Managing RV Systems and Seeking Shower Access

rswfire is at a national recreation area campground near Florence, Oregon on a rainy Monday morning (April 7, 2025). Weather conditions include potential high winds. He has been at this location for several days with house batteries running continuously. The campground has one loop open with others opening May 1st. He has a reservation until April 12th and is managing with $60 total funds.

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01JR9001WG7WSNG5XRJ49KRSMJ

April 7, 2025

50:48

Author

rswfire

Status

PUBLISHED

Type

TRANSMISSION (CAPTURE)

Temperature

0.00

[0:00] So, it's 8:30 in the morning

[0:03] here. Just been doing some basic things

[0:05] around here and thinking about my day

[0:08] because there's a lot I need to navigate

[0:09] today. It's Monday morning. I want to

[0:12] head down to the laundry mat cuz they

[0:13] have a shower facility there so I can

[0:15] shower. It's been days since I showered.

[0:17] Tried to do it yesterday, but there was

[0:19] no one there and the showers are closed

[0:20] unless there's an attendant

[0:23] there. So, I'm going to do that today.

[0:25] I'll find out how much that costs. find

[0:27] out what when that when the showers are

[0:29] available there so that I can kind of

[0:31] try to plan around it. It's pretty rainy

[0:34] today. We might even get some pretty bad

[0:36] weather as far as um like wind speeds

[0:38] and stuff. Uh it's kind

[0:42] of Yeah, you can already tell it was

[0:44] kind of like that last night. Um so

[0:47] that's the next thing. You might have

[0:48] seen that flickering. my

[0:51] um my house batteries are still working,

[0:54] which to me is just shocking cuz I'm not

[0:57] sure how many days it's been. It's been

[0:58] three or four now. They're still on. Let

[1:01] me see what it says as far as

[1:05] voltage. It says 11.15 volts. So,

[1:09] they're quite low, but they're still on

[1:11] all these days later. I don't know if

[1:14] it's um if the house batteries are

[1:16] drawing power

[1:18] from my starter battery or not. I just

[1:21] don't know. I know that when the starter

[1:23] battery gets low, there will be a

[1:24] beeping noise in the cab area because

[1:26] this happened once uh on my journey many

[1:29] many many many months ago. So, I've kind

[1:31] of been waiting for that. If I hear

[1:32] that, then I'll know for

[1:34] sure. This got me thinking um because

[1:37] there's some other things. So,

[1:40] um yesterday when I tested my inverter,

[1:42] if I had thought about it, I would have

[1:44] charged my devices then my uh my power

[1:47] um my power banks. Didn't think about

[1:50] it. So, I need to do that today cuz

[1:52] they're starting to get

[1:53] low. And

[1:56] um you know, I just need to charge all

[1:58] of my devices whenever I'm using that

[2:01] inverter. So, I just need to be prepared

[2:03] for that. I'm going to do that today.

[2:04] There'll be video of

[2:06] this. Um, and it got me thinking

[2:09] maybe maybe I charge the house

[2:11] batteries. If I have to run my Jeep for,

[2:14] let's say, three hours, and let's assume

[2:16] that that uses one gallon of

[2:18] gas, that should charge the house

[2:21] batteries up and keep them going. And,

[2:24] you know, if it if that works and I only

[2:26] have to do that every couple of days,

[2:28] then it's well worth it because that

[2:31] means I have um my fridge is still

[2:34] working, my water pump would work. I

[2:37] don't have any water in this. I emptied

[2:38] it all at my last campground because I

[2:40] didn't think I would have access to any

[2:41] water. So, um, I just dropped the weight

[2:44] for that so that I could get better fuel

[2:46] mileage.

[2:48] Um, but if I could fill up my water

[2:51] tank, then I would be able to use my

[2:54] water pump and I would have running

[2:56] water in here and a fridge and lights

[3:00] and heat. Although, I'm running out of

[3:01] propane. So, um, won't have that for

[3:04] much longer. But, you know, when I can

[3:05] fill the propane up and I'd also have

[3:09] heat, this might be workable. I might be

[3:12] able to keep those house batteries

[3:14] charged enough that I can keep them

[3:17] going and do it all for my inverter, my

[3:20] Jeep. So, I'm going to I think I'm going

[3:22] to try

[3:23] that. Uh, at first I was treating it

[3:25] like a sacrifice I needed to make, but

[3:28] the fact that they're still running

[3:29] tells me that maybe maybe I don't have

[3:31] to make that sacrifice. that would be

[3:33] that would be a blessing. So, that's

[3:36] what I'm doing this morning. That's

[3:37] where my thoughts

[3:39] are. Just need to go into town and

[3:41] shower um and then go to a store um to

[3:44] get something to eat. And since I'm

[3:46] going to charge up these batteries, I

[3:48] can get something

[3:49] refrigerated. Um I have I have $60 in my

[3:53] pocket, so that's what I have to work

[3:54] with. I should try to fill up my Jeep's

[3:57] um fuel tank. It's a little over half

[4:00] full right now. So, it would take me

[4:02] like I don't know 20 or $30 to fill it

[4:05] out. Um, and then I'll start

[4:09] monitoring how much fuel I'm using when

[4:13] it's just idling and running my

[4:16] inverter. So, that's an important

[4:19] experiment that I need to make.

[4:22] And is there something else? Let me

[4:24] pause this while I think about it. Well,

[4:26] I'll just end with this. So, I have um

[4:29] I'm here until the 12th for now. That's

[4:31] how long I've been able to extend my

[4:34] campground fees. So, I've got until the

[4:35] 12th, the day after my birthday. I'm

[4:37] really fortunate about

[4:39] this. Um hoping I'll be able to extend

[4:42] it, but I'll have to rely on support

[4:44] from my community to do that. So, if

[4:46] anyone can help, I'd be greatly

[4:48] appreciative.

[4:50] Uh, it's $22 a night here. And I did

[4:53] learn that I can modify my reservations

[4:56] so that I don't have to keep paying that

[4:58] $8 booking fee. I don't know if you can

[5:01] do it for a reservation that's active.

[5:02] I'll have to find out about that one

[5:04] because I modified one that um starts

[5:07] after the first one I made. So, you

[5:09] know, because then I I learned that. So,

[5:12] hopefully that's

[5:13] possible.

[5:15] Um, I think it's going to be a good day.

[5:17] Hey, I'm going to make it a very

[5:18] productive day and do some cleaning in

[5:20] here. I'm going to pull out my laptop.

[5:22] I'm going to start looking for work on

[5:24] guru.com uh as a freelance programmer.

[5:26] Hopefully, I'll be able to find

[5:27] something on there. And, you know, I'll

[5:30] have to do that when my inverter is on.

[5:32] So, I just got to get everything

[5:33] prepared in advance so that um I'm as

[5:36] efficient as possible about this because

[5:38] I'll be charging my devices, I'll be

[5:40] running my laptop, I'll be charging the

[5:43] house batteries of my RV all at the same

[5:44] time. So, um, it's a lot. And I'll share

[5:48] that. It'll be in a clip after this

[5:50] one. So, it's 9:00 in the morning and I

[5:54] just got to the place the the laundry

[5:56] mat that also has shower facilities in

[5:58] there. And there's a truck camper. Truck

[6:01] camper right there, which probably means

[6:04] somebody else is showering here, too.

[6:06] Right. This is Nomad

[6:09] Life. Um, there's three of them in

[6:11] there. I saw them yesterday, but they

[6:13] were closed. So hopefully hopefully

[6:15] they're open this morning. I get more

[6:17] information. Their shower facilities are

[6:19] still closed. There's nobody here

[6:20] attending it. You know, their hours are

[6:22] posted. It's 8 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. I've

[6:25] been here twice now. I left a message. I

[6:28] called their phone number and I left a

[6:29] message asking that they call me and let

[6:31] me know. This is a waste of my fuel and

[6:35] time. And it's a little frustrating

[6:37] because it's been many days since I

[6:39] showered. So if this is not a workable

[6:41] solution, I'm going to have to find a

[6:42] different one.

[6:44] So, I'm just going to head back and try

[6:47] to get everything charged and do some

[6:49] work this morning and hopefully I'll

[6:52] hear from them at some point and I'll

[6:55] learn more. If I don't, I'll figure out

[6:57] another solution. I want to acknowledge

[6:59] one that would work for some people. It

[7:00] won't work for me. So, I'm very close to

[7:03] Honeyman, the last state park that I

[7:04] volunteered at. I have an annual day use

[7:08] pass because I was

[7:10] volunteer. I think technically I could

[7:13] probably go there to shower. Although

[7:15] they would say that um their showers are

[7:19] for campground guests, but it

[7:22] is I don't think that it's completely

[7:25] forbidden. I know that many people do

[7:27] it. Um some people might come early in

[7:30] the morning before the rangers are

[7:31] there. I just want you to know this is

[7:33] an option that if you ever end up in a

[7:35] situation you might want to consider.

[7:39] um obviously treat the place with

[7:42] respect. A lot of people don't and it's

[7:44] making them change their policies and

[7:46] the way that

[7:47] they the way they treat

[7:50] people. So I, you know, because they

[7:53] literally threw me out of that place

[7:55] because the park supervisor didn't like

[7:58] me. That's really the reason

[8:00] why. Um you know, I'm a known quantity

[8:03] there and I just wouldn't feel

[8:05] comfortable doing it. I will go there uh

[8:08] to empty my tanks and to fill up my

[8:10] water tank, you know, at their dump

[8:12] station because that's open to the

[8:14] public. That is definitely open to the

[8:15] public. So, so that's something I'll be

[8:19] able to do. They're very close. I can

[8:21] use it to fill up my water tanks and

[8:24] empty my tanks when I need to.

[8:27] So,

[8:30] um, part of me is wondering if maybe I

[8:32] should try to figure out how to shower

[8:35] off grid or, you know, clean myself off

[8:37] grid without having to try to find a

[8:40] shower

[8:41] facility. I mean, maybe that's possible

[8:44] because if I'm able to keep my house

[8:47] batteries going, that means I can

[8:48] generate hot water. Uh, it would mean I

[8:50] have a water heater also. So, you know,

[8:53] I just couldn't use my shower because it

[8:55] would fill up my tanks too fast, very

[8:58] very fast, even if I were to try to do,

[9:02] you know, like an armory shower or

[9:03] whatever. So, um, but I might even try

[9:07] that. You know, it's a this is all about

[9:09] adaptation. Um, I'm not expecting a

[9:12] perfect life, you know. I just something

[9:14] that's workable and it keeps me clean

[9:18] and happy. So maybe I will try that cuz

[9:21] my shower is available. Um we can figure

[9:24] out how long it takes to fill those

[9:27] tanks.

[9:29] So the hard part's going to be getting

[9:31] water into my tanks cuz that was a

[9:33] really hard spot to park in. So if I

[9:36] have to move and go back to that spot,

[9:37] oh man, that was pretty hard because of

[9:40] the angle it was at. But this feels like

[9:42] something I'm going to need to do. I

[9:44] might even do it this morning. So I'm

[9:46] going to think about that.

[9:47] So, I'm actually very close to

[9:49] Huntington right now because I'm driving

[9:50] back from Florence to my camp site. Um,

[9:53] we're just going to stop there. I'm just

[9:55] going to go look at their dump station.

[9:57] I've actually cleaned it before, like,

[9:59] you know, with um their blowers and

[10:00] stuff and run like debris and things

[10:02] like that, but I haven't looked closely

[10:04] at it. I know their dump stations are

[10:06] good um but I don't really know how um

[10:09] their clean water works. Like, I would

[10:11] need to be able to hook a hose to it.

[10:13] So, I just need to make sure that's

[10:14] possible because a lot of places I've

[10:16] seen, they have hoses that are part of

[10:20] the infrastructure that would never

[10:23] reach. I'm not really sure how they

[10:24] work. Maybe they would reach. I don't

[10:27] think so. I'm not sure. Well, I should

[10:29] just say I don't know. So, we're going

[10:30] to find out. Honeyman's right up

[10:34] here. So, I'll just take you with me.

[10:37] Honeyman State Park. It's a very nice

[10:40] place.

[10:45] Coming back to the scene of the

[10:47] crime where all the rangers and

[10:49] volunteers know

[10:59] me. This is a really nice park. If you

[11:02] haven't been here and you're in the area

[11:04] is definitely worth staying here.

[11:06] So, we're just going to go to the left

[11:08] here and the dump stations will be up

[11:10] just a little ways. That's a day use

[11:12] area over

[11:13] there. It's a very nice lake. I love

[11:16] that lake. Been to it many, many

[11:23] times. This is also a day use area up

[11:26] here. It's the other side of the lake

[11:29] and there's a dock there. That's

[11:32] generally um where I would hike to. I've

[11:34] had some winning memories here. Um

[11:37] there's a video of me um where this guy

[11:41] came to check me out in the rain. There

[11:43] was a moment over at that gate at the

[11:45] end. There's that's the day you see

[11:46] there. That's where that

[11:48] happens. What a good

[11:50] memory. So, we'll just come over here.

[11:52] Now, if you go to the right, you'll go

[11:53] to the campground. It's a very big

[11:55] campground. We're just going to go to

[11:56] the left and look at the dump

[11:59] station. We don't need any encounter

[12:01] with the rangers here.

[12:07] So, there are two dump

[12:11] stations or what? I don't know. You

[12:13] know, yeah, there's two dump stations

[12:15] and

[12:18] then Okay, so this says clean water

[12:20] right here. And yep, it looks like you

[12:23] can hook something up to it. Yeah. So,

[12:25] that's perfect. We can get water

[12:27] here. That's what we'll do.

[12:31] So, I've got some tasks I need to take

[12:33] care of this morning. I'll need to make

[12:35] sure my RV is ready to be moved and

[12:38] we'll just come down here. We'll get

[12:39] water. Um, I don't really need to empty

[12:42] my tanks um yet. So, I don't really need

[12:45] to do that. We'll get my RV batteries

[12:48] charged and I'll start using my water

[12:51] pump and um the water heater and I'll

[12:54] just figure out how to shower in my

[12:56] RV and without you know without using a

[13:00] lot of water and I'll get all my devices

[13:03] charged. I'll try to look for some work

[13:05] on Guru. Got a busy day

[13:09] ahead. So this is a national recreation

[13:12] area I'm staying at.

[13:14] just about heading. I'm back now. I'll

[13:17] just show you the view while I talk for

[13:19] a

[13:20] minute. So, I was thinking about

[13:25] it and I can't use my water heater

[13:29] without electricity. It only works on

[13:31] electricity or propane. Um, it's got two

[13:34] different options. So, I'll have to use

[13:36] propane if I want to have hot water. And

[13:39] I don't have a lot. I think I have like

[13:41] less than 11% now.

[13:44] Uh, so we're going to drive it into town

[13:46] first. I'm going to spend $20 to put

[13:48] propane in it. I don't think that'll

[13:50] fill it up all the way. I might give me

[13:52] a half a tank or something like that,

[13:54] but it's it's a place to

[13:56] start. And this is always one of this is

[13:58] one of the hardest things that I do is

[14:00] driving the RV to a a gas station to get

[14:04] fuel or propane. I know exactly where to

[14:06] take it. I know the guy um who operates

[14:09] the pumps there. He's a nice guy.

[14:12] and you know, so I'm going to do that

[14:14] and then on the way back we'll stop at

[14:15] Honeyman. We'll fill up my water

[14:18] tanks and I'll just dump my tanks even

[14:21] though there isn't a lot in there.

[14:25] And you know, I'll feel good about it

[14:27] because this will be another instance of

[14:29] me doing the very hardest part. And the

[14:33] hard the longer you do that, the more

[14:35] times you do that, the easier it

[14:37] becomes. And then it's just your life.

[14:40] And so you'll get to witness

[14:45] that. It's quite beautiful back here. If

[14:48] you take the road all the way to the

[14:49] end, you end at the beach, at the

[14:52] ocean. So, there's a picnic area here. I

[14:56] haven't seen it yet. I plan to explore

[14:57] everything. I mean, it's just the picnic

[14:59] area, but I still want to explore it.

[15:03] And there are

[15:06] trails, several

[15:09] [Music]

[15:11] campgrounds, have a little river here on

[15:14] both

[15:22] sides. It says OV is prohibited on road.

[15:25] I'm not sure what that area is actually.

[15:27] There isn't a sign that explains what it

[15:29] is. So, we'll have to explore that one

[15:30] day.

[15:33] Um probably where the OVs um it's a

[15:36] staging

[15:37] area. It's just saying they can't be on

[15:40] the roads, but they, you know, that's

[15:41] where they would stage and then head out

[15:43] to the

[15:45] dunes. Oh, and here's the campground I'm

[15:47] staying at. The other trails and things

[15:48] are further down. So, this is where I'm

[15:51] staying. Only one loop is open right

[15:53] now, but the others will open on May

[15:55] 1st.

[15:57] And it's been very quiet and nice here.

[16:00] really enjoyed my

[16:02] time. Oh, the volunteers are

[16:05] up. Let me just pause this. He waved to

[16:08] me. He's a really nice guy. Married

[16:09] couple. I met both of them. Um the other

[16:12] person I think is probably

[16:16] um one of those traveling um what do you

[16:19] call those? Those traveling repair

[16:21] people. Um I think you know he's

[16:23] probably doing some work on his RV or

[16:25] something. He's got a big RV. So, I'm

[16:27] just going to park down here because um

[16:30] I'm going to have to, you know, move my

[16:32] RV. So, I'm just parking at um an

[16:36] overflow parking

[16:37] basically. Grab my headphones

[16:40] [Music]

[16:42] here. Jump on my earrings. So, my

[16:45] piercings are still fresh and

[16:49] sore. Um everything else can stay in

[16:52] here. I just make sure everything's in

[16:53] this

[16:55] box. Okay.

[16:59] I love my Jeep. It is my favorite thing

[17:01] on earth. Truly, it

[17:08] is. My keys aren't in my pocket. Hold

[17:11] on. Let this be a lesson. My keys aren't

[17:14] in my pocket. I thought they were. And I

[17:15] locked both of my doors, but I was just

[17:17] about to lock the back. Don't have my

[17:19] keys. Can't. And I have to crawl through

[17:21] there to get my keys. Make sure that I

[17:23] always have my keys before I lock the

[17:25] door. I generally do. And that's what I

[17:26] thought I just did, but I clearly did

[17:28] not. Didn't find them at first. That

[17:30] made me so nervous that I started my

[17:32] Jeep cuz you press a button, it only

[17:34] works if the key fob is around. Oh,

[17:36] thank

[17:37] God. Got to be careful when you live a

[17:40] nomad life. These things are so

[17:42] precious. Like, you know, I've always

[17:44] got my wallet in my pocket even when I'm

[17:46] sleeping. And you

[17:49] just It is so important that you not

[17:52] misplace these things cuz I don't know

[17:54] what I would do if I did.

[17:57] Okay, we're off. Thank

[18:00] God. So, we're just going to walk down

[18:03] here. You can see my RV over there. Look

[18:08] closely. It's a hard spot to park in,

[18:11] but it's, you know, there's nobody here.

[18:13] It shouldn't be too hard. I know how to

[18:14] do it. Um, I can only do it if the one

[18:17] of these pullthroughs um are empty. You

[18:20] know, if there was a vehicle there, I

[18:21] would not be able to get in. because I

[18:23] need to kind of pull into that in order

[18:26] to maneuver it the right

[18:29] way.

[18:32] So, just got to get this done this

[18:34] morning so that I, you know, it's not

[18:36] very likely somebody will be there by

[18:38] the time we get back. And I have that

[18:41] site booked until the 12th.

[18:44] um which means I'll have been at that

[18:46] point I'll have been here for I think 8

[18:48] days which means I can extend it a

[18:51] little bit further um up to 14 days

[18:53] before I have to move to another

[18:55] campgrounds and I'm hopeful that I'll be

[18:57] able to do

[18:59] that because this is a good place to

[19:01] be and I'm adapting in real

[19:09] time. So here we are. I have to bring my

[19:12] awning in and take those things inside

[19:14] and we'll just be off. I don't really

[19:16] need to do anything else. Everything

[19:17] should be basically secure in there. Um,

[19:21] I'm going to get it started. That way it

[19:23] is

[19:24] charging these batteries even now, like

[19:27] the house batteries. If that's working,

[19:30] then I know that, you know, I still have

[19:31] power. So, cuz you can't make that thing

[19:34] not um sliding or not when you open the

[19:38] door. Battery's going to be so low.

[19:43] We'll just start with that. We'll just

[19:44] get the RV running cuz it will start

[19:47] charging the

[19:52] batteries. Only a few

[19:56] [Music]

[19:59] minutes. Feel good about

[20:02] this. I'm pretty low on fuel, though. It

[20:05] says I've got a quarter of a tank, a

[20:08] range of 65 miles.

[20:12] I'm going to have to put some fuel in

[20:14] this. There's no way around

[20:17] it. I'd be so so low if I didn't. I'm

[20:21] going to have

[20:23] to I guess I'll put $15 in it and I'll

[20:26] spend $20 on propane and I spent $20 on

[20:31] um fuel for my Jeep. That's all my

[20:34] money.

[20:38] This is what it takes

[20:39] sometimes. Well, now I have a new

[20:41] problem. My control panel is not showing

[20:45] um the awning to bring it

[20:47] in. I restarted this. It's still not

[20:51] showing it. I'm wondering if the

[20:52] batteries are so low that it's just not

[20:54] showing

[20:55] up. That's worrying. So, we're going to

[20:57] give it a little bit of time while I get

[20:59] everything packaged up in here.

[21:03] But you know, and if that doesn't work,

[21:04] then I'm going to have to figure out how

[21:05] to do it manually. I think I might

[21:11] know. Another challenge to face this

[21:13] morning. So

[21:16] many. This is This is how you

[21:22] learn. And I'm thinking maybe because

[21:24] the batteries are so, you know, it's

[21:26] charging. It says 13.52 volts right now.

[21:29] I think it would register that.

[21:32] I'm not sure. I just thought about

[21:34] something. Maybe it doesn't show. Yep,

[21:36] that's what it was. I turned the RV off

[21:38] and now it's showing up. Oh, thank God.

[21:41] Okay, so now we know

[21:44] why. Yeah, we're going to bring this in.

[21:46] You might be able to see it through the

[21:48] window

[21:50] here. I just got to listen for the sound

[21:52] when it

[21:54] reaches the back walls. Oh, it's pretty

[21:56] windy

[21:58] out. But these are tough. This is a

[22:01] tough

[22:21] awning. It's slow. I'm just going to

[22:23] wait till I hear the sound.

[22:33] Then we'll check it. Make sure that it's

[22:36] secure.

[22:39] Okay. Unlock my driver's side door so I

[22:42] can get in and out

[22:44] easier. And I can only unlock it or lock

[22:47] it from inside. It's It's broken.

[22:50] Everything's broken in this

[22:52] thing. So, let's see how we're doing.

[22:57] Okay, it's

[23:00] in. Yeah, we're good. So, we get the

[23:03] Harvey going again and then we'll get

[23:04] everything packaged

[23:06] up. Get everything inside the camp

[23:10] basically. I'm happy about this. Um,

[23:14] feels like a

[23:18] lot. Definitely navigating a lot with no

[23:21] money. That part scares the crap out of

[23:23] me.

[23:25] um you

[23:27] know, you just have to roll with life.

[23:29] You can't you can't get

[23:32] um can't operate from a place of fear.

[23:34] You can't let it take over. You can't

[23:36] let it dictate your

[23:38] actions. You can't let it cloud your

[23:41] judgment. You learn to integrate it. You

[23:43] learn to integrate fear. I actually have

[23:45] a video of me driving up a mountain in

[23:47] Nevada that I was very, very afraid of

[23:49] and I walked you through that process

[23:51] where I literally integrated my fear of

[23:54] that

[23:56] mountain. So that's all I'm doing now. I

[23:59] have fear in my chest,

[24:01] but you know, I acknowledge it. I don't

[24:05] try to push it away. I don't try to

[24:08] um treat it as more or less than what it

[24:10] is. It's fear. It's acknowledgment of my

[24:13] situation. Okay, we're ready to go. Lock

[24:17] up this door.

[24:20] put my safety lock on cuz I don't trust

[24:22] the door. So, there was a tent camper

[24:25] over there. He left that firewood

[24:26] behind. I might go gather that unless he

[24:28] comes back. Um because it just looks

[24:31] like I'm surprised he left it behind.

[24:33] We'll see, I guess. And you can see my

[24:34] Jeep in the distance

[24:36] there. Very pretty. But we're ready to

[24:41] go to head out and take care of what

[24:43] needs taken care of. So, this should be

[24:45] interesting because I'm driving without

[24:47] my Jeep um being towed. Very different

[24:50] circumstances for

[24:52] me. And this is going to be a tight turn

[24:55] though. Getting out of my spot. A wood

[24:57] pole right there. We got to go. We got

[24:59] to go this way.

[25:01] So, it's not ideal, but I think that I

[25:05] can do it. Oh, this feels This is not

[25:08] the best spot in an

[25:10] RV. So, we're going to do our best

[25:13] here. Keeping an eye on the field.

[25:19] Yeah, it's just not possible. We're

[25:20] going to have to pull in reverse a

[25:22] little

[25:26] bit. That's on

[25:30] me. All

[25:35] right. Just got to do

[25:38] this. Okay. Very close to that lamp

[25:42] there, but we're good. We got this.

[25:47] Yeah, this is a tight squeeze. We'll

[25:49] never get this spot again, that's for

[25:56] sure. Yeah, we got this. That is a very

[26:02] tight

[26:05] spot, but I needed to focus there. We're

[26:09] good. We're going to head into town

[26:12] now. I will definitely get different

[26:14] spots in the future. I had no idea that

[26:16] that one was It is literally the the

[26:20] backwards orientation that it should be.

[26:22] It's probably not really meant for

[26:25] RVs.

[26:27] Um, you know, there were no notes on

[26:30] recreation.gov about it. I actually look

[26:32] for those cuz some places do put notes.

[26:34] They let you know if this is not a great

[26:36] spot for RVs. It didn't have any notes

[26:38] about it.

[26:39] So, I assumed it would be fine. It was

[26:41] long and looked like it would be fine.

[26:46] We'll

[26:49] manage. We did it. This we're navigating

[26:52] this life

[26:54] successfully. Okay, we're good. We're on

[26:57] our way out of the park. Just want to

[26:59] know there's something that I say to me

[27:01] myself sort of as an

[27:02] affirmation. Um I haven't been lately,

[27:05] but I did notice that I bought it and so

[27:07] I just wanted to share it. I often say

[27:09] we've got this. When I'm about to drive

[27:12] this thing, usually the first thing I

[27:14] say, we've got this. I say it out loud.

[27:17] And it might seem strange that I say we.

[27:19] I've actually wondered about even talked

[27:20] about it with AI. And it's because

[27:24] I'm calling forth every part of myself,

[27:26] you know,

[27:29] um the emotional, the just just um the

[27:34] sematic, you know, the bodily like we've

[27:37] got this. My whole being has got this.

[27:39] the spiritual, I guess you could say.

[27:43] Um, I think it helps cuz it's not just

[27:46] an affirmation to something I genuinely

[27:48] believe. So, when I say it to myself,

[27:51] it's it's more than an affirmation. It's

[27:53] an acknowledgement of of my previous

[27:57] experiences.

[27:59] And I think I think it probably does

[28:02] help. So, I think I'll just show you the

[28:04] drive into town. We don't have too far

[28:06] to go. It's very beautiful on the coast

[28:10] because of the dunes. You can't see the

[28:11] ocean. It would be on the left

[28:14] side. Um, but you know, this is the 101

[28:18] and I love the 101. I think of it as

[28:20] home. I think of the whole thing, the

[28:22] whole stretch of the 101 is my home

[28:24] now. And I just want to share that with

[28:26] you. There will be other clips after

[28:28] this. So, if you just want to skip ahead

[28:30] because of the drive, you

[28:33] can. I'm just going to share this part

[28:35] with you.

[28:55] Heat. Heat.

[29:17] These people here provide tours of the

[29:19] dunes. Uh they got some very big

[29:21] machines, you know, where like dozens of

[29:23] people can be on

[29:25] them at the same time while they take

[29:27] you on a guided tour of the dunes. I'd

[29:29] like to do that

[29:31] someday. There's a few places like that

[29:33] around

[29:39] town. Everything here is about the

[29:46] dunes. Maybe we can even make it out to

[29:48] the ocean today after I get everything

[29:50] else done. We can just walk out there.

[29:53] Here's State Park. It's very large park.

[29:56] It's on both sides of the 101.

[29:59] There's a bridge up here, a walkway type

[30:01] bridge that takes you to both parts of

[30:03] the

[30:05] park. I when I volunteered there for the

[30:08] two months that I was there, February

[30:09] and March, I spent a lot of time on that

[30:12] bridge just looking north and south.

[30:15] It's kind of like a meditative practice

[30:16] for me. I would watch the

[30:19] vehicles. A lot of people would wave to

[30:21] me, which I thought was pretty

[30:23] cool. There's the bridge right there.

[30:35] Just past the bridge is the entrance to

[30:36] the park. Either way, right or

[30:47] left, and we'll head there on our way

[30:49] back.

[31:00] We got a couple miles to go before we

[31:01] get into Florence.

[31:48] So, this fuel station is the first one

[31:50] before you get to

[31:52] town. Um, I don't know how to navigate

[31:54] that. The diesel pumps don't work. I've

[31:56] actually checked on that. Um, they don't

[31:59] work. They do have the propane station

[32:02] there. Um, but the diesel pumps are

[32:18] broken. Slowing down so that everybody

[32:20] can get around

[32:22] me. I'm not being very fast about it.

[32:26] I hate that. Just going to wait for

[32:28] everyone to go

[32:43] around driving a big

[32:48] vehicle. All right.

[33:05] Okay. So, up here on the left is the

[33:08] South Jetty. It's a national forest um

[33:12] area and it's very nice. It's got dunes

[33:15] and beach access.

[33:17] It's there's several miles of um road

[33:20] back there just over

[33:23] there with different like parking lots

[33:25] for access to the beach and there's a

[33:27] bunch of dunes. I've been back there

[33:29] quite a few times. It's a wonderful

[33:31] area. That's where most people go around

[33:33] here. That's usually where they

[33:41] go. And then the bridge up here takes

[33:44] you into Florence.

[33:52] Oh, wow. The bridge is up. This is the

[33:54] first time I've seen it up. I was hoping

[33:57] we would get lucky cuz people I've been

[33:59] asking people and they're saying they

[34:01] only see it every

[34:02] um um couple of times in their whole

[34:05] life. Bridge is up. I don't know if I

[34:07] got it on camera and we're a little bit

[34:09] too far back to see it. Oh, that

[34:12] sucks. That is so cool. I actually got

[34:16] to witness

[34:17] it. We're not going to see it. I'm

[34:20] sorry. I wish you

[34:21] could. That's

[34:24] amazing. Now I know how it

[34:30] works. I'll pause this till we start

[34:32] moving again. We came at the exact right

[34:35] time. I I really wanted to see that. It

[34:38] was very cool. I hope I got it on

[34:40] camera. I don't know.

[34:43] Only a little tiny part of the bridge

[34:45] went

[34:46] up. So, we drive over that like every

[34:50] day. This part that's

[34:53] not doesn't have a whole lot of

[34:56] reinforcement compared to the rest of

[34:57] the bridge. Wow. Oh, that is so

[35:02] cool. I asked everybody. I asked every

[35:05] ranger that I met, you know, how often

[35:07] have you seen that bridge go up and

[35:09] down? And most of them just said once or

[35:12] twice in their whole

[35:14] lives. We just got to

[35:16] see my tank saying I got a range of 80

[35:20] miles right now at a quarter of a tank.

[35:21] And that is about right. I get about 75

[35:24] miles per quarter

[35:26] tank. So maybe I don't put any fuel in

[35:29] this cuz I need every bit of money that

[35:30] I have. Maybe I just get some

[35:34] propane. It's enough to get back into

[35:37] town to get fuel.

[35:39] So,

[35:41] um I mean we couldn't have traveled more

[35:43] than like I guess I'll look it up on a

[35:46] map before I leave the fuel station, but

[35:48] I think we've only traveled

[35:50] like 5

[35:53] miles. It's not far. It's definitely

[35:56] close

[35:57] though. I don't know. This part's hard.

[36:00] What am I going to

[36:02] get about this bridge?

[36:07] [Music]

[36:18] It does say I've got a decent range. I

[36:21] can't get that to be clear. Maybe

[36:24] try 78 miles.

[36:42] [Music]

[36:47] Okay, we just got to drive through town

[36:48] to get to the fuel station that's easy

[36:50] to

[36:53] navigate. And I need to decide, am I

[36:56] going to get fuel or risk it? And I

[36:59] think the answer is risk it. Range 83

[37:02] mi. If you go slow, you definitely get

[37:04] more gallons in this thing. I had to do

[37:06] that once when I was traveling here from

[37:07] Kentucky to Oregon. Nearly ran out of

[37:09] gas and I drove so slow down this one

[37:11] road. I was so nervous. I made it to a

[37:14] fuel

[37:15] stop cuz I was able to conserve gas that

[37:20] way. And I think we're going to just

[37:22] have to do that

[37:23] again. Yeah, cuz the range is pretty

[37:26] good. It's going up still a little bit

[37:27] more.

[37:28] 86. It's definitely a quarter of a tank,

[37:30] though. I mean, if I had fuel, if I

[37:33] could fill this thing up, I could use

[37:35] this to charge my house batteries, too,

[37:37] which would be great. I just once I'm

[37:39] making more money and I can afford to do

[37:42] all of that, these are the things that

[37:44] I'll that I will

[37:54] do. Florence is a nice little town.

[38:07] [Music]

[38:17] I did feel hear a few of my things

[38:19] banging around back there. Hopefully

[38:20] everything's fine.

[38:23] still adapting to that where

[38:25] everything's always secure all the time.

[38:27] That's

[38:31] difficult. I thought I, you know, I

[38:33] checked

[38:34] and I don't know. I felt like I was

[38:36] ready. We'll we'll figure out what that

[38:38] was later, though. Heard a couple of

[38:41] things. Okay, this is the fuel station

[38:49] 76. Yep. And we're just here for propane

[38:52] cuz I've got enough

[38:53] fuel barely. But I do have enough that

[38:57] when I need to come back here, I'll be

[38:59] able

[39:07] to. Yeah. Right

[39:12] here. There's their propane is over

[39:15] there. That's a weird angle. I guess I

[39:18] didn't know where it was.

[39:22] Oh, you have to drive around. I

[39:25] see.

[39:26] Um, feel challenging though. I'll just

[39:30] try to do this in reverse. See if I can

[39:31] get away with

[39:33] that. I don't have to go far. I have a

[39:36] backup camera.

[39:46] [Music]

[39:49] I'm going to have to go

[39:51] around. So, there's another

[39:54] entrance. I'll be right back, I guess,

[39:57] guy. That

[39:59] sucks. Now we

[40:05] know.

[40:08] Okay. Cuz it's on the passenger side of

[40:10] the vehicle.

[40:20] Okay. So, we drive

[40:25] through. Let's see

[40:29] here. Probably right

[40:31] here. Hate to get stuck. I see another

[40:34] entrance there. So, we'll do that just

[40:36] to be

[40:37] careful. Yeah, we'll be able to drive

[40:39] through.

[40:42] Let's wait for this

[40:51] car.

[40:58] Okay. If I'm not getting fuel, I almost

[41:00] want to put more propane in it. Um,

[41:03] lower propane I can get into this thing,

[41:05] the better.

[41:08] But it's going to take all my

[41:12] money. Oh, maybe this propane isn't to

[41:15] the gas station. It's to the store.

[41:19] $5 a

[41:22] gallon.

[41:25] Okay. So, like

[41:28] this. Okay. Let's I'll go find out. Just

[41:31] stop here for now. All right. So, she

[41:34] didn't want to do it. This This happens.

[41:36] I feel like they just don't want to put

[41:38] the propane in. So, they tell you that

[41:39] they're busy even though there's nobody

[41:41] here. Literally nobody. Just like it'll

[41:44] be 45 minutes. And she said there's

[41:46] another place right down the street, a

[41:48] different 76

[41:49] station. We're just going to try

[41:53] there. So, we're

[42:00] off. Really nervous about my fuel.

[42:04] Now you got to got to be

[42:10] careful. She said that it was an easy

[42:13] station to

[42:15] navigate. I see the propane tank down

[42:17] there.

[42:41] [Music]

[42:43] Okay, just ignore the

[42:46] noises. Things are going to get banged

[42:48] around. Oh, got to get my

[42:51] lights.

[42:53] Okay. Um, based on where that is. I need

[42:56] to go this way. Okay.

[43:02] Okay. Yeah, this looks easy

[43:06] enough. Make a wide turn

[43:15] here. Yeah, we got this. That's

[43:20] good. Okay.

[43:31] Okay. Oh, here comes a guy. Hold on.

[43:34] They're saying they can't do it either.

[43:35] Now they're directing me to another gas

[43:39] station. Life can be

[43:43] hard. We're not going to get frustrated.

[43:46] We're just going to keep going. He said

[43:47] it's on the right hand side of the

[43:51] road.

[44:00] Very frustrating though for these

[44:03] vehicles. So I'm going to have to make a

[44:05] wide turn

[44:20] here. Sure, there's a lot of

[44:30] them. All right, let's

[44:38] go.

[44:41] Okay, not familiar with this

[44:44] BP. Oops. Didn't mean to do that.

[44:53] I have to. I'm just going to go sit at

[44:55] that store. I'll wait 45 minutes.

[45:40] So, I guess we're learning which places

[45:42] are actually willing to put propane into

[45:45] RVs. Oh, VP, not VP.

[45:48] Okay, I see it. Okay. And I see what

[45:51] side of the road it's on. So, I've got

[45:53] to go around.

[45:57] Yeah. Okay. All right. This looks

[46:01] manageable. Big dealing truck

[46:03] [Music]

[46:07] there. Everybody's got propane, but

[46:09] nobody wants you to use

[46:11] it.

[46:19] Okay. All

[46:22] right. We got this. We got this.

[46:30] Okay, right

[46:33] here. So, the cutest man helped me. Oh

[46:36] man, this man is so beautiful. There's a

[46:39] little rainbow flag in there, but it's

[46:42] probably there all the time. I didn't

[46:44] get gay vibes from him, but you know,

[46:46] very friendly and

[46:48] um maybe I don't know. Oh, man. He I

[46:53] didn't we talked we chatted about

[46:56] different places and um maybe I'll get

[46:59] my fuel from here from now on.

[47:01] Definitely going to get my propane from

[47:03] here. So maybe I'll get to know this

[47:06] guy. He seemed really nice. He said he

[47:08] had just gone up to Cape Disappointment

[47:10] which is near um the Washington Oregon

[47:13] border. So he he

[47:17] just liked him. So, we got fuel or some

[47:21] propane. Um, I put He told me it's a 20

[47:25] gallon tank. It's at half now. Um, I

[47:28] already had some in there. Can't

[47:29] remember how many gallons he said it

[47:31] was. Um, but I put put $30 in there. I

[47:35] got

[47:37] like It says 350 a gallon, but that's

[47:40] not what I think it was like eight

[47:41] gallons. I think I put like eight

[47:43] gallons in there. So, we're going to use

[47:44] it very sparingly and hope that it

[47:47] lasts.

[47:48] Um, now we're just going to go and we're

[47:50] going to put water in my tank and then

[47:53] we'll go back to the

[47:56] campground.

[47:58] Um, this my light. I'm glad to have some

[48:01] new propane. Have to have some of that.

[48:03] I can use it for heat. I can use it for

[48:07] um my water

[48:09] heater. So, just got to use as sparingly

[48:12] as I possibly can.

[48:15] If I had lots of money, then I could

[48:17] come up here like every couple days and

[48:19] get propane and flirt with that guy cuz

[48:21] oh my god, he was so cute. He was so

[48:23] cute. Oh

[48:26] man, let it go. Let it go. When I see be

[48:29] I, you know, I name things that are

[48:32] beautiful. When I see, you know, the

[48:34] ocean or trees or just whatever, but

[48:37] also guys, you know, I mean, I really

[48:40] like them. These things really cool.

[48:45] So yeah,

[48:48] whatever. Very foggy day out here.

[48:51] Starting to get

[48:57] foggy. Got to get

[49:03] over people. Cut you off. But

[49:07] now,

[49:09] um, going over the

[49:12] bridge, yeah, we're just going to head

[49:14] to

[49:15] Honeyman. All right, we're here

[49:18] again. Uh, I don't need to really empty

[49:21] my tanks cuz I barely used them. So, I'm

[49:24] going to leave that alone cuz that's a

[49:25] lot of work and it just I don't think it

[49:28] would

[49:28] be very useful to try to empty

[49:32] them until next time. So, we're just

[49:35] going to get

[49:40] water. Oh, my um my yellow light came on

[49:44] on my fuel thing. And then a thing

[49:48] prompted up saying drive to a fuel

[49:50] station trying to panic me, but I think

[49:53] it just does that once it gets to a

[49:55] quarter of a tank. We're fine. We're

[49:57] going to be

[49:59] fine. Okay. So, we're going to Oh,

[50:01] there's water on both sides. Okay. I

[50:02] didn't know that. I thought it would

[50:03] just decide, but now I see it. So, we're

[50:06] going to fill the water tank up here.

[50:09] I'm so happy about this that that I'm

[50:12] able to do this. We're doing it. Even

[50:15] got my water filter hooked up so that

[50:18] the water's clean, you know,

[50:21] cleaner. Then just comes back

[50:24] here. Wait for the water to start coming

[50:26] out of there and we'll know it's full.

[50:30] Okay, that's pretty decent speed. I

[50:32] guess this will take a while. Be here

[50:34] for 5 or 10 minutes while it does

[50:37] this. And I just thought about it. This

[50:39] is going to make my fuel mileage go

[50:41] down, but we're still going to be fine.

[50:42] So,

[50:44] um, yeah. Oh, man. so much.

Energetic Signature steady determination

Field State infrastructure stabilization

Orientation toward self-sufficiency infrastructure

Summary

rswfire begins Monday morning at a national recreation area campground, assessing his situation with house batteries that have been running for 3-4 days at 11.15 volts. He plans to visit a laundromat with shower facilities in Florence, Oregon, but finds it closed despite posted hours. He decides to experiment with charging his RV's house batteries by running his Jeep's engine and inverter for about 3 hours, estimating this would use one gallon of gas.

**Key developments:**

- Discovers house batteries are still functional after several days without charging

- Plans to fill water tanks and use RV systems (fridge, water pump, lights) if battery charging works

- Has $60 total budget and campground reservation until April 12th

- Attempts to get propane at multiple gas stations in Florence, facing repeated refusals

- Successfully gets propane at a BP station from a helpful attendant

- Visits Honeyman State Park (where he previously volunteered) to fill water tanks

- Navigates tight RV maneuvering in campground spot

**Operational details:**

- Currently has quarter tank of RV fuel with 80+ mile range

- Emptied water tanks at previous location for better fuel mileage

- Running low on propane (less than 11%)

- Plans to look for freelance programming work on guru.com

- Considers showering in RV using heated water to avoid facility dependencies

Signal Analysis

Substrate

This transmission demonstrates the recursive integration of survival logistics with sovereign field maintenance. The architecture being held is one of adaptive resilience — maintaining systemic coherence while navigating acute resource limitations through creative problem-solving and infrastructure improvisation.

Dominant Language

we've got this adaptation integration navigation workable manage figure out

Symbolic Elements

water fuel bridge threshold mirror current

Ontological States

•
sovereign
•
adaptive
•
resourceful
•
grounded

Subsystems

•
cognitive
•
infrastructural
•
somatic
•
ethical

Signal Reflection

No reflections available

Reflections provide narrative insights into signals

Transmission Details

Source Type

local

Video Quality

1080 × 1920 @ 30fps

Duration

50:48

Bitrate

1,733 kbps

Codec

av01.0.08M.08.0.110.05.01.06.0