Itinerant Air-Cooled

....In the camping forum. Did y'all already get yer fill of cold weather camp? If'n any hardy souls feel the campin' itch soon lemme know...

Tends to get that way this time of year. We've got a heat wave right now with highs in the upper 30's, but I still wouldn't want to be driving around with all the salt on the ground! For me, this is the time to start scheming for spring!

After growing up in the Midwest, I am no fan of being outside in the winter. #%%)%#% cold wet snow. It is a good time to get the bus and maps in order, some day I hope to replace the centerpin and shift coupler. Yep some day.
Nehalem is coming up, and then probably a camp in March. And the Badger Creek Hoo-hah. But I gotta make some $$$ first!

It would be nice to get a few odd jobs done on the bus over the winter, but shee-wiz it's usually too dang cold out there in the detached garage. Laying on the concrete doesn't hold much appeal when water is in the solid state. Even if it didn't seize my fingers up I don't like how much more brittle everything gets. Maybe someday I'll insulate and get a shop heater.

You should! It takes a shop to keep a man sane and the fleet in order. And then you can take up a coot activity like crosscut sharpening.

hambone wrote:It takes a shop to keep a man sane

. . . so that's what did me in.
Colin

You have a mobile shop, same thing. Better even, except for that lack of roof...

Well, ha-RUMPH!

Guess I'll be heading out to abandoned lookouts and breathtaking snowy and/or misty vistas meself...

I guess spending the last 4 winters in my bus has inoculated my to the cold. It's actually warmer to "camp", cuz I can't build a blaze in the driveway...

Thinking of heading here next weekend:

theres nothing like waking up to an awesome view....

it's just a model (shh)

Ya got me Ham. It's the scale model of the Cascades I keep in my bus, complete with bonsai forest.

dingo wrote:theres nothing like waking up to an awesome view....

...then turning away from her to look out the window....

nothing wrong with waking up to a model...or even a supermodel

Well, had me an adventure last weekend. Drove up to the hotsprings, which are at ~1700', during a temperature inversion. The higher temps at higher elevations melted a bunch of snow, which flowed down the mountains and refroze in great sheets cascading down the cliffs and across the road. 100'+ sections of the road had 1-3" of clear ice covering it, making for some creative driving. The road conditions and scenery were surreal, with every twist bringing a change. One minute, it's summer, one minute it's a winter wonderland, with frosted trees and snow-pack road, one minute it's a dreamscape of frozen falls beside a glass highway.

Camped out at an empty campground a couple miles past the springs, which now have video cameras watching the lot 24/7 to aid in collecting $500 tickets for even thinking about being near the place after sunset. Go nature! Anyhooo, it was a gorgeous crisp night, with no hint of the freezing foggy pall that has been shrouding Eugene for weeks. The frost was amazing, growing about 8mm off of everything I left outside, and turning the snow that covered the place into delicate glass shards that fired the moonlight in every direction. No picture could do justice to the scene of lonely Maybelline resting her weary bones under a frozen maple, glowing faintly in the fire light while the world around her glistened with my every movement.

Then came morning. In my attempt to be diligent, I "made sure" I unplugged and turned off all my electronics before turning in. Me being me, "making sure" just distracted me from "just doing it", and I left the bus itself "on".

So I was power-less, in the snow, two miles of ice downhill from the nearest known people. I tried for an hour to push start it myself, having to first defrost the e-brake cables and drums with my Coleman. Let me say, it's amazing how much resistance an inch or two of snow can put up! By the time I gave in, after moving it about 50', I was in a t-shirt, pouring sweat in 28* weather. So I packed up to hike to the springs, and was lucky enough to find a little suv coming down the road about a 1/2mi in. The guys had no cables, but agreed to help push. Even the three of us could not get her going. In a flash of insight, I hooked up my come-along between our tow hitches and had them pull me in gear until she sputtered to life. Only in hindsight did I realize how well their little Honda x-over thingy pulled a 4000lb bus, in 2nd gear, up an icy hill. I thanked them and skated up 1.5 miles of ice, only to remember the backpack I left behind, requiring a slide back down, then back up, with a nice 5mph Tokyo drift around the last bend before the lot for the springs.

I sure hope the gaggle of kinda-ditzy college girls at the springs made it down the road ok. I know from convo that one carload already spun out on the way up, and going down was ten times hairier.

I want my studs back :(

DjEep wrote: Then came morning. In my attempt to be diligent, I "made sure" I unplugged and turned off all my electronics before turning in. Me being me, "making sure" just distracted me from "just doing it", and I left the bus itself "on".

So I was power-less, in the snow, two miles of ice downhill from the nearest known people. I tried for an hour to push start it myself, having to first defrost the e-brake cables and drums with my Coleman. Let me say, it's amazing how much resistance an inch or two of snow can put up! By the time I gave in, after moving it about 50', I was in a t-shirt, pouring sweat in 28* weather. So I packed up to hike to the springs, and was lucky enough to find a little suv coming down the road about a 1/2mi in. The guys had no cables, but agreed to help push. Even the three of us could get her going. In a flash of insight, I hooked up my come-along between our tow hitches and had them pull me in gear until she sputtered to life. (

Wow that is an adventure. Funny how you think of things to get you going.