to part with my Norton yet... I also use Malware Free in addition to Norton. Big reason for keeping Norton is their VPN... works well for me. Thanks for he good article, Derek. Lots of bad stuff going on nowadays... Good Practices can make a huge difference.

Thanks, Derek, for the info on end-of-life for Win10 support. Very useful.

My wife and I spent the Summer of 2020 in Yuma (Wellton)... with good advice & help from this Escapee's Group... It is tolerable. We purchased a lot, installed an RV Port (Roof cover), and made sure we had a backup plan if our A/C failed. Our highest Electric bill was $207/mo. Good luck.

Thanks, Docj, for your FWIW. I am running a Dell INSP-5577, I7, and pondering a Windows 11 update. Not going to rush to it, but will keep such an upgrade on my 'want-to-do' list. This kind of information helps greatly.