Luci light

I love, love, love my Luci light. It is an inflatable, solar powered light that is great for camping or backpacking. It weighs almost nothing and takes up very little room when deflated. When I am driving I just deflate it and toss it on my dashboard where it charges up. 

At night I inflate it, turn it on and it lights up my whole van. I have been using it every night for 3 or 4 hours. 

I can toss it anywhere, I can hang it, play catch with it, whatever. It has handles built in on each end so I can walk with it shining down on the ground to light my way. The bathroom in the last campground I stayed at had no light so Luci lit my way there and when I got inside I just flipped it over and Luci lit the stall for me. 

Great camping accessory. You can get it on Amazon. 

Life is good. 

Catching up

Since my last post I completed my trip to Tucson area, visiting my brother and his wife in Albuquerque on the way. I reunited with my Born Free on another brother's property near Tucson and settled in for a while.  On my last days there I watched a forest fire in the hills just east of where my Born Free is parked. 

I hadn't used my free week in a cabin with Thousand Trails yet this year so I made a reservation at the Palm Springs, CA location. So I set out in my van for a road trip to California and stayed the week in a nice cabin. 

After that, I went to Joshua Tree National Park and stayed in a campground there for 4 days while I explored the park. Took an almost 9 mile hike into Lost Palms Oasis. The palms are just above the sign between the big rocks. 

Leaving the park, I drove to the Salton Sea area. True to what I have heard, it was a stinky place so I left and came back north to the I10 area and settled into a nice, free campsite on BLM land where I have Internet access. I have plenty of food and water so I will probably stay here for a while. The days are sunny keeping my batteries topped up so my refrigerator and freezer are happy. It gets pretty windy in the late mornings but that just makes it interesting. Sunset last night was awesome. 

Life is good. 

Back on the road

My oldest sister broke her leg last spring so I left Washington and headed to Wisconsin to help her out. One of the benefits of being mobile.  She was in a nursing home so I stayed in her apartment and paid the rent so she would not have to worry about it. It ended up being an all summer job as she broke her leg again just before she was to leave the nursing home. She ended up deciding to move to an assisted living apartment so I took care of emptying her old apartment and getting her settled into the new place. 

So, the end of October found me making a quick trip down I39 to hopefully some warmer weather. The first day was lots of fog and the second day was lots of rain. I finally settled into a National Forest campground in Arkansas with warm weather and lots of peace and quiet. 

Glad to be back in my van and traveling. 

Life is good. 

A long hike

I did the trike ride on Wednesday and on Thursday I decided to hoof it as there is a hiking trail I wanted to check out. Starting out at my campsite near Seaview, I walked out to the Discovery Trail and turned south. At the Beard's Hollow parking lot I went across the highway and took the bike path to North Head Lighthouse. At the parking lot for the lighthouse, I took the short trail to the lighthouse. 

It was extremely windy with showers off and on so I didn't stay long or take many pictures. 

Back at the parking lot, I found and took off on the North Head Trail. It is the squiggly line below the red dot. 

This is a great trail typical of western Oregon and Washington with huge trees, lots of vegetation, and mud. I loved every minute of it!  Fortunately, I had my Leki hiking poles with me or I would have had a tough time of it. 

Interesting trees along the way. 

The root system for this tree ran along the nurse log. 

Expecting to see some Ewoks here. 

This was at the end of the trail. 

More Lewis and Clark Expedition markers. 

The entire walk was almost 9 miles or over 22,000 steps according to my Vivofit. Many places were a challenge, steep inclines, mud, roots and squeezing around tree trunks but it was an enjoyable workout just the same. Still, I was happy to get back to my comfortable little van and dinner. 

Life is good. 

A ride on the Discovery Trail

The Discovery Trail is a beautiful trail along the ocean, all paved, with interesting signs along the way about the Lewis and Clark Expedition.  I lucked out with a sunny day for a trike ride. 

Starting out at my campsite, I was able to get right on the trail after a short push along a sandy trail. 

A map of the trail conveniently located at trailheads. This one is at the North end of the trail. The yellow at the top is the "You are here" indicator. 

I started south of Seaview and went south to Beard's Hollow shown here at the yellow print. From here the trail went up a steep gravel trail and I was not able to get enough traction with my single rear wheel plus my "engine" was having trouble too!  I found out later from Don that I could go up through the parking lot and cross the highway to catch a paved trail to the North Head Lighthouse. For now, I turned around and went to the north end of the trail. 

Along the way, I took lots of pictures. Here are a few of them. 

At this sculpture, which is concrete, I met a fellow trikker named Don who gave me lots of local info about trails in the area. 

There he goes. 

More sculptures along the way. 

Altogether a great ride on a gorgeous day for a total of 16.4 miles. 

Life is good. 

Washington coast

I have moved over to the Washington Coast while I wait for the weather to warm up. Still too cold to head east. 

I needed to spend more time by the ocean anyway. 

I am spending my time hiking and planning a trike ride on the Discovery Trail. 

Life is good. 

Enjoying the sunshine

I took a break today and sat in the sun at my campsite reading. 

Enjoyed the view at the back of the site. 

Life is good. 

The Yelm-Tenino Trail

Today nice weather was forecasted so I hopped in my van and drove to Tenino to ride the Yelm-Tenino trail. Parking in the city park, I got out my trike and was soon pedaling onward towards Yelm. This is a 14 mile trail that is a very easy grade and mostly has a country feel about it. 

A very nice paved trail that goes through the small town of Rainier between Tenino and Yelm. The day was sunny so there were quite a few people on the trail either walking or riding. 

A map of the trail at a rest stop in Rainier. 

The turnaround spot in Yelm. 

A wonderful ride of almost 28 miles on a beautiful day in Washington. 

Life is good. 

A walk in the woods

Yesterday I took a walk in the woods around the campground I am at. This being spring in the Northwest, it was wet and chilly but I enjoyed the discoveries I made along the way. 

The trail was a mixture of grass, gravel, mud and water. 

Winters destruction still in evidence.  

Fuzzy branches proved that, yes, I am in the Pacific Northwest. 

Signs of spring were found along the way. 

I walked a total of almost 5 miles for the day to get in a good amount of exercise. 

Life is good. 

Ft Stevens and a county park

While camped at the coast, I rode the trails at Ft. Stevens State Park. The weather was much better than when I rode the Banks-Vernonia Trail. I spent the entire day at Ft. Stevens basking in the sunshine. 

The next day I went to Cullaby County Park where I hiked the trails and rode my trike on the trail and the road that was still closed off for the season. There was a $3 fee to park for the day but it was worth it to be able to park by the lake in the sunshine and have access to the trails. 

One of the perks of driving the van everywhere is I have my home with me all the time. I can make my meals when I want them and I have everything with me to do whatever I want. When I find a nice place to park, I can stay all day and be totally comfortable. 

Leaving the coast, I headed to Portland to visit with my son and his wife for a few days and had a great time. 

Next I headed to the Chehalis, WA area to camp for a week. The park I am at is doing a lot of renovations and has problems with their water so I am not sure I will stay the full week. I have plenty of water and I can always buy bottled water if I need to. They may turn off the electricity, which could cause a little bit of a hassle. Cooking can be done on the propane stove, but I have no way to heat the van without shore power. Sounds like the electricity would only be off during the day so I could manage just fine if I don't want to move yet. There is a paved bike trail near here I want to ride before I leave. Fortunately, my solar can provide for most of my needs. 

Life is good. 

Banks-Vernonia Trail

I did my first official trail ride for my trip today so I can cross Oregon off my list of states to ride in. I rode the Banks-Vernonia trail from the Buxton trailhead to Tophill for a total distance of 11.3 miles. 

This was a very interesting ride with a steady uphill pull for most of the way out until a very steep switchback section DOWNHILL to get to, get this, the Tophill trailhead. Somebody goofed in naming this trailhead. After going up the steep hill, which the map said was 11% grade, I coasted the rest of the way back to Buxton. Of course, this being Oregon, it rained most of the ride. I was ready with my trusty rain coat so no problem. I met only one other cyclist so I had the trail to myself most of the time. 

Here are a couple pictures I took. Since it was a steady rain most of the way, I didn't take many. 

 

I would like to redo this trail someday when the weather is warmer and dry starting in Banks and going all the way to Vernonia and back. That would be a round trip of 42 miles. 

After the ride, I headed for the coast and my campsite there. 

Life is good. 

Back in Oregon

A lot has happened in the last couple of days. I arrived in the Bend, OR area yesterday and spent the night in the site I leased for the last year. I am not going to lease it this year since I will be traveling so I had to get the small garden shed off of it. This morning, after moving stuff around in my van, I was able to put the shed in without taking it all apart. 

It was a tight fit, but it would have been very difficult to take it all apart. 

Heading to Portland to drop the shed off for my son, I stopped to enjoy the wonderful Oregon trees. 

After having a short, but wonderful visit with my Daughter-in-law, I headed toward the coast. Stopping at a State Park along the way, I paid for a one night stay and put my van back together again. Fortunately, the van was designed to be easy to take the middle area apart. I knew I would need to haul this shed and to get at the van batteries under the driver's seat, I need to move one of the plastic drawer units. A bit of work, but not difficult. 

It has been a long and productive day

Life is good. 

Windy in Winnemucca

Had a good day driving up 95, 376, a short winding stretch on 50 and then 305 up to 80. It was a nice drive until I was on 80 when the wind was coming at me from the side. The van handled it good but I had to be on my toes all the time. Glad it was only for 50 miles. 

The short stretch on 50 was very pretty. It goes through the Toiyabe Range at that point and I went over Bob Scott's Summit at 7195' and Austin Summit at 7484'. There was a sign before the town of Austin saying "Anything that happens in Austin, you brag about".

The van did great on the passes. It has a manual position where I can shift with a + and - button through 5 positions and on the 6 and 7% downgrades with it in position 2, I barely needed to use the brakes. I like it much better than the tow/haul button I have on the 2008 Born Free, which is good but all automatic and sometimes not quite what I needed. 

One more day of driving , then I will sit for a few days in one place. 

The solar system that Ken designed for the van is working flawlessly. It keeps my refrigerator and freezer working all day, charges my phone and iPad every night, runs my Jetpack so I can go online and keeps my Fantastic fan running whenever I need it.  All without hardly noticing it. 

Life is good. 

I'm back for another adventure

Things were getting in a rut. I was going from Bend, OR to Tucson, AZ to Bend, OR and I needed to shake things up a bit. Last summer I bought an ICE Adventure trike so I decided to work out a trip around good places to ride my trike. I needed a way to haul my trike, preferably inside, in a vehicle that gets reasonable gas mileage and no towing so it would be very maneuverable. I also needed to be able to live in it. 

The trike.

Last December I found my vehicle in a Ford Transit full size van. 

The plan:  Travel around the US riding bike trails in every state, preferably rail trails. 

So my brother Ken and I set about turning it into a trike hauling camper. He was in charge of all things electric and I designed and built the rest with help from him on big, heavy stuff. Thanks Ken, I couldn't have done it without you. 

First I put up some Reflectix

Then the floor went in

Wiring stuff went in

Solar panels went on

Outlets, monitors and other stuff mounted

Battery box, solar controller, inverter in

Obviously the garage/bed walls are in also.

Ken mounting the Fantastic Fan

The ARB refrigerator tied down and trike in the "garage"

The plastic containers in place for storage

The finished outlets and steps to the bed

My bed

My sink

So that was the first three months of this year. The van is finished and I have started on my adventure. The first stop was to get each wheel weighed to make sure it was not too heavy on one side or corner. Fortunately, the Escapees club has a couple of places to get that done. I went to Congress, AZ and had it done today. My van passed with flying colors!  The guys were impressed with a home grown unit that was almost perfectly balanced and well under the weights for tires, axles and chassis. 

Life is good.