Brookings, OR

Oregon has been a pleasant surprise, cool weather on the coast, really fresh fish, nice people, and quiet. Smoke from a large fire nearby the only downside. Not much going on with me, trying to stay off the motorcycle until my foot heals. There is a neverending supply of small repairs and modifications that keep me a little busy, waiting for the end of the ash so I can wash the bus.  A trip to the RV store and my leaky water heater is fixed. 

Some of the unforeseen difficulties with being houseless are how many institutions need you to have a permanent address.  DMV, health insurance, car insurance, credit card companies, all are not happy with the gypsy lifestyle. Imposing on our parents for now, but that means we are paying California taxes, Ugh.

A month in one place is just about right. Enough time to explore the local beaches, parks, and restaurants. Crab season is closed, but I can still buy rockfish of the fishing boats in the harbor.  Taking Chloe for a sunset walk on the beach is the highlight of our day.

I started editing the first 360 videos I took in Bryce National park. The vibration from my camera mount makes the video almost unwatchable so I'm using it as a training tool.  I have since moved the mount to my helmet. I still need a good vibration-isolating mount for my SLR.  I've been taking a lot of stills, thinking of starting a shutterfly account.

Took Stewie to the vet and after an exhaustive series of tests found he has chronic rhinitis, antibiotics and steroids are the answer. It took the vet a little over one week to isolate a problem our vet in LA couldn't solve in a year. Good news: Stewie's feeling better. Bad news: Stewie is feeling better, let's just say he's not happy about being an indoor cat so much any more.

Eclipse viewing was a little challenging.  Brimming with overconfidence, we set out at about 9:30 looking for a road up into the hills above the fog. Remember the fire I mentioned? Boned! Never got a clear view, we did however manage to view it through a filter of smoke and fog that worked about as well as our eclipse glasses.

In financial news we opened a managed brokerage account with some of the proceeds of the house sale. My pension and old 401k are now under new management as well.  We will track our earnings over the next year and see how it compares to my Vanguard and Fidelity accounts. Highly recommend Personal Capital app for tracking your finances (I'm not a shill for them, just like the app)