Day 14 - Summer Snowstorm // Car Heists

Well, whatever stress I was experiencing about being cold AF yesterday evening was quickly forgotten about overnight and double fold by morning. It’s insane I’m actually sleeping this well. I have dealt with severe insomnia ever since I was like nine years old. Although I typically lay down and “sleep” through the night, I’m up checking the time every hour or two without fail.

Until I moved into the van. I deadass slept like 9 hours straight last night. I don’t think I’ve done that in several years. No exaggeration.

Today was another fairly uneventful day. A good day, yes, but really didn’t do much. I hit the lodge for some internet and a sneaky shower, picked the bad grapes out of my batch, and snagged some free hot water for instant coffee. It snowed a significant amount up on the hill- it did not look like this a few days ago. The “lanes”, the sort of gulleys in between ridges of rock and volcanic ash formed by lava and snowmelt, are fuller and whiter than they have been since May.

Alright, maybe it didn’t snow that much, but it is a very noticeable difference. A few days of sun and it will be back to how it was. This is the saddest I’ve ever seen hood- I hope they get a better draw this upcoming year. The summer I worked here, we closed summer operations about a month earlier than the typical year. I think that was around the end of July/beginning of August. It’s been looking pretty much the same lately.

I got bored of my phone(waiting on good weather to clear out the van and locate my computer) and headed down the hill to clean the van and do some laundry. I did, well, neither. Lmao. The cold rain has been deterring me from doing productive things. At least ones that don’t just require me using my phone. And by the weather deterring me, I mean, it is providing me with an excuse for being lazy.

For real though, I am mainly just concerned about any components of the van getting too wet because of a rig i had out here years ago. When I first moved to Seattle in 2022, I bought a 98 Suburban that came with mildew. The thing was great in terms of reliability, but it had its flaws; and the mildew was the worse for me.

as much of a problem as you were, I miss you :/

No matter how much I scrubbed that thing the mildew smell would always come back. I would probably still have that thing if not for a series of particularly absurd and very Pacific Northwest events that led it to its grave.. maybe.

See, in the spring of 2024 I took some time off work to drive down to Mt Hood from Seattle to do some camping/snowboarding with my seasonal transplant friends. After a few weeks, I had to make the 200 mile drive back home to do some work. I stopped in Portland to visit a friend and the Suburban got stolen. I miraculously found it a few blocks away, but my wallet had been stolen along with my power source, so I had to make the trip back sans phone. The thing about my Suburban was- it didn’t have a gas gauge. I would just run off the odometer to predict how much gas I had and when I needed to fill up.

This presented me with several problems. For one, I needed gas. But my wallet had been stolen. I could use my phone to pay, but it was extremely close to dead and I needed to transfer money between accounts, and didn’t think the battery would survive both actions. I just decided to start moving and figure it out as I go. I stopped about halfway and searched the car for change and got about a gallon or two if I remember correctly. I thought about panhandling or selling something from the truck, but decided against it. Last resort.

I stopped about 40 miles from home and tried to put whatever money I had in the account linked to my phone into the tank. It took a few tries but I got another couple gallons, right as the phone died. I somehow made it to Seattle and actually all the way to my neighborhood, where I finally ran out of gas a mere 6 blocks from my place and I pushed the heavy son of a bitch into a parking spot and said “I’ll deal with this later”

But it somehow got even more absurd. I came back a few days later with a gas can, only to find all the wires around the ignition ripped out and tampered with. It was clear someone had tried to steal my car again, and, ironically, likely would’ve been successful had there been gas in the car. They stripped the keyhole as well so I couldn’t actually turn my key.

A FEW DAYS LATER I CAME BACK AND THE CAR WAS OFFICIALLY STOLEN. CAN’T MAKE THIS SHIT UP. I’m assuming it was the same person, they just came back with gas. I never reported the theft; the car was worth maybe $1200 and cops dont look into vehicles that aren’t valued much higher. It didn’t lock, it smelled like mildew, first gear was out, the power steering was out.. it was a death trap that just screamed “steal me!”. I did have some personal belongings in it, though, that I will miss greatly.

What does any of this have to do with my current situation? Nothing really. I guess I learned some lessons from it. And it’s definitely making me paranoid about the interior of the van getting too damp. The van does lock, however, so that makes me feel a little better. This area of the USA is a huge hotspot for car theft; both of personal belongings inside and the vehicles themselves. I just thought it was a fun story.

So, therefore, I spent the evening rallying between writing while eating cheese and hummus, and laying down on my phone when I got cold or my back hurt. Listening to the beautiful sounds of the rain. It was an incredibly lazy end to the day- but fuck it, I’m allowed. Tomorrow I have a job interview for a retail job up at the lodge, and so I want to get up early to steal another shower and dig through the van for clothes that aren’t covered in dirt and paint or smell like campfire.

Wish me luck on the interview tomorrow. I’m feeling pretty good about it. If I land it, I hope to go on a little coast trip before it starts- I’ve been feeling a little cooped up the past week or so in Govy, but am hesitant to splurge on gas until I have some more steady employment lined up.

Go pet a dog today and give someone a compliment. Not a creepy one, just a genuine one as the situation arrives. You never know what someone is going through, and how much something so minor might mean to them :)