A trip to the Motherland - VanDOit headquarters

 2021-01-29

It’s been nearly 3 months since my last day of work.  I’m currently camped at the Long Pine Key campground, inside the Everglades National Park.  I’ve been here four nights while I do some exploration of Southern Florida. 

Let me back up slightly though – my last entry was just at Christmas time.  When I wrote that one, I was staying with a friend at his home near Marion, NC.  Since then I’ve done a round-trip to Blue Springs, Mo for a visit to the VanDOit Headquarters, been back in Greenville for a necessary Vet visit for Gunner while also having some repairs done to BlackSheep (my Jeep).  Thus, I spent nearly a week in Greenville before turning South towards the tip of the Eastern U.S. coast. 

When I left Mike’s house, just a few days before Christmas, I was heading to the Motherland in Blue Springs, Mo.  I'd had some issues with my inverter and since I have a flexible schedule, and the team at VanDOit was able to put me on the schedule, I decided just to go out there to have the issue addressed.  

I headed west out of Marion towards Tennessee and Frozen Head State Park.  This is a famous park if you’re an Ultra Runner – it’s the home of the famous Barkley Marathon.  One of the more interesting ultra-marathon events you’ll ever hear about.  Go ahead and check it out – there are videos and I’m sure plenty of blogs and what not.  Anyway, if you’re an ultra-runner, you won’t need to look it up.  You can see the famous Gate in the background of this sunrise photo, then the close up with my ham of a dog, Gunner

Gunner and I had a good time hiking up the West Lookout Tower trail.  I’m still trying to learn Gunner’s limitations, so we only went up about a mile or so, slightly past the Linlog branch creek crossing.  

Gunner and I actually did three hikes that day totaling probably a bit over 5 miles.  He did really well on these hikes.  I think he likes the cool weather and he loves the trails.  We spent two nights at Frozen Head, that’s what gave us the opportunity to get out on the trails a bit. 

As we continued further west, the temperatures dropped more and more.  I was running from what I understood was to be a winter storm in Eastern Tennessee.  I don’t know if the storm actually dropped any snow or rain as I was able to clear it. 

My next two nights were spent at the Land Between the Lakes recreation area right there at the Kentucky / Tennessee / Missouri intersections. 

That is a really beautiful area.  The temperatures had dropped into the teens so we were super thankful for the Espar in my van, Galahad.  It kept us warm throughout the two nights we spent there. 

Although it was cold, it was very clear.  I think Gunner has some limitations on how cold he likes it, but he does like to run in the cool weather. We got out of the van numerous times to hike / run around the campground and surrounding area. 

What a great campsite.  There was NOBODY else at the campground.  While it was cold, with the clear weather and only moderate wind, I really enjoyed the two nights and the day of exploration we had there. 

Before deciding on that campground, I had found a site on one of the apps I use.  It was a small forest service road not far from the actual campground.  The comments on the app indicated ‘high clearance 4wd’.  As I approached that intersection that would allow me to access that site, I opted instead to check out the campground first.  Finding no-one at the campground, and amazing sites as you can see, it was a simple decision – no need to drive back too far on that road.  I figured that I could explore it while I was in the area.

The day we left, I decided to drive down that road.  Less than 100 yards after I turned on the forest service road, it started uphill.  Part way up the hill there were some quite low branches that I knew Galahad would not clear.  As there was an area in which I could park Galahad at the bottom of the hill, I opted to take Gunner on a hike to check out the road. 

AM I GLAD I DID!  We hiked up the hill and of course, not too much further, the road went down the other side of the hill.  At the top of that descent was someone’s plastic bumper.  Further down, their license plate and some other un-identifiable (automotive) body parts!  The road was VERY rutted and a bit muddy.  I don’t believe that I could have gotten Galahad back up that hill if I had taken Galahad down it.  Not without some serious damage and possibly the need to have someone come and pull me up.  I’m thankful that I had the thought to scout on foot before bringing the van.  It doesn’t always happen that way though, more about that later.

We spent one more night at a really great, first-come-first-served campground in Missouri, about a days travel to Blue Springs, Mo.  The sites were nice and pretty level, in the forest so lots of trees.  A pit toilet was on the grounds which also served a trailhead.  Gunner and I took advantage of that trailhead to get a hike / run.  I let him off-leash until I came near a marked hike-in primitive campground where I could see someone’s tent.  Although I didn’t actually see the people, I could tell that someone was in the tent.  Gunner wasn’t even interested.  He’s so funny.

We went only a relatively short way beyond the tent before we turned around.  I had decided that I would do 30 minutes out, then back, unless the trail crossed a road.  If I got that far, I’d consider taking the road to get back.  There was really only that one trail that went through the trailhead in a big 26 or 28 mile loop.  It did cross roads on that loop, so if one was riding a bike, they could use the roads to make the smaller loops.  Anyway, Gunner had a fun time hiking and running behind me. I occasionally gave him water from my camelback.  He is really good at drinking from it.  I just make it like a water fountain and he laps it up.

Following the hike, we loaded up and headed to some camping areas near Blue Springs.  It was a nice drive, I always take the smallest roads I can find.  Sometimes that allows me to travel on forest service roads.  Essentially gravel roads that in dry condtions, just about any car could travel.  Many of them are perfectly suitable for travel when wet, but occasionally I find Galahad on these forest service roads that are used as access / egress by logging trucks.  These roads I would not advise for a 2wd vehicle.  I’ve had more than one instance of traveling on these logging area access roads (technically still forest service roads, so open to the public) and I’m glad my philosophy is ‘if you wait until you need 4wd to shift to 4wd, it’s probably already too late’.  In both of these cases, the gravel had all been pushed deep underground, and the mud or clay had come to the surface.  I could see the effect, and as I traveled on these roads, I came to the realization that I had no steering control because the tires had packed with mud.  Because I’m already in 4wd, just a little gas got the tires spinning to clear the mud/clay and get me some traction.  Thanks to the BFGoodrich tires and the Quigley 4wd conversion, I was able to drive right through the mess. 

One of these instances found me in a place of relatively clear ground which allowed me to assess the situation.  In considering my options – I had about 3 miles before the next intersection but I had only traveled about 1/8  to 1/4 of a mile from the last.  The place in which I stopped, in dry conditions, would be an easy place to turn around. In wet conditions with standing water in the ditches? I felt pretty sure that if I tried to turn around, I’d have a pretty good chance of getting stuck.  Going straight, possibly with up to 3 miles of the same conditions I just drove through?  Seemed like turning around would be turning away from adventure – thus, straight it was.  In that instance, it was definitely the right choice – the logging road, where the trucks turned off the forest service road, about doubled the total distance I had on that slippery surface (so total 1/4 to 1/2 mile).  Further, the worst of it was when the tires were initially getting clogged up.  A little heads up driving to keep the tires clear and I had no issues. 

The other instance put me on a road where the logging trucks had made deep ruts.  It had some slippery mud but also had the deep ruts.  I did scrape at least once.  Some of the ruts were so deep, I had to make sure to drive on the peaks between the ruts to keep from tearing up the under-carriage.  There were some pretty big rocks that had been laid on the road and they make a lot of noise when you hit them.  :D

In case you’re wondering why I’m running BFG tires - BFG is a brand owned by Michelin.  I’ll always be loyal to the company that gave me such a great career.  I was also able to make some relatively good financial decisions. My current state of bliss / retirement is the result.  So, kids, make investments early.

Back to the timeline.  Gunner and I arrived at the first campground near Blue Springs to find it closed. Finding that, I didn’t have much hope that the second one would be open.  I tried to find someplace to park and sleep, but the area seemed pretty tightly controlled.  I even passed a Police cruiser parked at one of the intersections which served as a bit of an entrance to the recreation area.  I finally opted to just go park at VanDOit. 

Spending the day with the crew at VanDOit is pretty amazing.  I stayed with the van as they worked so Gunner would be comfortable on his bed in the shop.  He became the shop dog for the day.  I think the crew enjoyed having him around.  He’s so mellow and pretty much just laid on his bed and slept.  The crew got us all set up with a necessary work and we were back in business.  We didn’t get out of there until relatively late in the afternoon.  I needed to find a place to sleep and I knew there weren’t many options in the Blue Springs immediate area.  I searched multiple apps.  I found a couple of options through Harvest Hosts, but the most appealing one had some limitations on pets. 

Because I have the maps on my ipad, which is mounted on my dash, I continued to search.  A key I’ve found is to look for the little green spots on the map!  More than once, finding some small green dot on a map has put me in an amazing place to sleep for the night.  This happened to me that night – I found a small conservation area that wasn’t too far out of the way.  I didn’t get there until well after dark, so my lights gave me away to the house near the edge of the conservation area – if they were even paying attention.  It was a great place to stay.  I stepped out of the van multiple times throughout the night to listen to the owls and other night sounds.  It was a nice night – although If I recall correctly, the clouds were starting to move in and I was about to get hit by a storm.  My goal for the next couple of days was to out-run that storm. 

It was to no avail.  While I didn’t really get any real snow, there was some wintry mix and a lot of rain.  It was pretty cold too.  As I traveled south out of Missouri and into Arkansas, then across southern Tennessee, I realized that entire area is the Mississippi Delta.  IT IS WET!!!  I stayed at a really nice, but very wet, campground on the Eleven Point River, not far out of Memphis. Thankfully it had stopped raining by then and I was able to have a nice campfire with wood I scavenged from the area. 

Following that, I made a tour of several more Tennessee state parks – Crowleys Ridge State Park, Chickasaw State Park, Henry Horton State Park.  Overall nice parks. 

Gunner at Chickasaw State Park (I think – if this is not from Chickasaw, please tell me!)

Leaving Chickasaw State Park, I made a point to design my route around a section of the Natchez Trace. 

We rode the Trace when I did the Ride to Austin (c3ride.org) in 2009 and 2011.  It was neat seeing places that I’d seen back then.  I began to re-trace that Ride route (backwards of course) as I headed back towards the upstate. I couldn’t follow it directly necessarily, because I was planning that stop in Henry Horton State Park.  However, I did find myself back on it shortly after leaving Henry Horton. 

The above image is from Henry Horton state park – The full moon rising behind Galahad.  The light on Galahad is actually from the 5^th wheel camper next door to me at the campground.  It had a HUGE LED light across the front. 

With my navigation system set to ‘shortest route’, it actually took me off the Ride to Austin route.  I was a little bummed about that, but decided that there was no adventure in continuing on a route I’d already seen twice before.  Following the nav system put me on some nice switchback roads to come off the Cumberland Plateau (may have been Walden Ridge)! Big signs “NO TRUCKS” both on the descent and on the ascent of the mountains on the other side of the valley. I’ll have to dig out my better maps to get the exact names of the geologic features.  The way down was paved but had very sharp and steep switchbacks.  The way up was similar, except it was actually gravel and had some pretty bad sections on it.  It was so steep that I actually decided to shift to 4 low just for further gear reduction.  It was pretty fun.

That night, I stayed at a boat ramp across the river from the Watts Bar Nuclear powerplant.  For me, this is what I consider ‘stealth’ camping – parking my obvious campervan in a relatively obvious location.  So, not really stealthy in that sense – stealthy in the sense that once I park, I put up all my window shades and I do my best with noise and light discipline.  Sometimes not so stealthy if I have to run the heater – it does make some noise which anyone walking by would hear.  Would they know I was in there?  I hope not, but I won’t know until someone comes and knocks on my window to tell me to leave. 

I have another interesting story about almost getting stuck, but you’ll have to get that one from me in person. 😉

Surprisingly, I arrived to my ‘new home’, where I stay when I’m in the upstate, on the 3^rd of January.  Almost a month ago at the time of this writing.  Since then of course, I've headed south which put me at my current location inside the Everglades National Park.  As I’m four pages in, I’m going to save that for my next blog. 

What I will say, after three months of traveling with my van, Galahad and my dog, Gunner – I’m still having a super fun time.  It’s nice to get back to the upstate once in a while as I work out the kinks in my kit though.  My longest trip, since November is still only about 3 weeks.  The one I’m on right now, to Southern Florida, is also only going to be about three weeks.  I’m looking forward to the end of February when I’ll head west.  Hopefully for much longer than a 3 week trip!

 

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