Author: Van-Tramp

Coronado Ntnl Forest, Cochise Stronghold 0

Coronado Ntnl Forest, Cochise Stronghold

“Born in present-day Arizona, Cochise led the Chiricahua band of the Apache tribe during a period of violent social upheaval. In 1850, the United States took control over the territory that today comprises Arizona and New Mexico.  Not hostile to the whites at first, he kept peace with the Anglo-Americans...

Willcox, AZ 0

Willcox, AZ

Yesterday I completed the whopping 1.5 hour drive into Arizona. My destination was Willcox where I was able to borrow the local WiFi at the Visitors Center to download a few large files I needed before the weekend. This took all afternoon an evening before I drove two blocks to...

Stuck in Deming for a day 0

Stuck in Deming for a day

Not that it is a bad thing… I’ve been parked in Deming, NM all day. It was a big work-day with a promotion going on that needed a lot of my attention. By early evening things had settled enough for me to start thinking of where I am going next…...

Another mechanical failure in Las Cruces 0

Another mechanical failure in Las Cruces

In Feb 2011 when I was here I had a brake failure on my way out the White Sands Ntnl Monument. While it was a fairly simple fix, and not all that expensive either, it did dampen my confidence in the van so I cut my trip short. Since a...

White Sands Ntnl Monument 0

White Sands Ntnl Monument

As I pulled out of the Hollowman AFB area, I was only a few minutes drive away from White Sands Ntnl Monument so I popped in for a quick look before the weather chased me into Las Cruces for the night. As it turns out, you can rent snow-sleds (or...

Holloman AFB and Lakes 0

Holloman AFB and Lakes

Just south of Holloman Air Force Base (between the base and White Sands Ntnl Monument), are a few small lagoons which the AFB allow the public to come and bird-watch and/or camp. This is where I happened to pull into last night about an hour before the sun set, and...

The oldest zoo in the West 0

The oldest zoo in the West

I rolled into Alamogordo, NM late this morning looking for access the the Lincoln National Forest so I could setup camp. The first road that I thought would allow me access was fenced and locked. Though I could hike or bike in I could not drive. I then accessed the...

Cleaning up in El Paso 0

Cleaning up in El Paso

I drove into El Paso yesterday afternoon only to hang out in a Walmart parking lot for the night and restocked my supplies in the morning. I drove two blocks to a laundry that I spotted coming in to do a load of laundry while I “cleaned house” and setup...

“Powerful” hints 0

“Powerful” hints

A couple things I am currently doing to help keep my battery use low; – Buy a set of clip on LED lights and use them instead of interior trailer lights – Buy a rechargeable LED flashlight and use it instead of interior trailer lights – Use the laptop battery...

Solar power and battery basics 0

Solar power and battery basics

I started with a single deep-cycle battery and 30-watts (2Amp) of solar panels mounted on top of van. This whole package, if purchased brand new, is less than $300. Over time I have slowly upgraded to two batteries. The batteries are rated at a total of 200 Amp Hours. So,...