Category Archives: Interstate

All Cracked Up

We were heading west from Laredo on a rural highway with many trucks sharing the road. Sally was driving, doing about 75 which is the speed limit, and I was editing photos on my MacBook. The road was smooth and traffic moving nicely when, wham, there was an explosive noise in front of me and I was covered with tiny shards of glass. We had taken a hit, probably from a rock from a truck in the oncoming lane – but Sally thinks it was a small meteorite. In any case, she saw a dark image fly across just before the impact.

The result was dramatic, a bullseye hole in the windshield, up in the black radio antenna section, was visible with three cracks emanating from it. We pulled over, dusted off, and were back on our way.

The small hole and long crack are dramatic but seem stable. The crack has gone from five inches long to down the whole windshield.

I called my insurance company who took down the information and told me to contact them when I was ready to replace the windshield. (We are a long ways from shops where we can wait all day for work to be done.)

The bad news is that I have $500 deductible on my glass damage but keeping things in context, it could have been a lot worse. I’m glad I was wearing sunglasses to ward off the glass particles, many very minute, that plastered my face and shirt front. We have some down time in the weeks ahead where I can get a shop approved, get the windshield ordered, and leave the van for a half-day. Hey, it’s only money – and it wasn’t a bird strike.

A Cold and Windy Trip

January is always a dicey month, weather-wise and we took an extra day to better prepare and to give me a chance to check Grow Compost for the other rare gull that has been hanging out there. Sure enough, driving in for a quick check, I spotted the Glaucous Gull – a life bird among the chickens and Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls.

Thanks to our friend Terry with a last minute sanding job on the icy driveway, I positioned the Interstate in downtown Montpelier and early Wednesday morning, we launched for Pennsylvania. It was a long trip but uneventful although the tractor-trailers on I-81 were their usual challenge — many of them and all moving fast.

We visited Sally’s brother-in-law in Charlottesville, Virginia the next night and after a long drive and just beating a sleet event, we hunkered down during a tough storm that shutdown the region. Two days later, we are at Fontainebleau State Park in Louisiana still battling sub-freezing nights but the forecast is great. Yesterday, we took a cold walk and saw dozens of Eastern Bluebirds and other neat birds, including this Red-headed Woodpecker who was feeding with his buddies.

Today is a thawing-out day for the rig and for us. We intend to stay here for a few days after a long trip and wait for the 70 degree temperatures tomorrow.

A Week To Go

Next Tuesday, my friend Sally, my dog Penny, and I plan to launch for the Southwest. It will be nice to escape the winter ice and snow and hope for a better year ahead, after the tragic losses of 2016.

The trick will be to get down our icy driveway and out of the snowbelt.

This is the first SW trip with the Interstate van and I know I have a lot less storage space than the truck/trailer combination. We are trying to be smart about choices of clothing and gear but we may well be sending excess stuff back to Vermont or buying things that we left behind. It will be an adventure in becoming more efficient.

The plan is to stay in motels the first few nights since the rig is winterized and we are too old for cold icy Walmart overnights. Been there, done that. About day four we will be in Louisiana and can catch our breath, thaw out the rig, and get ready to head west.

We hope to spend time in Texas (Goose Island SP, Big Bend NP), Arizona, and California – hooking up with relatives and friends in the San Diego/LA area.

This morning, our driveway was glare ice – the worst I’ve seen in 15 years here. My friend Terry showed up mid-morning with a dump truck and a load of sand and right now, the way is clear for launch. I’ll watch the weather closely to try to get below the Mason-Dixon line without winter driving conditions. So stay tuned for some hopefully not too exciting trip reports — I’ll try to save the excitement for the bird species we see. Wishing you a good 2017 ahead and hopes that the new president will surprise us with some good judgement and decisions. Peace my friends.

Urban Camping

Leaving Wyoming, I drove into increasing temperatures and after a long trip, camped in a state park in Utah where it was hot and dusty and 103 degrees when I arrived. Fortunately, the power was sufficient to run the rig’s air conditioner but it took a long time to cool things off after baking all day. It’s the hottest I’ve ever camped – the nighttime low got all the way down to 90.

I had anticipated these issues and had made a reservation the next night at a dog-friendly La Quinta motel in Las Vegas. The trip there was brutal – temperatures kept rising as I headed west, 105, then 110, then even higher. It peaked at 118 in Arizona and I saw highway workers spreading asphalt by hand in those temperatures. I kept checking my van’s engine readings but they stayed ok. It was 116 degrees in the parking lot of the motel: it felt like the blast that you get when you open an oven door.

The pesky check engine light is on more than it is off. I am ignoring it.

The motel was chilly and after a good rest, we headed south toward Del Mar. The only Las Vegas things I saw, including a Trump hotel, was from I-15. The temperatures were still high, around 100, the whole trip until I got about five miles from Robb and Mary’s house where the sea breeze dropped things to about 78. We were met with this welcoming sign.

Maeve and Dane were our welcoming committee. Maeve made the sign.

The backyard pool was inviting and it was not long before I was in it with the grandkids. Penny found some lizards in the bushes and kept busy stalking them.

Thursday we hit the beach for a while. Del Mar has a dog beach sectioned off so Penny enjoyed walking through the cool water. She has not had much oven time and doesn’t quite get the wave picture. The kids had a blast with their boogie boards.

I have the Interstate parked in the driveway with some ramps to level it a bit. It’s working out fine and is of course something I never could have done with the trailer. Dane and I launch for a camping trip in Sequoia National Park on Monday.

The birding here has been good and I have seen some new birds. Once I download the photos and see what I have, I’ll share it with you. Have a good weekend.

Woody Thoughts

Leaving Golden Lake campground early Tuesday, I headed west on Route 2 which was pretty lonely. For miles there would be no traffic and millions of trees, mostly coniferous and often undergoing cutting projects. Logging trucks were already off and running. The pulp in Michigan is normally loaded crosswise, in short lengths (5 feet?) and the load looks neat and tidy. I think we’ve all met scary looking log loads, especially in the Deep South, but these looked safe. I must say, based on limited sample size, the logging truck guys are much more courteous than long haul drivers. They see you coming and rather than pull out and slow you down as they get up to speed, they wait. What a concept!

I crossed in Wisconsin, had some not nice thoughts about their governor and the House Speaker, but then fell in love with the piece of the state I saw. I was particularly taken by Ashland, which sits on a bay of Lake Superior. We stopped for a break at a lovely waterfront park with a walking path, lots of parking – just great.

Leaving town, I saw a mile or more of free municipal beaches with picnic areas, then a monstrous water sports store. The van swerved but I fought it – no room for more gear.

After a birding stop which I’ll describe later, I checked in at a small Corps of Engineers campground called Pokegamon Dam – because that’s the dam they operate here on the Upper Mississippi just outside Grand Rapids, MN.

It’s a small campground right next to a busy highway. The railroad goes right by it as well and while the trains are few, they feel like they are coming through the van. One went by about three Thursday morning.

A bigger issue is firewood. These are mainly local Minnesota folks and they never met a tree they couldn’t burn. Last night, the van was filled with smoke from my neighbors.

Thursday, after returning from an outing, I found that I had a new crew of Bubba’s and their progeny, and a pickup truck load of cord wood. They even brought a tarp to keep it dry. Si I went up to see the ranger and asked if they had any open sites – claiming, with some truth, that I am allergic to smoke. We got a change several slots upwind and things worked out ok.

Don’t get me started on campfires. Jen and I were coming home several weeks ago when I noticed a cloud of blue smoke over the highway up ahead. It was just the campers at Lake Elmore gearing up for the weekend. I guess it’s part of our caveman dna but while I enjoy a wood stove fire on a frigid Vermont night, roaring camp fires all day when the temps are in the 70’s? I have the feeling I made my point, several paragraph before. Here’s a shot of part of the non-smoking area.

Yooper Duper

Sitting here in the Interstate with a #Vizsla snoring on the other bed, the sun setting over an apt-named Golden Lake, I am listening to Sibelius being performed by the Minnesota orchestra live at Carnegie Hall. (Oh, to have a public station that plays real music, not programmed.) Earlier, as I was eating supper in the front seat, I noticed movement outside and a male hummer was inspecting my bright red shirt through the window.

I am using Jennifer’s FitBit and aiming for at least 10,000 steps, even on long travel days like today. So we went for a post-dinner walk to get the 2,500 steps I was lacking. Of course I brought the binoculars and ended the session with two loons out in front of the campsite and a gorgeous Blackburnian warbler chipping away nearby.

My general plan is to get going early, drive for six hours or so, with breaks every hour or two. That gets us to campsites early enough to get some good walking/birding in. Monday, we left Rich, Lydda, and Bronson after a wonderful visit. Driving north through Ohio is nothing to write home about, so I won’t. Except to say that I wish I’d had someone on board who could identify all the spring plants just starting to pop. I guessed soybeans, corn, but then went by a sugar processor so sugar beets?

I drove up into Michigan, noting the change from crops to trees as we headed north. Aside from construction, it was an easy trip although I’m having issues with a “check engine” light. I’m sort of ignoring it.

We tangled with a line of thunderstorms but outran most of them. I had the weather radar on the iPad and it brought back my flying days, as I slid past yellow and red cells, which I could also see as angry black clouds off to my left. Soon the system was behind us.

I’m hitting a few Forest Service campgrounds (since I’m not happy with Michigan’s extra $9/day fee for non-resident visitors. The first was in the Huron National Forest which required navigating some dirt roads.

These campgrounds have no services except for some fancy outhouses. This one had only three campers on 30 sites so it was quiet – and after a cold front passed, pretty chilly.

After coffee and a chilly morning walk, we were on the way north on I-75 with very light traffic. The Mackinaw Straights bridge is pretty impressive and there was just enough crosswind to keep my mind on my track and not the height.

I took Route 2 which is an old-style highway skirting the top of Lake Michigan. It is interesting – you know you are in the Upper Peninsula when the signs say “ATM, Smoked Fish, Pasties, Diesel” and you pass dozens of old rundown cottages and closed restaurants.

Parts of the route were spectacular. The lake with whitecaps, light blue water, and sandy beaches looked like the Caribbean until you noted that the outside air was 52. After about 150 miles of interesting driving – more trees than I need to see in a day – we came the Golden Lake campground which was empty except for a host couple. I picked a site near the water and off we went on a long walk.

Wednesday I hope to start doing a little more serious birding. We will stay for two days at a Corps of Engineers campground in Minnesota. Then a couple of days in eastern North Dakota. So long from Yooper Country.

Stopping In Buckeye Land

After a quiet night at Allegheny State Park, I spent much of Friday driving to Ohio. Route 17 in New York was lovely and the route down along Lake Erie toward Cleveland was easy. We stopped at several rest areas in Ohio where the breeze off the lake made things comfortable.

Aside from a traffic mess around Columbus, the balance of the trip to Rich and Lydda’s outside Dayton went well.

They live in a large development with hundreds of homes. The builders incorporated quite a lot of green space, berms, and ponds along with a nice network of paved walking/biking trails. I was able to get in rig into their driveway and since I was sleeping in their basement, did not have to worry about the slope.

It has been a nice visit. Lydda is a great cook and we have just had a nice laid-back family visit punctuated by many dog walks. Penny gets along fine with their dog, Squirrel, and there are many rabbits to get her attention on walks.

I went birding with my grandson, Bronson, for a while Sunday. It was his first time and the highlight was probably the Great Blue Heron who arose from one of the little ponds, showing us his full wingspan. Here are some shots of us heading out.

I’m heading up to Grayling, Michigan next to a small Forest Service campground were you just show up. We will see how that goes with thunderstorms in the forecast.

Southern Tier Nostalgia

As usually happens on a long trip, I was up at two, then at four for real, and on the road at 6 AM. I recalled trudging down an icy driveway in the dark with Mary on our last trip – we had parked the rig at the bottom due to snow and ice. Today’s launch was rather easy relative to that. As we’d say in Navy flying, “kick the tire, light the fire.”

Penny and I took our first break at the Fair Haven rest area where this selfie documented my last time in Vermont for a while.

I had been watching the forecasts which called for severe thunderstorms on our route. I considered taking a higher route – the Thruway – but decided to wait a while to decide and then stayed with our original plans.

Getting out of Vermont was easy and the weather and scenery was perfect. The lightly-traveled I-88 was likewise pretty uneventful aside from a lot of one-lane stretches for construction.

Then I got into the westbound flow of Route 17 and memories flowed. The Blue Dolphin diner in Endicott, owe go where Mary was ordained deacon and then priest. The failed race track that is now a casino. The Exit 61 sign for Waverly/Sayre which we took many a time. I thought I could see our old house – probably the nicest we ever had – up on the hill overlooking town.

Then west of Waverly, the highway slides in Pennsylvania for a tiny distance and I recalled paddling both the Chemung and Susquehanna rivers in my canoe racing days.

About Elmira, the rain hit pretty heavy. I had stopped earlier to check the radar and knew that it was likely a short stretch, and so it was. Of course, I’m still learning the van systems and had quite a time finding out how to defog the windshield.

This part of the trip reminded me of the long drive Mary would make each week to finish seminary in Rochester. And as I passed the sign for Elmira Heights, I remembered how the church there stiffed her for the required contributions to the church pension fund and essentially just said “tough luck” afterward. And they’ll know that we are Christians by our love…..

We stopped mid-afternoon, after nine and a half hours enroute, at a big state park near Salamanca called Allegheny State Park. It was 80 degrees and muggy so I opted for an electric site and we have been running the air. The place has a number of families with young children and most are in tents. We are getting a shower as I write and kids are still riding the camp road on their bikes. Well, it’s really coming down now. I feel a bit smug, and snug, in my rig.

Penny and I took a nice walk before supper, hearing and seeing lots of warblers. Lots of redstarts and yellow warblers. I watched a song sparrow use the little brook as his personal bird bath.

Here’s Penny admiring the pretty lake.

Tomorrow is about six hours to Rich and Lydda’s – I’m really looking forward to seeing them.

Here Comes The Sun

As I get ready for a long trip, I am trying to address one of the issues that Interstates like mine have – which is weak electrical systems for camping in spots without hookup aka as boondocking. It is a problem I knew about and frankly, don’t anticipate long stints in non-electric situations. However, many state parks and federal sites are definitely non-utility.

The problem comes primarily from the refrigerator, which is electric only. Most trailers have a dual-option system where you can run on just propane but the wizards at Airstream decided, probably for venting issues, to opt for an electric-only. I can hear the design team: “They have an onboard generator, no problem.”

I had a small solar panel that we logged with the Safari trailer and decided to use that if I could. There’s really no room on the roof for panels without a lot of time and expense so I studied things a bit and to use a pun, a light bulb went off. I had two new deep cycle batteries – about 150 amp-hours total – which was less capacity than I wanted. They also had a vent tube going out to the side of the van. Voila! I could used AGM batteries, which require no venting, and run the line from the solar panel in through the vent. Of course, it sounded easier than it was.

I bought two 6 volt Lifeline golf cart batteries which fit into the limited space, connected them to get 12 volts and 220 amp-hours. Here’s a shot of the rabbit’s warren of wires – I’ve got a little finishing work to do.

My brother Barry suggest that I use a quick disconnect plug like he has used – and ordered me one. I bought the charge controller for the solar panel (to avoid overcharging the batteries) and some wire and fittings. Of course, the ground to the battery box snapped off when I tried to use it and I must of dropped some of the small screws for the disconnect several dozen times. The finished project looks pretty good.

I got everything ready, plugged in the panel, and we had liftoff. It’s not a big solar gain, probably 4 amps in full sunlight, but it will help nicely.

I have a good place to stow the panel inside the van so we’ll see how things go. The van has its own battery for the engine but while travelling, I should get some charging of the house batteries. I’ll test this out over the next few months and see if I need more capacity. For now, it was a relatively inexpensive do-it-yourself project (with technical assistance from my brother) that seems to be a good start to energy independence. Nothing like seeing that panel just sit there and quietly crank. Stay tuned.

A Shakedown Cruise

After trading some honey for future goodies from my friends at the Post Office Cafe, Penny and I launched on a short shakedown cruise. My brother had lent me a bike rack so we strapped on the old man’s bicycle and we were off.

One of the objectives is to zero in on just what I need to bring on next month’s western trip, where to stow stuff so that it doesn’t shake, rattle, and roll as we head over rough spots and negotiate curves. We never heard that when it was all back in the trailer.

Since we had plenty of time and a gorgeous Vermont day, I decided to take Route 100. It was a good diversion – just plain Vermont for much of the way. It is definitely a ski route as we first hit Sugarbush, then the Killington complex, and then Okemo in Ludlow.

As is the case every summer, there were several one lane bridge repairs and many resurfacing projects. We complain about potholes for six months and traffic delays the other six. Friday was too perfect a day to fret over some stops besides, I had no schedule and Penny certainly did not.

One of my favorite spots of this route is the chain of lakes north of Ludlow where a half century ago, I spent several great summers at Boy Scout camp. Now a state park, Camp Plymouth was special. A good friend from those times – a long-time classmate – Doug Allen said to me not too long ago, “Dick, I often wish I was back there weaving lanyards out of gimp.” I certainly agreed.

After Weston, where Dad was in the CCC’s, we came to South Londonderry, Mom’s hometown. There are no relatives left there but many memories.
Mary and I came here to Winhall Brook Campground last fall and loved its peacefulness and beauty. This time I opted for one of the no-hookup sites along the brook.

Of course, the narrow bridge is always a bit of a challenge.

So, Penny and I are on a grassy site right beside the brook. It’s quiet – bird song and gurgling water noises. We just took a good bike ride down the rail trail and after a decent supper, need to go to town for bread and a 3G signal.