Jarbidge or Bust - "Overlanding" Nevada 2015

[FJ60Cam]

Not wanting spressomon or C-drew to rat me out to the feds or QST their homies on the repeater, I figured out a loophole - I did the listening (perfectly legal) and had Andrew do the talking since he is a minor.

We all know the best way to break the law is to have your minor kids do it.

73 & 88 b!tches...

 

[Bodean]

Yeah we had a few law breakers amongst us at the Ramble I guess. Guess we need to take the test and get legal and all.

 

[Cruiserdrew]

Enough Ham talk, let's see more mud and endless sky.

 

[FJ60Cam]

I'm typing all this up on my Baofeng, btw.

 

[FJ60Cam]

The week before the trip, NV was getting hammered with rain across the entire state. It was enough rain to have the route planners consider switching to Plan B, lest someone get stuck in bottomless mud, and maybe then the rescuer gets stuck or a winch fails trying to rescue the rescuer, or then after getting everyone out the original stucker gets stuck again (foreshadowing anyone?).

We were running into this same rain in GS. Shortly after drifting to sleep, we got hit with a rain storm. I think it rained all night, but luckily it stopped just before we got up, but not before it took out Alex's awning.

In my haste to pack, I completely overlooked a tarp, not that I had any poles or much in the way of rigging. Alex, however was the hero of the group. He had a sweet awning attached to his truck.

He had put the awning out the night before, and sometime during the night, the wind, water, or both caused one of the poles to buckle under the commotion.

Andrew and I wake up and stumble out into the muddy staging area that is our campsite. We are checking out his carnage when he breaks the news to me - I left my driver's window open last night. Not just cracked or even halfway open, it was all the way down.

I go check it out and the drivers side is soaked. I dry things off as best I can, but I will pay the price and have a wet ass for the next day or so. Which is really funny when you hop out at all the truck stops with a big wet circle on the seat of your pants

 

[FJ60Cam]

We wipe away our tears, make some coffee, and pack up camp. We opt to grab some quick breakfast in town and get on the road.

Alex leads the way since he has cruise control. His supercharged 80 is an excellent running mate for the V8J60. We don't lose any speed climbing the passes or have any trouble passing slow traffic.

We slide down the Western Slope and ease into Utah.

(The last two are actually from the ride home, but I'm pretty sure they we taken in Utah)

 

[FJ60Cam]

We keep the wheels turning, only stopping for gas, to make sandwiches, and to top off our water bottles from the fiver of fine Memphis H2O.

Eventually I-70 gives way to US-50, and we approach the NV border. This gives us some renewed energy, which is good because even though this is a short day (650 miles/10+ hours), we are just barely over the halfway mark.

Nevada was still getting hit with weather and we are now starting to see it.

Here we are, racing toward the sunset between scattered showers.

 

[FJ60Cam]

The plan was to make it to the (Spencer?) Hot Springs near Austin and camp at the springs. We were monitoring the weather in Austin, which was getting worse the closer we got.

I'm ok with camping in the rain if I have too, especially if it is dry when I'm setting up my tent. The forecast had it raining during our anticipated arrival time all the way through the morning.

This would have us setting up and taking down camp in the wet. We suggested pushing on through to sparks and getting a room. Then we could be extra lazy in the morning.

Alex (who has a rooftop tent and maybe is not as affected by the rain) reluctantly agreed, even though it meant adding on another three hours of driving.

I had been texting back and forth with Pasquale whenever we had service. He was making his way from Sedona and was going to be in Sparks that night. I told him our new plan and asked him to let us know if he found a decent cheap place to stay.

After passing on a two-star motel, he said he got the last room at the Fairfield and that we were welcome to take the other bed and/or crash on the floor. This offer came with a warning though - he snores like a truck.

Having this insider information, Andrew & I claimed the extra bed and then outlaw-called Alex on the ham and briefed him on the rooming situation.

Just then - tragedy struck. My phone, which was nestled safely on the dash displaying the map and held firmly in place by the defroster vent as it had been all day, somehow (I think maybe the charger cord got snagged) came loose and fell off. Into my open cup of water. A full cup. Perfect bullseye.

I have no idea how long it was there, I didn't see it happen, but when I looked up at the map, it wasn't there. I looked down only to see a glowing orb of light from under the surface.

$&#%¥^€£!!!!!

I pull it out, but it is too late. The screen is now a pretty nightlight of uniform muted rainbow colors. Water is dripping from every opening on the phone.

I shake it, blow on it, suck the water, and it never stops coming out. The thing is a sponge.

I turn it off and then back on. My home screen sort of appears, but it has weird lines through it and stuff that should be at the top of the screen is appearing at the bottom. Then it cuts out and goes back to the bad trip of rainbow pixels. Not good. Then the screen blacks out and the IR sensor on the front starts glowing red. I don't think that is supposed to happen. Ever. Sigh.

I should mention that it is pitch black outside, and we are flying down the highway in the rain, with no idea where we are at the moment.

 

[SHUSH]

excellent write up....thoroughly enjoying this.....

you will be missed dear Cliff divng phone with all the good pics.

 

[Cruiserdrew]

Just wait until he gets to the part about spending all day shopping at the mall in Sparks.

 

[FJ60Cam]

Just wait until he gets the part about spending all day shopping at the mall in Sparks.

Lol! I had an equally "fun" experience this weekend getting my final replacement phone

 

[FJ60Cam]

I relay the drowning death of my phone over the radio to Alex, who by now is having to slow down due to all the rain, and curves (it is not this curvy on the map), and traffic.

Speaking of traffic - I'd like to do a quick sidebar.... At one point on 50, while it was still daylight, Alex & I rolled up on a fully expo'd out Land Rover Defender something or other as we were coming down a giant mountain. It looked really nice actually, but still... it's an enemy aircraft. Alex must have been thinking the same thing I was, because he engaged the supercharger and hit Mach eleventy to pass him. I did the same and tucked into perfect Blue Angels formation - we whipped around him just as we broke the sound barrier. We passed him like he was standing still. It was GLORIOUS!!!

 

[pmccraney]

Speaking of traffic - I'd like to do a quick sidebar.... At one point on 50, while it was still daylight, Alex & I rolled up on a fully expo'd out Land Rover Defender something or other as we were coming down a giant mountain. It looked really nice actually, but still... it's enemy aircraft. Alex must have been thinking the same thing I was, because he engaged the supercharger and hit Mach eleventy to pass him. I did the same and tucked into perfect Blue Angels formation as we whipped around him just as we broke the sound barrier. We passed him like he was standing still. It was GLORIOUS!!!

 

[FJ60Cam]

So we're driving along in the pouring rain and it starts to sink in just how devastating this is to lose my phone.

First of all, I have no paper maps with me. I was going to bring my Atlas and teach Andrew how to navigate the old way, but forgot to find it while packing. Then there's all my contacts, and the GPS maps for the trip that took days to download, the meal plan & grocery list, and most importantly, millions of pictures!

&@$?€£%#

There's nothing I can do about it but follow Alex. I figure I can find a store in the morning, be the first customer in the door and get a new phone.

Right about now, the sky clears a little and we are passing through what I can tell is some amazing country. I wished it was light out. We are constantly going up and over mountains (there's like a dozen or more mtn. ranges across the state) and are now descending one with really tight turns while layers of fog & cloud blow over us.

We pass through some really cool looking wild-west towns that look like they'd be fun to stop in. Maybe another time.

We stop one more time for gas, and then make the final push to Sparks, the last hour of which I make in a zombie state. It's been another 850 mile day (which was unexpected and we started a little late) and I am whooped.

 

[FJ60Cam]

Somewhere, maybe Fallon or Fernley, we find ourselves in civilization, the bright lights just as disorienting as the pitch black nothingness from which we just emerged.

I still have no idea where we are since the Google Maps running count down timer is not there to comfort me. NV signage is no help either. Instead of showing the mileage to a large city like Reno, the signs only showed the mileage to smaller cities I don't recognize.

50 merges with I-80 and we try and figure out where Pasquale is. I stopped communicating with him mid-conversation hours ago, hopefully he is still expecting us despite the late hour.

We finally pull up to the hotel, and stumble to the lobby. I'm sure we look heavily drugged. Alex decides to pass on the floor, and is in luck since the hotel now has an open room.

Andrew & I head to Pasquale's room, and knock on the door. We don't see any light coming from underneath, so we knock a little louder. We think we hear commotion inside, so we knock even louder. A light comes on, the door opens....

... and it's not Pasquale

It's some lady who is just as surprised to see us as we are to see her!

We apologize and head back to the lobby. The front person calls him and grants us his room number.

We grab our stuff and some beers and head to the room. I promptly take over Andrews iPod as my new mobile command center. All I have to do is load up gmail and all of my contacts pop up. I text my wife, explaining the situation and that we are in fact alive and where we're supposed to be. I find the AT&T store, their hours, and take screenshots of the map (wi-fi only iPod) and makes plans to be there first thing in the A.M.

Pasquale was not kidding about the snoring. No sooner did the lights go out than he started snoring so fast I was sure he was faking.

 

[FJ60Cam]

We are two time zones away, and despite not getting a full night's rest, my body wakes up on central time.

I break out my dead phone to see if it decided to come back to life. Nope. However, I plug it in and I see a faint picture of a battery. I give it a few minutes and try to turn it on. Nope.

After about ten minutes, I see the Apple logo appear... wtf is going on? It turns on and the battery is at 1%. It was so dead that it took ten minutes to get to one percent.

I leave it plugged in and all of a sudden an email pops up. I try to check it but the screen doesn't respond.

Everyone else eventually gets up and we hit the most excellent continental breakfast. This one has sausage and eggs.

We come back to the room and I see Andy is texting me pics of a fine looking espresso and asking me how many bags of coffee beans I wanted him to pick up. I still can't respond though.

I decide to set the phone in front of the hair dryer for a while and see if it will dry out.

Pasquale, meanwhile, has recommended going to the Apple Store because they, being the mother of this device, might feel the pain of my situation and hook a brotha up with a replacement for cheap. He has like fifteen Apple products on his person, so I figure he knows what he is talking about.

I look up the Apple Store. It is in Reno and doesn't open until 10:00, and the AT&T store is just one exit away and opens at 9:00. We're supposed to all meet at noon. Not much time to exchange a cell phone in my experience. However the Apple Store is right by the only Whole Foods in the vicinity and they have some stuff I need for my meals.

Now my phone is crackling to life with more texts and emails. Alex is texting to see what our plans are.

I figure out that Siri still works, so I try and direct Siri to text Andy & Alex and I try to explain what's going on and why I haven't responded.

Alex needs groceries, too, so he and I make plans to be at the Apple Store right when they open, get a phone, get groceries, and meet at noon.

 

[wngrog]

FYI since thousands will be reading this I thought I would point out that immediately powering down then placing in a bag of dry rice will suck most moisture out of a wet phone.

As not to keep mucking up your thread, it is not a myth BUT it only works if you are powered down.

These phones have a dot inside that changes colors when they get wet. That way the tech knows

 

[BMThiker]

*Minute rice works better than the real thing. Make sure the bag is breathable (like a sock).

 

[FJ60Cam]

Supposedly the rice thing is a myth. Powering down is definitely good practice though.

I really needed to power down, disassemble, and dry everything. Which I didn't have the tools, knowledge, energy, or patience for at the moment.

I'm getting ahead of myself here, but...

My problem (physically) is that the connectors from the motherboard to the digitizer (touch portion of a touch-screen) corroded and fused together, making a screen replacement impossible. I'm told that these start corroding immediately because they are so thin and delicate.

My problem (technically) is that I didn't have automatic iCloud backup because I don't fully speak Apple and never got all of our home iCloud/iTunes/Apple ID/ whatever accounts fully separated due to a lack of understanding the differences between them and how to keep them separate despite Apple always trying to combine them.

I also rarely plug into iTunes (on a PC) to back up because more often than not it effs up my settings and music and whatnot.

Either way, I needed a new phone to finish the trip - I didn't want to risk a salvaged phone suddenly acting up in an emergency or when I might need to count on it (which I do waaaay more than I realized).

And yes, the first thing I did when I got home was purchase additional iCloud storage, sort out all of our accounts & devices, and set up automatic backups.

****Pretend that you know none of this going forward, because I sure didn't at the time. I was expecting the store to back up my phone (since all of the data stored on it was still there) and send me on my way.*****

 

[FJ60Cam]

Alex, Andrew and I make it to the Apple store right after they open and the store is already PACKED.

To be fair to Apple, I like the Apple product, but don't necessarily want the Apple experience, so I try and avoid the Apple Store, and buy my stuff over the inter webs and set it up at home. Getting cellphones is always hassle to me so I try and avoid doing that at a store at all costs.

So, not being entirely familiar with the charade that is customer service at the AS, I am super psyched that we are greeted and being helped the instant that we walk in the door. There are as many employees as there are customers, maybe more, so we should be on our way in no time. We can get our groceries, and be at the meet up spot earlier than we need to. Maybe I'll have time to repack my truck and get it organized.

I proceed to tell the cute girl with tattoos, smurf blue hair and a nice smile about how I'm on a trip and I killed my phone and I need them to back it up to a new one so I can go on about my business.

As she is typing on her iPad, she is sending the body language that she totally grasps my situation, feels my pain, and is doing everything in her power to personally handle my transaction from start to finish.

It turns out she is just a greeter and is entering my name and (I later find out) my description so that any available employee can pick me out of the crowd and make me feel special.

She tells me to go get comfortable, maybe fondle some of the many iThings that are on display, and wait for an associate.

(to be continued)