FALCON'S ODYSSEY

[66788]

A suggestion: instead of posting full size photos, post thumbnails instead. Your thread takes a long time to load and it loads every single picture. Those of us on a data budget waste our precious data bytes loading every single picture, when in fact we may only want to enlarge a few.

Good pics, BTW.

 

[masterplumber]

Love the most recent pictures. Growing up Cleveland National Forest was my backyard, literally. If you happened to drive Japatul Vally Road out of Alpine, or south from Descanso, that's where I grew up, and where I still have family.

 

[masterplumber]

Just read your blog post. It looks like you were closer to Ramona. That's very nice also. If you want a nice loop drive you can drive from that area up to Julian and enjoy some of their famous apply pie, then head around to Lake Cuyamaca, then down to Descanso and back to Lakeside, then complete the loop back up to Ramona. Also, if you plan to go to RTR, you can head to Julian, then down to Anza Borrego, and continue through the Imperial Valley past Glamis Sand Dunes and all the way to Blythe which is just a hop skip and jump from Quartzsite getting you there on mostly 2 lanes instead of the freeway.

 

[muddy]

When I was taking the pictures above, a guy walked by and talked a bit. Then I saw him a little ways down the beach and we spoke more - for about an hour. He's probably in his 50's. When I told him about my van and traveling, he told me a bunch of stories of his own - how he's had two different Volkswagon vans that he either lived or traveled in. How he went to Yosemite a TON of times and would camp there against the rules, hidden in plain site in his van (and would just not respond to the knocks of rangers, which would quickly move on) or hidden out in the park, at times in a sleeping bag on a tarp, out in the open with no tent, just nestled in some prairie. He said there are groups of climbers and other sorts of people who know a bunch of tricks for free camping in Yosemite. 

I actually saw a bit about this in a climbing documentary on netflix (Valley Uprising). I think most of them just camp outside the park and try to respect the rules, but there are a few people who do stay in there. It's an interesting watch by the way, and I'm not into climbing at all.

Personally, the land is already so heavily visited, I would not do that at all.

 

[FALCON]

A suggestion: instead of posting full size photos, post thumbnails instead. Your thread takes a long time to load and it loads every single picture. Those of us on a data budget waste our precious data bytes loading every single picture, when in fact we may only want to enlarge a few.

Good pics, BTW.

Yeah, I don't like having so many pictures on one page. It makes loading the page annoying for me on 3g. I'm going to try posting only one picture per post, and the rest will be in the blog post. The pictures I post here are nearly thumbnail size as far as current web picture sizing goes. They're reduced to about 10% of the original image size. If I post a lot of pictures here, I may start making them even smaller and having them link to a bigger version.

Love the most recent pictures. Growing up Cleveland National Forest was my backyard, literally. If you happened to drive Japatul Vally Road out of Alpine, or south from Descanso, that's where I grew up, and where I still have family.

I did go through Alpine to go hiking with a friend. I don't know exactly where we were though.

Just read your blog post. It looks like you were closer to Ramona. That's very nice also..... Also, if you plan to go to RTR, you can head to......

Yeah, I was camped less than 10 miles from Ramona. For my route out to the RTR area, I ended up just driving north on some main highway (that goes east of the LA area), and then east on the interstate. I did this because a friend was visiting LA as I went by and I wanted to be fairly close in case he could sneak away to come join me for a while.

I actually saw a bit about this in a climbing documentary on netflix (Valley Uprising). I think most of them just camp outside the park and try to respect the rules, but there are a few people who do stay in there. It's an interesting watch by the way, and I'm not into climbing at all.

Personally, the land is already so heavily visited, I would not do that at all.

I think I saw that documentary (or a similar one). Yeah, I don't think I'll try camping illegally. While i'm vandwelling, I really don't want to get in trouble for Trespassing (or something along those lines), because if/when the police are checking me or my van out, I don't want that to come up, as it will make them think I'm more of a low-life.

 

[FALCON]

Ok, I spent 7 weeks in San Diego. I'll make at least two posts about it. Here's the first one:

San Diego: Notes on the City
It's supposedly "America's Finest City". But is it though?

 

[muddy]

Hey Falcon, sorry if I missed this in an earlier pic, but what do you sit on when you use the desk?

 

[FALCON]

Hey Falcon, sorry if I missed this in an earlier pic, but what do you sit on when you use the desk?

No problem. I sit on a 5-gallon bucket. I put it upside down (so the flat side is up for me to sit on) and put a pillow on top of it. Either one of those "neck pillows" that people use on airplanes, or a normal, uhh, sleeping pillow from my bed. I recently bought a small camping chair. It's less comfortable, so I only sit on that inside the van if I really want a change of position.

 

[FALCON]

New blog post:The Most Interesting People in San Diego

 

[masterplumber]

Nice blog post. I used to read Rich and Amanda's blog. They didn't post anything for a while after their bicycle trip and I kind of lost track of them Didn't realize they did a motorcycle trip. I'll have to look that up. I grew up in the San Diego area in the 60s and 70s and I think you may have actually managed to meet the "most interesting people in San Diego". And that's including my extended family, which are characters, but probably not that interesting!

 

[FALCON]

Nice blog post. I used to read Rich and Amanda's blog. They didn't post anything for a while after their bicycle trip and I kind of lost track of them Didn't realize they did a motorcycle trip. I'll have to look that up. I grew up in the San Diego area in the 60s and 70s and I think you may have actually managed to meet the "most interesting people in San Diego". And that's including my extended family, which are characters, but probably not that interesting!

I think they stopped blogging at some point.

 

[FALCON]

New blog post:Joshua Tree
I camped a few days in Joshua Tree National Park. Didn't do a whole lot. Jut one bike ride and one hike. Got this nice picture on the hike:

 

[rvpopeye]

B&W !

 

[FALCON]

Hello. I spent a week at the RTR and had a wonderful time. I did a fun little project: shooting the various Rigs of the RTR. I've shared them here:

Rigs of the RTR

(note, if you have a really slow connection or limited data, it's probably best to wait until you're on some WIFI to view these)

There are 48 different rigs shown. Here are a few examples:

(If your rig is pictured, and you don't want it to be, let me know and I'll remove it. I didn't ask everyone due to inconvenience and my own shyness)

 

[FALCON]

New blog post:Cost of Vanlife: my first 6 months
People often wonder how much full-time vandwellers spend. I’ll share my cost of vanlife over the first 6 months.

 

[Theadyn]

Great bunch of pictures on this thread, nice job!!

 

[FALCON]

New blog post:2017 Rubber Tramp Rendezvous
I went to the RTR this year and met three fascinating people, one of them has been a personal hero of mine for years

 

[gapper2]

Falcon,
 
    I'm a noobie here and wanted to say how much I have enjoyed your build thread.  I was so inspired to research lockers and you gave me the courage to install one myself.
   Your photographs are awesome especially the B&W.

    And as far as this report for some of your ol timer heroes,  I've got a feeling that you will probably be up on that list with a lifetime of experiences of your own.  You're well on your way, youngster.

 gapper2

 

[FALCON]

Thank you Gapper. :-D

That's awesome about the locker. How is it working out for you?

 

[gapper2]

Sorry for the late reply but away from computer for a few hours.   I won't hijack your thread but to answer your question, The locker is working great.  I went a little different route and installed an ARB air locker.  I liked the idea of having the open diff mostly and only turning the locker on when I thought I needed it.
I haven't started my build thread yet but I'll add those trials and errors when I start the thread.

Keep the photos coming and maybe see you round a campfire sometime.  Happy trails.

gapper