MacGyver's Miscellaneous Mental Meanderings

[a65hoosier]

Re: MacGyver's Miscellaneous Mental Meanderings

I am doing a brief Miscellaneous Mental Meander in this thread.....and feeling fortunate that I still enjoy the simplicity of how I tent camp, where batteries mean AA/AAA's (lighting) and the fridge is the cooler. Carry on.

[a65hoosier]

Re: MacGyver's Miscellaneous Mental Meanderings

- just thought I'd throw something out to spark some movement.

:whistle:

[toedtoes]

Re: MacGyver's Miscellaneous Mental Meanderings

I am doing a brief Miscellaneous Mental Meander in this thread.....and feeling fortunate that I still enjoy the simplicity of how I tent camp, where batteries mean AA/AAA's (lighting) and the fridge is the cooler. Carry on.

I am pretty much the same way as you with batteries - my usage of the house battery is very minimal and, other than running the water pump, I wouldn't need it at all.

However, I LOVE my fridge - not having to stick my hand in a freezing pool of water everytime I want food or drink. No messing with replenishing ice, or dealing with the Question of the Cosmos (to drain or not to drain).

[MacGyver]

Re: MacGyver's Miscellaneous Mental Meanderings

:whistle:

Crap occurs.

Oh yeah - and meander on your own page! :p

[a65hoosier]

Re: MacGyver's Miscellaneous Mental Meanderings

However, I LOVE my fridge - not having to stick my hand in a freezing pool of water everytime I want food or drink.

For the average time I'm out camping (2-3-4 nights), the Yeti holds the ice well, so I don't usually experience the hand in a freezing pool of water (there is some melt...but much less since I switched coolers). A fridge would be nice...but I like my camping beverage choice on the rocks....and the Yeti assists me in that regard.

No messing with replenishing ice,

See above. Agree....I think folks underestimate this one when it comes ice. It's more than the $2-3 8/10 lb bag cost when someone says "I can buy a lot of ice for the price difference in coolers". True. If you can replenish (sometimes that is not easy). But an additional cost of that ice (to me) is the lost camping time having to stop/leave and make a replenishment trip to the closest town/etc for ice. I don't have to make that trip and that is worth more than the $2-3 cost of the ice.

or dealing with the Question of the Cosmos (to drain or not to drain).

Your statement..."on not having to stick my hand in a freezing pool of water everytime I want food or drink." may contain a hint on where you reside on the Cooler Cosmos question. lol. I don't drain. Never do....til I'm home.

[a65hoosier]

Re: MacGyver's Miscellaneous Mental Meanderings

Crap occurs.

Oh yeah - and meander on your own page! :p

oooops. I just meandered again. I should get that checked. :go:

[toedtoes]

Re: MacGyver's Miscellaneous Mental Meanderings

The getting of the ice has always been my negative. The first purchase has to be made on the way out because I don't have room in the freezer to store the ice in. Then, like you, the time spent going to get the refill is not worth it. Then add the money spent on the gas to drive out to a store - many of my campgrounds are an hour away from an expensive mom & pop store, let alone a big grocery store.

I like to keep things simple and reduce work while I'm camping. So, no generator that needs maintenance and fuel, no solar that needs placing and rputting away - I keep my power needs below my battery capacity. No cooler that needs ice. No expansive outdoor setup - a chair for each person and a table for my drink (the dogs ignore their cots so I rarely drag them out now).

[Happy Joe]

Re: MacGyver's Miscellaneous Mental Meanderings

Since the advent of high tech coolers ice has been much less of an issue; spent years scheduling deliveries/asking some one that I know to grab a couple of bags or a block (when you could get block ice) when/if they were coming into the same area several days later.

For a 5 day trip or less a high tech cooler works fine
When you get out to 7-10 days they warm up, so if I don't want to fall back on dried /canned or otherwise preserved food; I need a refrigerator.. which admittedly leads to more complications (which are worth it to me; maybe not for all.. fortunately people are different).

Tried solar charging which works but is way too much hassle for me... I occasionally still use the small system for recharging the tent battery but a bigger battery & more power requires MUCH less portability& is not compatible with me.

The propane genny and charger with fuel (which I chose to keep from having to bring too may different fuels) take less room than a second separate, ice only, cooler (the traditional way to extend cooler camping beyond the time allowed by the primary, food & ice cooler).
by using the small genny and recharging a battery my tent oriented base camping time can be relatively easily extended to several weeks with minimal hassle.

I know its probably not for everyone (no one has ever claimed it was the best possible solution) but so far, after home testing, its the method most likely to work the best for me...Its a similar trade off to the porta-potti v.s. the E-tool & cat hole for sanitation; both work but I like the PP better even though it is bigger and much more complicated/more of a hassle to bring (it eliminates the chances of me falling in to the cat hole after use).

..Camping will evolve differently for each of us...

Enjoy!

[MacGyver]

Re: MacGyver's Miscellaneous Mental Meanderings

Shifting gears and wandering off on yet another road...

The best part of having a mostly ungrateful family is that the holiday shopping list isn't all that long which allows me to treat myself to some goodies. Already got my 12th Pelican Storm case, a 1000 rounds of ammo and a TV tuner for my projector. Yep - more crazy stuff to play around with while camping - I'm just very curious what all channels I'll get while camping on a mountaintop.

Anybody else treating themselves good for the holidays?

[toedtoes]

Re: MacGyver's Miscellaneous Mental Meanderings

I agree with that! I don't get a bunch of passive aggressive crap and instead get what I actually want and/or need. And no stupid arguments and snotty attitudes to deal with.

I got new vents for the clipper - a buddy's going to help me install them in the next month or two.

And a Mr Heater (putting the Little Buddy in the FnR) for the clipper.

[Happy Joe]

Re: MacGyver's Miscellaneous Mental Meanderings

Shifting gears and wandering off on yet another road...

...treat myself to some goodies. Already got my 12th Pelican Storm case, a 1000 rounds of ammo

Anybody else treating themselves good for the holidays?

RE: ammo; Dillon progressive re-loader (some decades ago) the self gift that keeps on giving...
https://www.dillonprecision.com/relo...hines_8_1.html

Just received;
A large, very light weight (allegedly) unbreakable acrylic mirror (for shaving)...
A bigger, stainless, alcohol stove.
A 1/2 inch brass grommet kit (to install grommets in the ground tarp so they align with the tent stake positions)...

Waiting delivery on a rear ADDCO anti-sway bar for the TJ to improve on road handling...

Enjoy!

[05Kingquad700]

Re: MacGyver's Miscellaneous Mental Meanderings

I have done a few things to the camper.
Flipped the axle, gained 6" of clearance on the underside
Added a sewer hose and storage
Added some portable solar power, that was an interesting build.
added a new mattress. Moved up from the 2" mattress to a 8" memory foam
modified an atv rack to mount on the front tounge of the camper

Figured out the details to convert the toy hauler ramp into a patio. Haven't done that mod yet
Probably upgrade to 16" weight rating E tires, before summer
Got to figure out what i want to do for stabilizer jacks wood blocks or camco Plastic blocks.

[MacGyver]

Re: MacGyver's Miscellaneous Mental Meanderings

Got to figure out what i want to do for stabilizer jacks wood blocks or camco Plastic blocks.

If you can afford the weight, I'd go with wood. Maybe because everything is made cheaper and lighter these days, have a look at some online reviews for the Camco blocks. They break, they collapse... not good. The only benefit I see in them is that they interlock so they don't slide against each other. When I had a trailer, I solved the sliding problem by screwing in some inch long lags into the bottom of each block with the heads sticking up. Worked like cleats but not sharp enough to damage anything when in storage.

[Happy Joe]

Re: MacGyver's Miscellaneous Mental Meanderings

One of my (rotated axle/spring over) pop up camper friends uses wooden sections of bridging timbers as spacers for his jacks... not sure where he got them, they are not something to be found at Lowes or Home Depot..
However, something similar could easily be made using pieces of 2x6 or 2x10 screwed together... or cut from a log with a chainsaw...

Enjoy!

[MacGyver]

Re: MacGyver's Miscellaneous Mental Meanderings

Running away from so-called civilization for a weekend solo trip makes coming back a real bummer. Being tied to Maryland to take care of my mother - just about the only person in my family worth sticking around for - is a mind shred. Imagine having to lose a parent to get to the kind of life you really want to live. I've been running to Berkeley Springs, WV (which happens to be close to Green Ridge State Forest where I do all my camping) every month or so to see some friends of mine and it's a whole different world. It has that small town Peyton Place thing going on, where everybody seems to know everybody's business, but for the most part, it's so much calmer than where I live. When you're used to self-absorbed people out in public, it feels strange to greet people you're passing on the street and actually get a smile and a greeting in return, rather than a cold stare and a what-the-hell-are-you-talking-to-me-for look. Driving there isn't the bumpercar/NASCAR race that it is here. And it's CHEAP! Houses run roughly a third to half of what they cost where I live.

TL/DR I hate Maryland and wish I could leave.

Vent done. Rant over.