The Next Adventure

The little but important things you forget on a camping trip! Discovered that I forgot my laptop power cord, my toothbrush and water flosser chargers. My daughter found them and put them in the mail to be delivered to my friend Joe in Florida who I will be seeing in a few days. Enjoyed a full day at Myrtle Beach State Park. It is a beautiful park with a well kept campground. After the wet weather the previous evening, today was sunny but still cold (40s) and very windy at the beach. I walked along the long stretch of beach, collected shells, went on the fishing pier to see what's biting (nothing). Had a nice chat with a fisherman on the pier who came from Virginia. After a light lunch, I went on a hike on one of the trails in the park. then back to the pier to try fishing. Got a few bites, no catches. But the beautiful sunset made up for it

The morning was warmer and less windy than the previous evening. I decided to stopy by Jockey's Ridge State Park, NC which was just down the road after I checked out of the Cape Hatteras Oregon Inlet Campground at 7:30 am. I was so glad I did! Jockey's Ridge is the "tallest natural sand dune system in the eastern United States". I got there just as the park opened, and followed the well marked trail to the sand dunes. It was a pretty surreal landscape and took me about an hour to hike over the dunes towards the water (Roanoke Sound). After a refreshing hike which was much needed after being cooped up in the minivan all evening, I drove south towards Myrtle Beach State Park, SC. It rained almost all the way. Got to the park about 5:30 pm; most of the campsites were occupied. I had reserved a site with electricity and water, and was able to get power into the van via an external extension cord. The rain let up a little to allow me to heat up some soup with the gas...

Left on my camping trip with Millie yesterday! Not the best of weather -- on the way to Cape Hatteras, I stopped by the Wright Brothers National Memorial. Admission was $10 but free with the Senior Lifetime National Parks and Recreational Lands Pass. It was rather cold and windy, so I just toured the museum/visitor center and drove the loop around the monument. I thought I could do a walk-in reservation at the Cape Hatteras National Seashore campground but nobody was at the ranger station. Fortunately, I was able to make the reservation via my mobile phone right there, I got a basic site with no electricity since I was only staying for the night and I did not feel like trying to hook up to the power outlet. By then the weather had turned pretty cold and windy, with light rain. On the positive side, this was a great test for Millie and the camping additions I made. The insulated window shades did a great job to keep the heat in, so I did not have to turn on the heater. Still I...

Received my Jackery 1000 battery and the accompanying solar panels a few weeks ago. I have been testing it with various gadgets I plan to take on the road. It came about 35% charged, so the first order of business was to hook it up to the solar panels on a sunny day on the patio. It took most of the afternoon to get it all charged up. The battery itself was nicely compact and not too heavy for the amount of power that it packs. The first test was during a cold night in the house: ran my twin electric blanket from the Jackery. It ran most of the night (about 6 bours) on a low setting -- the battery level went down to 83%. On a recent weekend road trip to visit friends in Delaware, the Jackery powered my Setpower AJ40 40 qt portable freezer/fridge. The 3 hour drive barely made a dent on the battery, the power level was still at 97% and the fresh trout fillets in the fridge were kept nice and cold. The last test was a 250-watt personal heater in case I run into a cold snap while ca...

Last Wednesday, I got an email alert that the Maryland Dept of Natural Resources (DNR) stocked Myrtle Grove Pond with 1,200 rainbow trout. I texted my fishing buddy Jane and we decided to go fishing the next day. It took me about 50 minutes to get to the Myrtle Grove Wildlife Management Area which is located in LaPlata, MD. The weather was nicely warm and sunny. When I got there at 11:30 am, the DNR truck was on the ramp releasing another 200 trout. It did not take us too long to catch our limit that afternoon! I filleted the trout and gave them away to friends and neighbors. The DNR also stocked two ponds in Bowie. This afternoon I took the 10-minute drive over to Governor's Bridge Pond to see if I can get a couple of the 400 rainbow trout released last week. Took me about 90 minutes to catch my limit of 2 nice sized trout. I kept these for myself, pan fried them and had one for dinner. Jane and I plan to go to Myrtle Grove again on Thursday, when the temperature is expect...

Yes, I finally decided on a name for my minivan! Got a call from Fedex early this week that my conversion kit has arrived at their freight center near Baltimore. I can pick it up myself for free or have it delivered to the door for $200+. Guess where I went on Wednesday. Fortunately, the Fedex staff who brought the big box on a forklift was willing to take off the outside cover and helped me load it into the van. I drove very carefully home since the package was not tied down nor anchored to prevent sliding about. Wednesday was unseasonably warm, which was great for setting up the camper box in the driveway. The instructions that came with the package were not very clear, it would have been helpful to have a video, but I finally figured it out. I also laid out the carpet I got from Walmart over the WeatherTech liner so that it is comfortable walking barefoot in my new camping bedroom. The bed frame folds into a third of its 72" length, with two thirds under it available ...