LiFePO4 Batteries - First Camping Use at SprinterFest

SprinterFest Boondocking

I spent the first weekend in May boondocking at the SprinterFest on my new LiFePO4s. My batteries easily lasted the 3 days running my marine fridge and the usual few minutes of furnace in the morning, water pump, etc. The fridge ran almost constantly but I'm not sure why - it may still have issues of its own. I love having double the amp hours (AH) I had with the AGMs. I had used about 

I drove up Thursday night as I had arranged to have my serpentine belt replaced at 8am in the morning at the Sun Motor Cars shop who were also hosting the SprinterFest. It was 8 years old and I've been told that a broken one does a whole lot of expensive damage to Sprinters beyond stranding me on the road. 

One of the downsides to owning a Sprinter is that widespread competent mechanics are not available. The Sun shop has a very good reputation and a very nice Sprinter-specific facility. While I might have been able to replace the belt myself, I didn't want to risk not getting it back on right and the access is tight.  While there, I had them do an oil job too.  They very nicely let me have the dog in the waiting area where she got behave and stay calm training and lots of free pets. They have free wi-fi also which was nice.

When I got my van back, they had done a decent wash on it too, gratis. It looked great. Later at the SprinterFest, the mechanics said the one who did my work was surprised by finding the cats inside. I told the front guy there would be 2 cats in there so the mechanic wouldn't be surprised but he didn't relay the message. They told me the mechanic took a selfie with my cats. Cute.

Before I took the van to the shop, I let the dog have some exercise in a deep grassy area by the back lot. She went behind a bush and disappeared. I called and called to no avail. Getting worried, I hopped into the van and went up the road about a quarter mile where I saw some men at a big truck type facility in the parking lot. I pulled in and asked if they had seen a big yellow dog and there she was. They had grabbed her since she came running up to them to greet them and appeared on her own. Whew, but really! She hadn't gone off like that at the previous 2 Sprinterfests. One guy said he tried calling the numbers on her tag but it wasn't in service. Yikes! I forgot to change her tags when I changed cell phone numbers. He said she would have stayed with him all day if necessary. As soon as I got the van back from the shop, I drove up to the nearest PetSmart and made new tags with the new numbers along with a new tag for the cat.

After we were done, I settled into the back lot of Sun where they have us camp out for Sprinterfest. I had some volunteer work to do with my computer anyway so I completed that. No one else showed up until after 6:30pm.  A few vans arrived and one of them wasn't staying for the SprinterFest but was filled with dog crates and dogs. They have a business of transporting dogs. They built a bed way up high in the van over the crates because they wanted to maximize the number of dogs they could transport at once. A few of us went to dinner together. We have a very nice camaraderie developed over the 3 years I've come to the SprinterFests.

For the day of the SprinterFest, Saturday, I counted 38 Sprinters and there were a few people in other cars as well.

One guy that has come for the 3 that I have has an interesting saga. He's a youngish (30s) guy with tech skills. The first year, he showed up with an old T1N dual wheel cargo van with little improvement to it and was rough camping inside the tin tent. He had been having mechanical problems but had dreams of living in the van to cut costs and renting his house for income. He planned a do it himself buildout. The 2nd year, he showed up in a Sprinter box van that he planned on building out and living in. It had the advantage of square walls and quite a bit more space than the van interior and ran reliably.  This year, he was back in the old dually van with a new engine in it. He had done a lot more work on it with insulation, a killer stereo system and the electrics needed for it, a marine fridge, and a couple of cabinets.  He found the box truck was too big to navigate narrow city streets and thus wasn't going to cut it for his needs so he went back to his original plan in the cargo van. He plans on mainly city living and his personal cleanliness needs will be met with gyms. Toilet and cooking facilities will be in the van along with only interior water tanks/piping so he can use it in winter. He has rented out most of his house but wants to get out of it completely so he can charge more for rent. It is a viable plan for simple, inexpensive living as long as the cold winters here will work for him. It is a lesson in how a too big vehicle can make it harder, not easier. He's got an idea for making the bed self-leveling that will be interesting to see when done.

A few of us stayed over Saturday night for the circle-the-vans after pizza party. It was marred by showers but still fun. In the morning, we had breakfast together before heading back home Sunday afternoon. I was letting my dog run around in her favorite meet and greet mode. I got distracted for a few minutes Sunday morning and she disappeared again. When I got my phone again, there was a message that they had my dog about a mile away (glad I got the new tags!) because she had run across the road behind Sun to greet a man and he grabbed her to protect her from the road traffic. Before, she had stopped at the road considering it a forbidden barrier. Damn dog is now an adult (4 years old) but clearly, I am going to have to put her on the rope because the old no no's are not keeping her in safe bounds. Thankfully, I got her back but the training I've been doing to stop her from initiating greeting humans is not fully working and now former barriers don't work.

The LiFePO4s:

Some things are quite different with the LiFePO4s. With my 15 amp circuit at my house, it takes 2 cycles to fully charge them as my new charger shuts off after 16 hours and it needs longer than that to charge from a deficit of some 150AH out of my 200AH capacity. I haven't had it on a 30 amp circuit yet. To start charging, I have to disconnect the shore power, then connect again for the charger to start again. No float. 

The 3 days boondocking used about 160 AH but half of that was with the fridge on the manual setting which was using 5 amps. When I set it to the normal/auto, it dropped to 3 amps. The fridge froze the freezer plate on battery power because it sees the higher voltage and thinks it is on shore power.  Getting the more efficient computer version might not have been the best idea with the LiFePO4s because of this. The regular thermostat governed variety probably would have been better.

I had a trickle charger that shunted a few amps to the engine battery to top it off when I was on shore power but the higher voltage from the LiFePO4s made it think it was on shore power and sipped power from the batteries. So that is disconnected now.

My engine alternator charged them nicely while driving but just like on shore power, the BMS shut off the charging when they were full. No floating. Short driving periods resulted in some charging each time but it wasn't long enuf to fill the batteries.

My trimetric battery monitor shows the AH used after being off charging but while charging, it reverses and shows far fewer AH without me resetting it. That is, I use 150AH but when the batteries are full after a charge, it shows 4AH an hour or so after it is done. I guess it is measuring the deficit from full. I never saw that with the AGMs.

When the batteries are full, the charger gets shut off and won't start again no matter how long or how much juice is used unless it gets disconnected from shore power and then reconnected so I have to pay more attention to the charge levels when plugged in. The no float aspect means I can't just let it sit plugged in for long periods with no attention.

It will be interesting to see how these do with solar but I'm not there yet.

The Bed – Redux

Former Use:

My van has the old style benches that form a really big bed in the back like a set of legos. There are 8 cushions that fit over the benches and on top of two 3’ long particle board slabs that sit on the ledges affixed to the sides of benches. There is only me and 2 cats that sleep on the bed. The dog gets the floor on rugs. I refuse to struggle for space with a 60# dog.

I slept crosswise across the back of the van for a couple of years which worked ok but my feet can't stretch out unless I sleep catty-corner. Last year, I tried making my bed lengthwise on the passenger side with one 3’ slab in the middle section at the head of the bed. That worked reasonably well but I would like more room for my feet and legs at the end. At least they can stretch out in the full 6’ length (I'm 5'7"). I found that it was better to fold the length of memory foam topper one third down at the top to make the head a bit elevated. I have to have my head raised above my feet to let my sinuses drain because of my allergies.

One of the nuisances with this design is the 3’ particle board slabs are cheesy and heavy and awkward to store and handle. Aside from that, I really like the benches because of their versatility. I got the idea to make lighter and smaller racks to lay across the aisle for the center cushions to lay on. After putting up knotty pine wainscot in my house powder room, I had a big pile of 19” long slats leftover.

The Make:

I thought that the 20.5” span would be sufficient for them to hold my weight if there were a lot of them even tho they are only 1/4” thick. I got some 1/2” x 1.5” boards and cut them into 18” lengths. That makes the rack match the 3/4” thickness of the particle board slabs. 4 of the wainscot slats fit with a little over an inch in between them. I split a couple of them finding a screw that would go in without splitting the pine. A pan-head metal screw worked because it doesn't flare at the top. Two screws in each side of each slat secured it well. I tested the first rack and it was solid. So much lighter than the particle board! That makes my bed 42” wide. A 2’ wide bed is very cramped, especially to sleep on my side, but 42” is comfortable.

I made 2 more of the racks, then sanded them well enuf to prevent splinters and put varnish on them. They aren't going to be visible when in use, so all I need is just to protect the wood from moisture.

The next thing to solve is the rails on which the racks lie on each of the benches. Currently, they are wood rails screwed into the benches. I want to have the cushion and rack on the galley end of the bed easily removable and stowed handy so I can use that end as a desk and sitting area. I figured out that a U shaped aluminum rail would be strong enough for the weight and allow me to slide the end rack under the other racks to the back of the van. Right at hand when I need it, out of the way when I don’t. When I looked for the rail, the U shaped ones were too small for my purpose. I need it to be an inch between the bars for the racks to slide in. I settled on getting 2 L rails to form the U.

I took a metal file and filed the ends to round them so I don’t slice a finger on them. Cleaned them off and spray painted them with the copper and bronze metal paint so they would match the galley back splash and be inconspicuous, at least compared to the bright silver of the aluminum. I finished that up with a coating of varnish so they will stand up to the use of sliding the racks on them. Once dried and cured, I just drilled holes in them and using flat head screws, affixed them in the same spot as the old wood rails.

The final problem is how to support the last rack to hold the cushion. Because I built a drawer for my desk instead of the bench, I can’t have a support rail on that last 2’. I got some furring strips I have laying about and cut them long enough to fit into the end of the new rails. A 1/4” slat holds the end firmly into the slot. I then cut a leg for the galley end for a firm support and another for the other side. The slat fits well on the support rails and they are easily moved for during the day. That way, my desk area is open for daytime and the bed is a little wider for night.

Bed slats in place

Cushions in place for bed

Seat with bedding rolled back and wedge cushion for back

In Use:

I spent 3 nights with the new bed arrangement and it was very comfortable. Easy to take down the last rack and fold back the covers for a seat and easy to put back in place for night.  The extra room at the foot made for a much more comfortable sleep and the cats weren't right on top of me like they were last year. I think this one is a win.  The only thing that would be better is if the cushions had a couple inches of memory foam right in them instead of me putting a pad on top as the foam they are made of is hard. Wonder how expensive it would be to get a 4" thick half sturdy foam, half memory foam pieces to replace?

A bonus I found is that the single rack makes for a nice lap desk for my computer. The molded surface holds a pencil nicely and the computer has plenty of air circulation.  My attempt at remaking my swivel table failed miserably so I resorted to the rack as a desk. Multi-use and light weight for the win!

I get a bed always at the ready and I still have a seat and desk for daytime. I don't want the bother of having to make up my bed each night but I need to have a workspace as well. This gives me the dual purpose of the tiny space with very little bother. If I am really exhausted, I can still take a nap without the foot width-extension in place. The seat raised to the same height as the bed gives me extra storage space and it is comfortable as I fit under the overhead cabinets and my feet can rest on the drawer on the opposite side. Plus, I can put the rack on it for extra room when working in the galley.

I built an opening on the bench extension for a drawer at some point. Turned out the evil extra cat preferred to hop into that and camp out under the bench as a good hidey hole - revealed only by his tell tale red leash. With my on-going litter box issues, I decided the litter box would best be placed at the back of the aisle. During the short trip, my old girl used it (yay!!). The extra cat, Syl, used the kennel box a couple of times. Previously, my old girl used the kennel box and was afraid of getting trapped in the under bench box. Go figure.

These 2 hate each other in real life. But in the van, it is different.

Bench Top

I also built a top for the bench across from my bed to better utilize the space. Instead of taking up 4” of vertical space with the cushions that I’m not using, I used the same wainscot panel boards to make a large shelf in 2 pieces so I can access underneath half of it at a time. For this purpose, I snugged the boards together using their tongue and groves to fit them together and tied them all together with a 1/4” slat underneath and the #4 screws. I sized and positioned the slat to fit just inside the bench edges so it will hold the shelf in place. And another shelf to sit on top of the kennel I carry for the cats. Might as well. I like being able to put scraps to good use.

Across a fairly small distance, less that 2’, the ¼” thick panel boards are plenty strong. Not for sitting on, but plenty strong for the things I need to put there. The decorative shape is actually rather handy in the van as it can hold small things in place on uneven ground. The knotty pine is pretty when varnished.

On our little trip, I put a towel on the top on the kennel and it quickly became a favorite cat perch. Nothing like being up high for a cat.

Carpeting

Oh, how I hate carpeting. Carpeting is the worst idea in an RV. I guess there is some sound deadening from it but it is hard to clean and quickly gets nasty. An uncleanable surface is a bad idea, especially one that is subject to the law of gravity. My carpet had gotten quite dirty, even in the under-bench areas. I used mostly Citrusolve to clean it as that also does a decent job of deodorizing it. It looks better except for the areas that got bleached. At some point, I want to take it out and put in a cleanable surface, but that point is not now.

I got some carpet protector lengths of plastic with spikes in it to grip the carpet to line the aisle and keep it cleaner. I got 2 more 6’ lengths and lined the under-bench storage areas. It took some cutting to fit it around the wheel hubs and when I need to get to the battery boxes, I’ll have to lift it but it should keep things a bit cleaner there now.

A Yearly trip 2/3's across the country

I just got back from a quick trip to Colorado and back inside of 2 weeks for our family reunion. I wanted to make it quick because the yard gets so out of control in the summer and I really want to focus my efforts of getting this house ready for sale next year instead of indulging in wandering.

The trip out took 3 1/2 days of pretty solid driving. It was hot and humid until I got to the high prairie of western Nebraska. My rule is if the dew points are above 68, it is too humid for any kind of comfortable sleep boondocking so I seek a campground with an electric hookup. If the dew points are lower, it is not so humid that I sweat all night and it can get cool enuf to be comfortable over night with just a fan. I'm using a northern route to get a little cooler temperatures. Avoiding a humid push up from the Gulf of Mexico is impossible sometimes. That week, the humidity was clear into northern Minnesota. At least I didn't have the heavy storms to contend with that have been occuring in the middle of the country.

I left at about 3pm and made it to Tappan Lake in Ohio.  I camped in the Class B section of Tappan Lake Park campground on the west side of the lake for $26.50. It was up a hill and fairly secluded from the dense campground for the bigger rigs but there were few semi-level sites and those were so damp and soft, I was afraid of getting stuck. So the night was not terribly comfortable because of the slant.

Kil so Qah camp

Next day, I stopped at the Kil so Qah camp in the Little Turtle State Rec Area, Indiana that I found last year at about 6pm for $15 for electric - up $5 from last year. The lack of good sleep made me tired as I wanted to keep going until 8pm. But I also wanted to have electric to run the AC and camps get thinner in eastern IN and IL. Before we went to the camp, I let my dog have a good swim in the lake only to get to the camp and see a warning about toxic blue-green alga risk (not posted at the lake??).  She seems not to have gotten sick so I guess it wasn't there or not bad. Good sleep there.

Crossing the Mighty Miss

Hackbarney Woods camp, IA

We got to western Iowa and stopped at a little camp called Hackbarney Woods at about 8pm for $15 with electric.  Nice minimal campground with flush toilets. A nice family was tent camping with a dog who wanted to play with my dog so they had fun. But I had to call it off because Dirona started limping.  That dog is just all in when she does things and has no sense. One of them happened to live for a time within 10 miles of where I live in Maryland.

The next day, I made it to my sister's house in Greeley at about 7:30.

Visiting with the family was fun as always. I spent 5 days camped outside my sister's house moochdocking her electricity and shower. But unlike my brother who stayed in her guest room, when I left, she only had one towel and washcloth to add to her laundry. The beauty of having my own little cabin.

I lucked out on the way back.  The humid air retreated to the southern states and the temps were in the low to mid 80s with lows in the low 60s and even 50s. Ahhhhh. That meant I could boondock on the way back because I didn't need to use the AC.

I left Greeley at 11:30 after making breakfast for my sister and brother-in-law and letting the dog have a little play session with her boyfriend Pete the standard poodle. I made it to Hastings, NE Walmart and dumped, got fresh water at the Julesburg, CO rest area.  It was ok but I didn't sleep really well. Something about the lights being too bright or just the adjustment of the first night out.

Gladstone Lake - The fur-kids liked it there

Gladstone Lake camp

2nd day, I made it to the western edge of Illinois and found the Henderson County Conservation Area camp at Gladstone Lake.  This was a primitive campground that was completely deserted. We had the whole place to ourselves. It had pit toilets that were clean but no water. A sign said no fishing because the lake was being rehabilitated. No problem, I didn't want to anyway. It also said to get a camping permit from park personnel but had no way to find one or pay, so we stayed for free. The animals liked it a lot. Even the cats thought it really safe and hopped out of the van to look around. They usually don't do that. It was refreshingly cool and the inside van temp dropped to 65F. It was raining at a fair clip when I woke up.

OH Amish country - you can tell this an Amish farm by the hay ricks

Amish farm - notice the horse carriage

Amish on the move

The Amish parking spot in Mt. Eaton, OH

Amish

They have the best ice cream - Mt. Eaton, OH

3rd day, it was raining half the day until I outran the front. I ended up in Bucyrus, OH at about 8:30. I checked out a lake and found a round parking area with no one there and considered camping there. But I couldn't find a good level spot and then mosquitoes made me decide Walmart would be better. When I got back to Walmart, I saw a road going behind it with a field. I discovered it was a T that went nowhere. A stub for future development, I suppose. So I camped at the end of one of the Ts and was not disturbed at all.

Bucyrus, OH camp on the stub road

Bucyrus, OH - nice field buffer from the shopping center

The 4th day I awoke to rain again as the front caught up with me. Lots of rain until the afternoon, then it was in and out of showers over the Appalachians. I stopped at what has become my favorite ice cream in Mt. Eaton, OH in the middle of Amish country.  Must be so good because it is real food and not any chemical food-like ingredients. The Amish give a tiny peek into what life was like in the 19th century. I stopped at Tappan Lake to let the dog have a swim. I got back at home by 7:30.

Route back east

The high dry plains of NE CO - CO14

I got back home on August 3.  Once I get home, the work piled up is daunting!  Mowing and 8-10 foot weeds, my laundry, get food going again, the pets.  My attempt to get the little volunteer job I do failed as my friend somehow did the opposite of what I asked and sent my home mail to my sister's instead of the PO Box mail.  Before I know it, 2 weeks have passed.  Here's a quick post about the route I took back.  It was just to get home in a reasonable amount of time but still look for swimming opportunities for the dog.

To Colorado, part 2

Continuing the trek across the plains to Colorado story:

Camp at Chatham SP, IA

Sunday: Road closures made us head further south than I wanted in Illinois.  I was also winging it for awhile because Mr. Garmin kept wanting me to head for Chicago.  I was aiming for a more northerly route to have less heat but no way did we want to have Chicago traffic to deal with. I headed for US24 and defied Garmin for quite awhile.  The dog didn't get any swimming in because I wanted to make up for the lost time struggling with the refrigerator.  Once we made it across Iowa and the Mighty Mississippi, we were in Keokak, IA.  I hadn't realized that we had gone that far south.  It was the end of the day and I was tired so I started looking for a place for the night.  A little north of town, Garmin said there was a campground so I headed to it.  It was another one of those fit you in tight private campgrounds.  Yuck.  On the road, I saw a little sign saying Chatham State Park.  So I headed for it, got a bit turned around but found a little campground with electric, water, and a dump.  Might have been showers there too but I didn't look.  Only a handful of campers and a camp host were there.  Nice sites for $15.  It was essentially right across the road from the full and crowded private campground.  Yay, nice private site with AC for the night.  I cooked the hamburger I had brought along to use it up with some onions and spices for dinner.

Hi-Tailing it to Colorado

Sideling Hill Rest Area, MD

My aim was my sister's house in Colorado for our annual family get-together.  This year is hot, hot, hot across the path between the east coast and Colorado.  And I don't like hot.  Never have.  Not better at this stage of life either, like so many things are. There was a brief respite last week so I hoped for the best.  I had in mind to find public campgrounds in the central US to be able to plug in and have AC overnight at not too much cost.  I still loathe most of the private campgrounds I see.  The sardine can aspect is a real turn off.  There are few amenities that can make up for that in my mind.  Give me land, lots of land, and the starry skies above.  Or at least a little breathing room.

Pure Water

Water.  Such a basic thing but vital for life and hygiene.  RV makers usually supply potable water to the cabin with a plastic tank and a water pump that supplies water to a spigot.  It is common for RV'ers to put a filter on a campground's water faucet before it gets to their system.  This is because one simply does not know what the water quality is at any place.  If it's been tested and those tests are published, one might be able to find out with some effort, but largely, we simply trust and hope that water spigots deliver safe water.  And sometimes, they don't.

Refrigerator and Batteries

It looks like I can go for 2 days on my batteries with the new refrigerator before having to recharge at 50% discharge (i.e., about 100AH out of my 200AH batteries).  I only used my LED lights but I used the furnace in the morning, water heater and pump for a shower.  It was cool to cold during the weekend and the refrigerator was hard to keep from being too cold.  I kept bumping down the dial because the interior thermometer said 35-36F degrees.  Some of my water froze. In more moderate temps it will probably keep at better temps.  My amp hour usage varied from a low of 1.56AH/hr to 2.68AH/hr, the higher usage corresponding with furnace usage.

SprinterFest!

Over the weekend, I went up to the SprinterFest East hosted by Sun Motors in Mechanicsburg, PA.  It was a fun and interesting weekend.  There were a lot of innovative people there with tons of interesting ideas.  One guy heated his van with underfloor hot water from his diesel water heater.  While many were commercially built Class B vans like mine, there were several self-built ones.  One was particularly beautiful with custom curved cherry wood cabinets and tile bath and galley counter.

My First Rally Experience

Last weekend, I went to my first RV rally.  It was the local chapter for my brand of RV - Leisure Travel Vans.  It was at a campground about 70 miles south of my house - Creekside Campground in Edinburg, VA because it had a nice meeting room.  Expensive campground at $35+ a night with electric, water, cable, wireless internet.  Sites were fairly level with a plastic picnic table and gravel and all in a line with little space between sites.  There was a nice creek behind our sites.

49 days on the road. Lessons Learned

This post is a recap of what worked well and what didn't work on my nearly 2 month trip in the van.    I put key words in bold to make it easier to find a topic in this rather long post.

8/20 - US250

The van that was there last night was gone when I drove out. I'm not a terribly early riser anymore now that I don't have to. That came as a surprise to me after so many years of rising at 4:30 am to get to work. No one bothered me at all in my parking spot. There were 2 cars in the lot behind me. One had a person in the driver's seat who looked like he was napping. It appeared the park had only a single porta-pottie for nature's call.

8/19 - Huron and down the Mitten

Lake Huron

I did a little housekeeping this morning after cooking some eggs for my breakfast. Kids came over to play with my dog again. She sure is popular with children. A couple people were very interested in my van – saying it was what they had in mind. After all was done, I dumped my gray water and filled the tank with fresh water before heading off.

8/18 - Lakes Superior to Huron

Lake Superior looking toward Marquette

I was awakened very early this morning by loud rapping on my van and a man yelling for me to wake up. I finally answered and he asked if I had a dog and if she was red. Yes to the dog, no to the red as I think of her as sandy colored. My drivers door was wide open (yikes) and my dog was roaming around the parking lot. I must not have latched it securely last night. I got back in bed and then heard meowing. Oh no, did the cat get out too? Yup, not in the van and he wanted back in. Not one of my finer moments. Then I couldn't really get back to sleep so I got up early at 6 am.

8/16 - On the Mighty Miss

The Mighty Mississippi at Wabasha, MN

Tonight we are camped in Wabasha, MN in an overflow lot. It is posted for 72 hours parking and there are a few semis here so it must be fine for boondocking. I found a nearly level spot near what passes for grass. There is a very big field where I could throw a ball for the dog and not worry about distance or traffic for her to get good exercise. The name of this town makes me wonder if there is some relationship to Wabash, as in the river. I was hungry so I stopped at the T-bone restaurant in downtown for a good meal of ribs and veggies. The server said the cook thought it odd but it was a nice mix of cucumbers, tomatoes, onions and peppers. The mighty Mississippi river is still very large up here so far north as befits the drain pipe for the entire center of the country. It is only about 695 feet elevation, dropped from 1000-1200' from the surrounding countryside.

8/14 - The last of the Badlands and heading east

Badlands oasis

I threw the big rope toy for my dog before heading off to see the last of the Badlands. That 6' leash restriction makes it hard on the dogs. Some campers let their dogs run around anyway and I let mine have just a bit of a romp dragging her leash. She was good and came every time I asked.

8/13 -The Badlands, II

Off to the Badlands again, only this time, I took I-90 to Wall. I stopped at Wall Drug, a kitschy paean to self-promotion and excess of silliness. I got a lanyard for a pen to stay put in the cab and ate a bison burger and had a shake there. Ok, I've been there. 

8/12 - The Badlands - and a retreat

I spent a good part of the day doing some housekeeping at the Wind Cave campground and took the dog on the nature trail around the camp. The campground host came around and asked if I was going to stay another night. The check out is noon. The campground was nearly deserted but she said they weren't very strict on the time. I finished up my housework and moved the van to the amphitheater parking lot so I wouldn't be in the camp. When I got out to take the dog for the walk, the extra cat was in the foot well and ran into the van, A couple of maintenance people there asked why I wasn't taking the cat for a walk. (ha, ha)

8/9 - North to the Black Hills and the Devil

Cambria Salt Mines Vista - WY Black Hills

Just outside of Lusk, there was a bad motorcycle accident. Most of it had been over by the time I got there except for the lane closures. As we moved north, there were more and more motorcycles on the road. I moved over to the shoulder whenever I could to let them pass me by. There's a lot of dry prairie in eastern WY and the winds are relentless. The Black Hills began immediately north of Newcastle. Beautiful drive. The Ponderosa pines look black from a distance, hence the Black name. The vegetation reminded me of the Black Forest near Colorado Springs.

8/8 - Laramie to Lusk

Today, after our morning camp, making coffee, and playing fetch with the dog, we meandered down to Laramie and spent a few hours doing some shopping and making yesterday's blog post on the Univ. of Wyoming's free guest wi-fi.  I found a lovely food co-op and got some grass fed beef and some heart for the dog along with a lovely salad mix that included nasturtium blossoms.  I fixed some of it with sardines and blue cheese for lunch.