16-17 March, 2011 Moving day...

Wednesday was moving day.  We've done most of what we want to do at this spot for now and will move to a place closer to town for the next leg of our journey.  We're loading up to move to the wildlife area near Overton for a few days.

We went to a lot of work gathering firewood which is very scarce around ehre so we loaded what was left in the camper and on the trailer.  This is the inside of the camper just before leaving.

We loaded the Motorcycle on the trailer first.  I drove it up the ramp then put the tie-downs on.

We loaded the rest of the stuff after that.  We put the bicycles in the camper to get to them easier.  The MC will stay on the trailer until we get the new rear tire for it.

Say bye to Stewart's Point.

We parked at our new location then rode the bicycles into town.  We stopped at the parts store to pick up the MC tire.  They let UPS drop it off there and held it until we picked it up.  Attaching it to the bicycle was the next step.

We used bungee cords to attach the bottom tot he bike rack then made a shoulder harness out of rope I brought and tied the top part of the tire to the harness.  It worked very well.  There was just enough tension to keep the tire upright on the rear rack.  We went from teh parts store to the post office to pick up a package that we had waiting there.

This is one of the roads on the WMA where we're parked.  There are lots of birds there including road runners and quail plus lots of cotton tail rabbits.  The dog is delighted with her new playmates. 

Our campsite.

On the 17th (Thursday) we rode bicycles into town with our laundry.  We don't like laundrymats because our clothes never get as clean but it was that or haul more water so we took the easy route.  Our clothesline is a rope dedicated to that task (the rope stays clean that way!)

I bought this tent at a yard sale.  I've been sleeping on a tarp outside but the mosquitos are becoming a problem.  The tent was part of the bag full of stuff I bought for a dollar.  It's a cheap tent but in good shape (and mosquito free!)

We made supper over the fire outside. 

we had mashed potatoes with ham mixed in then covered with shredded cheese.

12-15 March 2011 - Yard sales and desert hikes

We spent Saturday in Overton going to yard sales.  They had one of those community yard sale days and we couldn't resist.  Bought a brand new set of heavy duty tire chains for fifteen dollars and a bunch of misc. stuff. Susan got some stuff too.  I almost bought a Honda Gold Wing for $200.  Everything was straight on it but it had lots of minor problems and the clutch was out of it.  They'd left in outside a lot and it had a lot of weather damage as well.  We could have hauled it home on the trailer but then I'd have had to ride mine while Susan drove and we decided it was going to be just too much hassle.  They had a horse for sale to but people are giving them away back in Montana.  We stopped at the parts store and picked up another thermostat for truck then spent afternoon in library. Internet was very frustrating.  We've seen faster dial-up service.  They must have been downloading something.  We headed home before dark.

The last sale of the day ... This was a charity sale where people donated stuff to sell.  We got there late and they wanted to get rid of the leftovers so everything was a dollar as much as you could stuff in a bag.  Susan and I ended up with a bag each then had to buy some stouter bags to carry the stuff home on.  I felt sorry for the motorcycle that evening.

Sunday we decided to go on a hike and explore an area just west of us. We started out early in the morning so we'd be finished before it got hot in the afternoon.  Yeah, right!  Seven miles (and several hours) later we were home, thirsty and with sore feet.  The dog was even showing signs of fatigue.  One area we went through had places where the ground just gave way like there were a bunch of sinkholes in the area.  We were glad to be out of there.

I decided to stop and make a bow/drill fire using locally obtained materials.  I didn't get the job done much to my embarrassment.  I was close several times but never got the coal needed.  My main problem was in the socket.  My spindle kept burning it's way into it and about the time things would get good and hot I couldn't overcome the friction in the hand socket.  It was a lesson in humility. 

One of our desert "neighbors."

What we thought was a couple of washes turned out to be a series of them with several that were very deep.  We planned on making a large loop during our hike but it ended up being much larger than anticipated.

The dog was getting very thirsty so we began searching for water.  We found some in the bottom of a deep wash.  The dog first drank, then waded, then drank then laid down in the water then drank some more.

I thought we'd just walk down the wash and get back where we parked our biccyles but that wasn't to be the case.  In the bottom we hit loose, wet sand.  After two steps I was in almost to my knees so we decided to get out of the wash.

Odie and I led the way up the side.  I had found a lariet rope on the first part of our hike so I untied it from the rock and unburied the rest of it and brought it with us.  It was a good thing I did.

The walk up was rather steep and we estimate it to have been about an 80 to 100 foot climb.  Where we found water for the dog was at valley floor under the flat faced cliffs in the upper right corner of the photo.  In the lower right corner of the photo you can see where I stomped out a base to stand on while I rested.

The wall had a crust on it but the higher we got the more unstable it became.  The problem was that I tore the slope up going up and Susan couldn't get footing to follow after me.  The dog of course, had no such problem.  I would go up a ways then throw the rope to Susan and she'd use it to climb up to me then we'd repeat the process.  The bad thing was that when the dog wanted to rest it would come up and lay on my feet expecting me to keep her from sliding down.  She almost took both of us down once.

We had to go over a hump about ten feet from the top and I couldn't get footing to do it so I helped Susan up over it then whe made it to the top and threw the rope down to me.  She sat down and braced her feet, passed the rope around behind her and held on while I pulled myself up to the top.  Just past the tip of Susan's finger, at the bottom of the wash is where the water was that the dog was drinking.

The next canyon was much worse than this one.

We did take time to stop and smell (and take pictures of) the flowers on our hike.

This one was really fuzzy with new growth.

We ended up hiking almost to the highway then taking a powerline right-of-way road around the large canyon before heading back East to our campsite.  We'd been on this one with bicycles and new of a good rest place at the bottom of a canyon.  The shade felt very, very good after our time in the sun.  We were out of water but had a light snack for energy.

We folowed some powerlines back to the houses at Stewart's Point then though about taking a shortcut across to the bicycles.  We climbed tot he top of a hill and saw nothing but more washes between uis and the bikes so we turned around and headed for the road.  The distance was longer but the terrain was level.  We'd had enough of climbing out of washes for the day.

When we got back to camp we went wading in the lake to cool off a bit. 

We declared Monday a day for domestic duties (dish washing, etc.) and goofing off..  I put the thermostat in the truck in the afternoon.

Tuesday I spent half the day writing,  Susan took her kayak out to tool around on the lake awhile then we spent a little time in the water to cool off some more.  We began putting things away so we could change locations Wednesday.  I've been waiting on a package from home and for a motorcycle tire I ordered last week.  Once they're here we'll head out to a new location for a change of scenery.

9-11 March 2011 Kayaks and Slow Cookers

The 9th (Wednesday) we spent the day in Overton catching up on the blogs, etc.  I ordered another thremostat for the U-Haul while we were in and also ordered a rear tire for my motorcycle.  Tires have come up in price the last several years.  The same tire I purchased for $69.00 six years ago is $102.00 now.  It would be nice to get more than 6,000 miles out of them too.  Since the tire is coming UPS I had to arrange for delivery in town here.  Fortunately the parts store will accept it and hold it until I pick it up.  I'll still need to go to Mesquite to buy a 12 volt air pump. 

The 10th was a writing day for me.  Susan got bit by the cooking bug (I really like it when that happens!) and made bread and pizza (among other things).
On the 11th we paddled our kayaks to the marina at Echo Bay.

Susan used the pocket cooker to make breakfast this morning.  We had oatmeal with apples in it.  The apples are some we dried at home and brought with us on the trip.  We use non-dairy coffee creamer instead of milk.  We like a mixture of Hazelnut and French Vanilla creamer (powdered), a little cinnamon and some brown sugar mixed in with the oatmeal.  The dried apples were an extra treat although I also like strawberries, peaches and raisons in mine as well.  The nice thing is that you can mix all the ingredients dry for backpacking then just add boiling water.  I've used vacuum sealed bags when camping then just added boiling water to the bag.  Then I just "drink" it out of the bag and there are no dishes to wash.  (I all it astronaut food.)  That works best with quick oats but will also work with the old-fashioned kind.  The only difference is that the quick oatmeal is pressed thinner so it will cook faster.  It's the same stuff you buy in the little packets at the store except you can  make it whatever size you want and it's also a lot cheaper.  Don't forget that if you're going to add hot water to the bag the bag will have to be large enough to hold the oatmeal/water mix. 

This is about all the fuel it takes in the pocket cooker to boil enough water for two servings of oatmeal.

After she was finished with the oatmeal she heated up the water in the tea kettle with the leftover "fire."

It was good.

After breakfast she took some of the dirty dishes down to the lake to wash them.  The dog and cat came along to provide security.  The cat was pretty brave near the water and seemed fascinated with the debris (driftwood pieces) floating near the shore.

The dog went hunting (and catching) driftwood.

She could actually be quite helpful getting firewood if she didn't take three times as many out of the woodpile as she puts in.

Susan made bread and pizza dough today.  The pans must be small to fit int he Coleman oven so she makes two small pizzas instead of one larger one.

The bread baking...

And finished!  It's too bad you can't capture the smell of freshly baked bread on the website!

This is the last jay of pizza sausage from our pigs we butchered a coupld of years ago.  We still have some breakfast sausage left though.  We grind our own meat and add the different spices to get it the way we like.

Home-made sausage pizza.  We couildn't find the mozzarella cheese so Susan used a different kind we had on hand.  It tasted good though.  I love the bread dough she uses for the crust on these.

We were going to bury the dutch oven with beans and dumplings tomorrow so Susan began soaking the dried beans before we went to bed.  (There are some dried onions in there also.)

The wind was calm so we I made a fire and we relaxed and had smores for an evening snack.

This is another piece of driftwood we burned.  We dubbed it "dragon" wood.

We thought we'd have French Toast this morning using the home made bread and some of our dried eggs.  We've been having problems rehydrating the dried eggs so Susan is crushing then into finer pieces.

The bowl on the right is "before" and on the left is "after."  She's powdering it the really old-fashioned way with a couple of rocks.

We didn't bring any jelly with us so Susan made some strawberry jam using dehydrated strawberries from our garden.  I think the recipe and process for making it will be an article on the website shortly.  You can also use other kinds of fruit if you have it.  It was some of the best I've ever had.

Part of this trip was to be an experiment to see how well our supplies held up in a "buggout" situation.  So far it looks like we have enough food for about six months although after awhile it would lack somewhat in variety.

The dog and I are digging a hole for the Dutch Oven.  (At least I'm digging a hole and the dog is just digging.)  This was done on Thursday afternoon.

 

We brought several arm loads of wood up from the beach on Thursday evening so I could start the fire early Friday morning.

The menu for this evening is beans and dumplings.  Hopefully it will be waitning for us when we get back from kayaking across the lake. 

The fire burned down to a bed of coals with another fire beside the hole so I could rake those coals over the top.  We didn't have a real shovel with us so I'm somewhat handicapped on spreading the coals evenly.  There are several things I'll do different next time.  I lined the hole with flat rocks but only part way up.  I'll go all the way up the sides next time.  I also needed more coals to put over the top of the D. O.  If I'd had a shovel I could have used some of the coals from the bottom for that purpose but they were too hot for me to scoop out with the trowel we had.  As a result the beans weren't quite finished when we got back in the late afternoon.  I'll also have more coals overall next time and heat more rocks up in the fire.  That way I can put hot coals and hot rocks over the top.

The Dutch Oven buried in the sand and marked with a  rock.

Were off to Echo Bay in our Kayaks.  When I checked the distance with the GPS when we were there on bicycles it was about 4.4 miles as the crow flies.   

Looks like they're building anew boat ramp to accomodate the lower water level.  The marina is in the foreground.

We couldn't exit the kayaks at the dock so we had to cross over their bouy barricade to land on the shore.  We stayed well away from the power lines, etc along the dock but still expected to have someone come chase us off or ????  We brought sandwiches with us but bought a couple of cans of Coke each for drinks.  It was nice sitting at the tables in the shade.

Then it was time to hit the water again.  There was a light breeze but not enough to make any waves or to make travel difficult.  Except for the occassional wake washing through the water was like glass.

Susan loves being on or in the water.  By the way.  We both have some impressive sunburns.  That's what happens when those pale-skinned northerners get too much sun!

It was fun to see our reflections in the water.

Some of the cliffs we investigated.  These aren't very high but they had lots of cool nooks-n-crannies.

Susan spotted this "alligator log" floating on the water.  If you had a power boat out here you'd want to be careful of all the floating debris.

We found out there'd be a delay in supper when we got back.  The beans and dumplings didn't get done so ...

I started a fire in the firepit, let it burn down to coals and finished cooking our supper.  It was worth the wait.

The cat seemed somewhat annoyed that we made it home.  (I made the mistake of giving it extra food this morning so if it wasn't hungry it didn't really see any need to have us around.)