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Mon Sep 25, 2017 12:35 pm

Story starts previous page.

Saturday Morning came bright and beautiful. Man AC makes such a difference when camping! I decided to take some pics while the coffee brewed.

This place is quiet and quite peaceful.

After breakfast we decided to go walking the trails and see the "falls". Very beautiful country.

This was a balsy ass kid. Each time he'd climb higher and higher and jump. I miss those invincible days.

I present to you, "The Falls".

After a couple hours of hiking around, we went back. You know what goes good with hikes? NAPS. Especially naps with Air Conditioning. FO REALZ.

The rest of the evening was much like the night before. Food, fellowship and friends until the early hours.

Mon Sep 25, 2017 12:37 pm

Location: VW Bus - Osage Hills State Park
Time: 3:11 AM

A sound that can only be described as a horde of rabid elephants tap dancing on my roof woke me from a deep deep bourbon laced air conditioned sleep. Groggily, I wondered what the load rating of my roof was, and decided to go investigate further. (I'd probably be the one that dies in a horror movie I suspect.) Armed only with my Canon and improper fearlessness, I climbed out to see what vile vicious creatures I have to defeat.

This sole, alone sonofabitch.

He gave two sh*ts and no f*cks that I was standing there "shoo-ing" him like I was crazy. I flashed all nine million watts of my camera at him, and I could almost swear he popped me a baby middle finger or two. Probably four. I think they can use their feet like hands right? Regardless, I finally got him to scram, and went back to bed.

Location: VW Bus - Osage Hills State Park
Time: 7:45 am

"So... you and your friends just drink and eat bologna all night or what?"

Literally the most random phrase I have ever woken up to in my life. Ever. And I once fell asleep with a penthouse magazine out when I was a kid and lived with my mom. This was way more weird.

I opted for the "or what" and climbed out of the bus. This racoon sonofabitch managed to open my cooler, eat the bologna, eggs and potato salad. Like i can see his little furry ass sitting in my cooler with his little teddy bear looking rat ass in my ice, having an egg bologna potato salad party. Not sure how he managed to open the cooler when I had it closed, and several heavy rocks on it, but looks like he won this round.

Asshole Raccoon 1
Kirk 0

As a side note, the squirrels here are also d*cks. This one is leisurely enjoying someones powdered donut. I chatter I hear from him is basically him laughing at us I think.

Doesnt really matter, as its Sunday morning and we were heading home anyway. All I needed was coffee, which I had. Goodbyes were said, and off we went. On the way home, we did stop for some Egg McMuffins, and I bought a tank of 100% gas, which I only seem to be able to find in Oklahoma.

Heading back however, Bear started to hesitate, stutter and stumble. Never died, but ran poorly. And when I got home the bumper was hot to the touch. I need to go through it and see what I'm dealing with, and its time for a full tune up anyway. Regardless, that was a very fun 600+ mile round trip campout and I look forward to hitting the road again soon.

Thanks for hanging out, Constant Reader. Until next time.

Mon Sep 25, 2017 12:46 pm

Man I can't wait to get my Bus finished so I can take it camping with my wife and daughter. I will definitely be looking into the window unit A\C, these muggy hot Georgia summers are brutal. Awesome trip and good looking Bus!

Mon Sep 25, 2017 1:14 pm

Awesome! Can't wait to be doing that too!

Mon Sep 25, 2017 1:32 pm

Looks like fun.

Mon Sep 25, 2017 3:44 pm

Kirk wrote: Location: VW Bus - Osage Hills State Park
Time: 3:11 AM

Nice thread & trip. I love the Osage, my mom lives near there... Anyway, for the ethonal free gas there's www.pure-gas.org They also have an app for finding gas stations.

Cheers!
Mike

Wed Sep 27, 2017 2:45 pm

Well thats super helpful, thanks!

And yeah, Osage was awesome! Hope to be able to go again.

Wed Sep 27, 2017 9:05 pm

Sure thing, thanks!
The Tall Grass Prairie north of Pawhuska is a fun trip too.
Happy travels!

Mon Feb 19, 2018 4:35 pm

You thought I was dead, yeah? You didnt? Just as well.

Not sure how i forgot to update this, but once, on a wild hair, I decided I needed to hike Palo Duro. On an even wilder hair, I decided I should take Bear with me! So away we went, 385 miles one way. Blah blah, traffic, blah blah bored, blah blah really damn glad I have vanagon seats in this damn bus, blah blah. And then there it was.

Bout damn time and totally worth it.

I head on into the park and this place is just as amazing as I had been lead to believe. Grinning ear to ear, I pull up to pay for my spot. The guy at the window informs me he loves my "hippie bug van" and was extremely excited to tell me so. Requesting the "hippie bug van" campsite discount got me nowhere, so I listened to all his anecdotal tales surrounding what appeared to be a ultra rare Porsche powered super beetle. You know, not a regular beetle, a "super". If you read that in conspiratorial tones, you are doing it right. I signed my waivers, promising to be a good boy, without any firearms or devils cabbage and such and headed on in.

Photo op!

After playing with pictures for a bit, i continued on, further down into the canyon.

I didnt make it in time (of year) to see the musical, but I always wanted to see the amphitheater anyway. I mean really, who can pass up more pics than I will ever really need infront of an oversized TEXAS? Not me thats for sure! More photo ops!

Further in we go!

Mon Feb 19, 2018 4:36 pm

I was assigned spot #10 in Hackberry. I chose that campground because of its walking proximity to several trailheads. Be advised you gotta make reservations way in advance for pretty much anything in Palo Duro. Which is why i found myself there on a Thursday when I should (should? really? Nah.) have been at work. There is no better feeling than putt putting through palo duro campgrounds listening to (insert your music here. My soundtrack was Tom Petty's Wildflowers album I'm pretty sure) music waving to all the friendly people. So I reach campsite 10. Probably not the one I would have chosen since it faces the sun, but it will do. Big money RV on my left, big money rv on my right, little old me right in the middle. This couple were young and super cool. I loved their Econoline!

Luckily #10 has thick trees on either side so they cant see my blessed simplicity and I cant see the opulent oversized land whales all around. Me and Kid Econoline were the coolest cats on the block by far. Backing in, I step out into the wild and stretch my back. You know what would set this moment right? Exactly, a frosty beverage. So I go to the place where the beverages are kept. And found the beverage keeper has peed its ice melt all over my rear cushion, which had absolutely nothing at all to do with the fact that Im too stupid to put the drain plug in. Remember me being unhappy about facing the sun? That all changes when you need to dry bedding.

Laaaaaaaaaaaaaand whaaaaaaaaaaaaaale. But they had cable, real heat and an actual stove. (none of which i need anyway, suckas)

So I unpack, generically, and decide to get one trail in before night fall. The Paseo del Rio is nearby and only 1.3 miles or so one way. Easy, and I need to stretch out a bit anyhoo.

Down and back just as it starts to get dusk. Perfectly timed, and now its time to grill and eat the meats.

I even brought a book I was intending to read, and other tasty beverages. I made a drink, and read till dark.

But before I retired to the comfort of my old volkswagen, I had one thing left to do. Having been previously assaulted while camping (see also: wild assholish racoon attacks) I decided their little asses would not be eating my damn potato salad this time. (disclaimer I didnt have any this time). So I had previously ordered a very very high tech and specific set of racoon locks for my ice chest, and was excited to try it out. After very minimal issues, I stepped away proud to consider my food safe.

There is no bed, in the history of beds, as comfy as this bus, under that moon, with nice cool breezes after two healthy and delicious adult beverages. I crawled in, and stared at the nine million stars until I feel into a deep, coma like sleep. Goodnight moon.

Editors note: I woke up at 3:15am, and closed the hatch. Even with my -26deg sleeping bag, it was cold as hell. Nice, but cold as hell. Brr.

Mon Feb 19, 2018 4:37 pm

Two and one half hours later (5:45), my alarm woke me up, fully rested and ready to attack the day. Sunrise in the canyon is 8:02am, and I wanted to be well inside when the sun came up.

I fired up the coffee pot, enjoyed a nice cup while the world woke up around me. Solo camping is just so damn good for the soul. And the patented racoon lock system worked famously! I saw dozens (maybe dozens. Maybe like a couple) rat-coon tracks around and some pawprints on the cooler itself, but they left hungry and thwarted! Straining, I can just almost hear a whole chorus of them praying to tiny RacoonGod for enough upper body strength and dexterity to manipulate a ratchet strap, but by the time RacoonGod grants that, I'll be gone.

Kirk 1
Dirty Racoon 0

Up early and on the trail. Ill just throw some random pics up so you get the idea. Givens, Spicer, Lowry Trail (3.08 miles one way) to the Lighthouse trail (2.72 miles) then do it in reverse.

At the end of all my hiking and camping and adventuring, it finally came time to return to the real world. Cruised all through the park taking random pics. Feels almost like this is just how someone should see the canyon, through the windshield of an old VW bus.

The climb out of the canyon was quite a bit more difficult. Its steep! More photo ops!

All in all, I had an absolute blast. I've hiked all over, and Palo Duro, while not as challenging, was beautiful. I'm glad I was able to get this one last hike/camp in before the cold cold winter came. Until next time Constant Reader.

Mon Feb 19, 2018 5:51 pm

Looks like an incredible trip! Good to get some alone time in the wilderness, to cleanse the soul. Must admit to being mildly jealous of that incredible terrain. We have some beautiful things to witness in Florida, but none with any elevation. :lol:

Thanks for sharing!

a. 8)

Wed Feb 21, 2018 8:17 am

white74westy wrote: Looks like an incredible trip! Good to get some alone time in the wilderness, to cleanse the soul. Must admit to being mildly jealous of that incredible terrain. We have some beautiful things to witness in Florida, but none with any elevation. :lol:

Thanks for sharing!

a. 8)

Thanks! Palo Duro is our baby version of the Grand Canyon. I loved it, and will probably go back some day.

Mon Feb 11, 2019 10:03 am

Thanksgiving! A time for friends, food, and Bear to get inked! Something something, eat turkey, something something give thanks. I dunno. But I do like pinstriping, so here we go! So the annual FWACsgiving was upon us, and I enjoy this every year. I never bring a VW, but this time I heard rumors that there was a chance I could get Bears hatch pinstriped, so I was going. Yay! We arrived after minimal roadway confusion, and parked right up front like we owned the place! (Cuz we do)

Pretty diverse line up! Then some asshole came along and parked his red truck in front of us! Except, he's not an asshole and his truck rules. So there's that.

It was a great day! Then the time came. That magical moment, where she whispered (Editors note: normal tone of voice, quit being dramatic) those ten words every man wants to hear.

"Back your bus in, and I'll pinstripe it for you."

You aint gotta ask me twice. I rolled Bear back next to a FWAC Alum which had been wrecked badly, brought back from the dead, and killed yet again. Hello ZombieCar, how ya?

Being the consummate professional she is, she hopped to work immediately, free handing some lettering for the hatch.

It slowly started to take form. I love the colors!

Tag complete she moved to the hatch handle.

Her talent is incredible, and I love it. Makes the rest of my dirty, dingy bus look worse. Should you ever have the opportunity to have her pinstripe anything you own, skin that wallet and throw cash at her. Shes totally worth it.

https://www.facebook.com/CherrybombPinstriping

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving!