The truck camper is packed and at the ready for a Fall, Eastern Sierra Nevada and Inyos, off-road trip. Some of the venues are: Glass Mountain, near Mammoth Lakes, Downtown Bishop at the J Diamond RV camp (so we can have cable TV for Tuesday's election results), Papoose Flats, Lower Bristlecone Pine Forest, northern Death Valley, via a remote washboard dirt road, and some other locales. This is our favorite time of year to travel. We postponed the trip for 1 week because we can pick and chose the weather we opt to travel in.
Here is the finished product of my drive train build. I'll have an article on Truck Camper Adventure soon. jefe
Here is the finished product of my drive train build. I'll have an article on Truck Camper Adventure soon. jefe
offpavement,
We're on the road, as we speak. We deflate when necessary to continue forward motion. Also, the North Road leading into Death Valley is open with no alerts, but from my experience one of the worst and longest stretches of washboard road anywhere. Last time we were on it I tried to grit it out with full pressure but finally relented dropping the pressure to 28 pounds. After about 50 miles of smooth low pressure I checked the tire temperature and it was elevated but not dangerously so.
One of our goals is the jeep road that leads from the back of the Eureka Dunes to Saline Valley. I've been on this truly obscure trail in my pressure lowered Jeep and it was not a big deal. Never even used the lockers. I have a friend who inherited his German GroBvater's Synchro Kampwagon and he drove the road with no woe. Historically, there was one place in a rocky arroyo that precluded passage of any vehicle wider than 61 inches. That clog was erased some years ago when a tremendous T-storm filled the breach with sand and the narrows became wide enough to pass a wider vehicle. The Eureka Dunes are a particularly interesting area, just appearing as if from no where. There is a small unimproved area to set up camp at the foot of the dunes. Fortunately, it's foot traffic only on the dunes. There are some little critters who only live in and on these dunes. It is one lonely area.
Here's a rear view with our new Little Giant ladder instead of sissor stairs, 4.10 gears, Detroit True Trac's, front and rear, and 35" tires on steel wheels:
We're on the road, as we speak. We deflate when necessary to continue forward motion. Also, the North Road leading into Death Valley is open with no alerts, but from my experience one of the worst and longest stretches of washboard road anywhere. Last time we were on it I tried to grit it out with full pressure but finally relented dropping the pressure to 28 pounds. After about 50 miles of smooth low pressure I checked the tire temperature and it was elevated but not dangerously so.
One of our goals is the jeep road that leads from the back of the Eureka Dunes to Saline Valley. I've been on this truly obscure trail in my pressure lowered Jeep and it was not a big deal. Never even used the lockers. I have a friend who inherited his German GroBvater's Synchro Kampwagon and he drove the road with no woe. Historically, there was one place in a rocky arroyo that precluded passage of any vehicle wider than 61 inches. That clog was erased some years ago when a tremendous T-storm filled the breach with sand and the narrows became wide enough to pass a wider vehicle. The Eureka Dunes are a particularly interesting area, just appearing as if from no where. There is a small unimproved area to set up camp at the foot of the dunes. Fortunately, it's foot traffic only on the dunes. There are some little critters who only live in and on these dunes. It is one lonely area.
Here's a rear view with our new Little Giant ladder instead of sissor stairs, 4.10 gears, Detroit True Trac's, front and rear, and 35" tires on steel wheels:
