Vanagon Shenanigans

A pre Ike Galveston trip!

2008-10-02T11:48:00.010-05:00

Yes boys and girls I had my monthly trip down to Galveston Island cut short by Hurricane Ike. I was enjoying taking some sunrise pictures on the 11th of September around 7 am. When Mayor White gets on the radio and says "If you don't leave Galveston Island you WILL die!" Yea...right...now where are my keys? but I get ahead of myself.

Let me start at the beginning,,,

10th September

I agree to meet Johnny on the West side of Galveston Island other wise know as San Luis Pass Rd. Just past the town that used to be Jamaica Beach. That is where I fished from last time. Anyway I was going to let John borrow a yak and he was going to show me around Luis Pass which is mostly a flat area that Red fish like to congregate this time of year. You can walk out 300 yards from shore and water not get above your knees until it drops you into a 20 ft hole! (can you say life vests?) There is a lot of salt grass in the area that holds all kinds of wildlife (I was concerned about snakes until John told me that the poison snakes in this area of Texas don't like the salt, but "you do have to watch out for gators") This was half way through the day! lol

<== Johnny is a radio operator who likes to fly fish and has been fishing the areas for many years. Nice fishing with ya John!

<== My first red fish catch and release!

It is hard to believe that there is a cat 3 cain in the gulf less that 48 hours away!

A couple enjoying the sunset before the 'cain tandem yak. They said they where stay for the event! I hope they made it ok! They where on the sea wall so who knows.

This is where I was when the Mayor came on the radio and said that I was coming right for us! I could not believe it. That is when H called and asked me to come home. Which I did after snapping a few more shots. I missed a whole day but I have a homestead to defend from Ike!

Next post "How to survive a 16 day power outage in style while using your Vanagon" Well maybe it wont be that long.

2008-08-27T08:30:00.004-05:00

going from the gas tank (I might have to replace this part)

I think the fuel pump should be replaced soon definatly 20+ years old

<=== The black top part of this photo is the fire wall.

2008-08-26T10:12:00.004-05:00

Some one asked if I had any photos of the van set up to fish or with the yaks on them. Here it is I hop you enjoy them.

I havent been on any trips since the Galveston trip. Been too busy getting the oldest to LSU. $$$$ :) So the bus has been up graded to "daily driver"

The photos of 1 yak are when I went to Galveston last and the photo with 3 yak are when we went too Columbus for a day paddle. that was a fun trip!

Cost

2008-06-22T08:10:00.006-05:00

While in Galveston my bus broke down, I called my mechanic and he said it sounded like a starter coil he said use "botch" brand only. I didnt have access to botch but the people at Auto Zone said their off brand would work (lies, all lies) So now I have a coil that I dont think I can return and had to use my last AAA tow to get home!

I can only take solace that even with all the repairs I have had to make with this bus I have still payed less than I would have for insurance on a new truck, new trailer. As well as storage and monthly payments on the same truck and trailer.

I purchased the Van for what most people pay for a down payment on a new car.

- Truck $300 +
- trailer $125 +
- insurance $100 +
$425 x 12(we have had the bus for 12 months) = $5100

- total parts and labor for the bus around $1700
- insurance $840

5100 - 2540 = $2560 in the blue!!!

Galveston Island, Tx - June 9th, 2008

2008-06-18T15:09:00.014-05:00

Since gas has gotten so expensive I can no longer afford to go on a day trip by myself for just one day, if it a day trip with the family I think we can pull it off. H and I agreed if I am going around 100 miles round trip I should just stay the night so I can have 2 days of enjoyment. Of course this cant be a weekly thing, maybe every 2 weeks.

I get off work at 5pm go home wait for the traffic to die down and head out around 7 pm. I have loaded the van up the night before and my lovely wife has made the menu. Thanks H :)

I have never seen the Texas City Dike before so I make the detour and go check it out. I am glad I went at night I have never seen the set ups these people have down there! 50,000 candle power+ gas generators attracting fish!

This picture doesn't do it justice the little "dots" of lights that look like "KC" lights are actually the kind of lights you see road crews use at night and there is just a few in this picture. These people had the operation down pat!

BTW this is where your gas comes from, if I had taken a picture just a little bit to the right you could have seen the factories. I took a picture but it came out blurry.

Onward to Galveston.
I had it in my mind to sleep on the Sea wall of the island which turned out to be a great thing, sleeping with the sound of the waves in your ears. H was a little concerned about the police or some baddies harassing me. It was very pleasant with a 24 hour gas station close by in case nature called in the night.
Although, I could not pop the camper because the weight of the kayak was too much for me to lift. This meant I had to rearrange my sleeping habits. It was tight, but after reading for a bit I slept like a log. The inverter worked out great, my C-pap machine ran all night as well a fan. If you are ever sleeping in a public place and have to leave the windows down just remove the locking slips :)

I set the alarm for 4 am (although since I was already there I could have slept til 5:30 or 6) and I will next time I do this trip. I wanted to find a new place to fish and drove around a bit. I found a place called Jamaica Beach south east of Galveston City that had a public boat ramp. The only sign I found said you can't park there more than 24 hours, which was great for me! After I got set up to go out I put the solar charger on the battery and the solar shower on the roof. I then headed out.

Galveston Island used to be a great wild place that had grass lands all over it. This is going fast because developers have started putting up expensive houses where the marshes used to be. Now I don't know how much abuse these houses can take but when a hurricane knocks them down or a storm surge pushes them out to sea like leaves on the breeze I know the people that are smart enough not to "build our house on the sand" (I know I have read that some place lol) have to help foot the bill.

I paddled through and out of the 'hood on stilts took a left (south/east) and into the wind. After battling the wind I was finally into the marsh. It was great sun on your back movement all in the water, unfortunately the movement didn't like my lures. I saw a hugh red tailing in the grass but it wasn't interested. There was so much movement in the water I was getting splashed but no takers. I decided to float back in 2 - 10 ft of water. Something was happening there! I had multiple hits and 2 takers but I didn't set the hooks right. I could see shadows chasing each other down there it was pretty exciting!

I got back to the bus at about 2pm, drained the water from my equipment, the solar shower was nice and warm, popped the top, laid ed out my wet clothes out to dry, climbed up into the bunk enjoying the breeze and read a book while dozing off. The only negative thing was some parents let there kids have the key to the beach house, they where very loud screaming (probably drinking) jumping from the second story patio into the water below. If I was fishing from my house (as the people next door where) I would have called the police for disturbing the police. I would have been happy to lie there til the sun started going down but my Marine radio started going off reporting a nasty storm headed my way. Which hit just as I got all my stuff packed stowed.

It just rained for 15 mins, but I was glad I wasnt out on the water (or packing my equipment) when it hit. I was headed back to the sea wall when I desided to check out GISP (Galveston Island State Park) I got clearance from the park rep to take a look around. They gave me a chk it out pass. GISP is just insane with thier charges for what you get, I talked to some people campming there and they said the showers/ bathrooms where only cleaned after they complained about how bad they where! Please write your congres person and demand more funds for our state parks funds! They are very understaffed!
- $5 per day, per person 13 and older this can be voided if you have the state park pass.
- $20 per night; $25 per night for premium sites for electric/water (30 amp-80 sites 20 premium, 50 amp-40 sites 10 premium. Premium sites are on the Gulf side of the park. Is for the families that want to play on the beach
Bay side of the park. If you just want some quiet and fishing area. However please be aware of the snakes in this area. Fish with an area light and bring lights for your camp ground.
- $20 per night; screened shelters No Pets allowed in these sites.
- $20 per night; overflow sites electric/ water.
Anyway while I was looking over the park I used the shower area to get what the solar shower missed.

Have a good one!

Inverter and drip charger Installed

2008-06-18T13:16:00.013-05:00

I hope this post finds everyone well.

H and I decided that an inverter was a must if we where to stealth camp of boon dock because I have sleep apnea I snore like a freight train. I also stop breathing etc which can lead to stroke and heart attacks. If you snore get checked out please!

Anyway we decided on an 800 watt inverter just to have too much than too little. I rewired the switch so I could place it somewhere other than behind the food stuff. This probably voided the warranty on the inverter, but anyway I attached the switch to wires the could reach anywhere in the bus.

Note: The bus wood has a sticky substance on all surfaces. Which all you gear sticks to. So as I was pulling the shelving out of the buss H was doing some cutting of her own. Which BTW makes working on the bus so much nicer.

Thanks H ;)

After the shelves where removed for resurfacing I placed the wires.You need someone with small hands of a bigger whole the putting all the wire through that whole was painful :)

In the top left of the picture you'll see a power outlet. This outlet is where your frig is plugged in, it goes to the external plug that you use when you can get to the outlet. I installed a drip charger here so it will automaticlly charge my deep cell battery when we plug the bus in.

Here are my helpers!

I ran the switch wire through the first compartment, then the second compartment (following the lines that lead to the water tank) then up through the closet. I wanted the switch to be visable so I would not forget to turn if off when I was done camping.

Finishing up.
I have more picts of the project than I can put on this form. If yopu have any questions please ask :)

Why does it look like that?

2008-06-01T01:07:00.003-05:00

Why can't what I type here in the creation window look the same in the blod window? WTF mate! The post below in the creation window looks professional; the photos are neatly arranged on the left side of the board, the writings are just to the right of that. Then I hit "Post" and it looks like it was put in the fragging blender! Picts where ever and WAY spaced out. Can anyone explain?

Install of Yakima Racks (There will be Blood)

2008-05-30T20:23:00.021-05:00

Ok, first I would like to say that if you have to use the same fonts at home that you use at work because other wise it just doesn't "look right" you might be going a little crazy.

The wife and I ( I will call her H because I have seen other blogger's get ripped because they forgot their wives name while blogging) ..... ok again...

For Christmas this year we asked everyone for REI gift cards (if they asked) So we could get the Yakima set up for our Vanagon.... I really to name it, maybe something viking sounding.... Well I got up the nerve to install it yesterday and today. No I am not a procrastinator in the least. Nor do I have ADD which might explain why I jump around on my posts. :) I was kind of nervous about putting wholes in my camper top. As I could not find pictures on how exactly to do it.

As far as I know this is the only complete install w/ pictures on the net!

I was very nervous about placement, but as I looked at the camper I could see there are all kinds of land marks on it. My understanding is the farther back the rack is the easier it is to lift and lower it.

1.) this picture is as far back on the camper you can get without getting into the hinges. I took a pencil and lightly drew down the straight edge. this gives you a 90 degree angle to where the camper flairs out.

2.) using the same "wide body" hardware straight edge draw a line parallel to the flair. the reason you want to do this first is that you can see if it crooked. after making any adjustments mark where the wholes are to be put.

arhhhhhh I cant believe I didn't save this I had it done and now it is gone!! all my deep insights and humorous commits gone!! I have been trying to do this for the last 2 days the lost post was much more informed. I would do it again but it is 1 am here and I get up at 4 am ussually. Tomarrow I have to go find out why I pay $1300 for a repairs to my Vanagon to run 2 days!!

* you want to make your drill bit as short as possable as not to damage the canvas

*you also want to do all drilling with the camper popped up

3.) the next few pictures are to show the placement of the front bars.

* this is to ease the minds of the people that where concerned about bolts ripping the canvas.

* the placement of 18 inches allows clearance for a sunroof if I ever get one.

oh yes the blood!! I warned you!!

Past Travels

2008-05-27T09:33:00.003-05:00

Most of our camping has been local. Huntville state park, Livingston SP, and Lake Conroe for day trips.

Our last big trip was too Hot Spring SP which is just wonderful, there was a bike show in town (wow what a hobbie), they have put a city inside the state park to get access to the hot springs. So you have hiking, biking, and nature trails up a mountain with a mile of each other. This is where you go when you want it all! Heck you can sleep in a hotel, get a massage in the bath house, hike up a mountain, shop and never go more than 5 miles from the center of town.

http://travel.webshots.com/album/549562167PQUAUP these not my photos because I am not that good.

These are mine:

Going back a little

2008-05-27T09:04:00.004-05:00

I want to let you know about how we used to travel.

Before the gas prices started going up I had a Jeep Cherokee Sport 4x4 whish I sold as the price of gas got to $2/gallon for a Scion xB which has better leg room front and back that the Jeep. Which made for less complaining on long trips from my 2 sons.

This is a great car! I can carry 4 yaks on it, 35 mpg and it looks pretty cool unless you have it all banged up from camping and yaking out of it. lol. The only issue I have is getting all the equipment into it! I wish I had a picture of the xB all loaded up with fishing equipment, coolers, etc strapped to the roof of the car! Another issue I had is the clearance of the xB this is me in Matagorta, Tx. If you havent been there it is a very wild area with few people

that are willing to get a dumb person out of the sand, but someone finally did!

We didn't catch anything this trip but it was very pretty there!

Greetings All!

2008-05-26T18:45:00.002-05:00

Greetings all, I hope that you find this entertaining, thoughtful, educational. And all the rest of it .

First of all my name

"Stígandi" identical to the Old Icelandic noun stígandi, "stepper, strider," from the verb stíga, "to step, to step upwards." This name appears in Göngu-Hrólfs saga ch. 6, and it also occurs as the name of a ship in Vatnsdæla saga ch. 16. I got this from this website ( http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/ )

My wife believes I have a Viking heritage so the name fits me better than my real on in my eye. Oh yea don't be fooled I didn't tell all me friends and my co-workers on day " I want to be called Stígandi." My wife and I are hoping to travel the Americas (north and south) I hope sooner rather than later. I just need a way to make money driving across country. You have an idea let me know!

Second:

This blog is mostly going to be about upgrading my 82' VW Vanagon (the most awsome car created) camping, kayaking, fishing.

We purchased the bus about a year ago from eBay. Our maiden voyage was from Dallas too ( http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/pedernales_falls/ ) Pedernales Falls State Park in the hill counrty of Texas. Where we got our first test of the camper!! A tropical storm hit and made it all the way to Austin. The wind shook the camper tent and it didnt leak and more importantly..... didn't get pulled away! This work of "modern" technology weights 4000 lbs., has a pancake Porche engine, 2 gas stove top, sink, refigerator, alot of storage room, and can sleep 4 people! Yes I know I could have had a pick up truck pulling a camper trailer behind it but I would have had to buy the truck and the trailer + have another note to pay off. I paid cash for this baby and just worry about the insurance and registration. even if I have to pay for a new engine ($3500 installed), it is still better than paying $6000/year on a truck and camper. BTW kids if you have a car that is paid for do not go and by something new unless you can do it with cash. Small repairs are nothing to paying the note + intrest on something new.

Falls pict

and yes this is one view.

Third:

We have really tried to stop being consumers. We try not to purchase new things ie we recycle, Craigslist, eBay ETC.

My links:

www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewforum.php?f=20

http://www.gowestie.com/

http://texaskayakfisherman.com/forum/index.php

http://www.coastalkayakangler.com/forum/?PHPSESSID=cbb9b4b5ac72da9b21636c6cd0a240a2