Several readers emailed, “Are you still alive?”
They’re relishing their respite from bad stock tips.
Well, the news — good or bad — is I’m back in “civilization” — places with Internet. Which, in the west, is amazingly everywhere.
Michael, my son, and I spent six days rafting the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho with a superb company, called OARS.
It’s as wilderness as you can get. We camped, feasting on the stars and waiting for Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites to come whizzing by. Our river guides became thoroughly depressed when I told them that 2021 may be their last year without WiFi on the Salmon River.
There were 16 fellow rafters on the trip. Most of them were happy retirees still playing with their various and sundry investments.
If I were to draw one conclusion from my last blog on August 9 to today, August 22, it is that everyone out west is remarkably happy. I meet people who’d made and lost a fortune. I meet successful international consultants who gave up their traveling life to buy a bed-n-breakfast in Joseph, Oregon – nearest airport four hours away. I met a lady who’s divorcing her husband after 27-years and now has to worry about how they sell their joint-owned general store/cabin rental business in the high mountains. I have wonderful stories. More tomorrow.
Many towns out west — like Coeur d’Alene in Idaho and Missoula in Montana — are booming with startups — those making great clothing, great gadgetry and great software for the great outdoors.
There’s still time to plan a trip out west in 2021. I hear the main tourist traps — like Yellowstone and Yosemite — are teaming. But there are zillion of other places — like the Wallowa Mountains in eastern Oregon — that have lakes, mountains, hiking trails, a chairlift that will whisk you to 8200 feet and remarkably few people.
The Western states have beefed up their roads and highways. They’re all in amazing condition, some with an 80 MPH speed limit. Potholes have been outlawed.
Business out west? It’s booming. Their biggest problem? Not lack of customers. Not inflation. Not a shortage of customers.
No…. it’s shortage of labor. Restuarants are closing early. Some are not opening on certain days. There are “Help Wanted” signs everywhere.
There are twists to this story. The Wall Street Journal just reported the “work from home” boom is allowing people to hold several jobs at once:
These People Who Work From Home Have a Secret: They Have Two Jobs
When the pandemic freed employees from having to report to the office, some saw an opportunity to double their salary on the sly. Why be good at one job, they thought, when they could be mediocre at two?
For the Journal’s piece, click here.
My best stock tip
Several people asked for “my best stock tip.“
I hate answering that question. Still, the answer is obvious. It’s VGT, Vanguard’s technology ETF. Here’s its handsome movement this year:
Creativity is alive and well in the American wilderness.
You will soon be able to buy a mask with a built-in beard.
My favorite new business, however, is this one.
Several things I learned (which you probably know already)
+ This thing may save your life. It’s not a phone. It’s a satellite messaging/texting device that works from most anywhere. Aim it at the southwest sky and tell your spouse you love her. It worked. Susan replied.
Click here.
+ The biggest change is USB chargeable devices. I love this ultra-lightweight $18 headlamp.
It will be great for tootling around the house in the middle of the night without waking Susan.
Click here.
+ I’ve always hated wearing synthetics. They make me too hot. No more. Advances in fabrics from companies like Nike and Patagonia have made clothing comfortable, and sink or in the river washable. Synthetics dry fast. Cotton doesn’t.
+ My iPhone 12 and my Apple Watch are waterproof. You don’t need a clumsy waterproof case like the one I bought.
Fashions for touring the west
The $2+ million plus up-front thingee is towing the the get-around-town car in back. The motor home bus has enough batteries to run its air conditioning and six (or so) huge screens forever. It has more computers than Carter had liver pills. Steering is stabilized somehow.
We met this nice lady and her dog in Coeur d’Alene.
She had schlepped her dog’s non-motorarized home from the east. The dog can walk, but why should he?
Wonderful cartoons
An amazing milestone
26 years after Amazon sold its first book, Amazon has surpassed Walmart in total sales. The value of all things sold on Amazon, by it and its third-party sellers, surpassed $610 billion in the 12 months through June. Walmart on Tuesday reported $566 billion in sales over a similar period.
Here’s the last ten years of their stock prices. Walmart is brown below.
Start talking. And they’ll talk to you
I met this nice man in Coeur d’Alene. He’s a retired engineer. We had a nice chat. I asked him if he was vaccinated? The answer? An emphatic “Hell No.” His wife, standing nearby, however, was. She cringed at his answer.
I wish I knew how to solve the covid problem. With Delta, covid is only getting worse. Out west, covid is a nightmare, with few hospital beds available anywhere.
Wherever you are, you should be as careful as you’ve always been — masking, handwashing, social distancing, etc.
See you Tuesday. — Harry Newton
