So anyway...where was I?

Back when I was camping the first time (late 1970s), my wife, of that time, did all the packing.  It was a chaotic hodgepodge of grocery bags, laundry baskets, and styrofoam coolers, randomly piled in the car.  I never knew were a particular thing was, as there was no organization whatsoever.

Drove me nuts.

Here we are, way in the future (no Jetsons cars, as yet) and I'm camping again; and this time, I'M doing the packing.

I embarked upon a mission of making a sturdy wooden box for my Coleman gas-bottle lantern.

I planned out the interior and started sawing, sanding, glueing and clamping.

As I was working I started thinking of this box as the prototype for a larger project - a series of "camping boxes" in uniform sizes and stackable.  

I routed a pocket on the bottom of each to accommodate the handle of the one stacked below it.

I love making the chips fly...and man, do I love retirement!

Here's the finished lantern box.  All of the corners are reinforced with steel corners, there is a heavy duty handle on the lid, and a hasp to keep it closed.  I darkened all of the steel fittings with gun blue.  There was no room on the inside of the box for the lantern bail, so I mounted four small screws on the front into which the bail fits snugly.

The inside is lined with sponge-foam and the lantern fits very securely with plenty of anti-shock cushioning.

After field-testing the lantern box, production started on the rest.

Four of the boxes were all uniform in dimension, the others were custom-made to accommodate specific items.

Now I have a very compact, orderly, and organized load.

Now I needed a place to store the various boxes and other equipment between camping trips and during the off-season.

I started work on a large rolling cabinet with sliding doors.  My goal was to use as much salvaged material as possible.  In the end, the only material that I purchased were the sliding-door tracks.

The Old Ranger says: "safety first."

I carried a government credit card for sixteen years, this was the first time that I used it.

The heavy rolling base is from a dumpster behind a Barnes and Noble that had undergone a renovation.  It is very heavy, can support an enormous amount of weight and glides on it's casters with the effort of two fingers.  The MDF was left over from a friend's project and I've had it laying around for nearly ten years.

The completed cabinet doubles as a rock-solid tool-stand for my chop-saw.

A tight squeeze, but everything fits.

Here's the finished project ready for set-up at Greenbrier State Park.

I'll see you next time with more outdoor fun.  Please leave a comment, I'd love to hear from you.

Mannie

(the Old Ranger)

 

Happily retired.

So anyway...where was I?

oh yeah...In May of 2020, I pulled the plug on my career with the National Park Service and I put in my papers to retire.

My plan was to take a year to exuberantly goof-off; which I did.  Then I started two things that I had been dreaming about for years:

1. Go back to college to get a degree in visual arts

2. Get back to camping (after a decades-long hiatus).

Last week, I finished my first semester, and last autumn (2020) I got back in to the woods.

(Hagerstown Community College)

I'm right on track.

Mannie

(the old ranger)

Recon

 So anyway... where was I?

oh yeah,...I'm taking delivery on a little square-drop camper in the spring (covid permitting) and I've been scouting out potential campsites at good old Greenbrier State Park.  It's going to be a long, ten-minute, pull to the park, but I think I'm up to it.

Mini-trailer/camper camping is making me look at campsites differently.  My two favorite spots at Greenbrier are difficult to back in to - even without a trailer.  So I need to find sites that will be a little easier to get in to.

Last weekend, I took advantage of an unseasonably mild day, to hike around two of the four camping loops to find suitable sites.  

I've found a few pull-through spots and also one with a wide-enough entry to make backing a trailer easier, it has some nice elevation, a good enough sun/shade mix to to charge up the solar generator, and, most importantly, no nearby neighbors.

We'll see how this pans out

Hey, did I mention that I'm a retired Park Ranger?

I'll be back.

Mannie

(the old ranger)

 So anyway...where was I?

Oh yeah...camping.

In 1975, a year after I got out of the US Navy, I began camping, and before too long I was an avid camper.  I went out to the woods of Michigan at least three times every season, and made many camping trips in Pennsylvania as well as Tennessee.  I loved it. I once went camping all around Lake Superior...the "circle route"; up through Michigan to Ontario, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and back to Michigan.  

I especially liked camping with my good friends Pete and Kim; together we explored many of the beautiful Great Lakes parks and woodlands of Michigan. My dear friend Linda Sweigart and her niece Stacy, and I made a memorable trip to Manitou Island in northern Lake Michigan.  I spent a lot of time in a tent in the wilds of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Camping in Michigan is incredible, the influence of the towering native white pine and the Great Lakes are everywhere.  People who aren't from Michigan would weep with envy if they could see Ludington State Park on Lake Michigan, De Tour State Park on Lake Huron, Hartwick Pines State Park - spared the axe in the heyday of Michigan's dominion of the timber industry,  P.J. Hoffmaster,  Mackinac Island, Sleeping Bear Dunes...the list goes on; 74 state parks and 12 state forests.

This is the wonderland that I had at my fingertips.

Changing circumstances being what they were, twenty-five years, or so, ago, I fell out of camping,  It wasn't convenient for a variety of reasons.  I did, however have a used 22-footer RV for about four years, and that thing was a joy...but maintenance was becoming an issue so I sold it while I could still get a good price. But, generally, I was out of the woods.

As time marched on, I found myself in a position to take up my old hobby again.  It was almost exactly six years ago that I took another stab at it.

I started afresh, with new gear, including a luxurious Coleman eight-person tent! What comfort, what headroom, what a delight to have a screened-in vestibule as part of the tent...

what a pain to erect.  Literally, what a pain.  I think that I pulled every muscle of every muscle I have putting that thing up.  After practicing in the backyard, I packed up everything and drove to nearby Greenbrier State Park here in Maryland.  The hassle of erecting the tent, the discomfort of sleeping on the ground, and a general aimlessness turned it into a pretty hollow experience...so, again, I moved away from camping.

But still...

I love Greenbrier. When I still lived in Michigan I would drive twelve hours to get to Greenbrier, smack in Civil War country, which was, and still is, one of my enduring interests.  But after a twelve-hour drive, by the time I got to the park, I was exhausted...and I still had to get the tent up.

Well Greenbrier is still my favorite Maryland Park, and now I have to drive...

9 minutes to get there.

You can't beat that.

What has gotten me back in to the woods is the concept of "car camping" and a screened-in hatch awning for my Subaru Forrester.

I've been doing post-season and pre-season camping for the past since autumn of 2020 and I'll be out again this coming spring (by which time I hope to have a small "square-drop" trailer).  Each jaunt is a two-night adventure.  And I have been enjoying it immensely.  The cooking, the solitude, and evening campfire, listening to my solar-powered radio, and sleeping in the semi-bear proof safety of my car, snug as a bug in my own personal Gemini capsule.  I'm so happy to be back in the woods, and how it conjures up good memories of Pete, Kim, Linda, Stacey and others.

I promised some like-minded friends that I would post some pictures of how to set it up.  What follows is a step-by-step primer on how to erect the Napier hatch awning...and it's also a great way to kick off this blog.

So...on we go!

Trusty Subaru Forester with hatch up and ready for the deployment of the Napier awning.

The first thing you do is drape the awning over the hatch.  Helpful printed on the awning is the legend "THIS SIDE TOWARD CAR"

When sliding the sleeve-like awning over the lid of the hatch there are two reenforced corners that the corners of the hatch lid fit into.

The lower corners are secured by strap-and-hook to the wheel-wells, hubs, or whatever is handy down there.  All straps are adjustable for a snug fit.

Other elasticized straps snug the sleeve around the bumper.

The top of the sleeve is secured to the luggage rack.  If the car is sans rack, Napier includes two long straps that hook to the front bumper, thus achieving the same effect.

The shock-corded hoop is about fifteen feet long when assembled.  This is the most difficult part of assembly, but after you've done it once, it becomes "old hat."

The first step is to slide the hoop to its mid-point through a tunnel sewn into the inside edge of the awning.

Next, and I cannot overstate the importance of sequence for this step, you insert the end of the pole into a long pocket on the driver's side of the lower awning corner.

Then you tuck the passenger side of the hoop into a deep sleeve on that side.  Velcro makes it so you can open it, which is essential because there is very little give in the hoop.

There are velcro loops all along the way to keep the hoop in place.

The final step is to secure the bottom of the unit, with a strap and hook, to the closure-hook of the hatch lid.

If you want, you can stake the awning.  I did this once on a breezy day, though the awning is so secure and rigid that it wasn't really necessary.

So here is is, fully deployed.

Here is what a car awning gives you:

- the ability to sleep with the hatch open, a zip-up screen door lets air in and bugs out, and an outer zip-up door affords privacy.

- about three additional inches of foot room.

What a car awning doesn't give you:

- no additional headroom...at all.

Trying to dress and undress in the back of the car makes me positively claustrophobic. And trying to use the trusty pee-jug?...well, we won't go in to that.  I wanted to find a way to solve those issues.

In just three hours I made a vestibule that is completely compatible with the awning.  It provides all kinds of headroom, floorspace, privacy, and fresh air.  It is rainproof and, if need be, you could put a lawn chair in there to wait out inclement weather.  I couldn't be happier with the results, and it cost less than twenty dollars.

I cut two of these out of cheap 8x10 plastic tarps.

I spaced grommets along the top edge of each piece...each "half."

Both halves are affixed to the hoop with shower curtain hooks.  The halves overlap in the center to provide a door.

Existing grommets along the bottom edge (and I added more) allow it to be staked down.

I used gorilla tape to reenforce the grommet points and to affix the squares of nylon screen to square holes in each half.  These windows provide light, air, and they are high enough to permit privacy (if you know what I mean).

I put a carpet runner inside it to make it more comfortable on my stocking-feet when I remove my boots.

Like I say...three hours from conception to deployment.

It works wonderfully and provides me with everything I needed to make living in the cramped confines of a car much more enjoyable.

It's pretty ironic that now that I'm no longer a Park Ranger, I'm spending a lot more time in nature.

See you out there.

Mannie

(the Old Ranger)