Mortaine’s Blog

This is what, my 2nd or 3rd post, and I have to say, “I don’t get it!” I guess it’s because I don’t think that most people care to hear about the mundane details of my life. Also, I have never kept a journal of any kind nor I am a photo-taker. I have always lived in the moment, not bothering to record life as it goes by. But I will try nonetheless because I suppose there are a few friends and family reading these that actually do care to hear what we’re up to.

So we’re here just outside of Yosemite, in Groveland actually. It’s an old mining town. They are having their annual ‘49′er and Chili Cookoff on the 15th mmmm, chili . I neglected to get backcountry permits, so I’ll be going in on Sunday to see what I can get last minute (they save 40% of the permits for first-come-first-served). I want to do a 2-night trip to Little Yosemite and Half Dome and then another 2-night trip on some route I haven’t done before. I’ll try to do both mid-week and avoid some of the crowding.

Re: The exercise routine that Stephanie was talking about. Previously, I walked every weekday at lunch. It was probably only a mile, but I did it 5-days a week at my normal (i.e. moderately fast) walking pace. Now, I don’t have that routine (or *any* of the routines I used to have before living on the road), so I’m looking for another. I think it will have to be morning walks, like I did this morning. This campground has a “par-course” — a trail with exercise stations on it. Of course, I still have the weekend-warrior activities like hiking. And since Stephanie brought it up, maybe I can solicit her friends reading this to suggest ways that she can create an exercise routine for her as well.

These are my mother’s birthday present. I finished them early this week and mailed them out yesterday.

We are, again, in an area with no cell phone coverage. I’m forwarding my calls to Skype at the moment, so if you need to reach me and you’re on Skype, use that.

We’re looking into satellite phones, because this thing of being able to receive phone calls once a week is bullshit. Also, I upgraded my phone to a quad-band Motorola KRZR, because it’s cute, small, and quad band. It took me an hour of being on hold with AT&T before I completed my order online. I just hope I did it right– they are not very clear about the upgrade-your-phone process, and I’m hoping that I didn’t just sign up for two phone lines. If I did, at least I have 30 days to cancel one of them.

I also had to falsify some of my personal information, because AT&T does not have service in Sioux Falls. So apparently they’re not allowed to sell service there. Whatever.

John and I went into town yesterday– much closer than “town” was last time we were in the mountains! [Close enough that the pizza delivery comes to the campground!] We had lunch at the oldest continuously-operating saloon in California. Nifty! This is definitely gold country; our campground even has a pan-for-gold feature, in addition to the petting zoo and swimming pool.

I’ve been reading a lot, knitting, and working the past week or so. It’s not a bad life.

I’ll let John blog about the exercise regimen he’s trying to initiate.