Merry Christmas!!

 

25 December, 2020: MERRY CHRISTMAS!!  I'm enjoying Christmas with Gunner and my van, Galahad at a great campsite on the lake! I'm the only one here.  It's quite cold out there so we've been cooped up in the van staying warm and calling family - thankfully I have a good signal where I'm camped.   

As before, I wrote this blog the other day and I'm able to get it uploaded today. 

21 December, 2020: Vanlife is interesting. It seems that it can take a variety of forms.  In my planning, at this time, I had thought I’d be out west wintering in the desert.  Turns out, as I type this, I’m less than 3 hours from Greenville – staying with a friend and I have been for most of the last week. 

Since my last blog, I’ve spent a bit over a week with my brother and Mom (including Thanksgiving), traveled for a bit under a week to return to Greenville (via Washington DC) where I stayed with a friend near Townville, SC.  Traveled to Edisto Beach and stayed with friends for almost a week, traveled for a couple nights coming back to Greenville, then on to this place, not far from Marion, NC.

It's been a great week.  He’s got a log cabin and 10 acres of property.  He’s got a fair number of projects in progress and I was able to help him out with some manual labor. 

The first task I undertook was to move a stack of wood from where the tree fell, to a new wood shed that he’s been building.  The shed didn’t have a roof on it, but it had the foundation, platform and uprights in place.  I didn’t get a photo of the first pile before I moved it but here it is after I finished moving it to the new platform.  

 

That stack is two deep.  It took about a dozen loads with the wheelbarrow.  It was fun.  Gunner was a great help all along.  He made sure he had good scratches all around his ears. 

My next task was to make room for a second wood shed, to the right of the one shown in the previous image.  I had to move two stacks of wood, on pallets, to a new location (one stack is visible under the black cover in the right side of the above photo).  The second shed would be built where they currently resided.  They were a bit of a mess, on four pallets.  I unloaded one pallet into a pile, placed it’s pallet in the new location, then began to transfer wood from the other pallets, moving a pallet to it’s new location when it was cleared.  The stacks aren’t high – about 5’ at the highest, but I managed to re-stack all of that wood on just 3 pallets, in their new locations.    

In the photo, you can see the ‘new’ wood shed on the left and the ‘old’ wood stacked in it’s new location to the right.  The 2^nd wood shed will go about where I’m standing to take that photo.  In the next photo the 2^nd shed will go to the left side of the image, towards the background.  

The next two tasks involved building the roof for the shed upon which I stacked the wood and burning down a huge yard debris pile created in managing his 10 acres. 

Mike and I tackled the structure of the roof together.  The uprights and cross-bars were in place so we needed to build the frame, add the trusses and the decking which would be the roof structure.  Late in the afternoon, we lit the yard debris on fire.  As the decking was built onto the trusses, I was able to work on the fire while Mike worked on the shed roof.  The fire burned really well, and after it was dark, we threw a huge pile of pine logs on the fire.  No photos of the fire. I’m not sure what I was thinking!

Monday morning I put up more videos for my van Galahad’s vanlife diaries while Mike finished up the decking on the structure of the roof.    After that, playing with the fire interspersed with adding the paper and drip edge to the roof. 

The fire burned down quite well, although there was still much left at the perimeter of the fire.  I was able to rake it back into the center and it flamed up again. We pushed a few large stumps into the coals that eventually built up and it was still burning when I left later in the afternoon to run some errands.

Mike prepped the materials for the continuation of the roof project.  When he was ready, I’d go over and help with the papering and drip-edges for the roof.  After that we put up some chalk lines so Mike could continue with shingling the roof. 

 Mike was still in progress with the roof when I left, he sent me this photo a couple days later:

These last couple of days I’ve been working on my next trip – Up to VanDOit for a visit!  That will be a future blog or video (series?).  I have a lot of catchup to do on my videos.  I’ve just completed posting up the ‘travel to the cape’ portion of my VLOG – <<LINK>>  I’ll see what videos I have for the ‘travel from’ portion of my trip.  The videos are fun, but I have a new-found respect for some of the youtube channels I’ve been following – the time required to edit these videos is significant.  I’m sure, with practice, I’ll become faster.  That said, it does require some skill that I’m just developing. 

So, as the end of the year approaches, I’m finding that my version of vanlife so far isn’t quite what I had initially envisioned.  It has been fun!  I think Gunner actually is beginning to enjoy the travel. He gets to see and smell so much more than just sitting at home!  This makes the times in the van super fun.  I try to find good places to get Gunner out for a walk.  We’ve had some great trails and parks to enjoy so far.  I think I need to put together a blog with photos of Gunner and me out on the walks.  Keep an eye out for that. 

The other part of the driving involves route finding and finding places to sleep.  Those have always been the fun part!  Staying with friends has allowed me to spend some quality time with them and in some cases, do some work that helps them get house projects completed. 

Whatever my version of vanlife looks like, I’m sure there are a thousand others out there.  I’m still smiling so I think I’m doing OK!  I wish all of you the Merriest Christmas and the Happiest of New Years!!

 

DECOMPRESSION!!!

DECOMPRESSION!

11/13/2020 - Due to my new lifestyle, I'm writing my blogs offline and uploading when I can.  This blog was written on Veterans Day, 2020 (November 11).  

Today (11/11/20) was really my first day of retirement, and my first day of VanLife.  Over 18 months ago, I started planning this phase of my life.  Due to some unfortunate circumstances at work at the end of 2017, I was thrust into a workload that put some level of stress on me.  I like to think I handle stress pretty well but the workload I had during 2018 was pushing me – a lot. 

I actually started looking for a new career.  Twenty-one years with my company and I was considering tossing it aside for a new career.  In July, 2018 I even had some in-depth conversations with a Ranger buddy of mine.  He’s a Wildlife Resource Officer in NC.  Sounds like a cool job.  Before I could jump into that, I had to dig further into what my retirement picture looked like with the company I’d spent so many years with.  I discovered that they had an option to retire at 55 with 10 or more years of service. 

THAT sounded very interesting so I started digging further.  I still had more than 2 years before my 55^th birthday and subsequently my eligible ‘early retirement date’, so I started planning my retirement.  Along the way, based on conversations with my Sister who has been full time in her 38’ Class A RV since approximately September, 2018, my own sense of adventure and after following a number of full time VanLifers, I decided that VanLife was for me. 

The selection of my van Galahad is a separate story which perhaps I’ll write up someday.  For this blog, I want to focus on the start of VanLife with my van Galahad. 

To launch this lifestyle, I decided that my house would have to go. By the grace of God, I had a contract on my house with a closing date 1 week after my last day of work.  On November 2, 2020, I walked off my campus for the last time and on 9 November, 2020 I closed on the sale of my house.  It’s the six-plus weeks leading up to those events and how that affected me in the days following that are striking.

In closing out a career of 23 years, I wanted to make sure I did what I could to make the inevitable project hand-offs as smooth as possible.  I’d like to think I was able to organize things pretty well but the people to whom I handed those things are really the only ones with an accurate picture of that.  That meant I was pressed to get as much done for those hand-offs as possible.  Add to those an important report that needed to be completed, reviewed and published and preparing the agenda for a worldwide tech club – which I would be animating on my very last day of work – I was feeling a fair bit of stress for the six-plus weeks leading up to my retirement date.  I seldom slept more than about 4 hours with all that I was thinking that needed to be completed. 

Pile on top of that the very quick sale of my house.  We listed it September 9^th, 2020 and on the 10^th, I had an offer.  Of course, it took a couple days to negotiate the final price, but that was a quick offer.  The contract proposed a closing of Nov 12 which eventually got shifted to Nov 9.    Now, in a week I had my last day of work and the house closing.

I had actually started on clearing out my house about the time I decided that VanLife was the target.  I sold my kayaks, I sold several bicycles, I sold three Volkswagen projects (one 1980 Vanagan Westfalia that needed a complete refurbishment and two 1970 Beetles – one complete car that wasn’t really that bad off, and a parts car).  I was glad I started when I did, but there’s nothing like a deadline when it comes to getting things done. 

Thus, between those two things, that six-plus weeks was a lot of short nights and me pushing myself to get the tasks completed to the best of my ability.  The amount of sleep I got seemed to reduce as my 2 November retirement date approached.  I thought I’d feel a bit of relief when I walked off my campus for that last time.  Negative.  The pressure to downsize my life to fit in my van Galahad by November 9^th was pretty extreme.  I must have taken 6 trailer loads of stuff to Miracle Hill – a local charitable organization.  I gave so much stuff away, it astounds me.  Much to charity but some to friends who indicated they could use it. 

I had a lot of stuff – even after selling what I thought was a fair amount of stuff, there was still so much to go through!  I’ll spare you the details but suffice to say, all of it took time and the clock was ticking. 

When the 9^th came, I was very close.  I got really lucky thanks to my colleague who purchased my utility trailer.  He allowed me to use it until that very last day when he came to pick it up.  He was a big help that morning – hauling some stuff away that needed to go to the dump, and other stuff that needed to go to Goodwill. 

Between making a trip to my storage unit, lunch with a friend and having to make a run back to the house for some things I forgot – I barely made it to the closing on time.  Throughout the closing, I was waiting for something to go wrong – even after all the papers had been signed and I was free to go, I still didn’t feel that rush from completing a task. 

For the rest of that day, and all of the 10^th, I felt like I was still in the grinder – rushing around to get all my tasks completed.  Now, those tasks included a final meetup with several good friends, but I was rushing in between those meet-ups.  I tried to stay in the moment while talking with my friends, but the clock was always ticking in the background. 

It kept ticking for the rest of that day as I tried to run around town picking up some last minute supplies – vitamins for Gunner, Propane for my stove, dropping off stuff to another friend, etc.  I finally got back to my campsite near 8pm.  Following dinner and an attempt at relaxation, I finally went to bed about 930. 

It was when I awoke at 537am on Veterans Day that I began to realize that it was all done and I was now free to live.  JUST LIVE!  I could ignore the calendar, stop rushing around and get on with my life. 

5:37am might seem early to many, but my body is accustomed to getting up at 4, and in that last six-plus weeks, often 3am or earlier.  That I actually slept for 8 hours felt AMAZING!! To top that off, I did a little trail run around Lake Placid at Paris Mountain State Park.  My last run at the park for a while and it really felt great!  It was what a former coach called a “Peace Run” – just being in the moment and enjoying the run. 

The effects that the sleep and the trail run had on my body and mental state was actually physically noticeable.  I felt better this morning than I’ve felt in a while.  There was still a matter of mental decompression – good news, I had been feeling that a little after the house closing but it really hit home today. 

As I packed up my camp, I was thinking about getting up to Massachusetts quickly, spending a few days, then rushing across the country to meet up with some people for an overlanding trip.  Because of the rain which I knew was on the way, I opted not to set up my complete camp.  That meant I’d have to go to a local diner for breakfast. 

As I was eating breakfast, the mental decompression continued.  I decided that my new VanLife would NOT include any interstate highways.  In and of itself, that forces a slowing down of the timeline to get from point to point.  As I departed Greenville, my target for heading north was the Blue Ridge Parkway. 

I’ll save the details of the today’s drive for another blog, but I’m writing this from a National Forest dispersed campsite somewhere not terribly far from the community of Linville, NC.  I didn’t even drive far enough to burn a full tank of gas – if it takes me a week to get to my brother’s house – so be it.  Decompression complete.

First overnight in the Adventure Van

First overnight in the Adventure Van!!

 Leap year 2020 started with a great gravel bike ride up in Bent Creek Experimental Forest, just south of Asheville, NC.  I met Dave and Roy up there and we do a nice out and back.  Typically we do about 2 hours total.  It's a nice route with some good climbing and descending.  Mostly double track forest roads closed to vehicle traffic, although one nice climb is on a main forest road on which we'll occasionally encounter vehicle traffic. 

I was surprised when I looked at the weather Friday night to see Snow in the forecast for the area around Asheville.  Thus, as I drove up there I wasn't surprised to see a fair amount of snow.  The roads were wet for the drive, but not bad at all.  The parking lot on the other hand had a fair bit of ice. 

Here's a few photos of the ride:

Other than the ride being a bit messy, it was a lot of fun.  Cold, messy, but fun.  How messy?  How's this:

One of the great things about my new van is the water system has a nice hose that easily connects and allows me to clean up my bike before I put it back in the van.  I missed the opportunity to snap a photo before I put it in the van, but pretty big difference after spraying it down.

It's not clean as if I used soap and water but it didn't drip all that mess on my gear tray either!!

Before I could pack up for the camping trip, I decided to reconfigure my interior one last time.  Thursday when I got home from work it looked like this:

I was planning on taking my dog Gunner with me so I removed the jump seat.  I also re-positioned the folding table on the kitchen pod as well as moved the pod and the fridge.  Ended up looking like this:

Friday after work I started organizing my TrailKitchens compact camp kitchen by putting my stove, jetboil, butane, lighter and other kitchen essentials in there.  I looked at where to position it on the gear slide and decided that on the back side of the slide with the opening facing the passenger side was the best bet.  This allows me to access the inside storage by pulling out the gear slide.

I found out that I needed to reposition the camp kitchen after driving up for the ride - it had shifted a bit, so I changed the location of the rings to make it more secure.  It didn't slip after that change.

Once I got home from the ride it was a quick pack up of the van (most done Friday eve, just had to grab a few last things) and head south to Sedalia Campground in the Sumter National Forest.  Not far from Union, SC.  It was a nice little campground with several campsites and a group campsite along with a Palmetto trail parking area. 

It didn't take much to get set up for the evening - the big priority was to get a fire going!  Gunner wasn't much help.  ;)

I stared at the campfire for a few hours and burned about half my firewood.  Poor Gunner - he was very restless the whole time.  He barely even sat down, wandering about the campsite and occasionally coming over and resting his head in my lap.  I think he missed the house.  His bed was in the van, so I was hoping he'd be quick to settle once we climbed inside.  

Once the fire was out, I climbed in the van with Gunner and it was indeed nice and cozy!  I slept really well, the bed in there is super comfortable!  I think Gunner slept ok.  He didn't seem too restless and settled into his bed after sitting up for a bit while I finished my last beer. 

I did find that the heater made a bit of noise when it ran, not sure how I feel about that.  It may mean that unless the temperature is really going to be cold, I may use it only to warm up the van before climbing in my sleeping bag.  We'll see, that's part of why I took this trip.

In the morning I was hoping to catch a great sunrise like I've been seeing lately.  Unfortunately either I was too late or we just didn't have the atmospheric conditions to have the same great color as previous days.  This is about what I got for a sunrise shot:

It was time to get the camp kitchen set up so I could get some coffee and breakfast.  Had to get the fire going again first though, hard to enjoy camp coffee without a fire!  Once the fire was going, the jetboil made short work of boiling some water for the french press.  Camp coffee with a campfire is one of the great joys of life!

I enjoyed a very relaxing morning with the fire.  Gunner didn't really relax too much, although he did find some sunshine to stand around in for the morning.  I got things packed up, worked on the leg assignments for the upcoming Smoky Mountain Relay and headed home.

I think Gunner was plum wore out by the time we got home!  He's been sleeping on his bed ever since!  He barely got up to eat his dinner! 

Until the next adventure!!

JD

Picking up JD's VanDOit Adventure VAN!!

It's already the end of February!  Getting at least one post in before the end of the month.  Since my last post I participated in Southeast Gravel's "Gravel Battle of Sumter Forest". A great 46ish mile gravel ride through the area around Clinton, SC.  I'd not ridden in that area really, so fun to see some new terrain.  The weather was cold but it was dry and it did warm up over the course of the ride.

I've been running a fair bit, last weekend I did a 10 mile run at a pretty good pace of 8m34s/mile average.  I was pushing a bit, but it felt good.  Around mile 8 I managed an 8m02s mile.  The second 5 miles was about 4 minutes faster than the first 5 miles.  Pretty happy with that.

The running is prepping me for the Smoky Mountain Relay in April, but before that I've got another relay planned: The Palmetto Relay!  One of my Ranger Buddies had a team looking for a runner and I got more info about it.  Turns out, it's the Sua Sponte Elite Racing Team consisting of all Ranger Veterans. The team is formed to raise money for the Sua Sponte Foundation.  You can make a contribution here and read more about the foundation there as well.

The biggest news for the month is VanDOit was finished with my van about 2 weeks early!  I flew out on the 12th of February to pick it up!  Super Fun! I knew I'd be excited so I took my GoPro along and made a video of the reveal.  

I have to laugh at myself!  That was exciting!

Here's some photos of my VanDOit adventure van:

Those who know what the graphics represent will say the van is well suited to carry an Ultra team of Ranger Veterans for the Palmetto Relay.

I've played with the van a bit, seeing how I might mount up my 3 bikes (Road, Mtb and Gravel).  Plenty of room for my SUP and other stuff.  I need to start assembling the other elements like my trail kitchen and propane stove to see how I'll be able to store them in there.  Thinking about an overnight with Gunner for the weekend.  Weather is going to be cold so best suited for running and / or off-road (Gravel or Mtb) cycling.

I'm stoked to have the van, stoked to be part of the upcoming events. 

2020 - What's on the plan?

It's been a bit since I last posted.  Not that there's been nothing going on, just that I've fallen off the writing.  Although I am not generally one to make New Year Resolutions, I did decide that this year I should give my blog a re-birth. 

Looking forward to the coming year, I do have some cool stuff planned.  Here's a quick overview.

In late February, I'll be flying to Kansas City, Mo to pick up my new VanDOit LIV (@vandoitco) camper van. I'm pretty stoked about that and it will facilitate a number of activities that I also have planned.  

The next event that is planned is the Smoky Mountain Relay in April.  This will be the 7th time that we've fielded a Blue Ridge Bootleggers team.  It will be the 6th time I've run this relay.  It will be the first time I'm participating as part of a 12 person team since 2015.  Every other time it was as part of an Ultra Team - the 2019 Ultra team was only 4 of us!  THAT WAS FUN!!!!  The one event I missed was 2017 when I was recovering from a serious injury that resulted in partial amputation of my left foot. 

One of the cool things about the 2020 Blue Ridge Bootleggers team is that we'll be able to use my new VanDOit as one of the team vans!!  Super stoked!

The next big event is the Wild Rogue Relay in June.  I did this relay in 2019 with @flowersofmoss and some peeps she knows out there.  Southern central Oregon is very beautiful and the relay was excellent.  I'll be driving out there, so my VanDOit will be one of the team vans. 

A couple of days after that I'll be picking up my brother Jeff and my buddy Ed.  We'll ride the Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder.  The event is 5 point to point days of riding that circles back around to the same start point on the last day.  It is gravel roads through the Sisters area of Central Oregon.  A VERY beautiful area!  Technically, Jeff is coming out to drive my van each day while Ed and I do the riding.  This should be amazing!

After that, I'll be heading back home but at a much more leisurely pace.  I'll have my inflatable paddleboard with me so I've planned campsites at lakes along the way so I can enjoy some SUP-ing. 

Between these events I am looking for and have signed up for some smaller events which I will use as training events.  Southeast Gravel has a few rides here in the Carolinas which should be fun, besides opportunities to get out with my buddies. 

That covers the big events leading into mid-year.  I'll hold on commentary for the last half of 2020 for a bit. I do have some BIG things in the works though...