renovated

Let’s Refurbish a Van – Part 7: Our Batteries Phase 1 (By Andy)

A Post by Andy

{Note: The work detailed in this part of the post was completed over the summer of 2015, before we moved into the Turtle. I am just getting to writing the post now.}

So, we like to have our computers run, have lights, have the controls for our fridge work, have a charged Wi-Fi hotspot, and have our furnace fan powered to keep us warm. For all this we need electricity, and since we want to be off-grid, we need batteries. We started with this:

If you are familiar with the Turtle, this compartment is behind the largest access door on the passenger side- the door with the vent in it. In the following photo, I put in a dotted line where the plane of the floor on the inside intersects the compartment.

The walls of the compartment above the floor line are plywood, and bump up under the couch inside. The sides and bottom below the line are made of heavy steel. I have deduced the compartment was originally designed for a generator, as there was old 120V AC wiring running to it, an unconnected fuel line that ran into the back, and the door vent.

I had a hard time figuring out what all the wires were hooked to, as it was a bit haphazard in the compartment. In the above picture, (1) is a port that goes outside, below the floor of the Turtle. The wires there threaded out of the box, ran a short distance under the Turtle’s floor, then threaded up through the floor to the old inverter. There is a second hole (2) that the wires from the old 100W solar panel and the wires between the battery and main 12V distribution panel were run. (3) is the unused electrical box that had 120V AC wires run to the compartment where the shore power cable is housed.

Maybe I should back up a bit and throw out a few concepts and definitions and explanations for the terms we will be using.

Battery: A thing that stores electricity in chemical bonds. Here, we are just referring to 12V lead-acid batteries.
12V/12VDC/DC: 12 Volt Direct Current (DC). This is what cars use for their electricity for headlights, the radio, starting, etc. It is the kind of power all the batteries we talk about will produce.
120v: 120V Alternating Current (AC). This is what is in your house and in businesses you know, the typical wall plug Amy and I look for at restaurants to plug our computers into. It’s generally 120, 121, or whatever it takes.
Current: The flow rate of electricity.
Voltage: The force pushing the electricity through the wires.
Inverter: An electrical box that changes 12VDC to 120VAC. It changes car electricity to house-hold electricity. This is so we can plug our AC computer cords into our DC batteries.
Converter: An electrical box that changes 120VAC to 12VDC. The opposite of the above—pretty much a garage battery charger that you use to get your car started after you leave the lights on.
Charge Controller: An electrical box that changes the output of the solar panels into DC voltage, hopefully charging the house batteries.
House Battery: Now, I probably use this too freely. When I talk about house batteries, and I mean batteries dedicated to our living compartment. If I say house (or household) electricity, I mean 120 V AC. Got to figure this out… but, house batteries are 12V batteries separated from the car system, and dedicated to lights and heat and powering the inverter in the house part of a van. One should be able to run these dead flat, and the car will still start, as they are fully independent circuits.
Starting Battery: The batteries under the hood, used for starting the car, sparking the gas when the engine is running, running a radio (if you had a functional one), and lighting the headlights.
Shore power: Kind of a boat term, but a source of 120V AC electricity you can plug into. When you pull up at a friend’s house, and pull out your extension cord, and plug into their electricity, they are your “shore power”. (Thanks Alex and Julie, Kari and David, Connie, Mag and John, Dave and Ryanne, Mike and Becky, Blake and Martha, Roger and Mary, Chris, Dad…)

Now, back to the good stuff! To start the battery box rebuilt and modification, I first labeled the wires and removed the old battery. I then cleaned the compartment with baking soda and water to neutralize the sulfuric acid and prevent further corrosion. Lucky, the metal compartment is super stout, so it was still in great shape. As usual, after a final thorough cleaning, I caulked the seams and painted the compartment with black Rustoleum. I can’t find a picture of the completely empty, cleaned and freshly painted compartment, but trust me, it looked good!

After getting the compartment beautified, I cut and painted a plywood plate to fit into the bottom, bolted and glued it to the metal base of the box, and mounted battery trays to it. I painted up everything with oil-based paint and used stainless steel hardware to affix everything.

Since we had just gotten the Interlux blue boat paint, I practiced the painting technique on the top surface of the plywood base, so it is the same shiny blue as the Turtle exterior. In the following photos, you can see the two new Fullriver 115Ah 12V DC sealed AGM batteries that we started with in there, but just patched into the cleaned up existing wiring we are reusing at this point.

I decided to go with Absorbed Glass Matt (AGM) batteries. They cost a bit more than flooded batteries, but they do not spill, they will not develop corrosion at the terminals, and can be mounted sideways, if that configuration seems important. Additionally, they do not require venting, so they can be safely installed inside the living compartment, if that is necessary. Here is the site. We have been happy with this choice, and as you will find out in future posts, choosing AGM sealed batteries will allow us to make some future cold-weather modifications.

As to wiring, I was just starting to adopt the boat convention for new circuits and runs I would rewire. The convention is as follows: For 12VDC, yellow is ground, and red is positive. For 120V AC, the wires are white, black, and green for ground. Examples of the wires are here:

The reason behind adopting this convention is that at a glance, you can tell which circuit they are supposed to be wired to. Additionally, the boat 120V cable is stranded, as opposed to the household solid copper wire. Stranded wires should always be used in a vibration environment. Logically, then, a van should have no solid copper wires (though most RV builders do actually use cheaper solid copper for the 120V runs). As you might have observed, we have concluded that one should think of their van as a boat, and look to boat paints, wires, latches, and hardware for the upgrades and work. Though the boat cable is a little more expensive, it is paired and tinned for corrosion resistance, and gives a real nice finished look. Additionally, it can be purchased in any gauge.

So, at the end of our Phase 1 battery configuration we had our two new AGM batteries with a combined storage of 230Ah at 12V installed and secured, with the connections cleaned up. With this battery pack, we simply used the old converter to charge them when we were connected to shore power, and the old inverter to make our 120V for our computers when off-grid. At this point in our journey I also had just finished the install of our 300W of solar to charge the batteries (we will cover the panels and solar charging and solar controller in a different post).

That’s Phase 1 for you!

A Good Place to Crash—Outside Roswell, NM

We’re back in New Mexico and we couldn’t be happier about it! We never imagined we’d stay in a single state for multiple months during our travels, but we can’t seem to rush through anything here. We always plan a general outline of our route a few weeks out and estimate how much time we’ll spend in each spot, but it’s always subject to change and sometimes we trip over a great spot and end up staying much longer than anticipated. The reasons for the extension vary each time, but more often than not it’s because we find a great quiet spot where the weather is clear and we can get some work done on the Turtle!

Considering how limited our storage capabilities are, we keep a surprising amount of project materials on hand in case we find a good spot to do a little maintenance and housekeeping. Of course this was Andy’s idea, and the additional paint, brushes, wood, and tools for which he prioritized space has made Turtle life much more comfortable and manageable. It helps that he’s a wizard with problem solving, woodworking, electric jobs, and wordplay. (That last one has less to do with this topic, but it’s worth noting.) Anyway, we’ve got a pretty customized Turtle these days!

We never know when the work space is going to present itself. Thanks to our arsenal of travel apps, we can tell if a spot seems to be a good place to stay the night, but we can never know exactly what we’re going to get when it comes to the view, the size of the site, the crowds, etc. So we left stormy Lake Meredith on our way to sunny Roswell, NM thinking we’d just travel through Roswell on our way to some great National Parks.

First we stopped in Borger, TX and this happened:

Don’t worry; he’s fine.

After we got him back on his feet, we stopped in Portales, NM to catch up on some computer work, journaling, and letter-writing at the Roosevelt Brewery, where we happened upon some new friends who are also really into the vandwelling lifestyle and have some plans of their own on the horizon. It’s so much fun to meet people who understand the impulse to make life simpler and more fulfilling and adventurous by traveling full time in a tiny house on wheels. So we decided to stick around and spend the evening with them, and had a great time. It was so much fun meeting you, David and Robyn! And thanks for the stickers; we really wanted Roosevelt for the brewery sticker book. You guys are the best! Keep in touch! 🙂

The next morning we were ahead of schedule daylight-wise, since we hadn’t anticipated a stop in Portales, and we were super close to our next stop in Roswell. But since I’d bookmarked an interesting OHV site (Off-Highway Vehicle) for the previous night, we thought we’d just swing by as we drove past to see what it was like.

Aaaaaaand, we loved it.

It was like being on a Star Trek set.

And because this spot is made for toy-haulers, each of the sites is huge, and even has a covered picnic table, grill, garbage, and bathrooms. Not to mention a great view.

The weather was perfect, the space was ample, and the nightly fee was minimal, so we decided to settle in for a bit. Because when you live in a Turtle, there’s always a project waiting to be done!

So while the animals enjoyed their enormous new back yard, Andy and I got to work.

Jobs that needed to be done included:

(Andy’s notes)

– Toilet started running continuously. We got a new valve for $45 in Amarillo, TX, and installed it here. Needed to remove the toilet, remove old parts, install the new parts (took the time to thoroughly clean the toilet), and then reinstall it.

– Rotated the tires. Kept them all on the same side, and moved front to inner rear, inner rear to outer rear, and outer rear to front. We had a slow valve stem leak some time ago, and when we did, I rotated the spare into the front at that time.

– With the tires off, took time to clean the rims and brakes, and inspect the brakes with the wheels off.

– Made, painted and installed the Nalgene holder for behind the stove.

– Installed the D-ring recovery points onto the rear bumper where it is welded to the frame.

– Installed an ammo box under the spare tire in the back. They make a nice waterproof container, and inside I have replacement ignition parts and other electrical parts we what to have on hand and keep dry.

Some notes: We travel with all our tools, including a 50-ton bottle jack and two 3-ton jack stands. cordless drill and jigsaw (that charges from the solar). They came in useful here!

Gracie helped.

When the weekend arrived, we decided to leave the spot available for the real OHV riders and see if we could find some aliens in Roswell.

We saw a bunch, but sadly none of them took us with them for a universe tour. Which worked out for us, because a couple of other strange creatures were waiting for us to take them back to our desert landscape for a few more days of work—and even more play—before hitting the road again for further adventure on planet Earth.

The galaxy can wait for now.

Albuquerque to the Ojito Wilderness, New Mexico

Before a month ago, neither of us had ever been to New Mexico, and both of us were super excited to explore the state. It certainly never disappointed! (Except Taos; that city didn’t live up to the hype at all.) We loved Santa Fe and Diablo Canyon, and next on the list was a night in Albuquerque on the way to the Ojito Wilderness.

We went to Old Town in Albuquerque and walked around the shops, had tacos for lunch, chatted with some charming locals, and visited the historic church in the middle of Old Town.

While we were in one of the touristy shops, I noticed a whole wall full of Breaking Bad paraphernalia. We remembered that the show was set in Albuquerque, and as we walked through Old Town, I saw a flier for a Breaking Bad tour that takes you to a dozen or so places from the show. Andy wasn’t a fan of the series, so he watched me curiously as I frantically found a post from Lonely Planet with a map of a do-it-yourself Breaking Bad tour and ran for the Turtle.

I didn’t want to take over Andy’s day with my Breaking Bad fandom, so I picked a few of the locations I most wanted to see, and luckily (for Andy) they happened to be fairly close to one another.

First, we went to the park where Mike always went with his granddaughter.

And of course we had to go to Walt and Skyler’s house, which has been painted and gated.

And the A1A Car Wash!

In the far end of the car wash parking lot, we ran into a familiar-looking RV. It’s not the same one, but close, and we guessed that it’s part of the $75 tour we saw advertised, which was arriving at the car wash as we were pulling out.

We also ran by Gus’ Laundromat, but the sun had almost set so we just looked and then went and grabbed a beer at the Red Door Brewery, just a few doors down.

The next day, we got supplies and drove to the Ojito Wilderness, about 45 minutes outside of Albuquerque.

It’s a gorgeous desert spot on BLM land just west of San Ysidro. Lots of people go there to ride bikes on the White Mesa Bike Trails outside of the wilderness area, and to shoot guns various places just inside the entrance.

We kept driving in until we got to the Hoodoo trailhead, on the west side of the wilderness, where we made camp—a.k.a. parked the Turtle and opened the door.

Ojito is a great spot because you have access to over 11,000 acres of wilderness! You have to park on the edge of the actual wilderness area, but it’s all BLM land so you can hike in and camp anywhere you like. There are two marked hiking trails that get you out into the wilderness, or you can just blaze your own trail. We did both, and loved both equally.

The rocks and formations out there are diverse and lovely. There is an abundance of sandstone, gypsum, quartz, volcanic rock, and even fossils, which of course you can’t take but are really fun to find!

I’m beginning to suspect that the desert is Andy’s natural habitat.

Gracie loves it because she gets to run and roll in the dirt all day, nap in the sun when we leave for hikes, and ever since she learned to climb the ladder at Diablo Canyon, she’s made the top of the Turtle her personal patio.

Check out this enormous sliced cucumber rock!

Both animals were so happy here that they were even more sweet with each other than usual. This is what I woke up to on my stomach one morning:

Gracie was so pleased that we finally found sunshine that she did her best to soak it all up, and I think she succeeded.

On our last day there, we got a day without wind, which was exciting because the previous two days we were hit so hard that Gracie and I opted to stay inside and read all day! We celebrated the sunny day by taking our favorite four-hour hike for a final picnic and rock-collecting mission.

We left this idyllic site only because we saw rain in the forecast, and the dirt roads would be nearly impossible to drive on for a Turtle if we were caught in wet weather! So we began our journey south to Roswell, not knowing that halfway there we’d decide to make a last-minute detour to Oklahoma City to see our friends Beth and Jonathan!

Which is why as I write this, we are in Elk City, Oklahoma. We found a great free spot for RV’s just south of town on a lake, and it even has water, electric, and lot of nice red dirt for Gracie to roll in! So everyone’s happy.

Bandelier National Monument: Freakin’ Awesome

We LOVE Bandelier National Monument. And a day before we went there, we didn’t even know it existed! We happened to see it in our New Mexico Atlas while we planned our route to Los Alamos, and were very pleasantly surprised when we arrived. Even the Visitor’s Center is awesome.

Here you can see the abandoned cave dwellings of the Pueblo people, who lived here for hundreds of years in Frijoles Canyon.

You even get to climb into a number of the dwellings. It’s incredible.

The ring you see down below is the ruins of other dwellings, in what was basically the town square.

I’ve been known to surreptitiously piggyback on nearby tours, and here we were lucky enough to be right behind a small group with a very knowledgable tour guide. I’m pretty sure once we started asking her questions they were on to us, but the whole group was nice enough to let us follow them around and learn a bunch more than we would have from the brochure alone. I was especially amazed when she told us that the smallest indentations in the rock were carved to serve as ladders! These 3″ round holds would go straight up a vertical rock to reach other ledges. In the above photo, you can see the littlest dents running up the left side of the furthest-back rock wall, which gave access to the upper shelf, where a number of petroglyphs were carved into the rock. Crazy!

You can also continue past the main trail to the Alcove House, where you climb three ladders and some stone stairs up 140′ to a cave that houses a kiva and has a great view of the canyon.

We loved it.

Afterwards, we stayed a few nights in Los Alamos, where we went to museums and took tours, learning about the Manhattan Project and the old Ranch School in Los Alamos.

On our way to Albuquerque, we stopped at Spence Hot Springs for a soak, which is an easy hike to a not-hot-but-warm natural springs with a gorgeous view of the valley.

The weather began to get chilly, and the springs felt just all right enough to stay. The source of the springs is in the cave, so when the sun went behind the clouds, we crawled in and warmed up a bit in the cozy sauna.

Then right before sunset, we stopped at the Jemez Historic Site to check out the old mission ruins.

We drove through the red rocks of Jemez Valley into Albuquerque at sunset, right past the sign pointing us to the Ojito Wilderness, where we’d return to spend a week just a few days later.

Great Sand Dunes National Park: Climbing Up & Sliding Down

With our compass pointed south we continued our quest for some sunshine, and found it as we neared Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado. Andy was happy to channel The Dude with his sweet Lebowski shades as we pursued the sunny weather.

We were a little surprised to see how much snow was covering the ground, but it made for some dramatic views of the Greenhorn Mountains as we approached the entrance.

We found a little pullout along the road into the park, and stopped to admire the view. We noted that it would make a great spot to stay the night, in case the campground was closed for the season. We had found conflicting information about whether or not any campsites would be available this time of year, so we had our feelers out in search of potential real estate in the event that we couldn’t stay in the park.

As we drove on, the snow-covered dunes came into view, and every direction we looked was just stunning.

A quick stop at the Visitor’s Center saw our water filled and our questions answered about where we could stay the night in the park (nowhere). We had to assuage the concerns of the rangers who told us it was going to get “reeeal cold” that night if we were staying in our “car,” and we felt pretty pleased with our setup as we reassured him that we had heat, a warm bed, and a stove to cook a hot meal for the night. Ah, Turtle life.

We decided we’d return to our pullout to spend the night, but in the meantime we had an hour to two to run around on the dunes! Dogs are even invited, and Scout was so happy. His two favorite landscapes are sand and snow, and he couldn’t believe his luck in getting to play on both at once. A great day for everyone! (Gracie was sleeping in a sunbeam back in the Turtle, so she was happy too.)

I think Scout inherited my posture.

That’s better.

Pictures could never quite capture it, but as the sun shone on the snow it created an explosion of rainbow fragments flickering across the surface as we walked along. I’ve never seen anything like it.

We parked near the amphitheater to explore a bit, then had to head back to our overnight spot as the sun was beginning to set. (We have a list of rules we’ve compiled for successful overlanding, and the first rule is Never Drive At Night. We break it now and then, but life is much easier when we don’t.) One obvious benefit to traveling only during daylight is that we don’t miss the scenery, and I was very pleased we made it in time for sunset so we could admire the view.

The next morning we woke up and drove right back to the parking lot outside the dunes for a long hike to the top. We packed a lunch and set out, and as we walked across the snowy dunes, Andy reminded me of a conversation we’d had earlier this year. . .

When we were visiting the Badlands, I was in such awe as we walked across Door Trail; I’d never been in such an incredible place before. It seemed so otherworldly and dreamlike, aside from the distraction of those other humans roaming around. I told Andy that I wished I could have the Badlands all to myself, for my birthday or some special day—just once. Always the voice of reason, Andy responded, “Well. . . I think that restricting public use would kind of defeat the whole point of the National Park System.”

Ok, ok, I know. But it would be SO COOL, right?

Well as we ascended the first rise at Sand Dunes National Park, Andy pointed out that there had been no cars in the parking lot, and that there was not a soul anywhere. My birthday was a just a few days away, and he asked, “Is this close enough?” Yes, it was.

For over an hour, we were the only people on the dunes. It’s pretty exciting to accidentally have a wish granted.

I’d like to point out here that these pictures give no sense of depth; I was actually so high up on this dune that I was a little nervous to be standing that close to the edge!

We hiked up, up up, at an elevation of about 8,000 feet. I’m telling you, that air is thin. And the last dune was a real doozy! There was some vertical hands-and-knees climbing there at the last ascent.

So we were thrilled to reach the top!

There we ate our well-earned cheese and crackers, with olives for me and onions for Andy.

After our picnic, I had a surprise waiting for Andy: a trick up my sleeve that I borrowed from my dad, who was endlessly creative when it came to having fun. When I was a kid, on a family outing in the mountains of Montana, we happened upon a steep valley covered in snow. My dad grabbed some trash bags out of the car, and we had instant makeshift sleds to fly down that mountainside. So when I saw the dunes covered in snow, I squirreled a few black garbage backs into my pack before we left the Turtle, and once we were at the top, I handed one to Andy.

After a few trials, we learned that they worked brilliantly on the snow, and when we’d hit the sand it would slow us down quickly and stop us. So we stuck to the good patches of snow, and rode those garbage bags all the way down the dunes.

It was a short two days at Great Sand Dunes, but by the time we left we felt like we had really made the most of it. As we travel from one National Park to another, it never fails to amaze me how diverse and beautiful this country is. We can’t wait to see more!

Winter Camping in Yellowstone National Park

Have you ever heard of a Chesapeake Start?

Well I can’t find anything on the internet to support that this is a thing, but here’s what I can tell you. Somewhere along our travels, someone told us about a “Chesapeake Start.” He said that when Lewis and Clark would leave for a long journey, everyone who was going on the trip would pack everything up and travel a mile down the road, then stop and stay the night. Once they had set up camp, they would quickly discover what necessary items they’d left at home, so the next day they could easily return to their home base and get what they needed for the long trek ahead. We love this idea in the context of Turtle travels. . . especially since in the scenario we get to be Lewis and Clark. 🙂

On our exit from Bozeman into our first wild winter weather in the Turtle, we’re especially happy that we opted for the Chesapeake Start. During our stay in Bozeman, Andy did a whole bunch to prepare us to be a Turtle For All Seasons, but there’s so much you can’t know to prepare for until you’re into it. So knowing that all Andy’s tools were only an hour and a half away, we left Bozeman on Sunday and drove to Yellowstone National Park!

We arrived in Yellowstone mid-day, and it didn’t take long for the temperature to drop. Of course this time of year in Yellowstone is cold and icy, and this is the longest amount of time we’ve been completely off-grid in freezing temperatures! We’re still working out the finer points of living entirely from solar, so boondocking proved more challenging than ever before. Especially since we get so few hours of sun in these winter months and the sun we do get is weak, we had to really conserve our light and heat usage, as both are powered with the house batteries charged by the solar panels.

We were happy to have lots of blankets that evening. . .

And to see sunshine in the morning!

This isn’t the first time that I’ve been thankful that Andy is an engineer, and a motivated one at that. At the campsite, out in the wind and snow, he wired up a second alternator that he’d been working on and hadn’t yet completed, and got us extra power using wizardry and magic, and I think a little power from the engine.

We knew it would be cold in the park in November, and also that we’d be a little more limited in how much of the park we’d have access to. I’d done some research before we visited Yellowstone about its off-season, and here’s what I found:

The majority of the park is considered “closed” from early November to mid-April. That means that all the roads are closed except for the road from Gardiner to Cooke City. (And during the winter season, all roads out of Cooke City are closed save that same road back to Gardiner.)
In mid-December the park opens up to “oversnow” travel, which means you can only access the park by snowmobile or snowcoach.
In November and the beginning of December, the northern portion of the park is still open to visitors, and since it’s the off-est of the off-season, you have the place pretty much to yourself!

We’ll definitely return to check out the rest of the park when it warms up, but in the meantime, we found November to be an awesome time to visit the park!

Here’s what you can do in the park in November:

Mammoth Campground is open year-round, and much easier to get a spot this time of year. We only had two neighbors the whole time we were there!

Mammoth Hot Springs and the Albright Visitor Center are right next door to one another and both are also open year round.

The animals are out in droves and grazing so close to the main road! We saw hundreds of bison, antelope, elk, deer, bighorn sheep, a few coyotes, and the sweetest little light-footed fox you can imagine. (My favorite, but don’t tell the other wildlife.)

The Boiling River is also open year-round, and in my opinion, it’s best in winter. . . since that’s when I went, and it was awesome. I can’t imagine a more surreal and magical time to be submerged in a river than a snowy November. The Boiling River is a swimming spot at the confluence of the Gardiner River—which is of course frigid this time of year—and the Boiling River, a hot springs which reaches up to 140 degrees. You wade down to where the two begin to mix comfortably, and you’re in an outdoor hot tub in the middle of the snow and mountains! The steam pours and curls off the water, and the Boiling River gushes over the rocks and iced plants in a bubbling hot waterfall tumbling into the cold river. You’re sitting in the middle of it all, in one of the man-made terraces, adjusting your position to accommodate the sometimes burning, sometimes freezing, mostly perfectly-cozy warm water flowing past your body. We splashed and floated, counted the dozens of elk grazing on the mountainside, avoided staring at the high school couple making out near us, watched the shadows the sun cut through the steam, and laughed at how crazy it was to be swimming in a river in the mountains of Wyoming in December. We stayed for hours and hours, the final hour a procrastination knowing how cold we were going to be once we stood up and waded up the river back to our clothes! (I’m not going to lie; the walk back out was brutal. But it was so so worth it!)
- If you’re planning to go, it’s not marked on the main road, so park at the lot just north of the 45th parallel, near the Montana/Wyoming border. It’s a straight, level hike along the Gardiner River, just 1/2 mile to the spot where the Boiling River converges. It’s all well-marked. My main recommendation is to bring water sandals. . . as you get in, you’re so cold and then so hot, trying to figure out where the separate currents are, that the slippery rocks are just another inconvenience that could be avoided with good footwear.

Lots of hiking. While we were there the snow wasn’t deep, so we were able to hike around without our snowshoes to lots of nice spots. If we’d spent more time in the park (a week when Andy wasn’t working so much), there were portions of the park we would have loved to have snowshoed through. Next time!

We spent so long in the Boiling River the day before we left that we didn’t have as much time as we would have liked to see the east side of the park. We decided to drive the distance up to Cooke City, stay the night and then make the drive back the next day to see the landscape and animals from the east gate back to the north entrance. We got to Cooke City right at dusk, and at almost 8,000 ft. elevation, the snowy mountain town was a twinkling haven in the middle of the frozen wilderness. We parked on the street, and woke up the next morning to find the streets bustling with people, all preparing to ride their snow machines, or zipping down the street on them! It was so much fun! Apparently when they close all the other roads into town for the winter, the snow machines (I guess they call them”sleds” now) can go nearly anywhere they want, and they do.

Everyone was having such a great time! And super duper nice.

We had coffee and hot breakfast at a friendly bakery that was also half snowmobile shop, and drove back through the park in the snow. We saw almost every animal on our wish list, and even after we left the park we saw a bald eagle and a moose!

The week was packed full of adventure, and that was just on the North road! Lewis and Clark would have approved. And they would have been especially pleased that, since we utilized their Chesapeake Start, we were able to take our frozen tanks and campsite-rigged alternator the short trip back to Bozeman where we can make the necessary updates. And then we’ll be ready for whatever weather we feel like driving into! Woohoo!

A Quick Photo Catch-Up

Wow, what a busy month it’s been! We’ve been super-duper on the go, so instead of trying to document all the fun in words I’ll do a quick photo-heavy catch-up instead. And actually, we’ve been so busy that I haven’t even been taking many photos! So that helps expedite things, doesn’t it?

We left Seeley Lake in July and drove up to Great Falls, Montana, where Andy grew up. His parents both still live there, so we were looking forward to spending some time with them, and I was excited to be taken on the Hometown Tour. (Don’t quiz me on it though; we were so busy we didn’t even find time to drive by his old house! Next time.)

Northern Montana is as beautiful as you’ve heard it is.

This picture was literally taken from the Home Depot parking lot.

We spent much of the time at Andy’s dad’s place outside of Great Falls, and were treated to one beautiful sunset after another, along with lots of delicious home-cooked meals and great conversations!

A wonderful bonus surprise during this trip was the discovery that Andy’s dad is a fabulous and inspiring artist. I’ve always been taken with Andy’s Renaissance man-ness, and it turns out it’s inherited! From sketches to paintings to carvings, the house is a veritable art gallery.

Though Andy had to work much of our time there, we managed to get outside a fair amount, helping Andy’s dad with some upkeep on the cabin he built some time ago. The location is wonderfully silent and overlooks fields, the Sun River and lines of lush trees.

While I stained the cabin, I got the feeling that I was being watched. I turned around expecting to see Scout pleading for frisbee time, but instead I was startled to see a herd of cows closely watching my every move!

They stood over me and oversaw my work until the sun set. It was hilarious.

Scout and Gracie also enjoyed their time in the Montana outdoors. Gracie was stuck in the Turtle for a number of days while Andy worked, so the moment she got a taste of freedom, that girl was up a tree!

Here they are modeling the new curtain I made while we were in Bozeman, which blocks off the front of the Turtle and keeps the back nice and cool! Andy’s brilliant idea + my love of sewing. You’re welcome, Gracie and Scout.

After lots of swimming with Andy’s mom, lots of pizza dinners in town (a Goodman family tradition), and lots of inspiring sunsets, we left Great Falls on our way to Boise. We only broke down once!

On the way, we stopped at Kimberly, Idaho to visit the Higdems. This time Andy didn’t have to work the whole stay, so we got lots of time with them to visit. They’re a hard-working pair, and it was the height of harvest time, so we got to watch them in action as they took care of the animals and crops. We also were lucky enough to be gifted bunches of fresh veggies to take with us on the road! What a treat.

A quick stop at the Snake River Canyon on our way out of town for a great view and some sweaty palms (guess whose). It’s unbelievably high up!

We didn’t fall off the bridge, and shortly afterward we made it to Boise!

Every year my college girlfriends, Beth and Lexie, and I meet up for our Girls Trip! This year we met in Boise because Lex was moving to town for Grad School. Exciting! So we rallied the troops to help her get moved in, complete some Craig’s List furniture transactions, and tell the same old jokes a hundred times and still find them clever and hilarious.

And of course, we had to help her find the good spots for an after-class brew. It takes research!

Beth left way too soon. But as always it was fun and fulfilling to see each other again and give each other a hard time and just laugh like maniacs together. Andy and I stayed in town for the rest of the week while he worked and spent his evenings at his college buddy Dave’s place. So they got some great friend time too, and caught up in the evenings on his back patio. They had a pretty ok view.

Meanwhile, Lex and I ran more errands. And ate more yummy food at the cute local restaurants. Again, research.

Dave let the three of us tag along to an evening work event at the zoo. We got to feed a giraffe! And we saw a snow leopard chase its tail! And if you’ve never heard of a Maned Wolf, you should really look it up when you get a chance. What a crazy, cool imaginary animal.

The time to move along snuck right up on us. It’s always hard leaving anywhere we go, but especially when the place is home to our best buddies. But when the next destination is where you will meet up with your other buddies, it makes the sting a little easier to bear. 🙂

So on we drove to Missoula, to meet our Portland friends Kelly and Jason for a week of Montana shenanigans! And of course, more Montana sunsets.

The Story of Gracie the Camping Cat

We get a lot of questions about Gracie. A lot!

I agree that it’s bizarre for a cat to be roaming freely in camp sites. Some people think she’s super rad and hilarious, which is true. Some people think it’s crazy that we brought her along on our travels. Some people can’t believe she’s actually a happy camper. And some people just like to look at cute pictures of cats. So I thought it would be fun to tell the story of how Gracie came to be a camping cat, and to talk about what a blast she’s having! I think once you get to know her better, taking her on this adventure will seem like the obvious choice. 🙂

About six years ago, I went to adopt a cat at the Oregon Humane Society. For whatever reason I really had my heart set on an adult male, preferably orange. As I walked up to the building, I saw a tiny little grey and white kitten staring out the window of the Cattery (I did not make that name up). She wasn’t looking at any of the people walking by, just staring outside with those big green eyes. I remember thinking how adorable she was, but I really didn’t want a kitten – I rented and it seemed too risky to box train and worry about new kitten behaviors.

I asked to hold a 2-year-old orange male named Garfield, but he was visiting with someone else. So while I waited I figured it would just be fun to hold a kitten, and they handed me the little window kitty, Henrietta. (I know, who is in charge of naming cats at that place, right?) She was freaked out and ran under the bench and didn’t come out for over five minutes before I finally lured her out. I held her close to me and she instantly started licking my cheeks and nose and purring like crazy! I was done for. Well played, Henrietta.

I found out while signing the adoption paperwork that she was 6 months old and had been brought in with a litter of kittens who had been born outside to two barn cats. The barn cats’ owner said they’d fed the kittens and even left a litter box outside, so she was already box trained and personable. Which was a relief, considering the aforementioned rental issues that I’d tossed right in the garbage when that kitten kissed my nose.

My plan was to keep the newly-named Gracie indoors, especially since I lived on the corner of two main streets in Portland. Her plan was to return to the wild at all costs. While she and I bonded and she loved to snuggle and play, she also spent a fair amount of time plotting her escape to the great outdoors. Screens were destroyed whenever windows were opened, and a complicated system was put in place for leaving and returning through the front door. She was a happy little kitty and she was very lovey with me, but it was obvious she still just wanted to go play outside, where she’d spent all her life up to that point.

After a while I moved to another house, this time in a quiet neighborhood. Gracie hadn’t relented on her mission to Shawshank herself out of the house, so I began trying her outside in the fenced back yard. She was awesome! She’d often break out of the fenced area, but never went far. She’d usually just go to the boat parked next door and sun bathe on the bow. I practiced calling her back in, usually with treats involved, and she’d always return to the front door, where I’d let her back in. To get in the back yard, I taught her to climb a ladder to hop back over the fence, and she took to it instantly. She’s so strange. It’s her best feature.

The longer she and I were a team, the better she got at listening to directions and trusting me. She grew into an affectionate, interactive, adventurous, chatty cat who purrs loudly, plays hard and eats like a wolf. She also has a knack for getting into trouble, but so sweetly and honestly it’s laughable. Andy says that if he didn’t know Gracie, and couldn’t see her antics with his own eyes, he wouldn’t believe pictures of her weren’t staged! She’s just a riot.

Andy isn’t a cat person, and even he admits that Gracie is the coolest. I call her the Gateway Cat, because she truly has convinced anti-cat people to reconsider their position. Some have even adopted cats. That’s my girl!

We also call her the Anti-Project, because she has a knack for sensing when a project is being executed and expertly interferes. Just try to start that project, and then: Enter Gracie.

It’s a gift, really.

Try to measure some fabric:

Try to recycle paper trimmings in paper bags:

Try to take a profile picture for your school portfolio:

Try to print a document:

Try to change the bobbin:

Try to pick huckleberries:

Try to fill boxes for the move:

Try to enjoy some cheese and crackers during a movie:

Try to put away groceries:

You get the idea.

And you can see what an independent little monkey she is! So when we decided to take on the Turtle lifestyle, I had no doubt that she’d adapt flawlessly to a changing venue. We started her out with a harness and leash, and gradually began giving her a little more freedom when we were in safe, secluded spots. We discovered that she’s very careful in new environments, and when she gets scared, she always runs home and hides under the Turtle. If she’s out of sight, when I call her name she always meows back from her hiding spot! When called again she comes running back. She needs the freedom of the outdoors, but she loves us best and knows she’s part of our team, so we know she’ll always stick close.

So close, in fact, that when we go for short walks she comes along with us! She stays right near us, chirping and chatting down the road. When we reach our destination, she sunbathes and crawls into our laps, or pounces on bugs and climbs trees. We always put her inside if we’re going too far for her to join, and never take her on busy roads, but if we’re walking around a campground or up a trail, she can generally be spotted at our heels or at the edge of the path leaping through bushes.

This lifestyle is perfectly suited for our wild girl! Before, when we both worked full time, she’d be home alone for eight hours a day. She’d roam around the back yard and in the neighborhood, but she’s so social that she prefers people around to interact with and needed lots of attention when we’d get home. Our friend John—who lived behind us— told us that one warm day when he was cleaning house with the door open, he walked into his living room to find Gracie sitting in the middle of the room! And that wouldn’t be the last time she dropped by to visit John unannounced. She likes to be around her people.

Now we’re with her nearly all the time, and she gets a new back yard to explore and play in every week! She is very happy and safe. Yes, indoor-only cats have fewer risks, but this girl was going to play outside with or without our consent! So we compromise, and she stays close to us, and we give her plenty of options for safe outdoor spots to explore.

And now that she has freedom, she’s very happy when it’s time to stay indoors. She’s a real cuddler, and if you sit still for more than 30 seconds, she’ll usually end up in your lap, or sneak up on you and lick your cheeks while she purrs loudly in your ear. If I’m trying to read and she’s feeling sweet, she’ll hold my chin between her paws so I can’t turn away while she licks my face!

She’s the happiest she’s ever been, and loves to meet new friends on the road. If you see us camped out somewhere, stop by to visit Gracie the Camping Cat!

And if she’s not home, just check the nearest trail. . .

Huckleberry Heaven: Seeley Lake, MT

Of all the places we’ve been so far, never have we been so perfectly in the right place at the right time! That’s right, huckleberries are ripe early this year and we’re camped out right in the middle of a huckleberry field!

If you’ve ever eaten fresh huckleberries, you will agree that this is likely the most magical part of our journey yet. If, tragically, you haven’t had the pleasure, do yourself a favor and come to Seeley Lake right away and I will treat you to the yummiest berry you have ever tasted. Of course I can’t tell you where the berries are—when you have a good huckleberry spot, you keep that information locked in a vault! I probably wouldn’t have even told Andy if he hadn’t been with me when we found them.

Ok, I probably would have. We’ll assume I would have. 😉

It all started at our camp site at Big Larch. We were walking Scout down to the water for some swimming, when Andy saw a ripe huckleberry on a bush along the path. We were so excited! Huckleberries usually aren’t ripe until mid-August! After a (quick) swim, we rushed back to the Turtle and got a couple Nalgenes and outfitted them with paracord and duct tape to make hands-free berry pails.

We picked like crazy, but the spot was pretty thin. We worked for about an hour to end up with a few handfuls of berries, but it was worth it!

Now that we knew there were ripe berries to be found, we were on the lookout. In between Berry Bush Searches, we enjoyed our camping spot: riding bikes, fishing, collecting firewood, and late nights stargazing and chatting by the fire. And of course, cooking up our berries into fresh huckleberry pancakes!

Gracie climbed trees pretty much the entire time. Our neighbors all thought she was hilarious. (I often forget how rare it is to see a house cat roaming around a campsite. We think it’s pretty normal these days!) I tried to get a photo of her up a tree, but the only one I was quick enough to capture was this one, and she’s mostly behind it!

I did get a great video of her racing up a tree and bounding off, but I don’t know how to upload videos to the blog yet. And it’s gorgeous outside so I’ll teach myself on a rainy day! You can see it via our Instagram though: #blueturtlecrossing

After a week at Big Larch, we left to meet up with Andy’s family at a cabin in Seeley for the week. We had an awesome time! We fished and swam in the Clearwater River running behind the cabin.

We took a day trip up to Rainy Lake (not rainy this year, woo hoo!). We picnicked, fished, kayaked, and caught crawdads*.

*Andy and his dad caught crawdads. I did my best, but mostly terrified everyone at random intervals by shrieking whenever one raced through my fingers as I tried to scoop him up.

We took a day trip to Lake Elsina where we fished, built fairy houses, floated, caught frogs, and sketched.

And to top it all off, while on a hike to find a fishing spot we stumbled across a huge huckleberry field covered with ripe berries! There are camp sites there, so Andy and I plunked our tent down to save the spot and we got to work collecting berries. The whole family helped, and during our stay at the cabin we had huckleberry pancakes, huckleberry bars, and huckleberry cocktails. It was pretty freakin’ fancy.

I love huckleberries more than any fruit on the planet. They’re small, but pack an incredibly intense sweet flavor. Yes, they’re related to blueberries, but there’s no comparison! They like blueberries’ much more stylish and exotic cousin, who has loads of exciting stories to tell and a great sense of humor. And looks great in hats.

Based on our huckleberry discovery alone, we decided to stay another week! Our site is beautiful, overlooking the lake, and we’d love it even if it weren’t surrounded by ripe berries. . . but they really do put this place over the top.

We’re definitely making the best of it—every day we’re out collecting berries!

Huckleberries look like small blueberries, with the same “bull’s eye” at the base, but their color can range from black to blue to purple to red. And unlike the copycat bushes we’ve been seeing next door to the real bushes, the leaves are staggered—not paired. Don’t forget to push the leaves back to check underneath – that’s where most of the berries are hiding! We’ve found a wide array of colors and sizes here, and they all taste spectacular.

We’ll walk down the road, with Scout leading the way and Gracie following close behind, and settle into a nice spot.

Gracie rolls in the dirt and perches on logs while Scout leaps through the bushes and grazes. Andy taught him to pick berries right off the bush, and now he happily helps himself! (Another funny video of Scout picking berries at #blueturtlecrossing, or if you’d like, you can follow us on Instagram at @amycsummers)

Every day we make a huckleberry dish; the most decadent so far was the huckleberry sangria I made two nights ago. It was divine. A friend of Andy’s caught and delivered four delicious cutthroat trout right to our site the other night, so we cooked that up on the fire with our sangria and felt very spoiled indeed. Thanks Joe!

We’re heading to Great Falls in a few days, so I’ve got to go back to berry picking now! My goal is to fill the freezer before we leave—we’ve got a 1 1/4 gallons so far, so I’ve got work to do!

Wahoo!

Let’s Refurbish a Van – Part 4: Curtains

Of all the updates one can make to an RV, in my opinion the most drastic change for the least amount of effort is the curtains. It’s a way to infuse color, pattern and texture into the small space, especially in a vehicle like the Turtle, which has zero wall space for art. We almost have zero wall space for walls! Even if you aren’t a world class seamstress, it’s a simple shape to tackle, and honestly nobody even notices if your hemlines wobble a bit. I really encourage you to give it a try!

When we got the Turtle, I knew I wanted to plan all my color choices around the curtains. It’s the best place for statement patterns, and I love-love-love a bright and colorful interior space, so I wanted to see what was available before making further paint or fabric decisions. Actually, it was the first decision I made at all, and I think I had the fabric in hand within the first week of owning the Turtle! I love a whimsical graphic print, and the green shade is so friendly and cheerful.

When picking your curtain fabric, I highly recommend choosing outdoor fabric. This may sound obvious, but the selection of outdoor fabric is often pretty slim, and the allure of an entire store full of pattern and color choices seems like a fine trade-off for less sturdy material. But the outdoor fabric won’t fade as quickly as other fabric. It’s also mold and mildew resistant, which doesn’t seem like a big deal until you’re boondocking on the Oregon coast and the hygrometer reads 93% humidity and the windows are weeping and mold is knocking at the door. The last thing you want is to find your curtains flocked with green fuzz! Ours stood up to the damp like a champ.

Something to keep in mind about outdoor fabrics, though, is that due to their durability, they are slightly more stiff, and don’t bunch or ripple like regular fabrics. But if you take that into consideration, you can work around it by reducing the ripple a bit or giving your curtain rod span a few extra inches to account for the thickness when the curtains are pulled open.

As you can see, I opted for a gentle ripple, and at the top and bottom it’s still pretty thickly bunched. Additionally, since we don’t have a ton of room on either side of the windows in the Turtle to add rod span, that extra fabric to make the ripples does take up a little window space when they’re pulled open. So it’s good to pick the fabric you like, then decide how you’re going to mount the rods and how much the ripple will affect the length of each panel.

With that in mind, it’s time to determine yardage so you can buy that awesome fabric you found! What I needed to consider with our curtains was the fact that the Turtle’s walls are curved, so I’d need rods on the top and bottom to avoid them hanging far from the wall at the bottom. (I’d actually recommend this even for straight walls, as it keeps more light out and doesn’t blow around.) So I hemmed pockets on top and bottom, and made a double-fold hem on all sides. The double-fold isn’t necessary, but it’s a nice detail. Just fold the hem over, press it with an iron, then fold it over again, press it, pin it, sew it down! Do this to all four sides before sewing the pockets so the rods can slide through.

Then fold the top and bottom pockets over, press them, pin them, sew them! This part can be tricky if you’re using two rods, as it needs to be nearly perfect so that the curtains stay taut but don’t pull on the rods or just not fit altogether. Even after explicit measuring, I ended up spending some quality time with my seam-ripper as I tried to get the fit just right.

Oh, did I mention I had a hard time getting the fit right? Yes I did. It was difficult getting them to not balloon out, and when I took them in they strained the rods since they were a little too short. In the end, I had to make another pocket and sew it to the top of the curtains. This made it easier because I could adjust the pocket right on the rods and pin it in place before sewing it. If I did it again, I’d just plan on approaching it that way to save a headache! Luckily I love the way it looks, and if anyone asks, you can tell them I totally did it on purpose.

For the rods, I bought some dowels from Home Depot and some wood end pieces from JoAnne for the finials. Cheap! Andy sanded, stained and varnished them for me, and screwed the finials into the dowels. The benefit of doing it this way was that we could cut them to the exact size we needed inexpensively, and the wood end pieces already had holes through them, so screwing them in was really simple.

Andy’s genius came in handy as we tried to figure out a way to mount the rods. He found some utility tool hangers at Home Depot that fit our rods perfectly and hold onto them tightly enough that they don’t slide back and forth. We painted them white, and done!

For the tie-backs, I just sewed a strap with some navy fabric I found in the remnant bin at Mill End, and attached one end of each to some stainless steel eye screws I’d screwed into the wall.

The other end I attached to stainless steel S-hooks.

They wrap around the panels to hold them back, and then when the curtains are open, we just re-hook it so it stays out of the way (and so Gracie isn’t as tempted to bat it around).

And there you have it! Inexpensive custom curtains that make a statement, liven up your small space, and are a nice splashy backdrop for pictures of your pets.

If you have any questions about the process, let me know! As with any How-To post, I’d be happy to explain any parts in greater detail to help get you started on your own project. 🙂

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