North West BS Thread

Good day to wash all the plum tree flower pedals and pollen off the truck. 10 minutes later, pollen is back.

 

I swear it came down yesterday by the inch. I dropped my daughter off at the middle school and it was clear. She comes home from school and my truck was covered.

 

Just started it again in the driveway. Hoping my wife can start it every couple days over the next two weeks and let it idle for 10 mins. Hopefully that will be enough to make it until I am back and can deal with swapping the battery.

 

Years ago I heard that you really need to drive at freeway speeds for 15-20 minutes to recharge a battery. Not sure if that is still the case, but I'm not sure 10 minutes of idle time will recharge the battery. Might be worth a Google...

 

Probably so. We will move to TX the week of 4/18 and will be driving probably will just buy a new battery at Costco. Cheap insurance for a drive of a couple thousand miles.

 

Any kind of OBD port device is going to introduce a parasitic draw. There’s more than a few threads where people isolated their fast-draining batteries to an OBD reader

 

I still have original battery from when I bought my truck. 2017, I declined the safety sense option. They asked that I return the the device that was plugged in below the dash. Anyway SR5 without bells and whistles. Wonder if that is the reason why I hear Toyota batteries are bad.

 

Finally had a chance to hit some dirt today. Fun run 30 miles some technical areas and climbs. Got some air on a crest. On the return run we caught up to a group of UTV’s once we cleared them we smoked through the trail back out. Great times. Truck worked well and now I want the LT kit even more lol. Got some great video I’ll see it can upload it later.

 

growing up in Houston you get to this time of the year with all the pine pollen - you just washed weekly knowing it would be back in an hour - drive through washes are pretty popular this time a year.

We're getting the same up here in the snohomish area, but just let the rain wash it for now

 

safe travels to Austin - beautiful area of the state being in the hill country - a couple good OHV parks around that area and plenty of camping

 

Pushed dirt all day. Not looking forward to the high winds tomorrow, 65mph+ gusts expected!

 

yeah - I keep reading about 1-2 ft of snow and high winds - still nothing on this side - I'm jealous of your side and view of the mountains @NWPirate

 

I seem to remember someone just moved from TX to WA. Was that you? How are you liking the area so far?

 

No wind over here yet, how's it looking this morning?

I'm lucky to be here, thank you

 

The wind showed up, constant 25-30mph right now. Plus a little fresh snow higher up.

 

@Green Thunder
Yep! That was me - well, in a round about way. I work construction and we were based in Houston (grew up there and happened to pick up a job from there as well), but we moved around the country for ~10 years. Current job no longer requires the moving around. There are parts I miss, parts I definitely don't miss - however I've always wanted to settle somewhere north (was more aiming for ID/WY/MT) and we do enjoy it up here in WA.

Have really gotten into the mountain biking up here (a little different than riding up and down the creeks - a bit more elevation change), hiking, and camping. Motorcycling is MUCH more enjoyable. My mom's family all live on the east side of WA - I grew up there on the farm every summer for 3-5 weeks. I would prefer to live on that side and then can come visit the west side (I miss my many days of sun from TX), but we make it work where we're at - the state as a whole has so much to do outdoors, and that ticks a big check box for me and the fam.

 

Noice. Glad all is going well and you are adapting to the environment. I’m always curious how new arrivals like the area. The winter weather is hard to prepare for mentally. Guess it helps you have moved around a lot.

Back in an old job, I would hire people from all around the US. I always checked in with them every month or two during the dark days to make sure they were surviving. They quickly understood why we have such strong coffee and beer industries here…

 

40mph gusts and snowing sideways!

 

Cant like that.

25 mph with gust of 40 here. Rain off and on.

 

We are 40-50 mph gust. Got gas at lunch break and reset my MPG. Almost hit 20MPG on my way home when my average is between 13-14 normally. Lol!

 

No kidding.
Thankfully it's not sticking, it's blowing in from the nearby mountains. 42° here

 

Tailwind??

 

The whole way! I’m sure it would have been single digits going the other way.

 

yeah, we lived in Anchorage for just over a year (originally supposed to be 3) and it didn't bother me too much with going to the office (the office had "happy lights" in the over heads during the winter). But now having lived through 4 winters here I do miss my sun. We lived in North Dakota for 22 mos and it was frigid cold, but after every snow it was sunny. If it did that here it wouldn't be too bad, but the winter grey is tough for sure (going through COVID didn't help either).

That's awesome that you would check in with people that move up - it truly is a transition for sure. And yes - it is very evident why the strong brewery and coffee setup exists here

I will say this much though - as long you can make it from Nov-Mayish - the pay off for the summers and early falls here is very much worth it.

 

Edit: 33° and sticking.

 

Yeah - just walked my dogs. In 1-1/2 miles we had rain, snow, hail, and sun and 30-40mph winds. Had a 4” DIA fir brandy come down on my chicken coop (no damage thankfully), and lost a few trees in the back yard over the hill (it’s all woods back there).

 

Sounds like fun, is it letting up yet down there?

 

Dislike!!

Glad nothing got damaged! Had a few good sized branches fall/break but no downed trees.

 

Wind has died down. Rain still coming off and on. Feels frigid.