gorge trip and war wounds

Wanting to return home from the Columbia River Gorge with some Chinook salmon a few weeks ago I ventured into a native Indian village to solicit a purchase. There was this man washing the fish cleaning station so generously provided by our government to make up for the pillage of their land and killing of their people during the shameful chapters of our nation's history. He asked me to wait while he went and check.

Eventually I found him at his trailer home and he has a cooler full of fish. I told him I just want a small one knowing the modest size of Tatyana's fridge. He reach into the cooler and pick the smallest among all rather large ones. It came in just under 8 lb as he weighted it. I was not too happy to see the wound in its body and point with my finger. The Indian man say it is nothing to worry about - just a war wound it earned as it fights its way up the mighty river. Sure enough the man was right, the wound was superficial and does not affect the taste of the fish. I would soon take the term "war wound" to heart...

In the past week I took a short sailboarding trip to the Gorge. In each of the 5 days I sailed every day and often 5 hours or more each day. With daily traversing the mighty river in strong wind I accumulated my fair share of war wounds.

a good day near hood river, oregon, and white salmon, washington

 

I came across this strange looking vegetable called verdolaga in H-Mart. It looks like the tenacious weed I always have a hard time killing with Roundup. I ask a man with a dark complexion with a little girl who is buying it who he would cook it. He told me he would just satay it and added that everyone in Lebanon eats it. He was buying 3 bunches with one to give to his friend. Seeing how rare it is I put the watercress back and picked up a bunch.

it is one of the most interesting tasting vegetable - it has a sour note to it and give out quite a bit of juice; i satay it with garlic and a bit of chinese pork saugage

and eat it with spicy and hot seared chicken

spicy and hot chicken with spinach

refreshing young coconut juice

you can have the juice and eat it too

ham and cheese omelet

fresh pineapple

 spicy and hot chicken with kimchi

another good day at roosevelt, washington

We have been having a very cool summer here in the Pacific Northwest and I love it. Sleeping in the country at night in the 60s F one sleep so well. I have not once in need of using the cabin air conditioner and that is fine by me.

Still alarm me how fast I manage to squander the fresh water supply even with rare use of a short shower. The small sewer storage tank sure fill up fast. The level gauge is a total junk and I am sure the OEM (not Westfalia) manufacturer done squat testing it. My reliable workaround is to turn off the water pump, open the flush gate and peep into the toilet. If the waste water level getting close to the ABS pipe it is close to overflow - would be ground to declare a major state of emergency.

It is quite normal to get callouses on one's palm if you sail day in and day out for long hours in very strong wind. They are from griping the boom.
left palm not too bad - just a bit of callous and chaffing from velcro on the harness line anchor

right palm - a bloody blister; fortunately it did not burst even after 3 more days of hard sailing

The foot straps on my board had seen better days and are on their last leg in this trip. I would replace them as I get home.

chaffing wound on left foot little toe from worn out rear foot strap padding exposing nylon webbing

right foot fared better

chaffing wear on left foot sole from non-skid abrasive decking

On the way back from Roosevelt  I was running low on diesel. I stopped by a gasoline station near Maryhills but the price was higher than I am willing to pay. The fuel gauge was reading below 1/4 full and Gresham is over 120 miles away where I normally get diesel at good price. I have 3 gallons of extra fuel in my spare tank and I knew I could make it so I pressed on even with a stiff headwind. As I pull off the highway at Gresham the reserve capacity indicator just illuminate. A penny saved is a penny earned - I never like paying more than a fair price.

3 gallons of diesel in re-purposed 5-gallon gasoline tank

I refilled the spare tank with 4 gallons this time and filled up the fuel tank. Over 510.5 miles I averaged 23.2 mpg (and yes, I double-checked my math). I normally get 20 mpg but in this trip I have to drive a distance at about 45 mph as well as some segments with strong tail wind. It is the best fuel economy Tatyana delivered to date.

During the last 2 days I drove in very stiff wind and the koni's again had the opportunity to shine. At certain places the freak wind gusts were so strong I reduce the speed least I make headline of overturned RV in the Gorge. Better be safe and arrive a bit late than never arrive at all.

en route home i stop by ikea and shop till drop - ikea just release a number of new items so i checked them all out

stay tune - video to come