July 1-3 -- I Prepare For Alaska, And Some Critter Cam Videos

I'll be leaving for my trip to Alaska on July 6. I just Googled the one-way distance from Portal to Anchorage, and it's 3,804.9 miles -- actually not as far as I thought.  I'll be towing Discovery II, my 2015 Lance travel trailer, and take at least 3 months, possibly longer. Being the planner that I am, and traveling solo so I prefer to leave nothing to chance, I've sketched out a rough route -- Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Alberta, British Columbia, the Yukon Territory, Alaska. There are a few things I'd like to do, and some must places to visit; Great Basin Nat'l Park in eastern Nevada, the Ruby Mountains in NE Nevada, to do an article for Birdwatching Magazine on looking for the much-sought-after Himalayan Snowcock via backpack, another backpack through one of my favorite mountain ranges, the remote Jarbidge Mountains in the extreme northeast corner of Nevada, stop by to visit a friend living on a (again) remote ranch in Montana, Jasper and Banff in the Canadian Rockies, the Cassiar and Haines Highways - and those are just on the way up. I haven't planned the way back down yet, but that really depends on the weather as by that time it will probably be around the first of October. I'll be staying at campgrounds, RV parks, and "boondocking" off the grid as I have solar panels, and a small inverter to power things such as my laptop and camera batteries. But I'll also be bringing along my Yamaha i2000s generator for portable shore power, too. So as you can tell, all of this requires some (understatement) advance planning. I'm lucky in that my friends Rob and Deb, who own the Rodeo Tavern across the way in New Mexico, borrowed Discovery for a few days about a week ago and took "her" (yep, and Tundra is a "he") up to the White Mountains for a much needed vacation. Rob is a fixit guy, so he actually solved my ongoing awning issue and a few other things -- and before taking off discovered that there was a propane leak in the propane lines to the tanks, and also the regulator. Now that I know that, I'll be dropping by Tucson on the way out to take Discovery in to the Lazy Days RV center to get the propane system checked and repaired. And then Discovery should be good to go...I also re-activated my Pantech Wi-fi hotspot device so I can have more Internet connectivity, and thus be able to post my blog entries here. Will I miss Faranuf, Portal and life in the Chiricahuas? Of course -- terribly. But heck, this is Alaska we're talking about, and I'm not getting any younger...

But until then, life continues on here. The clouds at sunset are still spectacular  --

And so is the view from my back yard, here seen in the morning --

Along with getting Discovery ready, I also have to make sure Faranuf will weather (so to speak) the next few months well, and not require much maintenance. That means trying to keep the number of critters entering the well house under control -- and that means rodents. Lord knows I've tried with Irish Spring soap bars, then mothballs, and now a combination of both, but they still get in, and no matter how often I sweep it out, mouse droppings return on the floor. Non-lethal methods don't seem to work any more, and the rodents don't listen to me when I warn them to stay out. So, as the majority of us do out here, I went on Amazon and, after a recommendation from a friend who has it, bought a "Rat Zapper". It's run on batteries and shaped like a traditional trap,  but it delivers a (allegedly, but how do "they" know?) lethal jolt of electricity to whatever comes in for the bait you put into it. I've had 4 "kills" so far in the 2 days I've used it, but it's also needed to be cleaned twice as it stays on if there's even a small particle on the plate that has the current. But the rodents, mostly small field mice, are getting bolder; I've gone into the well house twice and they're right out in the open. One was even outside when I opened the door, and zipped inside right in front of me. They still get caught in the heat pump's fan blades, too. I've duct taped the hole they used to get inside, so they try to get out when the fan isn't spinning. Trouble is, the fan starts as they're trying to squeeze their way out from the top. So I walk along and see a "mouse mess" hanging from the grating on top. I think my house sitter is going to have some  "fun" maintaining Faranuf in my absence....

I've had the "critter cam" up in the back yard for a few months now. It's trained on the water feature, and I've had some really interesting videos of animals that drop on by. So far I've had

Bobcat

Mule deer (wait for the head butt)

An encounter with a Striped Skunk and a deer

And Gray Fox

Also raccoon, coyote -- and one which has caused a bit of a controversy over at Facebook. Ocelot? Jaguarundi? Coatimundi? Folks settled on a juvenile mountain lion for awhile. Before I reveal what the experts came up with, here's the video --

It turned out to be, in all probability, just a feral house cat. But you never know what you may find out here, in the Chiricahuas...