AdventureTaco - turbodb's build and adventures

Does that 400 lbs include sliders? One of the things I'm doing (but didn't include in the write-up) is that I'm not running my mid skid all the time anymore. I'm going to reinstall it on a trip-by-trip basis when I'm going places that need it. That's another 70-90lbs right there.

But yeah, AL rear bumper likely weighs less than OEM; front would see similar savings.

And for the oil - it only makes sense to carry 1qt if it's a "pooling" thing. Most of my trips are solo, so I'll likely throw in a a jug on our group outings.

Agree that it requires coordination. It's something Mike and Monte and I talked about last year...but of course, did nothing about. I think it could work if you generally go out with the same folks and could have two boxes - one with the "extra stuff for traveling alone" and one that is the "group kit."

We do still take @mini in the back seat reasonably frequently, so can't get rid of the panels just yet.

 

I was surprised to see I am at 4960 unloaded, (but still a full tool box). I too am trying to look at the weight loss program but I have a hard time justifying some of the stuff you do. I have seen trucks get a hole in the motor and lose all their oil. Or suck in water and an oil change needs to be done on the trail. Or needing to drain and repair a radiator on the trail as well.

1000% agree with Ben on keeping the brake fluid. The hard part is really wondering what you can get rid of. I carry more than most people and I know that. But I also break a bunch of shit, and I don't want breaking shit to ruin a weekend or wheeling trip. While the decision to cut weight is all based on the end user and what they are comfortable leaving home without, I do wonder what other "expo" kinda things can be cut down to cut weight too. Some people love bringing a ton of shit to be really comfortable at camp, but bringing more shit means heavier trucks, and heavier trucks means the risk of breaking more shit. It's all a delicate balance.

 

100%

It was really interesting for me to do this exercise, having just written up my post about my gear for 2018.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-and-adventures.484602/page-158#post-22459354

 

No just bumpers and skids I believe. Kept the sliders, I don't think Id do Al sliders really. You'd need to beefy of a slider that it would cost so much it wouldn't be worth it.

Al skids (full set) weigh less than the stock skids haha

 

since you justify keeping the idler pulley because it doesn't weigh much, how do you justify leaving the u-joint? They don't weigh much and a busted one could mean limping back in FWD.

I would personally probably leave both at home and just do an inspection of each prior to departure. But either way, neither are saving much weight. Aluminum bumper and skids is where you'll likely see the best bang for the buck. Hold out for Black Friday, as there were some really good deals this past November.

 

Probably just has to do with my experience. I've actually had both go bad on the trail. So much easier to replace the pulley. But you're right - from experience, I know I can drive thousands of miles with either one in bad shape.

If only. Still need to fix that, but of course winter has me procrastinating again. My summer self will hate me.

 

Don't y'all all live where it's cold (and y'all is considered southern slang)? Roll down the window!

 

Pro Tip # 35: Tint does not significantly impact the weight of a vehicle.

 

Mojave Redemption #1 - Off to an Ominous Start

This trip is going to be EPIC. In fact, once we complete our 8 days in the Mojave National Preserve, we'll probably be done exploring the area - we'll hit all the important bits, and will have no reason to go back - except to show of the coolest areas to our friends.​

-Famous last words! ​

Spoiler: I need to go back.

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Just look at all the cool places we'll go (in blue).​

The First Day (Christmas)

It was Christmas day, and for us, that meant we were kicking off our next adventure by starting the two-day trek from the Seattle area to southern California - via Oregon, Idaho, and Nevada. We'd originally planned to make the 20+ hour drive in a single day, but I'd heard that it was supposed to rain the day after Christmas, so we decided that a two-day journey would allow us to relax a bit, and avoid the weather when we were in the preserve.

Even so, with two 10-hour days of driving in front of us, we didn't stop to smell the roses. We did find a closed truck scale however, and eager to see what the truck weighed after its winter weight loss program, I pulled in. At 5350 lbs, it's definitely a lot lower than the 5800 I'd run into previously. Of course, I wasn't in the truck for this photo, so...

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From there, our next stop was in Boise for fuel. Still a couple hours until dinner, it was already dark and the snow was starting to fall. It was a white Christmas - and it was cold!

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Eventually, we reached Twin Falls. We'd been racing to get there for the sole purpose of eating dinner. See, with it being Christmas, @mrs.turbodb had smartly called around to find a place that was open - as it turned out, there weren't many (including Chinese that were closed) and those that were, planned to close early.

We missed dinner by 15 minutes! But, that was OK - having sat in the truck all day, neither of us was all that hungry. And, more worrying than the dinner situation was camp. I'd found a place - at Grey's Landing, near the Idaho-Nevada border - that I thought would be just perfect. It was away from the highway, and reasonably private. Of course, I forgot to check the elevation, and as we arrived, I knew I'd made a mistake. Not only was it cold, but there were six inches of snow on the ground and the lake itself was completely frozen over!

There wasn't much we could do - we'd be in the high desert for much of the rest of the trip - so we found what we thought would be a nice overlook in the morning, set up the tent, and climbed up to snuggle under the covers.

The Next Day (Thursday, the Day After Christmas)

It was 23°F when we woke up at 6:00am the next morning - to the soft tapping of snow drifting down onto the tent. We huddled in bed and evaluated the situation. We were definitely winning - let's list the ways.

1. Our breath had condensed onto the metal poles inside the tent.
2. Along the underside of the rain fly, there was ice - not just above the doors, but on the entire underside of the fly.
3. It was snowing (albeit very lightly, so this isn't actually so bad).
4. Did I mention it was 23°F?

#SoWinning​

We did the only thing we could - put on every article of clothing we'd brought with us into the tent, and headed out to get ready to go. Without breakfast - there was no way we were going to stand around for any longer than we needed to.

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I got as much snow and ice off the tent as possible, and folded it up just as the light snow stopped. Of course! With the engine running and @mrs.turbodb warming up inside, I took a few more quick photos of our camp - it was actually quite pretty, and likely crowded in more temperate months.

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You can always tell the pretty spots by the number of people buried there!​

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Before long we were making our way back out to US-93, the clouds starting to part and blue sky poking through. It looked to be the start of a beautiful day!

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The plan for the rest of the day was simple actually - drive south on US-93 to Las Vegas (or, actually, Primm), Nevada. Along the way, we passed by the camp site Mike @Digiratus and I had used on our first night of the F.U. Rain trip, and like everything else, it was covered in snow.

The snow slowly abated - and turned to rain - as we came down out of the high desert into Las Vegas. It was early evening, and as we looked for somewhere to stop for dinner, we were greeted with an unwelcome notice.

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Our bellies full, we promptly ignored all of the Nevada DOT signs and set out on I-15 for Primm. Our hope, of course, was that by the time we got there - maybe 6:00pm or so - that the freeway would be open again.

It was not. In fact, the last 5 miles to Primm were a parking lot on I-15 and we found ourselves reading our Kindles and napping in our lane of traffic for a few hours, until we finally made it to the Primm exit. Everyone else was just turning around and heading back to Las Vegas, but we had nowhere to go so we found ourselves a nice truck parking lot in the back of a local casino, and opened the tent in the rain. Fun times!

We read a bit more, and eventually dozed off to sleep - our hope that the sunny weather forecasted for the next day would materialize, and we'd be able to get on our way.

Though, in the back of our minds was the nagging question - if there'd been enough snow to close the highway, were we going to be totally screwed when we tried to venture off into the wilderness?!

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The I15 being closed around Christmas made it a disaster around Vegas. If I had known I could have hooked you up with a place to stay.

 

I ditched my RTT because being from the PNW, I found I was always closing it up wet. Of course that meant it was always wet when I opened it up again later that day, along with the interior as the moisture soaked through the not-waterproof tent material (2014 Tepui). How do you deal with the moisture? Is your tent waterproof?

 

This is a great question and I'm probably going to give you a longer response than you expect.

Actually, I'm going to lead with this response I gave someone else about what RTT to get:

The key for me is that I'm quite careful on how I deal with putting the tent away. I don't do a ton of camping in the PNW proper, but everyone I camp with knows that I've seen my fair share of rain and snow - some of them even suggesting that it's somehow my fault when we get bad weather.

Here's what I do:

1. I always look for a place to setup camp where I'm going to get morning sun (assuming there's a chance of morning sun). This gives me the most help possible in having a dry tent when I put it away.
2. I always dry off the tent as much as I can before I put it away. To do that, I bring a beach towel that is dedicated to the task (so it only ever really gets water on it and stays clean b/c I'm not using it for other stuff). Often in the morning - maybe 30m before we are going to break down camp - I'm standing on the bedsides, wiping the water drops off the rain fly and sides of the tent. I'm actually a little surprised no one has ever captured this on camera to give me a bad time about it...because they definitely do in person.
3. If the outside of the tent is snowy or icy, I do the same thing - get as much off as possible.
4. If the outside of the tent is wet, I always zip up all the doors and windows before putting it away (not just the screens, but the actual fabric ones as well). This helps to keep the little bit of moisture I can't get off with the towel on the outside of the shell. It's not perfect, but it's much better.
5. I always try to dry the tent out the next evening.
6. If I fail at #5, I do it as soon as I can. I've not been on a trip where we had more than ~3 consecutive nights of rain/snow. Except maybe once or twice. In those cases, I did have dampness in the tent, but since I used the towel, it was largely contained to the corners of the mattress, and I just stayed in the middle of the mattress for sleeping.
7. I always air out the tent completely once I get home. Make sure everything is totally dry.

Edit: One last thing - the PNW (and moisture in general) is a great place to consider one of the newer wedge-shaped campers IMO (GFC, etc.) Those things are just setup better to handle the moisture because of their design. And sure, they are pricey, but you get a lot for them - both from a tent perspective and also dry/clean/not muddy bed/gear perspective. If I didn't have my setup already and feel like I'd already sunk a bunch of $$$ into it, I'd likely go with a GFC myself.

 

Mojave Redemption #2 - Should We Turn Around and Go Home?

Camped in a casino parking lot, it was a noisy night - at least comparatively. But, by the time we woke up the rain had stopped, a light breeze was blowing, and the skies to the west - where we were headed - were mostly sunny!

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The tent still needed a little drying, so I set about that task as @mrs.turbodb got breakfast ready to go. We ate while admiring the long line of cars still backed up on I-15, and then turned on the heater as we slotted ourselves into the line of traffic. Luckily, we only had a few miles to go before our exit - at the Ivanpah Power Station - which would lead us to the Colosseum Mine.

The Ivanpah Power Station it turns out is almost worth the trip alone. It's an amazing set of structures, literally lighting up the landscape. So dramatic was our first view - and I'm sure the snow-covered mountains in the background helped - that we pulled over on the side of the highway to snap a photo.

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It turns out we needn't have pulled out of traffic - our designated route was going to take us through the heart of the plant, not that we minded!

As we drove through the plant, we stopped several times to capture the towers, each one seemingly reaching toward their "mother sun," trying to please her with their brightness.

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(in a weird voice) "I'm here for you sun mother."​

Now, as I previously mentioned, our first destination was the Colosseum Mine - high in the Clark Mountains - where we'd have lunch before dropping down the other side into Alaska Hills. However, as we neared the mountains, we were pretty sure that those plans were about to change.

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We hadn't hit any snow at 2500 ft, but by the time we hit 3000 ft, the white stuff was everywhere. It wasn't all that deep - and it was definitely beautiful - so we continued on.

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The higher we went, the deeper the snow got. By 4000 ft, it was a good 8-inches deep; at 4500 ft, it was 10-inches - just deep enough that the rear diff was starting to drag a bit here and there. We still had another 1000 ft of elevation to go, and we could see that the road got steeper a head. Reluctantly, we made the call to abort our visit to the Colosseum Mine and Alaska Hills - because even if we'd made it, everything we'd planned to see was clearly under a foot or more of snow!

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It was time to re-think our plan. We took a look at the route we'd planned - it was a clockwise loop starting from the northeast and working our way south, then west, until we finally reached Zzyzx in the northwest. That clearly wasn't going to work - with many of the initial locations in the 5000 ft range as far as elevation was concerned.

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So instead, we headed west - towards some of the lower elevations - hoping that we'd find something salvageable. Otherwise, would we just head home and try again another time?!

And - as we headed west on I-15 toward Shadow Valley - we noticed that Cima Dome seemed a little less snow-covered than we expected. Perhaps, just perhaps, we could start there - hiking to the top to get a view of the Mojave around us. So, with the Clark Mountains rising white behind us, we turned south and started down Cima Road.

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Now, I will say that one of the nice things about all the snow is that it made the roads feel soft and fluffy even without airing down. As we arrived at our turn-off to hike Cima Dome, we saw a Jeep parked at the turn-off taking photos of the snow-covered side road. They were clearly sticking to the main drag in conditions like this. With a big smile on both our faces, we didn't even slow down - we just turned down the road and pressed the skinny pedal - it was hilarious!

We had several miles to go before the trailhead, and let me tell you - it was surreal. It's not often that you see the desert - Joshua Trees and all - covered in snow.

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It was lunch time when we arrived at the corral that designated the end of the road, and the trailhead. This corral was put in place to protect a spring there - though with the gate left open, I don't think it was doing much in the way of protecting. I did a little exploring while @mrs.turbodb whipped up some quick PB&Js for us.

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Our bellies happier, we set off. Cima Dome is an extremely symmetric dome that rises from 2100 ft to near 5000 ft over the course of a couple miles. As such, the hike is usually quite easy, as the incline is so gradual. But today was different. With six inches of snow on the ground, the 6-mile loop was a lot of work. So much in fact that we cut it short, turning it into a 4-mile out-and-back.

But, I'm getting a little ahead of myself.

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The top of Cima Dome was a little anti-climactic if I do say so myself. Its symmetry is intriguing, but is on such a large scale that - in real life - it's essentially flat. As such, it's hard to really get a good view any direction, and is therefore nice if you're looking for an easy hike in a Joshua Tree forest, but otherwise I think it's something that can be skipped if you're short on time.

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Soon enough, we were back down the mountain, and wondering where we'd go next. At 3:15pm it was getting late - relative to sunset at 4:30pm anyway - and so we decided that we'd head further west. That would take us down to more reasonable elevations - and camp along the Mojave Road, at the base of the Marl Mountains.

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Along the way, the views were spectacular. I'm not sure they were once-in-a-lifetime, since it seems that the desert gets snow on a fairly regular basis - but they were rare for sure!

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The Mojave Cross, erected in 1934 to honor veterans.​

Eventually of course, we reached the more common views of the preserve, the Dr. Seussian Joshua Trees dotting the land, the ground immediately around us dry. Of course, in the distance, it was clear that these were not normal times.

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We pulled into our home for the evening just as the sun was setting - it was 4:29 pm. This is quite clearly the biggest problem with winter exploration - with less than 10 hours of daylight, the time to see everything is so short!

Still, how can you not enjoy cool crisp sunsets in the middle of a vast wilderness, the sliver of a moon in the distance!

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The sun down past the horizon, our light was now limited. We set about our usual evening tasks - I set up the tent, @mrs.turbodb set up the kitchen. It was tacos and guacamole for dinner - one of our favorites, and we enjoyed them in the waning evening light, the purples of twilight enveloping us in camp.

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But with the sun down, it also got cold, fast. After dinner, we found ourselves back in the truck, bundled up in our puffy coats just to keep warm. I mean sure, we could have climbed into the tent, but it was only 5:20pm! Instead, we read for a few hours - something that would become a tradition on this trip - before brushing our teeth and calling it a night.

We also decided that we'd see if we could salvage one more day in the preserve at some of the lower elevation destinations we had planned. If they turned out anything like this day, we knew we'd have a hard decision to make - because neither one of us really wanted to go home...

 

Man, I need to make another Mojave trip! Liking the unique route you chose to take so far too.

 

Great report.
I know the campsite in your last photo. I've shared the company of fellow TW inmates at that location.

 

LOL, I’m realizing as I’m reading you stayed at Marl camp on Friday night with plans to visit lower elevations on Saturday while my family visited the lava tube nearby on the very same Saturday. Probably missed each other by few miles/hours. Look forward to the Saturday report to see just how close we got!

 

Yeah, would have been an amazing route if we'd been able to do it as planned. Not that I'm complaining about the ultimate route we ended up taking - despite my clickbait titles . So much cool stuff in southern CA; makes me wish we lived closer sometimes.

Yeah, when we ran by that site on our last (which was also our first, hahahaha) trip to Mojave, we thought it'd be a good place to camp, but it was 10:00am when we passed it so there was no way we were stopping. Seemed like a great pace this time though!

Oh, you have no idea how much I've been thinking about this as well since I saw that your trip included Mojave. Of course, I only knew you were in Afton and Baker - didn't realize you visited the lava tubes! So, we were at the lava tubes at ... 10:04am according to my EXIF data.

 

My GPS tracker says we are at the lava tube at about 1:20pm after having stopped in Baker for lunch. So yeah, that was a close miss!

 

So that's a nice photo effect! How did you lay the "map" on top of the Google Earth image?

Another question for you, or anybody, is have you had any problems "camping" overnight in parking lots? Of course I'm not talking about "tailgate BBQ" or putting out chairs. Just sleeping. Wal-Mart used to allow it, not sure if any Wal-Marts do anymore.

I'm self conscious enough I go stealth in Rest Stops, and I only have a cap, not a RTT. Sure, those people in RVs and 18 wheelers are doing the same thing but .

Of course I prefer to find some side road but sometimes it just isn't practical.

This is the Bordertown Casino, 395 at the Nevada border. Didn't get a room but the girlfriend and I gambled $5 each in the Casino to ease our feelings of guilt.

Hey! I don't have to obscure my plate!