My 70s Bus --Old Blue

Well the Bus is coming along fine. I hav'nt done to much on it lately due to the weather being crumby. I drove it up to Ludington two weeks ago and all systems were go. The Bus ran great and the additives I put in it seemed to make it run much better as I got closer to Ludington. I have the walls up, windows are tinted, the walls are half stained and some of the cedar trim is on. The closets are built, the computer desk is in and the frame for the bed is built.

I have made a couple of videos about the Bus and all and here is some links to them on YouTube.

1.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiYEMnqRKeQ

2.)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=722jlzsrso4tube.com/watch?v=722jlzsrso4

I will be going up and working on the Bus this next weekend for three days and should be able to get the rest of the stuff done, with the walls stained, closets trimmed out and stained, and the Blinds all in place over the windows that I bought. I have a whole truck load of lumber and things to finish up the Bus. I bought a sink and will install that. The next couple weeks will be getting the floor polyurethaned and rugs put down. I will then get the frig in, stove in, couch in, and Bed purchased. Then the task will be to run some electrical outlets in the closet walls and in the sink cabinet wall. I'm excited to start spending time in the Bus, its becoming a home to me already. I have become quite attached to it since I bought it February 15th 2009.

I have made a small web site on geocites that is just the Bus and its progress if you want to check that out the link is here. Well I guess that is it for now, more to come next week.. Untill then "Live-4-today" My friends

http://www.geocities.com/my70sbus/northern_wanderer

"OLD BLUE" Bus That is"

Hello everyone. I have a new project I have taken on, Like that is a surprise to any one who knows me. I have purchase a great Big Blue Bus from a local church. I plan to work on this and make a camping R.V out of it. The proposed plan is to live in this for a year traveling around the United states finding work wherever I come to rest. I have always wanted to do this for like ten years now. I finally have puchased it and I have to go thru with it now. I will still go to the Upper Peninsula the summer and canoe around Lake superior. I will just use the Bus as a camping stop and rest for a couple of days before continuing on. Well I will document the conversion of this Old Blue here on my blogs and on Youtube. I think it will be fun to follow the progress of the work being done by you all.

Here is a picture of my new addition to the crazy things in my life. Old Blue is a 1989 international desiel. It was owned by a church and has just under 200,000 thousand miles on it. It is very clean inside and has of course all the seats still in it. The bus just passed its DOT inspection and is in good running order. The Engine is a 466 international. Well I guess that is all for now, and I will keep you posted on the progress, or nonsense as it unfolds. I will pick up the bus next week and will drive it north to park it at my Parents to start the transfermation. This is the Northern Wanderer saying Live for Today. !!!

Lake Superior Kayak Trip

SPRING EXPEDITION 2009 !!

Well the next trip is coming into light. I said I was returning to the wilderness or the roots of my youth. I just purchased a Kevlar expedition Sea Kayak. My skills in the next few months and over the winter will to become fully knowledgeable in Sea Kayaking. My skills with a canoe are very good but this will be much faster and more relaxed way to travel. I will be circumnavigating the great Lake Superior. It’s back to the North Country and where I feel more comfortable with myself and my world.

Lake Superior, or Gitchagumee as the Indians refer to it, is 2700 hundred miles around. It’s the largest body of fresh water in the world. The average depth is 600 feet, the deepest of the five great lakes. It will take me around four months to complete this, averaging 20 miles or so a day. I’m going to film the trip and make a DVD about the journey this time. I’m excited about the trip. My son lives up around Marquette and he will be joining me on some of the trip with a Sea Kayak we will rent for a couple of weeks. He will get to do this with his DAD before going off to college next fall. My son has lived in the U.P all of his life and loves the North Country as much as I do.

I have been all over Lake Superior by vehicle. I canoed Isle Royal National Park for two weeks two summers ago and have been to Pictured Rocks many times backpacking. I have been to Grand Isle, Mackinaw Isle and The Apostle Islands. I will be going to Pictured Rocks this Labor Day and Kayak Pictured Rocks for some practice. I have posted some pictures of my Kayak on Into the Wild on my Myspace page. I will post my video of the Pictured Rocks trip when I get back after Labor Day. I still have some more gear to purchase this winter, like wet dry bags a primus stove and a mountain light tent. After the trip around Lake Superior I will be heading south for the winter. My plan is to go down to Baja around Cozumel, Mexico this time for the winter.

I have been working as much as I can this summer to put enough money away to be off for the next year doing what it is I love, explore life. I will start in Sault Ste Marie Michigan and go around Michigan and Minnesota then up into Canada and finish back in the Sault where I went to college. The trip will be in conjunction with Earth Peace and the organization to protect and preserve the Great Lakes. I hope maybe I can raise a little money to contribute to there cause. I will have a few papers cover the story; of course the Ludington Daily News is already on board with it. There are so many beautiful places along Lake Superior I can’t wait to witness them by water. Swimming will be out of the question considering Lake Superior never gets above 47 degrees, even in the summer months. I have swum in it like three times and you will become numb in like 5-10 minutes time. Well it’s off to look at some more gear and find a good dry bag for my video and a water-proof housing for my digital camera.

Wanderer Out!!!

Home Till the Next Adventure

HOME TILL THE NEXT ADVENTURE!!


I have been home from the great sailing adventure now for a few weeks and it’s all so real. The empty feeling of everyday life and the grind of the world is heavy upon me. My spirit is restless and my hands idle. What to do what to do.
I’m in Grand Rapids living and working for a contracting mail delivery company. Its great pay and I have done some of it before I left on my trip. I work many hours but the reward is I’m saving for the next great trip. The life here in the city is not conducive to my personality. I feel the need to return north as often as I can to get my lungs full of freedom, space and tranquility. I have been working on some video lately with my digital camcorder. I’m trying to develop some editing skills. I have posted like four videos that I have done already and hope to keep working on my techniques, and skills.
The next video camera I get will be a commercial one with Hi Def capability. I have found the one I want it’s just the cost is nearly 3000 dollars. With this camera I will start doing weddings to help offset the cost of software and accessories.
My adventures into the next phase of life will be I think wilderness oriented. I’m working on trying to run the Iditarod sled dog race this winter and I will be going to Alaska next spring to live up in the bush for the summer studying the grizzly’s, and filming their world. I have wanted to do this for many years and I think the time has come to go ahead with this. I have winter camped at 30 below zero and stayed in the bush camping for 8 months at a time so I know about camping and a solitary world, which is what I prefer anyway. This summer and fall will be used just studying bears and where to go for the summer of 2009. I will find an old trapper’s cabin and rebuild it to stay in for 5-6 months. I plan to be flown in and picked up in the fall. In that time I will film the world so many of us are unaware of and photograph the landscape and raw world.
I can not live here in this world for to long it eats away at me. I must have a planned escape in the future to look forward to. My being is different than conventional people. I long for adventure, escape and transitional views of other ways to life. My heart is with my dreams they must be exercised if I’m to keep living. I must see the strange and new, the other side of the parallel plane we call reality. I feel alive when a new adventure is in the making and my emotions rise like the swells of the ocean. The highs and lows are apart of my personality, they speak to me in riddles and equations, for which I must solve.
Well enough of the crazy talk and dreams for awhile. I must be off to work. The next few months will be hard but the sweet ending will be near. The replenishing of my bank account is all part of the preparation to escape yet once again. Keep with me and again soon you will be entertained by yet another great adventure and story. I will put up a story soon on of how I got involved with my 73 sled dogs and my dog sled touring business I had in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. So keep checking with my site and stay free and living.
Skipper Out!

Island Bound 2007-2008 - Last Entry

ISLAND BOUND 2007-2008!!!!

Well hello everyone, the trip has come to a conclusion. We sailed from Miami to the Bahamas and then back to the Florida Keys and back to Miami again. The weather was perfect the water temperature was 78 degrees and the air temperature a wonderful 86. Snorkeling the reefs was the ultimate experience. The fish were so colorful-reds, yellows- and the pink coral so beautiful, I could have stayed there and snorkeled forever. Sailing was perfect. Every day was 12-15 mph winds. We sailed everywhere in just shorts, and let the wind and sun warm our souls. It reminded me of the times I sailed back in my youth. I sailed on summer brakes from college.
The Bahamas were very expensive and our time there was short, for example the gas was 6.15 per gallon. Everyone just lives each day as if the world exists only on their time. The water in the Keys was also warm and clear with many reefs to dive on and explore.
Miami after almost 4000 miles of adventure and unbelievable times, I was sad as I sailed back to Miami. My world existed in this small box of sun, water, a boat and a great friend.
We stopped at this small yacht club in Miami, the Miami yacht club, where everyone was very nice to us and helped us in every way with trying to sell the boat and find a way back home. As I put up flyers and made it clear to everyone I wanted to sell my boat, I couldn’t help but get a little choked up and sad to let go of something that had taken care of me for so long and provided me with a home and beautiful times that I will cherish forever. I didn’t want to end the trip. I just knew it was time to move on. We were tired and beat up physically and emotionally. We did what it was we set out to do and now it was time to venture on to new worlds, and new adventures; plus I had to re-supply my financial account.
While waiting for a buyer we explored Miami and went to the Miami Boat show. The boats of today are sleek, roomy and just plain pricey. Miami is a diverse and cultural city. I found it to be very exciting to say the least. South Beach was large with life and colorful. Its buildings stand tall and Homes are well into the millions if you live on the Intracoastal Waterway. We saw the home that belongs to the owner of the Miami Dolphins football team. This home cost 35 million dollars on the Intracoastal Waterway just north of Miami.
Well, with only five days at the yacht club, I was approached by someone to purchase my boat. We agreed on an arrangement and it was done. I now had to figure out how to get all the things in the boat home to Michigan. How would I do this? I could fly at a cost of around 4 to 5 hundred dollars, or !! I got this hare- brained idea to buy a cheap car and drive it back to Michigan. I would resell it there for what I paid for it. So this is what I did. I found a car in Key Largo for 400.00 dollars. The car was a 1988 Ford Station Wagon. It looked and reminded me of the Chevy Chase National Lampoons Vacation car. I only hoped on my trip back to Ludington I would see Christy Brinkley drive up next to me in her Ferrari like in the movie.
The car was like a tank and it drove great expect for one thing. It came from 80 degree temps. So when I turned the heater on in Tennessee, I found out there was no heater, at least working anyway. Great! The trip back was cold and very long; but we made it. Cold but safe we made it home at 1:30 am Saturday morning. I went to work on getting my other more reliable car ready to travel back to Florida to finalize my boat sale and spend the month of March seeing friends I met on the trip. I couldn’t stay here with the snow and cold. I had become to use to 80 degrees and sunshine. I will return in Late March to get to work for the summer months. I will continue writing some blogs and tales of my road trip back to Florida and around the East Coast.
I have done some great sailing in the 5 months and met wonderful people. After all I have done on this trip I will still stick to my quote in the paper from the beginning and what Homer said in his book the Odyssey “ It’s the journey that counts not the destination” in your travels. I have learned over the course of my adventures that when we are all done with our time here on this planet, it’s the things you didn’t do that you will remember the most, not the things you did do. What I mean by this is you only have your dreams and memories that actually mean something in your life, not money or material things. Your memories and adventures live with you forever never to be taken from you. Don’t let your dreams go unfulfilled. They will haunt you forever.
I hope you will stay with me as I continue to travel and write. I’m putting together another trip or adventure as we speak, but I won’t let the cat out of the bag just yet. I’m glad you enjoyed reading my travels and hope I produce more interesting tales. I was given a camcorder recently and I can now put together some video. I will also be working on a DVD of the trip with music and writings and you will be able to get that thru my web site: www.northerboysnews.com which I will be working on this month. God Bless and keep your spirit free. Remember “Existence is Extinction without Imagination” Skipper Out !!!

Island Bound 2007-2008 - Fernandina Beach

ISLAND BOUND 2007-2008!!

Hello everyone I know it’s been a long time since I have written anything for you to read. Time has just not been on my side lately. That and internet has not been very available. We have been anchoring a lot lately since the temperatures have been reasonable. We are in Cocoa Beach Florida, which is just north of Ft. Lauderdale by about 130 miles. The temperatures are around 75 degrees every day now and that’s a relief. The trip is hitting the four month mark and I can feel the length of the trip getting to me. I wish that we had a larger boat so it could provide a little more space for us to stretch out in. It seems we are so cramped in this small space. I’m not sure just what it is I’m looking for in this trip, maybe it’s nothing at all. Sometimes as I look out into this ocean sitting so empty still and calm one minute, turbulent and completely out of control the next. It kind of reminds me of the way I feel sometimes. I seem never to be content with just what is. I’m always looking for what’s around the next corner of life or what the next day will throw at me. There’s a restless uneasy about my travels and my reasons for adventure. The world of order and repetition is just not for me it holds no value or attention. I need the ups and downs of day to day adventure to hold my attention. I enjoy the ability to never predict what life will throw my way next. I find that inner peace with my self each time I meet different and interesting people doing something so against the norm that society places in our trained life, an example: Last week we pulled into Fernandina Beach, Florida. We pulled in because the engine died on us. It was the carburetor I was sure of it. I untied the Dinghy and fired it up and towed the boat into this small marina in Tiger Creek. Now there was this one gentlemen getting ready to go out with his sailboat as we pulled up and started to tie our boat up. He was having a hard time getting off the dock on his own so I went over and helped him untie his 52 foot old classic wooden boat that I would love to have owned myself. Well he was able to get out into the river and headed for the sounds channel to enter into the ocean for his afternoon sail. I started in on taking the carburetor off the engine and prepared to clean it out and reassemble it. When the gentlemen returned from his sail. The wind was even stronger than earlier and he was never going to dock alone with this wind blowing him off the dock. I went over and helped again get his boat in and tied up and secure too the dock. He invited me on his boat and we had some coffee and stated talking about sailing trips and life’s adventures. It turned out he sailed around the world when he was in his twenties, now he tops 67 years of age and still living life to its fullest. When he turned thirty something he got into the movie industry and built sets for the motion pictures. He did interview with a vampire with Tom Cruise and worked on a set with William Defoe. He built some of the sets for Natural Born Killers and many others. I looked at some of the pictures he had of his adventures and the famous people he met and I couldn’t help but feel this sense of excitement and couldn’t wait to keep on with my adventures knowing there’s more out there to discover. It turned out that Baird was a good carpenter and had hurt his shoulder a few weeks back and he had this small tile job to do and asked if we wanted to do it for this guy. We went and looked at it and said yes and two days later we were done and made 350 dollars on the job which helped in our travels down the Florida Coast. Yes it was the carburetor and we cleaned it out and the engine has been running great ever since thanks to Bairds help in cleaning the carburetor better than it has ever been cleaned. Well that’s all for now. We will keep going down to Ft Lauderdale and then over to the Islands. Sometimes a little thing can lead to great things and a good friend. Skipper Out!!

Island Bound 2007-2008 - Annapolis to Norfolk

ISLAND BOUND 2007-2008!!

Hello everyone, remember I spoke of the sweet and of the sour in life and in travels, well the sweet has arrived. It was 74 degrees today sunny, sails were up and the shorts were on with a comfortable southwest breeze blowing across the starboard deck carrying the Wanderer to a comfortable 8 to 9 mph. We left Annapolis with 3 inches of snow on the deck, YUK. We sailed to Prudenville some 50 miles down and it was still a little cold and wet with our snow turning somewhat to ice on the deck. We stayed the night and continued down to Deltaville some 60 miles down the Chesapeake bay. The next day we sailed out knowing there was a warm front coming and temps would be going up some today. The day started out a little wet and cold but better. As the day progressed we started to see the sun and the wind picked up a little. By 2 pm the sun was out it was 57 degrees, we had all our sail up and the Wanderer was in full bloom. We sailed into Norfolk Virginia with comfortable weather 77 miles under us a smile on our faces and hope in our hearts. Norfolk was quite nice with the usual tall buildings and city looking fur sod to it. The real eye catcher though was the Naval Battle ships along the river and piers. We seen air craft carriers and battleships, transport ships, destroyers and ships I'm not sure what they used them for, but with their radar and battleship grey they looked very intimidating to say the least. Security was very tight and the river was always being patrolled by military police. I took some pictures only to be looked at with very strange and careful eyes. We talked with a sailor who tried to get a better look at the Nuclear Sub only to be intercepted by three Naval Police boats discouraging his curiosity. We are suppose to stay out away from all Naval Ships at least 500 yards. We missed the Nuclear Sub it had already left the Naval Base. We pulled in across from Norfolk to Portsmouth. This was a beautiful Marina with million dollar boats and was a small Boston like town. The streets were named Landon street. and Essex, upper court, canal street. the Bostonian avenue, things like that. There were lots of Irish pubs on every corner. The view of Norfolk was spectacular from the dock I couldn't keep my eyes off it. It was all lit up and the patrol boats coming down the river with their running lights on looked kind of pretty. I ran and got fuel and the temps now were 62 degrees at 7 pm. I couldn't find anyone at the marina so we just stayed for free at this one which was probably a good thing considering the look of the place. The next morning was like a spring day in Ludington were we come from, the sun was coming up over the water the temps were 67 degrees a light wind from the Southeast and we were off to start down the Virginia Cut to North Carolina. We were working our way down the river having to wait on some bridges opening for us, six in all. The temperature was up to 70 degrees by 10:30 am and we were in out shorts and tee shirts feeling like we sailed into a summer day. I found it hard to describe the day, it was sunny with 75 degrees by noon we had the sails up and were living like no one else, it was the sailing life again. The day was just with out words sunny warm and that smell of sea air and trees growing with life again. The good news, at least for us is its going to be sunny and 73 degrees for the next 5 days. We will be in Wilmington by this weekend we hope. In the past four or five days we have logged 200 miles and today will be another 47 miles. So the weather has turned, the mood is great and the Wanderer is alive and well somewhere in the Northern part of North Carolina. They call it the Outer Banks. SKIPPER OUT!!!