Wood stove in Van?

The stove idea was an experiment. I'd heard of wood stoves in boats and RVs but never in a van and my trip to Labrador demanded some solution for how cold and damp it gets. A propane tank would run a heater and with proper insulation that's not a bad idea. The van wasn't air tight at all so the risk of dying from lack of oxygen was actually less than dying from exposure but I was going to one of the most remote places in North America where wood and not propane was plentiful. And the challenge of a wood stove was something I had to try. Then someone sold me the Fatsco wood stove and I bought 7 feet of stainless steel flex pipe ordinarily for pellet stoves. The hardest part was figuring out where the stove pipe would exit the van. I considered the sliding windows but finally decided to put it totally out of the way through the roof so the stove pipe would heat up and radiate heat. I think there's a good argument for putting the stovepipe chimney horizontally through the back of the fiberglass roof, instead of vertically through the very top of the roof. It adds like a foot onto an already high roof so can catch on tarps and bridge underpasses and tree branches. IF it went through the back it would be out of the way and if the angle was still sloping up then the smoke would still draw out and not get stuck. I don't know. I think the way I did it looks more "traditional" but it would work as well if it went horizontally but not cause me problems with tree branches.

apple-eating wolves?

I saw an apple with bite marks that may have been left by an Arctic Wolf. No sightings but I feel I'm getting closer.

This article explains the time I come from

Check out this Royal Society article.

"A 4C rise in the planet’s temperature would see severe droughts across the world and millions of migrants seeking refuge as their food supplies collapse."

All of that came true. Humans live in aluminum houses. I was sent from the future to explain how important it is to heed these warnings. That's why it irks me that the Canadians would banish me from their borders because of something simple like money. This is a global crisis that every kid alive today will see. 50 years and counting. I'm not making it up. I would show pictures but they couldn't return with me in the time machine. The Arctic Wolf is the key to everything.

Low Tech - use your imagination

Let me tell you that the 21st century has not reached the territory I now find myself in. Videos of any size can not be transmitted except as hand shadows cast on cave walls. I ponder the entertainment Early Man enjoyed. Were they any less spellbound by a Shaman's oral history of creation than we are by images projected onto a white screen? If happiness is only found through gadgetry then only those people with gadgets would be happy and that can't be true. How else could you explain emotional biblical stories? Now, being frozen solid near a frozen pond is no gateway to orgasmic joy but it leads me to wonder what is? There is no shortage of philosophical questions to keep me occupied as I wait for my can of beans to thaw out.

I recently read a book called "The Moneyless Man" by Mark Boyle. It's hard to suppress the cynic inside me when I read about a healthy 29 year old man with no children "proving" we can live without money because he can do it. I simply think about the 1200+ superfund sites before his experiment runs into a wall. How is someone going to benevolently barter his environmental/chemical engineering skills to address these toxic dumps? What possible exchange could be made? How many carrots or chakra balancing sessions is worth a decade or two spent sealing nuclear waste that was dumped before you were born?
The more I read it, and the similarities between he and I were not overlooked, the more I felt he was basically imposing a blanket boycott of everything because the global economy has entangled everything and you can't ethically proceed if you extrapolate every purchase to its logical end. Yes, purchasing with cash essentially isolates the details of the transaction and makes the cash the end goal rather than community building and friendship. But can 6 billion people be wrong? It sounded like Boyle had fallen in love with masturbation and was going to prove that people can abstain from sex by only masturbating for a year. It would suck at first but eventually he grew to love it and others saw his point and they masturbated together. That's how it sounded at least as he bicycled 36 miles a day to dumpster dive bread and jars of jam.
It was hard not to laugh when he wrote, "I don't think money will be abolished any time soon. At least not in my lifetime."
Really, Mark. You think? It reminds me that if you abolish self reflection along with money or meat then you'll end up sounding totally out of touch. I recall the two extreme years I spent with Food Not Bombs in Santa Cruz, CA living in a stick hut, growing food in 5 gallon buckets that were suspended from the tree tops. Why? To remove my conscience from the then ongoing occupation of Iraq.
Now, that experience will be applied to something that I'm working on and Mark Boyle's experience will help me add some details I'd forgotten (fermenting beer from apples).
Mankind takes the path of least resistance but it sometimes has the most impact.

Trail North

I don't want to blame anyone for the difficulties I've encountered thus far. I've failed to see a wolf of any kind. Heck, I haven't even seen a dog! And the condensation in the van in the morning has everything covered with Mt. Everest Frost. Frozen Bananas. Frozen Cheese. Frozen toes. Gandhi called his Bio "Experiments with Truth" and I didn't want to lie to the border police that I intended to do anything less than go to Ellsmere Island and see Arctic wolves because the climate changes will affect them most drastically, etc. The police did not concur with my rationale and after some tense arguments that I don't want to detail here I was evicted under threat of arrest and imprisonment. And told not to "Border Shop" by way of finding an alternative way in.

The worst part is that now I have a crush on the female official who argued with me for thirty minutes.

"You're not listening to what I'm saying," she said, which was true because she had the prettiest hair and fingers that I know have played the fiddle or piano...and she's from New Foundland. She was saying something about "immediate arrest" and violation of some "international law" and all I could do was stare at her eyes behind her stylish glasses. And she said "Aboot" in the most thrilling way. Like, "I'm aboot to arrest you."

Oh! True love!

I'll never forget your name, "140783"

God, I really thought we were a good match. Her kevlar bullet proof vest and my sea shell necklaces. I begged her to come with me.

"You're from Newfoundland and I'm going to Labrador. It's a perfect match."

"You can't drive there in that van."

"And you know the way! Be my guide! I'll buy everything."

"With $600?"

"I'll work along the way."

"That's exactly what you can't do. You're not..."

"I'll play guitar in the streets of Cape Breton. Please! I feel Canadian at heart!"

"You'll turn around and go back across the bridge."

"Help me. The wolf is in deep trouble. See, I'm from the future. And I need to save the wolf. See, right now mankind is using resources at a rate of..."

Not long after that I was explaining to the U.S. border police why I didn't get into Canada. And they were about ready to force Canada to take me after my tale of wolves and Baffin Island and climate change. This is the thanks I get? I feel trapped but must continue. Thanks to James Taylor for the soundtrack. Terra Nova is the tune and that means New Foundland. I dedicate this to the beautiful border patrol woman who touched my heart as she frisked me for weapons. I'll see you again in my dreams.