The Year in Review

As Big Orange rests snugly in the garage (and no fuel smell yet, knock on wood), allow me to reflect upon what I think was a reasonably successful year.

Stinkertonius got to meet Ludwig... 

...and, later, join the camping crew (thanks to A and B for being part of that).

Returning from camping in Yellowstone, a ten year-old elevation record fell. 

The next weekend we took Ludwig to Craters of the Moon...

...and then the next weekend to Lewis & Clark Caverns (first of two times).

In August Colin helped us straighten out Ludwig's fuel delivery issues. (You're not a serious air-cooled VW owner/operator unless you schedule or are gonna schedule an appointment with Colin. Just saying.)

We took part in a jamboroo up Rock Creek... 

...and another, smaller jamboroo at Georgetown Lake (where we were honored to be part of C's first campout adventure).

Here's to an even better 2015!

Requiem for Big Blue

picture courtesy BVE

Citing mounting temporal and familial concerns, earlier this month Big Blue's Driver announced that Big Blue had been sold. Given his tags--Californians are reverential toward those older plates--I suspect he'll remain 'Big Blue' (or 'BIGBLU 3', as it were), however. And given that he's not been sent to the crusher, 'requiem' isn't really the proper word here, I suppose.

Revisit his not-so-distant past here, where down a little and to the right you'll find an archive of adventures, trials, and possibly the thickest stack of Volkswagen miscellany on the internet outside of the Samba.

Happy trails, Big Blue.

Blue Bunny, Blue Beetle

Ten Years Gone

A few months ago it occurred to me (as this sort of thing tends to) that we'd been driving Ludwig regularly since the late Summer of 2004--ten years. We'd actually gotten him very late in 2003 but between our academic and work commitments and getting him road-ready after a decade idle in a machine shed we weren't really drive driving him until right before we moved to California. That move was his first big trip with us, in fact.

Anyway, I also remembered it being a while after our arrival in the Golden State before we got a chance to actually camp in him and wondered when that anniversary was. A little sleuthing reveals that sometime in August or September, probably September, of 2004 he made his inaugural overnight with us at Gaviota State Park.

And what a campground it was! A barely-glorified parking lot for a beach. Not having much use for a beach, we explored some of the park's wholly different inland component; specifically, a 0.7 mile hike to an undeveloped hot spring.

The spring bubbled up prettily and smellily.

That's Las Cruces nestled in the distant chaparral, with CA Hwy 1 snaking beyond.

We lost two years of our lives to California during which time between the both of us we logged a paltry six more nights camping in him. Which leads to a final batch of statistics I'll leave you with: over those ten years, Melissa has spent 60 nights in Ludwig, I've spent 62, E has 47, and Stinkerton, 11. Not much in retrospect, but it gives us something to improve upon.

Happy 41st Birthday...

...to Ludwig.

Butte Beetles

 A '65, I think.

It's in Butte but it's from Missoula.

On a Steel Horse I Ride...

Spotted at Three Bears Alaska in Butte. Good luck, whoever you are.

Pea Green Beetle

Spotted just off MT Hwy 1 on the way to the Lake

Georgetown Lake Moose Camp

A couple weekends ago we decided to meet S, A, and C at Georgetown Lake, just 22 miles up the road from us. As usual, we got the best spot in the campground.

At the fee kiosk E asked for a pen and I absentmindedly handed her one. Apparently she felt the need to correct this sign. They are free envelopes, after all.

Once the Missoulians arrived things got rolling. That's S and C at right.

Later on some deer wandered past. It's not clear why we find deer even remotely interesting. Just the other day we ran into a herd of five down the street from our house, and they come into our yard often.

But anyway, E wanted more deer to stop by so she made this sign from a chunk of firewood and some charcoal.

What she probably didn't count on was her sign attracting this bull moose.

There were five moose, actually, this mature bull and a younger bull hanging out together, and a cow with two youngish ones of unknown gender. As the whole lot of them passed above our site, the bulls suddenly took off in a trot after the cow. Bull moose, especially those in rut, are about the most dangerous wildlife you can encounter, even more so than bears which, unlike moose, are at least marginally predictable. And moose can run faster than a damn horse! Their trotting brought them way too close for comfort so we all skedaddled into Ludwig.

After cooling his ardor a bit the big male plunked himself down 40 or 50 yards from our site (I wasn't inclined to get an exact measurement). He seemed pretty mellow and didn't look our way, so after a while we all debarked, though we kept our wary eyes on him. All of us except E, who decided discretion was the better part of valor and stuck around in Ludwig. She also made another sign. "NAWE!"="NOW!", in case that's confusing.

Eventually Bullwinkle moved on. E celebrated her freedom with a dance.

She also (unfortunately?) learned a new term, 'photobomb'. That's A with his daughter C, who's a little younger than Stinkerton.

Down by the lake a little girl showed us the frog she caught. E thought it was cute, but there was no way she was touching it.

I dropped Stinkerton on her head/face.

More deer!

And that was that. Thanks to S, A, and C for the honor of accompanying C on her first ever camping trip!

Rock Creek Jamboree

J, I, B, and K hanging out on one of Rock Creek's many rocks.

A and E. E got a cinder in her eye at the campfire the night before, hence the swollen eye and her expression.

E, M, I, J, J, I.

Bitterroot Flat campground comes highly recommended. 

I didn't realize until I saw the picture in a larger size that poor J back there seems to be crying, probably because the bigger kids aren't including him. Sorry, J.

The weekend's activities wrapped up with a short hike into the Welcome Creek Wilderness. Longtime blog readers may recognize that we've been here before.

Happy/grumpy to be headed home?

Eight years ago when we were moving to Missoula this rock outcropping along the Clark Fork impressed me enough that I took a picture (second from the bottom). We've passed it dozens of times since, and I still like it.

Antics.

We're home! 

(p.s. Google recently completely changed botched their mapping tool despite their promise to not be evil (I count willful stupidity as being evil, maybe the worst kind). Until I learn it, find something better, or they change it, you're stuck with this. Sorry.)