ratpackdrifters

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Hope everyone is having a good evening tonight! Currently have a storm rolling in, but all good so far.

Some us here about people wanting to do the off grid lifestyle, long term, or semi long term, but don’t quite understand how much work is involved off grid living takes.

Since I work during the day, I’m up by 3am to get the wood stove going to get hot water for coffee every morning. I set myself an hour before my typical wake up time. After work, firewood gathering, scouting areas of animal tracks, 4 mile area of checking over a dozen traps every 2 days, getting the fire ready to cook dinner, checking water levels, then finally down to relax for an hour or so before the process starts all over again. When it’s time for bed, one thing I learned is to get the stove ready but don’t ignite until you wake up in the middle of the night from freezing. I was getting the fire going right before bed, then freezing all night because the wood was burnt up. The more fire pits and wood stoves you are using, be expected to double your work load. With two fire pits being used for all meals, and one for warmth, firewood gathering takes twice as long if not longer. Other things to look at in preparation for a trip like is:

Weather: is there a possibility of rain, and wind, are you in an area of possible tornadoes, hurricanes and so on? These are things to prepare for.

Checklist: the number one thing people forget on weekend camp trip, or long term outdoor camping is toilet paper. Luckily I make sure to always remember this, but this trip was a can of chili with no can opener. Luckily a spiked rebar stake off the tent and hammer fixed that issue. Making a checklist is something needed. Being able to zero in on the fine details is what will help make your trip a lot smoother.

Damaged Items: if something gets damaged what will you do? Tent in a wind storm getting demolished, tarp shelter ripping. By all means, do not throw anything away! More then likely you will find some sort of use for it.

Protection: Researching wildlife in the area is a must! In another blog I’ll be showing some ways of keeping predators away.

Fulltime RVing isn’t for everyone, this definitely is only for a selected group that can physically, and mentally do it. I would suggest to give it a try on a long or short term trip, just so you have the knowledge what you would be looking at with isolation from media, people, and the constant process of having a job that doesn’t end. We are currently located about 5 miles off the nearest main road in the mountains in Central Oregon. I can’t give exact location on here due to safety issues. To me, this is the ultimate freedom and hope you find yours out there if you haven’t already. Blogs coming up with be techniques used for trapping, we will check out some of Oregon’s hot spots to see if ever in the state, devices used off grid, and a little detail of the type of work I’m doing out here.

Stay safe, and enjoy what Mother Nature has to offer.

Off-grid Tent Camping (Central Oregon) Hope everyone is having a good evening tonight! Currently have a storm rolling in, but all good so far.

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How to maximize your next road trip!

How to maximize your next road trip!

Theres nothing worst then planning a road trip just to get from point “A” to point “B”, and passing hidden attraction along the way, or burning yourself out with to much driving. Those that have been following my page for awhile, know that when I make a road trip, I see attractions along the way. Some may not even have known that these places existed, or didn’t know how to find a specific…

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”In 1974, with much media fanfare, dare devil Evel Knievel tried and failed to leap the mile-wide chasm of the Snake River Canyon on his specialty, engineered rocket motorcycle. His drogue parachute accidentally malfunctioned, and opened on take off. Evel and his contraption floated to the bottom of the canyon, landing on the near shore (if he would have gone into the river, his safety harness probably would have drowned him)”.

Author: Unknown

Most of us, but not all of us, remember or have heard about dare devil Evel Knievel. Some of the jumps that he made, no sane minded person would even think about doing. One of his big stunts on the Snake River in Twin Falls, Idaho turned out to be a disaster due to issues with his parachute. Today, when you make a pit stop to the location of his jump, you can find a grave-stone like marker with a carved likeness of the rocket powered motorcycle. The large dirt ramp is approximately 2 miles east of this point on the south ridge of the canyon.

If this isn’t something that might interest you, it’s still worth the trip to see the magnificent structure of the Perrine Bridge that you cross to see the historical marker.

The Perrine Bridge is approximately 1,500 feet (457 m) in total length, with a main span of 993 feet (303 m) and a deck height of 486 feet (148 m) above the Snake River. It is the eighth heighest bridge in the United States. Elevation above sea level, the bridge deck is approximately 3,600 feet (1,100 m).

The bridge is named for I.B. Perrine (1861–1943), who spearheaded the early 20th century irrigation projects in the Magic Valley region and is largely credited as the main founder of Twin Falls; a statue of Perrine is at the visitors’ center at the south end of the bridge.

  Evel Knievel Snake River Monument (Twin Falls, Idaho) ”In 1974, with much media fanfare, dare devil Evel Knievel tried and failed to leap the mile-wide chasm of the Snake River Canyon on his specialty, engineered rocket motorcycle.

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Sometimes free campgrounds can be an area that you don’t want to spend more then 1 night at due to traffic, garbage, bad area and so on… Other times free campgrounds can be a gold mine that you would expect to have to pay for to get in. Luckily, Minors Canyon on Lake Utah was a goldmine!

There were quite a few boondockers at this location, which did make it a bit of a pain to find a spot. Big rigs are required to park above, and down below to the lake you will have people fishing for the day, kids playing in the water, while others were there to just relax and catch some sun. If your tent camping, or driving a van or sprinter, you can get away with camping down at the lake.

There are multiple signs stating how far you can be on the BLM land until your trespassing on someone’s property, and where vehicles can, and can’t go.

Town is only 10 miles away, so it isn’t to bad to get groceries, or fuel if need be. Backwoods boondockers know that at times, you can be back in so far that it’s worth getting everything upfront before trekking in to your camp.

Overall this was a pretty nice camp, bit crowded, but that’s to be expected when your getting free camping with some amazing views, and water front within distance of town.

Minors Canyon (Saratoga Springs, Utah) Sometimes free campgrounds can be an area that you don’t want to spend more then 1 night at due to traffic, garbage, bad area and so on...

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Welcome to the Arches National Park located in Moab, Utah!

This place was amazing to see, and is well worth the stop if passing by. If your hauling a big rig, this might be an issue getting into the park due to a very steep inclines hill with multiple sharp switch backs. Places like this is why I’m glad the 5th wheel was left behind, because there would be no way of hauling the trailer up the hill.

If you don’t have the National park pass, expect to pay $30.00 min. To get in. There’s an information center at the main parking lot that gives the history, and information on the park that is worth checking out. The drive up will have multiple pullovers to get pictures, or head out on the hiking trails to get deeper into the rock formations. Expect to spend a good 3 to 4 hours here if not longer. Of course like anything, you save the best for last, which is why you will want to drive to the end to see some of the most amazing rock structures that the park has to offer. Not sure what the exact miles are, but you can expect to have about a 15 mile drive (or so it seemed) to see the driving part of the park, with endless trailheads at each major destination along the way.

Overall, the price may seem to be a bit steep to get in, but if this is a once in a lifetime experience, I would highly look at making a stop here. It’s an experience you’ll never forget, but may regret in the future of not making the stop.

Arches National Park (Moab, Utah) Welcome to the Arches National Park located in Moab, Utah! This place was amazing to see, and is well worth the stop if passing by.

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  Hope everyone had a good Father’s Day!

This campground outside of the Navajo Indian reservation is probably one of the best free camping spots I’ve stayed at. There was another one I stayed at about a year in a half ago outside of Jackson Mississippi about 40 miles South that would give Brown Springs camp a run for its money.

The campground is 3 miles down a dirt road off of the main road, with other areas to set up camp for the night, if you don’t want to make the full trip out. If you have ATVs, bring them along. With miles of trail riding on the BLM land, this is the perfect place to set up camp, and enjoy some trail riding, or hiking.

Finding free campgrounds can be a challenge in certain areas, but not impossible. Knowing where, and how to find the information is something that really is needed to make life a lot easier of knowing where you are looking to camp, instead of just hoping for the best.

Have a great day everyone, and we will see you at the Arches National Park in Moab, Utah.

Brown Springs Campground (NW New Mexico) Hope everyone had a good Father’s Day! This campground outside of the Navajo Indian reservation is probably one of the best free camping spots I’ve stayed at.

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Good morning everyone! Hope everyone is having a good morning so far.

If your looking for a nice place to stay, Bottomless Lakes State Park is a good place to be able to park the RV, and enjoy your time adventuring the aliens in town. Bottomless Lakes State Park has hiking trails, paddle boat rentals for the lakes, and a play area for the young ones. The place was really nice, but a lot of rules which some campers don’t mind, but others may.

We ended up going a couple miles down the road past the state park and found campsites scattered with restrooms, and water. The place was nice and quiet, with some amazing sunset views.

Roswell, New Mexico is a place that I will never forget, and even with all of the problems that happened there, in the end worked out to be quite an experience that I can look back on of what the nomadic lifestyle sometimes bring to your front door. Those that nomad by RV, tent, or drift, know that problems are always around the corner when you least experience it. How you deal with these problems is how the outcome will be.

Safe travels everyone, and we will see you again soon as we make our way in towards Colorado, and Utah

  Bottomless Lakes State Park (about 20 miles East of Roswell, New Mexico) Good morning everyone! Hope everyone is having a good morning so far. If your looking for a nice place to stay, Bottomless Lakes State Park is a good place to be able to park the RV, and enjoy your time adventuring the aliens in town.

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Welcome to Roswell, New Mexico.

Im going to keep this blog on how I would have seen it if issues with the truck didn’t happen, but unfortunately the trip to Roswell starts with the truck issues.

About 80 miles East of Roswell New Mexico, the truck started sputtering as if needing fuel. Trying to make it to the next town 20 miles to go, check engine light came on, and truck just died. My biggest fear on the road is breaking down in the desert, miles and miles away from any cell service. If you’ve gone through Palm Springs, California to Parker, Arizona, you probably understand with 100 mile spaces of no fuel or cell reception. Luckily I had reception, but decided to try to start it up again. Made it 5 feet and just died.

I ended up calling for a tow which the nearest dispatch was in Roswell and the only place that had mechanics and auto part stores. Once the driver loaded us up so told him I believed it was water in the fuel, or fuel pump was bad which he agreed after seeing the symptoms.

On our way into Roswell his truck started acting up the same as mine which we had to pull over, drain the water out that mixed in with the diesel so I believed that it was the gas station I filled up at last ( which still wonder about).

I had him drop me off at auto zone to put some fuel treatment in (which he did also for his truck). We got the RPMs running good, no stalls, or any problems. Thought “great, going to head to camp about 18 miles from here”… things never go as planned.

5.6 miles to the camp, the truck dies again. Ended up road siding it for the night which wasn’t bad when you have solar, a radio, and a 12 pack on ice next to a camp chair. Besides the mosquitoes, it was pretty nice.

Next morning I decided to make a run for it to town to hopefully get to an auto parts, but died again right in front of the sign to welcome me to Roswell. Town was still a good 8 miles to go, and another 2 to the closest auto parts… called for another tow back to autozone.

I started calling mechanic shops to see if I could get it in to get a diagnostic of what the issue was before I decided to start draining 100.00 in fuel. All shops in town were booked up for a min. Of 2 weeks, and only 2 shops in the town work on diesels which were over a month wait. After doing plenty of research, and talking with family and friends, all of us agreed that it sounded like water in the gas so at autozone, I got the tools needed and drained the tanks, added fuel, and more additives to the fuel. Took it not even a block, and it died in the middle of the road.

A neighbor in the area helped push the truck to the curb, and I just desired I need a break from the truck, and Roswell still hasn’t been explored besides autozone.

Main Street has the main attractions in the town when it comes to aliens. You can’t pass a clinic, fast food restaurant, or government building without it having to do something with aliens. Gas stations have alien wood carved aliens. Pass by Baskin Robbins ice cream and you will find a 50’ alien holding the sign. Mc Donald’s is shaped like a UFO that lights up at night. Inside looks like aluminum walls and roof. Gift shops have everything you could imagine dealing with aliens.

after a tour of the town desired to head back to mess with the truck to accomplish a task that I didn’t believe was going to get fixed.

Once the truck quit starting all together, I decided it was time for a hotel for the night since I was stuck in town. The guy that helped push the truck offered to park it in his driveway so that it wasn’t in the open, so We got the truck parked, and reeked 1.7 miles to a dog friendly hotel to take a break.

The next morning I tried starting the truck and the batteries were completely dead. Luckily Autozone was across the street so I took a battery over to be tested and found out that both batteries were completely shot. I thought I did pretty good getting the life out of them that I did that were 2 years beyond there life.

2 new batteries, later, I got enough power to get the truck back to Autozone to try and drain the tanks again to start the process over since I still had some fuel that was missed. In fear of ruining my injectors I made multiple trip to the gas station with a 5 gallon diesel can to fill up again and start the process again but this time with a new fuel filter. Once done, thinking it would work this time… and nothing. Luckily one of my brothers is a diesel mechanic (Kirk Sawyer) and recommend checking the cam sensor. Of course AutoZone didn’t have it so found an O’Reilly auto parts that had one left, so walked 2 miles to pick it up, installed it, The the truck started right up.

Hope if you visit, you have a better experience. Over all I like Roswell, Seems to be more of a tourist trap and the only place you find companies competing not of what they have to offer, but who has the best alien. My next post will be on a really nice camp I found that you will probably enjoy if your in the area and looking for a camp.

Goodnight everyone, and we will see you on the next stop.

  Roswell, New Mexico Welcome to Roswell, New Mexico. Im going to keep this blog on how I would have seen it if issues with the truck didn’t happen, but unfortunately the trip to Roswell starts with the truck issues.

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Hello everyone! As some of you know I’ve been stuck in Roswell, New Mexico for going on the last 3 days but will get into more detail on that with the next blog I do.

Those of you that fulltime RV, and have been three Texas, know that kindling free camping can be damn near impossible. When you cut back to renting, this makes it 10 time worst finding an area that is decent.

After doing my research trying to find a camp, I finally found one in San Angelo, Texas that met everything plus some of what I was looking for to pull an overnighter on this new journey.

Foster park has 4 days of free camping, picnic table, and BBQ grill for each site. A beautiful pond to swim, fish or feed the ducks that will come right up to you searching for food. As of right now, campfires are ok since there has been so much rain this last season.

pros: free camping, beautiful scenery, not many campers during the work week but weekends I here gets pretty crowded

cons: close to a road that gets a good amount of traffic, closest anything is 10 miles away, bathrooms are in the day use area across the river with the only access of driving or walking across the bridge.

This was a real gem finding such a nice campground in a state that is hard to find free camping. If you have any questions about here, send me an email. Like I said earlier, my next post will be in Roswell, New Mexico that has put a little damper on things for the moment on vehicle issues.

  Foster Park – San Angelo, Texas Hello everyone! As some of you know I’ve been stuck in Roswell, New Mexico for going on the last 3 days but will get into more detail on that with the next blog I do.

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How To Make Money On The Road

I had a post about a year in a half ago about a typical day workamping at campgrounds, but haven’t gave a whole lot of detail on how to find these jobs, or if someone wants to start doing this life style but doesn’t have a rig to haul. This post will help the new RVers that are riding on the sales of there house they just sold but have no knowledge on how to find work, and for others that can’t…

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Changes for the Summer

“Make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing, or been too hesitant to attempt. So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservation, all of which may appear to give one peace of…

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How To Make Money On The Road

I had a post about a year in a half ago about a typical day workamping at campgrounds, but haven’t gave a whole lot of detail on how to find these jobs, or if someone wants to start doing this life style but doesn’t have a rig to haul. This post will help the new RVers that are riding on the sales of there house they just sold but have no knowledge on how to find work, and for others that can’t…

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Changes for the Summer

“Make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing, or been too hesitant to attempt. So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservation, all of which may appear to give one peace of…

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Cowboys of the Sky

When I quit working iron with the Pacific NW Ironworkers #29 to venture into new territories, I never felt any less brotherhood with other Ironworkers, and still today support them, and understand how dangerous the job can be. There’s a saying “Once an Ironworkers, always an Ironworker.” There is so much truth to be had in this.

Recently there was a collision that killed 2 Ironworkers out of…

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Hello everyone, I know it’s been some time since my last post, but prefer to blog with the adventures, and not the everyday normal life of work.

It has been 8 months working at Austin Orchards working with a variety of fruits, vegetables, and farm animals outside of Austin Texas. As most of you know that have been following from day one, this is a LONG time for me of staying put for that amount of time.

Those of you that don’t know, but remember Drifter, he has passed away due to antifreeze poisoning. Before he went, he did have some beautiful puppies with one of the old chocolate labs that we had here at the farm, and ended up taking one that has more of the markings of a German shepherd… Meet Gypsy.

She has been a very good dog so far, and hope that she stays that way.

My dad came out here for a month to see what Austin Texas had to offer with a little NASCAR, Indy Car, and Moto GP racing to venturing off into some of the best BBQ that you won’t find in the Pacific NW. It was great having him here, and for him to have a better understanding of what this lifestyle is like.

For any of the Fulltime RVers that follow my page, Austin Orchards is with Harvesthost now, so if in the area, stop on by.

I am gearing up to take off for the summer back to Oregon, but will be making this trip a bit different, possibly more extreme, or some may even consider it nuts. My next post will give more details on what will be soon to come for the trip back to Oregon.

Have an awesome day, and safe travels if on the road!

Farm Life Hello everyone, I know it’s been some time since my last post, but prefer to blog with the adventures, and not the everyday normal life of work.

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When traveling Route 66, make sure you don’t blink or you may miss the state of Kansas that this Hwy travels through!

When reading about attractions to see in Kansas, most of the reviews I read was the drive is only about 14 mins. in. Yes, this state was very short, but has been my favorite so far out of the states traveled on this Hwy due solely on luck of a stop we made.

  As We came into Kansas, we knew that we had to find a spot where souvenirs, and gifts were sold before we got into Oklahoma. (Those that travel full time I’m sure know why these places are very important).

We ended up in Baxter Springs Kansas where we found a Route 66 Travel Center, so we decided to stop to see what they had in there. Place is set up like an old gas station and is hard to miss in Baxter Springs. We ended up buying a couple items, talked to the guy working there, and got our names marked on the board. We were guided to backtrack to Galena, Kansas to see where Radiator Springs was inspired from, with the real life Cars autographed by the inspirations behind each of the main characters.

  Meet the man we were talking to in the Route 66 visitor center. Dean Walker.

Dean Walker’s old tow truck is on the far right, followed by Tow Mator. Talk about making a lucky stop to see!

Kansas was our favorite on this Hwy so far, but there is still more Hwy to see, and attractions to visit.

Have a great Monday everyone and we will see you in Oklahoma.

  Route 66 (Kansas) When traveling Route 66, make sure you don’t blink or you may miss the state of Kansas that this Hwy travels through!

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Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

So before I start this blog I wanted to mention that It looks like I was wrong about the Cars characters being on Route 66. Kitty did correct me on it. The good news, is that we did come across other Cars characters a couple blocks of of the Old 66 highway that we will be talking about in our next blog.

We ended up looking for a winery to boondock for the night with Harvesthost and found this small winery called OOVVDA Winery.

The place didn’t look like much from the outside until you head in and see what they had to offer. This winery did by far have the best red wines I’ve had so far since on the road checking out the wineries.

  Once the host got us set up where to park, we had another arrival of a couple from California that was staying overnight. The host gave us a small tour in the back where he does all of his brewing.

Our host brought us in to the tasting room, asked us what types of wines we liked, then did free sampling’s of the different ones. I will just say, that if your into red wines, birthday cake, and strawberry are ones to check out.

The owner is Norwegian, and decided to build this business up as a Viking style theme, which made it very unique from the past wineries visited in the past.

We ended up buying a couple bottles, and headed outside to relax for the rest of the day. So far, I have been very impressed with the different wineries visited so far, that all have there differences of what I’ve enjoyed about them. I will list below the address and phone number to here if your in the area and with harvest host, looking to stop by for a quick stop, or are looking to buy online (some states won’t allow for online ordering).

OOVVDA Winery Contact: Brian Overboe or Tatum Address: 5448 N. Berry Lane, Springfield, MO 65803 Located: 8mi N of Springfield or 3mi n of I 44 Exit 80 off Hwy H. Parking is grass/dirt/gravel Telephone: (417) 833-4896 Website: http://www.oovvda.com GPS Coordinates: 37.294041 -93.269418 Hours: Daily noon to dark and by appointment. More: Large selection of grape & fruit wines, croquet & bocci.

Have a great rest of the weekend everyone!

    OOVVDA Winery (Springfield, Missouri) Hope everyone is having a good weekend! So before I start this blog I wanted to mention that It looks like I was wrong about the Cars characters being on Route 66.