Apr 6th, lucky horseshoe found, Ozarks, Eclipse trip

 
April 6th, Saturday 2:30 p.m. ozarks, arkansas

got back from a heck of a ride.   1142 ft of climbing!  Going down to the six finger falls was fun, but I knew getting back to my truck/campsite, I’d pay for it later.   it was a 2 hour ride, and it only took me about 20 minutes to get to the falls.   the rest was me messing around and climbing back to camp.   

Maybe I should have recorded the descent with my helmet mounted Gopro (actually a dji) , but I dont’ think any of the ladies in my life would have approved of that footage.   Hey, you only live once, and I can think of worse ways for things to end as far as being a messy splat against a tree.    You know you’re zipping along when you overtake actual automobiles.     It’s nice that gravity is actually on my side sometimes.

Anyway, on the climb back up, the shorter cranks proved they were well worth the $500 that upgrade ended up costing.     On the one hand, that’s a stupid amount of money just for shorter cranks, but being able to do a climb without achy knees was worth every penny.  (no salt in the wound intended Dad, if anything you probably understand that better than anyone else reading this)

 

 

I forgot to mention on the way back from the ride yesterday (where I petted the donkey), I found this horseshoe on the road.   I’m keeping it right side up in my food bin (at least I know that much about “luck”).  Hopefully it’s not bad luck to take it off the road like I did.   Don’t need to tempt fate like the Brady Bunch kids in that old, cheesy Hawaii movie.   Anyhoo,  it’ll make a nice keepsake of the trip

I did another 1 liter washcloth “shower”, I think the only downside of it is that eventually my washcloth is going to get rank, no matter how well I dry it in the Sun.   But that’s what laundromats are for.

Jeff texted me this morning.   He’s up in the New Hampshire for the eclipse.   I almost feel bad for him.   I’m enjoying mid 60’s and Jeff’s in the following     (take your pick! Lol),.   

 

He did say that the new 480 amp hour battery bank is working great and the 2nd alternator upgrades are working well too.   His van consumed 120+ amp hours yesterday, and he can add 190 amps back per hour when he idles/drives.    I think the next project is a 100 watt solar panel just to keep the battery bank topped off when the van is parked in the driveway at home.

Finally, I also chatted w Jacqui this morning.  1st phone call in a week.   Even when we lived apart while she was getting her PhD, we’d only call once or twice a week.   We emailed more than talked, even back then.  Anyway, we jabbered on for a good hour before wrapping things up.   All is well.    

I think the good news from what I heard is that she’s not being shoved aside after giving her retirement notice, but the bad news is that they’re not taking it very seriously that she’s only around another 4 weeks.   

If anything, it sounds like some people are truly worried she’s leaving, and they’re trying to pump all they can out of her for projections on how long projects will take before she's not around to give accurate predictions.   Oh well,as I often joked during my corporate years, sometimes you just gotta “let it burn”, figuratively speaking.   Sadly, there are times you can’t stop the car wreck even when you see it coming from a mile away.   No matter how hard you try…

Anyway, photos from today's ride 

Apr 5, camping setup, Ozarks AR

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.

 

 

and I riveted on this stainless steel D ring thing to the bucket so the strap won’t slip off when driving

and when done, I’ve been putting them in this bucket. with the air-tight screw on lid.  Which I think I got from Tractor Supply because Lowes and HomeDepot only had black screw on lids, and I wanted everything in white to reflect as much sunlight as possible.    maybe I should look for some sort of vent I can add to the bucket too, idk…   then again, trying to contain the stink is a mercy for my fellow travelers in the rest area parking lots or gas stations when I get rid of my garbage in the trash bins.

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.

Apr 4th, bike exploring from campsite, Eclipse Trip

 
April 4th, thursday 9:30a.m. ozarks, arkansas

crawled up into bed around 8 last night.   watched more Ted Lasso reruns before falling asleep around 9.   slept solid until about 4a.m., then woke off and on for a few hours.   Lazy morning.   got up around 8a.m.    tomorrow there’s a frost warning, so I’ll have to be sure to make sure all my little water pump gadgets are run dry before bed, so they don’t freeze and break.

speaking of.   I’m loving the little usb-charged electric water pump thing for rinsing the dishes.   It’s probably meant for misting flowers/plants, but it works for me.     For me, it’s a good size, but it may be heavy for those of the tiny human persuasion.   i like when you push the orange trigger button it stays on, you push again to turn it off.   used it to mist my air popped popcorn so the nacho salt seasoning would stick.   worked great.

April 4th, thursday 5:30p.m. ozarks, arkansas

went for a ride this afternoon.   felt great to be on the bike exporing.   did a few of the side roads to see what the camps were like.   none of the camps were taken.  

i was a bit slow at times, but the new bike cranks felt great on the knees.  you wouldn’t think shortening from 175mm long to 165mm would be a huge difference, but if you add at the top of spinning the pedals and the bottom the diameter is almost an inch shorter.

i also fired up the Geyser sponge shower after getting back.   first shower since Monday morning at my in-laws.   I only have 10gallons of water, and even though it uses just 3 liters (you mix 1 liter boiling water and 2 liters room temp), but that’s nearly  ¾ of a gallon.   it adds up.   If I showered every day, I wouldn’t have enough water to last a week .   My Geyser doesn’t have the heating element.  I actually use my 1 liter electric hot water kettle to boil 1 liter of water to the 2 liters of cold to mix for the shower.

Tomorrow, I may just try boiling half a liter of water and mixing with half a liter and just use a wash cloth to clean up after my bike ride.    

i also went for a short walk this morning.   even though the gate is still locked, it’s only a 200 yard walk to an open meadow.   should be perfect for watching the eclipse.    I may fine tune my truck placement, but wind-wise it’s in a good spot.   just wish i was getting more Sun this morning for the solar to recharge the batteries .   The Sun is hitting the back of the truck this morning, so this afternoon, I should get some Sun on the panel on the front of the truck, but there are trees in the way, so I’m not sure.

 

 

 

and here’s the other half of the cracker barrel taco pancakes, reheated on my white gas stove.  it was yummy.   the new folding windscreen I bought is working well.  I just have to use a tin filled with fudge and chocolate to keep the wind from pushing it into the stove.    I’d rather use a rock, but there’s not a lot around here.

 

 

and the pellets didn’t burn down as much as I hoped they would. the tiny solo stove worked fairly well, but i’ll have to see if there’s a trick to getting the pellets to burn down to ash better. Maybe i need to get a long metal spoon so I can push the half-burned pellets to one side of the stove before going to bed.   looks like a lack of air to me.   I dumped it out into the nearby fire ring.   looks like rabbit poo.

 

 

Apr 3rd, Joplin to Bentonville AR to camp, Eclipse Trip

April 3rd, Wednesday 7:30 am joplin missouri cdt.

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!

Apr 2nd, St Louis BBQ, overnight Joplin, Arkansas Eclipse trip

 tuesday April 2nd, morning

started raining heavy around 6a.m., it was nice listening to the rain as I woke up.   I was parked the wrong way wind wise.    Ideally,  i park the front/nose of the truck into the wind, but the wind was hitting the back passenger side.   all that happens is that the wind pushes the large back GFC tent wall in some and then the struts lift it back up, but there’s no way to sleep through that if it’s all night.   i’d have had to get up out of bed and turn the truck around into the wind, so i’m lucky it didn’t start until i was up anyway.

getting breakfast at cracker barrel.   taco pancakes, without the cheese.   i don’t want to tempt fate with that much grease.   the tacos are a pancake with a fried egg and bacon, so I’m already pushing it.   lol

last night, i rearranged the GFC’s downstairs a little.   I had my folding toilet thing closest to the driver side, but i have a milk crate of campfire stuff on top of a 5gallon bucket filled with wood pellets.(with a screw top, air tight lid).   Switching things around so the folding toilet is in the aisle of the truck bed gives me more visibility out the rear window, and it also puts the campfire stuff within easier reach once I get to the woods.


Last night, I also set up the rain awning on the driver side GFC tent door. 

It worked like a champ this morning when i was getting out of the truck while it was raining.   I’d also pulled up the ladder last night, so having the awning overhead made it that much easier to drop down from up top.   i could do it without getting rained on.    I’m looking forward to making one for Mark and Teresa, to see how they like it.   Now THERE’s a business plan.   there’s actually a guy that sells sewed bags you attach to the support beams below, maybe I’ll go into business w him.   lol   (he makes em and gives me $5.    now THAT’S what I call “plantation capitalism”….just kidding.    It’s hard work making these things and I don’t think I’d feel entitled to $5 everytime one gets made)

anyway, I might just shoot for joplin missouri today.   that would put me 1 hour away from Bentonville tomorrow.    then I can hit Bentonville during the day and head east towards the Ozark St Francis Forest. before it gets dark tomorrow.

woofed down my breakfast, time to get going now.    onto St Louis bbq!

tuesday April 2nd, 10:30a.m. west of indianopolis.   

The sun came out so I’ve parked in a rest area about 30 miles west of Indianapolis.  I’ve popped the GFC tent up, so it can dry out some.    I had to close it up while it was raining this morning at the Dayton Cracker Barrel.   I’m going to give it at least another 5 minutes, then I’ll close it up and get moving to St Louis again.

Nothing like dirtbag camping in full view of everyone!   I’ve done this before.   I remember stopping like this between camping at Cranberry Lake and on my way to 8th lake campground.  Although that time I had wet bedding, so I had everything draped over my open truck doors, and my camp chair too.      Take advantage of the Sun when you need it.

Here’s a flashback to then

I think if you care deeply about what strangers think, life is way too hard.    Do your thing… Embarrassment is for wusses.     In fact, I bet it gives people something to talk about for a bit as they leave the rest area.   it’s not like driving through Indiana via i70 is exciting.   lots of flat farmland.

April 2nd, St Louis, tuesday 1p.m. cdt.   
changed up my bbq choice at the last minute, when i realized the other one was a bit out of the way, and another 45 minutes.   with the time change, my stomach knows it’s 2pm, and it’s not happy…but it’s about to be once the food arrives.

Okay, that bbq was awesome…humbling even.  The bbq I make in my smoker is not even close.    Anyway, good thing I don’t live out here, I’d weigh 400lbs.
 

 

April 2nd, Buc-ee’s tuesday 6p.m. cdt.   
just finished a stop at buc-ee’s near springfield mo

good as the last one I stopped at,   didn’t get all junk.  got a fruit cup, yogurt, a veggie burrito, and then undid all that with $15 worth of fudge.    but the fudge keeps well, and it’ll be good fuel for bikepacking.   or at least that’s what I’m telling myself.

April 2nd, Joplin Missouri tuesday 8p.m. cdt.   
 

setting up the tent seemed easier.   i stopped at Joplin.   Bentonville is only an hour from here and the bike shop I want to check out doesn’t open until 10a.m. anyway,.   if i get to Bentonville early, i can go to Walmart first.


when I set up the tent tonight, i tweaked the cushion setup    i have both of the smaller cushions in the center now.  one on the passenger side, one on the driver.    my standing spot is behind the cooler on the driver side.   i’m standing in the truck bed, just in front of the rear driver side wheel.   

Having the other cushion in the center on the passenger side makes it easier to get to the clothes bags that I keep on the passenger side.   Should have thought of this sooner, but I think on the arizona trip i had less room to stand inside.   this time i have more room to stand with the folding dry toilet vs the wet cassette toilet i had last time.  

The only problem is the paper towel holder velcro strip i sewed onto one of the 2x2 cushions is in the wrong spot now.   oh well.    I just want to test this new layout out,  I can always use some vhb tape to mount a velcro strip onto the larger movable tent floor panel.   no biggee.

time to watch some Ted Lasso and get some sleep.   with the hour gain, it’s more like I drove until 8:30.    instead of the 7:30 local time.   i think i’ll sleep well.    i made sure to park the nose of the truck into the wind this time too (west, southwest)    hopefully it won’t change overnight.   touch wood.

Apr 1, Heading West Arkansas trip

 
Monday April 1st, morning heading West



Heading West i-90,  weather’s overcast, which actually makes driving easier, no bright sunlight in the eyes..   quick stop at the Mohawk rest area right now as I type this.

Had a nice visit yesterday at Chuck and Bea’s.   Kris and Glenn came over for the Easter dinner mid afternoon (ham, mashed potatoes, rolls, corn, and green beans….followed by gluten free apple pie and ice cream.   pie was good)

Slept out in the truck, and per my watch, I slept well.   over 2 hours of REM and 1 hour deep sleep, which for me is really, really good.   I wore sweat pants, a fleece jacket, as well as my synthetic down hoodie and booties, and my wool fingerless gloves.   so even thougth I just had my goose down quilt rated for 40F, i was actually comfortably warm as temps got down to 34F overnight.    I find the inside of the tent is almost 10 degrees warmer when it’s not windy out, and it wasn’t.

I had my last “real” shower for a few weeks, before heading out this morning.   grabbed a quick breakfast at McD’s.   

Anyway back to the driving.   shooting for the cracker barrel near Dayton Ohio today, along i-70.   then tomorrow, I’ll be at st louis at a reasonable time for a bbq dinner.  yum!


Monday April 1st, Dayton Ohio

Made it to the cracker barrel  in Dayton Ohio.   10+ hours of driving.   lunch was a veggie footlong from subway and dinner was a personal supreme pizza from one of those tiny pizza huts at a big gas station.

it’s only 7:30 p.m., but I’m going to set up the tent and try to stay awake until 9.   we’ll see how it goes.   I think I left Glenmont at 7:30a.m.  so I killed about 2 hours with food, biobreaks, and gas stops

tomorrow, i’ll get some breakfast at the CB here, but I’ll bring in a takeaway container.   the breakfasts are always ridiculously huge, so I plan on eating the leftovers for lunch at some point.    I plan on saving my appetite for bbq in St Louis, which is about 6 hours away.   

we’ll see how I feel after that.   I have about another 700 miles to get to Bentonville AR.   talking w Jeff it may not be as crazy busy there as i feared, looks like storms will be sweeping through Texas and Arkansas on the Eclipse day, but it shouldn’t be too bad in northern Arkansas, but enough clouds to drive away the amateur photographers.

Almost finished the “Fall of Hyperion” audiobook.   i don’t know, I never quite got into it.   I think Iain Banks' Culture series is superior.

I did text w Jeff some after I ate dinner (voice to text via the fancy Ford Sync system)

he got his van back, and I was off before,  forgot his new batteries are 120amps each, so 480 amps total.    so 5760 watt hours (12volts * 480 amp hours)

more than 3 times what he had before.    he hasn’t tested yet, but it looks like the new alternator can add 190amps/hour, so it’ll be a little less than 2.5 hours of driving to fully recharge, if he ever completely drains them.


anyway, ttyl (talk to you later)

 

 

 

March 30th Arkansas Trip Plan

 

Saturday, March 30th The “Plan”



I’m going to Arkansas’ Ozark mountain just east of Bentonville (where the first Walmart started and it’s also known as a huge mt biking area). I’ll be camping in the total eclipse path on remote forest roads. I also plan on doing some bikepacking while I’m down there. I’ll just park the truck at a trailhead when I go do that.


Tomorrow/Easter Sunday, I’m heading out to my in-laws. They live about 15 minutes south of Albany NY. I’ll mooch some Easter dinner and stay overnight at their place Sunday. I’lll probably also see Kris and Glenn while I’m there (Jacqui’s sister and her husband). It'll be good to see everyone; unfortunately, I missed Chuck’s 80th birthday dinner party 2 weeks ago so I’ll get to wish him a belated birthday.


Monday morning, I’ll hit the road. My goal is to get to Bentonville Arkansas by Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, which means a couple of 10-11 hour driving days (assuming no major traffic jams). Instead of going via i-81 south, i-40 west, I’ll head i-90 west to Ohio, then 271 south, 71 south, i-70 West via Cincinnati and St Louis (bbq!!!). After some grocery shopping in Bentonville, I’ll head east a couple hours into the Ozark St Francis National Forest, which will be in the total eclipse path. After a couple weeks of goofing around, I’ll head home via i-40 east and i-81 north and see my friends Mark and Teresa in Maryland on the way back.


Not sure if Jeff will be joining me on this trip, but don’t worry I’ll have my Garmin Inreach Satellite messenger gadget. Anyway, Jeff’s more focused on the eclipse, so he’s going wherever he has the best chance of clear skies for his 50mm wide telescope/camera setup. He’s super into photographing astronomical stuff, and this eclipse will show the corona with the Moon being closer than last time. He’s figured out the software where you take hundreds of photos, overlay them, and let the software run a few hours to create a far more detailed, amazing image. Very cool stuff. The next eclipse is 20 years away and won’t be as cool as this one, so there’s added pressure for getting good photos. Per the weather forecast, it looks like the best place for clear skies to see the eclipse might actually be south of Buffalo in the southwestern corner of NY, assuming things don’t change. That’s super ironic if you ask me. Northern New York is not known for clear skies in April.


He’s also in the middle of having his campervan’s AGM batteries swapped out for LFP’s (lithium iron phosphate) by a nearby shop in Mass. There was a minor hiccup with the battery monitor cable being too short, so they’re waiting on a replacement to arrive. To make it all work, he also had to upgrade the van’s 2nd alternator, add a Wakespeed controller, and tie everything to a battery monitor to properly control the charging of the lithium batteries, but it’ll be worth the headache.


Previously, his campervan only had three 100 amp hour AGM batteries, but with AGM, you can only draw them down to 50% or you risk damaging them. On the other hand, his van has always had a 2nd alternator dedicated to charging the camper’s batteries, so he could recharge them relatively quickly by idling/driving the van for 30-45 minutes. After squeezing in 4 LFP batteries @ 120 amp hours each, he’ll go from only having 150 usable amp hours (1800 watt hours ) to 40 amp hours ( 5760 watt hours). A HUGE upgrade. That’s enough juice to run the camper’s roof mounted Air Conditioner for almost 6 hours, which will be nice when they’re overnighting at a Cracker Barrel or Walmart on a cross country drive.. Hopefully he can get his van back Monday morning, but after that he’ll need a a few hours to get it ready.



Myself, as far as the eclipse goes, I’ll just be happy to be somewhere that gets completely dark. It’ll probably be partly cloudy where I’m going,but I have a bad case of Spring Fever right now. I need to hit the road and go have some outdoor adventures where it’s not mud season. Vermont and the Adirondacks won’t dry out until mid May at the earliest, and with such a mild Winter, the bugs will be like a biblical plague until August most likely. It may not be fun to camp until the Summer gets hot and dry enough to kill off a lot of the bugs, and I don’t want to wait that long after such a meh Winter. Never thought I’d be complaining about not enough cold and snow.



Today, I got all the packing done. It all fits! I’m leaving the portable diesel heater home this time, but that means I have room to bring some campfire stuff. I’m not bringing the big Ranger solo stove which is 15” wide, and 12.5” high . I recently bought a much smaller 6” wide x 7” high $40 Chinese knock off table top version. https://a.co/d/fU64HIF I still have a 5 gallon bucket worth of wood pellets (which the little stove can burn), and I’ll have my milk crate filled with campfire related equipment. I’ll start with pellets and feed in twigs to entertain myself when sitting out at night. When out in the woods, I always turn in early (8-9p.m.) so it’ll just kill time for a couple hours during and after dinner. Smoke also helps keep bugs away.


Today I also did a last minute sewing project to make an insulated bag for the Peak Refuel dehydrated meals I got for bikepacking. You boil 1 cup of water, dump the boiling water into the dehydrated meal bag, give the contents a stir, re-seal it like a ziploc bag, and then wait 10-20 minutes. If you put the dehydrated meal bag into the insulated bag first, the extra heat rehydrates things faster and better. More likely to stay warm as you eat it too.


This is a taped version, I sewed mine.

The one I made below