Somerset outing, Oct 20-22

Jeff and I did a bike ride Sunday in Connecticut.   Between Vernon and Willimantic  CT.    We'd planned an out and back ride on the Hop River rail trail.   It was going to be a 47 mile out and back, but was cut shorter to just 37 miles because the parking area was full.     The original spot wasn't really a parking area, just a pull off for 4-5 cars.    So we went to the nearest proper parking area, but it was 5 miles away, so we cut 10 miles off our planned ride for the day.   I can almost hear Jacqui saying sarcastically, "and what exactly is the problem?"

Anyway, we had a nice lunch at willimantic brewing.   They're in Willimantic's old post office building.    Anyhoo during the ride, Jeff invited me to his camp outing to Somerset (near Wilmington).    The forecast was for clear skies and he wanted to get some astronomy photos of stuff going on.   I didn't take any photos during the ride.   There weren't any views from the trail.   A couple cool tunnels under bridges, and a couple cool cut throughs old steep hills, so you pedaled through rock walls that were 30-40 ft tall on both sides.   Narrow too, must have been for old skinny trains.

Anyway,  I couldn't join Jeff Monday night.   Jacqui was returning from being at her folks over the weekend, and I wanted to see her before leaving, and I needed time Monday to load up the camper.   It's also the time of year to start putting my stuff away so Jacqui can park her car in the garage.    I've been buying Rigid brand tool boxes from home depot to better organize all by biking related stuff.   But that deserves its own blog.   More later.

Anyway, I'm joining him for Tuesday and Wednesday night.   Driving back home Thursday..    Somerset's old airfield has open sky, so his starlink works well and he has a small computer driven telescope.    It takes hundreds, even thousands of photos depending on how he configures it to run overnight, and then he uses software to stack the images on his computer   I'll get him to text me a couple and come back to update the blog here.

9:45a.m. Wednesday morning. Just texted jeff to send a photo, he's still in his van this morning.    it's just funny because with his Starlink, my phone works.   Otherwise, I get no signal here.   And it's funny that I could just walk 30 ft to knock on his van, but I think it's less instrusive to text instead.  I get why young people don't cold call people .   they text first, makes sense.    

Anyway, here's IC434 the Horsehead Nebula

M45 Pleiades

the white mist around the stars are because they're new stars forming, and they're still gathering up all the nearby material.

M101 pinwheel galaxy

Uranus photo ( the brightest spot in center)

M33 Triangulum Galaxy

I have too many hobbies already, but cost wise, assuming you have a decent laptop already, the software and telescope to do this stuff is well under $1,000 now.   And you don't even have to stay out in the cold.   You might need a small battery power station for the telescope though.    I think Jeff just runs a power cord to the van.

Anyhoo, it was def chilly last night.   Frost on the ground this morning.    I'm glad I brought the mini camper along.    It's like having a mini living room on wheels.    When I have the cot set up inside it, I lose a lot of space, so I like just having a camp chair inside with stuff spread out.  Also gives me more room to haul the solo stove for campfire stuff.  I put that stuff in the front of the camper when driving.   puts more weight on the tongue, so it tows nice.

 Speaking of campfires, Jeff and I started one around 3pm yesterday.  I used tractor supply pellets and compressed sawdust bricks.   Worked well, and if a Ranger shows up, I won't get fined for bring firewood from home.   The sun set at 6p.m., and we retreated to our respective campers around 6:30 because it was too cold to hang around outside by then.   I could hang out for a bit in Jeff's van, but we'd been hanging out chatting for 3-4 hours by then, so it's nice to give each other space too.

From 6:30-9p.m. I hung out in the mini camper, reading off my Kindle while I had a movie playing on my tablet.    Just an old scifi movie I've watched a dozen times before, had it on for background noise.  A nearby camper was running their generator and I wanted nicer background noise.   

Around 9, I briefly left the warm mini camper to turn on the portable diesel heater to warm up the truck's GFC rtt (Go Fast Camper roof top tent).  After hitting the on switch,  I quickly retreated to the warm mini camper to brush my teeth.    I just have a funnel and large 5 gallon jug to spit into.     I dump it at home in the basement utility sink and rinse it out.

It was only in the mid 40's when I went to bed in the truck, but my portable diesel heater turns the rtt into a sauna at those temps even on its lowest setting, so I turned it off to sleep.   

The mini camper would have the same problem but it has a roof top fan and side windows, so I just open them as needed to regulate the temp inside.   Can't do that as well in the GFC rtt   the side windows are low.    They redesigned the rtt tent fabric to have vents near the peak.    But it would be at least 2k to replace the tent fabric    No thanks.   I'll use the tent until it wears out and deal with it then.

I woke up around 4a.m. with my arms and shoulders too cold.   My cold weather,  synthetic down quilt is too short for my stomach/side,  superman flying sleeping pose.   I normalIy bring my summer quilt too, to lay over top my winter quilt,  and I  pull the summer quilt up over my exposed arm(s) and shoulders.     But it needs washing, so I left it at home.  Alternatively, I could have pulled up a floor panel, hopped down to the truck bed, and grabbed another jacket to wear under the goose down jacket I had on, but it's hard to get yourself to crawl out of a mostly warm bed at 4a.m.  when you can just reach over and turn on the heater, so I did that instead.   Because it was at least 15 degrees cooler, I didn't cook myself out of the RTT this time either.   

 Tonight, I'll just make sure I have another layer to wear on my torso.   I have the nice, thick, green flannel Mom bought me for Christmas a few years back.   I'll just wear that over my t-shirt tonight, with the goose down over top (tonight is supposed to be colder too).    A side benefit of losing weight, my flannels and jackets are too big now, so layering is easier .

I prefer just sleeping in th quiet/cold, and using the portable heater for getting into/out of bed.   The mornings are worse, cold wise.     Temperatures are always coldest at Sunrise, as you'd expect.     I always lay in bed until the urge to poo/pee won't go away.   TMI probably, sorry.    

I can understand why most women probably hate cold weather camping just for the whole hassle of having to pee at night.   If I had to get up to use a toilet instead of just throwing my quilt off enough  to use my pee jug while laying on my side, I'd dislike cold camping too.   I'd want a heated camper for the toilet trek in the middle of the night if I was in a woman's shoes too.   As I get older, I guess I'm starting to undestand these things better.  

This morning, after doing my business in the Joolca toilet in the truck bed.    I moved my clothes and night bag over to the mini camper, and turned the diesel heater to warm it up again.

Then, I went back to the Truck tailgate area to make a protein smoothie and grabbed a few dates, half a wheat wrap and small peanut butter jar.   I put that stuff into mini camper, went back to the truck to boil some water for tea and dirty dishes.    While the water came up to boil, I put the bin of dirty dishes into the mini camper too.    So I was outside in the cold for maybe 5 minutes max this morning.  Idk, that impressed me, maybe it's not.

Inside the mini camper I ate my breakfast while listening to a podcast. then I did the dishes, and finally, I relaxed while drinking my tea.   LUXURY

My Dad might get that Luxury comment..    Fall camping is fun, but standing outside when it's upper 30's, not as much.

to add context, I took a couple photos from inside the mini camper.   First shot shows the camping chair I sit in.   It's where I read, watch movies, eat, do dishes etc.

and in the next photo is what I see when doing dishes.   And for the snoopy readers.  I bought a 2nd bidet bottle to rinse dishes.  It's never been used for it's intended purpose, just dishes, I marked it so I won't accidentally use it on the toilet.   In warmer weather I use a manual pump sprayer that's for misting indoor plants, but with freezing temps I didn't want to damage the pump seals.   

i'll end this blog here and do another about the new battery I added to the truck so it's easier to find on my blog later.