Raised Planter Beds instead of Shrubbery

This has been a project I've wanted to do for awhile now.   Just never got high on the to do list.   But finally, I've built up enough compost soil that I either had to waste it spreading it around the lawn, or finally buy the raised beds.   

I had thought about building my own raised beds using mortised and tenoned pressure treated 2x4's with azek/pvc plywood for panels , but the metal raised beds were cheaper and shipped direct from Home Depot (Better Choice brand raised planter beds).   I plan on painting them, so they'll better match the house color's green

I made a base for each one using pressure treated 2x4's and half inch mesh to keep critters from digging up underneath.   The bases are a little wider than necessary so I could add a raised lip perimeter around the planters, just to help stop spreading if the metal braces inside each bed fail in the future.    Just had to level the bases and then put the beds on them.  The cardboard is just to stop stuff from growing up from underneath.

I have a brush pile behind my backyard fence , so i dragged up debris to help fill each planter.    I only want to have to add 6-8 inches of loam/soil to the top of each.   I also have an old Troy Bilt lawn and leaf vacuum, that shreds the leaves nicely, so i'm filling with that stuff too.   My neighbors are happy because I needed extra this year, so I shredded up a lot of their leaves too this year.   I needed fill and they didnt have to bag or rake as much.  Win Win

In the Spring, I'll top each planter off with shredded leaves that haven't started composting much yet, then with the soil in the compost crates (right-hand side of first pic above), I'll top off each planter and move the compost bins back to the back yard.

I think I want to get one of these water totes from Boston (there's a place that sells reconditioned ones) and plop it where the compost bins are now.   I'll divert the downspout into it, and use the water from it to keep the plants happy and hydrated.

I'm going to plant a variety of herbs, veggies, and flowers.      Also that downspout leaves a bunch of water right by where you come into the house, so it'll be good to keep the walkway in front of the house dry.   Another win win.   I'll just have to figure out how to attach some flower boxes to the side facing the street so it's less fugly.

2024 Overland Expo East, trip back home

Overland Expo East 2024 Saturday and Sunday

 

 
 

Saturday morning

no 10 am seminar this morning, but i did wake up earlier than i expected, so i rode down for the 9a.m. opening before the crowds of day visitors swarmed. The Bronco guys turned their music off around 10-10:30 last night, but they were "drunk" loud. I'm sure they thought they were being quiet when talking around their little propane campfire, but drinking makes you deaf.



Anyway, I ran into Jeff mid morning while walking around. I bought another 6 pack of roperollers from the Rollercam booth. And finally, I wrapped up the morning by getting a ridiculously overpriced burger after waiting in line 15 minutes and waiting another 20 for the burger to be ready. Burger was maybe ⅓ lb size? just cheese, no toppings, nothing else and it was $20. with a coke and tip closer to $30. should have just gone back to my truck to eat lunch, or better yet, gone to the taco or bbq trucks. NEVER get the fresh burger from a food truck when the line is long. They just can't keep up with the demand.


Spent the afternoon just hanging out by my truck. around 6:30 p.m. got a ping from Mark to come down to his truck to hang out.


Jeff stayed in his van so he could use is starlink to game with his friends. His old college group of friends have a weekly, Saturday night gaming session.


Mark and Teresa invited Chad from the Talsit booth over. Nice guy. retired from corporate life. first consulting then he did Bank stuff. math nerd. statistical analysis stuff.


anyhoo. The company he and a cofounder started make kitchen drawers like mine. I’m seriously considering commissioning him to make a metal version of my drawer setup. they do custom work too. I don’t want his sink because i do too much cold weather camping and things would freeze.


I’ll work on a Google sketchup of my drawer. to see what it’d cost to have him remake what I’ve done with wood. I’d have the same storage space but it could be much narrower if made out of metal. With my big wood drawer pullout. there’s 2.5” wasted on each side. ¼" aluminum with a full extension slide would only be ¾” on each side, so I'd gain at least 3.5" for my center aisle from that alone. Overall it’d weigh less, and he designed it so the box fully seals up to keep mice and dust out.


Might be worth the 3k or so to have him make me something.


Chad also told a nice story (ending wise), about the time he got separated from his dog (Delilah) that he had with him at the expo. A very sweet 8 year old (a Cur Mt dog?). Before the story he talked about Delilah didn't like his ex-wife (wife at the time) and would take only Her things and bury them in the backyard. Delilah was also a naughty puppy the first couple years, chewing up tons of moulding throughout the house.



Delilah and Chad's story...


They often go out on hikes together. On a particular hike in northern Kentucky, they got separated when a bad storm came out of nowhere. Chad searched and search, and it broke his heart, he had to go home because it was getting dark and he’d go hypothermic when he stopped moving, or worse yet, get lost himself. First thing next morning, he went back, and he was calling for her all over, nothing. Runs into a guy asking if he’d seen a dog, and the guy said yeah about ¼ mile back but on the other side of the river. The man had noticed her because he was bird watching and had binoculars.


Sure enough, there she was. He could barely see her white head sticking out of the bushes, because she was scared and wasn’t sure who he was. When she realized it was her Dad, she started squealing and yipping (she's a quiet dog too, first time he ever heard her make noises like that), but it was a cold, fast moving river and she wouldn’t cross back (there were water falls further upstream, so it was loud too)


Anyhoo, he decided to strip down to his skivies and swim across. he made the mistake of leaving his boots on; which filled with water and made it really hard to swim. about 2/3rds of the way over he had that thought, omg! am I going to drown? but he made it across.



A joyful reunion commenced, he rested for a bit, but it was time to cross back. This time though he tied his shoes around his neck, and got her back across the river far more easily.


He told the story really well, and you could hear the love for his dog in the story. It made the night. Heck, may have made the weekend..


Anyhoo, things were winding down, and it was getting late (for camping...~9:30p.m.) so i pedaled back up the hill talked with Patrick and Brian briefly and turned in.

Sunday morning

I did a last walk-through early in the morning. Found a good kindling knife with a nice plastic orange hilt and orange sheath, so hopefully I won't lose it, LOL. 

At 10:00 a.m. I went back to the Storyteller Pavilion and attended a nice talk about driving up the gravel roads to the hydroelectric dams in Northern Quebec. Very remote, would be amazing for stargazing, only downside are the bugs and the extremely expensive gas you have to buy along the way. Triple normal prices in the middle.


After the class, Jeff and I went looking for a medical course but we think they skipped the Expo, and the expo folks didn't update the app. So I swung by Mark and Teresa's Booth one last time to Say Goodbye. Poor Mark look exhausted. SeaSucker owes them some serious swag. Teresa said they sold more stuff than the Seasucker people by a wide margin.


I mentioned the kitchen drawer thing earlier, but we didn’t talk Shop until the next day. Their drawer style is a little different but they also do custom projects, so I may hire them to make a metal version of my drawer. Here's their website https://www.talsit.net It would be lighter, narrower, and they have a hinged end plate with clamps to seal it shut and keep the dust out (and mice) when you’re driving around.. They use a high-end two burner propane based stove, Partner Steel, but I think I'd have them design it for a two burner Coleman white gas stove. I would hate to run out of propane in the middle of nowhere. Worst case you can burn gasoline in the Coleman stove until you can find the good white gas. it’s harder to use, but easier to find fuel when you really, really need it and that’s more important. Also, i can literally see how much fuel i have left, and with propane tanks it’s harder to know.






Talsit's default drawer design...







Went back to the truck, ate a quick lunch, and packed everything up. Then Jeff and I drove up to Shenandoah National Park to camp at Loft Mountain Campground for a couple nights. More on that later



Here are more photos from Saturday and Sunday.





This Bowlus trailer looks like an upside down boat/Airstream. It's crazy expensive too!



A taxa cricket trailer. I think it was NASA engineers making this one. The cool thing is you can leave the roof down to sleep in it if you're somewhere noisy, like a Cracker Barrel.

a quick snap of the TV setup at the Storyteller Pavilion.   this was the Northern Quebec talk

another photo of the Talsit drawer. They're coming out with a 3 ft version and they'll make custom kitchen pullouts too. For me, I don't want the sink. I do too much camping when temps go below freezing overnight.








I took this photo so I'd remember to look them up later. An aluminum version of the Ez Up shelter. The metal expandable frame packs down smaller than an EZup, but it didn't feel that much lighter to me. https://www.compactshelter.com/

2024 Overland Expo East Friday

2024 Overland Expo East Drive Down and Setup

Apr 20th, truck cleaning at home

 
April 20th Saturday, truck pressure wash in my driveway

And one last thing.   Once I got home (around 6p.m. Friday EST), the next day the truck’s undercarriage really needed a good cleaning.   I found a  few pockets of dried on mud and gravel.   the dust shields on the rotors trapped a lot of dirt too, so I suspect that was the source of the rotational squeaking that was driving me nuts.

First I used a floor jack to jack up under the rear diff’s cast iron cover.   Then I carefully dropped the rear axle onto 2 jack stands.    Removed the rear tires, but I don’t have more jackstands, so I could only remove one front tire at a time.   Maybe next time I go harbor freight, I’ll get 2 more stands.

Once the tires were off, I’d fire up the pressure washer and really clean off the rotors and brake calipers with the small pressure washer gun.   Using the creeper I rolled under the truck and clean things.   It was a wet dirty job, even wearing my rain jacket and pants.

The driveway is normally asphalt color, so all the brown mud is from Arkansas

Note from the future! 

I thought the squealing i was hearing occasionally was clay/dirt stuck in the leaf springs or something weird.   Turns out the rear brakes were already shot..   Only 30,000 miles!    Maybe i left the parking brake partially engaged at some point.   The Ford Ranger uses the rear brakes as the parking brakes too.

First few photos showing my fabric blocker trick for keeping water/dirt from getting in the back of the truck through the tailgate gaps.

Apr 19th, Ok4wd visit, then home

April 19th Friday, Ok4wd in Stewartsville NJ
Stopped by this overlanding store/shop on the drive home

bought this heavier winch line blanket.  You can also put rocks/sand in it so that if the line snaps, it drops to the ground instead of whipping back at you






This gadget is a propane water heater and pump for showers.    Works better than anything else from what Mark told me.

A different brand roof top tent (Alu-cab).   has an interesting port hole for this lithium battery powered air conditioner.    The tech only sort of works right now, but someday soon, it’ll work great.

 

 

and as I was leaving the store this Toyota Tacoma based GFC camper showed up.   His name was Hans and he had the version 1 GFC, I’ve got the v2.   but good to see their builds last.




and the rest of the way I went home.   Basically up i-287 through New Jersey, to i-84 south of Newburgh, then i-84 east home.   Going through Danbury and Waterbury on i-84 suuuuucked.   All the NYC and NJ people trying to get to the Berkshires I assume, via RT 7 north, early Friday afternoon.     My own fault, probably the worst time to try and go through there.   May have made more sense to go 87 North to the Mass Pike, oh well live and learn.

added a couple hours to the 4.5 hours Google promised

Apr 18th, still hanging out in Maryland

 


April 18th Thursday, Maryland
9am
Going to hang out at the horse farm today, and the plan is to head home tomorrow.    There’s a overlanding place that’s sort of on the way.   Ok4wd.com

going to swing by there on the way home tomorrow.   Will try not to spend all the money I’ve saved on this trip.

Even with what I spend on gas and food on the road, I ironically usually spend about half what I normally do at home.   Probably because I’m not buying computer gadgets, sewing stuff, woodworking stuff.    Gas and food are cheaper, lol


Mark is also a very talented stone wall mason.   He teaches classes on it and is almost always working on projects for clients in the area.  

This is just an example of a wall he did with students.

Kitty roll call, oldest to youngest.   They also have horses, but didn’t get photos of them.

9pm
It was a fun day today. Mark helped me remove the heavy metal hook on the end of my winch line and make a loop with the synthetic winch line instead, which is safer to use.   You just need more straps and soft shackles.

I don't have to worry if the winch line breaks free while pulling something, and then  having the heavy metal hook come flying back at me or the truck.

Apr 17, Mark and Teresa's Maryland, different fit pit option

 
April 17th wed 9:30am kingsport cb
slept kind of meh.   lots of engine braking from the semi’s, but I slept plenty to drive.

getting breakfast at CB then heading out.  almost sad about it being the last CB breakfast for awhile.   sad face…😢
 

April 17th wed 4pm, Maryland 
Made it to Mark and Teresa’s !

Just got some very good Mexican from the local place in Hampstead.   then hung out for the night enjoying a campfire down in their local pasture.   Teresa keeps horses and has an awesome small business helping kids on the spectrum.   Horse Therapy.   Helps them come out of their shell.

Mark was just adding wood, the photo looks more dangerous than it was.   I like his fire pit though.   May have to get one.   Pro’s and Cons vs my Ranger Solo stove.

Pro’s

• Lots of heat
• You can stare at the coals
• Lightweight and packs up smaller than my solo stove
• Easy to add more wood

Cons

• Uses more wood than my solo stove to generate a similar amount of heat
• Can’t use in fire bans
• Can’t put on an ember cover, or heat deflector like the Solo Stove
• Doesn’t burn wood pellets
• Slightly more smokey than my solo stove, assuming I’m using the solo stove correctly, which often isn’t the case with firewood I buy roadside.

https://a.co/d/cp9QiRN

 

 

 

Apr 16, heading home, Kingsport TN CB

 April 16th Tuesday 9:30 p.m  Kingsport Cracker Barrel Tennessee i-81 
Long day.   woke up around 5:30 a.m. in the Ouachita woods, and couldn’t fall back asleep.   So I packed up and headed out.

uneventful drive out of the forest.  aired up the tires with the air compressor mounted in my truck bed and headed off to civilization.   

Not sure I ever mentioned that in the blog before.  but on the back roads, I let about 50% of the air out of the tires.   You have to drive slower (<= 25mph), but the half deflated tires eat up all the bumpy back roads much better.     You don’t want to drive highway speeds with half-full tires though.   They’d get really hot, get damaged or explode,  the vehicle would not steer well at all, and you’d get horrible mileage.

Anyhoo,  after a quick breakfast at the Lake Sylvia beach area, I got on route 10 east and followed that for about a half hour to i-40 east.  

Little Rock traffic on i40 is not bad at all.   The disconcerting rotational squeaking at slower speeds was still noticeable.  Worst betwee 30-45mph.    On the rt 10 drive I tried to find a self-service car wash, but they only had the automated or touchless ones.   with the ski box on the truck, I’m too tall for those.   So I stopped at a truck wash made for semi’s.   It cost me $40, but they did a great job.  8 guys with pressure washer spray guns.   I’d do it again tbh.   Sadly though, the rotors are still squeaking.   I think if it was a wheel bearing it’d be loud at highway speeds, so I’m guessing a small rock got in between a disc pad and a rotor.   I’d guess the rear driver side.   Vehicle brakes fine though, and you don’t hear anything at highway speeds.

Anyhoo, stopped at the big Bass Shop Pro pyramid in memphis.   well worth a walk through if you’re ever  in memphis.   Got some good rain gear for ½ off from the clearance racks.    My ratty, cheap Frogg Toggs rain gear for camping were worn out.

The pyramid is bigger than it looks in the photo.  

 

 

 
There’s a hotel in there too, who knew?   They have giant Spanish Moss trees (fake?) and even an area where they keep small alligators!   Why?   who knows?   Maybe so they can threaten unruly kids with getting tossed into the alligator pit if they don’t behave!

After I killed enough time for my BBQ place to open, I got lunch at Bar B Q Stop in memphis;.    so good.    Tough choice between them and St Louis.   Both are way better than anything I’ve ever made.  

I went into the Bar BQ Stop place with my stainless steel take-a-way containers.   I felt zero shame.    I ordered a huge dinner, ate maybe half, and took the rest to my truck’s fridge for lunch/dinner another day.

Anyway, continuing east.   never, EVER drive i40 through Nashville, take the i840 beltway around it.   just do it.   The time estimate signs lie.   It is NEVER faster to go through Nashville via i-40 during the day.     Only go into Nashville if you’re doing something in Nashville.   the highway committee were drunk or high or both when they did the highway planning there.

through Nashville, i40 expands to 4 or 5 lanes and you’ll have to cross over at least 3 times in monstrously heavy, stop and go traffic.   Sometimes to stay on i40 east you have to be in the 2 leftmost lanes, then the 2 rightmost lanes, then back to the 2 leftmost lanes.   Awful!!!   at the very least take i440 to go around the mess.   it’ll be worth it.

Continued on and 5 hours later I was at the Buc-ee’s in Crossville Tennesee.    loaded up on gas and had a “light” dinner.   Then onto Knoxville.   At some point around there I lost an hour to the changeover from Central time to Eastern timezone.

Got through that then onto i-81 north for an hour until I found myself at the Kingsport Cracker Barrel.   I’ll get some pancakes in the morning and head up to my friends in Maryland.    They’re about 7 hours from here, but add an hour for gas, food and biobreaks.   Should be an easier day tomorrow.  Today I did the 10-11 hour drive.

Talked with Jacqui, might stay at Mark and Teresa’s Friday too if we’ve got stuff to do.   Then I’ll have an easier drive home on Saturday.   I might drive to ok4wd.com in new jersey.   Just have to leave early Saturday, they close early at 1:30p.m., and they’re 2.5-3 hours from the Maryland place.

Apr 15th, Hotsprings, bent bike derailleur backing up

 

April 15th, Monday 2:30 p.m  Hotsprings then back Ouachita National Forest, forest road 132 arkansas.  

 

Woke up this morning and went into HotSprings.   I guess there’s supposed to be 26 miles of hiking somewhere, but I was on a mission for a beer and a pizza.   Timed it well, only getting there 5 minutes early.

After finishing half of the pizza and the entire beer, I carried the rest of the pizza back to my parking spot.  I splurged and did the paid parking even though there was plenty of free parking.   I could have found a free spot if I tried harder, but I didn’t want anyone hitting my bike on the back.

Turns out I should have been worried about my own driving.   After getting back to the Ouachita woods, at my campsite I backed into a small tree (thankfully small, the main section only being about 3” thick.   Short tree which is likely why I hadn’t noticed it.

Anyway, it’ll only cost me a $10 derailleur hanger for the bike’s rear derailleur.   no biggee.   Just more of a D’oh!   moment.   Thankfully it happened on the last day of my trip so that I don’t have to go find a bike shop.   and odds are I’d be waiting for a part to arrive.   very lucky on the timing.

Tomorrow I head back out onto the highway.    Hoping to drive through some rain to clean off the truck.     If I dont’ I’ll drive to a self service car wash place and give the wheels and suspension a good cleaning.    At low speeds I have a rotational squeaking that’s very annoying.   Have to drive around with the windows up on the back roads.   could be a stuck caliper or something.    

My truck shop guy says you’re not really overlanding unless you’re breaking stuff so mission accomplished!   At some point I want to upgrade my front brakes anyway.   hopefully it’s just dirt in the leaf springs, but if not, it’s on my upgrade list anyway.

I may also need a new antenna for the weboost if it doesn’t survive the drive home.    if it does, I can epoxy a fix with some leftover fiberglass tape, and paint it black when done.   If not, another $100.   Also from the small tree incident.

All in all, a very fun outing.   Traveling alone I’d say that time slows down more.   Feels more like a month where it’s only been a couple weeks.    I like solo travel though, it’s not a bad thing if I have to head out on my own.    Now I know where to go around here too.   so next time, I may zip here, and start off with bikepacking before doing the comfy truck camping.

going to enjoy my last few hours in the woods.   that’s all for now.

derailleur hangers are intended to be the sacrifical part and to bend.  I should order a spare.  

the lower bit is supposed to be inline with the gears above it.

 

 

 
weboost antenna damage….
if you look closely from the top down, where it starts to get thin, that’s where I broke it. 

I put on some all-weather, gorilla-brand duct tape 

and cinched the tape down further with 3 black zip ties. 

The plastic enclosure wasn’t cracked all the way through. it just needs some reinforcement.

 

 

another shot showing the antenna at the tippy top.   Part of why it works so well is that the GFC tent gets it up higher off the ground when the tent is up.