24/7 Chat About Anything

[user 30781]

Oh no, I'm sorry your peace was ruined!

 

[Ravella and X]

No worries -- on to the next adventure!

 

[Naturelover2]

Today I moved from my cousins property in Kennedys Valley, Perry County PA to the top of Bowers mountain, still in Perry County PA A free forestry campsite. This is one of my favorites it’s got an amazing view. But it’s so foggy there’s no view today. It was 90° here yesterday it’s 65 here now. Supposed to be near 80 tomorrow. I had just packed most of my blankets away for the summer. They were in the back of the front loft over the cab. So it’s not far to go for them. As I said several other places I wasn’t on because I screwed up something on my iPad but now I’m back and the name is now nature lover 2. God bless the nomads and keep them warm or cool or whatever they want or need tonight.

 

[maki2]

All settled into my mew campsite. My friend from the forum is just a little further up the road in a different site. Good thing I got moved today instead of waiting until later in this upcoming holiday weekend as there are not a lot of sites I could do a pull through with my trailer so that it is facing tounge towards the exit. This was pretty tight for that but I got it done. Very much tounge up in the air but that means my entry door which is on the backside is easy to step into.

Looks to be about a full moon. It will likely be around 30 degrees in the early morning  but after this the nights are going to be low 40s, a big improvement!

Some fun things to see coming up during this stay plus the access to shopping is not a difficult drive. Only a half mile of unpaved, but wide and graveled, mildly washboarded road to go over. hoping to do the full 14 day stay here before moving on to a new area of the NFS dispersed camping.

 

[travelaround]

Today I met the man who will be doing the woodwork on my van conversion. It will be a "keep it simple" type of conversion, as far as paneling and woodwork goes. More insulation will be added. That should be done next week.

Another man (experienced RV repair person) is going to install solar panels on the van and cargo trailer. He's also installing plumbing fixtures of various kinds, a ceiling fan and maybe an air conditioner (could be used with shore power) and a lot of other things.

I figured I might as well get this done since I met an expert and it doesn't look like I'll be building a sticks and bricks dwelling on my land anytime soon. I can't even get the water service restarted yet. ...And I want a vacation!

 

[maki2]

Travelaround. So good to hear from you. Terrific news about the van build. Sorry to hear about the water issue for your land.

Yes you certainly do need a vacation getaway. It has been a horrific and long struggle dealing with the aftermath of the fire.

How are you doing? How is your family doing?

 

[travelaround]

Hi Maki.. my family is doing fine and my daughter seems to be planning to take up residence on my land as soon as the county declares it safe, and water/electricity/sewer are restored. They will be living in trailers/RVs/Skoolie (probably all three for a while) .. but Carl may be able to mill wood from the fire to get lumber to build a house, and labor will be provided free by a couple different church groups.

The house will be for their family of five. My plan is to travel as much as possible and then return to the camp for springtime gardening. That's the best weather of the year in this location.

I've just spent all afternoon with an old friend (I've known him almost 20 years here) . . . he just got back from living in the Sierra foothills for years, and I hadn't seen him since 2013. Anyhow, he's also got a semi-nomadic lifestyle and has spent time in Arizona some winters. Right now he's without a homebase other than LDMA mining claims.

He's investigating something called The R Ranch in Hornbrook. A person can "buy in" ... The website says, "The official rate for a share of the R-Ranch is $2,500.00 plus $880 yearly Assessment for operating expenses. Shares sold by the R-Ranch are guaranteed to be free of unpaid assessments, fines and/or liens. You will be issued a Deed that will be recorded in the County of Siskiyou, California."  https://r-ranchca.com/ ... right now there's a special price which is less than 2K. ...we've been talking about going there for summer and then Arizona for winter. Anyhow, looks like I will once again attempt to be nomadic... starting with the van build. For now, I hope the tribe will put this trailer on my property when everything is ready there. There's no date at which I'm expected to return it to them.

We're still waiting to be informed about whether the soil on the property passed the toxicity testing phase. I've called the Office of Emergency Services three times and left messages, with no calls back. I heard the first samples taken were lost and noticed someone took more samples, but that was weeks ago.

 

[travelaround]

Here's a video I made earlier this month of driving from south of town where there was a landslide, north into Happy Camp. I was not really driving that fast - I sped up the video to make it shorter.

[video=youtube]

 

[maki2]

Travelaround, as long as there is an lumber inspector around to certify the wood it is a good idea to mill your own. Pole barn structures can be an affordable fast way to build a spacious house and garage structures. Be sure he builds you a carport for your van with storage room along one side. Of course water and electrical hookups too As far away from their house and the noise as you can get it.

 

[nature lover]

TA - That sure looks like beautiful country makes me grieve even more over the fires you had out there.

I’m in the hardwood forest in Pennsylvania. Our forestry department provides free seven day campsites along these fire access roads throughout all state forest land.  The one I’m at now is my favorite and I attached a pic of the view from my campsite. I am in the middle of 99,000 acres of the Tuscarora state forest. We had a lot of rain and cloudy days So I’m having to run the Van more often to keep the house batteries charged.  Just as I said that we got a burst of sunshine. The panels are out so we’ll see what happens. I just love our hardwood forest in Pennsylvania. I haven’t been all across the country so I can’t compare it to others but I like it so much I don’t wanna leave it.  Except for going to Florida in the winter that was the right decision last year and I’m going to do it this year too, the Lord willing. God bless all the nomads and want-to-bes everywhere.

 

[user 30781]

I'm shortening the purple blackout curtains I got from Walmart. I had just let them drag when I was out early this month. I think I'm going to take a break and go to the craft store and get a sheet of heavy mat material from the frame shop to see if it will work for a window cover. Thinner than the black poster board which isn't big enough for my back windows. I swear, this '97 GC has the biggest windows I've ever seen in a minivan.
And, as someone said on Reddit, they're all aero-swoopy. lol

 

[MGfromBC]

Each year we have problems in BC with land sliding onto highways or highways sliding into river.  A few years ago the Trans Canada Highway, east of Vancouver was covered or washed away in both direction as well as the forested areas between east and west.  There is another fairly significant highway that has a section that they don't pave after repairs because they don't want the asphalt going into the Fraser River far below.

We also have lots of weird roads that normal people don't go on.  I try to go either up or down this hill every year.  I have a 15 minute video of the trip from here to the Fraser River below.

 

[travelaround]

23% grade ... wow, that's steep! I would try it in a 4wd. Maybe.

 

[highdesertranger]

Holy cow 23% that is almost 1ft every 4ft. that is insanely steep. Highdesertranger

 

[bullfrog]

That's so steep I would be dragging my belly button trying to walk up it! lol!!! I believe our boat ramp is close to that and people drive it everyday overloaded!

 

[user 30781]

I went looking for pix so I could get some context on 23%. That's insanely steep. Surprisingly, there are some city streets in Seattle as steep as 20%, which I did not know.

 

[travelaround]

Be sure he builds you a carport for your van with storage room along one side. Of course water and electrical hookups too   As far away from their house and the noise as you can get it.

Okay, thanks for the idea. I put in a bid for a carport with storage and my son in law looked relieved to hear I wouldn't be living in his backyard full time.


He came over to ask to buy my bunkbed cot (diskobed) that I'm taking out of the van now as I'm having a double bed built in. Like I'd sell that for my own grandchildren. Haha... I said they can have it for the skoolie and he took the rug too. All I have to do now is finish taking down the cot and clean the van... sweep and mop... and it will be ready for the real conversion. They will be putting in new additional insulation too..

 

[shadowmoss]

TA, I'm happy to see you posting again. I've missed you.

 

[JasonMcD]

Randy Vining.

I first came across Bob in the documentary "Without Bounds", the docu also featured Randy. He seemed like a nice guy with a lot of stories to tell, and very inspirational, and also a great poet. I was wondering if he is still running with the pack, or of anyone knows how he is doing?

 

[travelaround]

Thanks, Shadowmoss!

Jason - I believe that video was also my first time to see Bob in a video. Yes, Randy seemed like a nice person but... I don't know if he's still a nomad. I've never met him.