a short hop back to SFE

leaving Los Alamos

I broke camp on the afternoon of the 13th day and moved up toward the entrance from Hwy 4 (a small winding road). It had been raining lightly and threatened to rain more that night and I didn’t want to try to get out while the two-track was muddy.

The entrance area is hardpack so it’s passable even underwater. Turned out to be a good call; much rain overnight and the next morning when I left.

errands before leaving the city

• dropped off trash
• water and fuel at the Smith’s
• cherry-picking deals at the actual Smith’s grocery store: fruit, polish sausage, cheese,
• parked at the public library to do my bandwidth catch-up: updating devices, d/l media, etc.
• USPS was within walking distance so I bopped over to see if my DV plates had come in; they had not.

The GD delay is causing problems. I can’t leave the driveable area before they area and this is the first bundle from Escapees that did not have a tracking number. Grrr…….

I checked the forecast in SFE and saw there would be at least two tolerable days (Tues and Wed). I decided to make the ~45min drive back to SFE. I would not have done that with my previous level of poverty economic challenge.

errands back in Santa Fe

• hot shower at Planet Fitness
• pick up some perishables at wally world
• visit the Kawasaki dealer

Kawasaki

I’ll make a separate post about it soon, but my long-term plan to get a small dualsport for exploration and bread runs has been promoted from someday to I should start the medium-term research. Vague preferences start to meet practicalities: tank capacity, accessibility to the functional parts for regular maintenance (especially valve adjustments), etc.

I’ve been on many bikes that might fit my criteria but there are some exceptions: the new Kawasaki KLX230 and the updated Honda CT125.

passing back through Los Alamos

I don’t know if I will head back to LA tomorrow or what. It will be in the 80s around SFE unless I go halfway up the ski mountain and hide alongside the road. Hmmm. If the latter I might be offline for a week or so due to poor connectivity.

After I get the plates I’ll likely head to Taos.

update - Thursday morning

Things went a little sideways yesterday after I wrote the above.

• I spent about 2 hours writing a technical response to a reddit post. It was wasted because I missed a detail in the post. OP was still confused, but the higher bank voltage “covered a multitude of sins”. I didn’t have the heart to correct the fundamental understanding after all the time I wasted. Totally my fault.
• got another notice about the DV plates arriving. What?

When the original “plates” were shipped (to GD in Los Alamos) the remailing only cost $2.10. This was confusing so I called in and asked if the remailed bundle really contained plates. Yes, they said. I remarked about the suspiciously-low shipping cost but was reassured the plates went out.

I now suspect the “plates” were paper temp plates and that the “plates” they received yesterday are the permanent steel plates. I requested they go out Priority (to Taos) so I will have tracking.

I think they will arrive in Taos around Tuesday. Because of that I will stay in SFE a few more days in the uncomfortable warmth, then head north when the package shows it’s in Taos. Will stop in Los Alamos to top off water and collect the paper plates from general delivery in the off chance there is other mail in that bundle. :-(

I found a spot for today behind a big tree that will give me sun until ~10am then shade afterwards.