Last night after dark a van pulled in and parked almost beside me. I learned a lesson when choosing a wide open area is to find an edge of that open area because nobody can park on that side anyway.
Quiet night, no furnace and only single layer of down blanket. Gravity pulls the blanket off of me. I installed snaps along the edge which mate to mate on the van rib. Right now I double the blanket, the upper layer has its snaps which keeps the 2 layers over me. At some temperature point the double layer is too warm so I just unsnap the upper and let it slip to the floor. If the temp drops to need that 2nd layer back I reach over the side of the bed and make an uneven mess of that layer creating cold spots. Sometimes I fuss. Well, that’s sharing my sleeping. My sheets are some real high thread count for a really smooth surface. For years I slept on flannel sheets year round which were scratchy.
So my ride today was to climb Mega Steps which I have only descended previously. It’s still a hump pedal. Trailforks reports 3.2 miles climbing 753′ and dropping 265′, it is not all straight up, some of that elevation was climbed several times. Just an entertaining trail and system. Mega deadends with the 4X4 legal road which is pretty rough for them but just normal riding, don’t recall eve sharing this part with a motorized recreater. Dropped down Little Salty which going this way still had its ups. I rode Dino Flow south to its end then spun back up the trails on the west side of the wash. Finished just about noon. Temp was 81 per the van.
The trails on the N side of the wash are on the side elevation, the tread is mostly slick rock which offers predictable traction. Well, maybe there is really more rolled firm dirt than rock. Spectacular scenery. Between me and this computer we filed today’s pics where I can’t find them. I wanted to share them which is why I started writing this.
Drove into town again more needing water. Not as crowded or just the norm. Drove back to Willow Springs and scored the first right far back site. Late afternoon strong wind event hit square to broadside, Fine dust was included.
The proliferation of vans wonders me. My van is an’06, right from the factory, back then the Sprinter was the only game. A niche has been created by the van manufactures. People of varying incomes are buying them then converting them. Back in 1998 I scored a VW Westy Synchro, man, I was top dog. At that time the Westy was what was available. Or the back of a pickup truck, or just car camping. At that time the entry bar height was pretty high, few people ventured forth. Now with the wonderful actual liveable and driveable van the entry bar was lowered substantially. All those people who didn’t want to do the car camping thing now can drive a car and live in it. I have no data to back this up but it seems to me that the majority of van people are younger and active. The RVs people are older and not as active. I think that holds true for primitive camping. At the private campgrounds I have no idea. Would think those places favor the RV crowd as they seek utilities. But then again, I hang with similar people only younger. Us baby boomers retiring and choosing a traveling adventure. Available spots are saturated with increasing quantity of users, the vans have uncorked a unrealized want. Vans are very common.