April 5th, Friday 9:30 a.m. ozarks, arkansas
temps got down to 37F last night. I trusted the forecast which has a town at a similar elevation, so I didn’t bother emptying out all my water pumps.
I did hear a truck drive out and back this morning around 7:30a.m., but so far so good, quiet-wise. Will have to see if the weekend camping warriors arrive later today. On the other hand, with temps near freezing at night, it may be “too cold” for the local campers. Not throwing stones. If i had to sleep when it’s humid and >85F I’d be heading North. It’s all what you’re adapted too.
Even though my smartwatch told me I needed 46 hours to recuperate from yesterday’s easy ride (the watch can be so RUDE at times), I feel fine. So I think i’ll do another easy ride today. I think the watch gets confused when I stop for photos a lot. it thinks I’m stopping because I feel like I’m dying or something. My heartrate was 120-135 most of the time. Wasn’t working that hard.
Food updates….last night i finished the st louis bbq. No more leftover tins in the fridge, freeing up more room for beer and soda bottles.
I had the leftover brisket, pulled pork, ribs, and baked beans. No way those beans were remotely healthy. The sauce is brown sugar based and extremely sweet. They also mix in leftover bbq meat, kind of like how Wendy’s uses up leftover hamburger patties in their chili. Waste not, want not. I never understand why that skeeves people out, it’s all yummy in the tummy imho. Anyway I made some wraps with raw diced onion and green peppers with the leftover bbq meat and I had some bbq sauce in one of my small camping squeeze bottles.
Right now, i’m going to just enjoy the sunny weather for a bit. I’m digesting a 3 egg equivalent omelet I made this morning with the peppers and onions from the fridge. I bought a half carton size of egg beaters instead of real eggs. The half carton is equivalent to 9 eggs, which is plenty for a week in the woods. The carton also packs better in my small dometic 35 liter fridge, and it’s less mess out in the woods, no shells to crack or to put in the garbage.
I used some of the ghost pepper sauce I got from Buc-ee’s it also has a sweet sauce mixed it. very tasty.
And last but not least I’ll leave you with a couple photos. I’d bought a support mount thing for the rear passenger side swing arm, so i could bring a small propane tank along (which I didn’t bring on this trip). Lately, I actually prefer strapping a 5 gallon bucket with an air tight lid on it for trash storage. The stupid propane tank mount thing cost $120, but at least I found a good use for it.
Anyway I’ve been using my folding toilet seat when nature calls, and when done I tie up the bag just using the excess bag material, just like you would for a doggie poo bag. So, even though my white bucket is white, the Sun does heat things up in there. Even when it’s just garbage, it gets a bit stinky in there if it’s getting a lot of sun. So this morning I’m trying to leave the tied bag of my doodoo in the sun for a few hours BEFORE putting it in the white trash bucket. Maybe it’ll cook the stinky gas out of it first.
sorry if this is gross, think of it as a doggie poo bag.
Oh well, onto Ted Lasso season 2. Last night I rewatched the first episode of Shogun from Hulu. Amazing series! Watching some Youtube reviews of it, the historian channels are raving about how accurate the set and costumes are.
April 5th, Friday 4 p.m. ozarks, arkansas
Finished a 4 mile ride down to rt 16 and back, making 8 miles. Did a short detour on a rough jeep trail that was fun. I think my truck would make it fine down that trail, but I like where I’m at. Not sure about Jeff’s van though. too many low hanging branches. Definitely a Jeep or side by side trail.
Along the bike ride out to rt 16, there was a lonely donkey that needed pets. Happy to oblige, lol. She was very sassy (aka making loud noises). Probably wanted treats,but I didn’t have anything.
With the weather getting nicer today, I feel like I’m settling into the camping groove. I think what’s helping me relax more this time is having the weboost cell signal booster and the unlimited wifi plan for my smartphone. Last year i only had a 3gb/month plan; although with rollover it was about 9gb the month I was out in Arizona and Utah. you’d be surprised how quickly you can go through that if you go on reddit or instagram. Surprisingly, the weboost sucks almost no power; at most 1amp at 12volts (12 watts or less). the solar offsets enough I rarely see any power draw, even just from ambient light hitting the solar panel.
anyway, here’s some screenshots of what I biked today.
tomorrow i’m going to go the other way to Six Finger Falls, and maybe even the Richland Falls further North. scale is different had to zoom out to show the other target destinations.
the mini solo stove did better last night. I think the thing with wood pellets is to fill it right about a half inch below the inner vent holes that are near the top. Light it and accept your fate. Do NOT add more. if you want more fire later, put on some welding gloves dump out the stove and repeat (fill w more pellets and relight). if you try to add more to the existing pellet fire, the ash buildup in the bottom prevents the additional pellets from burning properly. Still, even with that downside, I’m very much enjoying the little stove. I even have hook things from solo stove that hook into the vent holes. I’d still wear gloves, but they could help with dumping out the ash when it’s hot.
Right now, it’s warm and Sunny enough to need my sunshade tarp.
the breeze gets through it, but it blocks enough Sun to make a nice shade to sit behind in my camp chair. (red heads and sun do not mix) Only $20 on Amazon and another $10 for the plastic spring clamp set from Home Depot to attach it to my Thule awning.
Overlanding stores charge way too much for their “official” gear. Like $1,000 for a 270 degree awning, and even then, I’d still need to pay more to add their sidewalls to block the Sun which I worry would block/catch the wind. My friend Jeff has a nice mesh sunshade for his van’s awning. I think it was 3rd party, so only a couple hundred bucks. Not sure. His you can see through better, but i’m not sure if it blocks the Sun as well.
Anyway I like my $200 tiny 4ft x 8ft Thule awning and $20 sunshade tarp, which is 6’x8’ I think.
Right now, I’m going to relax, finish my beer, and make spaghetti for dinner in a couple hours.
Beer supply is holding up. I drink ~1 beer/day, usually after getting back from biking, and then I sip my rye whiskey if I get the urge for more booze later by my little solo stove fire. I’ve only worked through ⅓ of my tiny 6 ounce flask so far on this trip. you can’t guzzel rye whiskey, that’s why I like it. It’s more for the taste; lots of flavor notes in it, once you get used to it. Most people’s reaction to it is to make a nasty face and/or spit it out. Anyway, that’s my lame “party mode”. 1 strong beer per day and a few sips of rye whiskey. Very lame. lol.
