Winter Van Camping - Christmas Marathon

thanks hello friends, I feel like the holidays are made for watching reruns, so I rounded up some of my favorite old videos and put them into a four-part series. You'll see some of my first Bushcraft videos. Tower, edited quite roughly. The path through some of my most current band camps. I think you'll enjoy Evolution for those people who are fairly new to the channel and for those guys who have been following it for a long time, you'll find a bit of nostalgia. Looking at some of the old content, I hope everyone is having a great holiday, enjoying the videos and we'll see you next year.

Alright folks, now it's 2020 and I finally got up and did something I've wanted to do for years. I bought a truck, so yes, I bought a truck. I always wanted one. I've wanted one since I thought about Over Landing or possibly even living in my Overland setup. I wanted a four-wheel drive truck. Now this truck does not have four wheel drive. This truck currently has two-wheel drive. We hope to change that at some point, but right now it's two-wheel drive, of course, so what's the first thing I decide? to do it when you get a new toy or a new vehicle you have to take it out and camp in the

winter

right now we're in some mountains it's currently snowing it's supposed to snow for the next few days uh pretty much non-stop a pretty high percentage but anyway I thought yeah, we'd see if we can't find a little place along the river, you know, live in a van on the river, how about that and some snow for

camping

?

Well, van life. and uh yeah I'm excited and excited foreign guys well we just got to a place where it's still snowing like crazy um there's only a couple inches on the ground so far it's not that bad but yeah It's pretty bad with two. wheel drive eh, having only two wheel drive, I had to put chains on the truck. I know, I don't know. I'm not a big advocate of chains, but in this particular case, you know, without having four-wheel drive, if I had. been in the truck, I wouldn't have had any problems getting in here, but with the two wheel drive truck pulling the trailer, I had some trouble getting in here because right now it's pretty wet snow, really slushy under the truck, it was spinning everything . all over the place, so in this particular case the chains came in handy as far as that goes.

I got some good chains for the truck. Some of you in previous videos said I wasn't using very good chains, which I guess I'll use. I agree with you because these are much better chains, but anyway, with all that said, we are here, we have a beautiful place, there is a nice little creek that flows here or a little more of the creek, a little bit of river, but it's really beautiful, we have the snow dogs that are playing a little, but first things first. I want to configure everything. I'm going to evaluate how much firewood I have in the truck.

I have some, some pieces. but I'm not really sure if it's enough for tonight and tomorrow so we'll have to see what that's like, maybe we'll have to cut a little more, we'll just figure it out, but let's get a few things set up and then see where we're at. From there, thanks to the foreigners, so we have the camp ready. I'm very excited about this. I think this will be an awesome place to start the

winter

with the van.

camping

and getting into the van life, uh, the whole van life movement that I've been pretty interested in for a long time and, you know, a couple of months ago or something like that or a month or so ago or except when I spent some time with Chad living the van life, I finally decided I had to make it happen.

I had to make it happen, so I'm really excited. I found this truck on Craigslist, it's a 1995 E350, you know, it's a few years old. It's got some miles on it, some dings and dents no different than mine, but I went out to test it, I played with it, you know, I took it out, I actually fell in love with it from the get-go and, um, but I decided not to buy it. I decided not to buy it because I wasn't sure my finances were where I wanted them to be, so I thought about it. I went back and started looking for more trucks on Craigslist and just dreaming and wishing, but it hit me. that my heart was already in this truck and um, it's one of those situations where I didn't choose the vehicle, the vehicle chose me and I really believe that this truck chose me and said, hey, you know, come see me. , come on.

Going on adventures and I couldn't help myself but I had to buy it so I'm really excited about it. It's not new and fancy, like a new one. Some of the new platforms I've been looking at some people choose. and stuff, but for me it's pretty exciting and, like I said, van life is something that I've been interested in long before I knew what Over Landing was. I always wanted a sports phone. I've always dreamed of a Sportsmobile and Of course, the old truck here is far from a sportsmobile, but yeah, I'm excited about it. I'm super excited.

I'm excited to get started on it and have already given the truck a name. The truck actually has quite a bit. The decal is actually on the other side of the truck, but it has a little sticker of a Sasquatch on it, so we've decided that the truck will be called a Sasquatch, which, you know, has a couple of meanings to me, hey, I think it's kind. It's a cool name, but Boom, it continues to give me hope and determination to bring this ban to the Beast band. I think it may be, like I said, I want to have four-wheel drive for it, um. four wheel drive kit that's going to take some time.

I have a lot of other things I want to do to the band, building it and turning it into exactly the Overland vehicle and um, that's what I want it to be and I just think it's It's going to be super cool and just, yeah, I'm excited about this, really really excited about it. that, so I hope you guys are excited about this too. I hope you want to know that you enjoy following us. the band metamorphoses from where we are now, like I said, the Sasquatch Beast band, I think it may be and um, yeah, but anyway I think I need to get more firewood.

I don't think I have enough, so here we are. I'm going to run out with the truck right now and see if we can find some more Deadwood to cut down and bring back to camp so we can really enjoy this winter camp properly, we're just going to navigate the Van here real quick and we're going to See if we can't find something to cut. I'm sure there's probably something pretty fresh that maybe dropped recently, hopefully, near one of the roads, so just going down a couple of dirt roads and seeing what we can find, okay guys, so we drove a little not too far, just down another couple of dirt roads, we're at another place here where it's obviously another dispersed campground where people camp a lot, but We found this tree here that's down, obviously, just down, it's broken, it broke down here, on top of the actual tree he's sitting on, so it looks like he's fallen a little bit, but you know you can see it by the fact. which still has some pine needles that haven't been down for a long time.

I'm just going to remove a little bit of the end here that looks really dead and probably at least dry enough like I said. A lot of wood is already perfectly dry so I can start burning it and then I can supplement it with this if it's a little damp, so it's simple and easy to get to good enough for me anyway. foreigners, okay guys, well we're finally settling in for the night, um, we have a glass of Pendleton Ford, we're actually going to drink the Pendleton at midnight tonight, this is actually my favorite of all the Pendletons, um, I like them all. but Midnight is my favorite Oh, that's super cool, but anyway I know I can be a little lazy.

A lot of times when you see me cooking, uh, in the last few videos, I actually just threw away one more Denny can. in the whiskey and I called it good, but tonight we're going to try to do something a little better, we're still going to go with a stew because I think there's nothing better than a stew on a good cold winter night. but um, let's use uh. We're not going to just throw away something sincere anymore, we're going to use all fresh ingredients so right now I've got some little red potatoes and some little carrots uh cooking up here in the scottle and you know.

They usually take longer to cook so I'll go ahead and let them cook until they're nice and tender and then we have some other things. I have some onions and celery that I already cut. up and then I have some and then I have some other things like garlic and butter and we're going to use some of this five pound chocolate porter from Three Creeks. I have some mushrooms that We'll probably put in last because they cook pretty quickly and then we're going to use the meat that we're going to use. We're going to use some bear sausage.

An unpeeled breakfast sausage. This is from my bear that I bought. It's archery season so we're going to use a small bear breakfast sausage for the meat and since it's already ground and has breakfast sausage seasoning added to it, it really adds a lot of flavor to the stew I think which is going to be really good, but anyway we're going to let this cook and see how she tempts foreign foreigners, oh okay guys, I mean, I can't even tell you, I can't even tell you how. well, this is, oh my god, I can tell you it's not denty anymore, it's not Duty Mora um, this is so good, a little bit of heat from those red peppers, the sauce thickened up nicely, the potatoes are done, um, everything is done, perfect, nothing. like over the top or mushy um oh man sometimes it definitely pays to not be lazy and tonight was one of those nights this is super good um yeah I think that beer uh putting that beer in I'll give credit where credit is due .

I saw Chad living the van life. He recently posted a video in which he used a dark beer in one of the stews he made, so that gave me the idea, but man, I'll tell you what I'll stick to. in mind yeah, that's super good, that's really good, that's really good anyway, I'm going to eat this and I'm going to enjoy my fire. I'm going to listen to the river. It's not currently snowing right now, but I hope so. snow a little more and maybe even wake up to a winter wonderland in the morning or more winter wonderland than we already have, but yeah, I'll enjoy the rest of tonight and eat the stew.

See you in the morning foreigners foreigners good morning friends, well we are waking up this morning and we have a nice new dusting of snow, not much, it seems like maybe an inch or something, nothing too crazy, but it is currently snowing and It's really beautiful and just enjoying it from inside the trailer here I just relax and have some coffee and just enjoy watching the snow fall through the door here and watching the river flow. It's been really nice and enjoyable. but I think I'm going to come up here probably after this cup of coffee and we're going to make some breakfast and my plan is biscuits and gravy this morning and I know I've made biscuits and gravy in previous videos, but I thought maybe I'd shared some little more tips or tricks that I found for specifically making whiskey cookies so I hope you enjoy it but let's finish this cup of coffee and get started foreign friends well we're here. starting to prepare breakfast here um we already have the cookies on and they've been cooking for a little bit uh we're using a little rack that keeps the cookies off the surface this one is actually from Timbo Tusk but you can find these probably something similar to this at any kitchen supply store and then of course we'll also keep the cookies covered, but the trick to making these cookies and keeping them from burning is to simply turn them over. often and it's a little challenging because they can be a little soft at first so you just have to keep turning them so they cook evenly and don't burn and you should end up with a nice golden brown color. biscuits you also want to put the scottle on pretty low heat um so it doesn't generate a ton of heat, you want it to actually take a little bit of time and cook the biscuits, we're also going to make some gravy.

We're going to cheat with a little packet of country gravy and of course we're going to mix in some of the leftover breakfast sausage and that'll make you know some good sausage gravy for us to put on our biscuits. I'm also a little hot. boiling water over here I found a new piece of Camp gear that someone decided to leave here at this Camp it's kind of cool. I've seen a similar one in some of the Mart stores but someone left one behind and I think I'll keep it at my campsite because it works pretty well to put over the individual stove so I have a way to keep some water warm and that's something I I really like to do it when I'm at these winter camps like this one, especially. where I have an endless supply of water flowing in front of melike to always have some water hot and ready to go, it's great for, you know, making coffee or cleaning things, it's very useful to have, but yeah, someone is, uh, someone else.

Trash is someone else's treasure, isn't that what they say? Be a good piece of equipment for me anyway. I'm going to finish making this breakfast, so, um, let's keep it up, man. I tell you, it was delicious. I just tried it, but the sauce is super good. just a little bit of heat from the red pepper flakes that I put in there just the right consistency how I like it nice and thick the sauces taste amazing the cookies are delicious and crispy on the outside without burning in the middle without burning sticky I mean , really, very, very good and an excellent meal for a nice winter and snowy day like the one we have today.

It has been very nice, in fact, it has been snowing non-stop all morning. I don't think it snowed much last night, but it's definitely been very steady this morning, but it's just these really big, huge flakes floating around very soft and nice. I think it's cold enough for it to snow, so it forms these really big, beautiful flakes, but actually. we have the river and the ambient noise it creates and a little crackle from the fire means a good day definitely a great first winter camping trip for the van my first introduction to the whole van life for me yeah I mean no I think I could ask for a better ride and I'm very excited about that.

I am very excited about the truck and would really like to know what your guys think of the truck. You can leave them below, but I'm I'm really excited about it, let me know what you think about the name Sasquatch, you know because of the Little Bigfoot guy on the side. I think it's a good name for it and hopefully as we continue to build it. Do you know what will become the live name? So I'm excited about that, but just so you know the Ford isn't going anywhere, I'm keeping both vehicles, they'll both be used in the videos, I just think.

Because they're both old, you know, it's a good idea for me to have a backup vehicle. I see that as the band develops more and sets up more, it will become the main vehicle because I want to use it. as an office space, excuse me and the trailer will still be my living place, so I will live out of the trailer, the van will become more of an office, uh, set up for me, that way I can edit my videos and edit my photos and I think it's going to be really cool, but anyway I think I'm going to take some time to enjoy this day a little bit more without the hassle of filming and I'm going to finish up a little bit of uh I've got breakfast here and um and then we'll pack up and go , you know, before the snow gets too deep, where I have a hard time getting out with the truck considering the fact that it only has two wheel drive, but I hope you enjoyed this video, if you did please give it a like .

If you have any comments or questions, please leave them below. If you made it this far into the video and really enjoyed the content, you know, check out some. of my other stuff, you know, please consider subscribing and I'll see you again out there like a bird in a tree. I'm just sitting here, I have time, it's clear that from up here the world seems small, we can sit together, it's so beautiful, you and I were meant to be The Great Outdoors forever free, well friends, so things are turning out. going crazy with the Kobed 19 virus or the coronavirus, whatever you want to call it, so the dogs and I are going to get away for a few days. and let's see if we can get some normality in our lives, thanks anyway, this seems like a pretty decent place to do a little self-quarantine.

We are right on the edge of a BLM within a national country. forest in that direction, we have a lot of open, very open, Sage land. I think this will be a good place and we can spend some time here and hopefully go get some firewood. I can already see that there are many things fallen. trees, so it's just a matter of finding one that's not too wet, we'll cut it down with the chainsaw we have on top of the truck and we'll get the trailer ready, we'll get a nice campfire going. Let's go and a little peace outside of the coronavirus chaos, so I think this will be a good place.

I think this would be a good place to wait a day or two. We have the trailer set up here a little bit, we take the awning out at least I see a tree out there that actually looks like it's falling down, but it's still leaning against some other trees so I think it might be a good opportunity to get firewood so I think I'm going to grab the chainsaw from the van and we'll go over there and cut it down. We have cleared a place. We're not even going to use an individual stove. although I have it and I normally use it, but since it's pretty cold, I really want to have a good sized open fire tonight just to keep warm and have a couple of drinks of foreigners, foreigners, foreigners, oh okay guys, um , so.

We're giving up our regular Pendleton tonight. I feel like a Corona is appropriate for the current situation we are facing, but man, I tell you what it feels like a million miles away right now. You wouldn't even know there was a problem in the world out here, just an absolutely beautiful, cold, foggy night, but I can see a nice color in the sky there where you can see the sun is starting to go down and there's some purple in the sky that looks really cool. with the snow and everything on the ground, so All Things Considered, you know you can't really get over it and it feels good, you know, like I said, becoming a little bit normal in my life and for me, this is my normal. it's where I'd like to be and what I like to do and it definitely helps calm the mind a little bit, so also I really like these Corona Familiars, this is the Corona Familiar, not the normal Corona that everyone has used.

I think these are pretty good. I drink them quite regularly, not just when an epidemic or pandemic is affecting the country, but anyway, yes, it's starting to get dark and I think I'll sit down and enjoy this beer. 'cause I've been going since I came in, you know, gathering the firewood and everything stacked for tonight, I finished setting up camp, everything's ready to go there, the dogs have been fed and they. We're set up in The Drifter's trailer, where it's nice and warm. I've got the Mr Buddy Heater on him there, so I think we're all set for a good night.

I'm not sure what I am. I'm going to prepare dinner tonight. I'm going to browse the stores a little bit and see what I have and I think we'll put together something easy because for the most part just wanting to kick back and relax tonight okay so we're going to be super simple here tonight I just have some nice bar hot dogs and I'm just going to have a couple of those, they're good sized hot dogs. dogs, we'll probably take three, the rest in the refrigerator. I'm going to cut them up here very quick, super easy, super simple and then what we're going to do is cook some of this ready.

Rice made by Uncle Ben. This is red beans and rice. We are going to add just a little chicken broth so that the rice cooks and rehydrates very well. You know, it's already somewhat hydrated because it's kind of like a microwave. rice, but I think adding a little bit of chicken broth not only adds a little flavor, but it helps the rice cook a little, but we're going to cook it all here in the scottle and, yes, we're going to do it overseas . It's not that bad, it's not that bad, I think definitely adding that chicken broth definitely added a little more flavor, so yeah, the smoke is killing me a little, although I guess it needs a little bit of smoke flavor from Bonfire also to make. anyway, it's perfect, yeah, it's been a busy day, running around, setting up camp, getting firewood, it's been nice to sit by the fire for a while and just enjoy, enjoy it.

I blew out another Corona and I'm I'm going to finish it, finish this and then I think I'm going to settle into bed with the dogs and get some sleep tonight, so we'll see what tomorrow brings. Hopefully, I hope we have another good day tomorrow. Friends well we are starting to get up this morning the sun came out today there were some broken skies and a bit of clouds but a bit of sun peeking through actually made for a very beautiful sunrise this morning and I really enjoyed sitting here . Peeking out of the trailer was one of those mornings where we've been a little lazy just hanging out and enjoying the peace and quiet of, you know, being here in this remote desert area, just another one of those things that always What I really appreciate is our public lands system and the fact that we have so much open space to explore and get away from the craziness of society, you know even under normal conditions when you're not dealing with With the pandemic, you know, things can become a crazy and out of control things in people's lives and sometimes you just need to have a little time outside, a little space from quiet people, clear away the slightly strange noise.

Foreigner, this is, I tell you what, this is exactly what I was hoping for when I decided to go out on a little trip and I couldn't be happier, I mean, just a beautiful morning, it's just calm, the wind isn't like that. I know just a light breeze has some high clouds but a lot of blue sky and sunny weather and it's super super nice and I love it I love exactly what I needed not just for the coronavirus but also for um you know. I spent a lot of time the last few weeks in town while they were working on the van and doing the 4x4 conversion, so that was at AJ's 4x4 Vans and you know they did the 4x4 conversion, they did the frames and everything, and there's a video that already is available or coming out very soon about that conversion so I will definitely check my channel to see that.

I'll have it in the top right corner if it's already available, but like I said, it's been a few weeks of a lot going on and then you had the coronavirus on top of that, and it's like I said, it's been really really nice to be here and get away from all that even if it's just for a moment. for one night, you know, but like I said, I have a few more things. I want to build the truck. I'm almost done with the dual battery system. I just have a couple more things to finish and I'll see. uh from my notifications that some pieces that I ordered on Amazon are available and I should be able to delete them if I'm back in town today, so I want to do that and go out and have a little more adventures so I can create more. videos for you, but until then, if you haven't seen it, I really want to encourage you to watch a short film that my friend Ellen from Morningstar Films made for me, called Drift, and she hung out with me for a couple of days.

In fact, in November I shot a really beautiful piece and edited it really well, which made me open up and share a little bit about my past, my feelings about Landing uh photography, and of course the public lands system that I'm enjoying . Now, if you haven't seen it, I really encourage you to do so. She did a fantastic job. I'll put a card in the top right corner and a link at the end of the video. and I will also put a link in the description. I'm very grateful for the hard work that she put into that video and you will definitely see it in the quality that that video shows, so anyway, like I said, I hope you guys.

Okay, I know these are a little scary times with a lot of uncertainty, but I just want to encourage everyone to sit back, relax a little, and try to make good decisions because I'm seeing a lot of panic. is happening and nothing has ever been resolved, there is no good decision or problem, good problem resolution has been achieved because of the panic, so you know, I really want everyone to, you know, make good decisions because that's what that we're really going to need to do to get through this and move beyond this, you know, moving forward and of course I want to encourage the other YouTube friends that I have and the influencers that I have to use your platforms as well as a way to encourage people and not panic. people, uh, during this time because, like I said, Panic has never been a good solution to any problem, but anyway, like I said, I'll do a couple more things in the van and then we'll go back out and do some more. exploring and adventuring and I'm going to share that with you, so I'll see you again outside the tree.

I'm just sitting here, I have time, it's clear that from up here the world seems small, we can sit together, it's so beautiful, you and I were meant to be The Great Outdoors forever free, thank you, very good guys, so We're on our way to another snowy adventure and I actually wasn't expecting so much snow, but it's snowing, but we have another bigger problem. Look we have a lot of um that's not smoke but steam coming out of the truck so I already inspected it to see what's going on and we lost my heater hose it just broke I already replaced it on the truck. the radiator and main radiator hoses but I haven't replaced them yet but I already looked inside and sure enough I can see the hose is broken so I'll have to see if I can avoid it at least it's just going to the heater so I think if I can figure it out a little bit, hopefully I should be able to avoid it, which means we won't have any heat inside the house.truck, but at least that we can get back up and running and get the truck out of here and hopefully get it somewhere where it can be properly repaired, so that's where we are now, foreigner, so here's the culprit, here's the hose that broke going right to the heater um I'm thinking what I can do pretty simply is there's one heater line uh the other heater line is right here so I think what I can do is just take it off and cut this hose back here and then we'll connect directly to that heater line which will bypass the heater like I said we won't have heat in the van but that will at least allow us to continue so I'll grab a couple of tools.

I think let's go. remove all of this just to make it a little bit easier to work with and uh, we'll see if we can't, um, I can't figure this out overseas, okay, oh, I'm going to look at that a little bit. I'm sure we won't get it, so we'll do something with it once we get the other one. I think what I'm going to do is actually just get some zip ties right now and tie them in a way to make sure it doesn't fall in there, okay, that's done, now we're going to take this radiator hose here.

Wow, be careful not to spill radiator fluid everywhere, but we're going to try to get it right in that fitting, so that should be it. Basically what I'm going to do now is go ahead and put everything back in and then I'll start the engine and just monitor it. A minute to see if it's going to hold up well, foreign guys, so it looks like it's going to hold up and we'll be fine at least for tonight. It's getting a little late now, so what I'm going to do is get us there. We'll just whip ourselves up, head down the mountain a little bit, and put ourselves in a good position to be able to get into town tomorrow and see if we can get a mechanic to replace that hose for us foreigners.

Well, me. I think we found a place to camp tonight. Just a little side road off the main road, but it puts us in good shape to be able to get out of here tomorrow. It's still snowing a little outside, but great. I mean, we're right on the edge of the temperature where, you know, it could rain at any moment, it's staying a little bit, but nothing too major, but yeah, anyway, with the fact that we lost the heater in the truck because I had To avoid this, I am very glad I installed my propex heater last week, so I decided to use the propex instead of one of the diesel heaters.

They work on the same concept: you have intake and exhaust coming out of the truck and then you just have a heat exchanger that circulates dry air in the truck, but the reason I chose the pro packages is because everything else I have, You know, my scottle, my burners, uh, all that cooking stuff, it's all propane, so it just produced more. It makes sense to me to stick with only two fuels: gasoline for the truck and propane for all my accessories, which is why we went that route now, it was a little more expensive. Those diesel heaters usually cost around 150, a couple hundred dollars, this was actually close. at 900, so it was a much more expensive unit, but it requires less maintenance than diesel heaters and uses less battery power than diesel heaters because it doesn't have glow plugs, so I don't have that extra expense on my battery, so that's good, but the truck itself, you know, a lot of you asked in my last video to see the interior, but honestly, the inside of the truck is really a mess, you just know we're putting some things together and I'm just. trying to make it work here a little bit so I can sleep here working here.

I have my 4k monitor. I have a 28 inch 4k monitor here and then I have my jackery 1000. It runs the Monitor and my laptop when I have it all out and running and that has really worked well. The bed has been working well. I have some insulation for the truck. I just haven't installed it yet. I have this new insulin isolate from a company. called Havelock wool, that's what I'm going to use, it's going to be wool insulation, so we're going to try to install that very soon because you can still see it, especially with the snow out there, definitely still even with the dry weather. heater and everything condenses inside, we have the maximum air fan and also, you know, it's all together, but like I said, it's not a really fancy construction like you see on a lot of people's Vans, um, I want to be able to do that at some point, but I really want to get the truck up and running so I can start using it and then that way it will also allow me to spend some time with it, so when I put the money and effort into building it.

I really have a good idea of ​​what I want right now, since I've never used a van before, you know, I have ideas of how I think I might want things, but I really want to. Having that opportunity to use it first is really difficult here, since you know, but it's working for me right now and, um, and I love it, honestly, I love the truck, I love it, but yeah, so I'm going to put on a jacket and go out. I still have the Drifter trailer and I still have it. I'm using I have different plans for it and I still use it for my outside cooking area where I want my fire and everything so we're going to go out and get everything ready and think about getting some firewood and you know, we had a little problem though. to get here, we're still going to enjoy a nice, nice camp and then You'll get up and leave here in the morning, too many days in the dark without a glimpse has spread over your eyes and this time in your head we are born again , thanks, you land without it, but when you want to build walls you can watch the sunrise sunrise okay guys, so it looks like we have the camp ready uh, we are in good shape for The Drifter trailer is all ready uh, we take out the awning, we have a new fire pit down here that we're testing that actually one of my clients on Patreon sent me to do some testing to see if I like it and then I have a new CVT chair.

I really like it. I had a chance to sit down the other day in their showroom and I really liked my old chair, the Ozark Trail, which I had been using for a long time, it was a great chair, but that one is super comfortable and very well built, so which I'm excited about it so we'll try it but um all the other things we have a couple of trees here that I think will make great firewood. um they're dead and they're leaning against another tree so they're not laying on the ground so I think I'm going to grab the chainsaw and cut them down and hopefully we'll have a nice warm fire here real quick foreign guys like that We have the fire going, it's already seven o'clock and I'm still quite hungry.

It's very light, it's getting to that time of year where it's light until very late in the day, but like I said, I'm hungry so I have some boneless chicken thighs that I've been cutting up and I'm going to add. put them in the scottle and add some Montreal steak seasoning, they're spicy steak seasoning and then I'll add that in too after it's cooked through. I'm just going to add a can of cream of mushroom soup to make it Tonight it's going to be some kind of soup, kind of chicken soup tonight and it's going to be easy, it's going to be hot, it's going to taste good on a cold winter night, still snowing.

I'm not hoarding it yet, but it's really beautiful anyway. foreigner okay let's try this hmm man that's actually pretty good yeah actually that's really good. I wasn't sure what that cream of mushroom soup was going to be like, uh, you know, gluten-free, but it was all they had. I left it on the shelf, so I took what I could get and, but man, it sure turned out well, foreigner, I tell you what a very, very pleasant evening, you know, I was this close to running out of here when the truck broke down, but uh. After I fixed it, you know, I knew everything was going to be okay and I was already out here and I thought, do you know how many more snowy nights we're going to have?

I mean, I thought the last time I was out in snow that that was going to be the case, so I was really surprised today that we had such a beautiful day with all the snow falling and it's not really accumulating, you know, maybe there's two and three inches on the ground, but it's enough to make everything look really nice and I don't know, it just gives me that feeling that everything is going to be okay, you know what I mean, everything is going to be okay. Anyway, I'm getting tired, it's getting closer. to 10. I made an appointment tomorrow for the truck with my mechanic, so we're getting out of here early, so I'm going to go ahead and let them go tonight.

I was going to make them biscuits and gravy. in the morning, but if you want to see the video tags at the end of this video, there will be a video linked to one that I did with Chad living the van life and I made him biscuits and gravy, so maybe you can watch it. instead, if you haven't seen it yet, but I hope you liked this video, I hope you enjoyed it and if you did, give it a like, if you hated it, go ahead and give it a dislike and I'll catch you. outside again I'm sitting here it's clear see from up here the world seems small we can sit together it's so beautiful you and I want to be outdoors forever free foreigners well we'll head to the mountains uh it's a beautiful blue sky day , but let's see if we can get up a little bit to see if we can find some snow left over from the last big blizzard and find a good place to camp for the night, foreign guys, so we've gotten ourselves into a bit of a pickle. here, we are flying the Drone trying to take some interesting photos for you and while I was paying attention to the controller, I took the stack from the truck.

I went off the track here, I mean, obviously there's a track where everyone's been going up and while I was in the truck I was doing okay, but yeah, I ended up going off a little bit, got into something soft, now the truck has traction on all four wheels and it's sunk in a little bit, the only thing I haven't done yet and I didn't think I was going to have to do it because it's very worn out and I probably wouldn't have had to do it if I hadn't gone off the track is put it on. issued.

I'll lower the tires yet, so I'm going to inflate them. I think that's going to go up all the way once the tires are down and, uh, we'll get moving again, okay, so like I said, I'm just going to pump up. I have these little adapters um that just go on my valve stem and just let the air out, just push the valve stem in and basically let the air out freely right now. I'm 60, about 62 pounds pressure which is my pressure on the road and in this snow is they are very hard and they just aren't getting the pull as good as they could once I get the air down to about 25 we won't have any problem at that foreign spot, okay, so I got the tires vented, but since I was already a little entrenched, I kept going just as an extra precaution.

I dug a little around the tires so that way I should have a clear path now that we're out let's see if I can get some more cool drone footage without getting stuck again aliens well guys we may have reached the end of the road, there are no more tracks around here, the snow has become very sugary and as deep as it is, I'm not sure the gang will go much further, but fear will at least try. Well, we tried it a couple of times. This snow is too wet and sugary. It's like ice and water underneath.

So, as you can see, it's building up. Under the truck, this is not powder snow. I mean, I was in such deep snow a few weeks ago and the truck didn't have any problems, but it was fresh powder. It's been there for a while. It's like pushing through piles of ice. So we're going to backtrack to see if we can find another place to camp for the night. It's okay friends. Well, I think I found where we're camping tonight. We are literally around the corner from where we got stuck. in the snow, but it is absolutely beautiful, we have a huge 180 degree view of the mountains.

I think this is going to be beautiful when the sunset comes tonight and maybe even more beautiful when the sun comes up in the morning, so yeah, I think we'll hang out. I've given a lot of space here in case anyone needs to come and try to go further than me, they absolutely can try, so yeah, I think maybe I'll prepare. Light a campfire and let's kick back and relax. It's absolutely hot. You can see I'm wearing a t-shirt right now. That's something with the sun on me. It's actually hot. Such crazy weather. Crazy weather right now.

Foreigner, foreigner, foreigner, foreigner. I'm telling you it's absolutely beautiful here right now. I hope this camera is doing a little justice to how beautiful it is. I think there's something about being in the mountains and the way the light reflects off the snow. but I mean, look at the color in the sky and it's absolutely incredible. You know, sometimes I think things happen for a reason.reason. You know, she was actually planning to go to a little lake, which would have been beautiful, would have been great, but I don't think she would have had this view.

I don't think I would have had this view, so I'm not complaining at all about being where I am right now. This is a great place to be tonight, but I'm going to tell you that the light since the sun went down is definitely cold, so we have all the firewood cut down? Let's light the fire and start thinking about dinner. foreigner, so I've got two good fires here, it's not because it's that cold, I mean, it's been pretty stinky cold outside since the sun went down, but I'm going to keep a fire burning to keep me warm and let's let this one here it will burn to embers and we will cook our dinner in it.

Well, we're getting pretty close to being ready to cook. This fire is getting to a point where I'm going to start spreading it. a little bit, so we just have some embers and other fires burning so that way we stay nice and warm while we cook. What we are going to cook tonight is the 16 inch plow plate. This is actually a farmer's plow plate that my friend Allen found in a farmer's field all rusty and weird looking, but he cleaned it up, welded it in the center and added these chain links and this has been my go-to device. kitchen since he built it, it fits well.

In the van it is small and doesn't take up much space and the good thing is that you should be able to cook with it over the fire because it doesn't have anything stuck to the bottom, this is very similar to the tempo Tuscano that you have seen me use before, I really like the scottle, but it was a little bulkier than I wanted to have in the van, so when Alan showed me this, I really latched onto it. very fast, but I think it will work well. Let's try me and Alan came up with this idea.

We have these 3 8 steel rods and they're mushrooming at the end so they can basically slide through but not slide all the way through. to the end and then we should be able to suspend the whiskey over the coals and kick it. What we're having for dinner tonight is some venison steaks and then some vegetables and mushrooms and some microwaveable rice and some other things that we're going to use and I think it's going to be a good dinner tonight. Okay, let's start with these broccoli and carrots, let them cook. It goes up a bit, so this wood I'm using in this fire is a wood I actually had in the truck, it's a mix of juniper and maple, which produces much better charcoals than the pine I cut with the chainsaw today.

It just burns pretty fast and only produces ash, but juniper does very well making charcoals and so does maple. Now we're just adding a little bit of beer which will add a little bit of broth to the mixture and then We're just going to add like I said, we're going to add this already prepared rice, uh, Uncle Ben, these are very easy, they're microwave only, so if you just add a little bit of liquid like I just did there. and let it simmer for a minute. It cooks very well and adds a nice flavor. I'm going to go ahead and add a little more now, according to Donald, touring the West, he says the trick to cooking with alcohol is to make sure all the alcohol burns off, so we're going to let it cook for a minute, so I simply put some water to boil on the other burner.

Tonight I have a special little gift for myself beyond my normal Pendleton. let's have some hot chocolate to go with it foreign foreign okay I think we're ready to eat this looks really good we've got our venison oh yeah it looks good put it to the side here guys. this is living this is living right here absolutely beautiful evening stars outside warm fire no wind it's very quiet and nice outside right now amazing hot food but this is good this is good to live right here foreigner well it looks like we're going to have a beautiful The morning sun is just starting to come up and peeking through the van here, it's reaching the tops of the mountains and it looks absolutely beautiful, there's a bit of fog in the valley which really looks nice and, Yes, it will be a beautiful morning.

I'm just making a cup of coffee right now and then I'll go out and start a little fire, maybe make some breakfast while we wait for the AJ 4x4 gang guys to show up and we'll have a little fun, what are you doing? I think Daisy, have fun, yeah foreigner, okay guys, well we're just finishing cooking some bacon. An absolutely magnificent day. A wonderful day. I have no complaints. I know these types of days don't offer the views that stormy weather does, but man, am I. I'm really enjoying this, the temperature is great, there's no wind, it's absolutely beautiful in every direction and I'm just having a great time, it's a really nice relaxing time, but I'm going to enjoy this bacon anyway, the guys at AJ's 4x4 Vans.

I'll be here in a couple of hours. I'm going to end this video with some highlights from our trip, so I hope you enjoyed this video. If you did, please like if you are not subscribed. to my channel, subscribe and we will see you again outside like a bird in a tree. I'm just sitting here. I have time. It is clear that from up here the world seems small. We consider it too. It is so beautiful. destined to be a forever free morning outdoors for the next area in Oregon, the foothills of the Oregon Cascades, winter storm warning in effect from 4 p.m. m. this afternoon until 4 a.m.

PST on Saturday at about 4,000 feet, yes, it's expected to be around 4,000 feet total. snow accumulations of 10 to 20 inches mainly along Cascade Crest above four thousand feet winds gusting up to 50 miles per hour from 4 p.m. this afternoon until 4 a.m. PST on Saturday, that should definitely make this trip interesting, these winter storms can be extremely unpredictable, it's backcountry winter camping, it's not something to be taken lightly, these are not clean and maintained roads, you will want to make sure you have a vehicle that is capable of traversing deep snow and has enough supplies. like food, water and fuel in case you spend a few more days waiting for conditions to improve, we are finally starting to get high enough that it is actually turning from rain to snow which is good, we are entering an area that I've had some snow before and it's very slushy and heavy which makes it much harder for the van to get through because it's so slippery and then the weight of the snow makes it much harder for the van to get out of the way, ideally my La Favorite snow is good dry powder snow because you can get very good traction and it's very easy for the truck to just push it off the road, even if it's pretty deep in recent years.

I've really come to appreciate it. winter camping when i was a kid, camping was a summer event. Winter camping was never really considered, but as I get older I find less and less joy in summer camping and I find that I appreciate the solitude and peace that comes with winter, so I just backed up a little here, let's cut a little firewood I found a tree down here. It's a little snowy, but I have some dry things inside the truck that I can start the fire with. we just have to make sure we have enough extra firewood to get us through the night oh ok strange when I would say setting up camp was part of the fun and there was definitely a certain joy that came from spending a couple of hours setting up a good camping, but I'm over it, with all the time I spend in the backcountry, I think I really enjoy the benefits of the van and the ability to just park in a spot and immediately start focusing on the activities I I would rather do things like hunt, hike, fish, photograph or maybe I just want to sit and listen to the crackling of the fire while I warm my belly with a glass of whiskey.

In the end I don't want to spend a lot. of time setting up camp in winter weather and I definitely don't want to spend most of my last day tearing it down, chopping firewood is one of those chores I don't mind doing, there's something very satisfying about taking an ax to Wood. and let's face it, a warm campfire is one of the simple pleasures of a winter camping experience abroad, well, well we finally made it, I can't set it up right, it took a bit with all the snow and everything, it just did all. a little more challenging, I actually almost didn't want to go up here, it was pouring rain below and although the weather report said it would snow at 4,500 feet, the way it was pouring rain lower down, I just doubted it, but sure enough we are at 4,500 feet right now, we're on a small mountain lake in the Cascade Mountains and a nice layer of new snow just dropped and in fact, from what I can look at what's on the awning, about two have fallen inches of snow since we got here, we are getting a slight respite right now.

I can see it's just that they barely spit me out a little, but it's not that bad anyway. I just want to fix some things. I have uh, I brought some fixings for a chili tonight. I think it will be a good hearty meal for a nice cold night like this and Daisy is asleep in her bed. She played in the snow a little bit, so she's a little worn out, but yeah, overall, so far, I'm pretty happy with our situation right now. Thank you, foreigner, foreigner, that's right. I don't have the wind stealing me. heat so that everything cooks very well outside is another of those simple pleasures of a good winter camping trip.

There is nothing better than a tasty hot meal after a busy day in the woods. I don't know about you, but I feel like I appreciate food. Plus when I'm outdoors and the food doesn't even have to be that extravagant, a can of hot beans can be more satisfying than a five star meal at a fancy foreign restaurant in town, ah oh Daisy, I think it's time to get up Babies, don't you believe it, oh, that's a good foreign girl, okay, we're just starting to get up this morning, huh, it's still starting to lighten up and I poked my head out, it looks like maybe I've got another couple of inches or three inches nothing too much, it looks like it's snowing a little right now, but I can't really tell if it's snowing or just blowing snow off the trees, but I'm just going to go grab some coffee.

We'll start with that and then let it clear up a little bit and then we'll go out and check things out a little bit foreign foreign well I think we're all packed we've got everything set up in the van we had a nice little camping excursion. I'm going to go ahead and hit the road now while the snow is nice, cold, powdery and easy to drive. I hope you enjoyed this video, if you did please give it a like if you have any comments or questions leave them below with a special message. I thank my sponsors for making these videos possible and we will see them again abroad.

I'm just sitting here. I have time. It is clear that from up here the world seems small. We can also sit together. It is so beautiful. You and I. we wanted to be The Great Outdoors forever free abroad, thanks everyone, well it's November 22nd. Daisy and I are visiting family for Thanksgiving break, but we decided to split the trip up a bit. Head here to the mountains and camp. The main reason is that they are calling for some snow tonight. That's a little hard to believe considering how wonderful it is today. I mean, there isn't a cloud in the sky, but They say that tonight around 1am it's supposed to start snowing, so we're hoping to wake up tomorrow in a beautiful winter wonderland abroad, since we'll only be here one night in which we have to continue traveling.

In the morning I'm not going to install many things in the truck. We are camped on a beautiful little stream that flows very well, it is very beautiful here at the moment and with the beautiful skies it is a very nice contrast to what I In fact, I hope they thank you for it, so I realize that I didn't have as much wood as I expected in my Thule box, so I found this tree here. I think I'll go ahead and cut out some sections. Outside of this just to add to my wood supply, there is a lot of dead and fallen wood around here to choose from.

I choose this one in particular because, even though it fell, hung from these trees and didn't touch the ground, this area was extremely dry this summer, so I'm hoping, other than some surface moisture, that this is going to be pretty dry the entire way. foreigners foreigners foreigners, well we finished dinner, it got dark outside, we have the fire going, we decided to cook inside tonight just because it's a little warmer in here for Daisy. I shaved her a couple of days ago mainly because her long hair gets too hot inside the truck. Fancy Pants all night doesn't spend much time outside anymore, you know, he's very old, he's 14 and a half, he'll go out and do his business, but for the most part he just wants to go in and lie down inside the truck and It's uncomfortable for her if it's when she has all her hair,so I thought we would just go settle inside the van and still be able to enjoy.

You still hear the fire, you still see it, it's still very nice to have that comfort, but it's also nice to be able to sit somewhere warm and just relax and enjoy the night, but yeah, we have dinner tonight, I have my small red potatoes. They were pre-marinated at the supermarket so it would work well and then I bought some boneless chicken and then added some broccoli so we're going to try this here to make sure these baby RADS really hold up. all good, that's pretty good, they're nice and soft, they taste really good, they have a nice little char when you cook them in the pan so the broccoli is perfect, still a little crunchy but a nice char on the Outside, Daisy.

Why don't you tell them how the chicken is? How is this chicken? Well, it looks like it's pretty good. It seems to be pretty good. It's still very light outside. I don't know if we will have the snow they predicted. wake up and see tomorrow foreign people, foreign people, well it's a beautiful snowy winter wonderland this morning, the meteorologist was right. Last night I had my doubts, it was crystal clear and beautiful with the stars, but the snow fell in the night and we have a beautiful two to three inch outside and it looks absolutely beautiful.

I've been sitting here enjoying a coffee. I can see out the windows and I can see the creek flowing with the snow covering the fringes and it's just a beautiful beautiful scene to enjoy from the warmth and comfort of my little mini cabin here. You know, when I built this truck, I really wanted to feel like it was wherever it was parked. I wanted to feel like I was in a cabin in the woods and right now I definitely feel like I'm enjoying a beautiful winter scene from inside a little mountain cabin and it's absolutely stunning foreign foreign these are really good these are one of my favorite breakfasts from um van life it's really easy to make in the van, it's usually not too messy if I don't spill it, the egg is a little runny, um, really tasty and satisfying, uh, in the morning it's just a good breakfast, but I'm just sitting here eating or while I was cooking and I was thinking to myself that I had something on my bucket list that I wanted to do since I installed the new shower system in the van.

I thought it would be really cool to take a shower while it's snowing. I think it would be really cool. I don't know, I felt like today is a perfect day because there's no wind so you wouldn't have that chill factor, but it's also cold enough to snow. like right at the 32 degree mark and we are in an isolated area where there is no one around. I think we're going to have a winter snow shower today, thanks foreigner, so I have the shower system ready and what I'm doing is just recirculating the water. The water coming out of that stream is freezing cold, so one step wouldn't be warm enough for a shower on a day like today, so I'm going to let it recirculate a little.

A little bit, that will increase the temperature to where it feels. The pitcher feels warm in my hand and then that should give me a nice 100 and 405 degree hot shower which will feel amazing on a day like today where it's a little chilly. Those of you who may be interested in how my shower system works can find a link to a full video in the description below. Alright guys, that felt amazing, it's been a couple days like I said and, uh, clearing the call feels great. It actually wasn't cold at all, uh, inside the bathroom it was completely warm with the shower running and everything and then, as you probably saw, I jumped right out of the shower right into the hot van and I can finish drying off and get dressed and It's actually quite nice now again, today was a perfect day because there was hardly any wind in the frigid Mark, so we have snow like I said, it just feels good to be clean, get on the road, put your front feet there oh.

What a good girl, okay, okay, friends, well, I hate to leave, especially now that it's starting to snow again, I've got Daisy loaded, let's leave and, uh, go catch up with my family, enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday of course along with the By the time you watch this it will probably be over so I hope you had a great holiday and if you enjoyed this video please give it a like if you have any comments or questions leave them below if they are not subscribed. my channel, subscribe and make sure to hit the bell notification because I have a lot more episodes coming up definitely a lot more episodes on the landing trip that I did with Donald uh with Soft Road in the west and Edward Shin so you.

We'll be looking forward to it and of course as the snow continues to fall in the mountains we'll have more snow camping videos on the way anyway guys thanks for everything we'll see you out again thank you foreigners Well. We have arrived at the place where we are going to set up winter camp tonight, unfortunately there is a snow storm out there, I mean the snow is falling, that's great. I don't care so much, it's the amount of wind that blows too. at the same time foreigner foreigner very good friends, we finally set up camp, we have a nice fire going, the winds are still blowing pretty good, but we are in a much better place, we moved to a small campsite where there are some nice trees around.

They are blocking the core of the wind gusts so it's still not as bad every once in a while a gust comes in like now but much better than where we were when I first came in anyway guys I have a guest especially in the camp. I want to introduce you to the snowman. Technically, I've had a snowman. I don't know how long ago my parents had a snowman, but I remember having it outside, or my parents putting it out as decorations as soon as I was, you know, six years old, but I thought it would be appropriate, now that Christmas is coming up, take them out, take them to camp for some Christmas cheer and, uh, he's offering some nice light, so he just does it. make the camp feel a little more cheerful and of course you know you must love that smile on the foreigners well we're getting ready for dinner tonight.

I have some things we're going to make, like a fettuccine. I have tortellini noodles. I just like these because they're filled with cheese, so they're pretty good, but I've got some chicken, chicken, apple, uh, sausage that we're going to cut up and then some broccoli that I'm going to cut up and then. I couldn't find heavy whipping cream in the store today, so we're going to try this low fat buttermilk and lots of butter and see if we can make our own fettuccine sauce mixed with some parmesan cheese, so I'm going to do a little bit of prep inside the truck just because it's a little hot in here, but I've got the fire going outside and it's not so bad anymore, the wind is starting to die down a little bit, so we're.

I'm going to cook outside foreigner uh okay folks, well I'm tired, I'm ready to eat, I don't really expect this to be the best fettuccine I've ever made with that sauce. I just couldn't get that sauce uh um. it will thicken or be as creamy as when I use heavy whipping cream, but in the end I expect it to be hot and that will probably be enough on a cold night tonight, it still tastes good, it still tastes good, it's definitely not as creamy as I would like, but I still have a good taste, oh man, what a night, although the wind still hits howling through the trees down here, where the truck is in this little group of trees, it's not so bad every once in a while we'll have a little Gus. but for the most part it's a pretty nice night to be out of the fire and the awning, it's very comfortable, so yeah, I think I'm going to have dinner and relax a bit and then retire for the night, it's been very busy. foreign foreign day and well, good morning friends, we just got back to the truck.

We made our second cup of coffee this morning. We've already gone out to enjoy this beautiful winter morning by the fire and it's still a little windy, but beautiful nonetheless, just really beautiful. winter scene out there and it's been quite nice, it's nice to get in the van and take a minute to warm up, make another cup of coffee and Daisy definitely enjoys laying out here where it's warm and comfortable so I want to come back. Let's enjoy what's left of my firewood that I chopped yesterday before coming here and we'll make a little breakfast and then we'll probably start thinking about packing up here in an hour or two overseas, so we're already making breakfast.

I'm just doing all the preparation and everything that's inside the truck. In fact, I'm going to prepare breakfast on the fire. I have some green peppers, some pre-cooked sausages that I cut into smaller pieces. We're going to make a breakfast scramble so I have some potatoes that I cut up, I'm not sure what kind of potatoes they were when I grabbed them off the shelf. I thought they were small red, but they are different, they are actually a little purple with a greenish like the meat inside is a little greenish, so I'm not sure how it's going to turn out, but I cut them up and boiled them beforehand in water so that you can parboil them and partially cooked them, they will cook faster in the cast iron skillet, okay, okay, breakfast is ready, put some Taco Bell hot sauce in here.

I also like green Tabasco. I don't know what your boys like best to put in a breakfast scramble. Green Tabasco I think it's actually one of my favorites uh that's why but I don't have any but I do have Taco Bell hot sauce so let's try this. Yes, it turned out much better than last night's dinner. It's time for the sun to take a A little peek, you can barely see it Lighting through the clouds there and, uh, lightening things up a little bit. Still snowing, as you can probably see, we are getting some nice big flakes coming through camp.

The wind still blows here. a little bit, I mean, you can hear it through the treetops and every once in a while we get a good stream through the camp, but for the most part it's not bad at all, the fires are going well. Daisy is wandering around in her new little jacket. I bought her, she was really cold on the last trip so I bought her a little jacket so she could stay warm and enjoy wandering around a bit anyway guys I think I'm going to enjoy the rest of this breakfast. Go back to drink the rest of my coffee enjoy the rest of my wood and fire and then we'll pack up this camp and head down the mountain to meet Megan so I hope you enjoyed this video if you did please give it a If you know that your comments, your likes definitely make a difference and help these videos have more reach and reach more people, so please give them a like comment.

You know, if you really enjoyed the video, share it on your social networks. If the sites post it more it will allow more people to enjoy and see what I'm doing so if you want to help the channel that way that would be great anyway guys let's enjoy this we'll catch you guys. guys out again foreigners foreigners very good friends, well, the hustle and bustle of the holidays is behind us. I'll just take the truck into the woods. I don't have anything specifically planned other than to Adventure until I don't feel like adventuring anymore. and then stop somewhere, light the fire, drink some Pendleton, cook a nice dinner, same old, same old, foreigner, there you go, good job, so I knew how things had heated up .

I knew these roads were going to be difficult and muddy. To travel this road here, we drove until the tracks basically ended and no one has ever gone down that road anymore, so I'm not worried about anyone trying to come through here tonight, plus it's Monday, you know, I don't imagine there would be too much. traffic, but like I said, no vehicles have gotten further than where I am. In fact, it doesn't seem like anyone has gone further than me, so, yeah, I think we'll be fine. I'm not. I'll worry about trying to get out tonight, it's late, we'll worry about that in the morning, I'm just going to put on my clothes, set up the stove.

We will start camping, as I mentioned at the beginning. I really didn't have one. a plan set for today all I really wanted was a quiet afternoon in the woods. I was trying to get to some river spots that were a couple miles further down the road, but it was clear to me that there was no way I was going to do it. I walked through this heavy, wet snow and got there to check things out. This place really wasn't that bad, there were some beautiful views and although it wasn't really perfect, the van was pretty level, it felt like nature had just gifted me the break I was looking for I just had to be willing to let go of my impulse to go out and eat the rest of the day looking for a perfect place and just being happy with whereI was, sometimes I can focus so much on what I don't have, that I forget to look at what I have right in front of me.

Well, I want to especially thank the Chambers Overland family for coming out and cutting down someone's fence and bringing us firewood for the Patreon camp. Last weekend I saved a bunch. I'll be wearing it to the campfire tonight, so of course I'm just kidding. They didn't actually cut anyone's fence to get me this wood. These are just extremes of making fence posts, so useful. They come in packs in fact I think one of them even has a handle so they weren't good for firewood so if you have something like this in your area it's a great way to get firewood for the night foreigner foreigner well, As far as places you could get stuck, this isn't a bad place at all, there's nothing to complain about right now, we have a nice view of Sister North and you can see the black fading into the distance there and The sun is starting to set right now and is putting a beautiful glow on the snowy slopes across the road and it's not that cold or uncomfortable, no. wind it's a really nice afternoon to be in daisy foreigner foreigner well we've had a really lovely afternoon the sun has set now there's just a bit of twilight you can still see the hills and everything in front of the camp really nice night no wind still comfortable here by the fire warm comfortable and just a light jacket just a very nice afternoon to go out tonight uh we're doing something a little different than traditional Pendleton my friends uh David and jyn de Vega Adventures on YouTube brought me this on Patreon winter camp and it's Woodenville bourbon whiskey and it's very smooth.

I mean, it's a really good whiskey, so I don't know if you guys could even begin to watch this. Appear on the channel. a little more often, it's actually a little better than the Pendleton. I have to admit that it is very good, foreign friends, well, we are preparing for dinner. Tonight we are going to prepare a homemade cream of mushroom soup. we're going to make the sauce with some heavy whipping cream and then of course we've got some mushrooms, onions, I've got some garlic, I'm going to add of course we're going to need some butter and then we're going to switch it up a little bit. things up by adding some venison sausage for breakfast. strange strange me around oh yes, I tell you it was an absolutely delicious meal, hearty, warm, perfect for a cold winter night, although tonight it's not too cold. bad, I mean, it's actually quite nice tonight, no, no, there's no wind, not that cold, warm fire in the front, which makes it real.

Nice, the only noise I hear right now is a bit of the river flowing below me, the crackling of the fire. The Good Things You Know You Want on the Winners' Camping Trip Foreign Foreign Foreign Well, we're starting to get going again this morning. We have our coffee, some oatmeal with some granola mixed in, but yeah, our weather isn't exactly the same as yesterday. uh, pretty cloudy, a little bit of wind, not too strong, but enough to get a little gustier or blow through the campground, but I tell you what worries me a little bit is that it's actually pretty hot out.

I wasn't all that worried about getting the truck out that morning. I was really more worried about how hot it was during the night. I expected it to really be very cold and freeze the snow. Frozen snow would be much easier to handle and would give me a lot. more traction Wet, slushy snow is the opposite, in fact, it's my least favorite snow to drive on. Thanks, getting the truck out was pretty easy. I cleared the snow from behind all the tires and made sure to remove the snow from the rear as well. Foreign friends, well, we managed to get out safely.

I just finished inflating the tires. From now on the pavement will be dry. The road was definitely much worse than yesterday, as it got hot yesterday. It was a piece of cake. The road to where no one had ever gone before driving on those old roads, but the old roads today were kind of miserable to drive on alone because they were so full of slush on top that they were just ice, so the truck would just drift in. and out of them and I couldn't go very fast and I was constantly fighting to keep the truck, you know, trying to keep the dran on the track and yeah, it just wasn't a terribly miserable ride, but kind of miserable, but overall, everyone We're Well, we made it and uh, it was a good time in the woods last night, so anyway I hope you enjoyed the video.

If you did, give it a like if you have any comments or questions, leave them below and I'll see you again outside, foreign friends, well, I logged on this morning, I checked some road cameras. It looks like we're finally starting to snow a little in the mountains, so let's get out of this desert Lowland and see. If we can get up in some snow, it's been a while since I've had the truck stuck in some snow, so let's see if we can change that today overseas, so we're just starting to get up the mountain. Come on, we're still at a pretty low level, we're starting to see a little bit of snow accumulating on the side.

I know when I looked at the street cameras a little earlier today, there was a little bit of snow showing in this area, but it looks to me like it's already receded a little bit, so I'm hoping we'll still have plenty of snow in the mountains when we get there, laughs okay so we just got to the mountains here and I. I'm going to go ahead and put a couple things up. One, I'm going to jump in and close the hub so we can put the truck in four-wheel drive, but the other thing I'm going to do is pump up the tires. a little bit so we can get a little more traction, we have a little bit of snow on the road right now and I imagine it will get deeper as we go up so I want to make sure we have enough. of flotation by inflating the tires a little and that should give us more tire surface on the snow to give us better traction.

The other thing I'm going to do is make sure I get better traction. I'm going to put on my foreign winter boots. I like boots with good insulation and that are tall that way. If I'm wandering through deep snow, I don't have to worry about them falling on me. I also want them to have a heavy heel for traction and I want to make sure they have enough room for my feet to move. Boots that are too tight on your feet will cut off circulation and make your feet cold. I bought these boots from Rocky last year. pretty much meets all my requirements except they use a leak when in direct water so I will look for a suitable replacement for them.

It looks like we have a fallen tree here now. I was able to get past this tree with no problems, so I could keep going, but I'll still need firewood tonight for our camp, so I might as well take advantage of this tree because it looks like it's pretty dry and I can do a public service at the same time. me, a new pair of deerskin gloves. I love deerskin gloves, they are nice and soft. The rest of us, uh, we're getting pretty tough, so I bought a new pair for the season as soon as I started cutting down that tree, I realized it was pretty.

I quickly learned that my chain was dull, it wasn't the tallest chain I've ever used, but it definitely wasn't eating into this weird old fur. I finally managed to get a few pieces out of the tree, at least enough for my needs. I'll definitely have to deal with that chain later, after I cut off what I needed. I broke the tree into moving pieces and moved it out of the way. They normally add weight to chopping firewood at the campsite, but they were a pretty good size round and I thought they would do the trick. It will be much easier to stack them in the van after they are divided. a little lunch, pick this up at the grocery store on the way out, but yeah, we're finally starting to get some snow, I'm really excited about that, so we just need to get this down from Mao and we'll go up and see.

If we can't find a place to camp, oh stranger, that's okay, then I know this isn't really a new place. You guys have seen me camp here before many times, but the snow makes it new because I've never actually done it. We camped here when there was snow on the ground and I have to say it is absolutely incredibly beautiful right now. That little flurry of snow we had when we finished chopping wood seems to have passed and it's pretty quiet. I can hear some wind. up in the trees, but down here it doesn't seem so bad.

I have to admit, I wanted to get here early enough in the year so the lake wouldn't freeze over, but I brought my fishing rod, but it looks like I'm not going fishing. I think I'm going to turn the truck around. Make sure they flag me down in case we get more snow tonight. According to the weather report, we actually are. We're supposed to have some sunny days over the next couple of days so I'm hoping we get a little more snow to make it look nice and cool and then in the morning if it clears up and the sun comes out it will go away. to look dazzling, foreign, foreign, so I'm just kicking the snow out from under the awning, that way while I have a fire and I work around here and things start to freeze and it's not going to turn into There's a slippery mess here.

I normally don't carry firewood in the truck. I usually put everything in my little wooden box on the shelf, but I had so much from where we cut that it couldn't fit. all up there so I didn't want to leave this quote because we're definitely going to burn some wood while we're here foreigner foreigner um man hot tea on a cold night that's really going well All things considered though it's actually a really nice afternoon I mean, it's cold, but it's calm, it's calm, there's no wind right now, there's a little bit of snow once we get here, but that's not even happening now, but, yeah, it was just a really calm afternoon. and relaxing.

I more or less figured things out. I did some things off camera. I had just finished setting things up. I took the rest of the wood out of the truck. I sat by the fire for a while and warmed myself up, but yeah, I think we're pretty good. Ready for a good night's band camp, okay, so tonight we'll have a simple van camping meal. You know, with everything I did today, I don't really feel like going through the process of preparing a big meal. but this is going to be delicious and it's going to be great for a cold night, so we're going to make a can of Stack chili, this is the Laredo chili with beans, we're going to add a half pound of this Italian sausage and a big heaped tablespoon of this pasta. chili that will really warm it up and make it great for, like I said, a good cold night link We have this night foreigner I tell you what this is really hitting the spot I didn't realize how hungry I was until I started cooking and then man, but with Italian sausage here super sturdy, um and uh, yeah, adding that little bit of chili paste in there definitely gives a nice spicy kick, looks like we're going to have a very beautiful morning. uh, very clear looking outside, in fact the Moon is still up and I don't think it's completely full, but it's very beautiful, with some nice residual light.

It looks like the Sun is starting to rise in the East and in fact I feel like I can even start and see a small ray of light hitting some of the furthest treetops so I think we're really in for a beautiful day today . I'm taking it easy, relaxing a little bit this morning enjoying some of the warmth and comfort that comes from, you know, van camping and, uh, yeah, it's just a nice hot cup of coffee, just a morning relaxing. over the trees here and it hits the lake and it's lighting everything up nicely and with the new freshly fallen snow absolutely stunning so yeah don't be fooled by the sun even though it's cold and there's just a bit of a breeze today.

That's got some bite to it, so let's go to the truck, light the fire, and start thinking about breakfast. and I enjoyed my coffee and I relaxed a little bit in the van and then I came out here and I sat by the fire for a while and I enjoyed some more coffee, but yeah, it's getting late and this breakfast is really hitting the spot. There's nothing like chips, sausage and eggs when you're camping with the band on a winter's day.