Sunday, March 27, 2016

Le Sport*

It took us two years to buy this rig. We had put a deposit on it way back in March of 2014, from the North Island, New Zealand, Uretiti to be exact, but then decided it didn't suit our interests in snowmobiling and cold weather travel. Two years later, it popped up on Craigslist, and, with our cold weather adventures done, it beckoned again. We were looking for something on a Sprinter 3500 chassis, diesel, good mileage, large enough carrying capacity for full-timing, towing, and savage-camping, with a more streamlined look, as close to European design, standards, and amenities as possible, consistent in cost with our near-term travel plans (that is, it will sit in storage in the US 6-8 months of the year), sleeping and seating 3-4. And well-made.

Le Sport was built in 2006 by Sportsmobile, an American firm esteemed for custom RV conversions, especially 4WD and adventure travel. Le Sport was a prototype for a venture into the Sprinter Class C or B+ field with the German RV manufacturer Robel (mit der umlaut). The venture did not pan out--too expensive to produce this side of the Pond--and only two vehicles were built, a boxy Class C, and Le Sport, the sleeker B+. We have long been admirers of Sportsmobile, having visited their plants in Austin and in Fresno in years past, and when Le Sport became available again, we seized the opportunity. Due diligence (Carfax), a good deal, taking our Ram for trade-in value, knowledge of the vehicle's history, and a chat with the past owner, sped us on our way. Also a sense of fate, destiny, kismet, karma...whatever. Maybe second time around. Le Sport's only serious shortcoming for us was a lack of solar power, although it comes with 4 big AGM coach batteries, and we are adding four solar panels very shortly before returning to Middle California. Below are some initial pix and comments.
At the dealership from whom we bought it; M-B Sprinter 3500,
2.7 l turbo diesel, 5 speed automatic
















Cab view
















The Kenwood monitor serves the back-up camera, audio and
video, CD/DVD/MP3 player, and the satnav

















Storage above cab; came with interior and exterior front window
covers

















Looking abaft; TV and DVD player; also came with an in-motion
satellite system
















Some of the interior storage; the woodwork is entirely solid, maple
we thought, but more likely birch, a cabinet-maker friend said

















One of two easy chairs; together, they make into a single bed
















The other; the two cab captains' chairs swivel to seat four at a
portable table 

















Galley; two sinks; Swedish 3-burner stove
















Shower and half of the dry bath




















Other half




















Fold-down table from medicine cabinet




















Clothes closet




















Lower bin for shoes




















Fridge and freezer




















Convection microwave
















Queen bed and ever more storage
















Exterior storage, under the bed





































































Other features--24 foot over-all length, dual pane windows with black-out shades and embedded screens, airbags, macerator (Herr Scheisschopper), 2500 watt generator, 1750 watt inverter, LED lighting throughout, new furnace, low-profile AC, working tank monitors, 60 gallon fresh/gray, 12 foot Fiamma awning, Blue Ox towing system, assorted suspension upgrades, stabilizers, alarm system, dualies, 19 mpg highway, power everything, keyless entry, etc.--filled out our nearly 3 page list of desired features for an American camper. We love it.

*Oh yes, Le Sport is a tentative name only. Until Vicki comes up with something better.

Thursday, March 17, 2016

End Of Season Sales

February 23rd, as it turned out, was our last ride on the Blue Wanderer, and a good one too. Our intent on this campaign was to enjoy a final season of winter camping and snowmobiling, and, at season's end, to sell everything connected with these endeavors and to transition to a different rig and style in the US. Vicki had already begun listing everything in Craigslist and other media, and, within a month, we had sold it all and begun moving into our new rig, tentatively called Le Sport. (Goes well with Le Duc, our European camper). Le Sport will get a separate post, in due course.
All saddled up after the last ride, ready to head to the Bozone
















The Blue Wanderer's many campaign pennants
















Riding off into the sunset...well, 19th Ave. in Bozeman, en
route to I-90...with its new owners, a nice couple from Billings;
they bought the trailer too


















The Bigfoot rests upon its new home, atop a Chevy owned by
a nice couple from Colorado; with all the solar and other
accoutrements we added, they got a good deal


















The Ram, resting on its trip east; oddly, it was the hardest to
sell, but we finally found a deal; I miss its raw power, especially
unladen, and its many new-fangled 2014 features


















The deal...next post

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Best Ever Two Top

We've been riding up this little mountain west of West Yellowstone since 2003. Usually later in the season. Sunday's visit was the best ever. Extreme winter wonderland. A fitting end to our winter travels of 2016.


































































































Snowmobiling West of Yellowstone

We got to Island Park, ID, Saturday afternoon, and camped in a large snowmobile parking lot across route 20 from the USFS ranger station, just south of the Buffalo River, near Pond's Lodge. (All this for future reference.) (Island Park and West Yellowstone are neighbors in a vast recreational wilderness complex west of Yellowstone NP; snowmobile paradise; also hiking and fishing paradise.) Next day we did a ride from Island Park to Big Spring, then the Black Canyon Loop, and then up old favorite Two Top. Two Top was the best we've ever seen it and warrants its own post. Next day we moved to our old parking lot in West Yellowstone and did the ride out to Lake Hebgen, the FS look-out there, and back to town. More old favorites. And on Wednesday we did a huge circuit, Lion's Head, Valley View, Two Top once more, Black Canyon, then the long ride along the Yellowstone border back to West. We've done all our favorites.
Riding through Island Park
















Big Spring, ID, another gorgeous day, many rentals out riding,
just like we once did

















Heading up Two Top, which sort of straddles the ID/MT
border

















Yes, there is a snowmobile speed limit in MT




















Among the views from Two Top
















Ditto
















Back toward the Black Canyon Loop




















Looking past partially frozen Lake Hebgen
















Ditto, from the FS look-out


Saturday, February 20, 2016

More Snowmobiling The Continental Divide Trails

We stayed a few days in Dubois, waiting for the cold and very high winds to subside, and then drove back up Togwotee Pass to the Four Mile parking lot, west of the pass, and near the Togwotee Mountain Lodge, for another day or two or three's sledding in one of our favorite places.
At a motel in Dubois; Wyoming tourism always calls for very
large animals; interestingly, on an earlier ride we got stuck and
were rescued by an honest-to-God mountain man, on an sled,
a trapper of martens, with a pelt or two on his sled--we were way
out on the trails; I wanted to ask him if he'd read The Big Sky or
seen The Revenant but figured he was more of the Dancing with
Wolves type; but we were very grateful for his help, coming
just before we set up the winch...

















From our campsite at the Four Mile parking lot below Togwotee
Pass; snow high up on the trees






















Thus, our home for a few days















Another morning...virgin groomed trail...Vicki says to refer to
this as EVOO, first cold press...

















The Divide Overlook, the Tetons much closer than the lens
suggest

















Another view










Absarokas; four great mountain ranges here coincide
















The Tetons from the highway by the Four Mile parking lot
















Another day, the Tetons from the CD trail
















Pano from the CD
















Us, there
















Closer up...but not as close as the eye
















After a night of snow and high wind...
















Not all fun and games...after much blowing and drifting, CD
became a solitary track, and then CDA worse, especially
across a mile or so of high meadows
















Bogged down in a drift, but Vicki digs us out...
















The grand massif of the Tetons
















Mt Moran, named for James Moran, greatest of landscape
painters of the American West
















We spent a departing night at the snowmobile lot in Alpine, WY,
and enjoyed their winter festival fireworks show, actually quite
good...but it was time for us to move on and back...to Montana


















Not your daddy's Walmart...near Rexburg, ID, a brand new
Super Center, at 185,000 square feet approximately twice the
size of a normal Walmart, with gas station, drive-through,
pharmacy pick-up, pick-up for online orders, organic everything,
and hiring and compensation policies that are changing much
for the better