my neighbors were from Alaska, they had a long wheelbase Sprinter, I took a photo when I noticed they had a starlink dish.
two forgotten things (three actually)
just wrapping up breakfast at the local CB. the road noise was a little louder than Dayton, thank goodness I had my single earmuff. (bought the over the ears style hearing protectors, but I cut one ear cover off the headband because I sleep with one ear down on my pillow)
the rearranged gfc tent floor cushions definitely made getting ready this morning, much much easier.
Soon, i’ll drive the hour to bentonville and do some shopping. i forgot my soft bear bag made out of kevlar, but it’s not rodent proof. so i’ll look for a food bag while I’m in town. I may also look for another hitch lock thing, maybe in joplin before I leave. I actually have the lock for the upper gfc tent, but I forgot the key….
so there they are 2 things i forgot. the streak continues!!!
[a 3rd forgotten thing, the battery charger for my Olympus SLR camera, discovered a few days later]
April 3rd, Wednesday 8:30 am O’Reilly autoparts, Joplin Missouri
one problem solved! they had a small master lock brand trailer lock pin thing for the smaller 1 ¼” receivers. i asked if they had anything in the back so I could cut the pin a little shorter. it’s designed to be cut. worst case they said no, and I’d go over to home depot for a hacksaw, but the cashier guy let me borrow his angle grinder that he had in his truck. I fired up my truck’s inverter, dug out my power cord, and zippity zap, trimmed it to the perfect length! huzzah!! off to bentonville.
about an hour later, I found a good campsite. i’ll probably stay here until the eclipse. the site has decent cell signal, without weboost on. If i turn it on, i get good 5g.
There are lots of nearby places to explore by bike. i think I’ll just do some regular biking from here. build up some stamina and butt calluses. then after the eclipse, I’ll drive down to the ouachita lake loop. Looks like that’s a better area for actual bikepacking, not sure. Actual bikepacking meaning, I overnight in a tent i strap to the bike, instead of returning to the truck.
here’s a screenshot of where I am now. obviously i have cell signal, or you wouldn’t be reading this
April 3rd, Wednesday 12:30pm bentoniville, arkansas
did a quick drive though bentonville’s old downtown. very charming ( and many overpriced cafes I assume…lol)
I moved along to the Mall part of town. and i took care of getting a stuff sack for my food from Bass Pro Shops.
i’ll just have to hang it from a tree. i’ll be packing dehydrated meals and stuff that’s vac sealed, so it shouldn’t attract too many critters hopefully.
After that, I went to a walmart supercenter and topped off my water jugs using the Primo water dispensing thing they have in the store. it’s 46 cents per gallon, so I only paid $4.60 for 10 gallons of fresh clean water. I half filled one of the 5 gallon containers before leaving home, but i didn’t want the added weight on the drive (8lbs per gallon), and i figured i’d want fresh water before going into the woods for a week or two.
I also stocked up in general at the Walmart supercenter. tried to not overbuy, but I bet I did. i had to do some meal prep in the parking lot to get things to fit. mostly just dicing a large red onion and 2 green bell peppers. went through the stuff i got to get rid of all the garbage i wouldn’t be able to burn.
oh and i broke down finally and got a usb/thermacell gadget from Bass Shop Pro too. the usb will run the fan for 9 hours, and it’ll supposedly give a 20ft range. it’s early Spring down here, so i now i’ll be pushing my luck with bugs. i did bring my mosquito head net thing for biking. and I have lots of bug spray. anyway, it’ll be good to sleep in the woods tonight.
texted with Jeff during the highway drive this morning, and he may go to the illinois/indiana area, so not sure if he’ll join me later (he’s looking for the best chance of a clear sky, like a reverse tornado chaser). Anyway, he’s welcome to come find me later of course.
that’s it. just ate a quick lunch at what a burger (first time i’ve been to one, not bad, but greasier than mcD’s or BK imho)
going to double back across the street to the cheap walmart gas and then head out to the woods.
just plugged the coordinates into google maps from gaiagps.. it’ll take about 3 hours to get there.
35.7698111,-92.9170716
no idea if i’ll have cell signal there. i guess before i leave civilization for a few days, I should double check my garmin inreach.
April 3rd, Wednesday 6:30pm ozarks, arkansas
on the drive in, i drove past this cool waterfall
here’s a photo of the new tiny solo stove knock off in action. 20 oz beer can for perspective. it’s warming my legs nicely right now. i wouldn’t want to try and put firewood in it, but it burns pellets nicely. the 5 gallon black barrel next to it has the pellets. the burn barrel will easily fit in the five gallon barrel. perspective wise, it’s a couple feet behind the stove, so it makes the stove look bigger than it really is.
and finally, I made my first batch of air popper popcorn via the truck. that’s twice today the inverter earned its weight. when it finished, batteries were at 96%. worth it. used my coleman white gas stove to reheat the other half of the buc-ee’s veggie burrito. also ate a slice of smoked summer sausage and muenster cheese. living the high life right now!
