Spares

Q:  What do a fuel pump, distributor cap, spark plug, and throttle cable have in common?

 A: They're all examples of small, inexpensive parts that will leave you stranded if they fail.

So?  If you're planning on going a long ways in and old car you should probably carry spares, unless you're feeling exceptionally lucky.  A hundred dollars in small critical parts is cheap insurance against the stress of finding yourself in MacGyver mode just to get home.

We drove 250 miles with it like that

Yeah, we learned our lesson from that one.  There's a certain level of relief that comes when you hear the clutch cable snap and think, "Hey, we've got another one of those with us!"  Now, instead of being completely helpless on an island in Lake Superior, it's possible to fix the problem and continue the trip.

I said possible, not 'babytown frolics'

Other times, though, you just can't plan ahead and you have to get creative.  One of the pop-top bolts broke on our last trip and and a conveniently-discarded tent stake came to the rescue.  That was probably the only time I've been happy about the campers before us leaving something behind.

It looks like an 'L' but it's totally a 'W'

Still, parts are nothing without the knowledge to put them to use.  If your understanding of a car doesn't go much beyond adding gas then a box of spares won't do you much good.  Like anything, it just takes time and practice.  The more you learn the less intimidating it becomes.

The great thing about an old VW is that you can tell it was built by people.  Real humans made it in the first place, so (presumably) you should be able to fix it without the help of a robot or a computer.  Sometimes it's funny to think of Klaus or Hermann, back in the Wolfsburg factory forty-some years ago.  Someone had to have put that first clutch cable in there.  If he did it, I should be able to do it, too.  Those are the kinds of thoughts that go through your head when you're on the wet ground with grit dropping in your eyes hoping you'll fix it to get home.

Kickapoo River Trip

This weekend we took a short trip to one of my favorite areas in the state- the Driftless Area. It is one area of the state that was not touched by glaciers, so the river valleys and rolling hills are very picturesque.  We drove the "slow" route by taking the winding Highway 33 through the tiny towns of LaValle and Hillsboro.  This part of Highway 33 should really be considered a scenic drive.  It winds through the wooded hillsides, through small towns and past Amish farm pastures.  It's a great change of pace and very relaxing.

View from the top of Wildcat Mountain

Just past Wildcat Mountain State Park, we stopped in Ontario and rented a canoe to take a trip down the Kickapoo River.  If you ever have a few hours to spare on a summer day, I would highly recommend making an excursion to take this trip.  The canoe rental rates are reasonable and you can choose whatever length of trip you feel like, from 2 hours to the entire day. 

Luckily we had started out early in the morning and were one of the first to set out down the river.  The current drifts lazily as it winds around back and forth through the river valley.  The portion of the river that we traveled is very scenic.  It cuts through areas with steep rock ledges where the trees stretch out, springs trickle in, and deeper pools swirl in the currents.  The river twists and turns so frequently that you never know what's up ahead.

 

 

rock outcropping                 lazy paddling    

another mysterious bend in the river...

 

           A sunny swimming spot!

The water is clear and shallow, and the sandy bottoms make great areas for wading in to cool off.  Early on in the day we saw a lot of wildlife at the river banks.  Kingfishers and swallows swooped from the tree tops to the water and families of ducklings and muskrats paddled along the river edges.  Later into the afternoon, just as we were ending our trip, the sandy banks started filling up with groups of people and families out for the day to enjoy some swimming and a lazy drift down this winding river.

Dutch Oven Chili Pie

This is hands-down one of the best variations of chili & cornbread that I have ever had.

Mmmmm... Chili Pie!

Here's the full recipe from the book Dutch Oven Cooking by John G. Ragsdale

_______________________________________________________________________________________

GUADALUPE CHILI PIE 

2 lbs ground beef                                 1/2 t chili powder
1 medium onion, chopped                    1/2 t salt
1 T butter                                              1-8oz can tomato sauce
1-15oz can chili bean, undrained         2-6oz pkg corn bread mix (Jiffy)
                                                                + eggs and water as called for on corn bread mix

Directions: Brown beef and onion in the butter in open ovens.
Add beans, chili powder, salt and sauce and cook for about 15 minutes in covered oven.
Mix the corn bread as directed and add to top of meat and beans.
Place lid on oven. Cook for 20-30 minutes, until corn bread is done.  

Serves 8

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Here's my two-cents:  You can pre-measure most of these ingredients before heading out to go camping. If you really want to be prepared, you can pre-cook and mix everything, dump it into a tupperware container and then freeze it to help keep your ice box cold(er) for a day or two before you get a chance to make this.  Making this on-site is super easy though, so it's not really worth the trouble of pre-cooking!

                   Aha!  A perfect fire with just-right coals          That is one hot cooking area!

                                          (thanks Steve!)                             Cook the beef & onion carefully

We have a small dutch oven (6") so I usually only make half this recipe and skimp on the corn bread.  I mix the cornbread up in a paper bowl, starting with beating one egg into a little bit of water and then adding as much Jiffy mix and water as will fit into the bowl while keeping the right consistency for the batter.
It's a bit of a guessing game for figuring out when the cornbread is done. You don't want to take the lid off too frequently, but do keep an eye out for smoke (if is starts smoking, then yeah, it's probably too hot or done!)  Here's how the top of a perfectly done cornbread turns out:

Mmmm...crunchy cornbread!      

 
What you can't see from these pictures is how much of the good tasting chili mix the corn bread absorbs.  The top is yummy & crunchy and the bottom is tasty with all the chili seasonings.
 Pretty much any combo of beef +chili powder + beans + cornbread should turn out pretty good.  Not only is this tasty, but it's easy to clean up and makes a minimal amount of dishes!  Try it at home if you've got a casserole dish or dutch oven for your home oven but this is really a great camping meal.

Up Nort Trip

We're back from another great trip.  This one was very relaxing, since we just puttered around Wisconsin in the bus for the week.  I feel so lucky to live in this state, we have so much to see!

We started out our trip on one of the best sites at Brunet Island.  Thankfully, the mosquitoes weren't bad and we could spend our time focusing on the important things- fishing & reading like a bunch of bums.

 Steve catches a Tree-Shaker! Meanwhile, on the other side of camp, Jenny identifies wildflowers.

 At Copper Falls, we took time for fishing and hiking.  If you are ever in the area of Mellen (which I don't suppose you will be just by accident, since it is in the middle-of-nowhere up north) you should make a point to stop in and check out the water falls.  The Doughboy hike is pretty easy, and you'll be surprised by what you see along the way.

You betchya- those are some big waterfalls right here in Wisconsin!

Our "real" destination on the way was Madeline Island, just off shore from Bayfield.  Madeline is the largest of the Apostle Islands and has a long sandy beach (with VERY COLD water) and nice sand-dune boardwalk. This park also has a few great hiking trails to check out the rock formations, in case you don't have a kayak to paddle up near them.  After Arches in Utah, the Apostle Islands have the largest gathering of unique formations like sea caves & arches right along the shore line.

Check out that clear water & the cool formations

Not only did we get to see a lot of interesting places along the way, we ate really well too!  I can not say enough about how great Dutch Ovens are for camping.  Not only are they easy to use, the are also really, really, really easy to clean up.  I am all for not doing dishes when I'm out camping.

 mmmm.... Chicken Pot Pie!

We tried a bunch of new recipes this trip and I can't wait until we get out camping again to try some more.  I'll follow up with some of my favorites later! -Jen

Hey, where was that? (Streetview)

It's surprising just how many great views there are from the highway.  I was curious and thought it might be fun to "revisit" a few of the places that made for great photos on some of our past trips. Makes you wonder how many of those National Geographic photos actually required a long hike off the beaten path!

Eastern Utah


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Western Colorado


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Eastern New Mexico


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South Dakota


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Wyoming


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I guess that concludes this Google-StreetView roadtrip.  I'm surprised how well some of them match up - and, that I was able to remember exactly where the originals were taken so easily!

Traveling (in General)

I've never really understood people that have no desire to travel. Having other obligations is one thing, but not even wanting to see new places makes no sense to me. Maybe it's a comfort-zone thing? Sure, at times the road can be unforgiving, but the highs have always been worth the lows. Even the lows become cherished memories with time. I've spent plenty of time with my head in the engine compartment hundreds of miles from home and will readily admit that it wasn't really fun at the time.

In retrospect, those hiccups were just the price of admission to some of the most amazing places I've ever seen. In a strange way, they are also part of what makes traveling in the bus such an adventure. Hills become trophies when you only have 50hp to work with. The world feels big again, more like it did when you were younger. We've been fortunate enough to see so much of it this year; photos don't ever do justice to the real thing but nonetheless:

Return from mini-adventure

One month has gone by since the end-of-summer adventure.  Here are the quick stats: 3,750 miles round trip in the bus in 16 days through 11 states. No breakdowns or wrong turns.  No GPS, A/C or long stretches on the interstate.  Road-kills include a bazillion Nebraskan grasshoppers and a few near misses by dive bombing birds.  Highlights of the trip were visits to the Yampa River, Arches National Park, Mesa Verde and old downtown Santa Fe.

Traveling in the bus is the best way to go around the country.  Taking all the back roads and stopping in small towns along the way makes everywhere feel connected.  It's a great feeling to have everything you need along with you and to just putter along at your own pace.  Which, when in the bus, is a very slow pace.  As in, when traveling uphill in the mountain passes of Colorado, a robin was flying alongside faster than the bus could move.

But getting there fast is not the point when you're on a vacation in the bus. Really, getting there fast just means you're missing out on everything in between here and there.  Had this trip been taken in a modern car, I would have missed out on riding around in the rolling green lolly-pop hills in Nebraska (a state that I thought was supposed to be flat), watching the early morning sunrise disappear into storm clouds New Mexico and feeling the dusty heat off the cattle feed yards in Kansas.  Well, that last one I could have done without just fine...

The very best part of traveling in the bus though, is always feeling like I'm at home.  I could keep traveling for months and never feel homesick.  Maybe it's the fort-on-wheels feeling when that pop top is up, or the hours of camping & fixer upper time spent with it so far, but it feels as cozy as the home I've got that's made of brick.