Halfmoon's journal

Where are you and where are you going?
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halfmoon
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by halfmoon »

Now you made me go out and google Amish diet and dental health. I found a lot of baloney about how perfectly home-grown the Amish diet is and a lot of baloney about how wacko the Amish medical practices are. In other words: pretty useless. I did see an NIH study in which most of the subjects claimed to buy virtually nothing from a grocery store (I wonder if that includes a 7-11? ;) )

It's possible that time away from home is a junk-food safe harbor. I know that the Amish work long, hard hours under limiting technological conditions. Maybe making everything from scratch becomes a burden. It certainly would be for me.

I also saw quite a few references to the Amish pulling their own teeth in lieu of professional dental care, but I don't trust the sources.

Farm_or
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by Farm_or »

Interesting culture, maybe some of it is better to remain a mystery. Too much detail can kill romantic notions. I'm sure the Lancaster tourism profits from the curiosity.

We have quite a few Mennonites in our region. Some similarities to the Amish? I learned that some of them don't own a TV. We befriended a couple a farm seminar. We got to laughing while sharing chickens stories. But then we realized that the rest of the class was watching us with their heads cocked in confusion; that was a little embarrassing...

halfmoon
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by halfmoon »

Farm_or wrote:We got to laughing while sharing chickens stories. But then we realized that the rest of the class was watching us with their heads cocked in confusion
They were just envious because they didn't have any chicken stories. Poor deprived masses.

DH and I have had the flu, so it's pretty low energy around here. I've alternated between lurking on the forum and watching the stock market in stunned disbelief. Time to belly up to the keyboard and start talking about myself again! :lol:

halfmoon
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by halfmoon »

THE HOMESTEAD/ACCUMULATION YEARS

FUN AND GAMES ALONG THE WAY

Sometimes it seems that DH and I did nothing but work a lot and sleep a little, but we both loved getting (further) out into the woods whenever time allowed. One of our memorable day trips was about a month after we got together. DH had a 64 Chevy pickup (original owner) and a Datsun B210. They were both just 2WD, because that was back before every suburban homeowner felt compelled to have off-road capability in a commuter vehicle -- and 4WD was expensive.

DH drove us into the nearby Cascades in the Datsun, turning off onto a dirt Forest Service road that wound ever upward and grew correspondingly rougher. Eventually, we rounded a switchback and came to a washout in the road. For anyone who might not know, a washout is where flooding water washes away the solid road surface - even if solid means compressed dirt and rocks. In this case, the remaining road contained a wide, deep ditch lined with boulders at the bottom. The entire road/ditch sloped down to the right in a general falling-down-the-mountainside disposition. I assumed this was a signal to turn around and go home.

Ha! Turning around is for wimps. DH open the Datsun hatchback and pulled out a come-along (first time I ever saw one), a chain and a roll of cable…because this is what everyone carries around in the car. :roll: It’s called recovery equipment, though in DH’s case it was more like acquisition than recovery. He wound the chain around an uphill tree, hooked the come-along to the chain on one end and the cable on the other, then hooked the cable to the car.

DH was as cheerful as one of Santa’s elves, running around hooking things up and practically laughing over the prospect of overcoming an obstacle. I was filled with dread and visualizing rolling down the mountainside. Story of our life together. My job was to steer the car through the downward-sloping boulder ditch while DH winched it forward with the come-along…ever so slowly…while the rear end of the car slid in concert with gravity.

We obviously survived to tell the tale. DH cheered, I breathed again, and we drove around the next bend. In front of us were at least 10 large, downed trees across the road. DH said, “I have a saw!” I said “ENOUGH”. Again: story of our life together.

Next: The incredible, awesome, macho 4WD van. Because it's important to get further out into the wild before getting stuck.

Riggerjack
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by Riggerjack »

I LOVE old Datsuns. The b210's were AWESOME. Totally unloved, yet they just. won't. die.

You were just lucky enough to be with a man who understood how to use a come-along as a mating display. Nowadays it would be a Certificate of Participation at an Adulting School, hung on his wall, in his mom's basement, presumably.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=8431

halfmoon
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by halfmoon »

Riggerjack wrote:You were just lucky enough to be with a man who understood how to use a come-along as a mating display.
I read this to DH, and we're still laughing. A critical part of the mating display, of course, is getting into situations that require the come-along. A smart woman would have recognized it for the lifelong behavioral pattern it was and is. :lol:

That Datsun was amazing. We put 299,000 miles on it, then gave it to DH's son...who rolled it within a week. If the body hadn't been totaled, it would probably still be driving. We bought a used 210 station wagon next and drove it for years. When the paint started to look bad, we bought 10 cans of spray paint for $2 each and gave it a whole new paint job. A friend of ours still has that one.

I followed the Adulting School link; bizarre. In my business I've run into people of all ages who don't have any critical thinking skills, which I used to think was part of being adult. It seems that the bar for adulthood is lowering as society progresses.

Riggerjack
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by Riggerjack »

We live in a world without corners, and all the surfaces are padded. It is not the fault of the young that we have denied them learning opportunities, and incentives to succeed.

When we lower the bar enough, maybe the game will change to limbo...

halfmoon
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by halfmoon »

THE HOMESTEAD/ACCUMULATION YEARS

THE AWESOME, BEASTLY 4WD VAN OF DOOM:

I’ve never been that excited about vehicles other than their ability to transport things and people, but DH always dreamed of having a 4WD van. The 4WD/AWD option wasn’t so ubiquitous in the mid-eighties, and it was mostly limited to trucks. After a good deal of looking around, we bought a used van.

A 2WD van, that is. A white 1977 ½-ton Dodge 2WD Tradesman with an automatic transmission and air conditioning. It looked something like this, though without windows in the side doors:

Image

A few years down the road:

Image

The modified version had become a green(ish) ¾-ton 4WD stick shift with no air conditioning (first thing DH ripped out, to increase the engine cooling capacity). At least is was still a Dodge…pretty much. Let’s say 75% Dodge, 25% Chevy. DH had the front and rear axles replaced; the frame lifted 8” on massive leaf springs; the automatic transmission replaced with a 4 high/4 low shifter in both 2WD and 4WD; the engine rebuilt, balanced and blueprinted; a new 4-barrel carburetor and manifold installed; oversized tires mounted; and a coat of non-reflective green paint slapped on to blend into the woods (no excess money spent on cosmetic factors). Whenever one of our adventures would mess up the “finish”, he’d hit the spot with black or dark green spray paint so it looked more and more like Road Warrior meets Deliverance.

We also had the walls insulated and new slider windows installed, but we never made the leap to raising the top or cutting in some sort of roof vent. We suffered for it in the summer, but we were paranoid about water leaks.

Inside the van, DH built a bed with drawers underneath, two cupboards, and a cabinet that held a propane cooktop and sink. He wired it with 12V lights/fan and installed a propane heater on the door. Over time, we replaced the beautiful cabinet with a simple table for the stove and ditched the sink. We were traveling with as many as 3 big dogs over the years, and they needed the floor space.

This van was truly a beast. In 4WD/low 1st gear, it could (and often did) crawl up a steep road in deep snow at literally 4 mph. I know this because our mountain home in later years was accessible in winter only by doing exactly that, and it took us an hour to travel the last 4 miles. We would stop at the bottom and chain up all 4 wheels with huge cleated chains, then settle in for an hour of grinding.

Back to the eighties, when this was just for entertainment. We took the van over the highest roads we could find all over the west, getting as far from civilization as is possible while still clinging to a vehicle. The back was filled with recovery equipment: chains, multiple come-alongs, rolls of cable, snatch blocks, high-lift jack, spare parts, huge toolbox and shovel. The front had food, propane, winter clothes, cooking supplies, water, maps, fishing tackle and bedding. We could (and did) stop and camp anywhere: on the side of a mountain road, in the desert or the woods. With the dogs and our own antisocial natures, we almost never used developed campgrounds.

The van excelled at low speed on mountain roads. Due to the gearing, it didn’t really like going over 50 mph. It was noisy (engine sits between the two front seats), as stiffly sprung as a farm wagon and hellishly hot in the summer. The steering and shifting took serious muscle, and jumping up into it was an athletic feat. The electrical system was irritable; the headlights dimmed whenever you slowed down; the fuel tank filler neck had an unconquerable issue that required verrry slow gas station visits kind of like reverse prostatitis.

Regardless, my mind is awash with memories of incredible trips we took with that van over the years. Stories and photo to follow soon. This whole remembering stuff is strangely exhausting.

cmonkey
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by cmonkey »

That's a fantastic looking van. :)


DW would never want one like that, but she and I agree we'd like to build a van that we can use as a 2-4 week camper from time to time after I'm done working. It'll probably be a Vagabon that we outfit for sleeping/cooking with some solar perhaps. We don't want to be full time nomads, but we also don't like traditional tourism yet want to see more of the country. So we'd opt for having a nice van with something to come home too when we're tired.

halfmoon
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by halfmoon »

cmonkey wrote:DW would never want one like that
Haha! This isn't something any wife wants; it's a boy toy. :lol: Still, I'm pretty sure we would have missed a lot of highly memorable* adventures without it. I think a C40-type van is more practical for pretty much everyone.

*also: terrifying

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C40
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by C40 »

Whoa!! That's a bad ass van!

halfmoon
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by halfmoon »

It's a funny thing: everywhere we stopped in this van, guys of all ages came up and started hanging around like we were rock stars and asking questions. Okay; they asked DH because...guys. I can't recall a single time that a woman commented on it. They were probably just struck dumb wih envy. :lol: :lol: :lol:

bryan
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by bryan »

yeah that really is a boss van. Definitely can't take the Sprinter anywhere close to where that van went.

halfmoon
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by halfmoon »

Certainly not everyone's cup of tea, but it suited us. A great disappointment was being unable to take it over Mosquito Pass in Colorado because the road was closed when we were there. Mosquito is billed as the highest open pass in the United States, though I'm not sure what 'open' means in this context. Maybe open to vehicles? Anyway, the pass summit is at 13,185 feet. That's just about 1000' short of driving up and over the top of Mount Rainier, which of course you can't do.

One favorite trip was over Pass Creek Pass (named after Pass Creek, which is named after the pass...) in the NE corner of Washington. That was a high, rough road crawling along the mountainside with views all the way to the Rockies. We never saw another vehicle, and there was nowhere to pull off for camping. We eventually just parked the van in the middle of the road, pulled out a table and chairs, and set up camp. The next morning, we drove down into Idaho through old growth forest and stopped in a tiny settlement on the edge of the wilderness. The town consisted of a few houses and a cafe where we ate wild huckleberry pancakes for breakfast. Wonderful.

I told DH that you have a Sprinter, and he was instantly envious. If we had one, of course, it would probably have an 8" lift and oversize tires. ;)

halfmoon
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by halfmoon »

THE HOMESTEAD/ACCUMULATION YEARS

TRAVELS WITH THE VAN:

*Apologies in advance for grainy old film-photo scans.

After the farm animal phase, we could get away from home for longer periods. One year we took 3 weeks of vacation and left Seattle in the first week of October. The van was loaded with one Wiemaraner, one Rottweiler, DH and me. Our theory was that we were late enough in the year to avoid excessive heat in the lowlands (no) and early enough to avoid deep snow and hunting season in the mountains (no and no). We drove due east through Washington into Idaho and stopped in a canyon along the Salmon River.

We set up camp and then began to feel increasingly uneasy. I have no idea why, but eventually we had to leave. There was just an overwhelmingly dark aura about the place. We drove for another hour and parked for the night at a less beautiful but non-creepy spot. That’s the only time I can recall feeling such discomfort in nature for no apparent reason.

We camped our way through Idaho and Wyoming, then south to Flaming Gorge reservoir. I would post a photo of Flaming Gorge, but Google can show it much better. Gorgeous…and shockingly hot for our expectations of October. We parked by the reservoir and tried to coax our overheated Rottweiler into the water to cool off. He hated water and was having none of the idea. DH finally dragged him in by the collar, growling all the way (Dog, not DH. Okay; maybe DH too.). The dog cooled down, but he spent the rest of the day in a corner of the van with his face to the wall, pointedly ignoring us. That dog could really hold a grudge. :roll:

After Flaming Gorge, we skimmed the northeastern tip of Utah and headed into Colorado, our primary destination. We camped in the sagebrush down a long dirt track somewhere near Rangely. This place was full of rabbits, and DH went off with the Weimaraner to chase them while I set up camp and the Rottweiler sulked. Nice natural camo job on the van, courtesy of dust.

Image

Onward and upward…literally. DH had promised lots of mountains as we veered east, and boy was he right. We kept to small roads wherever possible, driving up and down through breathtaking landscapes most of each day, then cooking over fires and sleeping in the van at night. As we neared Leadville, we encountered a cold rain/snow mix that made sitting outside pretty miserable. We set up camp, collected rocks, and DH built a fire ring with a wall that bounced the fire’s warmth back onto us. The short-haired Weimaraner still wasn’t impressed, but we thought we were pretty slick.

Image

The next morning, I told DH I wanted to go into Leadville and eat a hot breakfast. Time for civilization and real food, I whined. He wasn’t thrilled about detouring toward people, but he grudgingly agreed. We drove into town, found a busy café and sat down in the blessed warmth. DH ordered a huge plate of sausage, eggs, hashbrowns and toast. I ordered oatmeal and a dry buttermilk biscuit. DH almost fell off his chair. “We drove all the way into town so you could eat OATMEAL?” “No,” I said. “I’m having a biscuit too.”
He’s never let me forget that. :twisted:

After Leadville, we looped south and back west to Montrose, which is the beginning of the Million Dollar Highway -- also known as Route 550.

http://www.dangerousroads.org/north-ame ... y-usa.html

I can’t recommend this trip enough for anyone who likes stunning scenery and utterly terrifying, wet-your-pants roads. Our conversation for the rest of the day went something like this:

DH: Look at that (mountain, canyon, river, wildlife)! *points
Me: Look at the road!! *whimpers

Between Ouray and Silverton on Highway 550 lay Red Mountain Pass, at 11,000 feet elevation. Abandoned mine shafts and tailing piles sprouted at spots from the snow, but there was no other sign of past or present civilization. We’d been looking for somewhere to camp for an hour or so without any luck. Just after the top of the pass, we saw an opening in the trees that suggested a track under the snow, so DH put the van in low-lock and took the track. It led up and over a hill, through a tiny stream (I know; not cool) and into a small clearing where we could park. We were relieved to stop because we were both feeling lousy: nauseous, light-headed and tired. We didn’t realize until later that we were suffering mild altitude sickness.

We didn’t even try to set up any sort of camp. It was snowing hard, so we just fed and watered the dogs, lighted the propane heater and huddled in our sleeping bags. The Weimaraner was still cold, so I wrapped her in my coat. She expressed her appreciation by peeing in it. ;)

It was a long night. DH slept restlessly, plagued with bizarre dreams. I lay awake for hours imagining that the tiny stream we’d crossed had swollen with snow melt and trapped us on the mountainside. It was a huge relief when morning arrived. There was some new snow accumulation, but the stream was still a trickle. We drove out to the highway and headed down toward Silverton.

To be continued.

bryan
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by bryan »

Love it!

Did you alternate driving with DH? I'm not like him in that I can look out at views and not worry about crashing the van. Forget about me fiddling around to get the camera ready, framing the landscape, and snapping a pic. My SO gets to enjoy the views more since I am the one that does all the driving. Only when the views are dead-ahead do I get to really take them in.

halfmoon
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by halfmoon »

bryan,

When it came to the van, DH did most of the highway driving and all of the off-road. He liked to drive (spent some years as a trucker), and I preferred the navigator spot. The navigator's ancillary tasks included keeping a travel log, making coffee while we drove, yelling "Turn here! HERE! HERE!", and cleaning up dog puke.

The Rottweiler was a rescue who got carsick easily in the first year or so that we adopted him. I'll never forget an ill-advised trip through San Francisco at rush hour (whose idea was it to put a city in the middle of the Pacific Coast Highway, anyway?). Every time DH hit the brakes, the dog threw up. I was crawling around in the back trying to clean up puke, and then the van would lurch again and the dog would puke again. This is sadly my only memory of San Francisco, whick looks in my mind's eye like a rug in the back of a van.

Riggerjack
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by Riggerjack »

This is sadly my only memory of San Francisco, whick looks in my mind's eye like a rug in the back of a van.
I think this is most people's memories of San Francisco.

Oh, and traffic; crazy drivers, flipping me off a yelling about "free left on red!!!"; Waiting for the last BART run, and knowing what the gazelle feels when the pride of lions looks over, and decides I'm not worth the effort; traffic, the angry girlfriend driving around going the opposite of any directions alternating between screaming, crying, and trying to ram other drivers...

Although, maybe I am the only one who remembers that last one.

halfmoon
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by halfmoon »

Riggerjack wrote:the angry girlfriend driving around going the opposite of any directions alternating between screaming, crying, and trying to ram other drivers...

Although, maybe I am the only one who remembers that last one.
Oh, this made me laugh! I somehow feel that there's a bigger story here. Or a feature film. :D

halfmoon
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Re: Halfmoon's journal

Post by halfmoon »

THE HOMESTEAD/ACCUMULATION YEARS

TRAVELS WITH THE VAN, PART 2:

Silverton, Colorado is a place that captures the imagination. Vehicle access is through high (over 10,000’) mountain passes to the north and south, and the town is rendered inaccessible when snow closes those passes. I thought it would be a great setting for a murder mystery in the vein of And Then There Were None.

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Pretty much the entire town is a national historic landmark, so lovely old** buildings dominate the wide main street. We enjoyed exploring it but didn’t have any urge to live there. If we were going to be isolated in winter, we wanted to be truly alone and not surrounded by 500 other people we might want to murder after a few months of close company. :twisted:

(**Old being a relative term. If you live in or hail from Europe, disregard.)

Heading south from Silverton toward Durango was disorienting after being immersed in wilderness and tiny towns rooted in the past. Descending from the last pass, we began to see condo developments and ski resorts sprouting from the mountainsides. Finally the last wild beauty gave way to a standard commercial strip of fast food, billboards and bars. It does have a nice historic downtown once you get through the dross.

We continued south after Durango, cutting through the NW corner of New Mexico and looping down through Navajo reservation land in Arizona. The Navajo don’t generally cluster, preferring their space. There’s a lot of flat, open land dotted with the occasional isolated dwelling. We pulled off onto a seemingly deserted dirt road to let the dogs out and stretch our legs, and within a few minutes a truck filled with men came barreling up in a cloud of dust. They sat a little way off watching us until we got the message and left. Understandable, really.

And then…the Grand Canyon. It’s hard to describe the physical response to seeing this in person. The calculated accomplishments of mankind never strike wonder in me that way. It's just throat-clenching.

Having said that: visiting with dogs was limiting. It was once again amazingly hot, and our Rottweiler was again hyperventilating. The parking area and visitor center were jammed with people from all over the world. In my provincial foolishness, I had expected the place to be empty in October. Like many renowned natural areas, the best way to experience it would have been hiking, but that wasn’t possible on this trip.

After the Grand Canyon, we drove west to Lake Mohave. It was a replay of Flaming Gorge: DH dragging the growling Rottweiler into the water until they both cooled off. The lakeshore was dotted with tents and trailers, so we set up camp in a vacant spot and lounged in the shallows while the dogs kept a dubious eye.

The warm air and water seemed almost magical for late October, and I understood for a while why people live in the southwest. Then the couple camped next to us built a fire, made friends with their neighbors on the other side, and began getting progressively drunker and louder. When they started tearing struggling sagebrush plants out of the ground and throwing them onto their growing inferno, we packed up and left.

Other trip highlights:

-- Passing a lovely little sheepherder/gypsy wagon being pulled by four donkeys on the way to Mono Lake.

-- The lake itself, which is otherworldly. Really…google it. My pathetic photos don’t begin to do it justice.

-- The Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias in Yosemite. Some of the trees are literally big enough to make someone a tidy little house (ever since I read My Side of the Mountain as a child, I wanted to live inside a tree). DH took a picture of me standing like a tiny insect in front of one and looking sort of travel-worn. I tried to find the photo to post here, but I can’t.

-- Eastern Oregon. We loved it and have returned many times.

A lot of that trip is a blur in my mind. We had numerous adventures with the van over the years, but this one covered too much ground for the time available. We were all glad to arrive home by the end. I’m pretty sure the Rottweiler never forgave us. :mrgreen:

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