One more day

Tomorrow (Monday, Memorial Day) is the day I leave. Everything I've been planning for the past year or so is coming together very nicely, and I'm just about ready to go. I just have to pack the cooler, and the valuable stuff (I have a safe for that).

So why is it that the you-know-what hits the fan on the weekend before I leave?  Things happen and they have to be taken care of -- things that I did not expect and did not plan for (well, not all of them).  So here are my whines for today:
     1. Went out to dinner with friends on Friday night, just like I do every Friday night. But this Friday night I ate something that wasn't "right", and spent the whole night and much of the next day fighting food poisoning.  Not fun, but luckily today I'm feeling much better.
     2. Friday's mail contained a jury duty summons -- for June 19-July 3.  Now I believe in doing my part and serving when called, but I served 9 days in September, and this trip has been planned for almost 2 years.  Hopefully they will accept my excuse and let me off for now. I'll be glad to serve when I'm back at home, just not now.
     3. Got home from church today to find my pantry overrun with ants.  These are a fact of life where I live, and I had called the bug guy last week to come and do his magic. But we have been trading phone messages for more than a week, and he hasn't come.  So I had to get out the can of Raid -- not my favorite product, but it's a last resort. Plus I had to empty much of the pantry and find out what the ants were feeding on (it was a package of rice mix that had a hole in it). 

So now my pantry is clean, my jury duty excuse is written and mailed, and my tummy has settled down. I wonder what other surprises are in my near future; whatever they are, I hope they are the good ones!  See you on the road...

Counting Down

Back when I made the decision to take this trip to Alaska and set an approximate date, it was so far in the future that I could only imagine. But the months and weeks have been flying by, and I'm now counting down days. As I write this, it's 38 days till I leave. I have a feeling that these last days are going to fly by.

As I read and review the Milepost (the bible for anyone driving the AlCan highway) I keep wondering just what I'll see.  I've read about various side trips and they all sound very beautiful, whetting my explorer appetite. But I think I have to exercise a little restraint and think about more than just what I might be able to see. For example, one place that looks truly beautiful is Monkman Provincial Park in British Columbia. There is a waterfall there that I would dearly love to visit, but the road to it is 39 miles of gravel (and then 39 miles back).  I've driven gravel roads before – specifically the road to Mowich Lake at Mt. Rainier in Washington – and it was a challenge. I think I have to be nice to my tires and windshield, so I'll probably pass on that one.  But there are lots of other places that are equally beautiful and more easily accessible.

Many people have asked me how far I'm going to go.  The answer – as far as I can!  To Fairbanks (where I have a friend who owns a quilt shop, that's a no brainer!!) and then down to Homer. Back up to Anchorage and down to Seward.  And DenaliNational Park; I had read that the camping spots and bus tours at Denali fill pretty quickly, so I made those reservations back on New Year's Day. Maybe, depending on time and road conditions, I'll make it all the way up to Circle (just above the Arctic Circle).

There are main routes and alternate routes described in the Milepost, routes such as the Top of the World Highway. Do I take that in one direction? I think I need to ask advice of other travelers on the road about that, and see what the road is like.

Part of the planning is visiting quilt shops along the way. The advice I've been given is that if I stop at the quilt shops and promote my book and tools, I can deduct the miles driven – how great is that!! So now I'm plotting the location of quilt shops all along the way, and sending them e-mails to let them know I'll be coming (and bringing presents!). Hopefully they'll be willing to talk to me.

I'll see you back here in a few weeks, and will start posting photos of all the wonderful places I've been able to visit. Till then…..

Trial Run

January 20, 2013

Trial Run

Every big endeavor deserves a test, and a trip to Alaska is a major endeavor. Last week I did a trial run by setting up Lizzie and taking her on a trip. We went to Quartzsite, Arizona, to an event called the Rubber Tramp Rendezvous.  This is a gathering of a fairly large group of people who either live in their rigs full time, or spend extended amounts of time in them. They gather on BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land where camping is free. There's no bathroom, no water, no trash pickup, but all that is manageable if you plan for it. For me it was an opportunity to meet these people, have a look at their rigs to get ideas for my own, hear about some of their challenges and solutions, and to test out my theories of how things would work. 

I even got to hike a little -- these photos are of a place called Palm Canyon. It was the most beautiful desert view I have seen in a long time, and I even got up close and personal with Saguaro cacti. The ones shown below  looked like they were protecting the tree.

I had planned on Quartzsite being temperate – nights in the 40's and days in the 60's and 70's. That's what is normal for that time of year, although they do get fronts moving through that throw normal out the window. That's what happened the week I was there. Night temps were in the 20's and daytimes were 40's and windy. It was COLD!  Luckily, I had a good sleeping bag and a few blankets, so I was plenty warm at night (especially the nights I wore my hat and gloves to bed), but the daytimes were a problem. One of the days I was sitting in a seminar dressed in a turtleneck, a fleece vest, 2 hoodies, and a blanket (hat and gloves too) and I was still shivering. Someone asked me if I had a jacket.  Yes, I did, but I couldn't get it on over all those other clothes! So I'm really hoping that Alaska in June is not as cold as that. But if it is, I'll find a way to deal with it --- maybe a larger jacket!

I learned several things. First, my mattress would not work. It wasn't thick enough, and it was like sleeping on a board. I found someone there who wanted it, so I sold it before I left, and will look for a new mattress. If I'm going to be driving 10,000 miles, I need to be comfortable at night.

Second, be very kind to your vehicle. I had been watching my tires. I had two new ones, and knew that I would probably need two more new ones before I left. But I managed to pick up a screw in one of the tires, and didn't realize that it was flat, so had to get a new one. That was a story in itself, because accessing the spare tire is a challenge on a Toyota Minivan. It lives under the car, and is released by unscrewing a bolt between the front and second row of seats. That's where my bed is.  I was really afraid that I'd have to disassemble the whole thing to get to the bolt, but the repair guy was able to do it just by taking out the stuff under the bed. Whew! But he didn't have a tire to fit my car, so I had to go on to Lake Havasu City where they had a tire store that is part of the chain I always use. They fixed me up in about an hour, and since the tire was under warranty, it was free!  Free is a good thing!

ON the way into Lake Havasu City, my brakes were making a funny sound, and since my mind was on CAR MAINTAINENCE today, I asked for a reliable place to check them out.  Bad news, needed new brakes.  Oh well, at least now they are ready to go to Alaska!  I suppose I could rationalize it by saying that it would have had to be done anyway. But I should have had them checked before I left New Mexico. I'll be taking Lizzie to my mechanic about a month before I leave to have her totally checked out and put in top notch condition.

I was able to do some more organizing.  When I set the bed up before I left, I realized that I would need something like a headboard to keep my pillow from sliding into the back of the van. I got some pegboard, painted it white, and attached it to the base of the bed with angle irons. It made a great place to organize some of my kitchen stuff. The photo shows the start of the organizing, but there will be much more that I can store there. And it will make it much easier to find things – rooting around in a plastic tub looking for a fork is very inconvenient, especially when your supper is getting cold!

 

The final upshot, though, was that Lizzie was very cozy for sleeping, and reading, and even for driving. I think this whole thing is going to work!

Curtains

Curtains

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. I spent mine thinking more about "the trip."  I did a bit more sewing and figuring out how to cover Lizzie's windows.

It's amazing what you can find when you go exploring in a car.  There are all kinds of covers and hidey holes that can function for your special purposes if you are willing to uncover what you find. For example, I have always noticed oval cut out shapes on the side posts right above the front seat belt attachments.  Knowing that I wanted a curtain across that space, I took my screwdriver and pried off the cover.  Lo and behold, there was a space there that would just fit the end of a tension curtain rod. Problem #1 -- curtaining off the  front seats -- solved.  That seemed almost too easy!

 The next problem is covering the side windows. That isn't as hard, because I can use bungee cords attached to hand grips that are on both sides of the car for the side curtains. Well, there isn't a hand grip on the driver's side, but there is a container there for sunglasses or something like that, and the bungee cord attaches to that really easily. Actually, I could also hook the bungee cord to the tension rod in problem #1 if I wanted to.  Since bungee cords have a tendency to droop, I will support them on the hooks built in to the sides about halfway between the hand grips. These will have to come down for driving, I think, because I'm afraid they will restrict my vision. But they are so easy to hang up again that I don't think I'll mind that.

That still leaves the rear side windows to be covered and I haven't figured that out yet. I need to screen them so that I can have some ventilation, but the screening won't be enough. I'll consider that over the next few weeks.

The rear window was a challenge.  There were more of those oval covers that could accommodate a tension curtain rod, and that would work for holding the bottom end of the curtain against the window, but I didn't know how to attach it to the top.

On a trip to the Container Store I found what I hope is the solution -- Command cable clips. The large ones can hold a dowel, and they won't damage the interior of the car.

I may need to shorten the dowel I have in place, to make sure it doesn't force the clip to release, but we'll see. I think it's pretty nifty! 

One of the things I learned while surfing other peoples' ideas for converting a minivan is to have the curtains made of a dark fabric so it just looks like darkened windows. I didn't want dark curtains on the inside of my "home" -- I wanted it to be pretty. So I just lined the curtains with a dark fabric, and when you look at the windows from the outside, you can't tell that they are covered. 

I've been making lists of what I think I need to have for a long trip like this (yes, my passport is on the list!) and I think I'm going to need a "shakedown" trip to test all this stuff out. Maybe in January I can find someplace warm to go for a long weekend....   Till then, Happy Holidays!

Progress

I haven't posted for a while, but that's what happens when two weeks of visiting grandchildren, two weeks of jury duty, and a long weekend visiting my sister get in the way. But that doesn't mean the planning has been put on hiatus, just the blogging. I've made a lot of progress in the meantime, and I'll share some of it here. 

 

While I was visiting my sister, I showed her (and the rest of her family) the things I was going to do.  I took the bed frame with me so that either my brother-in-law or my nephew could cut the PVC pipe risers for the bed legs to size.  BIL was out of town, so my nephew Eric looked at them.  He was impressed, but he had some ideas of his own.  Now I had assumed that all my planning was done, and it was all good, but I discovered that other people also have ideas, and sometimes they are really good ones! 

"Instead of those pipes,  could weld new legs to the bed frame, Aunt Sally," he said.,

"What?? You can do that?"  

"Oh, yes," he said, and proceeded to do just that. He welded angle irons to the bed frame and now it is the right height for the bins to slide underneath. And that S-hook -- that's to keep the two arms of the bed frame from sliding and collapsing -- a very good thing!.

 

Then he had another idea. He thought that if we cut the PVC pipe just a little longer than the legs, the angle irons wouldn't tear up the carpet on the floor.  Great idea, Eric!!

 

Meanwhile, I picked up the quilt that I'm going to use from the quilter yesterday, and since I had the van all set up, I put it on the bed. I love how it looks -- but I'll need more covers to stay warm enough.  

 

The curtains are almost finished, and I have a few more ideas for attaching them that I have to try to work out, but this week it's time to go to work. Oregon, here I come for workshops in Twin Rocks and Hillsboro.  See you soon!

Side Trip

Every year in August my little sister and I go on a camping trip together. She and her family have property in the Colorado mountains equipped with a camper, several ATVs and lots and lots of hummingbirds. This year was our ninth trip together, and it was the best yet. We spent a whole week there, just the two of us, with great weather, good company, and fantastic food.

Jane has a fabulous view of Pikes Peak from the front deck -- what a way to enjoy most of our meals, looking at this!

One ride that we do every year is to this old trapper's cabin. This year the trail had deteriorated quite a bit, making it a little more challenging, and it was cloudy and threatening rain. Luckily the rain held off till we got back to the camper. 

 One evening we took a ride (not on the ATVs) and saw this amazing valley.










Our ultimate destination that evening was to the Tarryall Reservoir, this is the back side of it.









There was lots of wildlife this year, but we didn't get too many photos. We did manage to get pictures of this herd of antelope. There were actually 7 of them, including the baby, but this was the best picture. Other animals we saw included a herd of about two dozen elk, five deer, a coyote, a raccoon (in the daytime, not in our garbage!), and the rabbit that lives under the deck.

 

 Here's sister Jane setting up our lunch one afternoon. By lunchtime, we were happy to stand up to eat; sitting on those ATVs is lots of fun, but hard on the backside!







On one of the days we did a big trip -- a 1 1/2 hour ATV ride (each way) a 20 minute hike, then a climb down a 15 foot cliff. Of course, getting back up that cliff was a little harder than getting down, especially with my knees, but we both made it!  This is the swimming hole we were aiming for, and it was well worth the effort (although it was REALLY cold!). What an amazing place! I especially loved the cliffs, and the depressions carved in them by water. I wonder how long ago that happened?   In the back of the photo you can see the landscape after the Heyman Fire (2002).  The forest is coming back, although it's slow.

Our evening entertainment every night was watching the hummingbirds. This year there were lots of them. We think there were between 8 and 10, but it was hard to count them all. Watching them argue over who got to drink was like watching the last part of Top Gun -- the dog fight scene. I took more than 500 photos on this trip, and about 350 of them were of hummingbirds. One thing for sure, it was never boring!

Five hummingbirds in one shot!

Designing the Layout

August 8, 2012

Designing the Layout

There were lots of things to think about when I set out to figure out how to arrange the things I need in the back of Lizzie. Lists.  That's where I started. Lists of the things I thought I would need, lists of measurements of her back end, lists of the size of everything I wanted to include.

That took me to the computer and my graphics program to lay it all out and see how it all might fit. first I drew the layout of the space I had, then drew all the boxes and tubs and other things for which I had measurements. Then came the fun part -- how could I get everything in there so that it would fit, and, even more important, be accessible when I need it.

The first challenge was the bed. It was only about 7" off the ground, but the tubs I need to store under the bed are 9" high. How to make that happen without having to build anything.  I don't have sophisticated tools, or skills either, to build stuff. I also wanted to make sure that whatever I did inside the van wouldn't wreck the interior for when I want it to be just a regular minivan. I borrowed an idea from my quilting experience. In order to make those banquet tables that we often use for cutting or ironing taller, we raise them on lengths of PVC pipe that fit over the legs of the table. I could do the same thing for the bed. Luckily, I have a brother-in-law not too far away who can do some of those cuts for me.  So now the bed will be 10" off the ground and the tubs will slide underneath easily. They won't need lids, so when I pull them out, all the stuff in them will be accessible.

One of the things that some of my new on-line friends suggested is a bucket that I can use when necessary for, um, personal reasons. Lined with plastic bags and with kitty litter in the bottom, it makes an great chamber pot!  I bought a round circle of wood to put on top of it, and presto, a night table (when the bucket is empty!!).

The bed frame is all ready, the legs will be cut to size next week, and a friend had two pieces of thick particle board that is covered with a plastic coating that she didn't need. That dear brother-in-law will cut those pieces of board to size so they fit in the bed frame, then a 4" foam mattress on top, and I'll be set for sleeping. I even made a quilt to go on the bed; it's being quilted right now and I should get it back in a few weeks. Of course, I'll need more covers than just a quilt, but that won't be a problem!  I have lots and lots of quilts and other things that I can use. I'm not worried about being cold.

That's just the sketch, and I can hardly wait to see how it looks in real life. More to come -- next time I'll tell you about the challenges with the curtains.  Till then, happy dreaming!