Douglas E. Berry

We're having a busy day! We took my long-neglected bike down to The Off Ramp for new tires and dry lube. did the weekly shopping while waiting for that to get done, and after a short break, we're heading down to do some stuff with the totaled trailer and then to REI for a little prep shopping.
Which, annoyingly, will include pricing an emergency backup tent if this drama with the insurance company drags on much longer.

(A little bit later. . .)

After a rest, we rolled all the way down to the place where we store our trailer. It's not overly convenient, but the price is decent. We had two goals, Use our trailer dolly to place the trailer in the slot (neither of us is very good at backing the trailer up, something we *will* work on when we get the new one) and putting the useless fucking license plate on.

Turns out the license plate didn't come with nuts, so we'll be hitting Home Depot for those. Also, I was a bit concerned about the play in the mounting, so will be adjusting that next week when we go down to try this again. We did move the trailer into position, and as a bonus, figured out how the read stabilizer legs work. Go us.

From there we rewarded ourselves with a trip to REI. We picked up some camp food, mainly breakfast stuff because easy in the morning is best, I grabbed a nice set of small hot sauce bottles and a dessert. We're going to save that for last night.

We also picked up so camp lighting solutions, two rolls of Nunn tablets, and a water bottle that will fit in my bike's water holder. We briefly looked at shoes, as the New Balance shoes I wear for work are definitely showing their age, but didn't find anything good.

The one thing we failed to do was go to Bank of America and close our account. We have cut every autopay and reset every account to work off the Star One Credit Union account. Today was the day we were going to go in, get the last amount out, and end that chapter of our lives. But we forgot.

We even identified the fail point. We were fully expecting to drop off my bike and be told: "it will be ready Tuesday" or whatever. Instead, they had an open shop and were able to get to it right away. Our carefully laid plans in shambles, both of us forgot the bank and instead opted for the weekly shopping.

It's all good, we'll go over there next weekend. Along with finally seeing Dr. Strange.

And just like that, it's gone.

After not getting much response from local Burner groups, kshandra bit the bullet and put the Beowulf up on Facebook Marketplace. Along with the usual cast of idiots, we got three serious inquiries and arranged to meet with them in a supermarket parking lot.

We got there in plenty of time, and the first potential buyer messages they were walking over. Wait, what? You're buying a thousand-pound trailer. We're ready to hand it over right now. But our worries disappeared when we saw that the buyers were in fact a family with three very small kids. They loved the trailer were agreed to the price. Their issue was that while their SUV had a hitch receiver, they hadn't bought a ball hitch yet. We were more than happy to deliver the trailer.

After showing how the various hitch pieces worked, money was exchanged, and we headed to AAA for the title exchange. It was all easy as hell. The Beowulf is not ours anymore and is off our insurance. As a bonus, we noticed that this same shopping center where AAA was located also was home to an Outdoor Supply Hardware store! Successor to the much-missed Orchard Supply, we walked and remarked that it smelled like an OSH. We wandered around, failed again to get a spare key made for Darby, found a fire extinguisher for the new trailer, and headed home.

Tomorrow we need to run back down to the sellers and drop off the solar panels we forgot to get out of storage. Then prep for the new trailer begins in earnest.

This morning kshandra and I ventured down to the RV storage place to begin the process of stripping what we want from the Free Trailer Beowulf prior to us getting rid of it pending the new trailer's arrival.

We of course forgot the tools we needed to get the deep-cycle marine battery out. We also found that our latest attempt to tarp over the trailer was as futile as the others. But we did get the verdammt door open after a healthy dose of WD-40 was squirted into the works. Inside was a pile of stuff, but not the socket set we were hoping for nor were our two crowbars were in sight. This is confusing.

But we did get a couple of sleeping bags and pillows, the hitch dolly we use to maneuver the trailer when we don't trust our ability to back up, the trickle charger for the battery, and the three collapsable containers we use on-Playa for trash, recycling, and laundry.

As the inside seems to be quite dry, we just pulled down the tarp and stuffed it in the trailer. The rachet straps came home with us. Tomorrow we go back over for the battery, which is going to be a heavy bitch to move.

One other thing of note. When we were just shy of reaching Pedron's Storage, I got the low tire pressure warning. We stopped into a gas station after doing our work and found that all four tires were just a little low. It was like $1.75 for the air, but we got all four back up to the recommended pressure. You never want to drive with under-inflated tires!

So now we're chilling clearing out the Playa corner in Offhand Manor and unloading the truck.

We will start posting pictures and an asking sale price sometime tomorrow.

We had to go over to where we store the Free Trailer Beowulf because the yard had alerted us that our trailer cover had shredded. WTF, it had been on for six months at most, and we've hardly had terrible storms or anything.

A claim on the warranty is forthcoming.

But looking at the FTB made us realize it is in fact falling apart. We've decided that we need to upgrade. Ideally, we'll hit the lottery hard enough to buy a Hiker. More realistically, next year's tax return will be used to purchase a small used travel trailer.

We're looking at A-frame and teardrop models. We don't need all the bells and whistles, we do have a full camp kitchen and a good cooler. A place to sleep and store clothes is about all we really need. It needs to be able to be towed by Darby the Ford Ranger.

The search begins.

Once acquired, it will be the Far Trailer Empress Marava.

Alright, almost all the stuff that needs to go in the Free Trailer Beowulf is there (as always, we missed one bag and there's always last minute stuff to deal with.)

We have a pretty complete bag of things that will be in the cab with us on the drive up. Snacks, things we'll need right as we start to set up, things like that.

Finally, all the material that needs to be loaded into Darby are ready and waiting and Kirsten's warehouse. The current plan is to load Darby Thursday afternoon after I finish my shift, park it loaded, then get an early start Friday morning to pick up the trailer and head out!

Still to be loaded, the telescope we were loaned, my Yugoslavian greatcoat, all the perishables, and the last round of "oh, shit, we need this" stuff.

Burning Man preparations continue apace. Today we did a task that should have been done last September. We washed the sleeping bags and the bed pillows. In the Free Trader Beowulf, we use the sleeping bags as both a base and a cover for cold nights. However, given how mild that nights have been the past few years, we're picking up a set of sheets at Big Lots and binging lighter blankets. But the sleeping bags and pillows needed to be clean, because this will be the year temperatures drop below freezing at night.

Since we were going to Oasis to use the big load machines anyway, kshandra decided to attack a pile of laundry that had been accumulating in a corner. Along with every else, we pretty much filled Darby. We made two quick stops, the bank for $80 in quarters (!) and Kirsten ran in into Safeway for more laundry pods and some lunch.

As an aside, I'm loving Liquid Metal on SiriusXM. A great mix of classic metal and newer bands.

We get to Oasis, haul all our crap in, and start the action. Long story short, everything for the Playa is done and bagged and will be tossed in the Beowulf next time we go down to fiddle, and Kirsten is taking a nap before tackling her mountain of clean clothes. She has promised to triage every item in an effort to reduce clutter.

Now, the insurance morons. Last January I started a Medicare Advantage plan, and my coverage was sold to some company I've never heard from. My insurance is still through Anthem Blue Cross, but these people keep sending me mail. Which, recently, has been a series of denied claims going back long before I got my new insurance.

I'm mean, the surgery I had in 2015. Pretty much every blood draw I had as part of my Dilantin checks. All of which was covered by MediCal! Needless to say, I shall be calling them Monday morning.

For some reason, I woke up with a lot of energy today. It's not like I slept nine hours, or had a caffeine IV running during the night, but I just woke up ready to go. So I got going.

First off, we had a lot of laundry to take care of. It ended up being four loads and I could do another but the towels can keep another day. This is another time my Army experience helps. I got very good at timing my loads when I was sharing two washer/dryer sets with 60 fellow soldiers. Kirsten handled a couple of loads, which was a nice break.

I washed all the hoodies and hung them up. We're heading into warmer weather, so my need for them is going to be limited in the coming months. I also started storing all me work rain gear and the cold weather stuff. Come Wednesday, I'll hanging it all up until school starts again. I still want to get storage bags to protect them from the ever-present dust here in Offhand Manor. Living about 100 feet from a heavily used rail line means a constant shower of dust.

The laundry well underway, I had to run out and take care of some errands. Two of my vital medications needed refilling and after that, I stopped to pick up the one thing we missed in our shopping yesterday, and I popped into O'Reily's for a new sunshade for Darby. Little chocolate donuts were snagged.

Driving around meant being able to listen to the Giants game. Today was a good one, the Giants ended up winning 8-1. Admittedly, it was against a really weak team, the Baltimore Orioles. But a win is a win. We need more of those.

Once back home, I finally put bags into the outside recycling bins, where I collect things for eventual turn-in at the local recycler. Filling them with recycling followed. Since I also collect the recycling from Kirsten's office, my runs usually net me between $20-30 a month. A little extra never hurts.

Somewhere in there, I did a final edit of the piece I'm bringing to my writing group tomorrow. This is the final set of meetings before the summer break, and I'm really starting to question what I'm getting out of it. I may look into South Bay Writers for a more professional group. Two of the panels I attended at Baycon made it clear I need a serious group focused on real development. I also learned that our tax return is probably going to go to a professional editor.

For all this hard work, I'm being rewarded with steak for dinner. Deciding to start ordering from Omaha Steaks was one of the best ideas we ever had. Amazing quality and great prices if you play their sales and special offers right.

In other news, a kilt has been ordered! I'm getting a cargo kilt from Scottish Kilt Shop. I now have something to wear every day at Burning Man. If I can talk my boss into it, I'll order one in black and wear it to work. As you can imagine, kilts are very popular on Playa for both comfort and utility. I still need to get good hiking shoes and break them in. The day after school ends I'm going to unfold the bike and start riding. My goal is to be able to do five miles comfortably before we leave.

We've also begun doing our food plan for the burn. Our usual Food Saver and frozen spaghetti and taco meals, and we're planning to maybe try something Indian. We have learned that this plan works best with ground meat. So we may call it butter chicken, but it will not look like it. We still have eight million camp food breakfasts stored. The funny thing is we both agree that our food plan includes giving up and going to the commissary (Kirsten gets in for working the event, and I am allowed to come in with a pass. It's always good stuff.)

There is still some stuff we need to acquire. Top of the list is a tarp big enough to cover the Free Trailer Beowulf. Our double-tarp kludge didn't quite work. Which means we're going to be spending time scrubbing mold this summer. Thank Halford I thought to insist on a full mattress cover for the trailer bed. Which reminds me we need to set aside two rolls of quarters and a Saturday to wash the sleeping bags, and where did I put my greatcoat? It needs to be drycleaned . . .

Ah, life. A busy Sunday and I still have so much to do. But for now, me and a fake beer are going to fire up the DVR and catch up on The Name of the Rose.

Peace, y'all!

Who needs a house to dump money into? We have a trailer! The latest epic round of repairs began when we notice that the seal around the roof vent was leaking, Badly. Since this trailer was built as a shop project, we kind of expect this sort of thing to crop up. But water getting into the trailer only leads to more mold problems, and those suck up even more time, money, and elbow grease.

After doing some very basic research, we found a couple of prospective fixes for roof sealants. We just weren't overly comfortable undertaking the task ourselves with zero experience. So another round of searches for someone, preferably with small RV experience and Burner-friendly, to do at least the lion's share of the work ensued.

I'm going to divulge a bit here. When someone sends up a rocket on social media saying "help! I need advice and assistance on Topic A!" the absolute worst thing you can do is come back with a reply that does nothing to address the issue being asked about, but instead is a post about how important Topic B is. Because right now we are dealing with Topic A. For all you know, the world expert in Topic B lives next to us and has us covered. Because there is nothing more annoying than having such an appeal for help redirected like that.

Back to the Free Trailer Beowulf. Kirsten hauled the FTB from its home in South San Jose to her office, the really cool roofing guy came, and the job got done. Mostly. He covered the root top from panel seam to panel seam. What he suggested was that we buy a gallon of this glop from him for near wholesale, and finish off the front and rear of the teardrop roof.

That's what we did this weekend. The weather was great, and we put a couple of coats on front and back. Doing this involved pulling the old reflectors off and Goo Gone-ing the hell out of the adhesive. We also had to cover up the Imperial Man stencil and the red stripe. But we're happy about that. We know now how to better apply the stencils to get a cleaner man image. And the stripe? Well, about that . . . we thought we had a straight, even line around the trailer. Turns out it was quite canted. Plus, we weren't overly happy with the reflective overcoat we used. It showed no real ability to reflect light.

Which means we're going to clean and repaint the trailer sides and redo the straight red stripe so it's level compared to the base of the trailer. What I want to do is pick up some rectangular red reflectors and place them in the rear stripe for a cooler road effect. We'll also be re-doing the "Free Trailer Beowulf" markings, making them slightly larger and placing the words "Free Trailer" above the stripe, and "Beowulf" below, in a larger font. People like the name, so let's fly it proudly!

Other than that, there are only a few things left to do. I want to better secure the trailer's license plate, come up with a target on the front of the trailer for better aim when backing up to the trailer for a hook-up. We'll probably just pick up a set of magnetic hitch aligners, which do the same thing. I would really like to get a vent cover for the roof vent to cut down on dust and as an additional rain shield.

The big project for next year is replacing the trailer door. That thing is a kludge and it shows. Kirsten just replaced the shoddy lock with one that can be locked from the inside. But still, we need to even out the arched entry, clean up all the bits and pieces that make up this door and entry, and built something more reliable.

Lastly, and I have no idea where I'm finding the money for this, a headache rack for the truck. You see these things on contractor trucks that don't have the full four post racks. At its simplest, it is a set of bars or a screen that stops your cargo from coming through the back window of your truck in a sudden brake scenario. Truck drivers are extremely aware of Newton's First Law of Motion. Despite all our careful stacking, bungee-cording, and use of our tiedown points, there is always the chance that something will be unsecured and fly forward.

Part of this is paranoia a trait that severed me well as a commercial driver who did here six tons of cargo slam into the metal divider between my compartment and crushing death more than once. Part of it is it offers more options for tying down cargo in the bed and a place to mount a work light if needed. Part of it is they just look cool.

Speaking of cool, I also want a backup alarm . . . beep! beep! beep!

Hey! Guess who has two thumbs, did a ton of hard work and walking today, and totally forgot to wear their FitBit for any of it!

That would be me, of course, unless some of you are living strangely parallel lives out there. In which case, you have my sympathy. Because today was very odd. Very odd, indeed.

It started out calmly enough. I woke up after a good night's sleep and after setting the apartment on fire to warm up things a bit, sat down at the computer. I noticed that my FitBit was showing a weak charge, so into the charger it went. Kirsten eventually got up, we had some breakfast, and got ready for the first errand of the day, collecting the recycling and taking it over to the recycling place.

At which point my lower digestive tract nosed over into a power dive. After several horrifying minutes, I asked Kiri if she'd mind doing the recycling run without me, as I was in the process of emulating Elvis in the bathroom. She left me to my cruel fate and I cursed the idea of eating as a way to get nutrition.

Eventually, the universe showed me mercy, and after setting the bathroom on fire as a precautionary measure I staggered back into the living room area. Where I decided to be helpful. Today's other big project was moving a spare mattress, mattress cover, and two bagged sleeping bags to the Free Trailer Beowulf and getting the bed set up again. There were a couple of smaller tasks, but this was the big one.

Thing is, even a twin-sized futon mattress is heavy and awkward, and I was trying to wrestle it through our cluttered living space. I got the damn thing out the door, where it lay on the porch looking like a really big, sad burrito. Added the two trash bags holding the sleeping bags plus a couple of cedar balls, and the stick-on lights we bought at Harbor Freight the last time we were there. Sank back onto my now empty futon and watched TV until Kirsten got home.

Notice the words "and then I put my FitBit back on" never appear in the preceding paragraphs.

Having two people wrestle the mattress into the truck was slightly easier than getting the thing out the door. But only slightly. Everything snugly in the truck bed, we were back on the road!

There's an odd thing about owning a truck. When you first get it, you are paranoid about driving with cargo unsecured in the bed. You are secretly convinced that barring a convoluted web of bungee cords and tie-down straps rated to hold the space shuttle in place that 12-pack of Coke you just bought is going to be hurtled out of the truck at the slightest bump. But as you get used to driving things, you get an eye for gauging what loads need securing. This one was just fine with gravity holding everything down.

Once at Pedron's RV Storage, and after finding that our brilliant plan to secure the tarp cover was not so brilliant, we proceeded to work. First step: reassemble the lower half of the bed support. Done! Then get the mattress into the protective cover. Much like wrestling Jell-O, but done! The cover is there so the mattress doesn't suck up dust and any fluids that might spill. We can leave the bed in the trailer now.

Then came the really hard part. Hauling the mattress from where it was behind the truck to the trailer door, about 12 feet away. Then getting the blasted thing through the door and onto the bed platform. This was the hardest work of the day, with me in the trailer pulling and Kirsten outside pushing and the damn mattress catching on every possible corner and edge.

Finally, finally! It is in place. We collapse, hearts hammering, and realize that the lower half of the bed platform is still noticeably lower than the top. That's an easy fix. Groaning, we get moving again and bring the sleeping bags in, set up the storage boxes in the storage unit, and place the two lights. We also got all the loose odds and ends into one bag so getting to work inside in the future will be easier. Kirsten also mounted a solar trickle charger on our battery.

We reload everything that lives in the Free Trailer Beowulf and lock her up. I tell Kirsten I'm going to walk a round-about route to the gate to key us out of the facility. It's odd because with all this work I haven't felt it buzz once. That's when I notice that it is not on my arm. Oy Vey!

Such effort demands an award, and our reward was a late lunch at Sweet Tomatoes. They make a really good chili there, and great breads. I was tempted by their spaghetti but wanted to keep things light, due to the earlier issues. Good eats, filled up the truck, and home for a nap.

We may head back tomorrow to do a couple more pieces of work. We need to change out the dehumidifier, pull down some cables, and we forgot to put one thing into the trailer. And I'll wear my FitBit.

Dear gods, my feet hurt. But it was a very good day. I like busy Saturdays, mainly because it lets me spend more time with Kirsten that doesn't involve staring at some sort of video device and they recharge my brain.

But damn, do I pay for it. My floor weasels are running wild tonight, setting my feet on fire, pulling off toes, driving spikes through my feet . . . it's not the pain that bothers me so much, although it can be excruciating, it's that my brain has a library of Things That Can Happen To Feet that translates these random bursts of information from dying nerves into specific sensations.

Like right now, where the big toe on my left foot has just been ripped off. Ow.

My morning started with the bi-monthly Dungeons & Dragons game. Playing over Skype with roll20 for the maps and die rolls is fantastic. We have five players and our DM with me out in California and one in Norway, with the rest in or near Michigan. Today we reached the end of our epic side quest to clear the abandoned hold of the Ironaxe Clan of the fiends that possessed it and return the Ironaxe to the clan's last survivor.

Digenis, my pantless (it's a running joke) Half-elf Barbarian was wielding Fred the Greataxe, who was smarter than Digenis and hated the fiends with a passion rarely seen in sharpened hunks of metal. It is a testament to my love of playing my Chaotic Neutral character that not once did I have to make a saving throw to keep Fred from compelling me to fight. No, I waded right in, screaming my battle cry "Safety Third!" and hacking away. Fred and I made a good team.

Sadly, after we defeated the boss demons, Fred's mission was complete. He left my axe. Luckily, In the treasure trove was a shiny +3 Battle Axe. Mine! I've named it Fred, Jr.

But after all this, I had real world work to do. Kirsten had hooked up the trailer and brought ti to her office so we could do some work on it. She came and got me, and headed back over.

The first task was to deal with some of the drips and oversprays from the painting of the red stripes. Kiri did a great job matching the trailer's color, and you can barely see the newer paint over the old. She also painted the small window frame, and we did touch ups here and there. It looks much better now.

The second task was a bit harder. Hell, it was a stone bitch. The platform for the sleeping area is multiple sheets of thick plywood. We had removed them so the interior could be stained and sealed (it looks amazing now) and today was the day to reinstall them.

One little problem. We had forgotten to mark which holes in the supporting frame lined up with which holes in the platform pieces. There was much cursing and setting of things before we finally got the pieces to fit. We are not taking those bloody pieces out again without a very, very good reason.

After a short break, we tackled the third task of the day: our pallet. Since Burning Man requires that you support yourself for a week, you need to bring a great deal of stuff. The Army left me with a compulsive need to organize and make lists. Since we have the Free Trailer Beowulf now, our packing needs have changed. We wanted to get a feel for what we had, what we needed, and what we can get rid of.

I was pleasantly surprised. Because of my broken foot last year I was unable to take part in our unloading process. But everything was well-organized. We realized we don't need our cots, the spare tent, and a couple of other things. We will be taking the big tent and all its support material as someone will be buying it from us on the Playa.

Doing this has allowed me to better see how our loading is going to happen. A small amount of material can be carried in the trailer, not too much due to weight and stability issues, but it gets some of the load out of the truck bed (and out of the cab for that matter.) Having the trailer means less stuff and time needed for set-up and tear down. It's all coming together nicely.

We do still need a few things, a battery for our solar panels, a spare tire for the trailer, a couple of other minor things. And we still need to get the trailer's name up on it. I'm almost tempted to look on Craigslist for a graffiti artist to do the work.

But after all this, it was time to hook the trailer up and take it back to the storage yard. We decided to take 101 to avoid the rather bumpy roads on 87 and 85. Big mistake. The had been a major accident on the other side of the freeway, and the looky-loos were causing a backup.

But we made it, eventually, and got the Beowulf into its assigned bay. A run through the nearby Jack drive through, back to the office where I had forgotten my cane, and then home.

2,700 steps today. Not bad. But dear Halford, my FEET!