TUESDAY UPDATE: What's New with the BattleWagon

Phew... so what have I been up to?  For starters, I have the newest BattleWagon, and her name is Road Kill.  She's a beautiful beast of a 1983 Suburban.  It's the perfect truck for what I have going on, living in Bozeman, Montana with my new family.

Our long term goal is to have enough property for a few farm animals, a garden, and a yurt, and maybe another property back in Alaska to visit or shoot for as a bug-out.  For now, we're in an apartment with a year-long lease that ends next Spring.  We also got caught extremely off guard moving here and losing work, so now we're digging out of quite the financial hole.

Still, living here is beautiful.  I had the experience of the country song on a back road in Montana in an old Chevy truck with a beautiful girl sitting in the middle of the bench seat, right next to me.  It was amazing.  And, since we're cheap, we go hiking and have fallen in love with Hyalite Canyon, one of the many, many canyons that have raging creeks and start at small, clear lakes high in the mountains.

As practice for bugging out, we're going to do some family camping trips this summer.  The funds simply aren't there for the ultimate goal of yurts and overlanding, but we'll get there.  We're lucky to have landed in a place that has tons to offer in relatively close proximity, and for that, we're thankful.

Joe Island Camping Trip

Saturday afternoon, we decided to take the dog out on a conoe. We wanted to see how he handled the ocean in a small, wobbly boat. We rented a canoe from the wonderful people at Ketchikan Parks and Recreation. If you're ever in Ketchikan and looking for stuff for cheap, rent a canoe from the rec center. $15/day or $25 for the weekend, which starts Friday and ends Monday. Hell of a deal.

Anyway, we rented this canoe and took off around 4. Destination: a beach on nearby Joe Island. We paddled across the calm water and got there as it had just started to rain. Our friend who came across with us in a kayak went back to the big island, and we started setting up camp.

The nice thing about Alaska is you can camp just about anywhere you want. We climbed up from the beach a little ways, find a nice moss bed with some wind protection, started a fire, and got settled.

We let the fire make some good coals, and went for a short walk before deciding to go back and have the good conversation that always comes before sleep while you're camping.

The next morning, we got up, and I walked to the beach to find a seal close by snacking on some of the tiny fish that were eating bugs in unison on the water's surface. About 50 yards off shore, a couple of humpback whales were spouting.

After a brief and vein effort to hop in the boat to catch up with them, we decided to paddle around our tiny island and check it out.

About three quarters of the way around, we decided to pill up on a beach and hike up to the top of the island. After getting immersed in the unending mossy green of the forest, she turned to me and said "Narnia". So beautiful.

We hiked back down, grabbed a quick snack, and paddled back home, another beautiful Alaskan weekend in the books.

The Search for WiFi Ends!

I've had so much time to explore and to meet people. I've got so many pictures to share. I really don't have much to write about since I have been pretty regularly, so now I'll just go into some pictures and describing them. Most of this stuff happens on Saturday, the day when I used to walk around looking for either a room to rent, a couch to crash on, or a car to buy. Part of my ritual, coincidentally, has been to run into the people that gave me a ride to the hostel from the airport my very first night in town. I snagged this picture of some of my new friends before we went into the picture framing shop for an impromptu accoustic jam session. I'll always remember going for that first cruise around Ketchikan listening to a song from Eddie Vedder's soundtrack to "Into The Wild." It was awesome. Anyway, digressing, they played some classic hits. My mouth stayed shut as my mind asked if they knew any Cat Stevens songs. Either way, it was a great moment, and I soaked it up. It reinforced my desire to learn to play the accoustic guitar. Yes, Bob, I know... bass players are cooler, but unfortunately, I don't know any accoustic bass soloists out there to emulate, so guitar will have to do.

Later that day, I found a local paper and happened upon a listing for a van. I thought it could be the time, so I called him up and walked out to this guy's place, out by the local Walmart. I checked out the van, went and cashed my first paycheck, and took his 1987 Ford E-350 off his hands. Watch out! Two birds with one stone! Transportation AND a place to live! AND... it's now, legitimately, the BattleWagon Chronicles once again! This is the BW:III! She's not much to look at, but she's HUGE inside! While I'm excited about my new-found freedom, I must extend my deepest gratitude to Steve, the owner of SignPro of Ketchikan, who was so incredibly kind as to let me stay in his home for two weeks. I have to thank Sydney, too, for giving up her room for a while. You guys didn't have to do that, and I really appreciate you giving me the chance to get some footing up here. Freedom found, I went crazy Saturday night. I drove to the southern end of the road, something around 10 miles from town. On the way out, I snagged a picture of the sunset, thinking that I didn't have a lot of time to grab a good one. Little did I know that the sunsets last forever up here. On the way back into town, I grabbed some more pictures. I stopped next to some giant trees. My guess was cedar, and it was reinforced by some info I found later on that night. (You'll have to read on.) I parked the van and took two good pictures. I'm posting them both so you can get an idea of for how tall these trese are and how steep the hills are. It's a absolutely a rainforest up here!

I drove on and saw this great cascading waterfall, thundering out of the hills and shrouded by bushes about a hundred feet above me. It was spectacular. Just spectacular.

I drove back to town, through town, and headed north. I was a passenger when I first went past a place that looked intriguing, and that was my destination. I wasn't expecting it to be what it was, and I was awed by this pleasant suprise! I pulled up to this Alaska State Historical Park called "Totem Bight". It was hidden in a thick patch of green, green trees, and I thought it looked amazing without actually seeing it. After I parked, I noticed a staircase leading down to the ocean, which was halfway out because of the tide. I walked on the beach, and I went way out on this point that, at high tide, would have been underwater. When I got out to the end, I looked up, and I saw one of the most glorious sunsets I've ever seen. I stepped back, set the camera with a timer on a tall rock, and went ahead with the "hero shot". What came out blew my mind. If I ever want a picture to be the catylist for my time in Alaska, so far, this has to be it. I mean.... wow.

After this... I called it a night.

More pictures and more stories to come later. Now that I've found my WiFi, I can do this more regularly. Stay tuned, and thanks for reading!

The StinkWagon Chronicles

The other night, I was going through the tribulation of making dinner. Normally, cooking is a stress-free, even fun way to spend an evening, but in the van, it's an adventure. I decided I'd make a quick and easy meal. A can of black beans with jalapenos. A can of chicken chunks. A green onion. Some salsa. Tortillas to eat it all up.

I added everything to my little cooking pot (except the tortillas, of course), but when I was opening the chicken, I spilled a little of the chicken juice onto the van carpet. No big deal, I thought. I sopped it up and kept cooking. Dinner was delicious.

I got up in the morning, and I realized the horrible truth. The van STUNK. It STILL stinks, and I made this dinner almost a week ago! The chicken juice killed it. I tried to introduce chicken juice to baking soda and then fabreze, but it seems as though the chicken juice has its own agenda. Sigh... such is life in the van.

Update on the Walmart Chronicles...

Since I have a space taken care of as far as parking is concerned, I thought I'd do some more exploring. Last night I "camped" at the Walmart at Stapleton, off I-70 and Quebec in eastern Denver. It was the most comfortable I've ever been at a Walmart. There were three other RVs in the parking lot, and two parked semi tractors. It's comforting to know that you're sharing space with others, some on a journey similar to my own, others catching a few weeks between shifts on the road. I feel like there's an unstated camaraderie that occurs between us.