09-24-2011 (SAT): Leave Maine around 8:45pm.
09-25-2011 (SUN): Drive I-90. Pass through Chicago around midnight
09-26-2011 (MON): Camp in Black Hills of South Dakota
09-27-2011 (TUE): Camp outside Crazy Horse, SD
09-28-2011 (WED): Camp at rest area along I-90 in Bozeman, MT
09-29-2011 (THU): Camp near Burke, ID
09-30-2011 (FRI): Camp along Fish Creek, south of Missoula
10-01-2011 (SAT): Camp near Elk City, ID and the Gold Point Mill
10-02-2011 (SUN): Camp near Elk City, ID and the Red River Hot Springs
10-03-2011 (MON): Camp on Cascade Lake, ID
10-04-2011 (TUE): Camp at Tetons National Park
10-05-2011 (WED): Stay at Bibeau’s house in Fort Collins, CO
10-06-2011 (THU): Stay at Bibeau’s house in Fort Collins, CO
10-07-2011 (FRI): Camp along Chicago Creek south of Idaho Springs, CO
10-08-2011 (SAT): Stay with friends in Kansas City, MO

Well, just in case you thought I might not have enough hobbies, I’ve now added placer mining to my list! I bought a Keene Engineering sluice box yesterday in Idaho Springs, CO. We (Paul, Quint, Chris and I) took it up to Chicago Creek and spent an hour or so testing it out, after our introduction to panning at the Argo Mine tour.

We panned until our hands got numb. By the time we went to bed that night, it was down to 20F.

Well, after a bit of fuss the site is back online. Somebody was able to gain access to my ftp site and change all my wordpress .php files to junk. I found duplicate files tonight on my computer and replaced the bad ones.
We are camped tonight in a real state park campground, complete with electrical hookups! We are taking advantage and topping off all the bus batteries. Tomorrow we depart early for the Tetons.

Last night we stayed in a great spot in the Black Hills National Forest. It took a bit of time to find a suitable site since we wanted to be invisible from the road and not near civilization.

Well, it’s 3:30 in the morning and I am just finishing my first shift at the wheel. Things went really well getting the bus ready today. We got the propane water heater and 3-burner stove plumbed up and working, finished the captains chair mounts, installed a 3rd bed, ….. Around 8:30 in the evening we finally left Chris’s house and made it to I-95 when we realized one of our rear tires had blown out. We called all the tire places around since we did not have a spare on board. Only 1 of 3 places that offer emergency truck service would even talk to us since we are private and not part of a national maintenance plan. The guy that would deal with us wanted $125 per hour just for the service, from the time he left his house until the time he got back to his house! We decided to start removing the wheel while we waited on him to save some time and money, and give us something to do. Once we got the wheel off, we decided to take the tire off too. When that was done, the guy called and said he didn’t have a tire in stock to fit our bus. Oh well, we put the empty rim on the inside of the axle, bolted everything back together, and were off! 1 tire less but still ok. Once it is daylight and a reasonable hour, I’ll start searching craigslist in areas we’ll be going through and find a used tire or 2. Chris is now at the helm. Check out our live map on the bus trip page, it has been updating since we left except for a period with possible poor signal.
-Bryan

Living in the middle of civilization, we can’t really have our fires in a stone ring. Today I welded up this fire ring. The sides are 1/8″ x 8″ plate, and the bottom is 3/16″ plate. I made the legs from 2″ OD pipe with 3″ pipe caps welded upside down on the bottom. There are a couple of air/drain holes I punched in the bottom with my plasma cutter. The next project is a grilling grate made from rebar.

We’ve been slowly working at getting our garden ready for the summer, but today we went full force and put our seeds in the ground.

We purchased 2 tomato and 2 pepper starters, but everything else we are going to sow in the ground. It is definitely a late start, but we’re hopeful there will be a decent yield this year.

Oscar was a big help!

He’s feeling really good and enjoyed a hike and lots of outdoor time today.