Tundy, house and beetle build thread...and exploring.

Second recovery of the trip.. Honda Prelude from the beach.

First use of the transit cluster. 5/8" shackle was too big to fit the hole it had.

 

Vacation!

After my wheeling adventures I wasn’t exactly sure of my plans so I hung around in the area. I was debating on heading northwest around the Olympics or swinging out to the coast and going south, saving the Olympic National Park for next time.

Then I got a last second invite to Vegas. Since I hadn’t been there before, prices weren’t too bad and I was close to Seattle I said let's do it! So a mere six hours after the idea of a trip, I was driving to the airport. I didn’t get any sleep on the plane, but I got some pictures!

21010170750 copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

When i landed, what better way than to start the day with White Castle and a beer since it was breakfast time, but my body was looking for dinner. My Lyft driver from the airport was working a few weeks earlier when the shooting happened. He shared his experience, it was very strange to see the building for the first time in that circumstance. My condolences to all those whose lives were changed.

21011171936d copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

I walked along the strip before meeting up with friends who slept in from a late night.

21010171000_HDR copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

I was down there for a wedding, which went perfect and was a great time.

21010172301 copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

At least he’s honest… and got people wanting pictures with him which I’m sure led to a donation.

21011171551a-1 copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

I only had my phone with me and all of the lights on the background were overexposing the picture. I didn’t realize that until I was looking at them later. Wish I would’ve noticed sooner so my outside pictures didn’t end up all blurry.

Seasonal display inside the Bellagio.
21011171849-1 copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

I was there less than 48 hours.. A good quick vacation. Someone got a picture of me being overwhelmed that there were so many people around. haha

21011171123 copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

After landing in Seattle, I wanted to get my air compressor wired back up so I was not without it for extended driving. Naturally it was raining, but I found a nice shelter for my work. You can see the singed plywood of the divider where the fire was.

21012171241 copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

This is where the wires rubbed the casing off and arc’ed. I pulled the positive out after it happened to make sure there was no way I’d accidentally hit the switch for it and have it arc again. The curve was nice and round and it was not tight at all, so just cheap wiring I guess. The new stuff that I got at the auto parts store is much harder than what I used before from the audio store.

21012171243 copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

After that trip I decided it was time to make my way to the coast and south. I will be back to explore the Olympic National Park!

 

Back to the journey!

After landing and fixing the wiring on the truck, I saw a post that the Mt Hood area could receive up to 16” of fresh snow in the next 24 hours. Umm yeah! So I turned the truck south and made my way in that direction. I wasn’t sure where I would head, but figured there would be forest roads in that area that were open. I also saw a lot of waterfalls and scenic areas just across the border into Oregon.

As I got closer, I found out most of the waterfalls and scenic areas were closed due to a recent fire. So I stayed in Washington before crossing into Oregon through Hood River. It was sunny and nice as I ate lunch at a park along the road. I continued climbing towards Mt Hood, which I could not see because there was a wall of snow clouds. As I climbed into the clouds it began raining, then was very icy. And then the snow started sticking! I found a forest road and began exploring.

The snow was still somewhat powdery, which would not stay the same tomorrow! The depths were pretty deep and consistent. The snow was deeper than the bottom of my door in quite a few locations. And the best part was I still was not reaching dirt.

21013171412b copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

I drove up to a fork in the road and picked one direction that was deep and then started descending. It also became a shelf road. A way down the trail I decided it might be a good idea to back off of the trail since it was still dumping snow and I wasn’t sure if there was a turn around spot ahead. After making it to the top I ran into a couple locals who were up there taking turns snowboarding down in the fresh powder. The clouds opened up to reveal blue skies and quick glimpses of Mt Hood.

21013171536a copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

I continued exploring other roads and found lots of neat picture opportunities.

21013171752_HDR copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

It started getting late and time to find a camp spot. It was still snowing, and very windy but I wanted to try for an east exposure to heat up the truck in the morning. I found an open spot after dark that was all clouded in. I couldn’t even crack the windows at all on either side because it was forcing snow into the truck. I had a gourmet PB&J dinner since I was not going to cook anything in that weather. When I woke up, I got a great surprise of a view.

First a nice sunrise!
21014170643b copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

And straight in front of the truck was Mt Adams which is just east of Mt St Helens. Both of the mountains didn’t want to cooperate and fit in the same picture through the trees.

2DSC06553 copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

More sunshine! Its going to be a beautiful day!
21014170725b_HDR copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

The clear skies everywhere made for great pictures of all of the mountains surrounding me.

Mt Hood
2DSC06597 copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

Mt Adams
2DSC06609 copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

Mt St Helens
2DSC06629 copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

Since it was a nicer day out and the snow started to pack down a little, I decided to attempt that narrow shelf road I started the day before. I got to the end of that stretch and there was a nice wide turn that made for a great location for hanging out for lunch and editing some pictures with Mt Hood in the background.

2DSC06660 copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

I walked down the trail a little further to scout it out and see if it was a good idea to explore that way with the truck.

21014171159a_HDR copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

Since the spot was nice and there was no traffic, other than a few snowmobiles, I figured I would just make this spot my camp site. It was wide enough for other vehicles to come down and turn around if needed. I worked on starting an early dinner and my second attempt on the trip of making cornbread to go along with some chili! Only a few minutes after I poured the cornbread batter into the pan I heard someone huffing and puffing their way down the trail. I looked up and saw a guy who appeared a bit flustered. He asked if there was room to turn around because he started down the trail and wasn’t able to back up. I told him there was plenty of room and I could move if needed so he went back up to get his vehicle. Next thing I know, a Subaru is down and turning around. He was able to turn around without issues. I told him to make sure to take it easy on his way up… keep the momentum up but don’t go too fast.

I continued getting ready for my epic feast as he drove up the trail. About a minute later I thought I still heard him and walked around to see that he was still on the trail, and was very sideways. He was not in a good spot and was only making it worse by trying to free himself. I know it's hard for everyone to do, but if you get stuck, the first thing you need to do is STOP. You are almost guaranteed only to make it worse.

I walked up, told him I would help him but first, I WAS going to finish my dinner since it would take a while to get him back on the road. I offered up some of the dinner which he happily accepted.

21014171836 copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

His vehicle was going nowhere. The rear drivers tire was on the edge of the trail (at best). I had him air down his front tires while I rigged up the winch. I snatched off a tree on the uphill side to pull sideways tension on the rear and keep him from going further down the cliff. I was able to get the front tires to grip the Maxtrax while I drug the rear of the car sideways back onto the trail. We were then able to air down the rear, and got the third Maxtrax under a rear tire. He was able to get enough momentum from the Maxtrax to continue to the top. There were a couple slippery areas but it was able to pull to the top.

After almost three hours, I returned back to my camp spot and was able to get a few night photos before I was ready to head to bed.

2DSC06672 copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

Mt Hood being backlit by Portland/Vancouver.
2DSC06679 copy by Brandon M, on Flickr

Little did I know… the winch was really excited to be used… and the usage today wouldn’t be enough to keep it happy for long.

 

Once I turn east from the coast, I'm going to pull stuff out of the bed and pressure wash it.. so much sand everywhere!

And nothing will dry since it's so humid.

 

I didnt want to blow up the trade chat so I wanted to say this here. If you are in fact wanting to part out some stuff eventually. Id be interested in the topper.

 

Hoping I can do an epic trip like that one day...maybe when I'm 60....If I'm still alive.

 

Day three of trying to dry stuff out from the Plano cases.



Of course i can dry that out as much as I'd like but everything in the bed (back of truck not sleeping bed) is moist, my chair has mold starting to grow as well as the tail light.

The truck is covered in a salt mist from driving by the coast and any and every piece of bare metal has started to rust. Another day or two and I'll start heading east from the coast, hit up a car wash, laundromat and spend some time sanding off the rust from rock chips so i can touch it up before it goes wild.

 

I like cake.

And I edited it to make it a little more PC for non-moisters

 

ever figure out what caused the leaks in the cases? Maybe I missed it. We all know Im slow

 

Not sure, it's not raining anymore, horrible problem to have.

But they both seem to seal fine but do flex. When i say I was in hurricane force winds, I was... So I'm guessing the gusts plus me driving the opposite direction was enough force to flex some point of the case enough to squeeze in water.

They've had condensation in them before but nothing like that. I'm sure I'll see rain sooner than later so I'll look again. And I'll need to wash this salty whore at some point as well... So I'll hit them with the pressure washer.

 

Interesting. Maybe a seal popped or tore? Definitely interested before I mke a purchase of them

 

They've been fine up until that issue. I kinda wish they were able to breathe some since they do get condensation inside from the temperature changes. So storing stuff up there that can't get wet was never a good idea. But I'm not even sure if having a second sealed container would avoid that over time, maybe just slow it a little.

I wonder if pelican cases in the same conditions would do the same. Going from a warm day in the sun to snow temperatures with the wind chill on top is quite a temperature change.

But no, the seals look good. The fact that both had similar amounts of water led me to figure that it's a case issue and not something wasn't latched correct or bad seal as well.

 

Yes I could see the condensation being an issue. That’s a drag

 

Yeah i just put some bags of silica beads in there that worked decently before to help.

 

Learned that there are tide pools on the coast... The tide at this section of the beach fluctuate by six feet (in elevation) between high and low tide... More on some days. Of course the lowest one is at 10pm.. pitch freaking black. And not only that but you are in a combination of fog and heavy salt spray so a powerful flashlight doesn't give you much distance.



I had been to this place before so I knew the layout. Steep dropoff from the road to the water with a channel between another long strip of rocks that are an island most of the day.

The waves come from both sides when it fills in the middle channel, and maximum vision distance with the light was 20ft at very best.

So I explored around, always noting the highest rock for a rogue wave. If a real biggun came I'd be fucked any way.

Tons of crabs, star fish, those green things and other floppy armed squishy creatures.

Heading to another spot tomorrow and going to bring my actual camera and macro lens to see if i can get some better pics. The sun will be a nice thing to have.

 

FYI- I would think any Condensation issue would be much less here in the land of almost zero Humidity.

 

@aero3685 I hope you know being from Florida that tides are related to moon and not a set time each day

http://www.tides.net/oregon/

 

What beach is that at?

 

Haha yes i know, those were the times for today.

But there was not such a drastic change in the level where I was in FL.