Strolling Amok

Pops goes on tour.

Archive for the category “Campsites”

27 Apr 2016
4 Comments

Camp Hunting II

This is the gatekeeper for getting to town.

This is the gatekeeper for getting to town.

A day trip into Chino Valley for assorted necessities was needed after a week of camping miles east of town, so I decided that I may as well find a new campsite at the end of it – because I now can. I’ve hopefully outfitted the Intrepid for 1-week stays, and that was technically pulled short a few days when I failed to keep tabs on breakfast items. I was having soup or kippers for breakfast, which works, but it just felt…wrong. So wrong. Water was holding out fine after 7 days out, being somewhere between 1/3rd-2/3rds full, thanks to a simple menu that doesn’t require much cooking or cleanup. And I’m still waiting to run out of the first tank of propane despite running the furnace for minimum temperature each night.

And from the rear, it looks like this! I don't have all that much articulation to play with. This is where an overly-stiff frame can work against you.

And from the rear, it looks like this! I don’t have all that much articulation to play with. This is where an overly-stiff frame can work against you.

So, I made a late start and spent the day picking up packages, buying sundries, mailing off a failed memory stick at the Post Office, refilling the Intrepid’s water tank, doing laundry, buying groceries, disposing of waste bags, and of course enjoying breakfast out. I generally don’t eat any meals out because the expense adds up, but when a great place for breakfast is available and cheap, I’m a sucker for it.

By the time that was all done, it was after Read more…

Posted in Campsites, The Intrepid and tagged ,
25 Apr 2016
8 Comments

Camp Hunting in Chino Valley

A quick stop at an "antique dealer" in Yarnell netted a closed display building and a lot of sectioned automobiles outside.

A quick stop at an “antique dealer” in Yarnell netted a closed display building and a lot of sectioned automobiles outside.

Travel is never totally predictable – which can be good or bad – but at least when the best laid plans go awry, it’s now a lot easier to deal with. A pickup truck with a box in the bed is much more adaptable to improvisation than towing a big TT with a turning circle measured in fractions of a city block.

Wickenburg was heading into the 90s for daytime temps, which meant it was past time to hunt for altitude. I’d been waiting for a shipment to arrive in town, and planned my departure on its day of arrival. Thankfully, it came in on schedule. After a cheap overnight in the North Ranch campground run by the Escapees RV Club in Congress AZ (to take advantage of every amenity they had), I headed for Chino Valley.

I left before having breakfast. Heading north by way of Kirkland and a series of small towns and almost-towns, I’d had my eye on a small home-cookin’ breakfast place in Yarnell that previously had many vehicles it its parking lot. Mid-morning on a Tuesday, I pulled in Read more…

Posted in Campsites, Daily Life, Travelin' Man and tagged
13 Apr 2016
6 Comments

Climb Mount Niitaka!

The top section of the ascent.

The top section of the ascent.

Well okay, what I’ve nicknamed Mt. Niitaka is actually a high hill on the outskirts of the Hassayampa River Canyon Wilderness at Wickenburg, Arizona, where Rincon Road plays itself out into other dirt paths. The lower approach going up the hill is actually the worst as far as pitching and heaving goes, mainly because it looks flat, but isn’t. You don’t know it’s coming, and a walking pace is way too fast. Then, suddenly, the truck is tipping left and right with a vengeance, and for no apparent reason.

This is the basic approach up the mountain, which I previously wasn't able to climb in 2WD on all-season street tires. Now, with the camper in back and some serious Coopers, it's do-able, with slippage. 4WD low makes it much easier all-around.

This is the basic approach up the mountain, which I previously wasn’t able to climb in 2WD on all-season street tires. Now, with the camper in back and some serious Coopers, it’s do-able, with slippage. 4WD low makes it much easier all-around.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. This “day of the climb” began an hour and a half north, in Prescott AZ. My delivering dealer for my FWC camper, Adventure Trailer, was to reposition the camper in the bed of the Ford Super Duty, A.K.A the “Mighty Furd”. It’s rearward end had somehow Read more…

Posted in Campsites, The Intrepid, Travelin' Man and tagged , , ,
01 Apr 2016
6 Comments

The Literal Shakedown Run

Sunset atop a plateau in Wickenburg, with my campsite in shadow.

Sunset atop a plateau in Wickenburg, with my campsite in shadow. GPS: 33.911597, -112.815678, according to Google Maps.

Having climbed up an interesting slope to get to my first camp, I stayed there for a few days before moving to another location in Wickenburg, Arizona. This is State Trust land requiring a permit, and I’ve never seen anyone checking for them in past visits. So I was surprised on my first morning there when someone in a white pickup truck came up the rise, got out and checked the Furd for the tag in its window before departing. Secluded as my campsite was, the Intrepid was high and in plain sight of the common campground below.

The trail I was on continued further, but the "V" at the bottom of a dip ahead posed a challenge for the overhang caused by the StowAway cargo box at the rear of my rig.

The trail I was on continued further, but the “V” at the bottom of a dip ahead posed a challenge for the overhang caused by the StowAway cargo box at the rear of my rig.

While I was here, I contemplated fixes to get the StowAway cargo box higher. That’s because I couldn’t get into this area as deeply as I’d hoped. There are two approaches that can be used, but they both extend the box rearward a significant amount. Thus much of the extra lift is cancelled out by the increased overhang, which can come into play whenever the vehicle is crossing the bottom of a dip in the trail. I first looked at the few Read more…

Posted in Campsites, Mod Squad, The Intrepid and tagged ,
25 Mar 2016
8 Comments

And So It Begins…

Stopped on a trail in Wickenburg, Arizona.

Stopped on a trail in Wickenburg, Arizona.

It was a day just like any other day, only more so. That is to say, I had the Escapees SmartWeigh guys at North Ranch in Congress Arizona ply their trade on the Intrepid, and got more than I bargained for. Weight, that is. Steel yourself: here comes the geeky part right up front. Once that’s over, it’s trailblazing in Wickenburg, kinda.

With a GVWR of 10,000 pounds, once you’ve filled the Mighty Furd with fuel and stuffed in all the passengers and crapola that you can, the resulting weight should not exceed 10,000 pounds. It will carry it just fine and the available acceleration is still sobering, but running at the GVWR limit shortens the needed maintenance intervals by half, and generally wears out the drivetrain and brakes more rapidly than if the truck were used solely for transporting bags of potato chips.

With Smartweigh, individual weights at each tire are taken in order to check Read more…

Posted in Campsites, The Intrepid, Travelin' Man and tagged , ,
17 Mar 2016
14 Comments

Test Camp! Fail!

The beautious Fergusen Lake near Yuma, Arizona.

The beautious Fergusen Lake near Yuma, Arizona.

About 35 miles northwest of Yuma, Arizona is Fergusen Lake, an attachment to the mighty Colorado River. I figured a test camp was in order to check the function of the Intrepid (a modified Four Wheel Grandby) as well as my stowage choices both in the camper and in the Ford’s cab. This was almost a full-dress rehearsal, the only items lacking being the e-bike and trailer in the front carrier, the stepladder in place due to a rear cab pack that would need some adjustment, plus a few minor interior items left out.

The verdict: it could use a little work. The lakeside campsite itself was nice, and I got there just after sunset, which is the perfect time to feed the local mosquito population. You know there’s trouble when you shut down the engine and look at the side window to see several already there and waiting. Fortunately, the sole exterior setup to use this pop-up is to release the six external latches and climb inside behind the protective wall of the screen door. Before or after raising the roof, pull Read more…

Posted in Campsites, Mod Squad, The Intrepid and tagged
31 Jan 2016
6 Comments

Pleasant Distractions

Ooo! Birdie! Out of little birds, piercing chirps come. I assume that this is a hummingbird, only because of its tiny size and the local encouragement to put up some hummingbird nests.

Ooo! Birdie! Out of little birds, piercing chirps come. I assume that this is a hummingbird, only because of its tiny size and the local encouragement to put up some hummingbird nests. That branch is actually more like a twig.

Unfortunately, the nature of the mods being made to the Four Wheel Grandby are such that something is always holding up appropriate photos on one detail or another, preventing a blow-by-blow account of any one part of a system. Just as well, since time is short and I write slowly. That, and I frequently find that additional parts must be ordered, slowing completion. Just as the solar panel setup has been redone from scratch, so has the battery and wiring setup, for the better, I think. Their time will come. A couple of people have stopped to ask about the Four Wheel. One other passerby volunteered that I was considered to be the busiest guy in the park. Comparatively speaking (and only so), that may be true. So these are a few miscellaneous things that won’t earn their own posts.

Across the drive from my site, this little grapefruit tree is typical of all in the park. They will be stripped by the park February 1 and the fruit discarded. It's now or never, so I helped my neighbor pull all the fruit off and leave it in a pile for anyone to take. I grabbed eight or nine. They're huge!

Across the drive from my site, this little grapefruit tree is typical of all in the park. They will be stripped by the park February 1 and the fruit discarded. It’s now or never, so I helped my neighbor pull all the fruit off and leave it in a pile for anyone to take. I grabbed eight or nine. They’re huge!

 

No glamour for the Mighty Aurora here. It draws a lot of questions, but is relegated to short runs for food, mail, laundry, propane, and trash hauling. With my departure deadline looming, there remains much to do and there's no time to explore.

No glamour for the Mighty Aurora here. It draws a lot of questions – especially the trailer – but is relegated to short, drab runs for food, mail, laundry, propane, and trash hauling. They gawk at the trailer first, then notice the motor. With my departure deadline looming, there remains much to do, and there’s no time to explore.

 

Posted in Campsites, Daily Life
02 Nov 2015
19 Comments

Roughing It In Wellton

These are unusually wide spaces. The Furd is in its assigned spot, and the neighbor’s trailer – if there was one – would be maybe ten feet to the left of it. Notice that the Defiant’s defensive array antenna is up and in operation, with the photon launcher below it. On second thought, it might just be the TV antenna and A/C. I forget.

Just before leaving Pioche, Nevada, I double-checked the mileage of the planned run to Parker, Arizona and wondered what I’d been thinking. Way too long, so I cranked the first leg back to Searchlight, Nevada for a more manageable trip of 234 miles, which would take 4 hours of drive time. I have to say, that southern leg of Route 93 is beauticious drive, and I was passing one “scenic trail” and state park after another before hitting Las Vegas. Also, some lakes for fishing. The state parks didn’t tempt me much, but the lakes and “high clearance” trails did. I’ll have to come back this way once I shed the mighty Defiant.

Searchlight is a sparse little mini-village, consisting mostly of Read more…

Posted in Campsites, Travelin' Man and tagged ,
28 Oct 2015
25 Comments

Oh, Pioche!

Main Street, and the cafe/bakery on the right dates back to 1907.

Main Street.

[Caution for data-challenged readers: this post contains a heap of fascinating photos, so don’t click on the “-more-” link unless you’re feeling invincible. The photos are very small, but they do add up.]

If you’re driving about in sprawling suburbia and want a change of pace, like something to readjust your familiar assumptions that the entire world consists of huge malls connected by long strings of badly-timed traffic lights, Pioche is just the cure. I counted just one traffic light in town, and that was a single yellow caution light at one four-way intersection – and that wasn’t blinking because it wasn’t turned on. There’s also one yield sign downtown. Pioche tends to use those instead of stop signs. In the downtown area, unmarked diagonal parking is the rule, and long pickups like the Mighty Furd stick out into the two-lane Main Street, A.K.A. Business Route 93. No matter – cars idle around easily, since traffic here is defined by one or two cars, with nothing in sight in the opposing lane. There are no crosswalks – you saunter where you need to, in order to get where you want to get to.

A mine on the outskirts of town. It's hard for me to imagine the drop, but I've read that they hit water at 2,100' down, and had no practical way to pump it out. Today, it's a question of will and money.

A mine on the outskirts of town. It’s hard for me to imagine the drop, but I’ve read that they hit water at 2,100′ down, and had no practical way to pump it out. Today, it’s a question of will and money.

Pioche pretty much started rolling when silver was found there in 1864. At that time, it was part of the Utah Territory, and when the border with the Nevada Territory was later moved, Pioche came with it. Didn’t matter much, since Pioche remained in the middle of nowhere. Its remoteness attracted opportunists along with the miners. In those days, it was sink or swim. If you could not find a way to put food on the table, Read more…

Posted in Campsites, Tourista! and tagged ,
13 Oct 2015

Return of Evelo Explorations

Though your attention is naturally concentrated on the trail itself, it pays to stop and look around!

Though your attention is naturally concentrated on the trail itself, it pays to stop and look around!

[Caution for cellular data users: this post contains a heap of photos, and although they are all low-resolution pics, those readers on more restricted cellular data plans may want to wait for a WiFi hotspot before clicking on the “more” link that pulls down the whole post.]

Today’s post is about what I saw in Green River, Wyoming as I went further along a trail that I had originally hiked along. I include these posts because, well, I spend time exploring on my Aurora e-bike, and getting out there in one fashion or another is what it’s all about. Since I don’t do postcard scenic masterpieces or flower closeups, what I saw, you see. This trip meandered along miles of up and down, and I arrived back at camp both Read more…

Posted in Campsites, E-Bike Pack Mule and tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

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