TL;DR - why didn't I install limit straps earlier. These things make the suspension so much more enjoyable.
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TL;DR - the headlights are better, but I still have work to do to make them work well in inclement weather.
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We literally woke up in the shadow of Mt. Antero, to temperatures in the mid-20°F's. Despite the cold, I'd slept well - as did the rest of the crew - except for a bit of rustling during the night - little critters having discovered the open bag of chips that we'd left next to the camp fire by accident. Out of the tent around the same time as Mike @Digiratus, I wandered off - moving to stay warm - while he prepped a hot cup of coffee to achieve the same result. Wandering up the road from camp toward Baldwin…
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We were up bright and early... Ha! No we weren't, this was not a trip where early mornings were "a thing," with one exception that I'll get to eventually. In fact, I think I as the first one out of bed - a bit after 8:00am - and only because the sun was streaming in through the door of my tent, blinding, rather than warming me, as it had on previous mornings. Familiar. Have I been here before? Our plan for the day was one that I'd been looking forward to for the entire trip - and I know Mike…
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The sun hit camp earlier than it had the previous few mornings, bringing a welcome warmth to our tents after the only night that would result in frost on their fabric. Breakfast of Honey Bunches of Oats and refreshingly cold milk in hand, I decided to explore the stream that ran beside our camp. A few hundred feet upstream, I ran into a beaver dam - and hut - a cool discovery, even if it was obviously long-abandoned due to the lack of fresh cuttings and build-up of sediment in the pond. As if to prove how cold it had…
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Having arrived at camp well after dark, it was nice to get a look at the place as the sun came up the next morning. Nestled in the aspen, Mike @Digiratus and I were the first two out of our tents, and as he prepped his traditional cup of coffee, I wandered off to get a view of our surroundings. Perched near the top of a ravine overlooking Brush Creek, a short trek up the bluff behind camp yielded expansive views of the mountains around us, and as the early morning sun crested one to our east, the yellows and…
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If there was a drawback to our primo camp site, it was that being in a valley meant that the sun didn't reach our position until sometime around 9:30am, two hours after sunrise. Of course, at that point, it was once again beautiful and warm, Dan @drr taking full advantage as he ate breakfast in front of his GFC. Within about 15 minutes I'd changed into shorts and a t-shirt, it was so pleasant. The larger the group, the harder it is to get going in the morning, and with six trucks and nine people, we finally rolled out of…
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Well, that's an ominous title to the day. Guess we'd better get started. As we'd become accustomed to, the night was chilly - somewhere in the high-20°Fs or so - cold enough that the fridge cooled down again overnight without ever turning on. Being our second night, we were all much more prepared for the situation, and an extra layer of clothing here and there seemed to do the trick, everyone sleeping relatively well until the sun warmed our tents in the morning. Dan @drr and I were up first, and as we ate breakfast, remarked at how quickly the…
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I should preface the title to this post with a bit of a caveat. Our perfect timing had nothing to do with when we all showed up at the camp site. In fact, only Dan @drr and Mike @Digiratus were really "on time." See, Mark @IDTrucks had coordinated a meeting with Monte @Blackdawg in Grand Junction where he'd gotten a local shop to open up on a Sunday evening in order to help swap a coil spring from one of Monte's old front shocks to replace the broken one he'd discovered less than two days before the trip started. Monte…
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This story starts a little differently than most. See, every year a core group of folks head out for a two-week-or-so excursion to a spectacular location for a bit of wheeling, a good dose of camping, and a ton of fun. But last year was different. I mean sure - we had all those things for the most part, but we had to cut the entire trip short when - within a couple hours - all three trucks ran into serious issues on the trail. It's worth reading at least that part of the story from Redhead Down, but I…
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First gen Tacoma's don't see much love from the fabricators these days. It's understandable, really - these trucks are getting older and there aren't as many out there as 2nd and 3rd gen Tacoma's. Plus, those of us that own 1st gens are cheap - that's part of why we're still running these older trucks! Knowing that this was the case even a few years ago, I eagerly awaited a sale to purchase a rear diff skid from Jerry @JLee and the good folks over at Bay Area Metal Fabrication (BAMF). One came along for Black Friday, and despite the…
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For a couple years now, I've been using a Coleman Camp Grill/Stove. While the stove isn't perfect, I don't consider its drawbacks to be that big a deal, and as far as camp stoves go, I think its one of the better values out there. In fact - both of my (only) complaints about it are related to its fuel system: first, the burners aren't adjustable enough - they tend to be fully on, or off. This is annoying, but not really that big a deal for what I do on the trail, primarily boiling water or reheating food I've previously…
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I don't know when I first noticed the terrible windshield sprayers on the Tacoma, but it was probably right around late 1999. I figured there was nothing I could do about it, and so for 20 years, I just suffered through the single-jet-stream-that-gets-spread-by-the-wipers. So, when I saw various folks on TacomaWorld talking about Honda Odyssey replacement nozzles that would spray across the entirety of the windshield - you know, like you would expect - I was intrigued; I never realized that the nozzles were a reasonably standardized item across vehicle manufacturers. Now, not all nozzles will work - the replacement…
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August 29, 2020. Well, it's been a while since a rig review - things have been working reasonably well; a nice side effect of constantly evaluating and tweaking the setup of the truck to dial it in. Since last time, we've completed the following trips: Nevada Backcountry Discovery Route Bridge-to-Bridge in the Middle of Nowhere Dead Ends through WA, ID, and MT Roaming Around Rainier So, lets dive right in. Seemingly solved from previous Rig Reviews Relentless Skid Plate Attachment Cooper ST/Maxx Tires It's Noisy in the Cab The Air Conditioning Doesn't Work Unchanged / Still an issue from previous…
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Well, I've got to say, we could really get used to this whole, "camping in perfect weather with great views" thing that we had going on. For the third night in a row, it was somewhere in the high 50°Fs to low 60s, with only a slight breeze, clear skies, and well, Mt. Rainier in the distance. With no clouds to our east and Mt. Rainier to our west, I didn't really see any need to pull myself out of bed for the pre-sunrise time where an orange glow on the horizon can turn into a fiery sky. Instead, I…
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With a our picture-frame like view of Mt. Rainier, and a reasonably clear night, I'd setup the camera to take a series of photos that I could use to generate a time-lapse star trail. And, as a bonus, I hoped to catch the head lamps of early morning climbers on their way up to the summit. And, since I knew that I'd need more time than one battery would afford, I got up every three hours during the night to switch out batteries, using my 175W inverter to charge them while we slept. Unfortunately, my ISO settings on the camera…
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There's nothing like waking up in the morning when you hit the sack on the top of the ridge with a view of one of the largest mountains on the west coast. I hung out under the warm covers for as long as I could stand it - really only a few minutes in earth time - before climbing down the ladder to take a few shots as the sun came up over the horizon. Unlike the previous evening, the sky was cloudless, so there was no amazing overhead display - but that didn't mean the experience lacked in the…
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TL;DR - after modifying the propane neck to use a flexible tube, I like the stove even more.
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TL;DR - I need limit straps to prevent the shocks from over-extending, which can lead to shock tower failure.
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TL;DR - The tent is still great, but I've got some qualms with the tarp/cover - part of it is coming unstitched, and the zipper sucks whenever it gets dusty.
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