Outfitting for the AT - Our Kitchen

Like much of my other old backpacking gear, my stove was a true classic.  The iconic Swiss-made Svea 123.  A brass stove that burns white gas, weighs well over a pound - before you add in the weight of the fuel ...  It was time for an update.

I did get an alcohol stove on sale from Minibulldesign, but decided that while I'd certainly use it on a solo hike, I wanted something that would boil more water faster for the two of us.  So, I started looking into cannister stoves - The type where the stove screws directly into the top of a propane cannister.

Backpackinglight.com is an excellent reference for those looking to shed pounds off their backs.  They did a review of what, at the time, was billed as the lightest  canister stove on the market - the Monatauk Gnat.  Primarily constructed of titanium, it sports a large burner head and collapsible pot supports that grip the pot to prevent it from sliding off.  It weighs in at 1.7 ozs (before you screw on a canister of fuel) and is rated at 12000 BTU. 

I am becoming a fan of the Freezer Bag Cooking method.  The idea is to carry easily rehydrated foods, premixed in freezer baggies that can withstand boiling water.  One simply adds boiling water to the baggie, zip it closed, and place it in a wool hat or other cozy for 5-10 minutes.  Open the baggie and eat it with a spoon.  This all but eliminates any cleanup, costs a fraction of freeze dried foods, and retains nutrients better.  The folks at trailcooking.com really promote this concept, and publish the must-have cookbook "Freezer Bag Cooking: Trail Food Made Simple".

This concept also simplifies the backpacker's kitchen.  A stove like the Gnat, a windscreen, a simple pot, and a long-handled spoon is really all one needs.  

Because there will be two of us, I opted for the award-winning, REI Ti Ware Nonstick 1.3 liter titanium Pot weighing in at 6 ozs.  Spendy, but titanium is light and strong - Not likely to become misshapened by dropping my pack in exhaustion!  As of this writing, REI is no longer offering this, but Evernew (who probably made it for REI in the first place) is.

I just need to acquire a couple of long-handled Ti spoons (sporks could puncture baggies), and fabricate a wind screen for the stove, and I'll be set for cooking on the trail.

Why Hike The AT?!

I've camped a fair bit through my life. Did some backpacking in scouts. In the Navy, I spent more time wearing cammies in the field than the average Sailor. More recently, I took the National Ski Patrol Mountain Travel & Rescue course for which I used my old Svea stove, my 1976 vintage REI sleeping bag and a 5 lb tent... Mary is retired Army, and spent a fair piece of time in the field - But never backpacked for fun. So, you could be excused for wondering how in the hell we got it in our heads to to attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail next year ...

Mary and I first day-hiked a section of the AT back in 2001, and talked about hiking it's length someday. We were both retired from the military, and working for the federal government in DC. A few years later, my folk's health started to go south, and we decided to move to Michigan where the rest of my family had migrated. We packed up, and took the summer to sail our old sloop from the Chesapeake to Michigan by way of the Erie Canal. (See our eBook on this trip here.)

We've been here for a few years now. Mom passed on, and Dad's relatively healthy and living in an assisted living community. I got into Ski Patrol, and outfitted myself with some winter camping gear for a course in Mountain Travel and Rescue. We started talking about the AT again, reading trail journals, everything we could find on the web, and several of the better books ... We decided on a 2012 late March, northbound start. We're outfitting ourselves this year, walking a lot, and we'll be backpacking in some of the great parks here in Michigan.

We have the typical maladies of folks our age, and we latched onto the lightweight backpacking concept in the hope it would spare our knees and backs! We're outfitting ourselves with gear that we feel is the best compromise between weight and comfort, and we're hoping to keep our total pack weight under 30 lbs including  water, and food for 5 days.

We're thinking thru whether we want to replenish thru drop shipments, and maybe a bounce box, or just go with the flow and replenish at grocery stores along the way ... We're inclined towards a hybrid of the two.  A few strategically-placed boxes to supplement what we find in trail towns.

Mary long ago told her employer to take her job and shove it, and I just need to figure out when to leave my part-time gig at a big-box hardware store. We'll want to have plenty of opportunity to get out into the wilderness, get our legs under us, and fine-tune our kit.

None of this answers "Why?" but, perhaps explains how we got to this point ...


Anywhere is walking distance, if you've got the time. - Steven Wright

I'm Published!

"Sailing Her Home" is our story of sailing our old 32' sailboat from Chesapeake Bay to our new home in Michigan. During the trip, we maintained a blog for friends and family to follow, and those entries became the grist for an eBook in the Kindle format.

The story is about how family issues drove our move, the pre-trip planning, refitting, provisioning, and all the joys, frustrations and challenges along the way.

Find "Sailing Her Home" on Amazon.com, and look for it to come out as a self-published paperback soon!

A Cachepedition to Michigan's Oldest

Maps were printed, caches along the route uploaded into the GPS,and the canoe was loaded when the alarm went off at 3:30 in the ayem. Meanwhile, 1Patriot was just finishing up the graveyard shift in Grand Rapids. I pulled up as he was punching out, and we were soon heading north on 131 towards Mission Point and Power Island!

This was a three hour drive, followed by a 3.2 mile paddle across open water to visit the oldest active cache in Michigan. It felt like a pilgrimage.

Building a Backcountry Pulk

They told us to bring a sled to pull our gear for National Ski Patrol's Mountain Travel and Rescue training. We would be training at Sleeping Bear Dunes in western Michigan. While they're certainly not mountains, the immense sand dunes are perched atop towering glacial moraines, and offer ample opportunities to climb and descend steep terrain.

We'll be on nordic skis, camping two nights, and training during the day. It'd be considerably more stable to pull our camping and rescue gear than to carry it on our backs.

While they said we could just pull any plastic toboggan with a line tied to our waist, they suggested that many add tracers to keep the pulk from bowling them over on downhill runs.

... And so the glove was thrown!

Installing RB Racing LSRs on the FXR

About a year and half ago, I was looking for an exhaust system to replace the crappy, worn-out drag pipes on my 82 FXR. Not many good options out there for shovels any more. I found RB Racing's web site and was impressed by their description of their 2 into 1, 3" collector system and CNC-machined turbo venturi to get the exhaust moving - all designed to produce more torque in the 2000 to 4000 rpm range. I ordered a 1 3/4" LSR system from them with their silver ceramic finish.
During the order process, they informed me that they stopped making brackets for shovelheads, and that would be on me. The 82 has a rear rubber mount, and some systems are hung from the tranny. I figured I'd figure that out.

Several months later, I got em. Took 'em out to the garage to mount 'em, and found the mounting point was neither near the transmission, nor the rear rubber mount. In fact, it rested against the swing-arm pivot bolt. R&B agreed that wasn't good, and agreed to make a new set with the mounting point adjacent to the rubber mount.

So I waited ... and waited ... made lots of calls ... and waited ... A year later, they showed up!

These are some good-looking, well-made pipes. The silver ceramic finish is gorgeous, it compliments the polished aluminum, supposedly helps keep the heat in and will not discolor. We'll see.

I hung em on the bike, and they fit perfect. I spent a few hours designing a cardboard mock-up for a mounting bracket. I took the mock-up and the bike to IXL Machine Shop, they made a few measurements, and 4 hours later it was ready. And it fit perfect. All the angles were right on, and all the bolt holes lined up perfectly. They even painted it!

Some smart folk have criticized the design, predicting one of the welds will crack, and I can see that possibility ... May have to go back to the drawing board on that one.

In the meantime, I bolted it on, fired her up, and went for a ride. The LSRs have a great sound. They're not quiet, but they aren't as loud as some. I could feel the increased torque in the lower rpms, she pulls like a mule, and feels more responsive to throttle. I took her to Al's American Iron in Grandville, MI for rejetting and dyno-tuning. I rode outta there with a big ole' smile on my face!



--
Chilly BS#226

Fishin'

Fishin'

Apparently, seeds that were planted years ago, found some fertile place in my imagination, as I began to think and read a lot about fly fishing. The idea of wading a river as it winds through the wilderness, surrounded by the sights, sounds and smells of nature, and casting dry flies towards rising trout appealed to me on many levels.

Jerry Dennis' book "River Home: An Angler's Explorations" fueled the flames. A reflection of his expanding definition of home, to include the waters we fish and the woods we hunt. Mostly stories about fly-fishing tho. His stories are often transcendent, and, as a whole, they offer a glimpse into the lore and craft.

Cliff Hauptman's book "How to Fly-Fish" lists the basic gear a beginner needs to fish for trout, and Google helped me find reviews on the latest gear which meets those specs. I think I found the best value in a rod and reel which will be both suitable for learning, and will grow with me as I gain experience . I took a trek to Great Lakes Fly Fishing, and bought a Sage Launch 9', 5wt pole, and a Ross Cimarron Large Arbor Reel. They loaded the reel for me, and I signed up for a four hour, on-the-river lesson.

Tom was my instructor/guide. We drove to the nearby Rogue River, which is one of Michigan's "Blue Ribbon" trout streams. As we waded upstream, Tom scooped up various larvae and talked of the lifecycles of of the various flies and bugs which make up a trout's diet. He attempted to correct the bad casting habits I developed whilst teaching myself, and showed me the roll cast. We kept trying different flies till we started getting some strikes. Finally, I landed my first trout. A 10" brown.

But, it was I who was hooked ...

Send Lawyers, Guns & Money!

Snowing here in the great white north, so I decided to avoid the idjits on the interstate and take the nice, quiet, country roads home. I had my Jeep in 4wd and was takin it easy on the slickery road when an oncoming idjit started swerving, lost control, and came into my lane. I had a 10-12' embankment on my right and headed for it in a last (pardon the pun) ditch effort to avoid a head-on.

Did I mention the roads were slick? I didn't avoid the head-on, but I did end up at at the bottom of the embankment. My front, left wheel got shoved up into my compartment, both air bags deployed, My left foot and right leg hurt and I was a wee tad shocky. No neck pain, didn't hit my head, knew what day it was ...

Couple of guys stopped, called 911 and directed traffic. Cops here are cross-trained as first responders. They checked me out, called an ambulance and a wrecker, took the report ...

The other driver apparently had no injuries. Howsomever, they took me to the ER to check me out. X-rayed my foot and found two non-displaced fractures. Got a consult to see a podiatrist and a script for vicodin.

Pretty sure the Jeep's totaled. Will go see the old girl tomorrow, take a few pics, clean her out. She's a 97 with well over 100k miles on her, so I'm wondering what the insurance company will do for me. I suspect I'm gonna be replacing her with something used - and probably still incur a monthly payment I don't have now.

Then there's that part-time job at which I'm on my feet all day ...

Tomorrow I find out what all this means in a "No-Fault Insurance" State

MAMBM '06

Early this summer, Rand McNally came down from the tip-o-the-mit, spent the night, and the next morning we headed south for west Tennessee and MAMBM. "Me And My Big Mouth is Roger's" annual NetScum IRL and it's been growing bigger every year. This the first MAMBM for both Rand and myself.

For those who require need an explanation, there's a few hundred motorcycle-riding NetScum out there using the net's resources  to talk about Harleys, politics and life, and to arrange in-real-life parties all over the country.

The Man Cave

Our new Michigan home had an old, two-story carriage house. It was built back when 2x4s were 2" by 4", there wasn't a square corner on it, it was dark, drafty, uninsulated, the roof leaked, and it was freakin' cold when winter winds started to blow. But, the downstairs had plenty of room for bikes, a shop for me, a potting area for Mary, and the upstairs had lots of room for storage.

The house needed a new roof and siding, and we decided to give the garage the same treatment. So, we sided it with vinyl over blue-board, and replaced all the old-broken-down windows. That keeps the rain out and cuts down on the drafts.

Over the summer, my Dad and I will finish insulating upstairs and down.