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Adventures with Big Blue
- Thread starter campfire
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- air supply rocks
One of the cultural traditions up here is maple syruping. One of the locals hosted a community syruping fest. It was a lot of fun for all ages. Here is his wood-fired evaporator. Sap is stored in a barrel in the attic and runs through the copper pipe on the chimney to get preheated before going into the boiling chamber. When the sap as boiled down to the desired sugar level it is bottled and poured over pancakes. In watery state it makes a really good drink. I know that most of the beverages that money can buy are some form of sugar water. But this sugar water is different, in a good way. You just gotta make sure it's cool enough before you drink it! 
Sap collecting.
Lots of trees to collect from (but not the small ones).
Lots and lots of evaporation. The sap gets boiled down 40:1, so 40ish gallons of water are evaporated for every gallon of syrup.
The sap is collected in buckets...
Which are dumped into a barrel...
Which heads to the garage...
And winds up in the attic...
Where it gravity-feeds that copper preheating loop that you saw at the beginning.
Neat process. Tending the wood fire for days on end eventually wore our friend out (he pulled the taps early that year), but he said it was more fun than simply running a propane burner.
Side note, these are interesting wall hooks.
And along with our maple water we had fried bread.
Yes, those are bare feet in the snow...this was the springtime thaw, 30* does feel quite warm for folks used to negative temps.
We also packed snow onto the table top.
Then some of the syrup, boiled down further (into a caramel) was poured onto the snow.
Bam. "Sugar on the snow." Instant old-fashioned toffee.
That was also delicious.
Overall, it was a yummy day.
Sap collecting.
Lots of trees to collect from (but not the small ones).
Lots and lots of evaporation. The sap gets boiled down 40:1, so 40ish gallons of water are evaporated for every gallon of syrup.
The sap is collected in buckets...
Which are dumped into a barrel...
Which heads to the garage...
And winds up in the attic...
Where it gravity-feeds that copper preheating loop that you saw at the beginning.
Neat process. Tending the wood fire for days on end eventually wore our friend out (he pulled the taps early that year), but he said it was more fun than simply running a propane burner.
Side note, these are interesting wall hooks.
And along with our maple water we had fried bread.
Yes, those are bare feet in the snow...this was the springtime thaw, 30* does feel quite warm for folks used to negative temps.
We also packed snow onto the table top.
Then some of the syrup, boiled down further (into a caramel) was poured onto the snow.
Bam. "Sugar on the snow." Instant old-fashioned toffee.
That was also delicious.
Overall, it was a yummy day.
Eventually, the winter turned into springtime, and life started to look more like this.
Which means that folks start spending more time on water and less on land.
And the world turning green suddenly prompted folks to get out and do things outdoors.
This is the Hat Rapids Dam just South of Rhinelander. Popular fishing spot.
Also a place where wild strawberries grow.
And saskatoons.
Which means that folks start spending more time on water and less on land.
And the world turning green suddenly prompted folks to get out and do things outdoors.
This is the Hat Rapids Dam just South of Rhinelander. Popular fishing spot.
Also a place where wild strawberries grow.
And saskatoons.
It also was the start of car show season. 
These are from the Tomahawk (WI) car show. Drove Big Blue down and nearly entered it in the show just for grins. But we wound up just parking to the side.
Road Runner! Mee-meep.
V8-powered Gremlin.
Seems like everyone and his mom has one of these.
Everybody loves a Fiero. Alright, not everyone. But I thought it was neat to see one.
Someone brought this very flamboyant K5.
And a Mini that you can actually work on!
These are from the Tomahawk (WI) car show. Drove Big Blue down and nearly entered it in the show just for grins. But we wound up just parking to the side.
Road Runner! Mee-meep.
V8-powered Gremlin.
Seems like everyone and his mom has one of these.
Everybody loves a Fiero. Alright, not everyone. But I thought it was neat to see one.
Someone brought this very flamboyant K5.
And a Mini that you can actually work on!
After the show we hit up a campground for the night and enjoyed some woods. 
Next morning I found that the rainfly had blown off the tent. But glad it was a dry night.
Good morning, truck.
Hello water.
There is something indescribably therapeutic about sitting by the water.
Next morning I found that the rainfly had blown off the tent.
But glad it was a dry night. Good morning, truck.
Hello water.
There is something indescribably therapeutic about sitting by the water.
It's the only way to make a Charger half way interesting.
Martin
A few days later we did it again. Camping was at Oneida County's Enterprise Campground this time, and the car show was in Rhinelander.
We wound around for a while on some back roads before coming to this sign that told us the trail was winding. Not sure why it took them so long to figure that out.
Like everywhere in this region, the campground sat next to a bunch of lakes.
Not many pictures because it rained. And rained. Rain fly did work this time, but this trip planted the seed of "ya know, some form of covered camper would be nice right now."
Later on we hit up the Rhinelander car show.
Weird seeing that ^^^ next to this. vvv
Another lifted first gen Chevy. Like the other one, this one also embraced double shocks and chrome-plated diff covers on a 1/2-ton rig.
Beautiful body for the region (probably never sees salt), but the rest of it just struck me as gaudy.
We wound around for a while on some back roads before coming to this sign that told us the trail was winding. Not sure why it took them so long to figure that out.
Like everywhere in this region, the campground sat next to a bunch of lakes.
Not many pictures because it rained. And rained. Rain fly did work this time, but this trip planted the seed of "ya know, some form of covered camper would be nice right now."
Later on we hit up the Rhinelander car show.
Weird seeing that ^^^ next to this. vvv
Another lifted first gen Chevy. Like the other one, this one also embraced double shocks and chrome-plated diff covers on a 1/2-ton rig.
Beautiful body for the region (probably never sees salt), but the rest of it just struck me as gaudy.
Why couldn't you just paint it in racing stripes like a Nova?
I think that would be more interesting than the 5 millionth copy of a car whose claim to fame was getting destroyed repeatedly.
The next time we tried something different. I hitched up my trailer and we camped out in that. The trailer is a combination of leftover pieces from rebuilding Big Blue. So Big Blue is one of the few trucks out there that gets to pull its own rear end behind it. 
It rained again, and this arrangement proved to be an improvement over tenting. But, as I sat dry in the topper looking at the distance between me and the cab, I decided that having access between the two areas would be a worthwhile investment. This is when and why we started talking about getting a Suburban. Because mad dashes through the rain to get between 2 dry places just seemed silly.
The rain did lift, however, and we enjoyed the rest of our time here.
Not much for amenities, but it was nice enough to prove its point.
It rained again, and this arrangement proved to be an improvement over tenting. But, as I sat dry in the topper looking at the distance between me and the cab, I decided that having access between the two areas would be a worthwhile investment. This is when and why we started talking about getting a Suburban. Because mad dashes through the rain to get between 2 dry places just seemed silly.
The rain did lift, however, and we enjoyed the rest of our time here.
Not much for amenities, but it was nice enough to prove its point.
magik235
Still Alive
Yes they do. I saw some of them today.
Proof that I do actually get to your area from time to time, even if we haven't been able to meet up successfully.
The Weston Power Plant is cool. We got a tour of 2 of its units a few years ago. Really neat place, much cleaner than the plants I grew up near.
First pic from which post? There are lots and lots of first pics in this thread.
Especially with the posts that were made under the previous forum software. That only allowed 5 pictures per post, so the posts added up fast.
Sorry, that pic with the trailer. I find that extremely cool.
Gotcha. Yeah, I like that combination. They're parked next to each other in my driveway.
And I repainted Big Blue in the same color that it had been, so the colors match even more closely than the picture implies. Aside from the purple/gray primer that the P.O. sprayed on the sides. The topper is also a match for the truck, it has been with the truck for many years. Would love to see what it looked like before all the rust set in.There are some other pictures of the trailer if you scroll back through the thread. I used it to haul a bunch of construction supplies last summer, and it will soon be hauling the resulting construction debris to the dump. And then...it will be empty again, right at the beginning of camping season.
Dude you get out! Im jelous!
Nice trip, sure makes me miss the old WI and all the green and trees and stuff. I used to love going to car shows with my dad. They always had a huge 99+ Acre car show and swap meet in Jefferson I would go to every year.
I've been there once. Came across a 1940s Dodge truck sitting on a 1980s K5 chassis with a 6.2 diesel coupled to some sort of stick shift. Really well done, although the V8 was a squeeze under the skinny Dodge hood.
Thanks. We try to get out as often as we can. Should be starting this year's camping season in a few days.
Can't wait to get out again after a winter of house projects. Lots more pictures in my other threads if you like reading trip reports.
