First 24 Hours On the Road

Well, first 19.5, actually. It's 10:30am and I am lolly-gagging at a rest stop on Hwy 17 near Bath, NY. Got a late start yesterday, leaving New Paltz between 2:30 and 3pm.

The van has been running smoothly and it makes me nervous to feel comfortable about that; so many people took one look at Swanky and shook their heads sadly, that I fear something catastrophic will occur along the way. Please universe, protect me from that!

After driving past the Mohonk Preserve one last time, and waving good-bye to my beloved Clove Road(See you next year, cabin! Hank says it is likely I can have it again.),I headed south on 209, and then west on 17.

A half tank of gas later, I stopped and filled up as was suggested by the security guy at the preserve Visitor Center(I forget his name!!!) who told me to go this route over the one I had chosen, which was 209 through the Delaware Water Gap and then crossing wide through Pennsylvania. He said, "After Corning, there's nothing for a loooong while! Get gas!"

And as I passed Corning, I had to listen, but instead pulled off the highway at the town just further, called Painted Post. The reason being that the Corning exits offered only one gas station choice, and I felt my wallet might be taken advantage of if there was only one choice. Painted Post had 3 choices, and it was just a quarter mile off the highway exit to the one I used.

I thought it would be an easy off/on to the highway, but as I went back, the exit was closed for roadwork. So I had to backtrack for the detour, which....I didn't follow. Instead I pulled off at the very next exit, but then it intersected with another big highway, and worried I would somehow get herded onto that unwanted route, I turned off to the smaller road instead. I figured I'd drive down that a while, turn around, and get a decent warning as to where the entrance back to17/86 was, instead of having to make the choice in the seconds I would have otherwise had. What can I say? I haven't been regularly behind the wheel of a car in a long time.

At any rate - as I drove down that side road, I saw a Walmart.... And it lured me right in! Ever before, when people said "You can camp overnight at Walmart," I would snub the idea. I thought I would want to do better than that. I had figured I would get back on the highway and continue on to the rest area near Bath, where I actually am now. But I had stopped at the previous rest station to feed and walk Teddy and you know....the people I noticed sort of had a really anonymous vibe. Plus, the parking is right there where every single car using the place drives within feet behind your vehicle. So - I figured WalMart couldn't be any worse.

And it wasn't. Probably better even, since I did notice a few condom wrappers on the ground as I made coffee here this morning. I don't think anyone was hooking up in the cars at the WM lot...but anyway....

So, I even went in to use the WM potty, but I will say it now - I pledge to do my best not to give WM any of my money on this trip. But that won't stop me from using their bathroom, and yes, I will sleep in their lots again I think.

Somewhere around midnight, a cleaning truck drove through the lot. I was awakened by the recurring droning sound it made, and finally after several passes I was like "WTF IS that?" and looked out the window, just in time to see the big yellow behemoth swipe right up alongside the passenger side of the van.!

"That's a little close," I thought, but figured it was probably just an open lane the truck would use, and who knows - maybe there was some trash sitting there to be scooped away.

But then the truck turned around and came for another pass - and repeated it three damned times! "Shit," I though. "They are going to have someone from security come rapping on my window and ask why I am here."

But, they didn't, and eventually I fell back asleep.

It was a far cry from the nights of peaceful bliss I've spent at the cabin the last half a year, where maybe 6 cars quietly pass down the road per night, but it wasn't so bad, I guess. The cel reception for my mobile broadband was 4 bars strong, and that was a plus, though I ended up not staying online for very long.

I woke up about5am, which I have been doing for the last month anyway, and lolled in half-sleep, and then opened my eyes again later and it was pretty light. 7am! oops!

I decided to just get on the road and make coffee at the rest station I had intended to go to the night before, and that is just what I have done. I also did a little more organizing in the van, and....well, I am going to stay online for just a little longer, and then walk Teddy again and head off.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you enjoy my blog and would like to subscribe through RSS, you can click the FeedBurner Badge here. Thanks for your support!  Subscribe in a reader

Swanky!

Well - the van has been bought and the modification to a road trip rig is in progress! Here are some photos of the "Before/After" work to get the sleep/storage platform in:

First, some pictures of Swanky, or Senor Swanky, as the van is more formally called, in general:






So, Ken, who worked as a trailhead assistant at the Mohonk Preserve this year, offered to help me out. He said he "had a few tools, and though he wasn't the greatest" carpenter.....hahaha. The guy did SUCH an awesome job! The platform has dado cuts, is sturdy as can be, and is shaped perfectly to contour to the van walls. He even did cutaways to allow me to more easily slide the curtains. It really is beautiful.

But what a lot of work! Two days of it!




One seat out, and more to go....


Here's Ken, having removed one captain's chair, and locating the bolts that hold the base to the van bed.


Teddy is wondering if he can keep this one. He found it most comfortable!


I would hold a vise grip pliers on the nut , while Ken cranked, and cranked, on the bolt heads. Those things were welded.

The captain's seats were bad enough, but the rear bench had 8 more bolts, and another 4 for the seat belts. Having already taken several hours, we elected to slice the belts, leaving the bolts/hanger in situ. The bench was held down by metal keepers, and so we loosened the bolts just enough to slide the keepers away from the seat base. Then we lifted the bench out. Sure, i bit of floor space is junked up with the left-in-place hardware, but all in all, well worth the effort spared.


And what swanky seats they were! I tried to sell them on Craigslist, but with little time to wait, had no bites, and instead gave them to a climber who offered to take them though he couldn't pay anything.


The van, emptied of the seats, and ready for the work to begin!


Ken manually cut each dado with his radial saw.


I would say I helped, but.....this was the only saw work I did; one dado. Fun!


Sidewalls are done, ready to have legs joined


Here's one sidewall, set into place


Teddy was the foreman


Both sidewalls in place, with cross bars in as well. Looking good!


Adding the center support


Ready for the plywood top


Lots of screws later, the top is secured. But NOT before many small adjustments were made to contour the shape EXACTLY to the van dimensions. This thing is a perfect fit.


The platform is done! It will hold a full-sized mattress, with room along one side for small bins. Underneath, has 19 inches clearance - room for large bins. Still, because the van has a high-top, there is enough headroom to sit on the bed comfortably.





The foreman takes a final walk-through....


Ken did such an awesome job - He even cut away sections to make it so the curtains are not compressed by the platform edges.


This cushion was part of the "before" set-up, where the bench folded flat into a bed-type of thing. The problem was that the clearance for storage below was was nowhere near enough to keep climbing and camping gear for a 5 month road trip. As well, the bed was about 3/4 sized. But the cushion I kept, and will place it atop the side storage bins. I can rest it upright as shown, place pillows in front, and it becomes a couch back!


This fabric panel was also part of "before." It was sewn to the top/back of the rear bench, as if it were a cape. It hid the seat brackets and also camouflaged anything that might be stored beneath the bench. I simply ran a length of thin, stiff, accessory cord through a turned seam already in place, and tied loops at each end in an overhand knot.

The high-top has some little front windows, and they have snap-in-place covers to cut unwanted sunlight out. I unsnap the top, outermost corners, slip the loops on the "cape" atop the male part, and resnap the cover. That holds the lightweight fabric panel in place, and allows me to have a privacy screen from anyone who might be walking in front of the van.

Swanky!!!

Kudos to Ken K! What a truly generous man. He spent tow full days doing this work, and said he would take no payment. When I offered him 4 $25 gift certificates for the Gilded Otter, he accepted only one, and insisted on buying the other three from me.

My friend Pauline also gave me some wood, which was used for the legs of the platform. I've also saved some more for use in a side storage unit.


The guy who took the seats had no money, but he did come bearing a bit of booty, and gave me this gear in exchange. The cam is an Empire Rock, a bit bigger than blue BD Camalot, 3 nuts, a big hex, all on an old Chouinard biner. Nice!


So - that's that.... The van does have some issues, and is spending today and tomorrow at the mechanics. I was not happy to learn of these issues, but as they say - Caveat Emptor. I can blame no one but myself.

I plan to leave my little cabin in the woods, and head towards the desert southwest on Monday. I'm hoping to hit Joshua Tree, red Rocks, the Buttermilks, Cochise Stronghold, and Hueco Tanks, and some other places too. Hopefully, I will be back here at the Gunks, in my little cabin, caretaking at the Coxing Kill, in mid April of 2011.

Wish me well, and keep an eye on this blog, where I will post updates and links to updates I post elsewhere.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you enjoy my blog and would like to subscribe through RSS, you can click the FeedBurner Badge here. Thanks for your support!  Subscribe in a reader

Happie is Very Unhappy. But Still Happy, Nonetheless.

My damned assistant stole my client base, decimating my animal care service within the span of a few short emails. Premier Pet Care, which saved my butt when I walked away from the corporate world and into the realm of starving artist back in 2001.

Little did I know, at the start, that when I started climbing(in 2004), having a dog walking service would be the perfect type of business for someone who needed time away from being physically present on the job. But it sure was! When I began climbing, I was still doing all the animal care myself, and working up to 30 days at a time with no full days off. I was tired.

My first climbing was in the gym, and I could fit it around my work schedule, but once I got out into the real world – the Gunks, Seneca Rocks, and Joshua Tree that first year – it really sucked to have ONE cat-sitting job on a Saturday..... Not because it would make it so I couldn't GO to the Gunks, a 90 minute drive away, but because it meant I had to do the cat sit job at about 5:30am, in order to make the 7am bus which would take me to New Paltz where a partner would pick me up!

An assistant was needed - desperately. And thus the search began.

I had good luck with nearly all the people I worked with over the years. The first one got fired because of climbing. It was the summer of 2004, and the Republican National Convention was being held in New York City. The town, nearly 100% NOT Republican, seemed to be just a few steps away from being under Marshall Law. Protests were rampant, police were everywhere, and the tinge of riot soured the fetid August air. It was Friday evening and the next day I had one client's dog to walk, two sessions early afternoon and also at 5pm. I thought I could hack the strain the convention was drawing to the city, but the Gunks were calling me stronger; if I had to be hanging by a thread, what better place that upstate, on a dynamic rope?! I called my assistant and asked her to take the sessions. She begrudgingly agreed to do it and the next morning, away I went. I had a great day of climbing.

But when I got home, I had a phone message. The client had gotten home early, and found their dog had not been walked for the early afternoon session. Not only that, but moments after they had arrive, at about 4pm, my assistant DID arrive, obviously intending to do only one walk and thinking no one would be the wiser(save the poor dog who could not tell anyone; god bless our loyal companions who bear the brunt of human selfishness so stoically).

Furious with my assistant, though I knew I had pushed her into accepting the work when she really hadn't wanted it, I simply had no choice but to let her go. Had that been the only transgression, I would likely have (obviously) taken her off that client, and continued to work with her. I generally had systems in place which protected against such occurrences, and other clients where there would simply be no opportunity for such misconduct, but she had made a few other errors which pointed to the fact she was not an upholder of the highest ethical standards. In animal care, this is a key requirement; she had to go.

I learned from the experience, and though I had a few other instances over the years where I needed to reprimand people, I have only had to fire one other person in the eight years I have run Premier Pet Care.

So, it came as a bit of a shock the other day when my current assistant emailed me stating that he was giving two weeks notice, and that he had offered my clients the opportunity to work with him directly.

You see – because I have been living upstate since May 1st, his two weeks notice actually meant that he was firing ME, and taking over my business.

The plot is a bit more complex, of course. Had I been able to whip down to the city and tell my clients I would handle the sessions, every single one of them, I am sure, would have stuck with me. Over the years I have been through many assistants, and was the one constant. Whenever an assistant moved on, I was there to pick up the work, and no dog ever missed a single session due to the handler leaving my employment.

But I couldn't just go down and save the sinking ship. Firstly, my apartment is being sublet, with the tenant in residence until mid November; I would have had nowhere to live.

Secondly.... I had to choose between saving the business and continuing on with the next chapter of my life which I had been preparing for. I actually hadn't intended to return, but to travel the southwest for winter, and had offered my assistant the opportunity to buy out my business.

In fact, his 2 weeks notice/offer to my clients occurred just 3 days after I sent him the business proposal. He'd asked to take the weekend to look it over, and on Monday evening at 9:30, he sent me an email rejecting the offer, tending his resignation, and saying he intended to let the clients chose whether to work directly with him or not.

Since he knew I live in a home with no electricity or cel service, and that I have no car, the chances of me reading that email before he sent notice to clients(which he did the next morning at 9am) was next to nil. And so, it was an easy coup.

When I found out what had happened, I began calling the clients, and explained, in truth, where this decision of my assistant had originated. He saw an opportunity, but instead of being ethical and paying a stipend for the transfer of the business, he decided he could simply take it for himself. My customers all expressed sorrow at their decisions to work with him, and best wishes for me in the future, but they really had no choice. Perhaps, for all I know, they even view me as the one in the wrong.

And all this is what makes me very unhappy.


On the other hand, the job of having to tell my clients I would not be returning, which is something I knew I would not enjoy doing, has been taken care of rather swiftly, and now I can focus my energies on getting myself ready for the winter portion of this year.

I've taken road trips before, and I've lived a simplified lifestyle for the last five months, but living a simplified lifestyle on a five-month road trip will be a totally new experience for me. My budget is meager, and to lose the income generated with the animal care business is not an insubstantial portion of the whole. But I will get by without it. No doubt others have done so with less than I will have.

I've saved up a small sum to buy a vehicle, and am now looking at cargo vans. I had wanted a camper, with it's homey organization, but after speaking with someone who lives in a Toyota Minihome every winter, I realized it would not be a good choice, no matter how much I wanted my own Home, Sweet Mobile Home.

Once I get the van, I will need to add some basic modifications – a platform bed with storage beneath at the minimum. Insulation, sound baffles, privacy curtain between cab and back and storage space along one sidewall are desirable, but if I end up with them will depend on my ability to find someone who can do the work with the amount of money I will have to pay for it.

I expect to have the van bought by the end of October, and the modifications done in two weeks, making my departure from the northeast some time in mid November – the tail end of our climbing season here at the Gunks, and the beginning of cold weather which would make cabin living uncomfortable.

I'll travel cross-country, stopping to visit my family in Michigan and Wisconsin, perhaps around the Thanksgiving holiday of possible. Then, I'll head west, veering southward along the way. I haven't looked at routes yet, nor asked opinions, though I assume I should get southward as quickly as possible to avoid the colder temperatures further north.

Joshua Tree, California is my destination, and where I expect to consider as my base. I know some people there, am fairly familiar with the ways of nomadic living in the area, and since it is a winter destination for climbers, am looking forward to meeting plenty of people as they travel to the place for their own weekend trips, vacations and dirtbag days. Other places I want to visit/climb will be Red Rocks, Hueco Tanks and crags in New Mexico and Arizona. Come mid March, I expect to begin making my way eastward, with the hopes I will have my little cabin here in the woods again.

This all makes me happy!


I expect to post updates as things go, so keep in touch and see what happens!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~If you enjoy my blog and would like to subscribe through RSS, you can click the FeedBurner Badge here. Thanks for your support!  Subscribe in a reader