Instead of writing in my journal, I post these pre-trip postings mainly for my own purposes, although some of them may be of interest to a few readers.
Some random thoughts on day minus 4 (i.e., days after I originally hoped set off)….
Today I will shop for and then prepare the Daily Food Boxes. My fear is that the store’s shelves will already have been emptied by the people panicking as the hurricane approaches the east coast. Yes, DC is supposed to get some impact, but nothing more than what you have at home now usually suffices for those few storms that do reach DC. Regardless, I am not setting off until the hurricane passes, probably Sunday or Monday. I would rather suffer the known consequences of one minute less sunlight and perhaps one-degree cooler each day rather than the unknown consequences of camping in the midst of the tail end of a hurricane. I already spent two nights in tents in hurricanes on OTR (2011) and if I can avoid it before I set out I will.
Yesterday, when I discovered that my charging cable for my Stanley car battery jumper was mysteriously missing, I decided to buy a new jumper, especially since I saw that Stanley’s jumpers get 2.5 out of five stars, although it served me well on OTR8 despite its massive size. My new one (see top photo, right) is 25% more powerful, 1/4 the size of the Stanley (and 5 pounds versus 13) and fits nicely in the console, whereas the Stanley took up a good amount of Donner’s bed in the back of the Defender. I can recharge the jumper directly when it is in the console. I also replaced my way-too-bright 14” long LED lights with a much smaller Snap-On, and it works nicely with the new jumper (see bottom photo). For these trips, I will do anything I can to reduce the size and weight of anything I take, Donner excluded. I only need these lights for when I am setting up or breaking camp in the dark instead of running the Defender’s engine with my headlights on. The new jumper has a built-in powerful LED which is about half as powerful as the portable LED Snap-On light, so I will probably use that one first.
As I wrote else, on each pf these trips, I usually get one or two offers to sell my Defender. Yesterday, on my way to buy the battery jumper, some guy pulled up next to me on the highway, opened his window and then started to shout an offer to buy my Defender. More concerned about driving the Defender than selling it, I simply shouted back to him, “Look, I couldn’t afford to buy it myself today.” After this trip, though, I may consider offers, high offers, very high offers, that is. This vehicle has served me so well for so many years, with no apologies to Charlton Heston I have only five words for my parting with it, “from my cold, wet hands.”
ED
