Let the Vacation Begin!!!

Waterfall along the Trail of the Cedars Nature Trail, Glacier National Park

Monday morning, since it was nice and cool for Roxanne to stay in the truck, we decided to take two familiar hikes in West Glacier.  The first hike was up Trail of the Cedars nature trail.  The second was along Lake McDonald at the end of McDonald Falls Road.  To get to the lake, we traveled through the old burn area.  We watched a pair of rare pileated woodpeckers strip the bark off standing dead timber, looking for bugs.  Later we spied a mother eagle and her eaglet.

Pileated Woodpecker, Glacier National Park

Eagle and Eaglet, Glacier National Park

Tuesday morning, we left West Glacier, in hopes of camping at Many Glaciers Campground in East Glacier.  We drove Going to the Sun Road.  Near Logan Pass, we discovered a herd of mountain goats.  For any of you who have been following our blog, you well know that mountain goats have been elusive for me.  The closest I have ever gotten was probably 500 yards.  Not today!  I was carrying my large zoom lens and kept having to back up to take the shots.  It was fantastic!

Mountain goat resting in the snow, Glacier National Park

Mountain goat kid looking for his mother, Glacier National Park,

Mother Mountain Goat and kid, Glacier National Park

With Many Glaciers campground full, we decided to cross into Canada and spend the night at Waterton National Park.  Our customs experience was smooth and easy.  Within a quarter mile from the border crossing, we saw our first brown bear.  Although I only got a snapshot of his rear end before he retreated into the heavy foliage, we were exhuberant. 

Later, after we entered Canada's Waterton National Park (sister park to Glacier), we found a black bear chomping berries and a deer grazing.  As night began to fall, a buck and doe walked behind our campsite.  

Black bear at Waterton National Park, Alberta, Canada

Red doe grazing at Waterton National Park, Alberta, Canada

Buck in velvet behind our campsite in Waterton National Park, Alberta, Canada

We are in high hopes that we will continue to see these kinds of animals along our route.  The cameras are locked and loaded… time now for some serious photography!

Columbia Falls on Dwellable

Rocky Mountain Outdoor Writers and Photographers Conference 2014

Glacier National Park

After a week visiting family, we skidaddled to Glacier National Park, staying in Salem, South Dakota, then Billings, Montana, on our way.  We arrived in West Glacier on Tuesday, the day before the Rocky Mountain Outdoor Writers and Photographers conference began.  We had decided to camp rather than stay at the hotel.  Thankfully we had made reservations in Fish Creek Campground earlier in the year.  Glacier was busy, with most campgrounds full.

We had never been in Glacier during the middle of the summer.  The park certainly has a different feel in the summer months.  It is full of families.  We loved seeing the kiddos laughing, playing, and enjoying nature.

Boys enjoying Glacier National Park

The Rocky Mountain Outdoor Writers and Photographers Conference was exceptionally great this year.  Although David and I didn’t get to take any of the hikes with West Glacier resident and nationally renowned photographer, Tom Ulrich, the seminars and workshops were outstanding.  We, of course, brought our Golden girl, Roxanne, and had to bow out of the hikes because she can no longer take them with us.  Having her with us is such a joy, however, that we were hardly disappointed.

I love this eclectic group of people that makes up RMOWP.  The best part is that practically everyone there is anxious to share and/or learn, whether they are acclaimed National Geographic-level photographers, well published authors, or those just learning their skills.  I am happy to report that I received many kudos on my writing workshop on The Power of Place.   I even garnered a few awards in the photo and writing contests!

During the midst of the conference, I received a frantic note from our Angel Reach friends (angelreach.org) that the website that I had been managing for them had been compromised.  Unfortunately, none of it was salvageable.  As a result, I spent every spare moment during the conference trying to rebuild the website.  While it was a distraction from the RMOWP events, it certainly took my focus off giving my workshop!  

The conference ended Saturday evening.  I finished rebuilding the website Sunday morning.  Now vacation truly begins!  

David and I took Sunday afternoon and drove around the park.  We found a cow moose walking upstream with her calf.  Unfortunately, I was too late to photograph them, but it was wonderful just to see them in this beautiful park.

Columbia Falls on Dwellable

Four Wheel Camper Modifications (Part Four)

One of best upgrades that we have done to our Four Wheel camper is to upgrade and move the external water drain.  Because we spend more time outside the camper than inside, we often fill Roxanne's water bowl, etc., from the drain line outside the camper.  The original drain spigot was located behind the camper door.  The spigot, itself, was also very cheap and difficult to use.

The original water drain line can be seen to the left of the door.  The new spigot is on the right.

To solve this problem, David pulled up the threshold to the door, hoping to figure out a way to re-route the drain to the opposite (passenger's) side of the camper.  To our surprise, we discovered that the threshold already had a recessed channel that would accommodate the rerouted water drain line.  David simply ran a new water line from the tank using the same path as the original then extended it under the threshold to a new spigot on the right side of the door. (The spigot is a conventional flanged valve for a hose bib.)  He drilled a hole in the aluminum frame for the piping.  Now we can use the water drain line as an outdoor water source.  In addition, we added a cap for the drain which makes it much more sanitary (particularly since we travel off-road so often).

Our new water spigot with sanitary screw cap.

In order to monitor the battery power level, we added a volt meter and a switch to turn the meter on and off to conserve power.

Electric box on Raven

We also placed the thermostat above the height of the bed from its original position below the bed.  Because hot air rises, we found that the temperature was always hotter towards the ceiling, so we wanted to raise the thermostat closer to the temperature where we slept.  We found a thermostat that can be set as low as 40 degrees... necessary for such a confined space.  The thermostat adheres to one of the support panels with industrial-strength Velcro so that we can remove it when traveling.  The thermostat rests in one of the canvas pouches when not in use.

One more upgrade to post this time around...  We have also installed external lift assists in the front and rear of the camper to help raise the roof.  (Four Wheel Camper's option were internal lifts.  They would not work with a king-size bed and also restricted access to the point that we feared that one of us... most likely me... would hang themselves on one of them before the first night was through!)  With the new lift assists, I can lift the roof by myself.  If you'd like more details, please leave a comment.

External lift assists for Four Wheel Camper

Now on to more adventures!

Four Wheel Camper Modifications (Part Three)

Inside our Raven Four Wheel Camper (driver's side)

We opted for the Raven shell because we needed the extra floor space, particularly since we travel with our 100-pound Golden.  One of the things that we particularly wanted in a camper was a dinette table.  While Four Wheel Camper offered an optional dinette, we felt that it was simply too large for our needs.  To solve the problem, we retrofitted an old TV tray.

Our dinette table closed.

We mounted the TV tray against the water tank cabinet, under the pass-through window to the truck.  David rigged a pulley system to collapse the legs so that the table rested the height of the water tank cabinet and would raise the table to the proper height when we need it.  

This pulley system allows us to collapse and raise our dinette table.

Once the table is open, we can sit across from one another and have sufficient space to eat a meal, play a game, or use our laptops.

Our dinette table open

Our next problem involved the water fill piping system.  We had asked that the water fill and piping be lowered as much as possible.  Unfortunately, it was not.  As a result, one of us often had to lean against the rigid pipes, which was quite uncomfortable.

Our original water fill line piping system

To alleviate this problem, we purchased high-density foam cut to the size we needed.  David used an electric knife, cutting grooves in the foam to accommodate the piping.  Then I covered the cushions with fabric and voila... this is so much more comfortable!

New cushions against the water piping make this area much more comfortable!

We ordered curtains with our Raven Four Wheel Camper as well as a screen door.  When the camper arrived, we discovered that the curtain to the back door was placed between the screen and door.  Not only was it very unpractical, but it did nothing for privacy when only the screen door was in use.  To open or close the curtain, we had to exit the camper and separate the screen and door to close or open the curtain.  To solve the problem, I sewed a curtain from duck cloth to go over the back door and made it the full length of the opening in case we were using just the screen door.  We hung the curtain using aluminum curtain track and snap tape.  Now we can close the curtain from the inside of the camper.  To draw the curtain closed, we gather it shut and wrap it with self-adhering Velcro.

The new back door curtain can be closed from inside the camper.

We also installed a homemade sink earlier in our camper modifications.  To learn more about the sink, click here:  Sink from wood, a shower bag, and embroidery hoop

In our final post about our camper modifications, we'll look at the changes we made to the electrical and watering system.

Four Wheel Camper Modifications (Part Two)

Space saving and organization are the trick to living comfortably in a confined space.  This post will cover how we have modified our Raven Four Wheel Camper shell model to store more gear.

We flipped the cabinet upside down and installed a towel rack and a removable storage container.  Notice that we also moved the awning crank to rest along side the door.  

We opted for the king-size bed in our Raven and have slides to accommodate the extra cushions.  To make storage more efficient, we relocated the cabinet (we affectionately call it the head-knocker cabinet) and butted it up against the bed slides.  We also flipped the head-knocker cabinet upside down so that the doors now hang down because we couldn't easily see inside the cabinet and it took two hands to remove anything from it... one to hold the door open and the other to fish out the item we needed.  Now that the cabinet door hangs down, it is much more convenient to see inside the cabinet and remove items.

To further utilize the area under the head-knocker cabinet, we installed a paper towel rack to the bottom of the cabinet.  We also moved the awning crank from its position on the seat under the window.  We removed the catches and placed them along side the door.  Now we don't need to crawl into the camper to access the crank.

Originally the fire extinguisher and its case were placed in the middle of the wall below the head-knocker cabinet.  We removed the case and relocated the fire extinguisher to the corner by the back window.  This allowed room for an additional, removable storage box.  We screwed self-adhering Velcro straps into the camper wall and wrapped the box and fire extinguisher separately to the wall to allow easy access and to avoid having items bounce around the cabin.

We also installed curtain tracks for snap tape curtains along the back wall of the camper.  I made some handy pouches to hang along the track for additional storage.  As you can see in the photo above, we have a short pouch behind the head-knocker cabinet (on the passenger side of the door).  We also have two pouches to the right of the door.  The first small pouch holds our thermostat (more about that in another post).  The second, larger pouch holds kitchen goods.

Using curtain track and snap tape, we made pockets to store additional items.

When David was working on the water and electrical system, he removed the panels around the furnace.  To our surprise, we found several areas of unused space.  The first was directly under the furnace and battery box (located in the rear on the driver's side).

David boxed in this area, and we found a container that holds my spices perfectly.  The spice rack is also held in place with self-adhering Velcro.

Spice rack below furnace and battery box.

There was also a pocket of space around the corner from the spice rack.  David boxed this in also and built a door for it.  The space is sufficiently wide to hold paper goods.

New storage cabinet.

More modifications in our next post...

Final Four Wheel Camper Modifications (Part One)

Many folks have asked us how we store and load our Four Wheel Camper.  We store our camper in our garage.  Our garage is too short to drive the truck into it with the camper loaded, so we move the camper to and from the truck with a dolly and tracks that David built.  

The dolly is made of 2x6" boards cut to the length of the bottom of our Raven camper.  The cross pieces are made from light-weight, galvanized and perforated steel angle.  The wheels are heavy duty, swivel dolly wheels.  The tracks in the background guide the dolly wheels, keeping it straight as we guide it under the camper.  The tracks are made from 2x6" boards with wood guides on either side to keep the wheels in the middle of the track. (If you're interested in more details, please leave us a comment.)  Because our driveway is not level, we use boards to level the tracks.

Homemade dolly and tracks for our Raven Four Wheel Camper

To load the camper onto the truck, we roll it on the dolly onto the tracks (it is light enough for me to roll by myself).  We then push the camper to the end of the tracks to clear our roof line.

We roll the camper to the end of the tracks.

Then we raise the camper to a sufficiently high level so that we can back the truck under it.  Of course, before we begin backing up the truck, we remove the tracks, boards, and dolly from underneath the camper.

We raise the camper, then remove the dolly and tracks from under it.

To unload the camper, we reverse the loading process.  We store the camper on the dolly in our garage so that we can move it around whenever necessary.  

Our next post will detail some of our space-saving modifications...

On the Road Again!!!

We three left home bright and early this morning.  Our first destination:  Tulsa (to visit David's brother and family).  After two days here, we're off to visit David's mother for a few days.  Then we zip west to Glacier National Park and the Rocky Mountain Outdoor Writers and Photographers 2014 conference (rmowp.org).  From there... NORTH!!!

Since we'll be spending the remainder of this week visiting family, I plan to post updates about our now completed camper modifications.  As most of you know, we travel in a Four Wheel Camper Raven shell (www.fourwheelcampers.com) and have modified it "expedition" style.

We made it to Tulsa today... Life is good!!!