Vladimir

Yep, based on the 2010 census data, adjusted. I suspect Snohomish and Pierce will drop out after the 2020 census from the top 10. First three counties in Washington state are all in eastern Washington. They are majority-minority counties. Number 4 is also a eastern Washington county, just under 50%. Number 5 is King, Number 8 is Pierce, and number 10 is Snohomish. https://statisticalatlas.com/region/West/Race-and-Ethnicity BUT, getting back on topic.....the vaccination roll-out in Washington by the state has been a disaster. The counties and local public health districts are now limiting vaccinations to OVER 75 after the Governor dropped it to 65!!!! That made HIM and his wife eligible for vaccination. The good news is I sent a letter to the Governor of Washington State asking him to resign over the vaccination mess. I just got a e-mail back thanking me for my letter and great advice. Does this mean he is considering resigning?? One can only hope. I spent 35 years working emergency management operations as a "part-time job". If Covid-19 is not an emergency and quite frankly, the medical community has refused to treat it as such.....then what is??? All the cynical comments by me aside. I am really frustrated by the states wasting millions of hours of people's time as they try to get a vaccination. Start at age 80 and work you way down!!! It is pretty simply. The highest risk folks get vaccinated first, and there are less of them and then it will quickly move down the age scale. It is not rocket science....just common sense. Oops, almost made another cynical comment.

Actually not. Eastern Washington is probably getting MORE vaccine's than western Washington since we have much more diverse communities over here and that is the state priority. Just this afternoon, I talked to a friend that one of the problems is western Washington residents booking appointments in eastern Washington. But that aside....I want the HOURS back that I spent trying to get an appointment.

I spent about 20 hours this week trying to get an appointment in Washington state. I did finally send a letter to the Governor that he should resign his office. It is a total cluster. It seems that in Washington state the vaccinations are going to the folks that KNOW folks. Several articles in the newspapers that the priority is well connected individuals, particularly in western Washington. It also appears that the initial shipment in Washington state went to "diverse" communities. All my friends in rural, diverse communities have been vaccinated. Our local hospital is still limiting vaccinations to 80 year old plus. I really don't care about priorities....but I want my 20 hours back from trying to find a open site.

I did have my rig weighed at Congress. It is worth doing just for the information you will learn. I knew I was well within weight limits. The surprise was how close I was to my weight limit, with a large truck and a small 5th wheel. After that.... I stay far, far away from EVERY RV going down the road.

I was looking forward to a quiet winter at my Arizona property, with many fewer "snowbirds" particularly from Canada. This Washington Post article indicates otherwise..... https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2020/12/15/canada-us-border-rv-snowbird/ According to the article it appears to close to HALF of Canadian snowbirds will be wintering in the states, due to a loophole in Canadian law. Yes, I understand that the US could put a stop to this quickly, but that is not the question. BTW...... the comment section is worth reading and a hoot!! BUT....for those "down south".......IF I can make it through California from Washington state is Arizona going to be crowded AGAIN??

Even after the election I still listen to clear channel radio stations at night. Back in the 1990's on a business trip I needed to know if the Rodney King riots were going on in Sacramento since I was staying in downtown. Fortunately, I remembered that 1530 KFBK out of Sacramento was a clear channel. It was a quiet night in Sacramento. Here is a list of the clear channels in the Wilkipedia listing, plus a discussion of clear channel stations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clear-channel_station They missed a few of clear channels like 660 out of the Navajo Nation, 670 out of Boise, and 1510 out of Spokane. I do wish the FCC would REQUIRE clear channel stations to broadcast ONLY original programming at night. There is no point is getting Coast to Coast on every clear channel in the west!! If your into radio at all....check out these two sites. CCRANE.COM.....Small radio store out of northern California. Lots of radio products and other stuff well suited to RV'ing. Great company. If your driving down 101 you should stop buy and check out their products in person. The antenna amplifiers are well worth checking out. https://ccrane.com/ Universal Radio...out of Ohio. Good company, shortwave and ham oriented. https://www.universal-radio.com/

My essentials..... TWO CO battery powered digital readout meters. Phone amplifier. 100 watt solar panel to top off battery. Honda 2000 generator for running the microwave. There is more....but fail me at the moment.

That sounds about right. In every "unheated" trailer at 25 degrees I froze up, unless I continually go up through the night and ran water through the facets. I disconnect the water line if it goes below freezing.

I got the joke part....and your tone deaf comment was also pretty funny!!

Wow....what an awful daughter. Why didn't she just use the tone control and given her father enough time to return home!!! Some people should NOT allowed to own a shock collar!!!

If you end up on 101.....I would take it all the way until the cut-off to Tigard, if you have the time. I-5 is a pretty boring highway.

Don't do that......I like Hwy 97 to Klamath Falls, but you don't want to do it in winter. Siskiyou Pass is fine, unless it is snow covered. Hwy 101 is fine. There are a few spots where you will slow down. Enjoy them. Hwy 199 will take you to Grants Pass. That is a fine highway. Remember drive just as fast enough that you are comfortable. If that is real slow, just pull over to let people pass. Get this web site on your tablet or computer and let the person riding shotgun man it on your trip. https://oss.weathershare.org/?clat=40.5&clng=-114&zoom=5#.X6xdWRaIbIU Enjoy your trip...it will be MUCH easier than you think! Oh....your in a RV....So leave early, even earlier than you think and spend the days and nights in the RV. They are fun to camp and explore new areas. If your thinking about making time to Seattle....drive a car or fly. Otherwise, enjoy your trip in a RV. You will get the hang of it quicker than you think.

I went to Vladivostock on business. What a great city!!! If I could get to the Russian Far East with my Casita.....that would be great!!! Kamchatka, my fly rod, and a old Soviet helicopter to transport me around. Otherwise, my trips are focused on National Forests and BLM sites in the western US. Visiting all my former "work" areas has taken some time. Still looking to spend more time in Wyoming, eastern Montana, Manitoba, Alberta, and a return to the Yukon. Still want to do the "deep south". One part that is missing in my travel routes. So many places...so little time.

Has anybody tried using their phone using StarLink wifi??

I backpacked. Then I worked for the Forest Service in my early 20's and lived in bunkhouses, tents, and in a small trailer outside a bar in Idaho. The trailer was my favorite. Yeah, the bar was interesting, but in the other direction was a river for fly fishing. I don't consider RV'ing camping. I consider it living. That means my hobby stuff comes along. Fly fishing, bird hunting, photography, and astronomy. That's a lot of stuff to haul around in a BIG TRUCK and small RV.

Thanks for posting.......people really need to comment if they want to camp in the National Parks.

We were suppose to be flying to Hawaii, when weather grounded the planes and all the highway passes to Seattle were closed. So we took off to go through the Columbia River Gorge and ran into a young lady at the rest area with the military that was moving to Ft. Lewis with her parrot. Her back seat was covered with tarps and the parrot sat on a homemade perch. She was worried about the snow and crossing the passes. So I gave her a FRS radio and we took off. It was funny hearing the parrot when we talked to her on the radio!! Anyway, traveling with a parrot is probably easier than traveling with a dog.

That's interesting. I wonder if Highway 120 (Tioga Pass Rd) in Yosemite National Park is under similar restrictions?? I talked to a non-Forest Service friend that went to the back country areas in Montana and he said it was very crowded. I wasn't sure of his comments since he did not work for the Forest Service. So I asked my friend and it looks like it was very crowded in Montana on the Flathead National Forest.

I decided to spend the summer at the cabin. But all summer long I noticed the traffic from Seattle heading over the passes into eastern Washington. We do rent the cabin as a vacation rental and it has been booked every weekend since late June. First time that has happened. With the approach of fall I have organized a fishing trip up to a small lake. I did email and friend and former Forest Service collegue that lives in the area. Here is his note. Good luck on at the lake. Yeah....lots of folks in the woods. Twice Ive driven up Hwy 20 to do short walks off Rainy or WA passes. Both times I came home - hikeless; the Rainy Pass lot had 90+ cars...folks parked out the access road and quite a ways up and down 20. Even the normally quiet TH across the road that is just the PCT trail going North - 75 cars. I dont need that many people breathing on me....! I’ve driven up Twisp River 4 or 5 times. Again...looking for a short walk, or just a place to sit by the river. Or to ride my bike for a while. EVERY wide spot has a camp in it, and most of them look like long-termers. I pulled a small log, that had been purposely placed there, from across one low-level spur - drove down - and found 3 camps at the end. Another trailhead that has a dead end trail - that I know hasnt been maintained in 10+ years - had 8 cars at it. It’s weird....these camps are all empty during the day, no cars around. I think they are camps of ‘homesteaders’ working in town- or else covid refugees from Seattle. It’s the same or even worse up the Chewuch. I drove some folks up to the 30-mile Fire memorial in mid-July - absolutely swamped with folks in every camping spot! Where the hell are all these folks going to go a month from now? I think it makes the PBS series I sent you more interesting. Is it ‘Grapes of Wrath’, again? So how was it this summer in the RV campgrounds, the Forest Service and BLM sites, and the National Parks?? Particularly interested in boondocking reports from different parts of the country. The good news is no large fires on the Forest. We had NO RAIN for the entire summer in Wenatchee and with the large number of folks in the woods....truly a miracle. Here are the links to the PBS series....slightly off-this topic but RV'ers will appreciate the series. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/these-retirement-age-nomads-find-work-wherever-the-road-takes-them https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-some-older-americans-are-monetizing-their-vanlife

The furnace on my 5th wheel is pretty much worthless. Noisy, and really takes a long time to heat up the trailer. Couple that with the draw on the batteries and it is a no brainer. I use a Heater Buddy, when boondocking and sometimes when it get really cold even when hooked up to shore power. I always crack a window at night....and have TWO battery powered CO detectors with digital readout in the trailer. Too much stuff that using propane in a trailer to take a chance on just ONE CO detectors or not cracking a window.

Busting Willie Nelson for having a joint in Texas.....is like busting Santa Claus for breaking and entering in the rest of the US. Not my quote...but a good one!!!! Notice...it was the FEDS that busted Willie Nelson at one of the inland border control points. Probably a "urban" hire by the Border Patrol that had no clue who WIllie Nelson was.

Did it really provide a Dark Sky for astronomy??

The Feds busted Willie Nelson a few years ago in TEXAS. Life is much, much easier when you follow the laws of the state that you are traveling through.

We have had this conversation before. First mismanagement of the money they do have, and it is billions of dollars, certainly is a very big issue. I worked for NPS, BLM and USFS. Mismanagement of the money is really a minor issue, particularly for BLM and FS. The NPS has a LOT MORE money, but even they do not waste taxpayers dollars on a massive scale. Secondly they need to stop buying new property and prioritize the maintenance and improvement of the many properties they already possess. They are not making NEW land. One of the most successful Regional Parks districts in the nation for a long, long time had a policy of buying land (50%) of their taxpayer dollars. The other 50% went to managing existing parks. That policy paid HUGE dividends to the taxpayers as the population in the San Francisco Bay Area exploded. They had already purchased the future park land. But you have a valid point, Congress needs to prioritize the maintenance of existing facilities. But at least one issue does not, any ranger who gets a leo certification automatically gets a pay raise and promotion. That needs to be stopped and limited to at actual number of leo rangers that are actually needed. I remember those days when the Forest Service and BLM had NO law enforcement officers. Working on the Clearwater National Forest on the timber crew during the summer of 1972...somebody stole our 10 day supply of frozen meats. We turned it over to the FBI in Spokane!!! As a tax payer, do you want the FBI handling law enforcement on Federal lands or a Forest Service or BLM LEO?? Law enforcement pay scales are set by Congress. I would have a discussion with your elected Representatives. However, as a retired BLM, NPS, and USFS employee can I ask the American people to bring back the American public that used the Federal public lands in the early 1970's ? That would be really helpful. Forest Service and BLM LEO's are dying at a pretty high rate due to the isolated nature of the law enforcement duties. We really do need a better class of visitors to our public lands. The people who are paying for these parks, the American Public, needs should be first priority. The stupidity of requiring four or five reviews to run a water pipe under a road needs to be stopped, period. They are over regulated and have forgotten what their prime mission is. On this we agree, however, YOU elected the Congressional representatives that wrote the laws and appointed the Federal Judges that ruled on court decisions that resulted in Federal agency "stupidity". I had enough and retired 30 days after I was eligible due to nonsense like this. Oh yeah, I had to wait 30 days after becoming eligible since I thought I had a serious medical issue. Didn't make a difference to me or my wife, but my college bound daughter it would have made a huge difference if a died as a Federal retiree rather than a employee. Otherwise, I would not have waited an extra 30 days. Don't get my wrong...I had the perfect job, but dealing with Federal Judges, elected officials, the "new" American public made my retirement decision really easy. There are thousands of frustrated Federal employees that are counting days.....you can help them by electing some "smart" politicians. Doesn't matter their political leanings.....just make sure they have some common sense. A quality severely lacking in public life these days.

I tried to sign up for their service and it said I was out of the service area for Seattle. However, I contacted them and pointed out that Wenatchee is part of the Seattle DMA. Couple of days later I was told that it was fixed and that Wenatchee residents could now get the Seattle stations. Hopefully, they will be updated the other areas to account for communities on the fringes. One question......when your traveling are you limited to the stations only in your area or can you pull in "distant" locals??? BTW....in today's Wall Street Journal there was an article on unaffiliated local TV stations providing a free streaming service that WOULD be available national-wide.