user 30781
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maki2 said:
Good. We can have a campfire and a drum circle!
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Good. We can have a campfire and a drum circle!
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...........the Road is Calling !
Meant to say Dogtown lake. The road is not hairy at all. There is a paid NFS camp ground by the lake so it is a decent road.. The gravel road is in pretty good shape other than some mild washboarding. That paid campground is supposed to open May 1st.
Many of the turn out for free camping sites along the forest service road going to tje lake have deep ruts from people driving in and out whhile they were muddy. It had to by pass quite a few of those until I found one my Honda Element and trailer could safely enter. Not muddy now and not supposed to rain this week. The regulations for this area for dispersed camping require trailers to remain within 30 feet of the FS road. That means I do see and hear traffic on the road. But so far no traffic this early in the day.
The change to a much higher elevation inflated my insulated, inflatable air mattress I use as a topper on my bed. Had to let some air back out of it as it got too firm. I forgot all about that effect on air mattresses. I will let more air out of it before I move to Flagsstaff. Too cold at night there this week so I will continue hang out in the Williams AZ area for at least one, maybe two or even 3 weeks. I will unhitch the trailer and do some exploration today or tomorrow. Go on down the road to see the lake. Fetch some extra drinking water in town, find the hardware store, check out the laundromat. Then check out the camping area north of Williams. Normal kind of activity for getting to know a place's resources for staying in a series of 14 day camp sites. There is lots of camping around Williiams to tide me over until Flagsttaff warms up.
Many of the turn out for free camping sites along the forest service road going to tje lake have deep ruts from people driving in and out whhile they were muddy. It had to by pass quite a few of those until I found one my Honda Element and trailer could safely enter. Not muddy now and not supposed to rain this week. The regulations for this area for dispersed camping require trailers to remain within 30 feet of the FS road. That means I do see and hear traffic on the road. But so far no traffic this early in the day.
The change to a much higher elevation inflated my insulated, inflatable air mattress I use as a topper on my bed. Had to let some air back out of it as it got too firm. I forgot all about that effect on air mattresses. I will let more air out of it before I move to Flagsstaff. Too cold at night there this week so I will continue hang out in the Williams AZ area for at least one, maybe two or even 3 weeks. I will unhitch the trailer and do some exploration today or tomorrow. Go on down the road to see the lake. Fetch some extra drinking water in town, find the hardware store, check out the laundromat. Then check out the camping area north of Williams. Normal kind of activity for getting to know a place's resources for staying in a series of 14 day camp sites. There is lots of camping around Williiams to tide me over until Flagsttaff warms up.
You must be just up the road from where I arrived yesterday! Coming from the arizona desert and now amongst the ponderosa pines, I feel rather clostaphobic. Verizon signal is not what I expected, one bar just doesn’t work for me. About the water, it is free at the pilot gas station, faucet is at the end of the mcdonald’s drive thru, standing pipe next to the place to get air.
user 30781
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All packed up except for some last minute stuff. Looks like I'm going to have a day of rain Monday but that's ok.
I need a bigger van. lol
I need a bigger van. lol
Gypsy108
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I'm excited for you Wanderingsoul ! I had a nice big van a few years ago. Then I got rid of it like an idiot....LONG story...
THAT should qualify for me getting into the Y.A.R.C. !!!!
Are you gonna crack a bottle of champagne on the hood of your van before taking off ? (Is that how they do it ? )
Bon Voyage :heart:
THAT should qualify for me getting into the Y.A.R.C. !!!!
Are you gonna crack a bottle of champagne on the hood of your van before taking off ? (Is that how they do it ? )
Bon Voyage :heart:
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You Celebrate the start of the Journey by "Peeing in a Bucket !".......Then you KNOW you have arrived ....
Gypsy108
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Today I made a GoFundMe page to help with getting a VAN !!!! Then i emailed Mark Zuckerberg to make a donation.
It will be interesting to see what...if anything....happens.................................................I'm so tired of feeling helpless & destitute....when all I do every day is help others become millionaires with all my spending ....I feel it's about time I was helped by those that can afford it....
user 30781
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I've already peed in my bucket. Poo-ed in it too. I guess I'm good to go.
Those 7' long saris were really dragging down the bungee cord so I put up the original Walmart purple blackout curtains (with the ruffle at the top), they are considerably lighter. Earlier today I opened this compartment above the sunglasses holder above the compass/temperature readout thingie. I can't see what use this compartment might be for except for me to attach a short bungee to it and then to the middle of the curtain bungee to draw it up closer to the headliner. I had to tie a 12" bungee in three knots to get it short enough but it worked.
Those 7' long saris were really dragging down the bungee cord so I put up the original Walmart purple blackout curtains (with the ruffle at the top), they are considerably lighter. Earlier today I opened this compartment above the sunglasses holder above the compass/temperature readout thingie. I can't see what use this compartment might be for except for me to attach a short bungee to it and then to the middle of the curtain bungee to draw it up closer to the headliner. I had to tie a 12" bungee in three knots to get it short enough but it worked.
Iñigo Sanchez
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I should really learn when to say no to abusive people.
I am getting 3 bars of Verizon on the road out to Dogtown Lake. There is dispersed camping there. Stop at the NFS ranger office in Williams. They have fee maps that show where the dispersed camping is. The pas are sitting outside of the entry door as the office is closed. If you look at the map legend you will see how to identify those FS roads where dispersed camping is allowed.
Gypsy108, you got to just stop all that delaying stuff like setting up a go fund me for a van. That is just yet another side track that keeps you off the main track. You have a vehicle, set it up fior camping and hit the road. You need some tough love talk right here and right now or the summer of fun and adventure will be gone. FOCUS POCUS is the magic that makes these things happen. Get back on track, use what you already own.
user 30781
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maki2 said:
Yeah, I think I saw that the other day. I already had a couple packs from the dollar store so I made one work. I don't particularly like the wide plastic hook ends though, I like the regular wire hooks like what are on the long ones I got 2 to a package at Fred Meyer.
Not too bad a day, found a different site in the same area that hopefully has better solar in the morning but some shade in the late afternoon. I did a run a to town this morning, got gas, water, checked out the hardware store, picked up maps from the NFS office. Those are going to be useful for identifying the dispersed camping roads.
I had removed my stove heater out of the counter earlier this week to reinforce the countertop support. Also to remove a pencil that rolled iinto the fan. Getting it to start when it is first installed or in this case reinsyalled takes a while as the pump hasto get the fuel pumped back up to the stove, so usually going through several startuop cool down cycles before it begins igniting. But now I also need to remember to push the start button for 10 seconds rater than 2. That lomger push switches it into high altitude mode. Above 1500 meters requires high altitude mode. It is cold enough now to want heat in the evening and mornings. Celebrated getting it goung this evening with a hot toddy!
I spent the afternoon reinforcing the upper tie down fittings using 2 inch wide webbing straps on my screen room. One of the original hold down loops came loose in Quartzsite with the last direct hit from a dust devil. As I had it setup to fix that I went ahead and fixed all 5 of those upper corners to significantly improve the strength. Hand stitching with a curved needle as I can't get to both sides of the tent, that makes it a pretty slow and tedious chore.
It is not do buggy at this campsite that I need the screen room but I wanted to get that repair chore off my list while I had pleasant weather for sitting outside.
I had removed my stove heater out of the counter earlier this week to reinforce the countertop support. Also to remove a pencil that rolled iinto the fan. Getting it to start when it is first installed or in this case reinsyalled takes a while as the pump hasto get the fuel pumped back up to the stove, so usually going through several startuop cool down cycles before it begins igniting. But now I also need to remember to push the start button for 10 seconds rater than 2. That lomger push switches it into high altitude mode. Above 1500 meters requires high altitude mode. It is cold enough now to want heat in the evening and mornings. Celebrated getting it goung this evening with a hot toddy!
I spent the afternoon reinforcing the upper tie down fittings using 2 inch wide webbing straps on my screen room. One of the original hold down loops came loose in Quartzsite with the last direct hit from a dust devil. As I had it setup to fix that I went ahead and fixed all 5 of those upper corners to significantly improve the strength. Hand stitching with a curved needle as I can't get to both sides of the tent, that makes it a pretty slow and tedious chore.
It is not do buggy at this campsite that I need the screen room but I wanted to get that repair chore off my list while I had pleasant weather for sitting outside.
Gypsy108
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Maki2....maki2 said:
im afraid my current vehicle will be more of a burden than help... being that it is 17 years old and anything can break sooner than later.... also I am in very bad shape and can’t imagine being comfortable sleeping in such tight quarters... it’s very hard for me to move now living in s& b
I don’t want to hate this change. So I’m trying my best to help myself with limited funds ...I don’t want to wind up going back because I’m so miserable!!!!
