My Journey

pkripper

Member
Hey Jerry, just wanted to thank you for the years of inspiration and information. You are truly an amazing individual. I for 1 hope you keep us updated on your adventures whether on the road or not. I will be making the 1700 mile trip up to Missoula to visit my brother in 10 days and cannot wait to get back up there. Stay safe!!!
 
tgil.....so here's one of the many projects that I've been working on since returning to Montana.....

Ace.....I thought that pumpkin was going to land in the field behind my cabin.....it came so close.....the dogs ran inside the cabin and stood at the door alternating between growls & barks.....it was entertaining.....

pkripper.....I'm just another guy in the room.....far from amazing.....thank you.....



I doubt anyone will remember the day that I met a couple in Washington during my travels while at a Walmart that subsequently invited me to stay at their Cascade Mountains log cabin but I certainly do. After my three night stay they gifted me a beautiful Moose antler rack which I mounted on the BigFoot truck camper and which would eventually cause me to get into a bit of a legal mess as I passed through Yellowstone National Park.....anyhow.....

So one of my first projects was to build a Moose antler rack display stand.....or some might call it a sofa table.....I cut four legs of ALMOST equal lengths from some of the weathered wood that I found in the barn.....

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Then I cut the frame boards & started to build the frame from the weathered wood that I snatched up off of the hoarders' property.....

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That wood was heavy so I hauled it into the cabin in pieces and then bolted it all together.....

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Continuing with the rustic theme I screwed in some old fence boards for the top.....

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I didn't care much for these boards.....so I brought in the Moose antlers to have a look.....nope, they wouldn't do.....

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I removed those boards.....next I took some of the same boards that I used for the frame, split them down the middle, and tried them out instead.....

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I liked it.....

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The dogs were heavily involved in most every aspect of this build.....it seemed as though every scrap piece of lumber becomes a dog chew toy.....

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Here's the completed project.....I added a vase from Mexico , a wood carving from Tibet, and a couple of great adventure books.....it came out far better than I could have hoped for.....

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jgaz

Adventurer
Nice work splitting the top boards.
A lot of work, not to mention skill, to do a nice job on that operation.
Kinda a lost skill these days.
 

Foy

Explorer
As mobility and range of travel tends to decrease with increasing #of birthdays or any other reason, ability to "take a trip and never leave the farm" becomes more relevant. Apologies to the late Charlie Daniels for stealing a sample of his lyrics.

Great looking work!

Foy
 
jgaz.....the hand saw photo is a bit misleading. I used a table saw to split the weathered boards and then finished it up with the hand saw.....the outcome was exactly what I was looking for. And the legs were actually perfectly level.....that outcome was a total surprise.....

ITTOG.....how's the recovery going ? I'm headed for physical therapy soon I think. I'm waiting on a doctors' referral.....and thanks.....

Foy.....I'm really hoping that I'm not at that point in my life.....I enjoy life here immensely but not a day goes by that my mind doesn't wander off to far off places.....and thanks.....



As I have said several times here, I was quite pleased with the outcome of the Moose antler rack display stand (sofa table) so next up was building a small end table that was similar in style.....

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I was able to use the leftover boards to use for the table top & frame so I made a small frame similar to the other table.....

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And in a matter of a couple of hours I had myself a fairly nice little end table.....

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I threw a few magazines on top (one of which was the issue of the Overland Journal that was gifted to me when I stopped in at their headquarters in Arizona a few years back.....I wonder if I'll actually ever read that thing ?).....

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I think it was back in February of this year that I ordered a new couch from a local furniture store with the agreement that I could cancel the order if I didn't like it.....well, I found this old couch on Craigslist free and the "seller" even offered me free delivery.....I canceled that order.....why do I need a $2,000 couch ?

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There were several significant rips in the leather but not so visible so I used needle and thread designed for sewing leather and stitched the thing back together.....then I ordered several throw pillows with pictures of a look alike of my best friend Yukon.....

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Both of the dogs have settled in.....me not so much.....

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I watch the sun rise over the mountains every morning with my big mug of black coffee in hand.....and I dream of being a traveler some day.....

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ITTOG

Well-known member
The place looks great. Looks like a great job of turning the place into a home.

Recovery is going well as I am ahead of schedule, but slow. I am only allowed to walk non-stop for five minutes every hour. So one time I walked the last five minutes of an hour and the first five minutes of the next hour. Well, I learned to not do that again anytime soon. So... all I need is time at this point. They told me six months for full recovery. Thanks for your concern. I guess I should assume your groin is not healed given you have PT ahead of you? I hope it works quickly for you.
 

Riversdad

Active member
The place looks great and the dogs look happy. Summer is a pretty crappy time for the walking that you like to do what with the heat, chiggers, and ticks. Hopefully you can finally get healed up this summer and you and the dogs can start back up when the weather cools.
 

Ace Brown

Retired Ol’ Fart
With this talk of healing I just got back from a “sleepover” at the hospital. They did a sleep apnea test. Not too bad of an experience except for the zillions of wires they attached to me. Even glued some on my scalp thru my hair. They promised the glue would wash out. Maybe I can soon learn why I’m so tired all the time and find a fix. You might ask why this is relevant to travel. It had gotten to the point where I couldn’t drive any distance without getting too sleepy to drive safely. I have a tentative trip on the IDBDR in September that I might be able to do now.

Jerry I like the stuff your building. Stay busy at that and maybe you will get used to the home.

Ace


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ITTOG.....just yesterday I got a referral from the doctor to go see the physical therapist. I've got an appointment in June. She mentioned that I'll have to slow down for a few months.....and that thought gave me an enormous amount of anxiety. I've already gone from 5,000 miles to 3,000 miles.....one day at a time.....

Riversdad.....I'm not so sure about that.....it's hard to beat the summers in Montana.....one day at a time.....

Ace.....I really like it here and I sure hope I'm not coming off as whiney. It'll probably just take me more time than it did the dogs. The fact is that I can drive 10 minutes and be at some sensational trailheads and go for a hike (which we actually did just yesterday). Anyhow.....I sure hope you get to the cause of your issue.....best of luck.....

hbabler.....thanks a lot.....it's always my pleasure.....

Arjan.....thank you.....they really do.....there's just nothing like them.....



One of my favorite pieces of the cabin "puzzle" has always been that southern wall covered in weathered wood and my feeling is that there's just never enough wood in a small cabin (drywall & paint pretty much suck here). Now the interior decorator lady that helped me last year told me not to do more than that one wall.....I didn't / couldn't listen.....

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Once that southern wall in the bedroom was painted black, I marked out all of the studs with a red chalk line (I'm not sure why that wall looks curved in that picture as I assure you that it is not curved at all).....

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The next two days were spent cutting boards and screwing them to the wall.....it ain't fancy but neither are the three of us.....

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Now I was real pleased with the outcome here.....the room had this real cozy feel. And I thought, we need more !

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So I did the southern wall along the hallway (if you could actually call it that) to the bathroom.....and then covered most of it up with a giant oil painting.....that took one full day to complete.....

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Once again, I liked it.....now my friend.....she came over for a look and this is what she had to say "it looks great but no more please".....

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And switching gears here.....I've got through two more books.....it was the title that made me pick up the first one at a used book store.....fiction isn't really my thing.....so I wasn't a fan.....

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And the next one I think the reasons that I chose it are obvious.....great author and great subject matter....it was an excellent read.....

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Ghostdancer.....this book is a bit different than all the others that I read as it focuses on the people that have lived in the Bears Ears and the surrounding area over the years. It's a whole new perspective which I found to be very interesting. Lots to learn about the Bears Ears.....



Now one thing that I've been missing in this cabin is a desk.....it's just nice to have a place to sit at other than the dog recliner chairs.....

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So keeping with the same style as the other two pieces of furniture that I just recently built, I cut more weathered wood and used more of the black lag bolts to frame the desk up.....

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I had just enough space in that corner to build a 36" wide desk.....no longer does my ego need one of those massive desks of the past.....36" wide will do me just fine.....for the top I used 11" wide 2" thick weathered boards.....and on top of that I'll place a 1/4" thick piece of polished glass which has been ordered.....

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I tacked the antique wooden skis to the weathered wood wall.....all of the antique snow shoes & the wooden skis were picked up somewhere in my travels.....

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Then I added these metal templates of the world that I found in my travels while visiting Red Lodge, Montana .....I just happened to walk into a guys' metal shop when he was throwing these things out.....every traveler needs a map of the world at his desk I think.....

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Now my favorite decoration in that room are these ceramic tiles that I found in Jackson, Wyoming .....once again found during my travels.....looks almost like Montana & Yukon.....

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And finally to complete that room, I finished the closet walls with weathered wood and since the trap door to the crawl space is located here.....

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I needed a place to store my boots & shoes that didn't block that trap door so I built myself a shelf to one side for my boots & shoes.....

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Life is good.....

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Ace Brown

Retired Ol’ Fart
I like the bedroom wall a lot. Are the black sections where you left boards out and that’s the black wall showing? Or are they stained that way. Either case it looks great.


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