Strolling Amok

Pops goes on tour.

Archive for the tag “Wendover Utah”

Trippin’ Toward Pioche

Moving out of Wendover is not all bad when lots of little flying friends wait patiently at the screen door to come in and say hi.

Moving out of Wendover is not all bad when lots of little flying friends wait patiently at the screen door to come in and say hi. They gravitate toward whatever side of the trailer is on the draft side of the wind, especially when it’s cooler outside.

Monday began on a path not entirely unfamiliar. Having camped near Wendover for a little over a couple of weeks, I was near completion of breaking camp when a City of Westover pickup truck stopped by. Its proprietor worked at a water treatment plant somewhere up the long, paved climb and had apparently driven past each day, wondering just how much solar panel wattage the Mighty Defiant had proudly been displaying during her stay. On hearing that the total panel power approached 800 watts, he asked whether that was enough to run an air conditioner. He was within shooting distance of retirement, and had a modest rig with a very modest solar system, and found the whole solar thing to be a helpful but deep mystery when it comes to the specifics of possibilities. Naturally, I had to shoot down his hope of moving away from a generator for that kind of thing. I suppose that all those side-hanging panels make for a memorable rig, since I was surprised that he was already aware that this had been my third visit in as many years – something I hadn’t fully realized until he mentioned it!

A low cloud does its thing outside my door.

A low cloud does its thing outside my door.

By the end of the long conversation, he had volunteered that he had gone to culinary school and had a fondness for cooking, which neatly dovetailed with Read more…

Silver Island Mountains Loop

Ready, set...

Ready, set…

The Silver Island Mountains are so named because they resemble an island of mountains on an otherwise flat terrain. I don’t use the term “featureless terrain” because the salt flats are on the eastern side, while mud flats are on the western side. The “Scenic Byway” loop, most commonly taken anti-clockwise, heads north, then west, then south around the mountains. The official length of the loop is some 48 miles, though the completion to get back to the same spot (camp) is just short of 52 miles.

Though not breathtakingly high, these mountains are interesting in their features.

Though not breathtakingly high, these mountains are interesting in their features.

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In Limbo In Wendover

The Mighty Defiant is now very near the Bonneville Salt Flats just outside of Wendover, Utah. The campsite is an unromantic spot in the flat area where racers tend to congregate in August and September in a sort of junkyard camping festival. I wondered at the different appearance of the entire surface here, as it looks like vegetation has made a start at filling in places where the campers usually congregate. Looks as though nobody’s been here! An online tour of the various clubs that use the track for speed events indicates that few if any have been able to use the track due to rainstorms flooding the salt surface. A little Datsun-based truck camper has commandeered the spot I had last year, and I explored an alternate further in – as far as it’s safe to go with the Defiant – that has a rock projection surrounded by “dirt” and thick dust. That was a no-go, since a walk around it showed that the Ford alone might make it with momentum in 4WD, but with the trailer, no way.

The Defiant is unhitched, but still in Travel Mode because the winds are brisk and gusty enough that carrying the big solar panels out to hang them would be risky and difficult. I wondered at that, because on the short romp here, the Mighty Furd was Read more…

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