Cooking

Some of us got COVID.

June 5, 2023 by kvec Leave a Comment

Continued from “Insulation Installation and more…“

Summer 2021 ended but October 2021 got scary.

In Novelty, Ohio.

Derek grillin’ with Wayne and Forest watching, in the driveway.

September 29, 2021 – We had to get to Cleveland and help my mother who was coming out of the hospital. She is doing fine now. She is a tough cookie. Back to the story. Derek and I decided to take the trailer with us at the last minute. He had just put the insulation in June, but he thought maybe if we brought the trailer we could work on upgrading it a little more in the driveway at my mom’s house while there.

This is when it got scary.

October 7, 2021 – I started to cough just a little bit. My Mom was coughing but she had dealt with oxygen tubes in the hospital and then oxygen at home. So you are bound to cough, right? But that’s what we all thought.

On a call with a client, they told me that I should take a COVID test because they noticed I was coughing during the meeting. I even said, “Oh no, my mom picked up a cold in the hospital and I think I got the cold she got.” But then I thought, What am I thinking? I really need to check this out. Drove to CVS and bought four COVID tests from two different companies. I took three tests in the car. All positive, immediately. Then I took the PCR test, you know the test happens when the CVS worker comes out to your car in a hazmat suit and swabs your nose and walks away and says we’ll email you the results. That was positive as well. So I got COVID! It was the Delta variant. When I got home, I ran out to the backyard at my mom’s house and just screamed “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!” with a nice potpourri of swear words as a teared up.

Derek tested my Mom and she was positive too. We think she got it from the hospital. Ugg. When Derek tested and he was negative! Thank God!! We couldn’t believe it!

Sequestering myself in my childhood bedroom and my mom staying downstairs in her bedroom, we buckled down for the worst. I remember coming downstairs and checking in on her by just staring at her. I startled her. We would meet in the living room during the evening and watch tv and talk. Poor Derek had to stay in the trailer, in the driveway. Derek bought one of those small Smokey Joe’s Weber Grills and grilled pork chops, steaks, and chicken for our dinners. He also made these great, arugula salads with lemon juice, olive oil, and parmesan shreds. My Mom and I could NOT smell or taste anything. But I know those salads brought us back to the living. Derek would leave the plated dinners on the porch and yell “Dinner is served!”, then he would quickly back away from the front door and I would come out to pick them up. It was so weird to do that. We laughed every time.

As I sat with my Mom reminiscing about my Dad and family, I thought I was so lucky to be here helping my Mom out or just being there with her sick together. It made it less scary in a way. It would have driven me crazy to be in Chicago while my Mom was dealing with Covid. We were also lucky that we brought the trailer for Derek to escape to.

It became a family thing.

October 8, 2021 – We find out my brother also got Covid the day after us. We hunkered down for the fever part of the sickness to happen. My temperature didn’t go above 99.7º. It only lasted two days with a mild fever, coughing, and headaches. But my Mom and I were both exhausted. I would call my brother and then tell my Mom how he was doing. He had to live in his pole barn for two weeks. He even ordered a bed on Amazon so he could have better sleeping conditions.

After 14 days we tested negative and we were released from confinement. Derek still didn’t get Covid and we all thought that was so unbelievable. We decided to stay another week because my mother was celebrating her 80th birthday on October 22. We wanted to celebrate with Wayne, Gigi, and Forest. So we had a cookout and sat by the firepit my brother built in a day. It was great to have an outdoor area to meet for an evening fire.

It turned out that so many good memories were made out of this bad situation. We went back home on October 26.

Talk about an adventure. We were almost gone a whole month.

My Mom and I – we were a lot younger then.

Trip Report – “We’re goin’ to Jackson…” Week 3.5 of 4

January 16, 2021 by kvec Leave a Comment

Continued from Trip report Week 3: here

The Winter is coming… oh, you say it’s already here?

Jackson, Wyoming and the surrounding area.

Bouldering and Fishing on the Hoback River with Derek.

When we got into town we made our way through the Hoback Canyon and Derek fished there. We drove through Jackson, intending to stay at the Gros Ventre campground and of course they were full. We knew we were taking a risk coming in on the Thursday before Labor Day weekend.

The campground manager pointed us to the amphitheater lot for the night and said to get in line by 8 am the next morning to claim a spot. They had 44 camps opening the next day so we felt positive. We got into like a little bit before 6am and there were probably 20 cars ahead of us already!

We got in line and made coffee on the hood of the jeep with our jet boil. Ugg. We needed coffee. The day prior we had met a couple staying at Gros Ventre campground and leaving the next day. They told us they were leaving the next day (today) and to take their spot because of how nice it was. We took their advice and it was a great spot for sure. We were right along the edge of the cottonwoods with a beautiful sunset view of the Tetons and the Gros Ventre range.

We set out and fished at two of our favorite places on the Snake River. Top Secret. lol. I had my best fishing day on the whole trip there. I looked behind me and Derek was sitting on the riverside watching me go.

A teeny, tiny bear encounter.

Derek wanted to fish near the Visitor Center at the Grand Teton National Park entrance – believe it or not. We parked and hiked in about 200 yards to the Snake river access. I was going to swim but decided not to at the last minute. It was getting colder too. I just sat on the riverside and watched Derek fish. So about 30 minutes in I hear a rustle in the bushes from the trail behind me. I stood up and saw the head of a grizzly bear on the path just 20 feet away. I had my bear spray out with the safety off, but it saw me and immediately turned around and went the other way on the path. It seemed annoyed it had to go the long way around and wasn’t intrested in me at all. Now that’s a good bear!

I whistled for Derek and made a growling face with claws next to my head as my sign of seeing a bear. He understood, got out and we left. Derek never saw the bear because it left as fast as we did. It definitely was a rush. Sorry, no photos of that!

We initially were planning to stay for just three nights but we were having so much fun and getting good fishing in we decided to stay three more days. On the fourth day was the calm before an actual storm. We received a note on our trailer handle that a huge snow and ice storm was coming with 70 mph winds. They said that we could stay, move out with a refund or move into a campground that was not directly facing the wind. We were planning to stay through the night but when that note showed up it said they were worried about trees possibly falling on us. So…

We went to Plan B.

Derek called a couple of hotels and we got a reservation at the last minute in Jackson for two nights. We were trying not to stay in any hotels during the trip but it was just too dangerous to stay in the trailer. We took out all our needed belongings and hurried to the grocery store to get dinner. Rotisserie chicken and salads seemed good. So we hunkered down for the storm to pass.

Ooooh – The Greyhound Recipe

Then Winter showed up.

The next day we got breakfast at Jackson Hole Roasters and then drove out to the trailer to see if it was still there. (See photos below.) Like my mom always says, “Ugg-a-bugga meatballs!” We were so glad we didn’t stay in the trailer. We talked to a couple across from us that had a tent. They said they had to get into their car halfway through the night because the wind and cold were too much to take. They also said they never got a note about falling trees either. They seemed freaked out after why we told them we left. It was just too cold to stay inside the trailer. I’m glad Derek booked two nights at the hotel.

We drove around the campground and they had bulldozers out pushing downed trees to the side of the road. We saw a tent ripped in half. We didn’t see any trailers with large trees that had fallen on them. Just big branches were thrown everywhere, on everything, stuck in ice. This is August? Ok.

The Tetons. The morning after a 70 mph sleet/snow storm coming from the North.

We assessed our trailer for any damage (there was none, luckily) and decided we would leave the next day. So we decided to drive around the park to look at the all snow on the trees and see parts of the park we hadn’t seen before.

The park service shut down a visitor’s exit and its connected parking lot on the north side because, they said as we passed, a group of grizzlies was coming down from the mountains after the storm.

We spent most of the day making my latest Bigfoot video while looking behind us, at all times for bear and moose. Then we went to Dornan’s for a celebratory drink. It was about 42º outside and quite beautiful. The snow was half melted by then.

Next stop for us: Butch Cassidy’s hideout, Boysen State Park, The Badlands, and then going home.

Trip Report – Week 4 of 4 – Boysen, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’s Hideout, and The Badlands. Then home.

November 13, 2020 by kvec Leave a Comment

Continued fro Trip report Week 3.5 of 4: here

The 3 B’s – Boysen State Park, Boondocking at Butch Cassidy’s hideout, and then bring on The Badlands...please.

We found a great campground at Boysen State Park that was right next to the great fishing in Wind River Canyon. We were there just a couple of nights since the fishing license there is kind of expensive. We needed to plan the perfect fishing day. We had to do some bouldering to get to the river in all spots, but it was worth it. The canyon was gorgeous. So were the fish.

Fishing in Wind River Canyon – Boysen State Park

On the hillside across the river, there was a train track ledge going through the canyon. In the evening a train came through with lights on. Kind of creepy and neat to watch. I felt like I was in a wild, wild west movie!

Speaking of the Wild, Wild West, we decided to drive to Kaycee, Wyoming to drive into the Willow Creek Ranch 30 miles to get to the Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid’s hideout. There was a campground but it was too hard to get to it with the trailer in tow. So we boondocked just outside their hideout. It was secluded with beautiful 360º views. We were tired that day and decided to open the back trailer doors and take a little nap. The sun was warm and the breeze was cool. So relaxing.

The next day we left and headed to the Badlands. We found a great boondocking site and parked right on the edge. We set up our chairs and set up the stove to cook dinner. We couldn’t have a fire there. All of a sudden we looked to our right and a herd of Big Horned Sheep were make their way from the grasslands to the cliffs of the Badlands for protection that night. We sat and watched what they did closely. It was neat. They had a procedure for this trek. There was a frontman that was a lookout and stood at the cliff entrance as a guide. For the other large sheep and their lambs. There was also a large male sheep coming in from the back as extra security. The frontman was getting mad because the herd wasn’t hurrying fast enough to go down the cliffs. It just sat down and waited an hour for them to finish grazing.

The next day was a big drive to Minnesota. We stayed at Kilen Woods State Park. The campgrounds were really clean and the grass was so think at the capsite it was like a green carpet. Great showers too! We had a huge fire, since we had to use up all the firewood before leaving the next day for home.

The trek home was sad but, we wanted to see our cats. We dropped the trailer off at our storage spot and it felt weird to separate from our trailer since it was basically part of us for the past month.

We are planning a new trip for 2021 September – October right now and made some new updagrades to the trailer in the past few weeks. Look for the trailer work post next and MORE ADVENTURES!

Trip Report – Heading Out West – Week 1 of 4

November 13, 2020 by kvec 3 Comments

Making our way out west. Getting organized first in Wisconsin.

When planning the trip, we thought it would be good to camp somewhere nearby to test everything out. We stopped in Viola, Wisconsin at a county park. Our plan was to try everything out in our trailer at a campsite just to make sure we were ready for the extended trip and had everything we needed.

The Viola campsite was nice. It is the first place I ever fly-fished. Derek couldn’t help himself and fished for a couple of hours when we got there. I set up camp and relaxed and took a nap with the back doors of the trailer open. The sun was going down and the warm sun was beautiful through the trees. We made dinner on the campfire and knew the second-day drive would be 14 hours. Our glamourous destination? A Cabela’s parking lot in Rapid City, SD. We had to pace ourselves too with a max of around 65mph while towing. Jeep Wranglers are NOT the best tow vehicle…

We left Viola after a nice breakfast of eggs and bacon. We’ve done this drive tons of times, and were kind of dreading it, but it was not as bad as we thought it would be. When you start getting into the western half of South Dakota, (coming from the East), you see a difference in the plant life and land. Fewer trees and more plains and then rolling hills. You also start seeing the billboards for Wall Drug.

Rapid City, South Dakota – Cabela’s Parking lot.

We finally got to Cabela’s lot and found a spot with a little privacy. You can’t really spend time outside your trailer there. It’s just for getting a quick night’s sleep and to get on the road the next morning.

Big Horn Mountains, Wyoming

The drive to the Big Horns from Rapid City was fairly uneventful, if beautiful. We stopped in Sheridan, WY for some supplies and hit our first climb up the switchbacks heading to Burgess Junction.

We stayed at Tongue Creek campground for three nights four days. Our campsite had a pretty creek flowing through it. This campground had a water pump and the cleanest pit toilet I have ever seen.

The fishing was really fun up here. We caught cutthroat and rainbow trout. The Bear Lodge Resort at Burgess Junction had showers for campers like us. They are behind the tavern for $2 per person. It was our first shower of the trip. I like showers.

Leaving the Big Horn Mountains.

We had a real scare driving down the west side of the Big Horns toward Cody. This descent starts at a bit under 10k feet and drops to 4500 in about 8 miles. About halfway down our brakes felt squishy and we pulled over. All four brakes were actually smoking! We thought we had been taking it easy on the brakes and using gearing to slow our descent but we drastically underestimated how much we needed to use the engine for that. Luckily this was just a learning experience and no damage done.

As we drove toward Bozeman, a flashing engine light came on and then turned off totally freaking us out. We stopped and checked everything and it seemed ok so we kept on driving. While on I-90 just outside of Bozeman, we had it on cruise control and the transmission shifted down and spiked the rpm – causing the flashing light again.

We were just outside of Bozeman at this point, so we got off the freeway and crept toward town. Derek stopped at a gas station to get error codes but the car had none. Pretty weird to not have any codes after a couple flashing engine lights.

We stopped for lunch and a drink (needed to calm some nerves!) at Montana Ale Works while Derek called the local Jeep dealership. Unfortunately they were super rude and didn’t have any time to look at the car for nearly two months. When Derek explained that we were travelling and if they had any local recommendations of someone else he could call, the woman he spoke with at the dealership literally laughed at him and ended the conversation with: “Good luck with that. You wont find anyone to help here – EVERYONE is too busy.” I’d not recommend the Bozeman Jeep dealer for any reason after seeing that go down.

Derek looked at some reviews online of local repair shops and called Deeter Auto Repair. They were super helpful and understanding of the situation. Unfortunately they couldn’t really do much since there were no error codes. The tech talked at length with Derek and we decide to proceed while taking it easy. He suspected the issues were just due to heat from the towing stress and using the automatic transmission. Turns out he was right. With our setup you really need to shift manually if you’re either climbing or descending. Again, lesson learned.

Our goal was to get to Ennis, MT that night. As it turned out, it was not difficult to take it easy due to the 40-65 mph winds in the wide open country there. It was a crazy wind storm and we couldn’t drive faster than about 40mph due to the wind. Yay, another stressful drive!

We made it to Ennis in a couple hours and the wind/rain continued throughout the evening. Ended up cooking a quick dinner between rainstorms and getting to bed early. Honestly, it was a pretty stressful day. On a positive note, we learned how to actually drive our Jeep while towing a trailer!

We formed a club.

July 24, 2020 by drikfan Leave a Comment

So we’re starting a blog. Kristen is REALLY excited. Expect <sarcasm>riveting</sarcasm> content about our trips and projects really soon!

This summer we’ve been converting an enclosed cargo trailer into a minimal RV. We really just want a hard shell tent with storage on wheels. We’ll have some posts soon on the conversion and our summer trip reports.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CDE9sIVAPNl/