The Ride and Stuff

A road above Evergreen, CO

Full camping mode in CO

  







 



 



My ride is a 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser, starting the trip with about 30,000 miles on it (bright yellow so as to be seen by any and all bad guys from any distance!). Most of the vehicle improvements were done by Slee Offroad in Golden, CO. Many thanks to them, especially Ben and Joe.



They changed out the factory roof rack with loading bars. They added an Old Man Emu lift kit with larger Nitto Grappler tires,as well as a dual battery system (Odyssey batteries w/ an IBS controller/monitor) with one battery dedicated to 3 new dc outlets along the back to power the new Engel 43 qt. refrigerator and miscellaneous dc devices, including a light installed in the tent itself. Off the spare tire support is a 3 gallon Rotopax gas can (and tied down with what I hope is some serious bike cable). And we removed the rear seats so I could jam as much as possible back there.



What's back there, you ask. Well, the refrigerator, a small cooler to act as pantry, 6-1/2 gal. water container, Coleman folding table and camping chair, vehicle levelers, small step ladder (helps with packing the tent), sleeping bag, collapsible sink, small 2-burner propane stove, basic cooking stuff and utensils, stainless camping wine glasses (I couldn't resist these, they're great), Chemex coffee maker (until it breaks, anyway), daypack, clothes and footwear, wind meter, Pentax W90 waterproof camera, regular tripod, a Gorillapod, snorkeling gear, Nikon Coolpix P100 camera (26x zoom), battery charger for the 2 Odysseys above, a dc LED camping light, an ac light, a dc fan, 50' extension cord, 25' of water hose, steering wheel lock, misc. tools (though I can't fix a thing), fire extinguisher, 400W inverter, jumper cables, smack strap, shovel, baseball bat and a can of mace, broom, tarps, Quick Aire X2000SE portable air compressor, car safe under the driver's seat, poncho, sun shower, pt, tp, baby wipes, and lots of smaller stuff. The passenger seat will be filled with a box full of the books and maps shown on the prior post, the laptop, various day-to-day needs. I bought The Club to lock the steering wheel, wheel locks for the wheels and even lockable valve stem covers and a locking gas cap. And at no additional cost I think I've managed to paint a nice big bullseye on my ass.

The tent is by 3dogcamping out of Byron Bay, Australia. The basic tent itself opens up quite easily, I'm getting better at it, anyway. The room attachment (about 7'x7') takes some time to zip on and stake down, but will provide privacy and a place to hang out whenever I decide to use it. After all, this will be a 7-8 month trip. There is a 5" foam mattress that's quite comfortable; it's like a queen-size futon (use fitted sheets! I found some cheap ones at Walmart. I think they're like a 15 or 16 thread count, at least). The canvas is waterproofed so there's no need of a rainfly. I wet it down a couple of times and it was bone-dry after about 30 minutes in the sun. I have to thank Ray Grigson, the Aussie owner, who put up with endless questions, which is the main reason it took 10 months from start to finish. It was well worth the trouble, it's a great tent. Thanks also to the new local distributor for 3dog (well, for all of North America, I think), Gerald Adams, who also put up with a fair amount of "analness" from me. Sorry we didn't get those pictures you wanted.

I had wanted to post a video showing the tent set-up, but to get it to the right size and location in the post was exasperating. Removing it was worse. The 'help' answers were way over my head, editing in HTML, linking to YouTube, blah, blah, blah. Just getting photos in the right spot is a major effort. I might try again down the road, maybe. Shouldn't computers be more straight forward by now? Why do you still need to be some techo-geek (or 15 years old) to do this stuff? Aaaargh!

Jefferson Lake, South Park, CO

Down from Boreas Pass overlooking Breckenridge