Will National Forest Service rangers really roust boondockers?

Boondocking and rangers

I mentioned yesterday on Facebook that two extremely pleasant rangers stopped at our campsite to show us, in the kindest way possible, that we were not on an open road. Carolyn and Annie, you actually camped IN the Beaver Creek Wilderness Area. I guess that would explain "the sightings."

I'm emphasizing their polite demeanor because some boondockers have encountered rangers having a bad day. I believe their stories, and I want to add to the conversation that that kind of bad behavior doesn't seem to be policy. And, between you and me, we were outlaws at 22 days in one spot anyway. Annie decided not to bring that up and ruin everyone's day.

One of the guys showed Annie his (FREE) nifty phone app; it has a GPS feature and shows him where he is in relation to the NFS MVUM (Motor Vehicle Use Map). In other words, am I in an approved area? Let's see...nope! Once Annie got some good signal (ahhhh!) she was able to install it on her phone and iPad.

It doesn't require cell service to work!

→ Coconino National Forest MVU map for your mobile thingies! ←

We looked up the Kaibab NF, but they don't yet have a Motor Vehicle Use map of any sort. A ranger there told us to camp wherever we wanted to camp. He predicted a map by this month, but Kaibab camping will be rare until Spring (brrr).


Health monitoring

We heard about a mobile lab visiting the Sedona area, so I fasted in preparation. I chose the full lipid panel and glucose. I researched ALT/AST (liver function) ahead of time, and decided it wouldn't be especially helpful without a battery of other tests to pin down any possible questionable results.

West Coast Health Services is a small, family-run company, and Glenn and Sandy work together. It's a fingerstick instead of a vial, and their instrumentation sits right on the table top. Results in six minutes! I had mine done, then Glenn spent about twenty minutes explaining the nuances of the numbers. I'm obsessed with these things anyway, but he still told me things I didn't know.

After hearing everything that Glenn told me, Annie decided to do it, too. Again, I learned stuff. For instance, why Annie's ultra-low triglycerides may cause her to notice blood sugar fluctuations more than I do with my high-normal readings.

My point is that this is a valuable service at prices far lower than you would pay going to a doctor's office and having your blood sent to a lab. We paid $45/person for the full lipid profile and glucose (AND more information than a doctor has ever given me about my results).

I've added this information to our Healthcare for Poor People page. You rich people are welcome there, too.


 Sightseeing

I enjoyed Old Town Cottonwood a lot. A big thrift store, and lots of fun, not-too-expensive shopping that can be done, if you're so inclined. Funky (in the good sense) and relaxed. I would go back.

Old Town Cottonwood

What are they hiding??

Vegan motivation

Don't think of it as harping. Think of it as heavy-duty sharing.

We watched a fun video last night, and it wasn't even "fun" with quotation marks. Dr. Michael Greger runs down the top 15 causes of death in the U.S.; he runs them down with plants and current research.

Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death.

He's funny and interesting, and he makes the science accessible. I can muck my way through a paper, but it takes it out of me.

He says things that you won't hear a lot of doctors saying, like (spoiler alert) prescription drug side-effects - not misuse, just side-effects - are the 6th-leading cause of death in the United States. Filling a prescription and taking it exactly the way we're directed. If our lunch can keep us from needing prescriptions, why not eat it?

Can we just exercise more and eat what we want? Watch and find out.

What happens immediately after we eat an animal-based meal? Watch and find out.

I got the link from the Happy Healthy Long Life lady. She's another good and accessible source of food research.

  If you're leaning toward trying a plant-based (vegan) diet, give it a look. It's more fun than that re-run you were about to suffer through.

If you're already vegan, but sometimes feel like a soymon swimming upstream, definitely watch this.
Sandie raises a point worth amplifying. Is there any point to eating fewer animal products? Of course! This fellow makes a great case for losing one meat-based meal a week. USDA, bite my tail feathers.

Things that don't hurt now that we're vegan.

Annie asked me about my "owwie parts" last night.

Remind me, which are my owwie parts?

You know, your lower back, your right knee, your hips. How you can't get around in the morning.

Right! I remember now.

• lower back - an intermittent problem, but always skulking and slightly there. No flare up in several weeks. I had forgotten about it.
• right knee - this is an old Wii injury. Beware the hula hoop! Now I feel it when I walk a lot. A stick helps, but the point here is that I'm walking now. So, I notice it more, but it doesn't build to an acute situation. Now it's more obtuse.
• hips - what hips? The pain used to keep me awake. 
• morning stiffness* - I've been trying to rephrase this for fifteen minutes. The takeaway is, I have no problem moving around in the morning now; lower back stiffness seems to be gone.

Annie and I have lost a total of 55 pounds. More or less. Give or take. 

Before the juice reboot we were already vegan, which felt better physically than our old ovo-lacto diet. The juicing made such a quick difference, though, that we wanted to incorporate some part of that into our everyday life. Where we are right now:

• We still have an alcoholic drink, whatever (vegan) kind we want. Not every day, though. 

1. Annie: heart-healthy red wine
2. Roxi: Jim Beam, neat

• I had a craving for eggs (!) and so we found some free-range eggs laying around and ate them. They were under the free-range hens. Okay, not vegan. Also a slippery-slope food for Annie. So, for a fierce craving - okay, but not a go-to food. We won't be stocking them.
• We're staying away from processed foods, even ones we used to enjoy. Facon and fauxsage, faux example. We've tried them since, and were disappointed, so we don't need those to live.
• We still juice once a day. When we skip it, we eat and eat and don't find what we're looking for.
• Bread is back on the table. We've been buying sprouted bread, which they apparently make from 24 karat wheat. The price alone is enough to keep us moderate.
• We eat nuts, but "raw" and unsalted. The oil and salt turn nuts into my slippery-slope food. Peanut butter is not the greatest food, either, but it's SUCH A GREAT FOOD that I eat it. On my jewelry-grade toast. Remind me to watch for signs of returning inflammation. Nevermind, I'll write it down.
• We're still off coffee. We have green and white tea sometimes, and herbal stuff that tastes like leaves. And my favorite, Bengal Spice.

If you eat a different way, that's cool. I'm not writing the Bible. We all want to feel good in our bodies, and whatever makes that happen is the right way. Except for the way you eat, of course, but we can fix that.

Annie enjoying the Flagstaff sunshine, in the shade.

Flagstaff's weather is a story of contrasts. At 7,000 feet in elevation, Flagstaff residents enjoy over 300 days of sunshine per year and low humidity. Yet historically Flagstaff receives the second most snow of any city in the continental United States and can be surprisingly cold in the winter. Even during the coldest periods when snow is falling by the foot (or even by the meter!), warming sunshine is never more than a couple days away. Weeks can pass in spring and autumn without so much as a single cloud interrupting the sun's rays, whereas in July and August the summer monsoon season brings intense thunderstorms nearly every afternoon. When most people around the world think of Arizona they conjure up images of blazing desert heat without realizing that Arizona is among the most mountainous states in the US. At 7,000 feet elevation, sitting in the heart of the cool pines of the Coconino National Forest, Flagstaff is far from a desert environment. Even in the peak of summer, daily high temperatures rarely exceed 85 degree Fahrenheit, making Flagstaff a retreat for desert residents fleeing their scorching Phoenix summers. - American Conservation Experience

Which is all pretty educational, but it means Flagstaff is sunny year-round. In the summer, you can shed your down, and in the winter you'll freeze your pin feathers off. But, you'll feel cheerful about it.

*What your doctor may not tell you: erectile dysfunction may warn of bigger things to come.

 More about that, without double entendres. 

Where have they been all my life?

It's hard to explain why I haven't been following Cheap RV Living forever. Cheap RV Living - it's my mantra. These are my people.

They got my attention today with their opening article on living without health insurance. As of 2010, one in six of us is uninsured. One in five has trouble buying healthcare, and one in five puts off treatment.

The Cheap RV folks' rationale and attitude toward healthcare rings true for me. Take a look and see if it might for you, too. And, watch for upcoming articles in the series. It's a hot topic.If you're feeling argumentative about it, take it to RV.net, then come back and have a cup of tea with us.


We're unsettled of mind today because we may need to head back to Florida, but we don't know when. Or if. Or when. Or if, for that matter.


Here's a picture I stole from the Internet. Be kind to each other.

These videos and an apple, and you can drop your insurance.

I'm feeling distractable and frangible and marsupial today, so I'm going to share other people's histrionics instead of punishing origami material.

Some of you pay $247,983 per Kb of streaming video. These are worth it:





Annie and I have been using Massage By Heather's tricks for fending off congestion and sinus infection.  So fast, easy and effective!  That brain-eating amœba neti pot scare with Louisiana tap water while we were in Louisiana made me glad I was flushing my own sinuses with raw swamp water from the bayou rest stop.


Live long and prosper, Heather!

 She's got a bunch of partner-massage tutorials for you happily-partnered pardners, and self-massage tutorials for you solo sojourners and people with partners who suck.

As always, check out the Duckroll for new things to read.  Some are boring as heck, some are scintillating stars in the blogging constellation, and that's what makes this place a thrilling grab-bag of poop.  You've got to keep digging to find the corn.

Mea culpa ("the fault of the duck")

Snarky Duck couldn't appear this morning due to burning shame and a hangover.  She asked me to read this prepared statement:

I apologize for getting my paté in a wad.  I paddled around in Lake DeSoto, watched some waterfowl porno with free wifi from The Way Café, and had a few bugs while I chilled my tail feathers.  Snarky Duck needed an attitude adjustment, and I got one from my friend, DownWing Nicole.

Lookit, Snarky Duck can't be trussed!  It's like Patsy said:

Oh, the wayward Duck is a restless Duck
A restless duck that yearns to wander
And I was born to run amok
Run amok with the wayward Duck.

In a downy nest in a semi-truck
I spent my chicklet days
And I guess my youth as a trav'ling Duck
Made me a slave to my wand'ring ways. 

Oh, the wayward Duck is a restless Duck
A restless duck that yearns to wander
And I was born to run amok
Run amok with the wayward Duck.

Oh I met a duck in a border town
I vowed I wouldn't migrate
Tho' I tried my best to settle down
She's livin' with a tired old drake.

Oh, the wayward Duck is a restless Duck
A restless duck that yearns to wander
And I was born to run amok
Run amok with the wayward Duck.

Run amok with the wayward Duck.

Copyright 2011 Duck & Cline 

I hope we can put this behind us, but SD is flighty.

Bob, that's a good price for a magnum of wine you enjoy.  Duke, you are close enough for a cigar;  this is Oak Leaf merlot's trashy sister, Oak Leaf Sweet Red.  You know that New Yorkers are snooty about their wine, which is the main reason we left.

Judy and Merikay, this is a good place to be, and it's my job to enjoy myself while we're here.  While, Nina.  While.

Annie and I had a date night last night.  Reese's McFlurries and Glee in the public parking lot downtown. We sneaked home before midnight.  The people who work in the Lake City McDonald's are uncharacteristically pleasant and personable.  When I went inside to use their bathroom, I realized it was because they listen to 70's disco while they work.  You just can't be crabby singing Ring it!  Ring it! RingItRingIt!  Ahhh!  Try it right now, in case you're building up a snark.

I would like to enrich the Healthcare page, so if you have a resource to share, please leave a comment.  You can comment here or there, but why not do both?

Free US Forest Service days, plus bonus content.

Check it out, and go hug a tree.  Most national forests are always fee-free;  a few are not.

Still no rain in these parts.  Pidge, I'm on my way to see if there are any falls at Falling Creek.  I peered over the bridge at the creek, and saw only -bed.

We sleep about 11 hours a night, and that does not seem right.  It feels great, and that just raises my suspicions higher.  I took my blood pressure at one of those pharmacy booths, and it said OMG stop taking your meds!  but I don't take any.

Tomorrow we'll travel into Jacksonville Beach, Home of the Ocean.  Also home of my oldest (high school!) friend, Tammy, who will get me to stop taking myself so seriously.

St. Augustine, 2010, not on vacation

Me:  Is it hot?

Tammy:  [odd look]  Roxi,  ARE YOU HOT?

Nicole emailed yesterday and congratulated us on "much needed" relaxation.  She even used the quotation marks.  I think she and Darlene need to plan a trip to the Panhandle so we can all soak up some Gulf water and pretend BP never existed, for a while.  

As Heard in Our Pool:

So, you believe in the Chupacabra?

I didn't say I believe in it.  Just that it's plausible that there are still undocumented species.

So, you believe in Atlantis?

That's just stupid.

Daylight Losing Time

Mom is doing very well.  The cardiologist told her (me) to put away the rocking chair and get back to life.  She has no medical restrictions on her activities, except the ones fatigue imposes.  She's got 50% cardiac function - anyone with half a heart knows what that means - and exercise and medication may improve that a little.

Today she and her husband are back at their religious meeting for the first time in two weeks, so she should be a minor celebrity there.  Me, I'll be a celebrity here if anyone stops by to find me washing every garment I have.  Oh, put away the Emetrol and stop overreacting.  I'm wearing a towel.  I said stop it!  It's a really, REALLY big towel.

Last time I wrote, I was whining appropriately upset about poor connectivity.  After a couple of calls to AT&T, the technician came out, but his job was complicated by the electrical wire that draped gracefully across the driveway and kept us without electricity.  WHAT IS THIS PLACE.  Now we have screaming-fast dial-up, power, and a clear phone line, and what in the world do you Yankees want, anyways?  It doesn't matter.  I drank the diazepam water days ago, and only notice the tweeting birds, and is the pool ready yet?  It's very peaceful here.  

About light, sunshine and emotional well-being:  yes.  I've been noticing that the sun seems high in the sky at noon.  Is that normal?  I'm flying back to NYS tomorrow, where the sun skulks around the horizon as nature intended.  Then listen for our engines rumbling in about 10 days.

I also noticed that there are more followers now that I haven't been writing.  Hi y'all!  If I stop writing altogether this blog could reach Dooce-ic proportions.

Up-to-date in the Sunshine State.

Thank you all for your good wishes and healing thoughts!  Life here is slower, and maybe gentler, than back home, and so we waited three hours yesterday for Mom's primary doctor to see her.  The slower, gentler doc was alarmed by some things we told her, and then we spent five hours again in the ER so that slow, gentle healthcare providers could monitor and evaluate her.  I can't bust on these people;  their good work Monday morning stabilizing her in their ER absolutely saved her life.  They wanted to put her in a helicopter to Jacksonville, but weather was too bad, so they loaded her into an ambulance with 75 miles of screaming sirens.  [*falls over*]

She seems to be improving.  Her appetite is stronger.  She walks around, and got dressed today.  She doesn't tell me how to do the housework, however, so there is a long road of recovery ahead. Today I did something called "dusting."  I've seen it on TV, and apparently I did it right because everything is much dustier now.

This area doesn't get cell reception or iPad signal, and the landline is full of static.  Internet connection is dial-up, which means that as fast as I can chisel a message into a rock, run to the mule, and deliver it personally to each of your screens, I can communicate with just that kind of late-19th-century speed.

Still, I'm sitting with the window open and a warm breeze carries in birdsongs while I type and drink my Coke on the rocks.  Life could be worse in three or four ways.

Annie isn't telling you, but she is powering through on her own up there.  List?  Check.  List?  Check.  Check, check, check.  We think that as soon as Mom and her husband have the routine of medication in hand, I'll fly back and we'll head south together.  Her husband drives, but doesn't hear, so right now she needs someone to ask questions, remember the answers, remind her of the answers, explain the answers, or just make up answers.  And drive.  She doesn't have dementia, but it's all been a big shock and she's not completely tuned back in.

While I was running errands today, I got the greatest shot!  The problem is that I didn't bring my picture-uploading-cable.  So, imagine this:  there's this extravagantly run-down building, see, and no roof, see, and it's all grown up, see, and there's this sign ...

I guess I'll wait for the picture.  You will, too.

Questions for the pre-retirement set.

Okay, you spring chickens!  You young pups!  You crazy kids!  There are things I need to know.

When Annie leaves her job, she'll have cheap and decent insurance for a year.  I won't.





What do you do about health care?  Self-pay?  Buy private coverage?  Catastrophic?  Full-coverage?  Half a fifth of whiskey and a bullet to bite on?

I've been feeling like an old truck getting ready for a road trip.  

• Headlights good?  Check.  
• Reservoirs healthy?  Check.
• Fluid levels?  Check.
• Hoses tight?  Check.
• TMI?  Check.

I'm trying to squeeze everything I can out of insurance while I have it.  

I've always bought into the fully-padded mindset, even when I haven't agreed with it or been able to afford it.  Frankly, lots of insurance is better than no insurance, especially when someone else (employer) is paying for it.  But, if we stay here and look for work we don't enjoy instead of doing something important to us, who is really paying?  (We are, for you non-fans of the rhetorical).

On second thought, I'm not positive that lots of insurance is always better than none.  With insurance, I have gone to the doctor every year, gotten fatter every year, heard higher numbers every year, and taken some new medicine to cure middle-age every year.   Looking into the face of non-coverage, I have lost weight, started getting more exercise, picked up better eating habits, and begun taking supplements.  I guess I'm that guy.

So spill.  What do you do, and how do you feel about it?  Check out our Healthcare page and add something to it, if you'd like.  If you wouldn't be caught hypercholesterolemic without the best insurance available, you can say that.  If you dress in bubble wrap and take vitamins, say that, too.