Your High Beams Are On

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A couple months ago the right turn signal started to not turn on every time I tried to engage it. It is not a big deal to most folks, but I was taught very early on to use my blinkers. It is not too hard, and it is just part of driving for me. But the car is a quarter-century old, and things are not going to stay working forever.

A little more than three weeks ago I took it in to the dealer to have them do a 5,000-mile service. While I was there, I asked about how much it would cost to fix the blinkers. They said they’d have to troubleshoot to see if it was broken and then find out even if they could get a new one. The next day I was told it is not repairable; if you want to replace it, it’ll be around $500 for parts and labor. Or we can just put it back in, and that’s going to be just $75 for the diagnostics. I’ve already dumped enough money into the car; what’s another four hundred bucks? They wouldn’t get the parts in before I was headed on the Arizona trip, so I told them, “No worries, I’ll pick it up when I get back.”

So on Wednesday, I went to get the Miata back. Nice, it works every time, and there is a brand-new turn signal stalk feel. This morning when I went out to go grocery shopping, you could tell fall is coming, it was still slightly dark, so I turned on the headlights, and the high beams were on. I could see the high-beam dash light on. You push or pull the stalk fore and aft with the center being normal, forward with a click for high beams, and a spring-back pull backwards for flash-to-pass. The stalk position was centered, not in the high-beam position. I wiggled the stalk, and the high beams would go off or on.

After grocery shopping I just drove the Miata back to the dealer. They wanted to verify the issue and see if there was an easy fix. Half an hour later I was told they have to get another new stalk. Here’s an interesting thing about the replacement stalk, it’s the second one they had to order. The first one was lost in transit. It was the last one in the US. Remember, a 25-year-old car and the last time they used them in Miatas was in 2015. This one came from the motherland, Japan, and they expedited it so they could have the car ready when I got back. They aren’t going to expedite this one, so they are going to put the old new one back in, until the part gets here.

At least from Japan to here, the part doesn’t have to transit the Strait of Hormuz…

Red Sox chances of making the Wild Card round in the 2026 playoffs: 85.8%

 

The Reacher Problem

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I have a Reacher Problem. I have enjoyed most of the books but like anything, once you’ve written about the same character for so long, you kind of run out of situations to put him/her in. Then Amazon decided to do a TV series, they had twenty-something situations to use. But because of the different media, changes have to be made to get the near 300-page book into an eight-episode show. I am right now just past the midpoint of Season 4. In the fifth episode our two main baddies are in a car chase with three of Reacher’s “accomplices.” Carnage ensues, automatic weapons are fired, police arrive, and the two female bad girls jump off a bridge into a rapid river to avoid arrest; this is where I hit the stop button.

So let’s talk about the changing things to make the Reacher TV series. Season 1 did a good job, so there were just a few things that didn’t represent the book. Unfortunately, in each successive season, the changes have been increasing. This season started out okay, but as it went on, it started veering way off course. The automatic gunfire in a car chase that never happened in the book and then the bridge jump, which, pun intended, was a bridge too far. I think I’ll go back and watch Season 1 again.

To get the link to “the books” above, it took me to the author’s home page, which had a button to go to a blurb about the forthcoming 30th book, which I clicked on. Actually sounded interesting, so you know what that means: I’ll buy the book.

Red Sox chances of making the Wild Card round in the 2026 playoffs: 87.5%

 

It’s Good To Be Home

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Back to my regular routine. I took my favorite walk with my favorite latte. Did a little shopping. Fred Meyer for OJ and a couple of yogurts to tide me over until Friday’s big shop. Kohl’s for a long-sleeve T-shirt because I liked the color. And AutoZone for some snow foam for use later today. This afternoon I washed the GTI and brought the Miata back from the dealer.

Be sure to tune in tomorrow for more exciting doings…

Red Sox chances of making the Wild Card round in the 2026 playoffs: 80.6%

 

Day 11 – Fairview, OR

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Today’s photo is a bonus of the Hoover Dam from last Saturday. Notice the round sign pretty much in the center? It reads NEVADA, 12:21 PM, and 117° F.

Today started in my usual Brevada Brewhouse to get my usual caramel latte and a mixed berry bowl, and fortunately it was, unlike yesterday’s story about a favorite place, they were both excellent.

Of course I also added an option to make the drive an hour and a half longer. I was intending to when I was over the Cascades is to just hop on I-5 to get home. But instead, once over them, I checked the “Avoid Highways” box, and it was backroads all the way to just 10 miles left.

Three days on the road, four at an AirBnB, and 4 days on the road. 3,055 miles using 66.607 gallons of gas. The cheapest (premium) gas was $4.849 in Idaho, and the most expensive was $7.299 in California. I know that I could figure out what I paid in total for all that gas, but I really don’t think I want to.

Red Sox chances of making the Wild Card round in the 2026 playoffs: 86.9%

 

Day 10 – Klamath Falls, OR

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As I have done every morning I’m in Carson City, I skip the hotel breakfast and drive downtown to eat at The Caracker Box. This is my sixth visit in eight years, and it will be my last. Since last year, they must have new owners because the ambience is just not the same. No greeting when you walk in the door; the waitress didn’t remove the extra setup and the extra menu and then left mine on top of the other one.

The food was similar, but not the same. The toast came cold, and their “World Class Spuds” that come with every meal have been demoted to City Class; they lacked the usual crispiness, and some of the chopped tomatoes, peppers, and onions were not chopped small enough.

The real disappointment was the OJ: The menu says “squeezed-to-order” juices, but I watched her pull a pitcher from a fridge and pour it in my glass. When I went up to pay, the waitress never made eye contact with me as I came up to the register where she was standing with money in hand. They only take cash, so I put my check and cash on the counter and walked out. But not before pocketing several of the dollar bills so that her tip ended up around 8% instead of my planned 20%.

My usual route up US-395 takes about 5 hours to get to Klamath Falls, and unlike the last few trip segments where I picked a slightly different route and added an hour or so, this time I took a 5-hour detour. Not by choice, but there is a large and fast-growing fire northwest of Reno, and 395 was closed not far out of town. I have a longwinded explanation of why it took 10 hours, but I’ve written my quota of words for today, sorry.

Red Sox chances of making the Wild Card round in the 2026 playoffs: 87.5%

 

Day 9 – Carson City, NV

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I opened Google Maps and asked for directions to Carson City. Because from the last few trips through there in 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023 & 2025, I didn’t really need them. And sure enough, that usual US-95N to US-50W route is what I got, but this time it offered a different option: west through Death Valley on CA-190 and then north on US-395 that was an hour longer. I’d ask you to guess which one I took, but I’ve spoiled it already with the big image above.

Donna and I had seen parts of this route into Death Valley, but we’d never been on the CA-190 section where the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes are. We had traveled most of US-395 in 2001 when we drove from San Diego, CA to Granite Falls, WA. We visited both Manzanar and Mono Lake, but I wanted to stop to see them anyway, because, well, they are interesting and cool places.

Red Sox chances of making the Wild Card round in the 2026 playoffs: 86.9%

 

Day 8 – Beatty, NV

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Sourdough Saloon, Beatty, NV

This was tonight’s dinner spot in Beatty, NV, where I had a couple of Sierra Nevada Pale Ales to wash down the six salt & pepper wings.

It was a 400-mile day with roughly 100 miles of I-40. I usually despise I-40, but today’s experience was really rather nice. Maybe because it was Saturday, the semi-truck traffic was fairly quiet, and the Arizona DOT has taken nice care of the road. Unlike the Texas and New Mexico sections, those are awful. And kudos again to the AZDOT because they are building a small bypass around Kingman, because that I-40 West to US-95 North interchange has always been brutal.

Another road trip day, another dam. My plan was to stop at the Hoover Dam visitor center to buy a postcard. It was an adventure; it is more like Disneyland now. There are now TSA-style inspections for the car and then once again on you to get in to see the exhibits. It’s $10 to park, and then they wanted $15 to get in to see the exhibits. At the entry to the visitor center I balked at the fifteen dollars, and a nice lady said, “No worries; if a postcard is all you want, they are in the gift shop, which has no entry fee.” And guess what? They didn’t actually have postcards in there. After getting back in the car, I stopped a couple miles down the road at the Hoover Dam Casino, and at first all I saw were the holographic cards at $4.50 a pop. I eventually did locate the regular ones that were priced at a buck a piece.

The worst part of the drive was getting to the other side of Las Vegas. It is like 20 miles of 5 to 6 lanes with usually 1 or 2 under construction. Everybody is in an absolute hurry; it is marked either 65 or 55, and I was running at 75, and I was the slow one. It is kind of a nightmare. And this is why Donna and I started not going through it by taking US-50, AKA the Loneliest Road in America, to get to Santa Fe.

Red Sox chances of making the Wild Card round in the 2026 playoffs: 90.6%