24/7 Chat About Anything

[maki2]

Nature Lover you are just going to have to do better to live up to your user name. Your report was all about the damage to you and your van but not one word for the innocent victim of your hit and run incident.... and you even tried to blame it on the victim saying it did the imposdible and jumped in front of you. Sorry but I am thinking you are going to have to change your user name again as you now totally lost your credibility as being a nature lover. Did you even stop and give that poor tree a hug?

 

[maki2]

Sometimes I plan ahead where I will go for my next campsite, other times I don't. I would possibly have done more planning ahead this time but I am on the ragged edge of low and focused it on gaettingbthe cabinet doors cut, assembled. Just about done sorting out the car and putting things into it but I have not yet not taken down my screen room. I will have to get up early tomorrow to finish up. At least it is no longer freezing cold in the early mornings.

Time to stand back up and do another 15 minute increment of packing up. It will soon be dark outside. After that I plan to focus on packaging kits to ship out tomorrow. I do have shipping deadlines to meet tomorrow.

 

[nature lover]

Maki2 I have always been a tree hugger, this time I tried to use my van to have the tree.

 

[maki2]

Trees prefer a gentle approach.

 

[nature lover]

I know, so do I!!!

 

[user 30781]

I went and practiced my stealth parking this weekend. One night on a street with about 6 houses on one end, a large, heavily treed and bushed empty lot on the other and a really lovely park across the street with bathrooms and water. Another night in a Safeway parking lot close to an I-90 on ramp. There were a bunch of cars overnight in the Safeway (and other businesses) lot but I don't think any of them were occupied. The second night I said 'f it' and didn't even bother to cover my windows, just drew the privacy curtain. It's nice to have such darkly tinted windows in back. If someone wants to look in at an old lady snoring in the back of her van that bad, have at it.

A few times this weekend I went to an old favorite spot where a good sized, very noisy creek feeds into a big, noisy river. Backed in, opened the hatch and listened to the water and the wind in the trees. Read or sometimes napped. It was lovely.

 

[user 30781]

I just realized something. The main reason I tricked out my Grand Caravan is so I could take naps in it.

Wow. lol

 

[GypsyJan]

Nature lover,

How was sleeping with the injuries last night? Any better today?

 

[jacqueg]

I just realized something.  The main reason I tricked out my Grand Caravan is so I could take naps in it.

Wow.  lol

When I first got my van, I was intending to go camping in it, no serious thoughts of full timing. 

But I felt so cozy in it, I just starting taking it to my favorite local parks, finding scenic parking spots, and spending the afternoon curled up and reading.

It's STILL my favorite thing to do in my van. In fact, I'm doing it RIGHT THIS MINUTE.

I think it's a sign that van dwelling is for you.

 

[maki2]

All packed up but decided to stay one more night here before moving on. I have several options if places to camp tomorrow, undecided as of yet exactly where but most likely I well head West of Flagstaff
and spend a couple of weeks in the Kaibab National Forest. Much depends on my need to visit a lumber yard or get other supplies from Flagstaff. But I should be set up with what I need for another couple of weeks. Of course I still have a basic need for a place to mail out orders and some cell signal for checking emails but that is doable in a number of the dispersed camping areas.

 

[bullfrog]

^^^You might want to watch for fire information as there is a wildfire in southwest Utah I believe.

 

[user 30781]

Ah maki, I didn't make it in to Ballard for 'our' kringle. Guess I'm going to have to go back over the mountains. Oh well....




jacqueg, you may be right. It actually kind of feels more like home than my own bedroom.

There are some nice places to go for an afternoon not too far from here, and where I can hear running water
and wind in the trees.

The Columbia is nice, well, nice and big, BUT IT DOESN'T MAKE ANY NOISE. What's the point?

Well, electricity is the point but you know. lol

 

[Cammalu]

Maki are you concerned at all about adding a bunch of weight to your rig?

I’m weighing options myself on a tiny camper and wondering that myself. The current cabinets are the thinnest of wood specifically to cut weight and I get that. I think I’m just going to paint them as they are now 55 years old. They are pretty ugly but I just don’t want to add any weight. I have no idea what this camper is rated to carry and pretty much it’s all original down to the ancient toilet (I Am changing that and it will actually be taking weight off as the toilet is a pretty heavy one).

I guess I need to have the axle checked too.

 

[jacqueg]

Ah maki, I didn't make it in to Ballard for 'our' kringle.  Guess I'm going to have to go back over the mountains.  Oh well....




jacqueg, you may be right.  It actually kind of feels more like home than my own bedroom.

There are some nice places to go for an afternoon not too far from here, and where I can hear running water
and wind in the trees.

The Columbia is nice, well, nice and big, BUT IT DOESN'T MAKE ANY NOISE.  What's the point?

Well, electricity is the point but you know.  lol

Two of my favorite overnighting rest areas are right on the Columbia. True, you don't get the water sounds - but the views are spectacular. Better than any state park.

 

[maki2]

Camilla, you have forgotten my professional bakground is in building very strong structures out of lightweight materials.

I did not copy RV cabinet building methods. They are not flimsy and they are not heavy.

 

[user 30781]

> jacqueg

Here's the view off my porch.

The contraption is a prayer wheel merry-go-round thing from Nepal. lol

 

[travelaround]

Nature Lover - where are you? Are you recovering? Hope you are okay and will check in here soon to tell us your news.

I am only today finally feeling better after my fall on June 1 - it takes time to recover from these things. I finally went out into the world again today... picked up my mail, went shopping, and went downriver to the place where water comes out of the pipe... I got the water purifier and will test it out tomorrow.

Also went back to the place where my downfall happened - and there was no sign it had ever happened - no blood on the ground - nothing. It has been a week and I think others drove over the place where I fell.

Other than that - the usual. Reading a lot.

 

[jacqueg]

> jacqueg

Here's the view off my porch.

The contraption is a prayer wheel merry-go-round thing from Nepal. lol

Now that's a familiar landscape...

My summer base is on a friend's land above Klickitat!

PM me if you're interested in meeting IRL sometime this summer.

Love your little prayer wheel!

 

[user 30781]

PM me if you're interested in meeting IRL sometime this summer.

That would be lovely!  My daughter is in the process of moving from Point A to Point B in Oregon.  She wouldn't let me come visit and live out of my van in Point A because she said it wasn't safe.  I think I'll have better luck pushing my case when she's all settled in Point B.  So I'd be coming down pretty close to where you are.

 

[Gypsy108]

Here's the view off my porch.

The contraption is a prayer wheel merry-go-round thing from Nepal. lol

Wow....beautiful view !!!   And Prayer wheel contraption...haha....i was rummaging around in one of my drawers the other day & found a Prayer Wheel ....i whirled it around a few times & put it back........when i make mala's i also say prayers (mantras)   OM MANI PADME HUM  :heart: