Fatigue, Laziness, Mt. Rushmore, & Why Site 204 looked like the Manhattan Project

Well we had a very nice visit with my brother over the weekend in Chicago, we shoved off on Monday evening several hours behind schedule, which seems to be becoming a theme.  We headed to my sisters in Milwaukee because we needed to print some stuff out (my brothers printer was broken) and she had made dinner for us.  I really wanted to make it to Mt. Rushmore on Tuesday so we left after we had taken care of the final details.  After covering some ground, I pulled over at a rest area around 4:30am after five and a half hours of driving, I was starting to get tired and didn’t see the need to push the envelope.  In the morning around 7:00am Azure took the first shift driving, I stayed in the back not really able to get any additional sleep.  We had really nice weather all the way to Keystone (where Mt. Rushmore is) and made it to the monument around 8:00 as the sun was setting.  I will say this, I have spent a lot of time in D.C. and have been to all of the National Monuments there, Rushmore was head and shoulders above all of them, no pun intended.   It was one of the most amazing things that I have ever seen, if you haven’t been yourself, you need to go! 

            We took some pictures and headed to the campgrounds.  This is where things get a bit dicey though.  I really didn’t want to write about what happened next but in the interest of the blog I feel that full disclosure is the only way to go on this adventure, the good, the bad, the intelligent, the stupid and the embarrassing.

            Let me start by saying that I am an avid outdoorsmen and have been since I was very young.  I have been camping all over North America, I have built many fires, and if necessary can build one without a match, so building your run of the mill camp ground pit fire should present no problem.  What happens next is why fatigue and a bit of laziness are a bad combo.  While, on the roof pulling some things out of the overhead storage I saw the can of white fuel (a VERY flammable camping fuel) and decided that instead of digging around for the axe and making a proper fire, I might as well dump some white fuel on the wood and save myself some time.  Shortcuts are almost always a really bad idea, and what followed is no exception. 

            Sure enough the fire started right up.  However, as I was gloating for saving the time and energy it would have taken to build a proper fire, I bumped the can of fuel and knocked it over.  Let me as you something, have you ever had an experience when everything seems to happen in an instant while simultaneously happening in slow motion?  This was one of those times.  I immediately grabbed the can and tried to pull it away, as I watched the flames streak across the grass and up the can, time stood still. I dropped the can and turned to shield my face as I ran. 

            To my surprise it didn’t explode.  It did however, create a fireball that was probably seen for miles around, flames were pouring out of the can and quickly spreading across the ground.  I’m not really sure how, there was a lot of adrenaline at this point, I leapt from the ground to the bumper, to the top of the van in one movement.  Unleashed a 5 gallon container of water and as quickly as I had gotten up there was back down trying to douse the flames.  I grabbed the fuel can of flame, and removed it from the fire (at this point I was slightly on fire myself).  I was able to flood the can and extinguish it.  I wasn’t done yet, I now had to turn my attention to the fuel on the ground.  Water would have only floated the fire on the ground (white fuel is lighter than water) so I yelled to Azure for a towel or blanket.  She quickly appeared with a towel and I threw it over fire, for a brief moment there was relief, until the towel burst into flames.  I ran for the hatchet and started hacking at the ground to loosen up some dirt to throw on top, to try and smother the flames. This wasn’t working either. So, I surrounded the fuel with the dirt and managed to contain it, by now I have the attention of everyone in the area and several people have stopped to help with the effort including two little old ladies.  We were finally able to get it out using the dirt and a hose from a near-by RV.

            It is nothing short of miraculous that no one was hurt and that I ended up with nothing other than some singed hair.  Camping out of a van is new to me, and to be honest I let my guard down.  I would have never been so careless if I was in the backcountry, regardless of fatigue.  It was actually a good thing that this happened because I can assure you my guard will be up for the remainder of the trip.    

            I know I am going to catch a ton of grief for this especially from my outdoorsmen buddies, but most of all from my mother.  Sorry mom I promise I won’t be doing anything that stupid again.

            The following morning we broke camp pretty quickly I figured the with the giant billboard of a van and fireball from the previous evening we had overstayed our welcome.

After leaving we made a stop at near by Devils Tower National Monument which is also beautiful.

  I mention it because as we were leaving Devils Tower Azure said what will probably end up being the best line of the trip, she wasn’t even trying to be funny.

“You know what even if we go broke doing this it’s going to be awesome” I reply “Oh, yeah why is that?” “Because it is going to be a really good time, I mean we are already having a great time and the trip just started.  It was kinda scary last night when you were on fire! But other than that it’s been awesome” I simply said “yup it was pretty scary when I was on fire” 

To all of the people around site 204 at the Mt. Rushmore KOA sorry for all the commotion but at least you have a great story to tell.  

P.J. McINTYRE'S

            I have to send a huge Thank You out to my boy’s in Cleveland; Rory, Eamon, and Kyle for putting together what was a great event Friday night at P.J. McINTYRE’S Irish Pub in Cleveland.  As I have recently learned fundraising and event planning is a full time job, I have been swamped with planning and organizing since I left my job in May.  These guys managed to put together a great and successful evening all while holding down their 9 to 5’s. 

            I said to Azure at the beginning “as corny as it sounds if we are able to help one person or convince one individual to pick up the phone and call someone, to seek their help instead of choosing suicide then it will all be worth it.”  After an event like the one these guys put together on Friday, I realized that we are going to impact more than one person.  To everyone that came out on Friday-I cannot thank you enough!  Your support was heart warming and encouraging.  I know that there will be days when the mountains will seem to go on forever, on those days I will think of all of you and keep riding.

            One of the best parts of the night for me was when several people pulled me aside and spoke with me about personal experiences they have had with mental illness.  Whether it was a family member, a friend, or their own, several of these people said that what I was doing gave them the confidence to be more open about their personal experiences.  So to all of you, THANK YOU for sharing you personal experiences I know it is not an easy thing to do!  If people across the country have the same response that all of you did we are going to change the way people view mental illness. 

            We are all packed up and getting ready to leave my brother in Chicago we are off to the west to do some altitude and mountain training with a stop in some the National Parks and then a short stop in Seattle.  After that, Prudhoe Bay here we come.

I forgot that in addition to Kyle helping to put the fundraiser together. He won the 50/50 raffle and donated the winnings back to the fundraiser. And for those of you out there thinking it... It wasn't rigged we picked four numbers that no one claimed before Kyle's winning number was picked. Kyle... Thank you for your generosity.

Morning of Day 2

To say that our second day on the road was eventful would be an understatement.  After a very late departure we arrived in Ohio around 2:00am Friday morning.  Bertha isn’t a quiet vehicle, so after waking up the entire campground we settled in for our first night in the van.  To those of you who we woke up, sorry.  It was more comfortable than anticipated, the next six months may not be as sleep deprived as I originally thought. 

While cleaning up in the campground restrooms the following morning before our departure several people approached us to enquire about the van.  All were very interested and supportive, one woman even gave us a donation and had us take a picture with her daughter in front of the van.  The support and encouragement we have received thus far has been amazing.  I think that since we are now on the road and people are seeing the van they are realizing that we are for real.

Bertha’s (the van for those of you not following along) engine was made by Navistar.  A company that my brother works for, he recommended that we take it in to have their mechanics give the engine a thorough once over.  We just wanted to make sure that everything was in order and ready for the Virginia to Alaska, Alaska to Florida road trip. 

This is where the plot thickens.  The guys at Miami Valley International are the definition of going above and beyond in the name of customer service (I will get there shortly). When we dropped of the van and left to take the dog for a walk.  It was a very pleasant morning, but the temperature rose quickly.  We found a shady bench in front of a Mexican restaurant that appeared to be closed.  We sat there for a while and people started entering.  “Huh this place must be open, we should get some take out nachos.”  Azure went in and got some iced tea and nachos.  While we were enjoying our snack, Azure noticed that we were getting some strange looks from the people walking in.  She quickly deduced that these individuals thought we were homeless.  I said “no, surely they know we are sitting out here eating cause we have the dog with us.”  Another group of people entered and I realized she was right.  I will admit that we have looked better but had the shoe been on the other foot I would like to think that I would not have assumed that the people on the bench were homeless.  I also mention to Azure that technically speaking we actually are homeless so I guess these people were right on the money.

After finishing our snack and continuing to laugh about the people trying to avoid making eye contact with the homeless couple with the cute dog.  We continued walking and upon reaching a dead end a very young kitten comes walking out of the weeds at us.  For those of you who don’t know, Azure is the lady who would run across an eight-lane highway to try and save a stray animal, so I immediately realize that this has now become our problem.  We walk over near where we first saw this kitten, and found a second one laying with the mother in the weeds and three more that had fallen down a storm sewer.  After calling about seven different rescue organizations, none of which were willing to help us, we realized we were on our own.  After the mother figured out we were there to help she ran away.  This is where the customer service I mentioned before comes into play.  The guys at the truck shop called to give us a progress update on the van and offer us an air conditioned place to bring the dog due to the heat.  I told them that we were currently dealing with a stray kitten situation and that we couldn’t get any of the animal rights organizations to come and get them.  The assistant service manager called me back and said that he had a half an hour left on his lunch break and that he would pick us up and take us to a shelter… truly amazing!  Not to mention that they serviced and inspected the van for us in a very timely manner.  If you own a diesel in the vicinity of these guys I would highly recommend them. We left with renewed confidence in our vehicle and headed to Cleveland for the fundraiser, which deserves a separate post. Which I will put up in a bit. 

Bertha Before & After

Well we are finally ready, Bertha as she has been named is packed to the gills and ready to go.  Some of you have been asking to see some pictures of the van so here they are.  Sorry, but I forgot to take a before shot of the interior, just imagine it empty.

Before  

(note the size of the van in relationship to Azure's Scion)

 

After

Here is what she looks like today after a bunch of work and lots of time.

 

I want to thank everyone who played a part in helping us get the van where it is today especially K & I studio's who donated their time and materials to build the bed and extra storage space inside the van, Eastern Truck and Accesories who did the rack and lights for us, and lastly DeSigns inc. who did all of the decals for us.

Thank you all very much!

Well that's all for now-we have to hit the road.   Stay tuned, it's going to get interesting.

Homeless...Unemployed...& The American Dream

         Well its been a while since I have written a post, and for good reason.  The last few weeks have been overwhelming.   I have been so busy trying to get everything together for our departure that it seems like I wake up, start running errands and the next thing I know, the day is over and the stores are closing. 

        Azure and I were intending on leaving at 6:00 p.m. this evening needless to say its 11:00 p.m. and we just called it for the day, because we are both exhausted.  We are going to try and finish packing the van in the morning and hopefully get on the road before noon.

        My training has taking a serious hit over the last few weeks with me barely getting anytime in the saddle at all.  Trying to move out of the town house and put everything into storage, then trying to get everything in order for the ride.  Oh yeah and we had to go to a wedding last weekend.  The wedding was awesome so it was totally worth it. 

        Today was Azure’s last day at work so we are both officially unemployed and homeless.  As we look forward to our departure and the start of our American dream.  Some may question my logic, how can being unemployed and homeless have anything to do with the American dream.  Well stay tuned and hopefully that will reveal itself to you in the future posts to come. 

Tomorrow I will post some before and after pictures of the van as we are getting ready to leave.