Out in the woods this weekend with my bride and pup. Brought a couple crawlers with me, but litterally no rocks around our spot. This is a perfect spot for my 6S Mojave!
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Back when I could still get in my powerchair from the ground a buddy and I tent camped at least once a year. I love camping and really miss it.
If I can get my buddy who now lives in Salem, OR to spend a week at my place I have a 1999 Ford Econoline that we're fixing up that I need help finding a parasitic draw so I can use it without fear of having a dead battery. We also need to rework the spring for the Ricon door opener so the sliding door quits getting stuck. We had to home brew the Ricon door pulleys because the previous owner threw them out. Thankfully though the motor was dead, the Ricon door motor, gears and mount were still in the van, but we had to buy a new chain because he'd thrown that away as well. The van had a Crow River lift in it but it was totally shot and bodged together in an effort to keep it alive. We replaced it with an old Ricon lift from the mid 90s that I had sitting in my carport. The relays and limit switches on the Ricon are a bit cruddy with age and sometimes take light tapping to get them to work again, but if I used the lift a couple of times a month that issue would go away.
We still need to put the headliner back up, we'd taken it down to cut out rusted areas of the roof. I don't know why but the two rear corners of the roof were rusted through.
I think the remote door lock/electric locks module behind the kick panel on the passenger side is causing the parasitic draw because it's the only thing in the van that doesn't work at all. We can prove that out with an amp meter and yanking the relay for that module.
At any rate, I got side tracked, I want to remove the rear seat, the middle seat has already been removed and there's no front passenger seat. The floor is lowered from the firewall back to the front edge of the rear passenger seat, except for the driver's seat. I'd like to build a bunk to replace the rear passenger seat or find a used powered van sofa sleeper to put there instead, assuming it can clear the Ricon sliding door motor and gears. But I'd be fine with a bunk. I'd want the bunk to be two inches higher than my wheelchair seat to make it easier to roll back into it from the bunk.
Then I'd like to buy a van propane furnace, a small sink with with electric pump in a small cabinet. I'd like to rig up a porta-john but that might be too ambitious.
In the back of the van I'd like to store a two burner camping stove on a pull out slide so I can prep small meals by opening the back doors and sliding the stove out. I can put a cooler back there as well, I have several, and add a pantry cabinet and install an inverter to power a can opener since I'm not strong enough to manually open cans.
It wouldn't be the same as tent camping but it would at least be camping.
I retired near the end of 2024 so I can camp for as long as three days, I can't go longer than that or the two cats will turn my house into something from "Lord of the Flies".
I love the spot you found to camp at.
it’s also helpful in finding uranium glassware and cool minerals along the trails.
