Camping Adventures!

I finally got to mark something off my bucket list! Van Camping! I had put it off all summer, procrastinating, which I'm good at. Finally in October, I knew there wouldn't be many more sunny 3-day periods of time, so I knew if I didn't go in October, I probably couldn't until next late spring. I needed to "pull up my boot straps" and JUST DO IT.

NOTE: The "adventure" was more in the getting ready, than it was to actually camp.

My Van had been parked under fir trees all winter, so first I had to wash it, inside and out.

"Before" picture, but I had already started washing it. It was COVERED from head to toe in fir tree needles! It took forever to get them all off.

Finished! Much better!

And of course clean out the inside, wash bedding, wash windows and dust everything, shake out rugs, and reorganize, plus go through tubs in my shed to get stuff I thought I might need. I spent two days doing that!

Then I decided to finish a little shelf I had started last year, to put over my wheel well, so that I would have a little cooking surface.

How hard is it to screw screws from the top part, to hold the legs on? Apparently for me, it was hard! It took quite awhile.

Voila! Done!

Oh she looked so clean before I brought in all the stuff!

I spent two weeks looking for "safe" places to go by myself. Even two years ago, I felt more brave to go it alone. But now, two years later, I'm not real anxious to go out there alone, to public campgrounds! So I tried to find a place on hipcamp.com, which is kind of like a camping air b and b. Private people and families who have land, or space, even if only an acre, set up camp sites for tenters and RVer's. Some places may have a cute cabin or two, or yurts or dome tents. I felt those types of places would be more private and safe. Of course, they charge an arm and a leg for it! I could have stayed in a motel for the same price (almost).I finally decided on one only 23 miles from where I lived. That way, I was not too far away from my son, in case I needed help!

And bless his heart, he actually came out to the camp the first afternoon, (after I was set up).. to see where I would be, plus build a nice fire for me, and we roasted hot dogs and s'mores. That was the highlight of my day!

Such a nice fire. Such a nice son!

My campsite was at the end of a gravel road, only about 1/2 mile off the main highway, but seemed so secluded and private and was very quiet. I had searched high and low for a quiet place, but many of the hipcamp places in my area were close to a highway it seemed.

I was the only one there, out of about 12 sites! We had just had 3 days of rain, so I suppose camping in the wet (with a tent) wasn't very appealing. I had dreamed of camping in the woods the entire time I lived in Madras (central Oregon which is hot and dry and no woods), and I sure got the woods... plus the bonus was a little creek that ran right by my site. I was parked about 20 feet from the creek. That was really sweet.

I was a little leary of camping by myself, so decided to only stay one night. The check-in time was early on the 1st day, and check-out time was late on the 2nd day, so I had almost 2 full days there. The first day I got there, was sunny and beautiful.

I was tucked in a deep canyon. The creek ran down a little "gorge" (very tiny) and there was a waterfall up a trail. I did a little exploring.

Sweet bench where I sat for a bit, to listen to the gurgling creek.

The waterfall is to the right of the bench, up a little ways, but can't see it in this photo.

Then to set up camp. I must say, at that moment, I was in Heaven!

Looking across from my camp, to the footbridge. So pretty, and quiet and peaceful, and the sound of the creek was music to my ears.

Picture taken from the footbridge.

I brought 2 chairs. Just as I was going to start the fire, my son came. I had brought 3 packs of firewood, and he brought 2! Just think of the work loading everything into the Van! That part was not fun.

Look at the neat round "swing" basket that was in my camp spot! It was hanging from a rather sketchy looking branch from one of the old mossy alders, but my son tested it and it was fine. I never did brave it though.

We had a few hours of a wonderful bonfire, and roasted hot dogs. I had made a potato salad, and brought all the fixings for s'mores. We were both so full of the food, we didn't have room for marshmallows and chocolate. My son headed home around 10 p.m. I was alone.

After the sun went down and it got dark, it became pretty cold. I think that night was 45 degrees. I was afraid I'd be cold in the Van as the heater I brought could not plug in to the inverter, and just in case, had brought lots of blankets! Bottom line: I didn't have a very good night as I was too hot! I had piled maybe 5 blankets on me and wore my clothes to bed, and the entire night, I was literally "stuck" in that bed in one position and couldn't move or turn over. I hate wearing clothes to bed as then  you stick to the covers. It's like being in one of those mummy sleeping bags!

I did throw two blankets off of me, but still was hot most of the night and was too "stuck" in bed to try to get up and take off my (too warm) clothes. I woke up early, probably starting at 5:00. Then would doze, and wake up at 6, then doze, wake up at 7. I finally made myself get up at 8:00! Early for me!

My pretty messy van. I didn't take time to clean up stuff or make the bed properely. This was right before going to bed.

It WAS very cozy inside... just hadn't taken the time to organize it very well.

I woke up to a very misty, cold, damp morning. Typical beach weather really. Being back in that canyon, I don't think anything ever dries out either! (plus it had rained for 3 days 2 days before I camped).  It was soaking wet outside on all of my stuff. Could not sit at the picnic table.. the bench was wet, the tablecloth was wet, as if it had rained (but it didn't)... my camp chairs were soaked, so I felt pretty displaced and grumpy.

No firewood left to make a fire, the heater I did bring didn't fit into the receptacle in my inverter (I was so smug with myself, as was sure I'd have heat if I needed it!). And yes it was cold outside when I got up! My little electric water pot plug-in didn't fit either. It was 3 pronged, and my inverter is not set up for that.. so no hot tea in the morning!

Here I am, sitting on the edge of the Van steps, looking pretty dejected.

I'm trying to look  happy, but it was SO wet and damp! I didn't quite know what to do with myself.

One thing..... when you're camping alone, and wake up in the morning to a pretty dismal day, it's not a whole lot of fun. You aren't sharing it with someone, or laughing about it, or sitting by the nice warm fire or having your cup of hot tea. I just sat there and all I wanted to do was pack up and go home! 

I did sit there for awhile, and enjoyed the creek sounds. My hot water electric pot did not work, so no tea, and I was in no mood to drag out my mini toaster oven and try to cook something. My little cooking "counter" was buried in stuff. I did go for a little walk down the road, along the creek. That was nice.

Some things I did enjoy and appreciate:

• The quiet
• The sounds of the gurgling creek
• The deep woods and huge trees
• The bonfire at night
• Having my son there with me
• Knowing I had managed to do this all by myself

I think by 10:00, I was packing up, and all I wanted to was to get out of that damp canyon and go home and have my hot tea and something to eat! I definitely had not planned the food thing very well. I hated to admit that I DID like the comforts.

As I drove home, I had a whole different outlook on Van camping, and whether I wanted to do it (alone) again or not. I stopped at a little cafe close to home, and got some nice hot chai tea, and by then the sun was out.

Needless to say, I was glad that adventure was over!  I was glad I went though, as I DID get to check that off my bucket list.... and I proved to myself I COULD do it all alone, but it did make me realize that camping alone is not a whole lot of fun. I pretty much thought if I did it again, it would be with my son and his fiance, or friends (if I could find anyone who likes to camp). Also, at my age, it's not so romantic to "camp out in the wilderness" as it was when we were in our 20's and 30's! And no one I know, at this point in time, who is around my age, even WANTS to camp!

And that's my story for now....

Until next time........

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I did it!

I finally did it! One sweet night of camping with my Van! It was a "trial run" and all in all, I did pretty good.

I've named her BERTHA! She is old but very sturdy.

I had my trial run at my sister's house about 30 miles from me. She lives on a beautiful 5 acres, with some trees and views of the mountains in the Cascade Range of Oregon. She even has a hookup for electricity! It was perfect for my test run.

I haven't really touched the Van since my  husband passed last September. I still have a dream to do some camping with her... so I decided it was time to get her cleaned out, fixed up, freshened up and reorganized. I found my curtains and put them back up, made up my bed (to make it as cozy as possible), and packed a new tub with stuff I thought I might need, even if for only one night!

I moved in an old sewing cabinet with two drawers, and put it at the head of my bed, to place a little lamp on, my phone, etc. The drawers were to come in very handy!

Once I started the cleanup, I was more enthused about taking a little trip... but I first wanted to do a test run! I HAD driven it a few times over the last year, just to make sure it was mechanically sound, and it did well on the highway.

Here I am at my sister's, the last weekend of August, and the weather was perfect! It was the ONE day that wasn't 100 degrees or more! And the night temperature went down to a nice cool 48!

See that little step stool? Sure makes it easier to get in and out!

Since it was too dry to have a fire, my sister and I sat out by the firepit in the evening, and gazed into my candle!!! 

Next time I will bring more candles, as it's just not the same not being able to have a little fire for roasting marshmellows.  I'm looking into buying  a small propane firepit.. never knew they existed until recently!

And now I know what needs to be tweaked.... most especially, my bed was WAY TOO HARD. It's a new 4" foam mattress but was as hard as a brick. I'll need to remedy that before the next trip! And I couldn't find a few things, so need to get more organized. I would love to put in another little set of drawers to use.

Until next time Bertha!

~Marilyn~

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She's ready for a road trip

Hello all on this beautiful Fall day!

Well, it would be a beautiful day if it weren't for the smoke in the air, but it's better than it was last week, so one must be grateful right?

I promised some photos of our (somewhat) finished Van project - the bed anyway - and I'm happy to say it's done and ready to go!

Here's the "before" the bed went in............

And here's the "after"!!!!!!

All I can say is HURRAY... and I'm so happy and relieved it's done......

The mattresses fit side by side perfectly and are very comfy and firm the way we like it....

We used two foldable memory foam mattress pads that I purchased from Amazon - they had very good reviews.

A queen sheet fits (almost).  The two mattresses make this about 5" larger than a queen bed! I'm so happy! We're used to a king bed.

Rudy likes it!

The bed is made up with nice soft sheets - this lady does NOT like sleeping in sleeping bags! I want my bed to feel like home. I mean, we will take one in case we need it for extra warmth on top of us, but I wanted our bed to not feel so much like we are camping. 

I sanded all the plywood and drilled holes in the end to hold it on the frames, so it won't slide around. The plywood on the frames is also in 3 pieces, so that we can, if we need to, remove one of the mattresses, and fold over the blankets and slide the middle piece to one side, so that we have an "aisle" down the middle to walk, or sit on the beds. 

I bought a large flannel sheet and a quilt from the thrift store, to put under the mattresses. The quilt was too narrow, and had scalloped edges, so I cut some quilt batting (4 layers) to fit along the side, so it would all be level. No lumps for me!

And voila.. it's ready!

Our heads will be at the end by the back doors, and there's just enough room at the foot of our bed (up front behind the seats) for stowing a few things, like our ice chest, water jug and porta potty (yes... we HAVE to have a porta potty!)  Doesn't give us much room, but it works.

We both use CPAP machines, and those will have to sit under the bed at our heads.. and the cords will run up front to where the two batteries and inverters are. We've had two extra heavy duty batteries installed, that are hooked up to the Van battery, and they will charge every time the Van is running. That way, we can be "off grid" if we want to or need to be. I'm anxious to try them out. 

They take up alot of room, but I think it'll be worth it. This way, hubby can take the Van hunting and park and sleep out overnight where there is no power. 

So........she's ready to go. There are nice blinds on the side windows and I have made curtains (temporary ones) for the back and side door windows. They are only temporary.. I made them last summer on the fly using some fleece blankets I bought, so that we'd have curtains when we (attempted) went camping in the Fall. 

My next project is to (somehow, not sure how to) put hooks in the Van to hang things on. I'm afraid to start drilling into the frame, but hooks are a great plus in such a small space........ I also need to buy some little baskets or tubs that will fit under the bed frames, to hold our things like food, clothing, toiletries, tools, etc. There's lots of room under the bed frames.  I actually have some Dollar Tree baskets that fit perfectly!

See the  foot stool? Of course we have to have a stool to get up into the Van.. and down again!

So she's ready to go... just not sure when WE will be. There's still alot of smoke here from the fire west of us.. and I think all of Oregon is under smoke, as hundreds of thousands of acres of forest land are still burning. It's so sad to hear about all of the beautiful forests that have burned up, towns gone, land burned, houses leveled, businesses gone, and people have died in the fires. 

Our moods right now aren't the greatest for wanting to take a trip, but I do hope we can find it in ourselves to at least try her out for one night, before the snows hit. It would be nice to find somewhere without smoke hanging over everything, but right now, I think that might be impossible. There's still lots of do to winterize our house which takes first priority.

But now I can at least mark one more thing off my "to do" list - "get Van bed done"!! (it only took me a year.........)

I'll let you know if/when we hit the road.........

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