Car Camping / Trip Reports / Photos / Buildouts / “Overland” / Expedition Rigs Area (homeless?)

I'm putting the fridge cover back on (started working again on LP, one of the LP tanks the relief screw wasn't tightened down after a refill, that seemed to be the problem. I guess the Dometic fridge is more sensitive to line pressure than the other LP components??? Everything else LP-powered worked fine).

Was dead calm, then the wind kicks in. I had the Runner doors open, out of the corner of my eye I see a blue bandana hankie taking off in the wind, then remember I had five $20 bills on the seat by the hankie. Gone with the wind.

 

Been raining since about 1600 here in NV, pretty good amount of rain for March in the desert. 50degreesF outside.

 

NV pics. Might have to go back to CO soon, loss of freedom. Here me and black lab roam freely. House, not so much.

 

Route of 2 states i'm trying to see GPS locations and mapped planned. Heres to hopefully seeing some new places from KY

 

Thanks for the mention. I don't watch all the threads too often but if anyone has any questions about this setup just use my @fajitas21 to call me hither.

I used the system this weekend for a Hot Springs trip and it ran Thursday - Sunday without a hitch. It's nice being able to stick your leftovers from a restaurant directly in your truck.

 

Just started planning out my trip from Florida to Colorado down to Grand Canyon looks like we will be hitting similar spots. 2-3 days of travel from here to CO then 11 days of camping 2-3 nights at each spot. Look forward to hearing how your trip goes.

 

Same deal here. 24hours travel there and then some of the smaller things i'll be hitting a couple in a day, bigger parks like Zion, Grand Canyon, etc i'll be there for a couple days! I'm sure i'll be doing a post with some pictures along the way! Same to you! Take plenty of pics for us to see. When do you plan on going?

 

The North side of it would make more sense for my planning. That's what I plan on getting around.

 

We went by the North Rim last year after Overland Expo. The visitor center wasn't open until 5/14.

 

I won't be there till around Sept

 

Did you ever settle on a battery? I have a similar setup, need to run LED lights, water pump, and charging station for electronics, no fridge. Will have a smaller solar panel for maintenance, and will charge from truck with a dual battery kit. I was thinking maybe some sort of wheelchair battery.

Was thinking this Dual battery system :

Westin 47-3800 Dual Battery System

https://www.amazon.com/T-MAX-47-380...255&sr=1-1&keywords=t-max+dual+battery+system

With this (or similar) battery :

$75 Mighty Max Battery ML35-12 - 12V 35AH U1 Deep Cycle AGM Solar Battery Replaces 33Ah, 34Ah, 36Ah

https://www.amazon.com/ML35-12-Batt...1520878338&sr=1-4&keywords=deep+cycle+battery

Would be interested to hear if you picked a battery and how you like it if you have used it.

 

Good battery choice (SLA), the AH might be a bit low. DC DC Chargers like the RedArc and CTEK typically like to see at LEAST a 40AH battery to charge. I'm not sure the reason behind it, but while reading the manual (I have the CTEK), it mentions 40AH minimum.

Also, a 40AH battery would be able to reasonably expect to run a 12v fridge for 1 - 1.5 days. I run a 100AH battery and get 4 days without charging with above mentioned CTEK charger.

 

We leave out from FL at the end of June booking the sites up this week, and putting in for time off. Then it will be the plan to get as much done or on the old itinerary as possible. I am dreading the drive home not the drive out. I have some lighting and air ride system for the added weight and camper set up to work on.

 

So you're camping mostly at camp sites? I have an RTT so I'm basically just winging all of my camping areas along the way. Going to plot some on the GPS and try to make it to them along the way, but if I feel fine and want to keep driving I can.

 

Hey, did you notice the lack of "young" Saguaros? Looking at your beautiful pics I see the same thing I've seen the last two times in the Sonoran Desert - lack of small Saguaros. Those in the 1'-3' range.

Here's a long read detailing a long-term study on a control plot in Saguaro National Park near Tucson. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4978412/

They could only find THREE, I say THREE Saguaros that had germinated to adulthood since 1993. I bought 1000 Saguaro seeds from here http://www.cactusstore.com/category_36/SEEDS-Cacti-C.htm

I don't think anybody would mind a bit next time you're there if you give Mother Nature a hand and plant some seeds. Planting method is 1/8"-1/4" deep on the south side base of a nurse plant, creosote, Palo Verde, whatever.

Pic of a Saguaro seedling. Those have to be a tasty morsel to the various beasts that roam the desert. No spines, it's a water cupcake. Meself, I think the Javelinas are the most destructive beasts, non-native, but Arizona DOW actually protects range and habitat for them as a hunting species. Crazy, IMO. You must have seen their track. Basically, Javelina is a sport hunt, they have almost zero usable meat.

AZ is not my home state, so all I have is an opinion, and I have no idea if planting Saguaro seeds will have any effect. I just figured since I was hiking around I'd poke my finger into the dirt, drop a few seeds in. Everybody knows getting your fingers dirty is a good thing.

 

I think it is Mars and Venus visible to the Southwest right now in the Western sky, have a look if you have the chance. They're pretty close to each other.

 

I think no moon then, so good visibility. There was another planet I didn't spot until just before it dipped below the horizon. All I have is binoculars, telescope would be nice.

http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/visible-planets-tonight-mars-jupiter-venus-saturn-mercury

 

Goddam.

Desert Solitaire is one of my all-time favorite books. Ed could describe the canyon country better than any other author I’ve ever read.

 

Not sure why planting native seed from a native cactus is a wrong thing?

 

I don't have a problem with hand-seeding. I didn't see an over-population of young Saguaros, that would be a problem over-seeding, trying to help Mother Nature along when it isn't necessary.

Problem was, not only in the controlled plot only germinating THREE Saguaros to adulthood since 1993, the BLM land I was hiking was the same. It was so glaring.

Just seemed like an issue, frankly I doubt anybody really knows how the Sonoran Desert works, has only been populated since 1880, only 118 years. Then factor in the javelinas, non-native destructive species, if you've been in AZ they're multiplying. Javelina came in late 19th Century, Arizona DOW actually protects them, wants them as sport hunting.