Todd Duncan Tennyson
Well-known member
To me, the fall is a highly anticipated time.
The days get shorter, the sky more blue, and the temperature drops to tolerable round here.
I got a load of firewood to keep me in shape for the next couple of weeks. 14 x 7 x2.5 = 245 cubic feet. A cord of wood is 4x4x8 = 128 cubic feet.
This year, a cord of madrone runs about $400 delivered/split. It is a hardwood, very much like oak, but I think it is better.
A cord of fir is about $300 for the same presentation.
This load of wood seemed sincere, but was “some assembly required.” That’s OK with me. I’ve got a ripping good chainsaw and a new axe that seems to work well on the rounds I am bucking up.
I got the whole thing for $300, so I was happy with that.
We packed up for a few days. During the first trip of the season, packing is critical. Made a good list to start and then rounded up the components and tucked them all into a decent sized tote that I could remove from the back of the truck so that me and the dog could sleep in it. I haven’t got my old Ford Expedition with the 11 ply tires anymore, but I also don’t have to deal with 11 mpg. I miss the space, but I only have one dog now to share it with, and I pack smarter.
I threw in some 15 year old MRE’s to eat and some canned stuff from about 2014.
Buff really likes vintage clam chowder.
I don’t care how old it is, if the seal is still good, we’ll eat it.
It is a long ways out to our spot. About 9 hours one way.
We have to cross most of Oregon diagonally from SW to NE. It is a nice drive, but a long one.
I used to spend a fair amount of time out this way when I was running my mixed breed hounds after rabbits.
We got enough to eat for dinner, had some incredible adventures, and saw some outstanding country. It has been a spell though, and I don’t know if I’ll try to bust jackrabbits with my old 20 gauge much going forward.
You can see that things change geographically, and culturally as you make the trip. The climate dries out alot. The spaces get wider, there is a sense of freedom out there… Least for me and the dog.
There are long and lonely stretches of roadway and no gas or services for hours. I like it (a lot) but I always have a Jerry can with 5 gallons extra in case i take the wrong road, or some other person out there needs a blast to get home.
Anymore, it is about $100 for a good gas can, but it is worth it to have the extra and know that it won’t spill in the vehicle.
Buff is a youngish Golden. The runt of the litter. He’s the true “underdog.”
Everything is completely new to him.
Riding in the truck, even just jumping up into the truck has taken us a while. He still doesn’t understand that he can sling his head out the window and “fly.”
He’s still a bit uncertain about crossing creeks too, but he seems to travel well in the truck and seemed accepting of notion of an “adventure.”
There is a gateway that we have to cross to get to the area I had in mind.
The roadway is really bad, but I figured I’d crawl along. I’ve got tire plugs, a can of fix a flat and a spare tire in case things get sideways. It has been about 15 years since the last time I’d been here. I remembered the way, but a lot of good that did me.
It was disappointing to find the gate closed and locked about 4 miles from the end of our long drive. Too far to hike in in the morning and have enough oomph to do 4 miles in the canyons and then back for another 4 miles.
So we doubled back and found a place that seemed appropriate to sleep that evening. There was a creek, and a roadway, and after dark, nobody came by. The creek seemed to feed into the area where we set up, so I figured that we’d do our best to cross it and work our way up in the morning.
I guess adventures mean not having a particular way to get to the picture you may have painted in your mind. I’d have to dip my brushes in the creek and refresh my pigments.
Buff was OK with that.
Cont’d
The days get shorter, the sky more blue, and the temperature drops to tolerable round here.
I got a load of firewood to keep me in shape for the next couple of weeks. 14 x 7 x2.5 = 245 cubic feet. A cord of wood is 4x4x8 = 128 cubic feet.
This year, a cord of madrone runs about $400 delivered/split. It is a hardwood, very much like oak, but I think it is better.
A cord of fir is about $300 for the same presentation.
This load of wood seemed sincere, but was “some assembly required.” That’s OK with me. I’ve got a ripping good chainsaw and a new axe that seems to work well on the rounds I am bucking up.
I got the whole thing for $300, so I was happy with that.
We packed up for a few days. During the first trip of the season, packing is critical. Made a good list to start and then rounded up the components and tucked them all into a decent sized tote that I could remove from the back of the truck so that me and the dog could sleep in it. I haven’t got my old Ford Expedition with the 11 ply tires anymore, but I also don’t have to deal with 11 mpg. I miss the space, but I only have one dog now to share it with, and I pack smarter.
I threw in some 15 year old MRE’s to eat and some canned stuff from about 2014.
Buff really likes vintage clam chowder.
I don’t care how old it is, if the seal is still good, we’ll eat it.
It is a long ways out to our spot. About 9 hours one way.
We have to cross most of Oregon diagonally from SW to NE. It is a nice drive, but a long one.
I used to spend a fair amount of time out this way when I was running my mixed breed hounds after rabbits.
We got enough to eat for dinner, had some incredible adventures, and saw some outstanding country. It has been a spell though, and I don’t know if I’ll try to bust jackrabbits with my old 20 gauge much going forward.
You can see that things change geographically, and culturally as you make the trip. The climate dries out alot. The spaces get wider, there is a sense of freedom out there… Least for me and the dog.
There are long and lonely stretches of roadway and no gas or services for hours. I like it (a lot) but I always have a Jerry can with 5 gallons extra in case i take the wrong road, or some other person out there needs a blast to get home.
Anymore, it is about $100 for a good gas can, but it is worth it to have the extra and know that it won’t spill in the vehicle.
Buff is a youngish Golden. The runt of the litter. He’s the true “underdog.”
Everything is completely new to him.
Riding in the truck, even just jumping up into the truck has taken us a while. He still doesn’t understand that he can sling his head out the window and “fly.”
He’s still a bit uncertain about crossing creeks too, but he seems to travel well in the truck and seemed accepting of notion of an “adventure.”
There is a gateway that we have to cross to get to the area I had in mind.
The roadway is really bad, but I figured I’d crawl along. I’ve got tire plugs, a can of fix a flat and a spare tire in case things get sideways. It has been about 15 years since the last time I’d been here. I remembered the way, but a lot of good that did me.
It was disappointing to find the gate closed and locked about 4 miles from the end of our long drive. Too far to hike in in the morning and have enough oomph to do 4 miles in the canyons and then back for another 4 miles.
So we doubled back and found a place that seemed appropriate to sleep that evening. There was a creek, and a roadway, and after dark, nobody came by. The creek seemed to feed into the area where we set up, so I figured that we’d do our best to cross it and work our way up in the morning.
I guess adventures mean not having a particular way to get to the picture you may have painted in your mind. I’d have to dip my brushes in the creek and refresh my pigments.
Buff was OK with that.
Cont’d