Thursday, March 22, 2018

Shiver Me Nubbins

I can't say that I'm enjoying all of this. Not all of it.

I've been spending nights at a trailhead parking lot. It got expanded since I've been here last. The original was sort of a drive-through place: a loop at the end of the road with space for a dozen cars, if everyone was friends and played nice.

Now they've extended the road up a hill and have carved out a new lot. It's big and broad and flat and above the trees. There must be room for 500 cars up there, and the gravel is easy.

Generally, I've been using the lower lot, the old one. Hardly anybody goes there.

I park, go to sleep, get up, and leave. Anyone hiking or biking uses the upper lot and never even sees me. Most everyone. It's been good.

But it has been cold. The last clear night must have taken me down to about 20°F. Even wearing lots of fleece and hiding inside a 25°F bag, inside my car, I was still cold. Not last night though.

Last night was rain. I dreaded it but it was benign. I needed to get up just once during the night and that was during a gap in the rain. I have the windows covered so I can leave them open a bit for ventilation, which in this case, now, isn't freezing. And the weather was warm — around 40°F, which is a huge improvement.

Two mornings ago I had to scrape frost off the inside of the windshield. Not today, though I did have to wipe the fog off it with paper towels. I am not complaining. It took only seconds and did not immediately freeze over.

Now I'm waiting for the arrival of goods I've ordered, and trying to figure out how to register a vehicle and update a driver's license in Washington while not having a fixed address. Tricky

Jumping through hoops. That's what I'm looking at.

I queried the Department of Licensing about how I could do this without having to leave the state and become a resident of some other state.

As a result I got back a reply that said I could not become a Washington resident without living in the state. That sort of thing is why I quit working for government. I refuse to associate with idiots.