With only 90 miles or so remaining, today was an easy jaunt, with one ride from Roseburg to near Albany. I stopped at the survival store after a nice cafe breakfast: everything from camping supplies, to ammo/reloading equipment (but no gun sales) to books on all aspects, including resistance to oppressive authority. For the most part the solar PV equipment was that which comes from consumer goods suppliers, rather than the PV industry – Chinese inverters and the like. But they’d like to offer higher quality systems but don’t yet know how. This could one day turn into a bit of consultancy work. The owners have some affiliation with Backwoods Solar in Sandpoint, Idaho, so that’ll give them some access to good equipment and design.

I was sent on my way this morning with a pint or so of exquisitely crafted hooch – that’s an old term for moonshine. I don’t think I had ever tasted handmade corn whiskey, and this stuff is really good, with distinct apple-cinnamon essences in it. It’ll be for sharing and may last a long time.

In Albany I stopped by the little house I once owned (paid $27,300 for it in 1979 and sold for about that much in 1981) and visited the only friend I recalled from that time of life who was still around. He too got into solar, but in Orygun it’s all owned by the installer, who collects feed-in tariffs of $.36/kw-hr. It’s absurdly lucrative and quite different than in New Mexico.

Not much else to report; again sleeping under the stars near Corvallis. In all, about fifty hours on the road, including sleep, meals, and riding. Eight rides in total over 500 or so miles, all good, friendly people with engaging stories to tell. And I rode the bike 80 miles as well. Given that I needed at least a pickup truck to carry my bike and trailer setup, the hitchhiking went quite well.

I did learn this evening that there are currently many fires burning right now in central/eastern Oregon and parts of our planned route may be closed and the areas evacuated. We’ll see,

G’night, world.