Laundry Day - Not Going To Laundromat

Since we all have been asked to stay at home and perform social isolation, laundry still needs to be done!

I actually wash every few days for underwear socks and tee shirts.  I have a mid-weight long sleeve tee and a hoodie sweatshirt that I wear most days, as it’s cold in the morning and cool mid-day.  Today, I decided to wash my pillow cases and my long sleeve tee and hoodie.

All my clothing is wicking lightweight material except the pillow cases and sheet (sleeping bag liner).  I washed my hiking pants the other day and hung outside over night and they were dry at daybreak.  

Above you can see the color of the wash water.  Its brown like the earth here.  Like my hiking pants were when I washed them.

I use dawn liquid soap or camp suds (biodegradable soap) for sensitive areas.  The picture above is after washing the hoodie.

The back of the camper is the right height for the wash basin.  Oh that is the color of the first rinse of the hoodie.  I do two rinses to get the hoodie and other clothing clean.

Today I used close to 5 gallons of water to wash my laundry.  

Here you can see the color of the earth.  Socks, pants, and outer clothing all get that color of the ground in them, and luckily it comes out in the wash.

It was windy and dry today in the desert.  There is my hoodie flying in the breeze off the back of the four wheel camper (FWC).  On the side of the camper the rest of the items.  They were all dry in a couple hours in the wind and sun.

That is how laundry without social interaction occurs living in the desert.

Happy laundry day!

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com

A Visit To Chimney Rock - Grand Staircase Escalante

I feel lucky this year that I was able to finally get to places that wet weather prevented in prior years.  This includes Chimney Rock.  A lone rock that can be seen for miles from the main road, Hole-In-The-Rock Road.

That was the closest I had gotten I the past.

Chimney Rock is a few miles in on the one lane road seem in the picture above.

Note this is not a road for a Prius or any low clearance road.  The road has a high crown in spots and sections with loose soft sand.

My Tacoma squished a bit in the soft sand but with for wheel drive I just didn’t stop to get there.  On of the soft spots was on a rise on the way out and I knew it was coming so I maintained my speed and got through.

As I approached Chimney Rock above there is a loop to turn around but a quick check on the far side of the loop were two tire holes where someone went past the loop and tried turning around and dug holes.

I was able not to find the same fate.

Here is my Tacoma/Four Wheel Camper at line rock.  It has been a drier spring in souther Utah and has allowed better travel on dirt roads.

Although every few days it was unsettled, the rain wasn’t heavy enough to raise the rivers and turn long sections into mud.  Although we did encounter some mud the sections were short and passive with 4x4.

Check out the great blue sky.

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com

I Made It To Hole-In-The-Rock!

I’ve been coming to Staircase Escalante for a number of years but never made it all the way down Hole-In-The-Rock Road to Hole-In-The-Rock.

Hole-In-The-Rock Is a location that the Mormons set out for San Juan area in Southeast Utah.  Hole-In-The-Rock is a crack in the sandstone rock at the Colorado River to cross to the other side

The trip to Hole-In-The-Rock is a long one and a Prius can make it to Dance Hall Rock on Hole-In-The-Rock Road but, soon after that the road turns difficult on a good day requiring high clearance.  On a bad day 4x4 high clearance only all the way to the end.

You should read about the Mormons adventure to this location and taking special sized covered wagons down this very steep area down to the river.  I express enough how difficult this was for them, but in another post I will share some further information and pictures that depict what it was like.

I wanted to hike down to the river but over time what ever was there as a surface is now all large rocks with large drops making a climb down a technical one that I was not prepared to do.  If you zoom in on the picture above you may get the idea how steep it is.

I climbed to the top of the ridge over The Hole-In-The-Rock   I wanted to see the Colorado River/Glen Canyon water dammed up all the way back in Parker, AZ

That’s the other side where the ferry took the Mormon covered wagons.



off to the south looming large is Navajo Mountain, here with a rain cloud over it.  

If you have the chance to get to Hole-In-The-Rock Do it as the weather plays a large role in the quality of roads here and across southern Utah.

Happy Travels,

Brent

Vandwelling And Cold Legs = Down Pants

Hi all,

This amid a companion blog post to my post on down booties published yesterday.  Here is the link to it (http://macaloney.blogspot.com/2020/03/cold-feet-down-boots.html?m=1)

As stated yesterday, my friend Roxy had down booties and I bought them too.  Well, she had down pants and, that’s right, I bought them too.

How nice is it to sit in your cold camper not having to run the heat 24x7 and stay warm with down pants.

They will fit over regular pants I wear, but they work well for lounge pants as well.  

How nice is it in a cold evening to sit at a campfire In February and not have a cold side.  That’s right, I’m warm.

With my down jacket, down pants and down booties, I’m all set for cold weather Vandwelling.

Since they are down they compress well and scrunch down into this Sea-to-Summit 2.5L compression sack.

.I paid $49.99 for the pants.  They have a draw-string waist and either side zipped pockets and one rear snap pocket.

As with the down booties, down pants and seat-to-summit compression sac, I do not have any affiliation with any of these Amazon suppliers and offer my option without any bias other than that of a user.

I have to say that both down booties are great companion products and just as functional at home as on the road.

Thanks to my friend Roxy for leading the way in many ways, especially her Outdoor Adventures. She is on Facebook as well as other social media, including YouTube.  

Stay warm.

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com

Vandwelling And Cold Feet = Down Booties

A couple years ago I was reading my Vandwelling friend Roxy’s blog (https://www.google.com/amp/s/nomadfornature.wordpress.com/2018/04/20/how-i-stay-warm-in-my-small-van-without-using-heat/amp/ ) and she had down boots for when sitting in her van when it was cold.   It can be 15 or 20 degrees between the floor of my camper and ceiling and starting or running the heater during the day is a waste of fuel.

I immediately bought down booties for the same reason as Roxy.  Normally I’m in warm temperatures in AZ or southern CA and they are not needed.  Come March when I move up into Utah the nights are cold and days are warm when the sun is out.

Today it was cloudy and cool and a few passing showers.  The booties were just the thing to put on in my camper lounging around laying on my bench watching live news feeds.  

Above I have the right foot twisted to show that the booties have a lightweight rubber sole.  This is great as I can step out of my camper and go to the truck cab and back without changing back to shoes.

I bought my down booties from Amazon as shown above.  Great purchase and they come in a draw string bag and crush well for packing.

So if you get cold feet get some down boots but get ones that have a rubber sole to prevent damage to boot.

Roxy also discusses down pants in her blog - I too have them and will discuss in a separate blog post.  

By the way, the down booties are great for cold feet around the house too.

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com

What’s Behind Dance Hall Rock

I’ve been to Dance Hall Rock before and here is my post.  http://macaloney.blogspot.com/2017/03/dance-hall-rock-grand-staircase.html?m=1

My blog back in 2027 was focused on the rock and the history of the Mormon travelers.

What I didn’t share in my prior post was what is behind Dance Hall Rock.

I’m looking at the back side of Dance Hall Rock from the hills behind.  There are some sandstone hills to explore.

When you climb you find the fun part of exploring, and that is water pockets.  I have written about other water pockets in the past,and these pockets are good as they get.

Some are cascading as in the picture above.



Some are hard to find but climbing will get you there.



Some have water and some are dry.



Some are deep like the one above.  Don’t fall in as you can’t get out by yourself.

Others are wide and have plants growing. Water finds it way out by draining into the sand.

Another thing you get by exploring behind Dance Hall Rock is some great views.

A bit further out behind Dance Hall Rock are side pockets.

If your up to it ,climb the sandstone and get a friend take a picture.

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com

Don’t Focus On Pandemic 24/7

Above: Photo of my old phone I use as WiFi device while watching CNN

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I watch the major network news organizations on my old iphone, that I use as a WiFi only device.  I put the news on when I get up and during and after dinner.

Above: screen capture of my iPhone podcast app.
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My podcasts are many.  I am a self proclaimed news junkie, so I do listen to NPR hourly news, BBC World News, and a few news shows each day.

Aboce: screen capture of in tune app with some of my playlist

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Although I have news agencies on my inTune app list, that I use when I drive, I usually use this app to listen to music at night going to sleep and if I wake in the middle of night to get back to sleep.

It’s a great way to change ones focus off of news when you get into overload or your mind gets preoccupied.

Above is a picture of my IPad, where I’m logged into the Zoom app to watch a seminar on HAMSci.  The topic is based on how HAM radio meets science.  Here Liz MacDonald from NASA Ames discusses how aurora affects change based on all various aspects for science.  For HAMs ionosphere changes affect signal propagation (how far you can talk on specific frequencies) and interference.

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Above is a screen capture of the initial screen logging into Netflix 

In the evening I usually watch downloaded movie or series show.

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As you may gather, I don’t read for pleasure much at all.  I know others that do and so enjoy this as a diversion.  I mostly study and read about technology and evaluate how technology can be of benefit to others.  This is all from my Electronic Engineering background.

The key is to have brain diversions especially when you may feel isolated, confined, at risk and no control, and when social media hype gets to you,  I know others that do meditation, online yoga, etc too. 

I do go for hikes and also spend time with my 2 Vandwelling friends, I call, text family and friends and follow them in social media.  I and my Vandwelling friends have isolated together so far during the corona virus outbreak.

If your stressed find an outlet to focus on other things. It’s going to be a long haul before social isolation is a thing of the past.

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com

Thank You - 200,000 Page Views And Climbing

I’m on my 7th year of winter travels.  My first year, I decided to share my travels with friends and family with this blog.  It was important to me not to push my blog posts in the form of a FaceBook post as this pushes content on people.  

The way the blog works is that it is a pull system, where those interested can go to the website macaloney.blogspot.com or even sign up for email notifications via the blog page.  I’m happy to say that I reached a significant milestone of 200,000 blog post page views this past weekend.  

Who would have thought😮

This is my chance to thank everyone around the world that have viewed and sometimes commented on my blog posts.  

I hope my posts are interesting, informative, inspiring, light and fun to read.

My first few years I receive significant feedback about what people like to see and read.  

Thanks for following.

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com

What Am I Doing During The Pandemic?

Above is a storm just passing by my location in very rural Utah.  I thought it was headed directly for us this morning and and as noon approached I knew it would miss us.  I used my radar app but without much radar coverage in southern Utah you can’t see it coming.

The Corona Virus is analogous to a storm without radar, to know exactly where it is and where and when it will hit.  I also know that if that one storm doesn’t hit our camp, the next one could be the one.

Being a Fire Chief / Emergency Management Director for 15 years, I have worked through some life altering situations/storms.  Their impact were of short duration, of a week or so.  I follow so many news outlets on a daily basis that when I heard that the US had its first case of indirect contact of the virus being transmitted, 

I knew then our lives would never be the same.  I gathered my two vandwelling friends to discuss and I knew that I had a couple weeks to decide on a plan to live through the pandemic as long as possible before getting the virus myself.

My two friends and I formed an alliance to protect ourselves and each other.  What I didn’t realize was making that commitment to others drives a protective behavior.  Not one of us wants to be responsible for getting the virus and giving it to another.  We are as critical with ourselves as we are with each other.  We are a collective of self and joint overseers.  We have found holes in each other’s logic at times about risk of exposure.  We discuss the feedback and take responsibility for being part of the solution.

We have gotten to the point we may talk to ourselves to remember what we do something in advance or after the fact.

We collectively take anything into our care only after we have sanitized it.

I personally count the 6 sides of boxes, like crackers and as I sanitize each side I count to six.  I also remove my credit card from my wallet before going into store to prevent contamination of the wallet to open it as I approach the counter.  I use my credit card for as much as I can, but small items may take cash.  When I use cash I donate the change.  I take the bills and put in zip loc bag for later decontamination.

Are we crazy? No. We are obsessed though with protecting each other.  

We are concerned about going in grocery stores, but when your a Vandweller, there are not many options to this.  We maintain distances when we can, but the big thing is everything we take from the store is considered contaminated.  Yes! Everything!

Above is a bottle bought at Walmart that I put 91% alcohol in it to spray surfaces.

Therefore, oranges and bananas and other fruit to peal are contaminated and must be sanitized, way before being eaten.  It is done at the time it enters our clean space..  Fresh vegetables are are sanitized and not eaten unless cooked at over 160 deg F. 

What do we get in return for being obsessed about such things is we can socialize in close proximity, like my pop up FWC camper.

We watch news, eat together, discuss our days and so on.  We are all in 3 separate vehicles doing our own things when we want and doing joint things when we like.  We are a community with our commitment to each other.  

We are social creatures and our outside contacts are via social media.  

This doesn’t mean this is a perfect solution for other Vandwellers, but it is the system we created and one that works for us.  We also have someone else around in case something else happens to you.  I fell this year and dislocated my shoulder and I was very thankful for having friends with me.

Stay safe all.

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com

Humanity And Expansion Of The Coronavirus

I’m not an expert at the topic of the corona virus and it’s expansion throughout the Country.  I was an EMT as a Fire Chief and have a very good handle on dealing with protecting my Firefighters/ Paramedics.  I was going to write about telling you all about how to protect yourself as a Vandweller, but I’m not.  There is enough information out there with more information than my offerings.

I can say that I’ve been playing it safe by a great deal of social isolation.  With a couple like minded friends, who practice the same protection from exposure and love spending their time outdoors.

What I want to convey is as you isolate as much as you can, don’t forget our humanity in all this.  We still need each other.  We are social beings.

Here is why this is important.

I too have to go get groceries so I went to this small town grocery store to buy a few things.  Here I am worrying about the surface of everything I’m buying may be contaminated.  I use credit card that requires stylus I have to touch, that others have used before me.  These thoughts are rattling in my head as pick up items in the store and I approach checkout.

The woman who is checking me out is probably 50 something and is so nice and thoughtful about everything that is going on, I offered to bag my purchases.

The plastic bag sides are stuck and I can’t get it to open.  I will not wet my fingers with my tongue as I’ve touched all those things that were in the shelves.  The clerk sees me not being able to open the plastic bag and looks at me and says I don’t wet my fingers either.  We both smiled and she tossed the bag to the floor I n frustration, finally getting the bags on the rack to start self opening.

I continued to bag and she finished up with my order.  The line of people in checkout diminished, with the guy with one item behind me moving to the other clerk.  After putting my full grocery bags in the cart, I started to push my cart away from the counter, and the woman asks if I could stay a few minutes to talk to her.

I was surprised and my mind was telling me you need to get outside, sanitize my hands and then get back to camp, and finally individually sanitize each item before stocking my camper.  I was totally preoccupied mentally when she asked.

I think I paused a bit long before answering her request and I felt bad.  I moved back to the counter and engaged her in conversation for a few minutes before the next customer came to the checkout.  She asked about me and where I was from.  I know what I wear doesn’t look local.  

I feel bad since this happened.  I knew right then and there that how I treat others is reprentative of who I am.  I know I can multiplex and accomplish both sanitize a bit later and engage others, but I was too wrapped up in the everyday reports from the government and others that I lost my perspective.  It was only after I was outside the store did I realize I still failed my humanity in going back to talk to the clerk.  I had only answered her questions.  I never asked her any.  I’m sure she would have loved to have someone show some interest in her as a person.  She wasn’t standing outside like someone with polling questions.  She wanted human contact and I failed twice.

Over my working years I have generally had an all business approach to things and only people that were close to me see saw the minor side of my humanity.

After retiring and going on the road with my travels, I have worked to improve my humanity side as my need to jump into action as Fire Chief is now the distant past.

Many people that can least afford it will be hurt by the spread of the corona virus and the subsequent economic downturn.  

Each of us have a choice going forward into this new reality.  We can worry about self and family, but like me I bet you can take a couple minutes to look at the human aspect of all this.  I see the Italians quarantined singing in unison from their balconies in solidarity.  They saw the need too.

Just don’t forget people will be out of work because of this.  The government can’t fill all the needs.  What we do and how we treat others will be remembered after this is over.

Stay safe during these unprecedented times and remember we all will need others, and one day it may be you.  We all matter.

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com

Planning Not To Get Stuck In Mud In UT

See the area behind the stuck truck?

Well, I was camping there the night before.  Then I saw it was going to rain and made the decision to get closer to the good road on higher ground.

Here in Utah, dirt roads over time get worn down below the grade on either side and are susceptible to water collection when it rains, as there are no drainage ditches.

4x4 truck didn’t make it up the road the morning after the rain.  See the front wherl costed in clay mud.  There was no traction once the tire was coated.

The rear dualies don’t have costed mud. UT had insufficient traction to get the truck through the mud.

The driver from Saskatchewan that had towed his 5th wheeler down the road last evening, was helped by a Texan in another pickup truck with a tow strap.

I found the above poster in the BLM office men’s room.  I’m guessing that more than a few vehicles have gotten stuck.  To include the warming in many languages, many visitors from other countries get stuck too.

Lesson to all that boondock.  When planning a place to park either be on high hard ground if you need to get out or plan to sit until roads dry enough to drive out.

In my 7 years of doing this I go to places where I can get out when the UT dirt roads turn to mud.

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com

Devils Garden - A Revisit

I took a friend to see Devels Garden, Escalante, UT this year.

It’s one of the easier things to do on Hole-In-The-Rock-Road where so many great hikes to try.

Hole-In-The-Rock-Road is unique enough to post about it again this year.  

Tacoma/FWC Camper doing its job on my winter travels.

The vastness of views off of Hole-In-The-Rock-Road is amazing.  No houses, just vistas.

It’s fun to walk through the rock formations.

As a kid I used to take building blocks and stack them and see how high I could build a column without it tipping over.  Above is amazing that nature has done it with such style.

Look above to see if you see a face in the formation.

Now look at this view above and see if you can find 2 faces in this one formation.  Above someone with big nose.  Bottom half kind of a gorilla head.

In this photo if you look to the rock formation to the right you will see a hole / arch along the top.

Escalante seems out of the way from driving between the 5 National Parks in southern Utah, but if you go along UT12 east from Bryce to Capitol Reef you will find this out of the way place with some different things to see.

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com