West Trip 2025

 We arrived at the incredibly wild Sequoia National Forest, just outside Sequoia National Park. No cell around here whatsoever so Starlink saved our bacon. Was able to get all my work done in the afternoon and later in the evening.  Incredible what technology is allowing these days.  Campsite and surrounding forest are breathtakingly remote and beautiful. As was the trout stream we discovered a few miles down the road this evening. Andrew led the count early with 4 or 5 fish. Caleb was frustrated but had the patience of a saint and was rewarded with 3 of his own as dusk neared. We promptly took them home and put them on the fire the girls had going. Caleb ate a whole trout himself. The biggest of the three, no less. Was surprised with his dedication ant the stream and follow through at dinner, though I’ve always believed trout tastes best to the one who catches them.  Here til Saturday so more coming tomorrow. Andrew got his very first brook trout. A wild “native” to...

 Today as we packed up getting ready to leave LA, we noticed our sewage tank was starting to hang down a bit and wasn’t mounted correctly. All the pipes were still connected so no consequences yet, But Andrew hustled off to Home Depot to buy some ratchet straps to hoist it back in position so we could remount it. Liz and he worked on that, while I did the real work of voicing. Just kidding. But now, in addition to the jet take-offs from LAX every 30 seconds, I was now also working between clunks and bumps coming from underneath the camper. The mission was a success, but we noticed we also had another problem. A flat tire. The inside tire on the left side dual wheels. Liz scrambled to make some phone calls and lined up a place that could do the repair. Unfortunately, we pulled up to their place and they immediately realized they didn’t have the needed jacks to hoist up the RV. But they knew a shop that did. We went there next and got laughed at, because they DEFINITELY didn’t have t...

We pulled into Dockwyler Beach campground on the Pacific Coast in Los Angeles by midday on Monday. It’s right on the west side of LAX airport so the jets were constantly on parade taking off overhead. It made my work very challenging in the rear of the camper as it’s hard to compensate for the sound of jets, even with all the modern day noise reduction in the world. Despite that, we enjoyed our two day stay and the kids splashed and played quite a bit in the waves. On Tuesday, we had a scheduled lunch with my agents at Atlas Talent which was very enjoyable. Afterward, I did some more work in between all the jets, and swam with the kids.  One of my longtime agents Heather Dame. Bree was one year old when I first started working with her.

 Did a bit of hiking and driving around Joshua Tree National Park today. The camping spot was a big open dry flat dirt area on public land that must flood every spring. At least that’s what was indicated by the ruts of those who have come and gone before us. (The “Coyote Lake” pin on the map there was another clue) Even with a little rain, it would be a muddy mess, but thankfully, rain wasn’t even close-by. Joshua Tree was dry and hot, and while nice to see, it wasn’t one of our favorite parks. We ended the day with a visit to “Pioneer Town”. An old-western themed “town” used as the setting of lots of movies, new and old. First, some pictures of an old water collection dam built in the 1940’s. Crossed through a big dust storm. There are out of order so here’s another    dam picture I should stop posting so many dam pictures.