nature lover
Well-known member
Bullfrog - So you’re not on the sh**in the bucket you stored bullsh** in the bucket.
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Slow2day..move north, Flagstaff is a great place to work on a build right now. The weather is great and the build supply resources are plentiful as is the dispersed camping which surrounds the town in all directons.
It was 93 degrees in Bullfrog on the beach yesterday at a little under 4,000' elevation so I took a drive up to the Henry Mountains 20 miles as the crow flies but 3 or 4 hours driving to 11,000' elevation almost and had to shovel 3' snow drifts on the road to get through. When I lived in Tucson AZ I used to use my inner tube to swim with and then slide down the slopes in the snow of Mount Lemon the same day. Elevation is a wonderful thing sometimes.
maki2 said:
I stayed east of Flag up at Walnut Canyon in July of last year. The temps were mostly great but there were some unusually hot days towards the end of the month so I headed north to Colorado.
I'm working on van maintenance items; wheel bearings, differential oil, tuneup so the wind & sand where I'm at is a nuisance. The inside of the van needs some work,too but during the day it's impossible as there's no shade where I'm at.
After this weekend I'll be headed to NM and hope to stay at the Cosmic CG dark sky site-(link to USFS info):
https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/gila/recarea/?recid=82479
Last year I stayed near there but it was too cloudy for any good viewing. There are also several NM state parks that I haven't been to yet that I want to check out.
Then it's on to S.Dakota and the Badlands as I've never been up that way. Eventually over to the WA and OR coasts.
nature lover
Well-known member
Bullfrog - do you have a town named after you? “ It was 93° in bullfrog”. It was 98.6° in nature lover, and though I haven’t checked lately I think I’m pretty much the same today.
We are around 55° but it’s the rain it’s making it damp - and that’s harder to take. And consider this is my third day pretty much stuck in the van and the next two don’t look much better. That beautiful view I showed you the other day had about a 5 mile visibility Limited only by the next mountain. Today it’s less than a quarter of a mile with the fog.
That changing elevations for Temperature change is a definite advantage west coaster‘s have. Our mountains aren’t high enough to change much maybe a little. But I think it’s the concrete and glass and lack of trees of the cities make them warmer and the beautiful trees of the mountains makes it cooler. But right now it’s damn damp and if I drive anywhere I’d like to drive to someplace where it’s dry and I can get out and walk around more. At this point I’m only going out when I have to because getting wet just adds to the miserable cold feeling. I rarely get cabin fever. I have a pretty open build but day after day sitting in the recliner messing with the iPad is boring. I don’t see well enough to drive in the rain and the fog. Not that my doctors or my license requires me not to drive during those times it’s just my own decision to be more safe. I have driven in light rain when I had to. But there is no sense in taking the chance when I don’t have to be anywhere at any time.
Also being stuck in the rain for all these days sure makes my house batteries lean. I put myself into a bad situation at the end of the month waiting for my Social Security I don’t have much gas in the tank and don’t want to run the van up here to charge batteries then not be able to get out. Oh my isn’t a stress-free nomad life wonderful. I wish I had a won of Bob’s $50 gas cards. It’s my own fault for not planning ahead. I can manage this if I manage it. But I wasn’t managing too well. It’s just like in the business when my tour business closed it was all my Partners fault. My partner was a young woman by the name of Miss Management. Since I’m on top of the mountain I could just coast down to the valley but that would wear on the brakes pretty hard.
We are around 55° but it’s the rain it’s making it damp - and that’s harder to take. And consider this is my third day pretty much stuck in the van and the next two don’t look much better. That beautiful view I showed you the other day had about a 5 mile visibility Limited only by the next mountain. Today it’s less than a quarter of a mile with the fog.
That changing elevations for Temperature change is a definite advantage west coaster‘s have. Our mountains aren’t high enough to change much maybe a little. But I think it’s the concrete and glass and lack of trees of the cities make them warmer and the beautiful trees of the mountains makes it cooler. But right now it’s damn damp and if I drive anywhere I’d like to drive to someplace where it’s dry and I can get out and walk around more. At this point I’m only going out when I have to because getting wet just adds to the miserable cold feeling. I rarely get cabin fever. I have a pretty open build but day after day sitting in the recliner messing with the iPad is boring. I don’t see well enough to drive in the rain and the fog. Not that my doctors or my license requires me not to drive during those times it’s just my own decision to be more safe. I have driven in light rain when I had to. But there is no sense in taking the chance when I don’t have to be anywhere at any time.
Also being stuck in the rain for all these days sure makes my house batteries lean. I put myself into a bad situation at the end of the month waiting for my Social Security I don’t have much gas in the tank and don’t want to run the van up here to charge batteries then not be able to get out. Oh my isn’t a stress-free nomad life wonderful. I wish I had a won of Bob’s $50 gas cards. It’s my own fault for not planning ahead. I can manage this if I manage it. But I wasn’t managing too well. It’s just like in the business when my tour business closed it was all my Partners fault. My partner was a young woman by the name of Miss Management. Since I’m on top of the mountain I could just coast down to the valley but that would wear on the brakes pretty hard.
Hang in there nature lover you will soon have your own frogs singing to you! Actually Bullfrog UT is named after a rock formation about 20 miles away. Seems that rock formation and I travel at about the same pace these days so I stole it"s name.
travelaround
Well-known member
Home again - spent yesterday in Yreka getting the van serviced and meeting with the 3 men who will be doing the rest of the conversion once all the parts are ordered and arrive - then went to Home Depot in Southern Oregon.
Drove home on the Klamath River Highway from 11 to 1am at mostly 30mph as this is a "deer year" and I didn't want to hit one. I don't mind driving slow. I saw very few other vehicles. Nobody was behind me almost all the way.. this area shuts down after dark. People stay home.
Drove home on the Klamath River Highway from 11 to 1am at mostly 30mph as this is a "deer year" and I didn't want to hit one. I don't mind driving slow. I saw very few other vehicles. Nobody was behind me almost all the way.. this area shuts down after dark. People stay home.
travelaround
Well-known member
That road is closed until the end of September. It is passable, but Oregon forest service closed it. Some people go over anyhow, but if caught it could be a 500 dollar fine. We are making calls to legislators and forest service managers to try to get the road open sooner.
nature lover
Well-known member
Hello nomads add want to be nomads. I posted this on another thread I’m not sure it’s what the man wanted but it was important enough to post so I’m going to redo it here. Very very important safety warning.ago
- View attachment 28645 Idon’t have any experience with hot logic. But I have a good deal of experiencing of cooking in a van when the weather is too bad to cook outside. I don’t really have a kitchen in the van so I sort of improvise. Cooking in the van is only on rare occasions. I really prefer the campfire or at least a camp stove out on the picnic table. I used too lay a Masonite board on top of my refrigerator and put my Butane stove on that to cook. I have 38 inches of clearance so I thought it was safe. That was not safe enough and that’s why I’m sharing this with you. I didn’t even notice how much heat was going up when I was cooking. Until one day, weeks after the last time I cooked in the van, I happened to notice that the smoke detector was melted. There was no smoke but lots of heat. I’m Attaching a picture of the result. Also notice that my paper towel holder is next to the smoke detector. I came very close to a disaster without knowing it. Everybody be careful cooking in your rig. I thought I have More than a decade of experience a part-time in in a van and occasionally cook in it. Now I’ve been full-time for a year, you would think I was smarter than this. Check and double check how you do things it
Attachments
travelaround
Well-known member
Thanks Gypsy! I kind of stumbled over the word, "always" . . . I do have hope it will last a long time - but not long ago my home (mobile home) disappeared in a forest fire along with everything in it - so I know stuff happens and life can't be counted on to preserve my home. I do hope and pray it will last a long time... but in case it doesn't, I'm sure there's another plan that will work for me. It is possible, if it lasts, that I'll live in this van the rest of my life, even if I eventually have to park it somewhere because I can't drive safely anymore.Gypsy108 said:
travelaround
Well-known member
nature lover said:
Thanks for the warning.
My cooking facilities are simple. I don't want a regular stove in my van. I'm using a Hot Logic to warm food for me, and have an electric portable one burner induction cooktop ... and that's as far as I want to go with cooking... it is just me in the van and I like to eat simply. (long time vegetarian, etc) ... also have a 50 liter van refrigerator... and might get another one of those so I can have one for freezing and one for refrigeration. Trying to stay all-electric as much as possible.
Anyhow, glad you're safe and eating well...
Finally getting started on making my cabinet doors. My first chore was to get ready to cut the wood pieces to length. Years back I had purchased a special guided, hand miter saw that is made in Japan. It will make very square or angled cuts. It is more accurate to cut t hem with this saw than with the few power saws I travel with. For my design I only need 90 degree cuts so today fine tuned the Japanese miter for those cuts. Besides it being the better saw my generator part needed to use it in high altitude won't arrive until late next week and then it still needs to get installed.
Then I drank a bunch of green tea with ginsing to get my brain ready for the math and focus. In this case that means opeinng up my 3D CAD design file I made for the doors and drawers and going through double checking for any changes I might need to make then verifying everything against the already completed cabinet frames in the trailer.
I did get all the wood for the doors out of the back of my vehicle. Once I have my cut list finished I can begin sorting it out. It has already been planed to consistent tbickness. One of the last task that got done before I had to move out of the workshop space last summer.
Then I drank a bunch of green tea with ginsing to get my brain ready for the math and focus. In this case that means opeinng up my 3D CAD design file I made for the doors and drawers and going through double checking for any changes I might need to make then verifying everything against the already completed cabinet frames in the trailer.
I did get all the wood for the doors out of the back of my vehicle. Once I have my cut list finished I can begin sorting it out. It has already been planed to consistent tbickness. One of the last task that got done before I had to move out of the workshop space last summer.
travelaround
Well-known member
Maki - I liked the part where you had the green tea and ginsing. I was thinking - "Finally she's doing something I feel myself capable of."
Anyhow, great work. I wish I had your skills. I hope I get to see your amazing red home someday.
Anyhow, great work. I wish I had your skills. I hope I get to see your amazing red home someday.
nature lover
Well-known member
We’re drying out in PA. I’m back down in Lancaster County for a couple of days and the temperature seems to go on up a little bit. I have a reservation for another Forrester campsite near my last one starting Wednesday. This one’s not on top of the mountain but it is a beautiful secluded location. I was dealing with temperatures in the mid 40s and rain for four days in a row. I had to run the engine quite often to keep the batteries up-to-date. To celebrate the holiday tomorrow I’m gonna do my laundry and a little more Work in the van. God bless the nomads each and everyone, especially me!
I finished updating my cabinet design files. The printed out the drawings with the dimension for the length of each piece. The wood for the doors was all planed to thickness in the wee hours of the morning with the help of my former workshop mate while his horrid son was away for the night. It hhas all been stacked flat and secure in the rear of my Honda Element waiting for me to get around to cutting it to the exact sizes needed. I had my fingers crossed that I truly did have enough for the job as I can' t just go into Home Depot or Lowes and get wood of that exact thickness.
But now it is all sorted and each board is labeled with the length it needs to be cut. By then it was getting towards sunset so I called it quits. I was sitting down thinking about making dinner when my brain connected up and said " red alert, it smells like rain". Sure enough although it was not predicted to rain there were some very dark clouds heading towards my campsite. So I got up, went to the car and got out the bag of sidewall rain flys for my screen room. Now they ate all in place secured for possible windy rain and all the wood and tools are up off the ground. Tomorrow it is time to make sawdust!
So now it is time for a quick video that shows the very handy tool that allows me to easily cut precise miter joints for my cabinet doors by hand while traveling. it takes up very little storage space. Here is the link to a fairly short youtube video about it. It is sold on Amazon. you dont need to be an experienced wood worker to get good results with this tool.
But now it is all sorted and each board is labeled with the length it needs to be cut. By then it was getting towards sunset so I called it quits. I was sitting down thinking about making dinner when my brain connected up and said " red alert, it smells like rain". Sure enough although it was not predicted to rain there were some very dark clouds heading towards my campsite. So I got up, went to the car and got out the bag of sidewall rain flys for my screen room. Now they ate all in place secured for possible windy rain and all the wood and tools are up off the ground. Tomorrow it is time to make sawdust!
So now it is time for a quick video that shows the very handy tool that allows me to easily cut precise miter joints for my cabinet doors by hand while traveling. it takes up very little storage space. Here is the link to a fairly short youtube video about it. It is sold on Amazon. you dont need to be an experienced wood worker to get good results with this tool.
crofter
Well-known member
Tis the season for crime in the low desert as snowbirds have left their RVs and stuff sitting here when they went north for the summer. Door locks are getting bumped and car alarms are going off.
I have been sitting here playing with a very inexpensive security system, and setting up the free cam I got to run off a cell phone hot spot: needs 2mbps to 5mbps to stream the video feed for live monitoring.
Finally got it working after figuring out how to kick the other device off my hot spot. My phone hot spot will only run one device at a time, so for now I am testing out live monitoring through a phone. If that works I may just buy that camera its own phone.
Is anyone else doing this? I have heard of folks with cams in their vans, but I think the thread got closed or something. Doing it on the cheap for sure.
-crofter
I have been sitting here playing with a very inexpensive security system, and setting up the free cam I got to run off a cell phone hot spot: needs 2mbps to 5mbps to stream the video feed for live monitoring.
Finally got it working after figuring out how to kick the other device off my hot spot. My phone hot spot will only run one device at a time, so for now I am testing out live monitoring through a phone. If that works I may just buy that camera its own phone.
Is anyone else doing this? I have heard of folks with cams in their vans, but I think the thread got closed or something. Doing it on the cheap for sure.
-crofter
