Who Needs a Gym Membership? Drive a Dormobile!!

I have discovered some built in features that were not in the original brochure.

No power steering - upper body workout,
No syncro mesh - lower body workout,
No air conditioning - sauna,
Right-hand drive - hand eye coordination
Broken lock on driver side door - Yoga - to get in and out the passenger door.

Bridge Building with the Camel Trophy Guys

At the Overland Expo 2012

By Grace Howard

In the past, I have gone on trails, driven Rovers, gone camping and spotted vehicles, but I never thought I would build a bridge with Camel Trophy guys.  This year at the Overland Expo I did.  On Saturday, after teaching and a good lunch I went over to the Camel Trophy Area.  There Andy Dacey and Duncan Barbour taught me how to build a bridge.

Duncan and I lashing two logs together.

The first step is to cut four logs about the same length.  Then put two next to each other.  Next you tie a timber hitch around one and start wrapping the rope around several times.  Then you frap it.  While frapping one person beats on the rope with a stick and another person pulls on the rope to get it even tighter. Two of the four logs had already been lashed together.  I found out that other AZLRO people had lashed those logs together.  The people that helped in the morning were Ryan Hemphill, Bob Kolander and Craig & Davin Ludwig. 

After frapping you use a winch to move the logs into place.

Here is some "Man Heaving"

  Otherwise you, “Man heave it!” as Duncan put it.  Duncan is funny!   

As we were working over a trench, one person said, “I would just drive my car around the trench!” and someone else said “That’s not how we do it when there are Camel Trophy guys around.”  Some people just don’t know how to have fun!!

They winched the two set of logs across and we fastened them to the ground. I worked with Duncan to show everyone how to fasten the logs in place. 

I helped Andy make sure we placed the logs in the right place, by measuring the wheels of the Defender.  I used a rope and measured from the center of the front tires. 

Then my Mom, Dad and I worked on another set and fastened it in place.  It was fun to work together as a family.  My Mom and I were the only girls who helped with the bridge.

Then they drove a Camel Trophy Defender across. 




Then they drove a remote control Camel Trophy Defender across as well. It was really funny when they let Duncan drive the remote control car.  The remote control car was looking like it was going to fall off.  So, there were lots of comments like, “Camel Trophy guys never give up,”  “Camel Trophy guys never go backward.”  To this Duncan said, “Save your vehicle, not your pride!”  It was one of my favorite things I heard all weekend.  So many times guys are macho on the trail and do crazy things. 

It was great fun!!  Something I never want to do for real, but I now know how to tie a timber hitch and overhand knot, I know what frapping is, and I got to spend a great afternoon working as a team with awesome people. 

Viewing the Sun Safely

Warning!  Do not look directly at the Sun with your remaining eye!  Seriously, you can lose your eyesight by looking at the sun, especially if you do it through binoculars. 

There are several techniques for viewing the sun safely.  One of the best is eyepiece projection, which we used to view the partial solar eclipse at the 2012 Overland Expo near Flagstaff, Arizona. 

A pair of binoculars were placed on a tripod.  A screen was made by taping a white sheet of paper to a box lid, and placed in the shadow of the binoculars about 3 meters back.  The binoculars were pointed at the sun (NEVER look through them when you do this!) - this takes some fussing but you can tell where they are pointing by the way the shadow of the binoculars looks on the screen.  Once the sun is found, you will have two images.  Cover one of the lenses with a cap if you find this annoying.  To improve contrast, a cardboard shield with two holes in it can be added around which casts a shadow on the screen.  Finally, adjust the focus.  You may see some black spots on the image.  These are sunspots, and each one you see is much larger than the size of the Earth. 



Grace demonstrating eyepiece projection.  Note the image of the partial eclipse on the screen.



Spring Break in the Chiricahua Mts.

This year for Spring Break we decided to go visit the Chiricahua Mts. in southern Arizona.   James and I visited Chiricahua National Monument in 1996, but it was time to take Grace.  We were very curious about how things would be since the Horseshoe 2 fire last summer.  

We headed to the monument and found a campsite at the Bonita Campground.  It was nice, but the sites are way too close together for our liking.  The bathrooms in a CCC-built building were very nice with new tile and flush toilets.

First we went to the visitor's center to pick up Grace's Junior Ranger booklet.  Then we drove the road up into the park and stopped along the way.   It truly is a "Wonderland of Rocks"

Massai Pt

Here is Grace looking at the China Boy formation.  Grace couldn't see it.  She didn't know the traditional hat that the Chinese wore.  When we got home, I showed her a picture and she then got it, but thought it was weird.  

Faraway Ranch House

Within the Monument there is the Faraway Ranch.  It was a guest ranch for many years that operated outside of the monument.  In 1973, the Park Service acquired the ranch and it became part of the monument.  The ranch is a fun place to visit.  The chimney of the main ranch house has the names of Buffalo Soldiers carved into it.  They also have a nice little display on the ranch and the CCC in the monument. 

After the visit to Faraway Ranch we headed to the visitor’s center so Grace could get her Junior Ranger Badge.  She is now has over 30 Junior Ranger badges.  At Chiricahua National Monument you get a patch instead of a pin-on badge, which is very nice, since the pins pop off and get lost.  One of these days, I will sew the patch on Grace’s Camelbak.  

The next day we headed to Fort Bowie National Historic Site.  To visit Fort Bowie you have to hike in a mile and a half to the visitor’s center and the ruins of the fort.   

Apache Spring

We hiked in and on the way we passed the reason for the fort, Apache Spring.  When Grace saw it she said, “That is it?”  She had read about the fort before our visit and I think she was expecting a big gushing spring, not a little trickle of water.  We sat had a drink from our water bottles and pondered all who had drunk from the spring before us, Geronimo, Cochise, General Howard, countless natives and military personal, pioneers, and now us.

We got to the fort and picked up Grace’s Junior Ranger booklet.  We then went around to many of the ruins.  I had no idea what a big place it was.  The big problem was they put the fort above the spring, so the spring became contaminated, so they had to pump water from a spring in the next valley over.  It is kind of funny all that conflict and then it becomes useless to them.  

Another Junior Ranger!!

The fort has a long history of the conflict between pioneers, then the military and the Apaches.  The Park Service does a very good job of telling the story without judgment on either side.  When Grace asked us who was right we replied, “They were both right.  Both sides were just fighting to preserve their way of life.”  Grace said, “Aren’t most wars fought for way of life?”  She is right.  I have a smart kid!!!

Fort Bowie is definitely worth a visit. 

We had planned on camping in the National Forest, but had heard from many people of the devastation the forest had sustained from the Horseshoe Fire 2 that had raged for over a month in 2011.  So, we stayed in the Monument’s campground for the first three nights.  On the third day, we headed out to drive over the mountains via Pinery Canyon road and survey the damage.  Our goal was Sunny Flat Campground near Portal, AZ. 

When we started over the mountains you could see the road was the fire line.   

Green on one side, black on the other. 

Then we got up higher and all we could see was burned trees, it was a crowning fire and the damage was extensive.  I am not sure what the plan is for forest, but I expect it will be a long time before the forest recovers. 

Our campsite!!

We ended up in one of our favorite campgrounds.  We typically try to avoid campgrounds as a rule.  Why have a Dormobile and go where everyone else goes?  We have it to go where others are not willing or able to venture.  But Sunny Flat is a campground we go back to time and time again.  It was designed by a camper, for campers, but the best reason is the scenery. 

We spent the next day relaxing, reading and watching Grace build dams in the creek. 

Grace setting up my bed!

 One of the great parts about Grace getting older is she is expected to help out more:)

After seven days and six nights we reluctantly headed back to civilization and “real” life.