First Spring Trip to Burleson Recreation Area!

Well, since nearly every camp ground in the state of WI and IL are booked for the holiday weekend, I decided to reserve a site in our backyard; also known as Burleson Recreation Area.  There's always room and the showers are hot!

 

 Before I set up camp, I gave the teardrop a wash.  I also protected all the rubber gaskets with a UV protector so that they'll stay pliable and keep the moisture out.  

 Before

After

One of the things from last year's list was to replace the screws on the door and hatch handles.  The problem was that they are at a severe angle and I tried installing them with my drill; it tended to strip out the phillip's head screws causing a very painful scratch every time you opened the door.  So, thanks to the guy at the hardware store, I found these very cool angle drivers.  

 

Angled driver.

 

Stripped screws!

 

Wish I had known about this tool a long time ago!

I'm actually quite glad that I opted to stay 'at home' on this trip.  It gave me the opportunity to take care of a lot of items from last year's list and some that weren't on there that should have been.  For example:  last year I added the stone guard foam pad to the front of the teardrop.  We had lots of problems with water getting caught between it and the skin of the teardrop.  So, I added a strip of aluminum and caulked the heck out of it to ensure that the strip remained affixed to the skin of the teardrop and 'sealed' the neoprene.  (I did not put any screws in the aluminum, so the caulk/adhesive was all that was holding it on.)  Well, it worked well, but I was less than perfect about how I applied the caulk/adhesive.  The result was a less than lovely 'line' where the aluminum met the skin of the teardrop.  In addition to that, the caulk, which was clear, turned black when dirt collected on it.  So, I decided to mask off the area and use my hammered paint to 'cover it.'  It worked perfectly and looks a million times better.  

This was also my first 'trip' in which I used my CPAP machine in the teardrop.  I learned that the 'fault' I kept getting on my AC Converter was due to the fact that it requires the DC Battery to be at 12 volts or more in order to properly convert it into AC power.  I am probably going to want to add an AC 'direct' plug in the cabin so that I'm essentially going directly from the Marinco power inlet to my AC device.  I'm not sure how to deal with this when we are off the grid.  I'll need to look into this for future trips for sure.  I know that there is an available battery system for the CPAP, but it was prohibitively expensive.  I've seen some devices at Harbor Freight that would work just as well, but are much less expensive.

 

Here is one I was considering from Harbor Freight.  Could be useful for all kinds of camping trips; especially when the battery on the tow vehicle dies like it has on us several times!

I've got several more tiny items on my list that I want to try to accomplish before making the 'long' trip back to the concrete pad where the Carpe Diem rests.  In the meanwhile, here is my view this morning from the teardrop's open door.

 

Happy Memorial Day everyone!

A Potential Quest?

I was exploring the Wisconsin State Park System yesterday and came upon this map that shared the locations of every state park.  I had never heard of many of them and it got me thinking.  It would be pretty cool to say that I had visited each of the different parks at some point.  I wonder how many years it would take to visit them all?  We often think of getting to all of the majestic National Parks, but how often do we really 'appreciate' all the nature that's in our own 'backyards?'  For me, not often enough. I'm hoping that I can get a few get aways this summer to the parks that are located along the lake shore.  There's something wonderfully romantic about being so close to a large body of water.  So, for now, I'll mark off the ones I've been to and start 'dreaming' of future trips.  Here is a cool resource with a brief description of each park's features.

Itchin' for a Road Trip

I'm so ready for our first road trip.  The holiday weekend coming up is the unofficial kick off of summer and I would love to camp one night somewhere.  Most of the sites near by are reserved already. I decided to try my hand at painting the Carpe Diem.  I think it turned out pretty darn good. We might even just camp in the Burleson Recreation Area.  The showers are always hot there for sure!

Thirteen Months Later: 4,925 U.S. Visitors, 1,691 International Visitors, 193 Countries and Every Single Continent on the Planet!

 Those statistics are are overwhelming!  As I’ve said before, when I started this blog/book, I simply wanted a place to record my thoughts, wonderings and travels.

Now, the Todd’s Teardrop Blog has been visited by nearly 7,000 people.  I’m going to say that every single continent has checked in because I know there are a few people in Antarctica that have read the blog, but just don’t ‘show up’ as Antarctica.

I think it might have something to do with how the IP addresses are assigned to the various research facilities there.  Regardless, there have been thousands more visitors and countries then I could have EVER have imagined!

Spring?

It was a rough winter here in Wisconsin.  We had tons of snow.  This photo is actually after one night of snow.  The drifts easily came up to the door of the teardrop at times.  I’m grateful that my wife got me a cover for the teardrop for Christmas.  It protected the finish and I like to hope it helped keep the melting snow from the seams of the teardrop.  Even though it is ‘officially’ spring, we are far from camping weather.