Spent the week with Jeff. It was nice to have a Midland 400watt GMRS radio this time. Gave extra range so the few times we got separated driving, we could still talk. Many times we were in parts of Vermont with no cell coverage, even on the good roads.
Didn't do any hiking, biking, or kayaking. This was just a driving trip mostly.
See pics here. click here
We drove up separate to Somerset airfield on Monday. I was updating the truck right up to the last minute Sunday. So Monday morning I still needed to pack. So I left around 11 and Jeff left a couple hours earlier. We got some rain Monday afternoon, and the drive on rt 9 to the road leading into Somerset had a ton of delays with lanes blocked off for repaving. It's a main route to Stratton I think (big skiing area).
Anyway, I still didn't have the heater I ordered 2 weeks earlier, but got by ok. It's getting cold at night now, but that's Fall camping. Toughen up buttercup, lol. I do have a Thermorest mondo king mattress. First time I used it. 4" thick with a r rating of 6.7 which is great for winter sleeping, very warm. It's nice and wide too. I got the xxl 30"x80" one. I had a sleeping bag rated to 20degrees, so it's actually comfortable to 30F, 20F would be survivable but unpleasant I think.. I was also wearing layers, hat and gloves while sleeping. Other than breathing dry, cold air, it was comfortable sleeping in the cold in the GFC roof top tent. Call me a weirdo, but I like it.
Oh, before I forget, I should mention Monday night, Jeff and I got to see a Starlink train about 1 hour after sunset. So our sky was darker than this video, but it was the same sort of thing, click here
The satellites space out in a few weeks and move into a high orbit where they're no longer visible. You only see this 1-2 weeks after launch and only right around sunset/sunrise if you're at the right latitude. It was amazing to see it in person. Jeff's driven down to Florida and Texas to see SpaceX and NASA launches, so he was super happy. He wasn't expecting it and only had his cellphone on him to try and get a photo. Not sure he got one.
Tuesday, we drove up to a pond near Somerset, and I got a lot of photos on a detour to Manchester Center, so I could get more Coleman fuel for my stoves. Got a nice burger while we were in town before proceeding to a favorite camp spot on Forest Road 10. Normally we cut through back roads by the Stratton ski resort and go by Londonderry. Tuesday was uneventful otherwise. Although I should mention I brought my corded electric chainsaw and a thick 25' power cord I have. Using the 120v ac outlet I have off the Victron inverter, I used the chainsaw to get some wood from a tree that had already been cut down by someone else. I did notice that I couldn't run the chainsaw hard nonstop when it was bogging down. The inverter would stop with an overload warning. It's a 2000 watt inverter, but not non-stop. The saw would max at 1600 watts, so I just learned to do shorter 10-20 second bursts and to wait 5-10 seconds before cutting again. No biggee. Normally I won't be cutting 8" thick hardwood.
Wednesday, we headed up past Killington to PIttsfield Vt, and found a camp spot on Upper Michigan road. Found a nice site. Along the way, we saw that some douche left a pop up coleman trailer camper at one of the sites, the rangers will have to haul it out. They had put the red sticker warning on the door Sept 12th saying it would be removed after Sept 22nd, so I'm guessing it'll get hauled out soon. The rude campers also trashed that site with other junk too. Jerks. The site we were at was mostly ok.
At our campsite on Upper Michigan road, I found some deadfall nearby that someone else had piled up, and after maybe 15 minutes of cutting with the corded chainsaw again, I had harvested all I needed for a campfire. I didn't have to pause the saw at all this time because the limbs were much easier to cut up, maybe 3-4" thick at most. What really suprised me is that all that cutting I did only used 8 amp hours out of the 200 in my battery bank. power well spent vs what it would take to do manually with a bow saw, which would probably be more dangerous too.
Speaking of.power consumption...I did get to use the Geyser sponge shower for the first time while camping too (I'd tested at home a couple times already). Our site had some afternoon sun, so it was about 60F, which felt warm for this time of year. I set up my single Joolca shower tent. The Geyser sponge shower lasted a long time with the pump set to just trickle the 95F water through the sponge. Lasted about 5-7 minutes. The shower tent blocked the cool wind. I also brought my bluetooth speaker, so I used the cellphone to play some Fleetwood Mac while showering. I find it amusing to have creature comforts like this in the middle of nowhere. Anyway, once I felt properly soaped and scrubbed, I opened it up so the water flowed fast through the sponge to rinse off. It worked great. One thing I'll note, when shampooing your hair, it's very VERY important to bend at the waist almost a full 90, so the shampoo won't get in your eyes. The shower only uses 3 liters of water, so that's not a lot of water to clear out your eyes if you get soap in them. Speaking from experience on that one sadly. Or you could tilt your head back when shampooing, but that's an odd habit for me being tall. Too much like doing the Limbo for me in most showers, so I prefer the football huddle stance instead.
Logistically before the shower, I warmed the water it needed with my truck's victron inverter. I ran a normal, cheap electric kettle to boil water, which runs on 120v. It's a power pig though. takes 10 amp hours just to boil 1 liter of water. Makes sense according to what I remember from my Physics classes, but just seems weird. Did some googling too. it takes 0.091 kila Watt hours to boil 1 liter of water. So....amps * volts = watts. 0.091 = 91 watt hours
91 watt hours / 12 volts = 7.5 amp hours. Best case. so 8-10amp hours is to be expected.
Using 10amps to cut up firewood saved me so much effort I didn't bat an eye. But 10 amp hours for boiling 1 liter of water in 3-4 minutes seemed like a lot more battery usage to me. The white gas fuel I save using the electric kettle doesn't seem as beneficial, but it kind of is. I go through much less fuel now boiling water for tea or dirty dishes. Anyway, the Geyser shower unit sort of looks like a giant thermos. You pour in about 1 liter of room temp water, pour in 1 liter boiling water, and top it off with room temp water, screw the lid on tight. Plug in the power cord for it's pump, and it's shower time.
I also have one of those lithium battery power jump starters and it has a cigarette lighter port, so I used it to power the sponge shower's pump. I was able to have the shower off in the woods far away from the truck. In warm weather I may just go commando and not bother with the shower tent, but in colder air, the tent keeps some of the heat in. Jeff suggested I use my portable air heater to warm the tent as it gets colder this Fall, which is a cool idea I hadn't though of. The Geyser shower comes with a 20ft cord for the water pump, but I didn't want the shower water runoff that close to the truck, but I might do it that way next time as temps continue to drop, so I can use the Planar diesel air heater while I shower too. The heater is made to be out in the rain, so it's safe enough.
Now for the gross part. I was very, very lucky where I set up my shower tent. I didn't realize until later that night, I was only 3-4 ft from a barely covered, gargantuan pile of human doo-doo. I saw the redneck toilet nearby, about 20ft away. A blue barrel with the bottom cut out and a toilet seat on the top, just set on the ground, which I thought was gross and didn't use. What I didn't know is that it had been moved recently, and that the original spot was very close to where I set up my shower tent. In retrospect, I should have realized that there may be hidden caca in the area. During my shower, I thankfully didn't step in anything nasty; however I discovered the mess just before going to bed that night when I stepped in the mound of sh!t that was only covered with 1" of dirt. Luckily just my left shoe's forefoot and just the bottom part. Could've been worse. Anyway, whoever left it like that are just Aholes!
I was able to use my water sprayer to get the poo off my shoe, but I obviously left those shoes out that night far from the truck to air out. Thank goodness I had my hiking boots and flip flops as backup options. Anyway, I went to bed annoyed. In the morning, I did the proper thing. Cut a manhole size hole through the top layer of roots (about 4-6 inches thick). I flipped it back, dug down another foot, tossing the rocks further out into the woods to make room for the huge pile of human caca. I then shoveled the festering turds into the hole I made. I shoveled some dirt on top of the poo, and then flipped the manhole of tree roots over it. The manhole was a nice 4-6" layer of soil held together by a thick layer of thin roots. I used some of the leftover dirt to cover where the poo used to be too. So, hopefully that fixes it for whoever camps there next. It's not that frikkin hard. People are just gross, stupid and lazy. Bring a frikkin shovel people!
Anyway. the shower was awesome! lol
Thursday, we drove North towards Lake Willoughby Vermont. We did do an offroad route that was a bit sketch for my truck's current clearance. I had a few minor hits, but checked underneath and nothing was damaged/leaking. I upgraded the rear diff cover to cast iron. Well I didn't, the Built East shop did that for me, but glad they did. The truck is slightly lower than stock right now with the added weight of the bumpers, skid plates, and camper in the back. I haven't upgrade the suspension yet. Will do that after I finish my camper build and we can measure the weight on each tire.
Anyway, Jeff and I had waited until later in the week to drive up to Lake Willoughby, the main goal of the trip, because the weather had been bad up there. They had lots of rain Mon-Wed. On the way up Thursday, we also stopped at some roadside waterfalls on rt 100. Had lunch in the parking lot at Warren Falls. Love having the fridge and drawers to make a quick lunch and have a cold soda. Sat in the back of Jeff's van where he has a table and two mini couches on each side. Plenty of room for 4 adults.
After that, we continued the drive and I finally got come cell signal and my phone lit up with messages and emails that my portable heater for the truck had arrived at the MainlineOverland store in New Hampshire. It was only 1:00p.m. so I checked google maps, and it would only take 2 hours 20 min to go to their store to get it and then 2 more hours to meet with Jeff up at Lake Willoughby. So that's what I did. The drive over to NH via Warren Vt and Roxbury Moutain Overlook road was SPECTACULAR!!! what a view at the top into NH. Should have stopped for photos, but I was on a mission.
Finished a a cheesy sci-fi audiobook and started a new one on the drive, but glad I did the extra driving to get the heater. It got down to 35F that night, so I was really glad I had it. I didn't run it all night because the campground was tiny and I worried the heater noise would annoy everyone; although it was better white noise than the loud Quebec campers playing Yahtzee nearby. Who knew dice in a cup was that annoying? The heater isn't that loud really. quieter than a vacuum, but it's not a natural sound. I did run it a bit that night to break it in and test the setup.
I got the 10 foot hose option, so with the heater on the ground it still reaches up to the GFC tent doors. I used a short strap to secure it to a strut on the rear GFC window panel. So after shutting it off before going to bed, I actually shoved the hose out of the tent door to cut down on the drafts. I may try to cut a piece of foam to block off the air gap it creates. Heat-wise, the hose is comfortable to hold at the end, so it won't melt the tent material. It's just 90-100F hot air coming out at the end. It doesn't get that hot. I left it running when I went into Jeff's van to chat before turning in. When I crawled up into the tent, it was a Sauna up there. Probably just 80 something, but it was low 40's outside, so I was wearing a few layers. I turned off the heater, but it was so nice to crawl into a warm bed. even if it was a bit toasty at first.
It got a bit chilly overnight, but I dress for it and I have the gear I need to sleep warm without the heater. I plan on always doing that. Heaters can fail, you can run out of battery power/fuel too. But having the heater was great for drying things out quick. The bottom of my sweatpants had gotten wet from walking in tall grass, and i was able to dry them quick using the heater hose. The heater also makes getting out of bed on a cold morning easier too. I turned it on again around 6:30a.m. Maybe a little bit retaliatory for the loud tent campers behind me and the Yahtzee Quebec'ers that stayed up late, but there was occasional loud road noise at that point, so if you weren't wearing ear plugs you probably weren't sleeping at that point anyway.
Friday we drove home, but did it via Rt 5,10, 12 and stopped in Keene NH for a lunch/dinner on the way home. Jeff loves this place called Fritz's. They're known for their fries I guess. The slideshow Photos show how stunning Lake Willoughby is. Not a lot of camping nearby, but worth seeing. Rt 5 and 10 followed the Connecticut River border between Vermont and New Hampshire. Very scenic, but I'll admit I get kind of overwhelmed after awhile. If I were on my own, I'd have probably mixed in some highway driving to zone out for a bit too. Maybe after going through St Johnsbury, which had some beautiful mansions in the center of town. Jacqui would like one, looked like a super nice Addams Family house.
In summary, it was all in all a great week!
For the truck I still need to upgrade the GFC locks before Winter really hits, and organize the passenger side above the drawers. Going to make some some duffel bags and a wood rack to keep them in place and organized. Love having all this time for fun projects.
D