Chasing Winter

Powderhunds are back on the road. We just passed the turn to Sun Valley, ID, just south of the Sawtooths, headed to Big Sky, MT, then Fernie, BC, then Kicking Horse, BC, then on to Alaska!

In the last couple days we finished up the last of the important projects and got packed up for a far more extended road trip. “Extended” as in we aren’t sure when we are coming back, if ever. Kenai might like Kenai so much he decides to stay, and, well, we couldn’t leave him there alone.

Here are some of the things we finished up before we left:

Door stop. I made this door stop a few months ago, but the 3M VHB tape (very high bond double-sided tape) I used was too thick and the roller would not smoothly run over it. I finally had some thinner VHB tape and it was time to put it on since we installed the galley and we now have a reason to have the door stop halfway along it’s path.

Cabinet door above the microwave. This cabinet was useful on our trip, but it will be nice to have a door to keep things from falling out.

Daytime running lights. It annoys me to no end that the Transit does not have daytime running lights standard. I thought that was essentially a mandatory safety feature on new cars. Apparently on the Transit it is integrated with the automatic windshield wipers, which I hate and would not have wanted, so we did not even know it was an option. Anyway, on one of the Ford blogs someone mentioned the part number for the upgraded switch to make the headlights auto. Our van lacks the integrated light sensor, which also turns on the wipers, so it doesn’t actually function as automatic lights, but that is okay. The effect on hate auto setting is that the lights just come on with the ignition switch and go off when the car is off. That is all I want. The only weird side effect is that the nav screen now dims when you turn on the car because it thinks it must be night, but that is the same effect as if I just turned on my headlights manually during the day. Takeaway point: Ford is dumb. (This subject actually deserves its own blog post as there are so many examples of terribly poor engineering decisions. The Transit is not even a new model!)

Galley wall and more hooks. It took a fair bit of measuring and trimming holes for various protrusions, but we installed the bottom wall of the galley.

Sara wanted a shelf above the galley and the slider door so I whipped this up quickly. We will see how it works on this trip and if we like it we can build something more permanent. The wall behind is just temporary anyway.

Finally, Sara wanted a snowboard rack for the bike drawer. I either did not listen to her carefully or she did not clearly explain what she was thinking (we all know which of those two is more likely, but I’m the one writing the blog) so I started on this Christmas tree design. What a crappy mess. (It looks like something a Ford engineer would design.) I got as far as the mess below and told her that there would be no rack for this trip. Trying to figure out the measurements and make all the cuts was going to be a massive waste of time.

Yesterday while running some final errands I had an epiphany, or what she suggested finally sunk in, one or the other. I could take a couple 2x4s and just use the forstner bit to drill holes and stick dowels in the holes. That won’t take much time at all. In looking at the dimensions of the drawer it quickly became apparent that I could get all or boards, with bindings still mounted, in the width of the drawer.

Now we are done and on the road. This stop back in Oregon was super productive and felt good because we went from 90% to 99% finished on a bunch of projects. We still have plenty of work to do when/if we come back, but the van is much more livable now than it was even a week ago.

So, the first stop is Big Sky, then North about … 2700 miles. Holy crap Alaska is a long ways away! That’s the same as driving back to NH and I have no interest in making that drive again. Too. Much. Corn.

But I’m pretty sure this drivewill all be worth it.