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.

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

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

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