Lil’ Scamp is getting a few upgrades 2.5.15

When we bought the Scamp it had an ice box. It required bags of ice and when full no room for food.

 

Thought we’d try it for a while but it did not work out so we put a small 110 fridge in. Velcro to keep the door shut.

That worked as long as we had 110 or ran the generator to cool it down. We put 4700 miles on it last summer but each rest area overnight required the generator be run.

We finally decided to put in a 2 way.  110 for when we are at home, campground or friends and relatives. 12volt for traveling down the road and overnight in a rest area or Wallydockin’ (Wal-Mart)

The car will be charging the camper battery when we travel and it should hold overnight. We’ll still have the generator for long term stops without electric.

One minor little problem….I ordered one that was just a touch bigger than the other one…Jim had to do some remodeling.

He had to make a frame to fit the new fridge. I like the rounded corners.

While the fridge was out I made a screen for the upper louvers. It had been taped closed. Velcro on the screen will stick to the “rat fur” on the wall.

Once he had all the electrical wires in place we slid the fridge in place.

The bottom trim couldn’t go on until the fridge was in. Here’s our new look.

We’ll be livin’ uptown….it even has a light.

One thing we really like is the latch. It seems very secure. We’ll see how it holds up to some corners.

It better hold….Jim fit this in so well I cannot put any Velcro on it.

Car show/ Air show Ocala FL 1.17.15

We loaded up the Scamp, hooked up the Hudson and headed to Ocala. Friday night we met 3 other classic cars at Detroit City Custom and cruised to Inverness for a show.  When it  was over we went to a friend’s place in Morriston and spent the night. We were plugged into electric and the little heater kept us nice and cozy.
We had a nice visit with Ruth. Her husband Jim was in the hospital so Jim is going to visit him tomorrow after the car show. The “Jims” have been friends for many many years.
After coffee with Ruth, we headed for the Ocala airport. Spotted this little cutie as we were being directed to our parking spot.

We still had the camper so they put us next to this Corvette who was also towing.

Their little trailer is used for luggage etc. They also had a map of the places they’d been. So nice to see others use their vehicles for something besides shows.

The picture is a bit grainy because I cropped it out of the picture above…can you imagine seeing something this big while sitting in a classic Corvette?

They did the same thing we are doing….a color for each year…there are way ahead of us and had some neat pictures to go with it.
My sister, Joanne, gave us this display case several years ago…glad we finally found a good use for it.

I love these old cars…this would be fun to have…but don’t think it would pull the Scamp…so am happy with the Hudson.


There were a lot of nice cars there….didn’t get pictures of them all..but did get some of my favorites…




When I met Jim he had a beautiful Bucket T…so these rank up there in the favorites column.

Jim’s engine had a big super charger on it and looked like an engine with 4 wheels and a seat. It was a lot of fun.


I spent most of the day showing the camper to folks that were very interested in a tiny camper behind a ‘49 Hudson.

Some are amazed that we’ve traveled over 7000 miles already and even more surprised that it was all done with the Hudson….even with the pictures.
Then there were the “rat rods”. Some of these are pretty unique. You have to look at them closely to see what they’ve used to put them together. I am positive the big head lights are made from drop lights.

These guys have great imaginations.

They look like they are from Mad Max movies. This little guy is hollering to his dad to come look at this! I think he liked the skull.



I think Jim and I would have a great time putting something like this together…but it wouldn’t be a good tow vehicle and we like to travel.
They were giving rides in this tri –motor plane…$75 a person.  We were going to take a ride..but I was so busy showing the Scamp that we never did get to it.  It would have been fun..but.. .that’s $150 for gas….either in the boat or the Hudson, and we can go a lot longer in them and have a lot more fun.


I’ll bet this would tow the Scamp…and even has a trunk for all the gear.

Someone pointed out this beautiful cloud formation…thought it might be caused by all the planes circling and landing.

Carl and Jim had a great time wandering around looking at cars. We haven't been to this show before and saw a lot of new (to us) cars.
After the show we found a spot to park the Hudson and Scamp. I stayed with the vehicle while Jim and Carl went to the hospital to visit Jim. After that we headed back to Carl’s. Dropped off the Hudson and Scamp, then went out to supper. Had a nice visit with Carl and a good nights sleep in our Scamp.
After breakfast with Carl at the Mason Jar, we headed back home. The cats were happy to see us. The “feral cat feeder”  (on the www.wildlifearoundus.blogspot.com) blog holds plenty of food but they like to see us each morning for a quick pet. That’s about all we get but they are getting friendlier as time goes by. It’s nice that they like being outdoor cats….we are away for a few days to a week or two at a time and they have a cat house with a heated bed and plenty of food and water.
See you on the road.

Christmas on the Water 12.28.14 a spider day

Jim is usually up first in the morning….I sleep in till he has the generator running to charge the batteries and make coffee.

We are used to working with each other in small spaces. Once he has everything running and can sit out of the way..I get the bed made up.

I roll the sheet, blankets and pillows up in the beach towels. They make good back rests under way. The one hanging over the front door is to keep mosquitos from coming in. The door is not very tight and facing into the wind you get a pretty good draft through it…so it does double duty. All ship shape and ready for coffee on the rear deck.

 

While I was getting the bed made …Jim bailed the dingy and put some air in it. Need to get some work done on it. It has a water leak and an air leak.

When we got the boat there was no provision for the anchor. Jim cut the bow rail and built an anchor roller for it. When he did that he had to remove the running lights. He put them on a plate that can be bolted into the rail when we need it. Today it was foggy and we wanted to get through the canal before the tour boats started running..so had to run in the fog with lights.

It has to be removed for anchoring but we hardly ever need it anyways so it’s not a problem. It is well worth it. Now we have an anchor roller and much easier to haul the anchor up.

Nope that is not snow….it is spider webs. The woods looked like it had little tuffs of snow all through it.

Years ago in NY I used to do a lot of coon hunting. I ran through the fields at night following the dogs….never realized how many spiders there were till I looked out one foggy morning.

This houseboat was tucked back in a little waterway along the river.

One day several years ago Jim and I beached on an island under a bunch of trees..to walk the dog…when we looked up it was like the Navy Seals rappelling down lines from a helicopter. There were spiders everywhere…it didn’t take us long to got off of there. Have not beached or tied up under a tree since.

Cant say spiders are my favorite insect but as you can tell…the webs fascinate me. So many of these are small flat circular webs. I’m used to the orb weavers and their big webs.

We made it to the entrance to the canal…and with the fog and the early hour we didn’t think we’d meet any other boats….we didn’t.

The canal was loaded with spider webs too..

We’ve been through here several times and it was nice to see it in the fog.

Back on the river we spotted this canoe…it was loaded for an extended camping trip. Don’t know if they were coming or going…

We cruised down to G 109 and anchored…Jim bailed and aired up the dingy and we went for a ride. I had noticed a Blue Heron nesting on the way in.

I always find it hard to believe those big birds would be nesting in tree tops.

The river was busy…boats going every which way and most at a high rate of speed. One put out a big wake and we rode it in with the dingy.

When we got back to the boat we decided we might as well pull out. Took all the screens down, closed and covered the Bimini and stowed everything we could so there would be less to do at the ramp. We try not to tie it up during holidays or weekends but didn’t figure tomorrow would be any better.

We weren’t very long at the dock . Jim had to deflate the dingy. We keep a small vacuum aboard just for that reason. Inflate or deflate. It also works good for sucking mosquitos off the ceiling if we forget to close a window screen. Turn off all the lights…aim one at the ceiling and they all head for it…except the ones trying to bite you.

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While Jim went to get the trailer, I spotted this boat waiting for the bridge to open….Would love to know what it is. Looks like a stretched Albin. Set up the same as ours…but much longer with a lot more room.  If anyone knows what it is…let me know. I could live there.

Once Meander is on the trailer we get out of the way and finish tying her down and stowing gear for travel.

All in all it was a great trip. Motor wouldn’t idle very well at first but towards the end when Jim started using high grade marine gas it did better. Weather was perfect the first and last days and was good in between. We got to do some swimming and lots of cruising. We had fair weather for crossing Lake George and the river was up enough for us to get into Salt Springs.

If the river is still up when we come out next time…we will try Lake Dexter, Lake Woodruff and a trip into  DeLeon Springs. They have a neat restaurant there. The Old Mill. There are grills in the tables and you can cook your own eggs and pancakes. I used to go there every afternoon when training Harness Horses at Spring Garden Ranch.