Roadtrip 2014: Mariefred, visit the castle

Heading for Stockholm with the car but when I saw the sign "Gripsholms Castle" I decided so leave the motorway and have a look. I´ve been here in my teens, but could hardly remember anything exept the castle. The idea was to freshen up my view a little. Thats the great thing about being on a journey, always follow you instincts. The journeys is the goal, not the end place.

This is Gripsholms Castle is in Mariefred.

The caste has some nice green garden with lots of colorful flowers.

Moat that surrounds the castle.

This place is a popular place to take pictures of newly weds couples.

Some other peoples belonging to the "wedding crowd". Nice clothes.

hen party for bride-to-be/shower

Here some pictures of the town Mariefred. Horse trailer with tourists.

Campers with view of the castle. I think there were a time limit to this parking lot.

Look! A houseboat. Sunroof. The small boat harbor has a great view.

And this is an old Mercedes bus, with a motorbike on the back.

There is also a train station for older trains were the rail has small bandwidth.

Also a nice place. I think it is a greenhouse of some sort.

Once again, look! A white duck amongst the other. I dont think I´ve seen a white duck before. Only bigger ducks (geese)

To be continued...

Pizzeria Hummelsta

Leaving Ängså I was heading for Stockholm, and I were hungry so I tried to find a place to eat before going onto the highway.

Pizzeria Hummelsta was the place I found..

Parked the Toyota near the entrance of the eatery.

This is how Pizzeria Hummelsta looks inside. Waiting for the pizza to be made. Have never eaten here before. Don´t now what to expect.

Used their toilet so I could clean my hands and freshen up a bit.

Ordered a Opera (one of my favorites, that and Quattro of course). Took it to go (drive). Looks nice huh? Tried to find a suitable place to stop. The pizza turned out to be very good. Somehow food always taste so good when out on the road.. ..

Ended up eating the pizza outside of an cemetery. A view to "die" for.. duh.

Big ego in a hurry, was right up my alley before overtake. Relax I told my self. Me I´m driving according to the speed-limits. Not in a hurry, hey, its vacation.. It is not the goal that is the point of the journey, but the journey itself.

Soon I could continue..=)

Roadtrip 2014: Cows and time to leave Ängsö

Horsefly and cows.

Look at this badas fly. Observing and making a plan.. Plotting and figuring out which angle is the best way to attack..

Even though it earlier had a taste of this cows, it still was not full, never seem to get enough..

The cows whispered in my ears just how bad that fly was. Thug life. Smack down.

Well I survived and did not get stung this time. 1-0. Charing the auxillary battery so I can do my computer business. :)

Time to pack up and leave, to much people.. and to much horseflies. More later. Bye

A big wasp was out to get me!!

Found this old post, thought I would post it.

After sleeping in the car in a place called Björnön.. I found myself eating breakfast pretty early in the morning when a BIG  wasp got inside the car!

WHAT, whiiii!!!

VASTLY BIG!

It was so big that it hardly could fly, it was like a heavy loaded propeller plane  in miniature, flying without control. Almost bouncing into everything. Absolutely no control whatsoever!

My mind was confronted with the "fight or fly" syndrome. I decided to stay fight for my honor.. and I managed to move my arms to wag the giant wasp outside the window, and swiftly managed to wind them up (so quick you could hardly see it). However the "killing machine" was not about to give up on me just yet!! For you fellows who don't know about this insect, it can set its arse down on ya and sting you! Not very pleasant, and if you are allergic you might even die if you get a bad sting in the throat or something. I am not allergic thankfully.

Usually I´m not afraid of wasps, but this was so big and nasty! I think it must have been a "queen" or a earth wasp. Looking to set up a new hornet's nest in my car? Know-body knows. My guess is because the "pros" have never seen such a big beast ;) It must be a record or something? Huh?

Look the big beast is back outside the car windows. Plotting its next move.

It continued to sneak around the car, trying to find a weak spot in my defense. It wasn't about to give up. It was used to scare the h..l out of people and I was the target. He or she wanted me out of the picture.. no doubt.

Look at the perfect killing machine!? Checking me out, looking for my weakness.. Those big eyes don´t miss a thing!! Big horn/cusp in front of its nose to really hurt people. And the poison fully loaded in the back (as). Yes scary!

After a couple of minutes trying to get through the barrier, it decided to let me live. Thank god for that! :-)

 To recap. The bug did not get inside the car and I could relax again.

I make a note to myself.. I really have a thing for flying objects without control..

Roadtrip 2014: Cleaning your teeth, how do I do it

Keeping fresh and clean is important for most people, and that includes me.This time I thought I would tell you about the simplest thing.

I always follow a ritutal of cleaning my teeth before bed time, and after breakfast time. It is important to feel fresh in my mouth, and they say it preserves your teeth.

I use a simple method to preserve fresh water. I have water in 5 liter buckets that I use to distribute into smaller buckets like 1 liters. And then use it to drink and also wash my teeth.

I usually put some toothpaste on the toothbrush, and make it stick with my tung. And then put just a little water in my mouth (keeping it in). After that I insert the toothbrush and wash the teeth with a close mouth, carefully. After a while I let some "yuck" escape the mouth and so on, dripping on the floor. After I´m ready cleaning the teeth. I thoroughly wash the mouth clean from the toothpaste with pure water. You should not swallow any of the toothpaste, its not good for you, usually contains fluoride, that's bad for ya. I also clean the tongue with the brush.

Early morning after eating breakfast, cleaning my teeth with toothbrush,  some toothpaste and water, leaning forward to not get any dripping "junk" on myself.

It´s just like doing in at home, but you have to use less water. Unless you want to go refill water to often.

This is the island Ängsö, the sun is shining, loving it.. Getting the mouth clean after sleeping in my car.

Roadtrip 2014: Ängsö morning, installing solar power and relaxing

Still in Ängsö: Early morning and time for breakfast. Using favorite müsli in a cup, and then pouring water on it. Sounds pretty bad to use water instead of milk or processed sour milk but.., nah, it´s ok, I´m used to it. Along that goes some pretty fresh fruit like peach.

Breakfast-time! Dry food, a peach and water works when you don't have a fridge with you

Well. I do have a icebox with me, but don't use it for anything other than bed support you can see in the picture. You also see the depth of the mattress from Ikea. Time to connect the extra battery to the main power, (generator and solar power). I didn't have time to do it earlier (before heading out). I have some common tools with me. There is always more time when you´re out on the road somehow.

I´ve made this chipboard for the solar power, I have showed it to you earlier., That is.I have used on other road-trips.  Solar controller (and some switches I rarely use).

Solar Power i now connected, and charging. Yey! :) The led for the sun is shining! About 13.65 volt on the extra leisure battery. Normally about 12,7 volt when not charging it.

There were bugs flying all over the place.. I´m not so found of them.. (to put it nicely). They are brakes (broms in Swedish), probably not called brakes in your country, perhaps more like gadfly or horsefly in you language.. :) However, they were not attacking me! Very strange, there were like piece between us, they were just checking me out. Their stomach seemed full somehow. I was really glad for that!

Okey, so to recap, it is early morning, the sun is low,  and I've put the car in the shade of a tree (and a toilet house). Then using pretty long cables to put the solar panel in the sun. Works great to have a portable adjustable solar-panel. Totally recommend it.

Next I sat down in the car for a couple of hours writing on the computer while listening to some great podcast on the carstereo (earlier downloaded from the Internet, mp3 style). Free power from the sun. I really enjoy it! Quiet solitude. This is what I love. Relaxing and contemplating. After a while people started showing up to look at the caste nearby, and they probably thought I was a strange fellow.. with a bed in the car :-) (not normal for people moldered in a box)

Roadtrip 2014: Sleeping place Ängsö

I decided to move, go back. Cause I remember driving past a smaller rv on the way to Långholms bridge, and I thought it might be nice with some company.

However, they were gone when I got back.

Woila, I this will be the spot for the night.

Late evening, the sun is going down. I´m flexing my chest or something.. pathetic..

Listening to James Altucher and Arianna Huffingtong podcast, downloaded from the Internet. Making some notes.. Great program!

So what to eat this evening?  PP.. Peanuts and Peach :) Yeah I know.. not to healty.

Then later I decided to go for a little walk.. and look what I found, cows.. the small ones were curios of me.

This picture is with flash. Unfortunately I must have destroyed their night vision, hope you can forgive me cows?

In the middle of the night some kids with cars came AGAIN!! WTF... Two cars came putting their headlight at me (when I was sleeping, waking me up). Steerign me down. I looked out behind the curtains.. And after a while they started to burnout in the gravel, spinning around and around with their cars (old Volvo 740), and after a while they drove away. Sounded like they were looking for a barbecue or something.. After that I had a hard time getting back to slep. This is how a tired man looks without any sleep. #Zombieman.

Early morning, the car getting warm by the radiation from the sun. The curtain helps keep the heat from sun out, reflectix would be even better. So nice to lay and read, until the car get too warm from the sun. After a while I decided to move the car into the shades.

Sleeping next to a toilet is always nice in case the stomach get bad. But that rearly happens actually. You have to get to know your body on a roadtrip.

Decided to take a walk.

Walking bridge towards the lake Mälaren. Nice!

I found a Birdtower looking at the sea Mälaren. I Did not have any binoculars with me though. Very nice scenary!

Me enjoying the view from the bird tower. Listening to Tom Shadyac and James Altucher podcast on my phone. I can recommend that episode!

Went back to the and found som Old oak tress. Used to make ships once upon a time. They were not far from the caste.

Parking lot I "tried" sleeping in. You can almost see the marks in the gravel of the spinning cars that woke me up.

This is the Ängsö Castle. When I was young my classmates and I went tent-camping nearby this place and did ghost walking around here in the middle of the night, scaring the S%!# out of each other. :-) Walking three laps around the church and knocking on its door twelve a clock in the night and so on..  :) Happy memories! And obviously we survived! Yes there are lots of rumors about "ghosting" of this area.

To be continued..

Roadtrip 2014: Heading for Ängsö

Finally I was back on track. The sun was shining, and I was heading for the island Ängsö, a nature reserve about 20-30 km from Västerås (where I live). I like to be close to home first night, incase I´ve forgotten something important.

One of the first thing you need to consider for a happy roadtrip is temperature. For a roadtrip to be succeed I think the weather is (very) important. No moisture and cold and you sleep well in the car... and everything stays dry and nice. Rain is really bad news, at least when on a vacation and you feel your time is limited before you have to go back to work. If it gets to cold in the night you wake up freezing, and you need to put on some more blankets and so on. I prefer an even temperature, not so easy in a car without any extra isolation.

Some pictures of the swedish landscape.

Evening and everything was finally packed into the car. Heading for a nice sleepover in the car. The weather was perfect!

Roadsign: Welcome to the nature reserve Ängsö. A lovely place where you often can find peace and quietness.

Scouting for toilets is always necessary, nice to know where they are in case you need to do number 2.

Here you can see the Ängsö castle in the background and some roadsigns. Långholms brygga is a place where I´ve slept before. Heading for that place!

Parkinglot at Långholms brygga. Parked the car a bit away from the other, do like it peaceful and quiet.

Went out the the pier..

Fantastic views from the pier.

There are some nice walking trail you can go from this place. This time I didn't really feel I had the time, prefer to do it in the mornings or when the sun is shining.

Last time I slept in this place I got very disturbed by some adolescents, arriving in the middle of the night with a couple of cars. Making a lot of noise, drinking and lighting a fire. I don't know why, but I always run into this kind of kids that think life is about making sounds. Lets just say that my ego has had enough of them..

Even though this place has toilets I had to much memories from the adolescents last time, so decided to try to find another place for the night.

More in the next post.