Take the RVing Past... Mix in a Pinch of Financial Reality...

... Temper in the political windstorm that surrounds us all... and slog out of the dust cloud on our new and adventurous RV Boondocking road.

Cindy asked in a comment the other day; "What Century Would I have chosen to be born in?" ... I'd have to say, all things considered, I'd have found being a grown man somewhere around 1815 to be my best chance of finding the "Best" fit... How-some-ever, the time is not the only part of my Vision. The particular place on earth is as big a part of the fantasy... I'd have chosen to be Just a Man, Free on the Earth... in the Shining Rocky Mountains...

Yup... I'd be riding with Colter and Bridger! :)

Why? Because it was a time where the spreading blight of human population had not yet consumed all the Free and Open lands. The space still existed for a man to be able to live in a world where he could exercise the laws of Nature and Conscience... and NOT be bludgeoned by the hypocrisy of political civilization. The open spaces still existed where Civilized Mankind could not yet impose its arrogant claim of ownership of every damn grain of sand on earth... and every soul living on that sand

But... that's a Castle in the Sky, for which to my knowledge, there ain't a way to build any foundations under. So, I've got to deal with the real and present dangers... While still keeping some part of that Castle alive in the reality of my road... Hell, maybe that is the foundation under the castle...

Maybe the foundation I seek is, finding a way to shield my life from the brutal hungers of the megalomania that contaminates soh-sigh-uh-tee.

I said it way back in the beginning when we were stepping off; After a couple of years we'll look at where we are and where our ambition leads us and rough out our new road then.

The philisophical, political and financial realities that I've been sorting through for months... um ... years? ;) has finally broke out of the dark of the black timber to where I can see how our RV Boondocking trail lays through the miles ahead.

The way we (I) like to go yondering, filtered through the financial realities and keeping the flexibility to deal with "worldly" realities in the mix; we'll be working on the pieces and parts of our continuing Wandering Journey over the coming year... and barring a total crash and burn event this winter, we'll make some significant progress along our road in the coming months...

The way were gonna go is not some sort of radical new cowboy fabrication... just... our own variation of an old way. 

I'm gonna divide the year into two seasons... There'll be the yondering, rideabout RV travel season and the slow down of winter camp.

The current prospect area to find a place to erect our RV winter camp is some secluded piece of dirt between Bouse... north of Quartzsite and Ash Fork... west of Flagstaff.

The setup will be carved out in an off grid/autonomous sort of layout. Over the years I've collected designs for water systems, composter systems, solar/wind power, wood heat, RV chalet modifications, and even some zero power input cooling technology!

Using our old Fiver as the core of the camp we'll add in a lodge room using parts of the RV Chalet ideas, and then add a lighter Travel Rig for the Yondering Season.

The division of time I'm guessing will run from something around November through March for winter camp and April through October for the Summer circles and Raider Rideabouts.

Having a light travel rig will allow plenty of short winter circles as well... leastways if I can pull herself out of the stone grinding shop in Quartzsite!

Just Scheming Along
Brian

Money Goin' Buy Buy

:) Bob has it 'bout right... and I been workin' on washin' that over excitin' coffee out of my system with cool, clear, Oregon Beer. Yup... I been flyin' under Full Sail :) for a bit...

... didn't work :( Now I got this bangin goin' on... Which in a hollow brain pan the size of mine it's kinda like bangin' on an empty dumpster with a baseball bat. You have to remember too... what with my lack of sound softening hair... it's a situation with gawd awful acoustics!

So... the crux of the current "issue"...

You can see axle mount leg leaning slightly to the left?

And... if you look reeeely close you can see the cracked weld where the left side of the axle mount is separating from the spacer... you can see "daylight" where there just shouldn't be any...

From a little different angle you can see both cracks.

That crack on the front face of the mount runs more than half way through the member. Then the cracked vertical weld on the spacer is pretty clear.

Well... the thing is this. This in one of Six axle mount legs. If One is fatigued... the others ain't far behind.

Also, the front axle has been bent/fatigued/out of alignment for several months. If the rig was younger I might consider just tryin' to get it rebent/aligned. Only, especially with it's age and heavy use... I have Zero confidence in rebending an axle.

That's basically having it bent twice? and expecting it to stay that way? If ya'll believe that'd work for me you ain't been reading around here very long! ;)

Then, it makes no sense at all to me to plate/brace/weld/repair this one single leg and then roll down the road with the thought nagging in the back of my head that one or all of those other fiver are gonna let go... KERWHUMP! and hopin' that don't happen.

'cause I'm knowin' that they are only gonna do it when the only guy around is another useless country boy wanna be welder like that bozo in West Yellowstone last year.

And who in his right mind wants to go down the road with a constant naggin' worry about such things? Some might be equipped for such doin's... but that Some ain't this fella.

A rig ain't an asset. It's an expense. It's shelter from the rain and the wind and lets a fella take a shower once in a while without all the neighbors watchin'. So the bottom line is... what's the easiest, cheapest, least stressful way of fillin' in the current pothole?

I'm attackin' it from two directions. One is pursuing a quote to rebuild the complete axle system. That is currently lookin' at around $2,500 bucks... which is nigh on to $5,000 more than I've got in my possession. :)

The other direction is swappin' rigs... Either way is gonna force the less than choice use of debt. Funny thing about that is, that horse tradin' can be done with a whole lot less dinero up front... which... if you don't have any makes a fella go... hmmmm...

The only other option is bow my head, pack it in... and go back to livin' in the prison I escaped a couple of years ago... That there lil' option is not even on the table. Not even for a lil' while. Such a thing is a slippery slope. I even consider it to be a ploy of the "Beast". Days turn into weeks... into months... and then you look back and that "Little While" turned into a life lived by somebody else's rules.

Bottom line; it's all kinda like what people tell me 'bout politics; "Ya gotta make the lesser of two evils choice." Yeah, well in politics I don't have to. Here I have no option. I must choose... I get to pick which hole I want to step into. :) There's only those three choices here, and none of 'em are the sort that make you sit up and giggle like my Raider does.

It'd be a simple thing if there was a sweet option like that. Truth be known; You stand up, take your best shots and deal with what comes. Life in the West.

The past two years has made it clear to me where I belong, and what I am unwilling to endure a moment longer. The question a guy has to answer is; what price is he willing to pay to sustain and protect his chosen lifestyle? Is his way of living worth his life itself? In the end here I'm talking about money. And money is really only good for maybe one thing... filling in potholes... It has no other value to me.

I don't defend money... I defend LIFE and Freedom (as much of it as you can hang on to).

If what you are doing in and with your life is not worth defending UNTO your life... Maybe ya'll have been making the wrong choices somewhere along the line. There's an old saying I've often quoted. It came from some long ago philosopher. I can't quite recall who; "Sometimes, in doing what is necessary to survive, you render survival worthless." It's an idea that is never far from just about every decision I ever make.

I ain't one for existing. I'm more a pedal to the metal sort of personality. Do what ya gotta do and hang on tight for the ride. Damn caution and Let'er Buck!

The worst that can happen is a spectacular crash and burn... but then... that's just fodder for another story, ain't it! ;)

The next few days will tell the tale. At this early point we don't really know what's possible. Some things seem like they can happen. I did some rollin', scoutin', consultatin' and cogitatin' and investigatin' yesterday... but... until I've watched the movie, I won't know how the story plays out.

Workin' to Fill in the Blanks
Brian

What Don't Kill You Makes You Stonger? ...

That just might could be so... 'less of course it just keeps whackin' a buster with such fast and hurtful repetition that he don't get a chance to sit and digest his beans proper. Then it just leads to indigestion, compaction, obstruction and disruption of the proper workin' of his bi-oh-logical innards... until...

KABLOOEY! ... and you find yourself searchin' through the yeller pages huntin' up one of those "Restoration Specialist" fellers to clean up the mess!

Just about the time a feller says to himself; "Self? I think I got this deal figgered"...

... is jus' 'bout the time he should oughta be minding an old country tradition. When things are starting to look like the neighbor's kid is chunkin' rocks at a wind mill on a breezy day... That right there is the time to Holler... DUCK!

Didn't feel like goin' all the way to Laramie in one haul... that is most of probably 75 miles you know! ;) So... left late and pulled into a snowmobile parking lot, truly! It don't get much use in the middle of the summer. ;) It sits right near Wycolo... and a mite west of woods landing.

Got up in the morning to the singin' of an errant herd of black cows wanderin' past. After coffee I was walking around the rig looking at things... Not exactly the best time to find things that look like they shouldn't.

But... You know me... always been pretty good at finding parts that aren't complete and whole any more.

Now... Complete and Whole is pretty much how you want to think of axle mounts... not... cracked and warped.

Yup... another high dollar repair slippin' out of the woodwork and bruisin' the kiester... and another repair, due I'm confident, almost entirely to that poorly done Axle flip. Actually the flippin' of the axle was just fine, it was the reinstalling the shocks in a manner that turned 'em into rigid struts that has caused a lot of my difficulties over the past year or so...

In case you weren't aware of it... a fifth wheel should NOT be converted to a "Hard Tail." My son-in-law is already startin' to grouse a bit 'bout the ride of his Harley Hardtail he built last year. They beat you up!

I'm guessin' that lil' dido on Buffalo Pass a few weeks past was the final straw that wasn't the least bit helpful to avoidin' metal fatigue.

Somewhere 'tween there and here... it reared it's ugly head.

There's six points where the springs bolt to the rig's frame. The springs bolt into a double walled construction. Five are just as they should be... the sixth has a crack about halfway across one "Wall" of the mount while the other wall is separating where it's welded to the "Spacer" that is welded in to connect the two "Walls"... with the springs between the walls below the spacer... Totally cornfuzzled now? Let's just say...

...The bottom line is a cracked and warped axle mount. Aw what a shiny way to start off a mornin'... Lookin' at what surely will stack up a couple of grand to properly correct.

That's because you have to combine this with the front axle already being torqued for the past several months. It's been wearing tires in an odd manner... Odd but not yet catastrophic...But it puts a buster in one of those brain pan rusting decision times... Repair Again... or Cut your losses and swap rigs right now?

The only way to do it right is to replace both axles (as they are demonstrating fatigue) and completely replace the mounting framework (which is already cracked)... All that is surely goin' to stack up a couple of grand in repair bill. You have to ask yourself... "Self?"

Where'd he go? ... oh there he is... down there! Ha ha. The lil' bugger ducked! :)  ... so... "Self? is it worth it?"

Even if all the careful considerin' does bring us to the choice of swappin' without bustin' one of those ad your isms... Swappin is gonna be a tricky proposition all by itself. When you pile on the reality that necessity dictates the unpleasant reality of havin' to use somebody else's money to git-r-dun, in these times... it gets as athletic as outrunning a mad husband and you sportin' a eye crossin' hangover to boot.

The REAL difficulty in either the Repairin' or the Swappin' is; Either way, it's gotta get done with Dinero that don't exist. Yup. That Washington that I needed to stretch to look like a Lincoln?... Truly needs to get cinched up juuuuust a mite tighter so that it gets squeezed out to look like a Hamilton!

Just thinkin' on it makes my head feel just like it did when I parted company with a high flyin', sunfishin' bronc and came down to a meal of three pounds of Arizona dirt.

Between the repairs to the truck, the trailer, the dog (last winters emergency surgery) and... ahem!... ME (equalling the Dog's repair)... the piggy bank is in pieces in the dumpster.

The next couple or three weeks should be...just ffff... uh... Ok, I'll try to keep it PG... let's see... the next three weeks should be... uhhhh... a maximum stress test of the obfuscatin', horse tradin', wind suckin', palaverin', deal makin', cajone bustin', word chokin', temper ropin', plea bargainin', double speakin' abilities of a bald headed, puss gut, broke down, penniless language butcherin' drifting, biker cowboy.

Aw hell... that'll make me a gol durn politishun won't it?

Detected, Infected, Dejected and Rejected
Brian

Rolling for Laramie

We've been camped in these Zirkel Mountains for most of a month now. 9500' and better. From the excitement of goin' four wheelin' with a 30+ foot fiver on Buffalo Pass in second gear with a busted clutch... to the mostly quiet times here around Dumont Lake and Rabbit Ears pass.

From these high meadows down to the high chapparal of Arizona... and even the low desert at Bouse... it's these open lands and the open road that I was made for.

I've heard it said that "Wandering Men" only wander 'cause they be searchin' for That Place to call home.

Well girls...while that is likely true for many, even most... It ain't me.

 I Am Home on the Open Road.

Those other yondering souls might could be searching for a place to roost; But this traveler is only searching for a way to keep fuel in his tank, and rubber on the wheels to keep on movin'.

The feeling I get, when I see the road rolling out in front of me, fading off around a far bend in the hazy blue distance is a difficult to describe thing. I've never quite found the right words. It isn't "Joy" really... it's more akin to that feeling I'm sure some get when they've been gone for a long, long time on a wide circle... They pull into the drive and put the key in the lock and push the door open... Home... It's that surge of serene calm that washes over a fella when you Get Home.

It's that first full breath you manage to take after a particular difficult and tense time? You know when you can take that first, long, slow, easy breath? and the soothing quiet just holds your attention?

Only, for me, that feeling only comes when I'm Leaving! ;) When I'm wandering on the Open Road... Moving along, foot loose and fancy free.

We taken a run down into the "settlements" around Fort Collins the other day to help the kid out and meet a friends new baby...  let me just say... a day, a few hours, in such a place as that and I'm full up on town. Any bigger than Steamboat or Laramie and it's a hurry in, grab what you need and run screamin' for the hills like a passel of Comanches were hot on your trail, supply raid for me!

Whatever "It" was that allowed me to live down there for so long... is tee total used up and gone!

We'll be movin' camp to lower ground today and we're headed down to Laramie, Wyoming for a couple of days to do a dog agility trial. Gonna be camped at an arena on the "outskirts" a mile or so west of town.

I loaded the Raider yesterday afternoon... That has sure become a non event. What with the addition of those two footboard planks and the elimination of the headache rack (that gives me more room) piggybackin' the bike is not the jockey knotting enterprise it had become for an aging road burner. ;)

With a mite of luck and good fortune we're still lookin' to downsize our outfit a lil' more in the future... sooner rather than later I keep hopin'.

There was a time that our fortune permitted us to just jump whenever we had the urge and the idea. These days it's a more drawn out endeavor. It takes me some little time more, workin' out how to stretch a Washington so that it looks like a Lincoln.

I've gotten "The" rig penciled out in my head and on paper. It's not anything radical really. Definitely not what many would have as their 'Vision" of a full time outfit... but... for me it seems to be the thing that makes me nod; "Yup, that's her."

The rig I'm sketching out is somewhere around about five thousand pounds lighter than what we're haulin' now. Where we are now is just a shave under twenty thousand pounds. It's not much shorter, if any, but it's lower and lighter, a bit skinnier in places and well... shorter in some ways. ;)

The main deal is it's arranged in a way that would make it, if my cogitations are correct, easier and more convenient, day to day... and light enough that the stress level of pushing it down the road is dropped to the level of background noise. It would be so low as to not be an issue.

I guess movin' around on a motorcycle a lot has drawn my attention to my weight. ;)

It seems to have become a "Thing" with me. The farther and longer I go, the less I want draggin' around behind me. I see folks, right here in Dumont with truly nice forty foot busses... They're comfortable and spacious sitting in camp... but... then I think of 'em tryin' to climb over Buffalo Pass and I picture multiple Heavy Tow trucks parked with lights flashin'; The drivers standing around scratchin' their heads and askin'; "How in hell are we gonna get THAT outa HERE?"

...and the one guaranteed smart alec who has to ask; "Get it out? How in hell did he get it IN there?" :)

I want light, tight and rollin' easy. I've got my eyes on what I believe will do that... we'll see what happens sometime between now and Armageddon! :)

But for now I better get the rest of this gypsies camp loaded so we can go to rollin' down off this mountain.

Two Years Strong and Still Rollin'
Brian

I May be a Bucket Mouth... But I'm a Poor Interviewer!

I'm curious and ever watchful of the folks around me coming and going... But I guess... to be a good interviewer you've also got to be a bit "Nosey"... asking questions and being bold in poking into other folks "Business". :)

It might not seem like it... but I am actually a pretty private bucket mouth. Though I'm not often what could be called Quiet, hangin' ALL my "laundry" out in front of the world is a pretty tough thing for me to do. So... pokin' and proddin' folks for their story is just not a task I'm good at.

... and so... on to the poor interview...

... A "young" couple pulled in to our Goosenecks State Park/BLM camp combo (that info Fresh from Diane!) last night straddling the storm deck of a Ural Motorcycle Sidecar rig. A lot of folks commonly call 'em a Hack... OK... Maybe this pair has passed on by being twenty-Somethings... But... They've got fewer miles on 'em than my wore out old carcass!... and that makes 'em a Young Couple! :)

Some folks call 'em Uralistas! :)

*A Russian Ural Motorcycle Sidecar Rig - A "Hack" *

I finally invaded their camp this morning as they were loading up and makin' ready to hit the road.

They're out of upstate New York. Flew to Seattle to pick up their new Ural Hack and are in the middle of the long ride home to the East Coast... by way of the southland deserts...

Though... after pushing the hack through the wind across the Nevada desert he opined that he'd not complain if a few mountain meadows crossed their path... He was a mite weary of basting on the Seat of his sidecar scooter in the desert heat! ;) and she thought a lil' less sand and a bit more vegetation would be nice.

What makes me a poor interviewer is... The only information I ever get is pretty much what's offered. Though I'm curious to know... I'm reticent to ask... I tend toward trying to leave openings for folks to simply offer up what they want to put out. I failed to even ask their names. "He" mentioned that he'd been posting their story on the Adventure Riders forum... so I managed to find that link above. :)

Did you LOOK at that picture of the Ural?... Did you notice the background? Talk about a comparison of extremes... See the bus on the right side? With the smaller white Motorhome behind it?

From a Motorcycle with a side car... To a Great Big Bus... Pulling another Motorhome as their Toad! Really! That RoadTrek Sitting behind the Big Rig Motorhome... is their Toad! :)

Quite a lil' difference 'twixt the two of 'em ain't there? Opposite ends of the Road Rig Teeter Totter. I've sure been seeing the whole spectrum of ways of going the past few weeks... From Scooters to RV Road Trains. :)

Kinda nice to know that there's the right sort of rig for pretty much any drifter out there... The thing is... giving a curious Old Soldier Cowboy Biker Gypsy Rounder... so many options is NOT the way you're gonna help him make any choices! :)

I'll take one of each! ha ha!

Well... we made our run over the Road? through Monument Valley yesterday... that story is coming... along with what you might want to NOT do... if YOU are gonna make that circle. ;)

Yup... That's right. I done what a sensible person likely wouldn't, and one more time... got away with it... But then... Learning/doing things the hard way seems to be my standard operating pro-cedure don't it? I just wish I could remember all those things I keep learning... it would make life a LOT easier on that old truck of ours!

We did get a few decent photos of the Monument Valley country. My signal here is so slow it's taking forever to get pics uploaded though... and today in a bit we're gonna run the Moki Dugway/Valley of the Gods area. So... I'll be adding quite a few more pics to what I'll want to upload...

It may end up having to wait till we get to better signal to catch up... if the Cellular Gods don't relent and let my photos enter the big Photo "Cloud" in the sky! :)

We'll be moving on tomorrow I think... need to get to a place with the correct variety of bank to deal with some of that 21st century nonsense... So it looks like we'll be poking into the south west corner of Colorady some time tomorrow afternoon.

Living and Learning in the American West
Brian

Goin' Down the Road... In Search of Better Ways...

Two words keep rattling around in my head... What If?

There are two Best Circles that we've made over the years, that stand out in my mind.

The first, we just traveled in a truck with a campershell, Sleeping in a tent in good weather, the shell when necessary, and hitting a motel once a week or when the weather was really rough. That was 'bout a month long bit of Joyous wandering. The other was the Solo trip to Alaska. Just a bike and a tent.

Just following our/my nose... 

In both cases, about as light an outfit as you could do. Shelter, cooking, clothes and transportation. How much else is really necessary? How much of what we consider necessary... is? How much is just convenience we convince ourselves we can't live without?

I look ahead... at my Bucket List of places I'd like to wander... and ways... and I have difficulty seeing this old fiver... or any other fiver this size or bigger... squeezing up that trail... along with, fitting the cost of moving such a rig into my lil' budget.

I think of how Easy and light, some others travel. Their rigs don't get in the way of the wandering. They NEVER have to say... "it would be nice to go there... but the rig won't fit." Hell, they're Shipping their rigs all over the world!

Just coming here to Zion, we have to stop on the east side, pay an extra fee so they can close the tunnel... so we can run our too wide, too tall trailer through... Hell, we have to do that for just our Dually...

How many camps are we kept out of... by our oversized need for "Convenience"? What If?

These folks have rolled across Africa with their Diesel VW van...

... and are now on their way to Alaska. They're something older than I am...

This young couple... maybe mid twenties?... are near the end of their current journey. They started in Argentina in 2010... are now on the way to Yellowstone and will end somewhere around Vegas I guess... before selling their "Rover", and flying home...

*2takearest.com*

They refer to this lil' rig, in their website as their "Home"... We stumbled across the rig in the parking lot in Zion... and passed them riding the bike on a day trip up to  Bryce National Park...

And then... Here in South Campground is another young couple... proven by their not much more than toddler kids...

Another European rig... Proven by the plates... another VW Van... and What a Tent! It's carrying an Outwell tag on it...

Somehow... these folks that are out for extended periods of time... and look to be having the time of their lives... are doing it fine!

There's a lesson here to be learned I think...

Go down the road in a vehicle that eliminates the stress piled on by size and weight. A huge reduction in the stress of fuel expense...

A bed to sleep on overnight in roadsides if necessary... and when you get to the place for your camp... enough room for a family!

Even in "Hard Side" camps... where the big fuzzy buggers cause trouble... with a Van... you've got your hard side for sleeping... yet no shortage of "Living Space" During the day or even bouts of foul weather.

... and there's plenty of room for adjustments to your own personal tastes...

It's just an intriguing way of going... How much shinier would these views along the way gleam... if the Way itself was lighter and easier?

*Through the Grotto*

  

*In The Sanctuary of Zion*

Consider this... If... the places you go, soothe a bruised and weary soul... what if... the stress and work of pushing a large and heavy rig down the narrow roads, was largely removed?  If the cost of maintenance and just moving the rig was a lot lighter on your life? What if you STARTED from a higher, lighter, better place? How High could you soar?

What If... Without a care, you could stop at those curious little places, where you WISH you could... but can't... because there's nowhere to get your truck and 36' rig off the road...

... so you tell yourself you'll drive back once you get camped... but never do. What If?

What If you had a smaller rig going down the road... that opened up into something you could stretch out in... when you got stopped.

I'm not breaking any new ground here. Too many have gone before... but maybe, just maybe... rather than pointing my own idea of "the way"... it's time for this grumpy buster to listen to and be reminded of a few higher priorities... learned from the lessons of others.

It's not, and never will be a One Size Fits All life out here... but... There are a lot of Options for Vagabonds and Yonderers...

A lighter Pack Can Make for Shining Times
Brian

My RV "Re-rig" design is Slowly Distilling...

Enjoying the best of Arizona... this project has not been forgotten... just slowly being sketched and sifted...

Better'n thirty years of hauling rigs and trailers... and Two years and more on the full time RV road... and evolution is still occuring...

Yup... from the lower life form of Pussgut Biker Cowboy, a much higher level of Yondering Gypsy Biker is evolving. ;)

The main cowboy engineering obstacle has been how to shoe horn more function and convenience into the same or less RV space and still keep the cost within reach of the perennially income disabled...

While the goal is the same size or smaller... reality says it may end up a foot or so longer on the road... and looking a bit like a high tech Clampett family excursion... but that's only to quiet down the nit pickers! ;)

A Do more with less that is still more, sort of twisted cowboy logic... and anyway... if ya'll came here lookin' for normal soh-sigh-uh-tullee acceptable figurin' and a routine way of livin'... you is gonna be disappointed! :)

My way is most generally, against the wind. I figure it's hard to tell if you're livin' your way or the "Man's" way...if what you do is what you were told to do... So... I just arbitrarily do things different... just to BE... different. ;)

Ah... Life is a challenge ain't it? and I tend to make greater challenges out of the smallest of chores! How-some-ever, whatever your conviction... my cowboy stubbornness... some might say; bullheadedness... is slowly getting the design task done...

You see, here's the deal. What we have, after many years of hauling, not just the last two... is slowly wearing out... in addition there's changes I want... so... in pursuit of minimalism, no really! Minimalism is knowing what is essential... and these changes are essential to me! :) I am slowly fitting all the puzzle pieces together.

Along with making a rig a bit more easy to drag into a few tighter spots than what we're already doing... we intend to add a couple "Pieces"...

We are seriously investigating a different kind of motorcycle... for herself. That's the biggest IF. As in IF she likes it after a rental or two this summer... Then we'll figure out how to add one to our stable so she can go back to Riding her own...

A second "Added Piece" is a compact, back road, all wheel drive lil' car to be an RV Toad... most likely an aged but solid lil' Suzuki Samurai...

Other design requirements are expanded tank capacities for our long camp RV boondocking... and better storage and working space for Heidi's Jewelry... and growing interest in making gems out of stones...

Now how can a guy squeeze all that metal, fiberglass, motorcycles and cowboy engineered RV Living into the same length rig? and not require Double driving when moving camp?

Ha! All you doubters! It's Easy... you use a D9 Cat... set the brakes on the truck... and just push real hard! :)

Nah... really... you contract with Felix the Cat and get one of his fancy gadget bags on a lease! :)



... Orrrrrrrrr... you exercise High Grade, Cowboy Engineering... Rework and whittle on some core outfits... Think outside the box a bit... and maybe even add a Deck! ;)

The plan is to maintain the solar system, upgrade on the road comforts, provide a rig that remains comfortable and convenient for the few Walmart Overnights and park in the streets, (where a complete camp is NOT available) and such... while transporting all the Added for Improved RV Boondocking pieces and parts. 

... and... I have the Rough sketch in hand... now on to the intricate, detailed, dimensional drawings from which I'll Cowboy Engineer On The Fly! :o))

I'm ready to start building things right now... but... as always... the Dollars have to get lined up to at least start... along with lining up a place where I could work on the project without getting in too many folks way... to often...

This'll be a multi-phase sort of thing I expect... Time will tell...

Not sure when I'll get started... It's just ever more clear which way I'm goin'. So I'm just leaping off on a wing and a prayer... I figure the Boss'll help out here and there... If only cuz he wants to see what I get myself into just like all the other spectators of this journey.

Itchin' to Get Building
Brian

The Joy of Being An Un-Satisfied Yondering RVer... ;)

It always strikes me as "funny", how often Mark and I, without communicating about it, strum the same mental string, on nearly the same day... Tee Totally... by stumbling along in our own individual and peculiar ways but ending up at nearly the same "place"... The timing is just wierd...

Kinda like being identical twins with different Mothers. ;)

It could be said, with a mite of accuracy, that neither one of us have much in the way of a capability to ever be completely satisfied, for more than maybe... six minutes.

Now, don't misunderstand me here. This is NOT a vice.  In sure and certain fact, it's my opinion, that inability to secure a satisfied contentment is one of the biggest contributors to making us a pair of genuine western Heroes without compare! :)

Though I'll say that Mark is juuuuuuuust a mite more modest than the other guy.

It's not that we want more than we have... just different... changing. What is wanted is to go more, see more, do more, know more, experience more... to NEVER Stop Being More. Neither of us, I think, is willing to ever Quit... at pretty much anything.

Every time I am obstructed by some "Thing" or some "One"... I'm all... "Oh! You're telling me I CAN'T? Really? HA! Stand back out of the way Sparky! Ever'body sit down, shut up and hang on! 'cause it's 'bout to become a Bumpy Ride!" :)

It seems that as soon as either of us... especially THIS yonderer, achieve just about anything, before the dust of success has settled, our eyes are already looking on past it. Like a kid at christmas running from package to box... the foremost thought is; "I wonder what's over that next ridge... around that next bend... how changing this or that would work...

OR... What it would be like to be Yondering in THAT rig! ;)

No matter how well I have done, what I have done, what I have built, what I have achieved, I ALWAYS look at "It"... and just 'bout the first thought in my head as I survey my "Doing" is; "If I could have just one - more - crack at it... I can make it better.

So it is with the RV Houses we use to wander and yonder. We're always cogitating, dreaming and striving it seems to work out the perfect rig... or to simply try different rigs. To devise the sweetest combination of comfort, economy, function and sustainability...

... and as soon as it's found... "But, if I change this here... and tweak that there"... :)

... I expect to turn 85... doodling out a sketch of the NEXT perfect rig. :)

Long winded way of saying; We've hauled this fifth wheel around behind three different trucks for eleven years. I've made multiple modifications to adjust it to our way of going... as our Way has changed over the years.

In, addition there have been several repairs of RV systems and structure along the way.

I don't guess anybody can say I/we have been fickle when it comes to where rigs are concerned. We've squeezed all the good there is out of this RV Evolution.

How-some-ever... after hauling it long and hard for these many years... and two especially wide circles the past two years... we've (I) have decided that the changes I want (to adjust to the changes in us) just can't be fit into this rig any longer.

Now... I've got a PLAN... which for a bit shall remain a closely guarded secret! :) Ya'll is gonna just have to guess 'bout it.

I not only have to fit all the myriad of pieces generated by the fevered muscle sitting between a Cowboy Biker's ears into a rig... but I've got to knit the thing together within the confines of that Cowboy Bikers anemic budget... While... sizing the thing to IMPROVE our access to more back road sorts of places.

That's penciled out now in a three or four stage enterprise... which is likely to be spread out over the next 14 or 27 years!

But... there is something that is becoming pretty clear in all that... The ROAD ... I LOVE... the Open Road.

I don't mean I like traveling... I mean... wandering, yondering, the changing view through the windshield or over the handle bars is not a like... it is a lust that without I will suffocate. It is not an option I can do without. It is a NEED. A visceral, systemic requirement of who I am. It is the AIR I breathe.

We've talked about leaving the road... at least for seasons... to deal pragmatically with costs and such... and each time I/we get to leaning that way... my liver starts vibrating... and pretty soon breaks into a debilitating quiver. So... the likelihood of some landlocked termination of my wandering yondering ways is probably not in the cards...

Pragmatism be damned... I'm gonna split the wind!

Satisfied Dis-Satisfaction
Brian

Wander Forever? An RVer Home Base? Go Part Time? or Run Like Hell?

 Too much time breeds conrnfuzzlement.

There's a problem that wanders into the camp of a drifter, when he stays put... in one place... too long... He starts thinkin' too much.

I know what makes my sunrises shine and what makes 'em cloudy. I love... I LOVE... I LOVE ... bein' on the road. I don't particularly like Getting anywhere. As long as I'm moving, on the road, somewhere... I'm easy. Not giggling, goofy happy... Just, Easy.

Lock me down, stagnant in one place... too long... and the sky darkens and gets stormy.

When I get up in a camp on the back side of beyond... or ... stand up from my bed tucked in a corner out on the fringe of a Wally World parking lot, on the way to Beyond... I have that feeling that, HERE, is where and how I belong. "Just a Man, Free on the Earth."

When I'm moving my eyes are roaming and looking, there's no room in my head for second guessing why... I feel good and that's enough.

Now, set the parking brake. Stick the chocks under the wheels and let dust start collecting on the pin box for any length of time... and my dented, damaged, brain pan starts second guessing, and comparing, and scheming. Pretty quick an awful good Plan, and a better WAY is getting twisted into something I can't even recognize and my liver's quiverin' like a $3 hula girl.

One of the sources... No... THE biggest source of the waves being made in the life I live these days, and a lot of folks aspire to, is Economics. It's the big nasty foul smellin' beast that keeps most folks from stepping off and chasing that shining brass ring they've kept secret for too long.

A fella with six zeroes behind the seven in his bank account only has to choose which direction he's gonna turn his radiator when he leaves in the morning.

Those like me... with TWO zeroes, on a good day, behind the 2 in the bank account have to decide how they're gonna put enough diesel in the tank to get out of the parking lot! ;)

I'm not complaining. I'm Free and that's the best thing. Bein' a lil' less worrisome at times wouldn't be a bad thing... but... I get up in the morning and -I- decide what I'm gonna do... each and every day... NOT... some bossman. To tell the truth, we're in a pretty flat situation... no better off, no worse off than a year and more ago... I guess stayin' level is the new "Doin' Good!" ;)

But... Economics is still the big gorilla in the corner. Flat out Ignoring it is gonna let him sneak up and whack you in uncomfortable ways. With a thin wallet... and expenses (Fuel and groceries) rising a lot faster than the statistics mongers on the boob tube claim... (uh... food is up a lot more than the 2 1/2% or so the liars claim inflation is!) a guy has to spend a lil' bit of time thinkin' 'bout how he's gonna ride out the next year...

One of the ways to deal with it, I guess is to set up a situation where you're not moving as much and not knockin' back fifty gallons of diesel a week... there's different ways of doin' that.

I've read and watched other folks. Lots of 'em counsel "You need to have a Home Base"... Thinking on that wise counsel of others, and trying to convince myself that it's the right thing to do... is causing me a bad case of the DT's and the jiggly quivers. Economics is an important thing, and you've got to take care of business... but it's not ALL about the dollars.

It took me a bunch of years, and a lot of torment and misery to fight free from the economic jail that's imposed on a "Property Owner". That's a torment I don't NEVER want to repeat. It's one of the toughest pshyco hurdles for a genetic gypsy to climb over. A man is conditioned from nearly the moment he leaves the safe confines of the womb to get a job, build a house, raise a family, pay your taxes... buy another car...

So... thinking how nice it would be to have a "place" to sit for a while... I could have some of That again... or one of Those or... or ... or.... aeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiii! It is a fearful thing for a fella like me.

It's like a dope addict whose been clean for a year, walking down the street and bumping into his old dealer, who offers him a special deal... just a little taste... a treat!

The addict stands there quiverin'... lusting for that FEELING... just a tast...

But... deep down inside he knows the ugly truth... it's a prison that chains my soul... Yet, it remains a temptation that he can't erase... a temptation he has to deliberately resist, apparently forever.

Now, don't get me wrong... for some people... it's the RIGHT thing. It fits. It makes sense... for others it's the opposite... it's the end of the dream that drags you back into the way it was. The way you detested the whole time you lived in it. It's the tentacles of the beast wrappin' around your ankle and tripping you... You can feel it as your fingers dig into the ground fighting against it, and you're drug back into the hole you fought so hard to escape... nooooooooooooo......

There's other things that rattle around looking for answers... Right now... this seems to be the Bronc I'm trying to ride. Holding to what I know is right for me... against the wind of what so many others claim to know is better.

All they can truly know... if they are honest with them selves... is what is better for THEM.

Which leaves me... Cogitating, second guessing, digging in my Heels... and resisting to the last breath.

Down on the Desert
Brian

A Grab Bag of Mental Meanderings on Thanksgiving Day

Sittin' here... solo in the sun, Thanksgiving 2011... My brain pan, hobbled up with senility and workin' overtime like a virused up laptop, fillin' every nook and cranny with disjointed thoughts and cogitations...

Climbed up on the roof the evening before last to capture an Overview of this camp...

*To the Far Blue Mountains*

 Looking out, east and south, across the desert there's no shortage of space for a man to just breathe in...

Looking back north and east, my Plamosa Road camp isn't what a person could call crowded, now is it?

Pretty much the same goin' west as well...

If you look off there in the distance, that lil' white spot on the left is the rig of Jerry, one of the readers of this blog... Shared a beer with him in the evening.

Just out of frame to the left, off a hundred yards or so is the rig of another couple of blog readers, Tom and Dar... They've invited me to share a light Thanksgiving meal with them this afternoon...

So... even when you think you're all alone... you're not quite.

My Granddaughter Jillian welcomed her baby brother yesterday afternoon, Jasper William Thompson... I guess her words as she was huggin' him were; "Love Jasper, we're friends."

A Bronc Rider in the Making! ;)

Which then, thinkin' 'bout them got me to imagining how this rig is gonna be sorta crowded with two adults, two senile dogs and TWO grandkids when they go to wanderin' with us in the summers. ;) I may just have to figure out how to add a bed or two...

Sorry Mark... not sure an A Frame is gonna cut it. ;)

Well, you know it don't take much to get me schemin' and doodling about the options of rigs and rig building a fella could get tangled up in...

So with that bouncin' around in my head, I remembered a rig I'd seen back at PIR when I was shovin' that Tram up and down the haul road...

*Semi+Pull Trailer Hybrid*

Hmmmm.... if that was a "Bunkhouse" model trailer...

I've seen a couple rigs like this built... This might be the cleanest one I've seen... sit the trailer frame down on the truck frame... skin it and carve in the cab/house body connection... and Wa La! Heavy Duty Motorhome!

Then, since ain't nuthin' been took off the table, toss in some daydreamin' on laying out/setting up an RVers Base Camp/Home Base...Which Mark, and Ara got to simmerin' on a back burner again...

I'll be lucky if the BLM and the local fire department don't come a wailin' in here thinkin' the desert has been set afire... what with all the smoke from overheated cowboy biker wiring. ;)

But... Such scheming cogitations are takin' on a more realistic tone of late... considering how my books are doing on Amazon.

Not that they're rackin' up sales records... but... If you go back a year, and look at the first month of sales for A Matter of Honor the new story; A Pair of Second Chances has doubled that first months sales, in it's first 15 days on the market... so, that's pretty awesome from where I sit.

That all by itself is something to be pretty grateful for.

Bottom line... though my world and my situation could be a whole lot better, it could be one hell of a lot worse. Though the wolf seems to be camped outside my door all too often... and pays no attention to my admonitions that I'm gonna make his hide into a welcome mat iffn' he don't leave me be... When all things are considered... including being VERY aware of the ordeals a LOT of other people are having to endure... The difficulties I've run across the last year and more, are mostly just inconveniences with "Stuff".

In the end, I've got a warm bed. Groceries in the cupboard. Propane in the Tanks. The bike has fuel and good tires... my books are selling and the sun is shining. My Grandkids are healthy and no one has taken any shots in quite some little while... and the last one that did... Missed!

Tomorrow, will have opportunities when it gets here... so today maybe I'll give it a rest... Just breathe. Put one foot in front of the other... and share a meal with friends.

Just a Man, Free on the Earth
Brian

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NASCAR, RV Possibilities and Brand New Suspense Novels

Stuff is startin' to happen in a NASCAR rushin' hurry! Just to keep my brain pan in a tee total commotion.

The boys are here and startin' to warm things up on the new track... They started practicing a lil' after noon today... But... I'm thinkin'... When even the "lesser" classes are runnin' up over 130 miles an hour? Maybe they should have their skills kinda honed when they get here... juuuuuuuust a lil' late to be "practicing" don't you think? :)

But... practice they did for about four hours...



whoowee! and when the "big boys" get to playin'... they're addin' another 50 mph or so on top of what these guys are screamin' past at... and to think... that Raider of mine .... once hauled me at only 'bout 5 mph less than these cars are runnin' past at...

... buuuuut... I never told you that! and I'll deny it if ya'll tell anyone! ;)

This lil' bit of practice racing is 'bout all we'll really get to see... cuz we're working the trams pretty much the rest of the time we're here. There's nigh on to double the folks here that were here in the spring I believe... they're expecting 100,000 plus here Sunday... Whoooooeee! We are gonna be buuuussssssssy! on the Trams!

So, knowin' that, we got on down early this evening to check things out... before we dive in and get to haulin' fans for the rest of the weekend...

Wouldn't you know it? I finally got the approval from Smashwords on my latest book, early in the afternoon... so spent the late afternoon getting A Pair of Second Chances uploaded to the Amazon Kindle Store... and it'll be live there sometime in the next day or so.

So, with the thought tickling the back of my tiny lil' cogitator, that might could be, that book could have an impact on changing our situation a bit, sometime in the not too far off future ;) we're walkin' down the midway up at the track and find a display from the Camping World Store here in Avondale...

... and stumbled across a fiver toybox that we actually liked...

It's the same length as the Eagle we've been draggin' around for ten years, only it's a toy hauler with a 100 gallon water tank... and a fuel station to keep the Raider going! ... Hooya...


A Vortex Fifth Wheel built I believe by MVP.

Now, wouldn't that be sweet!

Then... we even found the perfect Tow vehicle to pull it too! Just up the midway a bit...

*RAMINATOR!   The Perfect Fifth Wheel Tow Vehicle!*

For sure! Just think... the next time you're pulling through a Wal Mart and the bozo in the Prius cuts you off? OOOPS! Sorry 'bout that! Muhahahahaha! :)

I"ll bet I can get THIS truck up Imogene Pass too!

What would add to a sweet setup, would be, to figure out how to squeeze this lil' bug in with the Raider!

*A Sweet lil' Option for an RV Back Road Toad!*

How'd that be for a Backroader car?

Talk 'bout a suh-wheet camp!!

'course... that don't really amount to much in the way of downsizin' do it?

Kinda falls more into the He who dies with the most toys wins category... 

What can I say... Frugal is fine... but... so is Playin' with Nice toys! :) ... and I don't have a whole lot of trouble with funnifyin' frugalizing!

Aw well... Bad Motorcycles, Dune Buggies, Prius Crunchers and NASCAR screamers always was more fun than keepin' some stingy Ol' Aunt happy. :)

Well... Time for bed if I'm gonna haul Red Neck NASCAR Race fans for ten hours in the morning... so I'd better close this out and have it ready for ya when you wake up Friday!

Like I said, I got the last part of the publishing accomplished this afternoon on my second Novel... I'll have the links posted up as soon as she goes live... and I'm not pushing Iron on the Tram Road. :)

Haulin' NASCAR Butts at PIR
Brian

**Ed. Note** Amazon got on its game last night and got A Pair of Second Chances up LIVE quick, so I've gotten that link already installed up there in the corner of this page with my other books... and into its spot over in the 3rd column on a few pages of the main website... Much work yet to do though, as always :) Hope you enjoy the book! ;)**

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They Jump From a Perfectly Good Airplane...

When you're RV Boondocking, waaaaaay out on the back side of beyond... and you get up one morning... and way off, out in that rough, far country, that provides the view, that you chose your camp for... where not even a heli-attack crew can land...you see smoke...

Chances are, one of these fellas from the Smoke Jumper Base near Winthrop Washington, or one of the other 8 Smoke Jumper bases, from Montana to Alaska, are gonna come fallin' out of the sky on it!

Smoke Jumpers... kind of like un-armed Special Forces. :) As the original rough country jumpers, the smoke jumpers are even employed as demonstrators of rough country jumping by the U.S. Military.

Truth be known, I hadn't realized, the 101st and the 82nd Airborne Divisions, were formed... based on observation of this outfit, from back in 1939!

... and from what they say here... not too many ex-military manage to graduate their training schools. They've got as high if not higher washout rate than the Seals and Special Forces... Pretty inspiring group of people.

We dropped by the place yesterday, and was given a tour by Smoke Jumper, Jason Ramos.

Interesting guy... in his "Off" time... from dropping into Wild Fires by parachute... he's been living Full Time since the late '90's in one Sportsmobile 4X4 van or another. He's built himself a company from which he can market quite a few products that appeal to RVers... considering that he's tested them all through hell and tight quarters...

*Jason's Sportsmobile RV Home*

He's got everything from flashlights, interior/exterior/security LED Lights for RV's, knives and solar power to bamboo based bedding listed. As well as a goodly bunch of other products... that he uses on a daily basis... kinda cool! and since he's a full time RVer (Maximum Compression Variety with his Sportsmobile van!)... a Biker :)... and one of the elite firefighters... kinda lends him a lil' credibility I'd think. :)  

Might be a place to take a look or two! :)

anyhoo, he filled us in on quite a few lil' details 'bout Smoke Jumpers... who actually aren't the adrenaline junkies ya'll might think... fact is... an adrenaline junkie... tryin' to do what these guys do? just don't get it done! It's kinda like what Ol' Gus said; They're (adrenaline junkies) "Too leaky a vessel to put much faith in!"

What's more likely, that sort would get toasted early on. Their brains aren't in the Right place. These guys, on the other hand... are part of that Right Stuff sort... with their Hearts and Minds... in the Right Place.

*The Plane that 8 men fly into "Battle" on*

They've got a set of buildings there at the base, where, between flights and fire fights, the Fire Fighters build and maintain their equipment. Fact is, they, each, have to build their own jump suits and repair their chutes!

*Parachute inspection station*

So... they're not only Elite Fire Fighters... they're seamstresses too! ;)

From the shops and equipment I could see... they pretty much build, repair, modify and invent, anything their job might could need.

Jason said the mix of people that do the job is interesting too... professors, doctors, teachers... people come from all sorts of backgrounds.

Some do the job "Full-Time"... and I guess some fit the Smoke Jumping into their "Other Life" schedules... working part of the year as a fire fighter... and the other in their "Other" profession...

Whatever they are... these guys... and Gals! Seem to be that sort that are "Driven" to do more, be more... kinda nice to see folks like these... when we're so beaten down... with that "Other" sort... ever' time you make the mistake of turning on the news! :) or listening to the verbalized manure spreaders out of D.C.

So... if you're in the area of Winthrop, you might want to stop by and take a look at what these folks do... might give you a lil' more appreciation for their efforts... and even those of the less elite, but just as special, fire fighters who walk into the fight. :)

Sittin' and Scheming in the Washington Woods
Brian

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Sorting Out Our Future RV Home... All Over Again.

Bein' as superstitious as I am... I'm a mite hesitant to speak of this... again. I've carried on this conversation in the past, but now the "pressure" to change is growing again... even if that "Pressure" is self inflicted.

What can I say... I'm a restless soul, and never content with things as they are, for too awful long, Always, stirrin' the pot.

Then, this morning, in answering an email I kinda let the veil slip a touch, and then found an idea rattling around my spacious and empty brain pan; "Well, that's unfair. Ya let one fella know a bit of what you're thinkin'... but you're gonna leave everyone else who's read your gas for so long... in the dark?"

So, as a consequence... I'm not gonna maintain that suspense... at least for those who let such things be suspenseful! and even if I do have to eat a few Crow feathers in the process...

We've been hauling this good Eagle around since it was built in 2001, and a good rig it's been. We lived in it, effectively full time, a time or two for several months at a time, and it did well. But, we Knew then, those were short term "full times".

Now, we've been "On the Road" with No Going Back, for pretty much a full year... and many miles in front of us yet to be wandered.

We've settled solidly, and comfortably, into our Long Camp way of going. Travel a day or three... settle into a NF or BLM camp for a day or two, while we search out the next Long camp, and then settle in there for 10 or 18 days. In fact, those Long Camps seem to be getting longer... but shhhhh... don't tell the ranger fellas... we're working to not attract attention to our "Ways". (and in fact, it IS our intention to stretch those camps a bit)

Longer Boondocking camps make for more relaxed yondering as well as stretching our budget as needed. The truth being that after a year of travel, our bank account, though still razor thin, is better than it was.

Over the many miles we've yondered the past year a few things in our camp have risen to the top. and a few shortcomings have come clearer.

Though the truck has served well backroading, it would be nicer to have a lighter, more economical, and NARROWER rig to back road with. :) When I said that, Heidi told me that, since I took this truck over Imogene Pass, with the outside dual hanging over a few thousand feet of air, I can't really say I Hesitate at all to take it up narrow back roads! :)

Just the same, a more compact back road Vee-Hickle would make for A More Harmonious Outcome! :) Having an Amigo, Sidekick, Tracker, even up to a Rodeo sized small car would be a nice compliment to our camp to daytrip in, rather then the big Ol' Diesel Dodge.

Another thing that's happened is, a return, by both of us to some pretty active Beading and Leatherwork... which... pushes a desire for a bit more conveniently accessible storage of the tools and materials for those RV Recreational activities... while maintaining a good work space for me to tap tap tap out all the gas I publish! :)

I've worn out maybe six trees worth of paper and pencils, trying to conjure a way to make this Ol' Dodge and Jayco Eagle do the things the evolution of my Yondering ways has come to call for.

At some point I've decided a fella just has to accept that you can't make a very good bucket out of a balloon. So... Once again we're back to looking at all the options and possibilities of a total change.

... And, as I told the fella I was writing to this morning, I've also got to fit that change-up of RV Rigs into a pretty anemic budget... so it'll have to be a carefully worked out and Timed enterprise, along with a nice dose of good luck.

Part of, and maybe the biggest part, of this whole deal is keeping my Cowboy Biker publishing enterprise moving along like it has been. It's not growing at some barn burning rate, but, the fact that has kept on improving and growing... as Long as I do my job, gives me confidence.

So right now, job one is to quit finding excuses and put the work into whittling the last words for my second novel and get it published.

Then... it's make the final decision as to What sort of rig, or combination is going to be the one that carries us for likely the next SEVERAL years of Yondering. So I can rope that sucker and get it parked in my camp!

So... to end the suspense I've whittled the options down to three main categories... and to tell the truth, that, in my mind is leaning hard in one direction... but... I will hold that Leaning, confidential for the time being... so I can have some hope of limiting the amount of Crow in my Diet.

1. A Mature MDT Truck pulling a just as mature Toybox Fiver. Bike on the truck, Toad in the Fiver (The Costliest option) and a bit tougher to fit into the NF and BLM camps we use...

2. A Modest sized Motorhome with a Motorcycle lift, pulling a compact AWD Toad. (the quickest and easiest to line out)

and... then the Wildest version of my conjuring...

Number 3... Taking the winter to carve out a Unique and to some Bizarre, Skoolie Conversion. (The riskiest and most labor intensive... but likely the shortest of the rigs)

Well there it is... the cat's out of the bag... let's hope it don't lacerate my kiester too awful bad...

Nothing is gonna happen in the near term. Likely be deep into an Arizona winter 'fore anything substantial gets done... but... I'm hopeful that the next few months will keep things moving and the route we'll take will continue to come clearer.

Loading today and rolling back north for Montana, in the morning...

Yondering and Wondering
Brian

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