THE OVERNIGHT low Saturday was 6 below zero, -21 Celsius, no wind, clear skies. The waning Full Cold Moon of December arose in the east. In the south, Jupiter shone brighter than any star.
Jonny snapped this pic of my shadow as we carried materials into the building Friday night.
I set up my camp in the lean-to. Jonny camped in the travel van.
Overnight Sunday we had cloud cover, less heat escapes into space, the low quit falling at 4 degrees, -15 C.
That 10-degree variable from one night to the other doesn’t sound like much but it makes a difference. Saturday I slept with my socks on, Sunday I took them off in the middle of the night. Too warm.
Among the things you may already know about winter camping, consider adding this: have an avocado as a bedtime snack. Twenty grams of mono- & polyunsaturated fat, 300 calories; it’s readily available fuel for heating your zero-rated sleeping bag overnight, keep it at 70 degrees Fahrenheit, 75, however you want to regulate it.
Sunrise Saturday. We were on the road to New Hampshire for 26 sheets of sheetrock.
Had a stop to make in Ludlow, Vermont. This is the road back to the building site.
We picked up a 30,000-BTU propane heater so we’ll have heat in the building to dry the joint compound.
Garage doors are in now. They look nice.
Saturday I turned in for the night around 8:30, awoke at 11, read for a while, went back to sleep until 5. I saw a light in the van, which told me Jonny’s up for the day & making coffee but let me close my eyes for two more minutes.
Two minutes later, oops… 7 o’clock. When I walked down to the van Jonny said I was starting to think you might be dead, I said nah maybe when the building’s done.
We’ll head back up Friday, that’s the plan, three of us counting Eduardo, snow in the forecast. Hopefully not enough to hold up progress. The idea is to make the apartment livable so the kids aren’t stuck working on it all year and are free to travel a bit.
They camped all over the west last autumn and again this spring. Just a few months ago they were in the Everglades and Key West.
Camper humor…
Here’s to a good start to the new week for all.
Tony DePaul, December 12, 2022, Cranston, Rhode Island, USA
Ya’ll making great progress on the build. Is looking more like a woodland home every visit you make. Am enjoying watching you guys do the work from the comfort of 70 degree days in Gulf Coast Texas.
We’re keeping an eye on an approaching snowstorm. Might have to scoot up there tomorrow to beat it. It’ll need to warm up to snow, overnight lows will be in the 20s. We’ll be sipping drinks with little umbrellas in them.
I love the garage doors, they’re beautiful. 6 below zero, my hat’s off to you.
Thanks, Ellie. It’s not bad at all, I enjoy being out in the fresh air. Everybody in Ukraine’s going to be cold all winter, and, of course, plenty of Americans sleep on the streets in rags and cardboard. Once the sleeping bag warms up it’s just like home.
The garage doors do look good! When the windows go in next week the look of the building will really start to take shape.
I’m so glad you got a heater to dry the joint compound. Make sure you don’t do anything foolish with it – like keep yourself warm! Be careful on the roads!
Gonna try. We’re hearing this morning it could be a pretty good snowfall. We might have to get ahead of it by driving up a day early.
I also wanted to respond to the heater for the joint compound – but how about the old joints of your body? maybe easier to get up, to ride and to work with heat!?
Also, How does an avocado heat your sleeping bag?
Good morning, Charlotte.
Forever ago, on a cold night in Montana, I’m motorcycle camping on the side of the road, a guy in a jigillion-dollar fifth-wheel camper pulls in nearby. He offers to run a power cord over to where I am, he has a little tent heater I can borrow.
Tent heater? Never heard of such a thing. I said nah, don’t worry about me, I just ate two avocados as if they were apples.
Some winter campers eat sugary snacks for fuel before turning in. Terrible idea. They metabolize fast, spike your insulin level, make for a cold, miserable night of bad sleep. Avocados, on the other hand, burn slow & steady in the gut. They’re packed with healthy fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals…
We’ll be racing a winter storm north this weekend, need to get in there a day early. Jonny and Eduardo may choose to camp by the propane heater but I’m not eager to drag my bedroll into the building until the walls and ceiling are closed in; don’t want to collect fiberglass bits from the exposed insulation. It’s the frosty outdoors for me.
We don’t do winter camping up here in the Great White North. And I noticed there was a distinct lack of snow in Vermont. Hmmm…. Have a Merry Christmas Tony!
The ski mountains are making snow, but yes, no natural snowfall so far. Or nothing that’s lasted more than a few days at a time.
Calm air this weekend but every time we’re up there I see trees freshly fallen in the woods. When the winter wind gets rolling it really roars, generally out of the east/northeast. Good idea to have the open wall of the lean-to facing west.
Merry Christmas to you & yours, Bill.
Great to have those photos and story. I camped in the Adirondacks as a young person when it was well below zero. Had to eat the instant oatmeal as you took it off the SVEA stove otherwise it would ice over. Car wouldn’t turn over due to congealed oil. Heated up the crankcase with the little stove and all was good. Sounds like you are better prepared.
And I seem to think the young Jon Brush walked away from a Norton motorcycle somewhere in… Newfoundland? Am I remembering that correctly? If so, we should go back and find it, it’s even more collectible now.
Hi to Anita!